NICKI MINAJ

Nicki Minaj, a renowned screen name; original being Onika Tanya Maraj. She has emerged out from a struggling childhood, then livelihood before she could live her life of passion. She is well-known for being a rapper, songwriter, singer, actress and a model. A well-recognized image "Queen of the Rap" always making distinctive appearances with colourful crazy costumes and wigs.

FAMILY: She is a 36-year-old American citizen. She was born to part-time gospel singers Robert Maraj and Carol Maraj on December 8, 1982. So, music and singing were an essence of Minaj's life ever since she was born. She grew up in a family and has witnessed the struggles of livelihood. She is one of the five children of her parents. She was an unhappy child as far as her home was concerned. But, a mother's love is enduring and she is a blessed child to receive and acknowledge that.

BEGINNING OF THE CAREER: Minaj originally had an interest in acting. She graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. But one does not have a career coming up served in a plate. It takes plenty of work to be done. She too struggled before she succeeded in various and multiple jobs including being a waitress. But her rough attitude got her fired from many jobs.

As a rapper, she first signed with Brooklyn group Full Force. But she was not satisfied and wanted an independent identity. She started uploading her songs on Myspace profile and approached several people in the music industry to gain recognition. With a lot of effort, she could manage to get signed with the Brooklyn label Dirty Money Entertainment. It was here she adopted the stage name of Nicki Minaj.

She can always be seen portraying her upbringing in her various interviews, tours, mixtapes. She has seen rapping as a male-dominated field and had strived to emerge out loud as a woman rapper. And she really got the recognition she hungered for with her singles being positioned well in US Billboard 100.

ALBUMS:

1. "Pink Friday": With her rap singles from her first album, she topped the Billboard Rap Song charts. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200. She was witnessed to have an exclusive flow in her rap style. She got awarded with the top position and her album was certified platinum.

2. "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded:" With her second album, Minaj did a crossover with the pop music. Singles from the album topped Billboard Hot 100 and a best-selling single of all times. Again her second album also debuted the peak position on the Billboard 200.  It is also a platinum-certified album by RIAA.

3. "The Pinkprint": With the launch of this album, Minaj took up a giant leap to reach out to the roots of Hip-Hop. The single from this album "Anaconda" was on number-two on the Billboard Hot 100. It then became the highest charted single in the U.S. By this time, social media has already captured the world in its vast space and this single "Anaconda" got viral and made a 24-hour Vevo record breaking the prior record.

The Pinkprint debuted and grabbed the number-two position on the US Billboard 200.

4. "Queen": With the launch of her fourth album, the Queen, she also came up with her own Beats 1 radio show with the same name, Queen Radio. The Queen could nowhere be left behind and managed to grasp the second position on the US Billboard 200.

THE FIRSTS:

·       Minaj became the first female rap artist to showcase her performance at Yankee Stadium.

·       She is the first female solo with seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time.

·       She's the first female to appear on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List.

·       Minaj is the first solo female rapper to perform at the Grammy Awards.

·       She is the first rapper to win the BET Best Female Hip-Hop Artist Award four consecutive times.

·       She is the first female artist to chart four songs as the lead plays  in the top 10 of Billboard's Mainstream Hip-Hop airplay chart.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS:

·       Grammy award nomination for Best New Artist and Best Rap Album

·       Best female video for Starships in the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards

·       Best Hip-Hop at the MTV Europe Music Awards twice in 2012 and 2015.

·       Grammy Award nominations, for Best Rap Song ("Anaconda") and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

·       Grammy Award nominations for Pinkprint.

·       She has won maximum awards as a female rapper with her sixth award as the Best Female Hip-hop artist all being in a row.

·       Nominated as an actress for her role in Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Actress: Comedy

ENDORSEMENTS: Minaj has endorsed a number of products during her career. She introduced the Versace collection for H & M. She performed in Victoria Secret's Fashion Show. Nail polishes of OPI, Nokia Lumia, Pepsi and many more are in the queue.

SOCIAL ACTIVIST: Minaj contributed in raising $250 million for an AIDS campaign by appearing in MAC Cosmetics' Viva Glam products.

CONTROVERSIES: Minaj has been in controversies for having known to expose herself at quite a number of events and situations. She has been in words for her sexually explicit performances, tantalizing and vexing lyrics. Her performances have also been considered as symbolizing sexuality, exorcism and vulgarism.

Minaj has a unique way of combining her lyrics in the rap. Her playing with words to display the touches of sarcasm, emotions in different directions is just outstanding. She becomes a powerhouse of melody with her combined lyrics and can enlighten various directions at the same time.

She makes risk-taking, bold and outstanding choices, whether it's for her costumes, songs, lyrics, albums or ventures.

She tries to grow and keep going on. She is well-known for her flow, which is as unique as is she herself. She can channelize her talent in various moods.

She indeed is a good voice-artist. She has done many voiceovers also, like Steffie in Ice Age: The Continental Drift.

She judged the reality talent show American Idol.

Minaj hosted the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards.

Undoubtedly, Nickey Minaj is the Queen of the Rap.