Introduction

Onika Tanya Maraj a.k.a Nicki Minaj is a rapper, singer and songwriter born in Jamaica and raised in America. Nicki is as well known for her whacky costumes, colorful wigs and loud makeup as she is for her music. Her rapping style is animated. She makes use of metaphors, puns and punch lines in her verse. She is said to have a gift for comic accents. Nicki achieved her first breakthrough with her debut studio album Pink Friday. Since then, she has gone on to record and release three successful albums and numerous hit singles. Nicki has won several awards for her rapping and hip-hop talent. She has also been a lot in the limelight due to her exhibitionist performances and verbal altercations with fellow rappers and singers.

EARLY LIFE

Nicki was born on December 8, 1982 to Carol and Robert Maraj in Saint James, Trinidad & Tobago. Her father was a financial executive and mother held several jobs like accounting clerk and foreign exchange teller. Both her parents were gospel-singers.

Nicki had a troubled childhood, as her father was an alcoholic and drug abuser. Nicki lived with her grandmother until she was five. Her mother then moved to Queens, New York with her. Nicki attended Clarence Witherspoon School and Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School 210 and finally graduated from LaGuardia High School. Nicki initially wanted to become an actor. At the age of 19, she was cast in the Off-Broadway production In Case You Forget. After that, her acting career did not take off so she turned to music. She did many odd jobs, from many of which she was fired because of her lack of courtesy to customers. She continued rapping and recording in the meanwhile, much of which went unnoticed. She adopted her stage name Nicki Minaj during this time. She finally appeared in The Come Up Volume 11, a street DVD featuring budding rappers of New York.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

On July 5 2007, Nicki released her first mixtape Playtime is over and her second Sucka Free in 2008. The relative success of these mixtapes earned her the Underground Music Award for Female Artist of the Year in 2008. Her third mixtape was Beam Me Up Scotty (2009). The album received positive reviews and one of its tracks “I Get Crazy” garnered much commercial and critical success.

Soon Nicki was discovered by rapper Lil Wayne and signed by his record label Young Money Entertainment. She appeared in several single releases and stage performances for Young Money Entertainment before releasing her debut studio album Pink Friday. Released on November 19, 2010, Pink Friday sold 375,000 copies in the first week and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. By January 2011, Pink Friday had reached number one in America and was certified as platinum.

Her second studio album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded was released on April 2, 2012 and debuted on number one on Billboard 200. The RIAA certified the album as platinum. Several singles from the album like “Starships”, “Stupid Hoe”, “Roman in Moscow”, “Beez in the Trap” and “Right by My Side” became big hits. She received MTV Music Awards for Best Female Video and Best Hip-Hop in 2012. Her Pink Friday World Tour and subsequent Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded World Tour saw considerable success. She also released an expanded version of Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded with the subtitle The Re-Up. Its tracks "The Boys", "Freedom" and "High School" were commercial successes.

During this time, Nicki was constantly surrounded by controversies. Her solo performance at the Grammy’s drew much ire for her sexualized exorcism themed act and also for being escorted by a fake “Pope” to the ceremony. She was heavily criticized by the American Catholic League and other purists. She also had a verbal altercation with rapper Lil’ Kim who alleged that Nicki copied her style. Nicki’s next track “Stupid Hoe” was directed at Lil’ Kim who retorted that Nicki must be a stupid hoe for making a song like this. Rapper Foxy Brown also got dragged into this controversy when Nicki misrepresented their conversation about Kim. Nicki also had a verbal spat with Mariah Carey during the twelfth season of American Idol on which they were both judges. Mariah accused Nicki of creating an unsafe work environment on the sets. Nicki resorted to tweeting harsh things about Mariah. Nicki and Mariah both left the show within the same month.

In 2014, Nicki released her third studio album The Pinkprint. Singles from the album like "Pills N Potions" and "Anaconda", broke records. Nicki again landed in trouble for the video of her song “Only” that had visualizations depicting the Nazi regime. The video was also released during the time of the 25th anniversary of the Fall of Berlin Wall. She was accused of trivializing the events of the holocaust and disrespecting the Semitic survivors of the worst carnage in history. The video has been called deeply disturbing and offensive.

Despite all the infamy and bad publicity, Nicki has managed to deliver strong performances through her albums and singles. She has won many acclaimed music awards and is a Grammy nominee.

TOP 10 HIT SONGS

1. Anaconda - The Pinkprint (2014)

2. Only - The Pinkprint (2014)

3. Bed Of Lies - The Pinkprint (2014)

4. Pills n Potions - The Pinkprint (2014)

5. Starships - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012)

6. Pound the Alarm - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012)

7. Roman Holiday - Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012)

8. Check It Out - Pink Friday (2010)

9. Moment 4 Life - Pink Friday (2010)

10. Super Bass - Pink Friday (2010)