Onika Maraj was born in 1982 in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago and lived there for five years with her grandmother.
At age 5, she moved to the Queens borough of New York City. She is of mixed Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Trinidadian descent.According to Minaj, she grew up in a home with an abusive father who drank alcohol, did drugs, and once tried to kill her mother by setting the house on fire. She has stated that life was difficult growing up, but that "music helped her through it". She attended Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School 210 and graduated from LaGuardia High School. At LaGuardia, a school specializing in music and the visual and performing arts, Minaj participated in the drama program. She once worked at a Red Lobster restaurant in the Bronx.
While growing up Nicki was surrounded by constant trouble and fighting between her parents. To escape her real life problems she would create characters and live her life through them. In an interview with New York she stated “To get away from all their fighting, I would imagine being a new person. "Cookie" was my first identity—that stayed with me for a while. I went on to "Harajuku Barbie", then "Nicki Minaj". Fantasy was my reality. I must have been such a f*cking annoying little girl.” For her debut album, Minaj created another alter-ego named "Roman Zolanski". She stated that in songs like "Bottoms Up" with Trey Songz it is not Nicki rapping, but instead Roman Zolanski. In song's such as "All I Do Is Win (Remix)" it is Nicki rapping. Minaj stated that on her debut album, fans will get to "meet" Nicki, Roman and Onika.
In an interview with Vibe Minaj discussed her sexual image stating "When I grew up I saw females doing certain things, and I thought I had to do that exactly. The female rappers of my day spoke about sex a lot... and I thought that to have the success they got, I would have to represent the same thing. When in fact I didn’t have to represent the same thing." In addition to her funny voices and on-screen character she stated "I'm not abandoning the funny voices. ... But it’s coming up more with the album. I had a teacher in elementary who would stand on her table and whisper. We’d all turn around like, ‘What is this lunatic doing?’ But she would achieve what she wanted. She wanted us to stop talking and listen. I feel like I need to mellow it down so people can hear what I have to say." In an interview with Interview, Minaj commented on her sexual image again stating, “I made a conscious decision to try to tone down the sexiness, I want people—especially young girls—to know that in life, nothing is going to be based on sex appeal. You’ve got to have something else to go with that.
Nicki Minaj - Influences
Lil Wayne, Lauryn Hill, Lil' Kim, Natasha Bedingfield, & Jada Pinkett Smith.
Nicki Minaj - Alter-Egos
Nicki Minaj, Roman Zolanski, Nicki the Boss, Nicki Harajuku Barbie, Nicki Lewinsky, Nicki Ninja.
Nicki Minaj - Studio Albums
Pink Friday is the upcoming debut studio album by Nicki Minaj, set to be released in the States on November 23, 2010 by Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Universal Motown. The album was preceded by the release of the lead single "Massive Attack", released on April 13, 2010, and its follow-up "Your Love", released on June 1, 2010.
Nicki Minaj - Official Mixtapes
Playtime Is Over (2007) , Sucka Free (2008) , Beam Me Up, Scotty (2009) , Barbie World (2010).
