{blackbabes} Nicki Minaj: 'I always push the envelope because I'm Nicki Minaj'

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Nicki Minaj is proud of her outspoken reputation.

"I always push the envelope because I'm Nicki Minaj," the "Anaconda" rapper, 31, said in an interview in the winter issue of V Magazine. "I have to."

While she's no stranger to commercial success, Minaj hasn't made any concessions to get there, something she says her fans and other artists recognize.

"No matter who I'm on a song with, I feel like I have to say at least one thing that no one else is willing to say," she told the magazine. "Whether it's Madonna or Britney or Beyoncé, they always tell me, "Yes. Be yourself. Talk your s–t."

Still, the MC admits that, as hard as it may be to believe, even she struggles with confidence — an issue she's talked about while promoting her latest album, "The Pinkprint" — and has to remind herself it doesn't matter what others think.

"I look at myself as such a regular girl and I have insecurities just like everyone else," she said. "I don't know where the hell this thing comes from where I feel like, 'Who gives a s–t about what everybody else says?'"

It's that attitude that led Minaj to release the controversial single art for "Anaconda" — a photo focused on the rapper's thong-clad backside.

"We all live in this world where we won't do something because of how 'they' will talk about us on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook," she said. "Are people going to laugh or are they going to diss us? It's disgusting! We are not ourselves anymore. We're so afraid of what's going to happen on social media that we've been robbed of our free spirit!"

"What I love about 'Anaconda' is that I told the whole industry to go f–k themselves," she said.

"The Pinkprint" is due out on Dec. 15.