Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj
Minaj in 2018
Born
Onika Tanya Maraj

(1982-12-08) December 8, 1982 (age 41)
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Occupations
  • Rapper
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • actress
Years active2004–present
Works
Spouse
Kenneth Petty
​
(m. 2019)​
Children1
AwardsFull list
Musical career
OriginNew York City, US
Genres
InstrumentsVocals
Labels
Websitenickiminajofficial.com

Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (née Maraj; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj (/ˈnɪki mɪˈnɑːʒ/ NIK-ee min-AHZH), is a Trinidadian-born rapper, singer, and songwriter based in the United States. Often referred to as the "Queen of Rap", she is known for her dynamic rap flow, witty lyrics, musical versatility, and alter egos. She first gained recognition after releasing three mixtapes between 2007 and 2009.

Minaj's critically acclaimed debut studio album, Pink Friday (2010), topped the US Billboard 200 chart, while its diamond-certified single "Super Bass" peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. She explored dance-pop on her follow-up album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012), which debuted at number one in the UK and US and yielded the globally successful single "Starships". Minaj's 2014 single "Bang Bang" (with Jessie J and Ariana Grande) became the first female collaboration to be certified diamond in the US. She returned to her hip hop roots with her third and fourth albums, The Pinkprint (2014) and Queen (2018), whose singles "Anaconda" and "Chun-Li" reached number two and ten in the US respectively. She achieved her first two Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles in 2020 with the collaborations "Say So" (with Doja Cat) and "Trollz" (with 6ix9ine); the former was the first female rap collaboration to top the chart. In 2022, she garnered her first solo US number-one with "Super Freaky Girl", the lead single from her fifth studio album, Pink Friday 2 (2023), which also debuted atop the Billboard 200. To promote the album, Minaj embarked on the Pink Friday 2 World Tour in 2024, which became the highest-grossing concert tour of all time by a female rapper.

Minaj is one of the world's best-selling music artists and the best-selling female rapper worldwide, with over 100 million records sold.[1] Billboard ranked her as the top-selling female rapper of the 2010s and the greatest female rapper of all time.[2][3] Minaj has the largest album sales week of the 21st century; the highest-certified song by the RIAA; most number-one albums (3), top-ten songs (23), and Hot 100 chart entries (148); among female rappers in the US. She is the only woman to achieve the highest female rap album sales week of two decades (2010s and 2020s) in the US, the second-highest-certified female rapper of all time on the RIAA's Top Artists (Digital Singles) ranking, and has over 100 million certified units (albums and songs) sold in the US. Her various accolades include a Brit Award, five Billboard Music Awards, nine American Music Awards, eight MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), 12 BET Awards, a Soul Train Music Award, three Guinness World Records, and 12 Grammy Award nominations. In 2016, Time named Minaj one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Throughout her career, her outspoken views, feuds with several rappers, personal life, and fanbase have received significant media attention.

Outside of music, Minaj became the creative director for Maxim in 2022, founded the Heavy On It Records imprint in 2023, and is a co-owner of sneaker brand Loci since 2024. Her other endeavors include a fragrance line, press on nails line, a sneakers collection, collaborative snacks and beauty products, the radio show Queen Radio (2018–2023), and roles in the animated films Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), and the comedy films The Other Woman (2014) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016). On television, she served as a judge on the twelfth season of American Idol (2013).

  1. ^ "Rapper Nicki Minaj's father killed in hit-and-run". The New Zealand Herald. February 15, 2021. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved February 15, 2021.
  2. ^ "Top Artists". Billboard. October 31, 2019. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference billboardgreatest1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).