Nicki Minaj is "proud" be a judge on American Idol.

The rapper is a panelist on the TV singing competition along with Keith Urban, Mariah Carey and Randy Jackson.

Nicki feels she is greatly contributing to society at large.

"It's a milestone for me; it's a milestone for hip-hop; it's a milestone for young black women," Nicki told MTV News.

"Has there ever been a black woman [judging] on the show? This is a show that 20 million people watch so I feel like we should be represented on that show and I'm very proud of my decision to do it."

Nicki admits that committing to American Idol wasn't easy.

She vacillated for a while on what to do.

"Of course I had doubts but I had to realise that my fears of doing the show came a lot from what I thought people would say," she explained. "I had to really think and [realise that] a lot of decisions I've made in my career, people thought I was f**king crazy and I made them, and I continue to make the hard decisions. I continue to make the decisions that people don't have the balls to make."