Since Nikki and Ice-T were often in close proximity with one another, he eventually heard her rapping — something at the time she thought was as nonsensical as a parrot trying to sing an aria. However, Ice-T saw real potential in her skills.
He was like, 'Why don't you write your own stuff?'" she recalls. "I was like, "Nah, I'm not a rapper like that.' He was like, "No, you are a rapper.' I just fell in love with it once Ice-T was like, 'You're a rapper.'"
Moving forward, Nikki D made it a point to be at any and every rap show that made it to Los Angeles. She recalls fond memories of watching the likes of Whodini, Dana Dane (who was touring in promotion of Dana Dane with Fame), and Doug E. Fresh. The latter proved to be especially instrumental in encouraging her burgeoning career.
"I wound up rhyming for Doug E. Fresh and he was like, 'Oh my God, you're hard,'" she says. "Then I just dug in."
Nikki D prided herself on what she describes as a "ferocious pen game," which she says was a rarity for many male and female artists at the time. Although she was initially hesitant to call herself a rapper, she had no problem embracing the inner writer inside.
"For me, writing was everything."
"A lot of people [had other people writing their rhymes], but it wasn't known right off the rip because people were saying the rhyme so good that they made it seem like it was them," she says. "You want to have someone else write your songs: Fine. But all the MC'ing, rapping, and the bragging doesn't land the same [if you're not]."
Nichelle Strong eventually became "Nikki D"—adding the single letter last name as an homage to legends like Heavy D and Chuck D. Although Los Angeles had been instrumental in encouraging her to become an MC, she knew her big break was going to come from New York City.
In Def Jam's infancy, Rick Rubin had signed flagship artists like LL COOL J and Beastie Boys. Nikki sought out Russell Simmons and earned the distinction of becoming the first woman signed to the legendary label.
Within a short period of time, Nikki released her debut single, "Daddy's Little Girl," which shot to the top of the Billboard Rap Charts.
"We were actually on the road [with Yo Yo] and West Johnson—who was our radio guy—called and said, 'Baby girl, that record is number one," she recalls. "I said 'Get the hell out of here!' So it sat there for a few weeks. I was like, 'Wow.'"
While Nikki D was seemingly poised to become the "next big thing," she admits that Simmons was so enthusiastic about her as an artist that it actually had a negative impact on her career moving forward.
"Russell admitted it," she says. "He said, 'I was too fucking excited and I put the song out and I didn't think about it.' And Lyor Cohen, was like, 'Don't put out the record yet. It's not ready, wait for the album.'"
The single dropped in February and the album Daddy's Little Girl didn't come out for another six months.
"That whole spread jacked it up because the industry was still trying to figure out what to do with female rappers. You only get one chance when you go and put a record out. People are not coming back."