Nicki Minaj (born Onika Tanya Maraj 08.12.1982) is an American rapper known for her singles 'Super Bass' and 'Anaconda' and her acting appearances in 'Ice Age: Continental Drift' and 'The Other Woman'.
Net worth: According to Celebrity Net Worth in 2013, Nicki Minaj has a net worth of 50 million USD.
Childhood: Nicki Minaj was born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago, to parents of African and Indian decent. At the age of 5, Minaj moved to the suburb of Jamaica in Queens, New York. Here, Minaj studied at Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School, before graduating from LaGuardia High School.
At the age of 19, she was fired from a job at Red Lobster in the Bronx for rudeness towards customers. She supposedly was fired from a further fifteen jobs for similar reasons.
Career: Nicki Minaj began creating mixtapes at an early age, some of which went on to be featured in 'XXL' - a hip-hop magazine. In 2008, she was awarded Female Artist of the Year by the Underground Music Awards. The following year, Minja released a mixtape entitled 'Beam Me Up Scotty', which was received well by critics at BET and MTV. In April 2010, Minaj released her debut single, 'Massive Attack', which was produced by Sean Garrett who features on the single with Alex Da Kid. A music video was made, directed by Hype Williams.
'Massive Attack' may have been Minaj's debut single, but the first single for her debut album was 'Your Love', which peaked at number 14 on Billboard's Hot 100 list. Minaj officially announced that her debut album was entitled 'Pink Friday' soon after, and the album was set for release in November 2010. A month beforehand, Minaj became the first female rapper to have seven songs in the Billboard 200 list.
'Pink Friday' was released on 19th November 2010, debuting at the number two spot on Billboard's 200 list, before later making it to the number one spot. Minaj used the name of her alter-ego, Roman Zolanski, in her second studio album. 'The Pink Print: Roman Reloaded', was released on 2nd April 2012 and debuted at the number one spot on Billboard's 200.
The album divided critics, receiving only moderate reviews, mainly due to the mix of rap and dance-pop. Minaj announced that for her 2014 third album, she would focus entirely on rap, and leave the pop out of it. On 12th December 2014, Nicki Minaj released 'The Pinkprint', which once again debuted at the number two spot on Billboard's 200.
The album received generally positive reviews, with many critics stating that it was Minaj's best album. Other critics cited the more vulnerable portions of the album as a tremendous let-down. Minaj then revealed that she planned to begin a promotional tour in support of the album in March 2015.
Personal Life: Nicki Minaj identifies herself as a Christian after her father attended rehab and became one himself. Minaj has also been cited as a supposed bisexual, however she has revealed that she does not wish to be labelled, and instead wants to make the hip-hop community more welcoming of non-heterosexual people.
In one of her songs, Minaj makes reference to an abortion she had at a young age, while in another, she references the death of her cousin, Nicholas Telemaque, who was murdered in Brooklyn in 2011.
Biography by Contactmusic.com
