Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, professionally known as Nicki Minaj is a Trinidadian-born rapper, singer and songwriter based in the United States. She is known for her musical versatility, animated flow in her rapping, alter egos and accents. Nicki Minaj is popularly referred to as the “Queen Of Rap”.
Early Life
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 Maraj, is also a gospel singer with Afro-Trinidadian ancestry. Carol worked in payroll and accounting departments during Minaj’s youth. Minaj’s father was addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine and had a violent temper, burning down their house in December 1987. She has an older brother named Jelani, a younger brother named Micaiah, and a younger sister named Ming.
As a child, Minaj and her older brother, Jelani, grew up with her grandmother in Saint James in a household with 11 cousins.Minaj’s mother, Carol Maraj, 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 City to attend Monroe College, leaving both Minaj and Jelani in Trinidad with their grandmother. Eventually, when Minaj was five, Carol got her first house, on 147th Street in South Jamaica, Queens and brought both Minaj and Jelani to live with her and their father. 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. After graduation, Minaj wanted to become an actress, and she was cast in the Off-Broadway play In Case You Forget in 2001.
Minaj has revealed that she had an abortion as a teenager in her songs “All Things Go” and “Autobiography”. She has said that although it has “haunted” her, she stands by her decision. At the age of 19, as she struggled with her acting career, 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. Other jobs included customer service representative and office management on Wall Street. Minaj recalls buying a BMW as a 19-year-old with the money from waitressing.
- Fun Fact: Nicki Minaj is 5ft 1 inch tall (she sure doesn’t look that way in videos)
Career
Minaj briefly signed with Brooklyn group Full Force, in which she rapped in a quartet called The Hoodstars composed of Lou$tar (son of “Bowlegged Lou”), Safaree Samuels (Scaff Beezy) and 7even Up. 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. Minaj later left Full Force and uploaded songs on her Myspace profile, sending several of her songs to people in the music industry. Later, Fendi, CEO of Brooklyn label Dirty Money Entertainment, signed Minaj to his label in 2007 under a 180-day contract. Originally adopting the stage name Nicki Maraj, she eventually changed it to Nicki Minaj stating that “my real name is Maraj. Fendi flipped it when he met me because I had such a nasty flow!”
Minaj first gained recognition after releasing three mixtapes between 2007 and 2009. Minaj released her first mixtape, Playtime Is Over, on July 5, 2007, and her second, Sucka Free, on April 12, 2008. She released her third mixtape, Beam Me Up Scotty, on April 18, 2009; it received favorable coverage on BET and MTV. At the time, she was managed by Debra Antney. One of its tracks, “I Get Crazy”, reached number 20 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart and number 37 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. After Minaj was discovered by fellow rapper Lil Wayne, she signed a recording contract with his Young Money Entertainment.That November, she appeared with Gucci Mane and Trina on the remix of “5 Star Bitch” by Yo Gotti.
In early February 2010, Minaj made her first two appearances on the U.S Billboard Hot 100 chart with her features on “Knockout” and “Up Out My Face” by Lil Wayne and Mariah Carey respectively. Minaj also appeared on “BedRock” and “Roger That” on the compilation album, We Are Young Money (2009). The singles peaked at numbers two and 56, respectively, in the U.S. Their parent album reached number nine on the U.S. Billboard 200, and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). At Jay-Z’s suggestion, Robin Thicke featured Minaj on his single “Shakin’ It 4 Daddy”. Allison Stewart of The Washington Post stated that, during that time, she “became the go-to girl for artists who wanted to add some skank to their tracks without sullying themselves in the process”. Minaj became the first female solo artist to have seven singles simultaneously charting in the U.S.
Her debut album, Pink Friday (2010), topped the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Its fifth single, “Super Bass”, reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified diamond by the RIAA. Minaj’s follow-up album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012) explored dance-pop. The lead single, “Starships”, peaked in the top five worldwide.
- Fun Fact : The 40 year old is a singer, Actor, Rapper, Musician, Artist, Singer-songwriter, TV Personality, Voice Actor, Composer, Visual Artist
Her third album, The Pinkprint (2014) explored more personal topics and marked a return to her hip hop roots. Its second single, “Anaconda” peaked at number two on the Hot 100 and became the first music video by a solo female rapper to reach one billion views on YouTube. She released her fourth album, Queen, in 2018 and it spawned the U.S. top ten single “Chun-Li”. In 2019, her collaboration with Karol G, “Tusa”, became the longest-running number-one single on the Argentina Hot 100 chart. Minaj achieved her first two Hot 100 number-one singles in 2020, “Trollz” and “Say So” and her third with the lead single of her forthcoming fifth studio album, “Super Freaky Girl”. It became the third solo song by a female rapper to debut at number one in the U.S. since 1998.
Referred to as the “Queen of Rap”, Minaj is one of the best-selling music artists, with more than 100 million records sold worldwide. Billboard ranked her as the top selling female rapper of the 2010s. She became the first female artist to have one hundred Billboard Hot 100 entries and has twenty one top 10 hits on the Hot 100, the most for any female rapper. Her various accolades include eight American Music Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards (including the 2022 Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), twelve BET Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, a Brit Award and three Guinness World Records. Outside of music, her film career 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 films The Other Woman (2014) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016). In 2016, Time included her on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Throughout her career, Minaj’s outspoken views and social media disputes have received significant media coverage.
Minaj is the recipient of numerous accolades, including eight American Music Awards, twelve BET Awards, seven BET Hip Hop Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards, six MTV Europe Music Awards, two People’s Choice Awards, one Soul Train Music Award, and four Teen Choice Awards. Minaj has received a total of 10 Grammy Award nominations. She received her first Grammy nomination in 2010 for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group (“My Chick Bad” with Ludacris). In 2012, Minaj received three nominations, including Best New Artist and Best Rap Album (Pink Friday). In 2014, she received her second nomination for Best Rap Album (The Pinkprint). She has won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Hip-Hop Video four times (“Super Bass”, “Anaconda”, “Chun-Li” and “Do We Have a Problem?”) and has won the Best Female Video Award once (“Starships”). Minaj is the first woman to have appeared on the Forbes “Hip Hop Cash Kings” list since its inception in 2007, having made four consecutive appearances between 2011 and 2014.
In 2010, Minaj became the first female solo artist to have seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously, and the first woman to appear on MTV’s Annual Hottest MC List since its inception in 2007. In 2011, Minaj was ranked sixth on the Rolling Stone master ranking of the “Kings of Hip Hop” which is based on record sales and social media metrics. She is the only rapper to win the BET Award for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist seven consecutive times. In 2013, Minaj became the most-charted female rapper on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time, with 44 entries, tying Mariah Carey as seventh among women of all genres.
Minaj has twenty-one top 10 singles on the chart, the most for any female rapper, with six of those being solo songs. In 2017, Minaj broke the record for most Hot 100 entries by any female artist, surpassing Aretha Franklin, and in 2018, she became the first female artist to accumulate 100 entries on the Hot 100. She held the mentioned record for most Hot 100 entries by a female artist until it was broken in December 2020 by singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. She is the female artist with the second-most Hot 100 entries, behind Swift. In 2019, Billboard Women in Music awarded her with the Game Changer Award.
In 2019, her collaboration with Karol G, named “Tusa”, received two nominations at the Latin Grammys. The song became the longest-running number-one single on the Argentina Hot 100, having spent 25 weeks on the position. In 2020, Minaj became the second female rapper to chart at number one on the Hot 100 more than once with her 6ix9ine collaboration “Trollz”. She also became the second female to debut atop the chart since Lauryn Hill in 1998. In the same year, she also was the most streamed female rapper on Spotify. In 2021, the music video for “Anaconda” became the first female rap solo song to reach one billion views on YouTube.
In total, Minaj has eight music videos with more than one billion views across all credits on YouTube, becoming the first female rapper to do so. She is only one of two female artists to have eight music videos reaching more than one billion views, tying with Rihanna . In 2016, she was listed on the Time 100 annual list of the most influential people in the world. She was also featured on one of the physical covers of the issue. Complex ranked her eighth on their list of best rappers of the 2010s, being the only female rapper on the list, and named her “Best Rapper Alive” of 2014.
Personal Life
Minaj started dating rapper Safaree Samuels in 2000. They broke up in 2014. Minaj started dating rapper Meek Mill in early 2015. They broke up in January 2017.
In July 2011, her cousin Nicholas Telemaque was murdered near his home in Brooklyn, New York, an incident she references in her songs “Champion” and “All Things Go.”
In February 2017, Nicki’s home was ransacked by burglars who reportedly flipped furniture and threw things all over the house. destroying the inside. They made off with jewelry and other expensive items totaling $200,000.
In November 2017, her brother Jelani was convicted of predatory sexual assault against a child and endangering the welfare of a child. On January 27, 2020, he was sentenced by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office to 25 years to life.
Minaj began dating her childhood friend Kenneth Petty (nicknamed “Zoo”) in December 2018, and after less than a year of dating, filed for a marriage license in August 2019. She announced that they had officially married in October, hyphenating his last name to hers upon marriage.
In July, Minaj announced via Instagram that she was expecting her first child. She gave birth to a son on September 30, 2020, whom she refers to publicly as “Papa Bear”. His real name is still unknown.
The next year in February 2021, Minaj’s father, Robert Maraj, died while walking along a road on Long Island in a hit-and-run accident. Charles Polevich, a 70-year-old man, was charged as the suspect of Maraj’s death. Polevich was arraigned and charged with two felonies, which were leaving scene of incident involving death of a person and tampering with or suppressing physical evidence. Three months later, she commented on her father’s death in a letter, saying, “… it has been the most devastating loss of my life. I find myself wanting to call him all the time, more so now that he’s gone. […] May his soul rest in paradise. He was very loved & will be very missed.”
In March, her husband Kenneth Petty was entered into the California Megan’s Law database after he was charged for failing to register as a sex offender after he relocated to California. Petty had been convicted of attempted rape in New York and had served nearly four years in prison for it. For this new charge, he was sentenced to one year of house arrest and a fine of $55,000 USD in 2022.
In August, her husband’s victim (named Jennifer Hough) filed a lawsuit against Minaj and Petty for alleged harassment and intimidation. She later gave an interview about the accusations on the daytime talk show The Real. While Minaj has not publicly commented on the lawsuit, she addressed the accusations in a case filing: “I never asked [Hough] to change her story, I never offered her any money in return for a statement, and I did not threaten her with any type of harm if she chose not to provide a statement.” Hough later voluntarily dropped the case against Minaj, with her lawyers claiming “jurisdictional issues” and telling a judge that it was going to be refiled in California. Minaj’s lawyer countered their claims, saying that the refiling was a “friviolous gambit to avoid sanctions” and that “their claims received an aggresive response.” Hough’s initial claim of refiling the case was in January 2022.
- Fun Fact: Nicki Minaj has never won a Grammy Award despite having 10 Nominations
Net Worth
Nicki Minaj is a Trinidadian-American rapper, model, actress and R&B singer-songwriter. As of this writing, Nicki Minaj has a net worth of $150 million
Nicki never really owned any sort of real estate as she lived in rented homes. In 2022 Nicki finally acquired her own property. Nicki paid $19.5 million for a home in Hidden Hills, California in December 2022. The 12,000 square foot mansion was newly built and never even made it to the market before Minaj scooped it up.
