Nicki Mina j, the rapper who has had much success on the pop charts with songs like Starships and Super Bass, says the recent re-release of her sophomore album has to be pleasing her early fans.

“The feel of the re-release is kind of like my first sound, like the mixtapes,” she said of Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – The Re-Up.

The re-release came seven months after Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. That album features pop, dance, R&B, reggae and rap sounds. It’s a far stretch from when Minaj kicked off her career as a sexed-up street rapper, signed by Lil Wayne in 2009 after she released three buzzed-about mixtapes. Her official debut, Pink Friday, is near double platinum and was nominated for a Grammy Award.

But Minaj, 29, says she’s “back to basics” on Re-Up. “It sounds probably more hood in some ways, for a lack of a better word,” she said in a recent telephone interview with The Associated Press. More snippets from the conversation:

You let cameras follow you for a three-part reality special [“My Truth”] for E! What was that like?

It’s been fun because I think that my fans are getting a real kick out of it. I’m happy I did it. ... I don’t really have an opinion on it. It was just a decision for me to show more of myself and I never really know how people are going to react to it, so I’ve started stepping back and away, and getting away from just overthinking it. [But] of course I was hesitant. I’m a very private person. I definitely thought about it a lot and then I went for it.

What are your favorite albums of the year?

I really have been enjoying all of the hip-hop albums that came out because I feel like hip-hop artists have been taking their careers into their own hands and I just want to give a salute to everyone because it’s not easy. … The music has been sort of changing and adding new sounds to the game and introducing new people to the game, so I would just give a big nod to hip-hop for 2012.

Is being a judge on “American Idol” what you thought it would be?

No. … They’re very long days, and that’s the biggest thing I didn’t really expect. I’m used to being able to handle my business at any time, and when it’s American Idol, sometimes we’re in one place for eight hours judging people and I can’t go to my BlackBerry every five minutes like I’m used to. So that kind of slows my business down and that is something that I never could have foreseen. But, as a whole, I love the experience that I’m getting.

How are you and Mariah Carey, another new judge on “Idol,” getting along?

Minaj: [Click. Hangs up].