Biography
Date of Birth
8 December 1982, St. James, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
Birth Name
Onika Tanya Maraj
Nickname
Nicki
Nicki The Harujuku Barbie
Nicki The Ninja
Roman
Trinidadian Dolly Parton
Barbie
Height
5' 2" (1.57 m)
Mini Biography
Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj on December 8, 1982 in St. James, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago and raised in Queens, New York City, New York. She grew up in a troubled family with a father that was a drug addict who later changed after he checked into rehab and started going to church. Minaj went to LaGaurdia High School and studied singing and acting.
She was first spotted by the CEO of Young Money, and was later recruited for The Carter Edition of Young Money's own "The Come Up" DVD series. Her rapping skills caught the eyes of Lil Wayne who later worked with her for many collaborations with his mixtapes.
In April 2007, Minaj released her first mixtape "Playtime Is Over". One year later she made another mixtape "Sucka Free" which made her Female Artist of the Year at the Underground Music Awards. In 2009 she made her third mixtape "Beam Me Up Scotty" which got positive reviews from BET and MTV.
To date, Nicki has released 3 platinum selling studio albums, Pink Friday, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, and the most recent The Pinkprint
Trivia
Graduated from LaGuardia High School, where she participated in the drama program. She had planned to sing at LaGuardia but lost her voice on the day of the audition.
Has "God you are always with me" tattooed in traditional Chinese letters on her left arm.
Minaj will be the supporting act for Britney Spears on her Femme Fatale tour in America and for three of the UK dates. Minaj also featured alongside Kesha in the remix of Britney Spears' song "Till the World Ends".
In 1998, she had an abortion after being raped at age 15. She called it very hard decision and never got pregnant again.
Engaged to Meek Mill [April 2015].
Through Twitter, she started a contest on May 21 2017 to help fans pay off college tuition, student loans and other educational expenses. The stipulations were they had to show her straight A's or a 4.0 GPA.
Recieved endorsement deals from Adidas, MAC Cosmetics, Pepsi, among others.
Friends with Foxy Brown, Keke Wyatt, Ariana Grande, and Kate Upton.
Is of Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Trinidadian descent.
Was inspired by R&B singer Monica, singing "Why I Love You So Much" at every talent show she entered. Performing in Atlanta on her Pink Friday Tour, she called Monica one of her all-time greatest musical influences.
Artists who have influenced her musical style include Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes, Lil' Wayne, Smokey Robinson, Lauryn Hill, Jadakiss, Natasha Bedingfield, Remy Ma, Lil' Kim, Missy Elliott, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Jones, M.I.A., Cyndi Lauper, TLC, Kanye West, Trina, and Drake.
(October 21, 2019) Married her boyfriend of 10 months Kenneth Petty. He was her childhood friend.
In July 2020, announced via Instagram that she is expecting her first child.
Has a son (b. September 30, 2020) with husband, Kenneth Petty.
Trademarks:
Pink lipstick
Different colors/styles of wigs
Blue eyeshadow
Busty and curvy figure
A punchline containing "my sons".
Quotes
I know right now she has no idea who I am, but I'd like to collaborate with Enya one day. Of course I'd love to work with Jay-Z, maybe even Phil Collins. I love his voice.
Don't get it twisted. It's not about money, it's not about the fame. It's about I don't have to worry about if my little brother is gonna be able to get a new toy for Christmas. It's those little tiny things that really make up the bigger picture. So, my happiness doesn't come from money or fame. My happiness comes from seeing life without struggle.
When you're a girl, you have to be everything, You have to be dope at what you do, but you have to be super sweet, and you have to be sexy, and you have to be this and you have to be that and you have to be nice, and you have to-- it's like, i can't be all of those things at once. I'm a human being.
I don't think intimidated is the word. I definitely get excited by it. I don't want to let anybody down. I've always been the type of person to make everybody happy and get things done. I want everything to be 100% perfect. I do feel it when people hold me to high expectations.
I am so territorial, that [from the start] I just felt like whatever I was gonna do I was gonna write it myself, its my personal preference to always be in control of everything I do in life.
Wayne has always been my biggest influence. It's weird because I sit down and talk to Wayne like he's just a regular human being, and then I walk on stage with him and there's 20,000 people screaming for him.
[on Britney Spears] Britney is a beautiful girl, I love her. She's a sexy girl. I'll have to recruit her for my Barbie army.
[on Britney Spears] She reminds me of my best friend, which is really, really weird. So, whenever I see her, I feel at peace for some strange reason.
As long as a nipple didn't come out to play, I'm fine.
[on citing Betsey Johnson as her fashion inspiration] [Betsey] is a free spirit. When I met her the other day, I felt like I knew her for my whole life. She's so warm and considerate and caring. She's amazingly talented and I've been wearing her clothes forever, so to meet her was like, 'Yay!' [I was] bowing down to her; she's dope!
