Biography
-
Born
8 December 1982 (age 41)
-
Born In
Saint James, Port of Spain, Trinidad, Trinidad and Tobago
Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (née Maraj; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj (/ˈnɪki mɪˈnɑːʒ/ NIK-ee min-AHZH), is a Trinidadian-born rapper, singer, and songwriter. Often referred to as the "Queen of Rap", she is known for her musical versatility, animated rap flow, and various alter egos. She first gained recognition after releasing three mixtapes between 2007 and 2009. Minaj's debut album, Pink Friday (2010), topped the US Billboard 200 chart; its single "Super Bass" reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and was later certified diamond by the RIAA. Its follow-up, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012), explored dance-pop and topped the Billboard 200, spawning the hit single “Starships”. Her next album, The Pinkprint (2014), marked a return to her hip hop roots. Its single "Anaconda" peaked at number two on the Hot 100 and became the first music video by a solo female rapper to reach one billion views on YouTube. Her 2019 collaboration with Karol G, "Tusa", became the longest-running number-one single on the Argentina Hot 100 chart. She achieved her first two US number-one singles in 2020 with the collaborations "Say So (Remix)" with Doja Cat and "Trollz" with 6ix9ine. In 2022, she earned her first solo number one on the Hot 100 with "Super Freaky Girl", the lead single from her fifth album, Pink Friday 2 (2023), which also debuted atop the Billboard 200.
Minaj is one of the best-selling music artists with 100 million records sold worldwide. Billboard ranked her as the top-selling female rapper of the 2010s and one of the greatest rappers of all time. She is the only female rapper to have 3 number-one albums on the Billboard 200 chart.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
