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Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj (/ˈnɪki mɪˈnɑːʒ/ ⓘ NIK-ee min-AHZH), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter based in the United States. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her dynamic rap flow, witty lyrics, musical versatility, and alter egos, and is credited as a driving force in the mainstream resurgence of female rap since the 2010s.
Raised in New York City, Minaj began rapping professionally in the early 2000s and gained recognition with her three mixtapes between 2007 and 2009. Her debut studio album, Pink Friday (2010), topped the US Billboard 200 and achieved the largest female rap album sales week of the 21st century, spawning the global hit single "Super Bass". Minaj explored dance-pop on her second US number-one album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012), which produced the top-five single, "Starships". She returned to her hip hop roots with her third and fourth albums, The Pinkprint (2014) and Queen (2018), which yielded the hit singles "Anaconda" and "Chun-Li". Minaj achieved her first two Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles in 2020 with the duets "Say So" and "Trollz"; the former was the first female rap collaboration to top the chart. She had her first solo US number-one song in 2022 with "Super Freaky Girl", the lead single from her fifth studio album, Pink Friday 2 (2023). The album debuted at number one in the US, making Minaj the female rapper with the most US number-one albums (three) in history. Its concert tour became the fourth-highest grossing tour for a rapper and highest-grossing tour for a female rapper in history.
Minaj is one of the world's best-selling music artists and the best-selling female rapper, with over 100 million records sold. She has three diamond-certified songs by the RIAA and in 2024 became the first female rapper with multiple diamond-certified solo songs. She is among the RIAA's 50 highest-certified digital singles artists with 54.5 million certified units. In 2023, Billboard and Vibe ranked Minaj as the greatest female rapper of all time. Her various accolades include a Brit Award, five Billboard Music Awards, nine American Music Awards, eight MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), 11 BET Awards, a Soul Train Music Award, and three Guinness World Records. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, and she was honored with the Billboard Women in Music Game Changer Award in 2019.
Minaj founded the record label imprint Heavy On It in 2023. Outside of music, her other endeavors include a fragrance line, a press on nails line, a Loci sneakers collection, and the radio show Queen Radio (2018–2023). She has also voice acted in the animated films Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), and acted in the comedy films The Other Woman (2014) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016). On television, she served as a judge on the twelfth season of American Idol (2013). Her outspoken views have received significant media attention.
Onika Tanya Maraj was born on December 8, 1982, in the Saint James district of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Her father was Robert Maraj (1956–2021), a financial executive and part-time gospel singer of Dougla (Afro-Trinidadian mother and Indo-Trinidadian father) descent. Her mother, Carol, is also a gospel singer with Afro-Trinidadian ancestry. Carol worked in payroll and accounting departments during Minaj's youth. Minaj's father was an alcoholic and crack cocaine addict whom Minaj described to be "violent" and abusive to her mother. He committed arson onto their house in December 1987. She has an older brother named Jelani, a younger brother named Micaiah, and a younger half-sister named Ming.
As a child, Minaj and Jelani grew up with their grandmother in Saint James in a household with 11 cousins. Carol was working numerous jobs in Saint James before getting her green card at the age of 24. She then moved to the Bronx in New York to attend Monroe College, leaving both Minaj and Jelani in Trinidad with their grandmother. When Minaj was five, Carol brought Minaj and Jelani to live with her and their father in South Jamaica, Queens. Minaj said she arrived in the United States as an illegal immigrant, and by the time she moved to the country, her mother and father had lawful permanent residency. She stated in 2024 that she is not a US citizen. Minaj recalled, "I don't think I had a lot of discipline in my household. My mom motivated me, but it wasn't a strict household. I kind of wanted a strict household."
Minaj successfully auditioned for admission to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, which focuses on visual and performing arts. A week after graduation, Minaj was cast in the Off-Broadway play In Case You Forget in 2001. At the age of 19, she worked as a waitress at a Red Lobster in the Bronx, but was fired for discourtesy to customers. She said she was fired from "at least 15 jobs" for similar reasons. Her other jobs included customer service representative and office management on Wall Street.
From 2002 to 2004, Minaj rapped in a New York hip hop group called Hoodstars, which included rappers Lou$tar and 7even Up and hype man Safaree Samuels. The son of Bowlegged Lou from Full Force, Lou$tar recruited Minaj when he and his father heard her work. Bowlegged Lou liked Minaj's rapping, and said that back then she was already doing "the crazy voices" in her vocal performances. In 2004, the group recorded the entrance song for WWE Diva Victoria, "Don't Mess With", which was featured on the compilation album ThemeAddict: WWE The Music, Vol.6. Full Force tried to get Hoodstars a record deal but were unsuccessful. They then worked with Minaj as a solo artist, meeting with some record companies, including Warner Brothers, who expressed interest in signing Minaj out of the group but required a ghostwriter for a deal. Minaj refused, adamant that she will always write her songs. Brian George from Full Force said that Minaj was impressive in her ambition, describing her as "broke and hungry" while determined to be in control of her craft.
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Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj (/ˈnɪki mɪˈnɑːʒ/ ⓘ NIK-ee min-AHZH), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter based in the United States. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is noted for her dynamic rap flow, witty lyrics, musical versatility, and alter egos, and is credited as a driving force in the mainstream resurgence of female rap since the 2010s.
Raised in New York City, Minaj began rapping professionally in the early 2000s and gained recognition with her three mixtapes between 2007 and 2009. Her debut studio album, Pink Friday (2010), topped the US Billboard 200 and achieved the largest female rap album sales week of the 21st century, spawning the global hit single "Super Bass". Minaj explored dance-pop on her second US number-one album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012), which produced the top-five single, "Starships". She returned to her hip hop roots with her third and fourth albums, The Pinkprint (2014) and Queen (2018), which yielded the hit singles "Anaconda" and "Chun-Li". Minaj achieved her first two Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles in 2020 with the duets "Say So" and "Trollz"; the former was the first female rap collaboration to top the chart. She had her first solo US number-one song in 2022 with "Super Freaky Girl", the lead single from her fifth studio album, Pink Friday 2 (2023). The album debuted at number one in the US, making Minaj the female rapper with the most US number-one albums (three) in history. Its concert tour became the fourth-highest grossing tour for a rapper and highest-grossing tour for a female rapper in history.
Minaj is one of the world's best-selling music artists and the best-selling female rapper, with over 100 million records sold. She has three diamond-certified songs by the RIAA and in 2024 became the first female rapper with multiple diamond-certified solo songs. She is among the RIAA's 50 highest-certified digital singles artists with 54.5 million certified units. In 2023, Billboard and Vibe ranked Minaj as the greatest female rapper of all time. Her various accolades include a Brit Award, five Billboard Music Awards, nine American Music Awards, eight MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), 11 BET Awards, a Soul Train Music Award, and three Guinness World Records. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, and she was honored with the Billboard Women in Music Game Changer Award in 2019.
Minaj founded the record label imprint Heavy On It in 2023. Outside of music, her other endeavors include a fragrance line, a press on nails line, a Loci sneakers collection, and the radio show Queen Radio (2018–2023). She has also voice acted in the animated films Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), and acted in the comedy films The Other Woman (2014) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016). On television, she served as a judge on the twelfth season of American Idol (2013). Her outspoken views have received significant media attention.
Onika Tanya Maraj was born on December 8, 1982, in the Saint James district of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Her father was Robert Maraj (1956–2021), a financial executive and part-time gospel singer of Dougla (Afro-Trinidadian mother and Indo-Trinidadian father) descent. Her mother, Carol, is also a gospel singer with Afro-Trinidadian ancestry. Carol worked in payroll and accounting departments during Minaj's youth. Minaj's father was an alcoholic and crack cocaine addict whom Minaj described to be "violent" and abusive to her mother. He committed arson onto their house in December 1987. She has an older brother named Jelani, a younger brother named Micaiah, and a younger half-sister named Ming.
As a child, Minaj and Jelani grew up with their grandmother in Saint James in a household with 11 cousins. Carol was working numerous jobs in Saint James before getting her green card at the age of 24. She then moved to the Bronx in New York to attend Monroe College, leaving both Minaj and Jelani in Trinidad with their grandmother. When Minaj was five, Carol brought Minaj and Jelani to live with her and their father in South Jamaica, Queens. Minaj said she arrived in the United States as an illegal immigrant, and by the time she moved to the country, her mother and father had lawful permanent residency. She stated in 2024 that she is not a US citizen. Minaj recalled, "I don't think I had a lot of discipline in my household. My mom motivated me, but it wasn't a strict household. I kind of wanted a strict household."
Minaj successfully auditioned for admission to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, which focuses on visual and performing arts. A week after graduation, Minaj was cast in the Off-Broadway play In Case You Forget in 2001. At the age of 19, she worked as a waitress at a Red Lobster in the Bronx, but was fired for discourtesy to customers. She said she was fired from "at least 15 jobs" for similar reasons. Her other jobs included customer service representative and office management on Wall Street.
From 2002 to 2004, Minaj rapped in a New York hip hop group called Hoodstars, which included rappers Lou$tar and 7even Up and hype man Safaree Samuels. The son of Bowlegged Lou from Full Force, Lou$tar recruited Minaj when he and his father heard her work. Bowlegged Lou liked Minaj's rapping, and said that back then she was already doing "the crazy voices" in her vocal performances. In 2004, the group recorded the entrance song for WWE Diva Victoria, "Don't Mess With", which was featured on the compilation album ThemeAddict: WWE The Music, Vol.6. Full Force tried to get Hoodstars a record deal but were unsuccessful. They then worked with Minaj as a solo artist, meeting with some record companies, including Warner Brothers, who expressed interest in signing Minaj out of the group but required a ghostwriter for a deal. Minaj refused, adamant that she will always write her songs. Brian George from Full Force said that Minaj was impressive in her ambition, describing her as "broke and hungry" while determined to be in control of her craft.