Nicki Minaj speaks on getting ass shots early in her career, saying that Lil Wayne’s jokes about her small butt contributed to her decision to change her body.

Before she was a wildly-famous multi-platinum rapper, Nicki Minaj’s look wasn’t always so exaggerated. Over the years, the rapper’s body has been at the center of many conversations — good and bad — as fans have always seemed enamored by her shape. The rapper is well-known for her large derrière but it hasn’t always been that big.

According to her new interview with Joe Budden, she got “ass shots” at the beginning of her career. While she says it was ultimately her decision to change her look, she did state that some of Lil Wayne’s jokes about her having a “small butt” got to her and contributed to her choice.

“Social media was just beginning when I started so I was a lot of people’s guinea pigs. I was one of the first people to be sh*tted on on the internet,” says Nicki. “It wasn’t acceptable to have surgery at all or anything and at that time, I had never had surgery. I had *ss shots, which, to this day, I realize even with me not consulting with anyone to do something like that, how insane that was… And actually what happened was I kept on being around [Lil] Wayne and them.

At that time, you know Wayne, he’s always talking about big booties… Wayne would have a new chick in the studio every session. So they were his muses but I just was around them all the time and I was like the little sister. This is what you’re supposed to look like in the rap culture and I don’t look like that.”

Budden interjected to ask if anybody around her was pressuring her into changing her body, which she initially denied before changing her tune.

“No! They never told me that– well, no. I’m lying. I think Wayne, I think they said stuff sometimes jokingly but to a young girl or up-and-coming rapper, when it’s from someone like Lil Wayne, it matters. Even if they’re joking, they don’t know that the person that is there in that room with them is not finding it funny.”

What do you think about Nicki Minaj’s story about getting ass shots early in her career? Let us know in the comments.