Nicki Minaj gets makeunder, interviews self for Elle Magazine [VIDEO]

Credit: Elle

Via: Zap2It

Nicki Minaj has cast aside her loud, colorful hair and prodigious layers of makeup for Elle magazine's April issue, in which the much-loved/much-maligned (depends on who you're talking to) American Idol judge reveals all about her career, her life, even her trademark style.

"I'm so, so attached to my pink lipstick, it's hard," says Minaj. "I feel that it's become a part of me. To go in front of the camera, without pink lips or big ol' crazy lashes -- you know, nothing -- I felt naked. It was scary! So this photo shoot was a real accomplishment in my eyes."

In the issue, which hits stands March 26, Minaj also reveals that rapper Lil Kim is not the first girl with whom she's had a personal beef. "I went through a lot of bullying early on. Girls made my life a living hell," says the rapper. "We had come to America from a different country. My brother and I had accents. It was very tough. So I've always put up this wall -- it was a self-defense mechanism growing up -- because I was almost expecting people to attack me. And I still have it. It's sad."

Check out a preview video from Elle's website (in which Nicki, as the vapid "Nicole from Elle," interviews herself for a cover story, revealing that she plans to be artificially inseminated "so I don't ever have sex with anyone." Is she kidding, or is she 100% serious? You decide):