Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj isn’t known as the Queen of Rap for nothing. Arguably the most influential female rapper of all time. Minaj cannonballed into the mainstream in 2010. But let’s not make the mistake of defining Minaj solely as a female rapper. Because by any measure, with her genius rhymes and endless personality, she’s one of the greatest MCs the genre has ever seen. Nicki Minaj is a generational icon, and she’s by no means ready to relinquish her crown yet.

Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj in 1982 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. As a child, she and her family moved to Queens, New York. Where Minaj went on to attend the prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia performing arts school. After high school, while working (and subsequently getting fired from) a series of customer service jobs. She began uploading music to Myspace and briefly performed with rap group The Hoodstars. Before long, legendary rapper Lil Wayne took Minaj under his wing after seeing her appearance on DVD series The Come Up. She saw the beginnings of success with the release of her early mixtapes, ‘Playtime is Over’ (2007) and ‘Sucka Free’ (2008, a collaboration with Lil Wayne).

Young Money Entertainment

In 2009, Lil Wayne signed Minaj to his label Young Money Entertainment. Through which she released her third mixtape ‘Beam Me Up Scotty’ the same year. She had her breakthrough year in 2010. Featuring on several US top-40 singles including ‘My Chick Bad’ by Ludacris (which received Minaj’s first Grammy nomination). ‘Bottoms Up’ by Trey Songz and ‘2012 (It Ain’t the End)’ by Jay Sean. In October 2010, Minaj made an indelible mark on hip-hop with her appearance on Kanye West’s ‘Monster’. Her verse on the track has frequently been cited as one of the best rap verses of all time. While Rolling Stone named the track itself one of the 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time.

In November 2010, Minaj released her debut studio album ‘Pink Friday’. The album topped the Billboard 200 chart. It had the second-highest sales debut ever for a female rapper (after Lauryn Hill), and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Album. Diamond-certified single ‘Super Bass’ was named by Billboard as the 13th best pop song of all time, and as one of the 500 best songs of all time by Rolling Stone. The album also spawned top-20 singles ‘Fly’ featuring Rihanna. As well as ‘Moment 4 Life’ featuring Drake, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Song.

In 2011, Minaj featured on further hit singles including ‘Where Them Girls At’ by David Guetta. As well as ‘Make Me Proud’ by Drake. In early 2012 was nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy and the International Breakthrough Act BRIT Award. She released her second studio album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded in 2012. Here, she merged her hip-hop chops with clubby dance-pop, resulting in the worldwide top-10 single ‘Starships’. As well as platinum-selling ‘Pound the Alarm’ and ‘Va Va Voom’. Also in 2012, Minaj featured on the Madonna single ‘Give Me All Your Luvin’. Not forgetting the Justin Bieber hit ‘Beauty and a Beat’.

Nicki Minaj’s first album

Minaj released third album The Pinkprint in 2014, on which she focused back in on her hip-hop roots, receiving another Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album. The album’s singles included the vulnerable ‘Pills N Potions’ and the raunchy ‘Anaconda’, the latter of which was hailed by Spin as a “cultural moment” and was nominated for the Best Rap Song Grammy. Also in 2014, Minaj collaborated with Jessie J and Ariana Grande on the smash-hit single ‘Bang Bang’, which debuted at #1 on the UK charts.

In 2017, Minaj released the standalone singles ‘No Frauds’ featuring Drake and Lil Wayne and ‘Regret in Your Tears.’ She also collaborated with Migos and Cardi B on the single ‘MotorSport’, which charted in the US top-10 and has been certified 6x platinum, and Jason Derulo’s ‘Swalla’. In 2018 came Minaj’s fourth album, Queen, which featured guest appearances from the likes of Ariana Grande, Eminem and The Weeknd. Pitchfork named it Minaj’s “most creatively honest album” in a positive review. The same year, she also featured on hit singles ‘Ball for Me’ by Post Malone, ‘Fefe’ by 6ix9ine and ‘Idol’ by BTS.

In 2019, Minaj featured on the iconic Megan Thee Stallion single ‘Hot Girl Summer’, and released the standalone single ‘Megatron’. She also co-headlined the Nicki Wlrd Tour with Juice Wrld through Europe and the UK. The following year, she had her first US #1 singles with ‘Trollz’ with 6ix9ine, and Doja Cat’s ‘Say So’ remix — the latter being the first song by two female rappers to top the Billboard Hot 100.

2022

In 2022, after the birth of her son, Minaj returned to the charts with the single ‘Do We Have A Problem?’. Featuring Lil Baby, as well as headlining London’s Wireless Festival. During August, she debuted at #1 with ‘Super Freaky Girl’, the lead single from her fifth album Pink Friday 2, which broke the record for biggest debut for a solo female rap song on Spotify. In 2023, Minaj collaborated with Ice Spice on the singles ‘Princess Diana’ and ‘Barbie World’ — the latter of which featured on the soundtrack of Barbie and received two Grammy nominations for Best Rap Song and Best Song Written For Visual Media. Pink Friday 2 was released in December 2023.

In late 2023, Minaj announced the Pink Friday 2 World Tour, which will stop in Manchester, Birmingham and London in May 2024.