Speaking exclusively with VladTV, Nikki D opens up about her days at Def Jam, working for Lyor Cohen and why the label came off as sexist when it came to female rappers.
After finding commercial success with her single, "Daddy's Little Girl," the femcee says she was ready to steer away from her tomboy look and bask in her femininity; a move that wasn't liked by the higher ups. Nikki also says she would often bump heads with Lyor Cohen because he wasn't familiar with her or her sound. The constant back and forth led her to walk away from her deal and tap into the other side of the music industry.
With the help of a friend, Nikki says she was able to score a job at Def Jam for seven years. While she still remained cool with Russell Simmons, after a while her and Cohen began to get along. Since there weren't a lot of female rappers in the game, Nikki says the 'suits' in the corporate world wanted herself and other female acts to be hardcore to sell records.
Nikki never got to release her second album, but her journey opened her eyes to the ins and outs of the music industry.
Check out the rest of her interview above.
