Rapping is not one of the strong genres of music for the female folk. It’s mostly the male folk that leverages on this genre of music.
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, professionally known as Nicki Minaj has proven that what a man can do a woman can do better.
Nicki Minaj is one of the best female rappers in the music industry. She is a also a singer, a song writer and a Hollywood actress.
Nicki was born at Saint James, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on 8 December, 1982 but was raised in New York City.
Her father, Robert Maraj (1956-2023) was a financial executive and part-time gospel singer of Dougla and her mother, Carol Maraj is also a gospel singer with Afro-Trinidadian ancestry.
Her mother worked in payroll and accounting departments during Minaj’s youth and Minaj’s father was addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine and had a violent temper, burning down their house in December 1987.
Nicki has other siblings named Jelani, Micaiah and a younger sister Ming. They all grew up with her grandmother in Saint James in a household with 11 cousins. She then moved to the Bronx in New York City to attend Monroe College, leaving both Minaj and Jelani in Trinidad with their grandmother.
Nicki’s Educational Background
Nicki attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School.
Nicki Minaj’s Music Career
Nicki made her entry into the music world some years ago and has made tremendous name in the industry.
Trinidadian-born rapper and singer Nicki Minaj has been featured in several music videos including nine commercials, and four documentaries.
In 2009, Minaj signed a recording contract with Young Money Entertainment, and released her first solo music video under the label (for the single “Massive Attack”) in March 2010.
She is known for her animated flow and lyricism in her rapping.
Nicki Minaj was shot to limelight after releasing three mixtapes between 2007 and 2009.
She rose to prominence with her debut studio album, Pink Friday (2010), reaching number one on the U.S Billboard 200 chart and was later certified triple platinum by RIAA.
The fifth single, “Super Bass”, reached number three on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 and became the highest charting solo song by a female rapper since 2002.
It also became the second female rap song to be diamond certified by RIAA.
Her second album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012) saw Minaj explore dance-pop. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with the lead single, “Starships”, reaching number five in the U.S. A reissue titled Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – The Re-Up was released a few months later, containing seven new tracks.
Minaj’s third and fourth studio albums, The Pinkprint (2014) and Queen (2018), marked a departure from her previous style and a return to her hip hop roots.
The former’s second single “Anaconda” reached number two in the U.S.
Nicki’s 2019 collaboration with Karol G, “Tusa” was a huge success as it became the longest running number one single in Argentina and was certified Latin Diamond by the RIAA.
Minaj is the female artist with the second most entries on the Hot 100, behind singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, with each accumulating over 100.
She has nineteen top 10 singles on the chart, the most for any female rapper so far, with four of those being solo songs.
In 2023, Nicki rereleased her mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty (2009) which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, becoming the highest debut for a female rap mixtape on the chart.
Minaj is rated one of the most influential hip hop artistes of all time
with over 100 million records sold worldwide, making her one of the best selling artistes of all time.
The renowned music superstar has won several high rated accolades include eight American Music Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards, twelve BET Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, a Brit Award, and three Guinness World Records.
Billboard ranked Nicki as the top female rapper of the 2010s as well as seventh among the top female artistes of the decade.
In 2016, Time included Minaj on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Aside music, Minaj is also a successful actress. She is known for her film career which has included voice roles in the animated films; Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019) as well as supporting roles in the comedy films; The Other Woman (2014) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016).
Nicki also appeared as a judge on the twelfth season of American Idol in 2013.
The rapper released the first music video from Pink Friday, “Your Love”, in July 2010. It was directed by Director X, which premiered on MTV and featured Michael Jai White as Minaj’s love interest.
She released “Super Bass” as the fifth single from Pink Friday, with the accompanying music video released on 5 May 2011, being noted particularly for the “glow in the dark” lap-dance scene.
She has accumulated 20 music videos on her Vevo account with over 100 million views.
The rapper has five MTV Video Music Awards for her video work notably as:
- Best Hip Hop Video for “Super Bass” (2011),
- “Anaconda” (2015 and “Chun-Li” (2018),
- Best Female Video for “Starships” (2012), and
- Best Power Anthem as a feature in Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer” (2019).
Nicki Minaj’s Personal Life
Nicki Minaj is said to have had series of relationship and has gone through some level of heartbreaks. She eventually found love in her high school sweetheart, Kenneth Petty.
The two reunited while in New York for Thanksgiving in 2018.
For the most part, Nicki has kept her relationship with Kenneth out of the public eye, but she’s made no secret of the fact that she’s deeply in love with him.
They both got married dating the summer of 2019 on a very low key.
In September 30, 2020, they welcome their son named Simba “Papa bear”.
Nicki’s Net Worth
Nicki Minaj has remained very famous in the entertainment world as a talented rapper and actress with an estimated net worth of over $20,000 dollars.
Nicki is very popular on social media with over 2milliom followers on
Instagram. You can reach or follow her on Instagram: @ nickiminaj
Thanks for reading.