Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj was born on December 8, 1982, in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago, but moved to the Queens borough of New York City at age five. She is a recording artist signed to Young Money Entertainment. She attended Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School 210, where she played the clarinet. She graduated from LaGuardia High School where she specializes in music and the visual and performing arts and has participated in the drama program. 

Minaj began her music career in 2007 after she released her first mixtape Playtime Is Over. The mixtape was followed by the mixtapes Sucka Free and Beam Me Up Scotty which were released in 2008 and 2009, respectively.

Her first label success was after fellow American rapper, Lil Wayne. 

She released her debut album, Pink Friday, released on November 19, 2010. A buzz single, "Massive Attack", was released in April but the first official single is "Your Love". She released a joint single with The Black Eyed Peas front man, will.i.am titled, "Check It Out". "Moment 4 Life" was released as the fourth overall single. "Super Bass" was released in May 2011, the reception of the single was huge after the single charted within the top 10 in many of countries including; United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Canada and more.

Pink Friday became a commercial success, peaking at the top of the U.S. Billboard 200. and was later certified Platinum by the RIAA a month after its release. She became the first artist ever to have seven singles on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. "Your Love" reached number-one on the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart, making Minaj the first female artist to top the chart unaccompanied since 2002. She also became the first female artist to be included on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List. 

Image

When you think about Nicki Minaj, you think crazy wigs, crazy duds, and crazy faces. In an interview with Vibe Minaj discussed her sexual image stating, "[w]hen I grew up I saw females doing certain things, and I thought I had to do that exactly. The female rappers of my day spoke about sex a lot... and I thought that to have the success they got, I would have to represent the same thing. When in fact I didn’t have to represent the same thing."

Influences

Minaj has stated that artists who have influenced her musical style include Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, Lil Wayne, Lauryn Hill, Jadakiss, Natasha Bedingfield, Foxy Brown, Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott. She was also inspired by Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Jones and Cyndi Lauper.

17 Things You Didn’t Know About Her

Well, there are a lot of things you maybe didn’t know about the “Super Bass” star!

#1. Nicki’s real name is Onika Tanya Maraj, a Trinidadian name. You can kinda see the “Nicki” part in “Onika!”
#2. Her life hasn’t always been peachy keen for Nicki. According to Minaj, her father drank heavily, took drugs, and once tried to kill her mother by setting the house on fire.
#3. Nicki Minaj has created a lot of alter-egos! She claims the song “Bottoms Up” is sung by her twin “Roman Zolanski.” And on her appearance on ‘The George Lopez Show” this year, she assumed a Latina alter-ego named “Rosa!”

#4. Though Nicki Minaj prefers men, she dislikes being labeled ‘straight’ or ‘bisexual,’ saying “The point is, everyone is not black and white. There are so many shades in the middle…”

#5. Nicki Minaj was discovered by Lil’ Wayne, who was featured on the same rap-mix DVD.

#6. Nicki has thrown down with Usher, Drake, Young Money, P. Diddy, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Ludacris, Eminem, Rihanna… In 2010, Nicki was featured on fourteen songs in the Billboard Top 100.

#7.What Job Did Nicki Minaj Have As a Teen?  Nicki worked at Red Lobster in the Bronx! 

#8. Nicki Minaj was the first female rap artist to perform at Yankee Stadium!

#9. She is 28-years old. She’s an ’80s baby just like Ke$ha!

#10. Nicki Minaj won this year’s BET Award for Best Female Hip Hop Artist. Last year she won the BET awards for People’s Champ, Rookie of the Year, and Made You Look categories. She’s been nominated for a Grammy award, MTV VMA award, and Teen Choice Award.

#11. Nicki Minaj has supported a number of charitable organizations, one of the most recent being her contribution to the “Songs for Japan” compilation CD, which raised money for the victims of the Japan earthquake. She also performed at Green Auction: A Bid To Save The Earth in NYC in March 2011. The event raised over $2 million for environmentally conscious charities.

#12. What’s Nicki Minaj’s Favorite Fast Food? Popeye’s Chicken!

#13. Nicki Minaj has two brothers and one sister. Sounds like a big, fun, Trinidadian family!

#14. How Tall Is Nicki Minaj? Nicki Minaj packs a punch in a 5’4″ frame!

#15. Does Nicki Minaj Care About Being Sexy? Not really! In an interview with Interview, Minaj said, “I made a conscious decision to try to tone down the sexiness, I want people -especially young girls- to know that in life, nothing is going to be based on sex appeal. You’ve got to have something else to go with that.”

#16. What she loves most are her shoes! She told OUT magazine that she doesn’t date women… but she also doesn’t date men. She probably wants to date her platforms! Lil Wayne bought Nicki Minaj a pair of $3,965 Louboutins, which she wore on the Ellen Degeneres Show.

#17. Minaj has one tattoo of the traditional Chinese characters "上帝與你常在" on her left arm, meaning, wich means "God is always with you."