Nicki Minaj Bio
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, known professionally as Nicki Minaj, is a Trinidadian-born rapper, singer, and songwriter widely regarded as one of the most influential female rappers in history. Dubbed the “Queen of Rap,” she is noted for her dynamic flows, alter egos, and genre versatility. Across her career, Minaj has released multiple chart-topping albums and singles, sold over 100 million records worldwide, and won numerous major music awards while shaping the commercial landscape for women in hip hop.
Raised in New York City after moving from Trinidad as a child, Minaj began releasing mixtapes in the late 2000s and broke through with her debut studio album Pink Friday in 2010, which established her mainstream success. She is the best-selling female rapper of all time and has been recognized by publications including Billboard, Time, and The New York Times for her cultural impact.
Early Life and Background
Onika Tanya Maraj was born on December 8, 1982, in the Saint James district of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Her father, Robert Maraj, was a financial executive and part-time gospel singer of Dougla descent, and her mother, Carol Maraj, also a gospel singer with Afro-Trinidadian ancestry, worked in payroll and accounting during Minaj’s youth. As a child, Minaj lived with her grandmother in Saint James in a household with eleven cousins before reuniting with her mother, who had moved to the Bronx in New York to attend Monroe College.
When Minaj was five, her mother brought her to live with her and her father in South Jamaica, Queens. She later recalled arriving in the United States as an illegal immigrant before gaining legal resident status. She has three siblings, including an older brother, a younger brother, and a younger half-sister. Her childhood experiences with fantasy and storytelling became formative, as she created characters as a means of escape from a turbulent household.
Minaj successfully auditioned for admission to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, a school focused on visual and performing arts. A week after graduating, she was cast in the Off-Broadway play In Case You Forget. In her youth, she worked several jobs, including as a waitress at a Red Lobster in the Bronx and in office management on Wall Street, before fully committing to music.
Path to Music
From 2002 to 2004, Minaj rapped in a New York hip hop group called Hoodstars, which included rapper Lou$tar and her future hype man Safaree Samuels. The son of Bowlegged Lou from Full Force recruited Minaj when he and his father heard her early work. After the group disbanded, Minaj continued working independently, uploading songs to her Myspace profile and sending material to industry contacts.
In 2006, Brooklyn producer Fendi reached out to Minaj on Myspace and signed her to his production company Dirty Money Entertainment under a 180-day contract. She changed her stage name from Nicki Maraj to Nicki Minaj and released her first mixtape, Playtime Is Over, on July 5, 2007. Her work on the underground rap DVD The Come Up Vol. 11 caught the attention of rapper Lil Wayne, who contacted Fendi to arrange a call and eventually invited her to join his new imprint, Young Money.
Minaj released two more mixtapes, Sucka Free in April 2008 and Beam Me Up Scotty in April 2009, both of which received favorable coverage. A bidding war among major record labels followed, and in late August 2009, she signed a recording contract with Young Money, retaining ownership of her merchandising, sponsorships, touring, and publishing rights.
Nicki Minaj Career
Early Career (2002–2009)
Minaj’s earliest professional work came through the group Hoodstars and subsequent solo mixtapes that circulated through New York’s underground rap scene. Her collaborations with Lil Wayne and a strong social media presence helped her develop a devoted early following. The mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty produced the track “I Get Crazy,” which reached number 20 on the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart and number 37 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
In the summer of 2009, Minaj performed on a tour headlined by Wayne featuring Young Money artists, then managed by Debra Antney. Her freestyles, mixtapes, and guest features drew significant industry attention, ultimately leading to a major-label deal. In October 2009, she performed a freestyle at the BET Hip Hop Awards cypher, further establishing her reputation as a formidable lyricist.
Breakthrough (2010–2012)
In early 2010, Minaj made her first appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 through guest features on songs by Lil Wayne and Mariah Carey. She also appeared on the Young Money compilation album We Are Young Money, whose singles peaked at numbers two and 56 in the United States. She became the first female solo artist to have seven singles simultaneously charting on the Hot 100.
Her guest verse on Kanye West’s “Monster” was widely praised by critics, with Complex later rating it the number-one best rap verse of the preceding five years. Her debut studio album, Pink Friday, was released on November 19, 2010, debuting at number two and later reaching number one on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 375,000 copies. It had the largest sales week for a female rap album in the 21st century.
The single “Super Bass” became a sleeper hit, eventually peaking at number three on the Hot 100 and being certified 12-times platinum by the RIAA. Minaj won her first MTV Video Music Award for “Super Bass” in 2011. Her second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in April 2012 and produced the top-five single “Starships,” which was later certified diamond. The album was the best-selling rap album released in 2012 in the United States.
Notable Works and Milestones
Minaj’s signature work remains Pink Friday, which Rolling Stone later included in its list of the 200 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time. She is the female rapper with the most US number-one albums in chart history, a record she cemented with the 2023 release of her fifth studio album, Pink Friday 2. Her Pink Friday 2 World Tour became the highest-grossing tour by a female rapper and the fourth-highest-grossing tour by a rapper or hip hop artist, with over $108 million in revenue.
Nicki Minaj Award Nominations
Nicki Minaj has received 12 Grammy Award nominations across her career, including for Best New Artist, Best Rap Album, and Best Rap Performance. She has also earned nominations at the Brit Awards, Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, BET Awards, MTV Europe Music Awards, and Soul Train Music Awards. Her widespread recognition by major industry bodies reflects her consistent commercial impact and chart presence since her debut.
Nicki Minaj Awards Won
Nicki Minaj has won one Brit Award, five Billboard Music Awards, nine American Music Awards, eight MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), eleven BET Awards, one Soul Train Music Award, and twelve MTV Europe Music Awards. She is the only rapper to win the BET Award for Best Female Hip Hop Artist eight times. In 2023, she became the first black artist and the first female rapper to win the MTV Europe Music Award for Best US Act. Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016, and Billboard honored her with the Women in Music Game Changer Award in 2019.
Nicki Minaj Family
Minaj’s father, Robert Maraj, was a financial executive and part-time gospel singer of Dougla descent, and her mother, Carol Maraj, also a gospel singer with Afro-Trinidadian ancestry, worked in payroll and accounting. She has three siblings, including an older brother, a younger brother, and a younger half-sister. Her father died in a hit-and-run accident in Long Island in 2021. In 2011, her cousin Nicholas Telemaque was murdered near his home in Brooklyn, an incident she referenced in her songs “All Things Go” and “Champion.”
Personal Life
Minaj dated her hype man Safaree Samuels from 2003 to 2014, then rapper Meek Mill from 2015 until January 2017. In December 2018, she began dating childhood friend Kenneth Petty, and they announced their marriage in October 2019, with Minaj hyphenating his last name to hers. On September 30, 2020, she gave birth to a son, whom she refers to publicly as Papa Bear. Minaj has stated that she is a Christian and is a long-time legal permanent resident of the United States.