Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj on December 8, 1982. She is an American rapper, songwriter, and actress. Born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago and raised in Jamaica, Queens, New York.


She gained public notability after releasing the mixtapes Playtime is Over (2007), Sucka Free (2008), and Beam Me Up Scotty (2009). Minaj subsequently signed a recording contract with Young Money Entertainment in 2009.


Minaj grew up in a troubled family with a father who was a drug addict. She studied singing and acting at LaGuardia High School but like many other big stars, she began her singing career as a backing vocalist for other artists.



Minaj's father was a severe drug addict with a long history of violence. At one point, he set fire to the family's home in a failed attempt to kill Minaj's mother. Those early struggles, Minaj has said, helped fuel her drive to rise above the life her parents knew. "I've always had this female-empowerment thing in the back of my mind," she told Details magazine, "because I wanted my mother to be stronger, and she couldn't be. I thought, 'If I'm successful, I can change her life.'"


To reach that point, however, the young Minaj developed personas for herself that would allow her to be a "new person." An early incarnation was someone she called "Cookie," then came "Harajuku Barbie," before finally settling on Nicki Minaj. "Fantasy was my reality," she has said. Minaj clearly had a knack for performance. At the age of 12, she authored her first rap, then went on to delve into acting at La Guardia High School of Music and Art, the school that inspired the movie Fame.

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sweet Nikki, my hollywood celebrity crush