In an interview with Atlanta's Hot 107.9, Nicki Minaj shared her thoughts on one of the city's most prominently troubled rappers, Gucci Mane.

Gooch has been in the headlines lately for a falling out with Brick Squad signee Waka Flocka Flame and allegedly attacking two fans on two separate occasions. Nicki's advice? "Take a moment to really just get centered."

Nicki spent a couple of years as an Atlanta resident earlier in her career. She reflected on her time there and shouted out Gucci. "Everybody knows I had a really great relationship with Gucci when I first came out there just in terms of being on that mixtape circuit with Atlanta rappers," she said. "Atlanta served a humongous role in my success."

Expounding, she said, "a lot of my classic mixtape moments were with him [Gucci]. Like he would call my phone 8, 9-o-clock in the morning … like what you doin', shawty? You need to get up, you lazy shawty, let's go to the studio … So he motivated me a lot, I loved being around him. No matter what, I will always respect Gucci."

When asked if she's spoken with him and if she believes he needs an intervention, Nicki said she stopped talking to him for a while because "he was lashing out at a lot of people."

"So, it’s like I separate Gucci the artist from Gucci the person," she explained. "Gucci the person is a sweet, loving, carefree, funny, hardworking dude. And so I never really paid attention to anything that he had ever said [when he was lashing out]. In terms of intervention, I think about how talented he is and I kind of wish there was somebody that could step in and say 'Gucci, if you only knew how special you were. You would take a moment to really just get centered.'"

Nicki offered the advice from her own experience. "Not to point fingers," she said, "because I’ve had moments when I needed to center myself. Sometimes you just need to be alone in a meditating type of place and just kinda block out all the other noise and begin to focus on who you are and what you want out of life.”

She said Gucci as an artist and a businessman has had an impact on not only her career, but the skreets scene in general.

"I think that if he can get to that place he’ll be great because nobody can ever deny the fact that he kind of revolutionized a lot of things in the underground mixtape world."

Also in the interview the American Idol judge said she's going to take at least a moment herself when it comes to reality TV.

"I think I have my fair share of it for now. This is the thing, like with reality TV, I'm not going to sugarcoat anything that I do … A lot of people only show one side of themselves really, and with me, when I do it, I just try to be — [I] just try to really show the real deal so people who want to be in the game see what it really entails … sometimes that's not always the best thing for people, I guess."

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