Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj, in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago.
It wasn’t an easy beginning for Nicki Minaj. Her father was violent and suffered from drug and alcohol addiction. In December 1987, he set fire to their family home.
Nicki moved in to live with their grandmother, along with her siblings and eleven cousins, while her mother worked several jobs to pay the bills and obtain her green card.
After her mother found a secure home, Nicki and her siblings moved in with her in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York. At the age of 24, she relocated to New York City after obtaining a green card.
Three wildly successful mixtapes released between 2007 and 2009 catalyzed Nicki Minaj’s spectacular rise to fame.
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“Pink Friday,” her debut album, was released in 2010. It was wildly popular and gave rise to the quadruple-platinum single, Super Bass. She went on to become the first female musician to simultaneously have seven tracks on the Billboard 100.
The Anaconda crooner then released a second album, which was even more popular than the first, as well as numerous hit singles.
Nicki Minaj has won notable awards, including six American Music Awards, 10 BET Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, and two People’s Choice Awards. She is the recipient of ten Grammy Award nominations.
Aretha Franklin’s record for the most songs by a female artiste on the Hot 100 was surpassed by Nicki Minaj in May 2017. For more than 40 years, Aretha’s record was unbroken.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Nicki Minaj is worth $150 million.
The success of Nicki’s music career has been astounding. Having amassed four studio albums, multiple mixtapes, and innumerable chart-topping singles, she has emerged as one of the global top-selling female artistes.
She is among the best-selling musicians of all time as of 2023, having sold over 100 million records globally.
Adidas, Pepsi, and MAC Cosmetics are a few of her most well-known endorsement partnerships.
Nicki Minaj has dabbled in other facets of the entertainment business in addition to music.
She starred in movies including Barbershop: The Next Cut and The Other Woman. She also participated in the twelfth season of American Idol as a judge.