Princess Nokia

Growing up in the '90s was the coolest thing to me.

Growing up, I loved Boy George, George Michael, Annie Lennox, Queen, Freddie Mercury, Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross.

When I started out rapping, I became very frightened by the idea that people were trying to pigeonhole me. That's usually what happens to most female rappers. They fit in a box and there's a prototype or person they're compared to.

I never feel confined by gender, by labels, by expectations, by stereotypes. I'm free to be myself.

I started modeling before '1992,' and I had already done Calvin Klein and Target and Gap and Diesel, Reebok, so I had been modeling for a little bit.

That's why I created Smart Girl Club in the first place because I really wanted to combat the non-inclusion that I felt in a lot of places.

I'm undereducated in politics, and I don't like to involve myself in them because they have dark spaces that I do not want to touch.

I was just a queer theater kid from New York City.

I was always so many different things, all at once: a little hood, a little punk, a little grunge, a little glam, a little gay. I have a whole bunch of flavours.

I've been investing in and funding myself since day one.

I'm 100 percent in control of my artistry, music, and finances.

There's no money in music. I know that. I think the whole world should know that.