Meek Mill covers the latest issue of XXL alongside his MMG boss Rick Ross, and got pretty candid in the cover story with XXL’s EIC, Vanessa Satten. After going into detail about his experience behind bars for more than 5 months in 2014, Meek also opened up about his new whirlwind romance with fellow rapper, Nicki Minaj.

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On being in jail:

Being that I went to jail and came back, I went through a whole new experience in life. I went from being at the top to back down at the bottom again. In jail, you get stripped of your freedom and everything, so I experienced different things, learned more. It basically brought most of my hunger back, because I was living the life, having fun all day every day. I really didn’t know what it was like to be hungry no more. I still had it, but not where jail put me at. And before I went to jail, I was being a little wild. So you know, it slowed me down, gave me enough time to think.

On Nicki Minaj:

Yeah, that’s my baby right there. Shit real.

On all of their pictures together:

I’m like, “I don’t really hold hands, but like, I’ll hold hands with you.” She know that. Like, I don’t really do things, but certain people make you do certain little stuff and it be like, “Shit, I don’t care.” They can catch me in the pictures doing anything nowadays, holding an umbrella for Nicki, you know what I’m saying?

On creative competition between each other:

Yeah, if we rapping on a song together, shit, Nicki gotta get it too. Or she might give it to me, you know how it go, everybody on the menu. Ain’t no stopping. Yeah, we be sitting there talking about that sometimes. And we be having conversations sometimes like, “That flow? Yeah, I got that flow from you,” or, “You got that flow from me.” We argue and shit like that all the time.

Read the full interview over at XXL.