Childhood and youth
Onika Tanya Maraj (the singer's real name) was born on December 8, 1982 in the suburbs of Port of Spain, the capital of the island state in the Caribbean. Father is half African, half Indian, mother is Malaysian. Niki tries not to remember her childhood, because there was little pleasant in it: the girl’s father is a complete alcoholic and drug addict. In a drunken stupor, he often beat his wife, and once set fire to his own house. Niki and her mother miraculously survived.
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Nicki Minaj as a child
The family lived poorly; they were unable to save money to move to America. For several years, Nicki Minaj lived with her grandmother. When the girl was 5 years old, her mother took her and ran away from her home despot to Queens.
The girl was painfully worried about the move and sought salvation in music. At school, Niki became interested in the clarinet, then began to develop her vocal abilities. The girl drew, participated in school plays, but always dreamed of the big stage. As a teenager, Minaj began listening to rap - this musical direction determined her future fate.
Biography of Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj (Onika Tanya Maraj) was born on December 8, 1982 in St. James (Trinidad and Tobago). She is of Malaysian, Trinidadian and Indian-African descent.
Childhood and youth
Nika’s childhood years can hardly be called happy. Until the age of 5, she lived in St. James with her grandmother, as her parents were looking for suitable housing in New York at that time.
After this, the mother took her daughter with her to New York. The head of the family was an alcoholic and drug addict, as a result of which he often raised his hand against his wife. Once, he even tried to kill her by setting the house on fire.
Since Nicki Minaj's parents were constantly fighting, she was rarely in the house. During this period of her biography, the girl sat in her car for a long time and wrote poetry. An interesting fact is that later these poems formed the basis of her hit “Autobiography”.
During her school years, Niki mastered playing the clarinet and also became interested in rap. After receiving her certificate, she successfully passed the exams at a music college. She decided to connect her life with singing, but on the day of the audition, her voice suddenly disappeared.
Music
Nicki Minaj's debut work was the mixtape “Playtime Is Over,” which was released in 2007. In 2008-2009, she released several more demo records, which the public did not notice. Rapper Lil Wayne liked her work, and the musician took the risk of signing a contract with the young performer.
Nicki Minaj - Right Thru Me
Soon Nicki Minaj's first album, Pink Friday, was released, after which she woke up famous. The single "Your Love" became a hit. Next, the girl presented another single, “Right Thru Me”: the music video for it revealed her as a talented dramatic actress.
At first, Minaj exploited the image of a Japanese geisha, but when it began to fall apart, she changed her role. In her third video, “Moment For Life,” she emerged as the “Cinderella of hip-hop.”
Nicki Minaj - Moment For Life
From this moment on, Nicky begins to regularly record music videos for her songs. The artist's appearance, choreography in the scandalous twerk style, multi-colored hair and an emphatically sexy figure bring the music video deafening popularity. In total, 4 Minaj videos were released in 2010. In the future, the singer will present up to 10 videos a year.
The track “Super Bass” became the most successful in the singer’s entire career. He immediately broke into the TOP 10 and remained at the top for a long time. This explosive hit has racked up 760 million views on YouTube.
Nicki Minaj - Super Bass
In the summer of 2011, Nicki recorded a duet with DJ David Guetta. Their work "Where Them Girls At?", as predicted, became a hit.
Throughout the year, Minaj presented new songs from the upcoming album, but all the new releases failed - the compositions did not make it onto the charts, and critics responded negatively to them. The failure forced the singer to postpone the release of the new album, diluting it with compositions of neutral content: even Nicki’s most devoted fans did not approve of the large amount of negativity in the tracks. The plan was a success - compositions from this album were played at all discos.
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Nicki Minaj is the only rap artist invited to perform at the Grammys: at the 54th ceremony she performed the hit “Roman Holiday.” This was the first time in the history of this prestigious event.
In May 2014, the singer recorded the first track of her upcoming new album, Pills N Potions, and in August, Minaj released her second single, Anaconda. "Anaconda" reached number two on the national charts in the United States and became an undisputed hit. In December 2014, Nicki presented the album “The Pinkprint”. At the same time, she joined the cast of the comedy The Other Woman, where the main characters were Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann and Kate Upton. The singer played the role of secretary Lydia.
Nicki Minaj - Anaconda
In 2015, Nicki recorded the track “Hey Mama.” The composition became a worldwide hit, the refrain of the song “Hey Mama” did not leave the radio frequencies, and the track confidently took high positions in the music charts.
In 2021, in support of Ariana Grande's studio album “Dangerous Woman,” Nicki Minaj recorded the track “Side To Side.” The composition became the third song in support of the colleague’s album.
In the same year, Nicki Minaj again acted as an actress and played in the film “Barbershop 3.”
Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande – Side To Side
At the beginning of 2021, Minaj presented the song and video “No Frauds.” Drake and Lil Wayne performed the song together with Nicky. In the spring of 2017, the singer released a music video for the track “Swalla” of the same name, recorded together with Jason Derulo.
Also in 2021, the singer recorded the singles “Kissing Strangers”, “Run Up” and “Make Love”, released without an album. The compositions were created in collaboration with other musicians.
Today Nicki Minaj is a rap artist whose singles are sold in millions of copies. She is known all over the world; world stars want to perform duets with her.
Personal life
Almost nothing is known about the personal life of the popular rapper. Journalists and paparazzi failed to unearth anything interesting, and fans and spiteful critics, analyzing her texts, came to the conclusion that Minaj is bisexual.
In April 2015, Nicki Minaj informed fans that she was engaged to rapper Meek Mill. The singer took a photo of the ring given to her and posted it on Instagram.
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Meek Mill and Nicki Minaj
She met Mick in February of the same year, the relationship developed rapidly - the couple often appeared in public together. In July, Minaj broke off the engagement and returned the ring to her boyfriend. Friends of the couple say that they often quarreled, then broke up, then made up. Mick states that Nicky was putting him down, constantly telling him what to do. But information slipped through about the groom’s lies and infidelities, which led to the couple’s separation.
Nicki is often compared to Lady Gaga for her extravagant outfits and vibrant makeup. Minaj loves relaxed and unconventional costumes, collaborates with Donatella Versace and other famous couturiers. But the rapper believes that there is nothing in common between them. The singer explains her choice of clothes by her difficult childhood: when her parents fought, she invented various characters and lived their lives.
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Nicki Minaj Tattoo
Nicki loves tattoos. On her left hand are engraved hieroglyphs that stand for “God is always with you.”
The artist's bright style attracts fans to her Instagram page. Fans admire the singer’s figure in open outfits that Minaj prefers, and follow the change in the celebrity’s image: she dyes her hair pink, light green and other colors.
Nika's voluminous shape gives her detractors a reason to claim that the singer had plastic surgery on her buttocks. According to the press, at the beginning of her career, Minaj underwent plastic surgery, before and after which her figure was radically different. The singer denies rumors about plastic surgery and refers to heredity in this matter.
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Nicki Minaj in a swimsuit
In 2015, Minaj told fans that she wanted to lose weight. With a height of 157 cm, the singer weighs 62 kg. The fan community became worried; Nika's favorite feature - her impressive, voluminous buttocks - was under threat. The released photo shoot of the artist in a swimsuit reassured fans: the rapper’s figure remained the same, her feminine forms did not disappear.
In 2021, Minaj made a sensational announcement on her Instagram that she was dating the king of hip-hop, Eminem. The rapper's fans immediately demanded an explanation from the idol. At his concert, the singer asked the audience a counter question whether he should date Nicky, giving fans the opportunity to continue speculating about his romance with his colleague. Minaj played along with Eminem by inviting him on a date from her personal microblog page. Subsequently it became known that this information turned out to be a joke by the musicians.
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Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty
In fact, the artist’s boyfriend was a young man named Kenneth Petty. It has nothing to do with music or acting. It is known that in his youth Kenneth committed 2 serious crimes - at the age of 15 he raped a 14-year-old girl, and 4 years later he went to prison for murder. Despite the difficult past of her chosen one, Nicky is sure that she will be happy with him.
In 2020, Nicky and Kenneth became parents - in September, the artist gave birth to her first child.
Minaj often became a participant in scandalous situations. In the summer of 2018, she spoke unflatteringly about her colleague Travis Scott, and soon almost got into a fight with singer Cardi B. The clash between the two artists occurred during the Harper's Bazaar ICONS party in front of the public. Cardi swung the heel of her sandal at Nicki, after which the star's bodyguards took her outside. The conflict later continued on social networks.
Nicki Minaj now
In August 2021, Minaj’s 4th studio album, called “Queen,” was released. Its release was preceded by the premiere of the singles “Chun-Li”, “Barbie Tingz”, as well as “Rich Sex” with the participation of Lil Wayne and “Bed” in a duet with Ariana Grande. The disc started in second position on the Billboard 200 chart, but in terms of the number of copies sold, it became the worst among the artist’s records.
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Nicki Minaj in 2021
Nicki planned to start a tour in support of her new work in the fall of 2018, but for technical reasons she was forced to postpone the first concerts to January 2021. The script of the show involves the demonstration of many complex tricks in which the performer herself participates.
Now, in addition to her musical career, Niki is successfully developing her perfume production business. In 2021, she introduced a new fragrance, which was called “Queen” in honor of the latest album. The perfume bottle is made in the form of a sculpture of the artist. In the future, Niki will continue to delight fans with new perfumes.
Personal life of Nicki Minaj
From crazy Barbie to sex mistress
Niki has become famous as a very shocking figure - she can be too bright and provocative even for the world of show business, full of originals and freaks. It would seem that after the triumphant “procession” of dense rows of Kardashians, Lady Gaga’s “meat” dress or the “naked” outfits of Beyoncé, J.Lo and Rihanna, it is difficult to surprise us with anything. However, Minaj is a big sensation - she either shocks fans with another selfie on Instagram, or claims that Mother Nature, and not implants, awarded her a figure-eight figure.
She loves exotic outfits, wigs and revealing poses, appearing either in the image of a strange Barbie or flaunting the corsets of a sex mistress. At the same time, the star claims that she loves to dress well and is a fan of the talent of Donatella Versace and Alexander McQueen.
Nicky + Mick = ?
For a long time, Nicki Minaj's personal life remained a secret behind seven seals: she did not share details. Only in 2014, the singer mentioned that she had been Safari Samuels’s fiancée for ten years, but now this romance is in the past.
In 2015, Nicki had a new boyfriend - her colleague Meek Mill. More and more often, she appeared with the rapper “in public,” and then admitted that their relationship had been going on since mid-2014. We will see over time what awaits this couple in the future, although the union does not seem too strong: it looks more like PR.
