Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, otherwise known as Nicki Minaj, was born on December 8th, 1982. Minaj was born in Saint James, Port of Spain, in Trinidad and Tobago, and she is of Indian Afro-Trinidadian descent.  Her net worth is believed to be at $130,000,000 USD as of now. Before she became famous, Nicki was raised in Queens, New York, and her family was troubled. Later on, her family would be reformed. Initially, she moved into the music industry as a backup singer for other aspiring rappers in New York City.

She was spotted by the CEO of Young Money Entertainment and she was recruited for The Come Up DVD series. Minaj possessed excellent rapping skills and released her first mixtape, Playtime Is Over in April 2007. The rapper worked with Lil Wayne early on in her career, and she’d work with other successful artists. Nicki Minaj has worked with Eminem and together; they released ‘Roman’s Revenge’.

Nicki Minaj has released albums such as Beam Me Up Scotty (2009), Pink Friday (2010), Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012), Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (The Re-Up), and The Pinkprint (2014). Her most recent album was Queen (2018). This year, Certified (Special Edition) was released, featuring her with Lil’ Flip and Young Money. Pink Friday sold over 3,370,000 copies making her one of the most highest selling artists.

She has stated herself that she will make music whenever like to do so on her own terms and conditions. Queen Radio is a podcast owned by her and it is available to listen to on multiple platforms. She does make sure to update her podcast whenever she can and she has been featured in other podcasts. Her music is available to stream and listen to on many other platforms as well. She is a doll-collector and she had a Barbie Doll made after her. The proceeds made from the doll were donated to charity.

The Queen of Rap goes by other names such as Nicki the Ninja, Harajuku Barbie, and Roman Zolanski. Harajuku Barbie is known for her pretty pink hair, and her eye-catching fashion sense styled with her naïvety. Nicki Minaj has implemented her alter egos into her songs, each giving them a personality and time to shine. Her fanbase is called ‘Barbs’ and this is derived from the American Fashion Doll, Barbie. She has a strong follower base on social media and she has been featured most especially on Stan Twitter.

Nicki Minaj has won many awards out of the 29 nominations she has received. As of recently, she released her song, ‘Super Freaky Girl’ and the song was featured many times on TikTok. Even still, her ‘Monster’ verse is insanely popular, remaining an iconic piece in music history. Her verse empowers women with the fact that they can survive in a male-dominated industry regardless.

“I came to win, to conquer, to thrive.” – Nicki Minaj

(Happy Birthday to the Queen of Rap, Nicki Minaj!)