After graduation, Minaj wanted to become an actress, and she was cast in the Off-Broadway play In Case You Forget in 2001. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, which focuses on visual and performing arts. I kind of wanted a strict household." Minaj successfully auditioned for admission to Fiorello H. My mom motivated me, but it wasn't a strict household. Minaj recalled, "I don't think I had a lot of discipline in my household. Eventually, when Minaj was five, Carol got her first house on 147th Street in South Jamaica, Queens and migrated both Minaj and Jelani to live with her and their father. She then moved to the Bronx in New York City to attend Monroe College leaving both Minaj and Jelani in Trinidad with their grandmother. Minaj's mother, Carol Maraj, was working numerous jobs in Saint James before getting her green card at the age of 24. She has an older brother named Jelani, a younger brother named Micaiah, and a younger sister named Ming.Īs a child, Minaj and her older brother, Jelani, grew up with her grandmother in Saint James in a household with 11 cousins.
Minaj's father was addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine and had a violent temper, burning down their house in December 1987. Carol worked in payroll and accounting departments during Minaj's youth. Her mother, Carol Maraj, is also a gospel singer with Afro-Trinidadian ancestry. Her father was Robert Maraj (1956-2021), a financial executive and part-time gospel singer of Dougla ( Afro-Trinidadian mother and Indo-Trinidadian father) descent. Onika Tanya Maraj was born in the Saint James district of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on December 8, 1982. 2.7 2022–present: Upcoming fifth studio album.2.6 2020–2021: Collaborations and Beam Me Up Scotty re-release.2.4 2014–2017: The Pinkprint and other ventures.2.3 2012–2013: Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded and The Re-Up.2.2 2010–2011: Breakthrough with Pink Friday.
Outside of music, her film career has included voice roles in the animated films Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019) as well as supporting roles in the comedy films The Other Woman (2014) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016). In 2016, Time included her on their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Billboard ranked her as the best-selling female rapper of the 2010s, and seventh among the top female artists. Her accolades include eight American Music Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards, six MTV Europe Music Awards, twelve BET Awards, four Billboard Music Awards, a Brit Award, and three Guinness World Records. Additionally, she was named one of the "most influential hip hop artists of all time" by Evening Standard.
Often cited as the " Queen of Rap" and the "Queen of Hip Hop" by several media outlets, Minaj is one of the best-selling artists of all time, with 100 million records sold worldwide. She re-released her mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty (2009) in 2021, becoming the highest debut for a female rap mixtape, debuting at number two in the U.S. top ten singles, the most for any female rapper, and is one of seven female artists to reach it. She became the first female artist to hold one hundred Billboard Hot 100 entries. With "Trollz", she became the first female rapper since 1998 to debut at number one on the chart. number-one singles with " Say So" remix with Doja Cat and " Trollz" with 6ix9ine. In 2020, Minaj spawned her first and second U.S.
Her collaboration with Karol G, " Tusa", became the longest running number one single in Argentina. top-two second single, " Anaconda", became the first solo female rap video to reach one billion views on YouTube. Her third and fourth studio albums, The Pinkprint (2014) and Queen (2018), explored more personal topics and marked a return to her hip hop roots. The follow-up album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012), saw Minaj exploring a dance-pop sound, and reached number one in several countries worldwide. It also became the second song by a solo female rapper to become diamond certified in the US. Billboard Hot 100 and became the highest charting solo song by a female rapper since 2002. The fifth single, " Super Bass", reached number three on the U.S. She rose to fame with her debut album, Pink Friday (2010), which topped the U.S. Minaj first gained recognition after releasing three mixtapes between 20. She is known for her versatility as an artist, her animated flow and lyricism in her rapping and her usage of alter egos and accents. Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( / m ɪ ˈ n ɑː ʒ/), is a Trinidadian-born rapper, singer, and songwriter.