{blackbabes} West mentoring Minaj now

Rap sensation Nicki Minaj has swapped Lil Wayne for Kanye West as her mentor after befriending the Stronger hitmaker while recording her debut album.

The Check It Out star was given her big break by Wayne in August 2009 when he signed her to his Young Money Entertainment label, but he was unable to oversee her rise to fame when he was jailed for eight months earlier this year for a gun charge.

Minaj struck up a working relationship with West through her friendship with his ex-girlfriend, model Amber Rose, and she soon landed a spot on the rap superstar's hit collaboration Monster, which also featured Jay-Z and Rick Ross.

They went on to work on Blazin', a duet for Minaj's new release Pink Friday - and they are now so close, she turns to West for career advice.

She tells RWD.com, "When it came to me putting my album out, I was like, 'I can't have an album without Kanye. He has to be a part of it.'

"He's become my mentor, he gives me advice, he hits me (with contacts), takes random pictures offline and says, 'Oh this is a good picture of you.' He's really into fashion so he's a good person to have a well-rounded conversation with."