Here is an entry about a young lady singer, Her name is NICKI MINAJ , She has become one of my favourite modern artists ! The thing about her is her performance is always great with different outfits and hair every time,
Read about this fabulous sexy lady in her biography bellow !
Nicki Minaj
| She even has a Barbie doll modelled on her ! | |
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| This is how it all started . | |
| Birth name | Onika Tanya Maraj |
| Born | December 8, 1982 December 8, 1984 Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago |
| Origin | Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States |
| Genres | Pop, dance, electronic, hip hop, R&B |
| Occupations | Rapper, singer-songwriter, voice actress, television personality |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Labels | Cash Money, Young Money, Universal Republic, Universal Motown |
| Associated acts | Young Money, Lil Wayne, Drake, Rihanna, Rick Ross |
| Website | mypinkfriday.com |
Minaj rose to prominence when she released her debut album, Pink Friday, in November 2010, peaking at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and being certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) a month after its release. She became the first female solo artist to have seven singles on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. Her seventh single, "Super Bass" has since been certified quadruple-platinum by the RIAA, and has sold more than four million copies, becoming one of the best-selling singles in the United States. Minaj released her second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, in April 2012, which topped charts internationally, also spawning the top 10 singles "Starships" and "Pound the Alarm". Since, the album has become one of the best-selling albums of 2012, according to the Nielsen SoundScan, selling 1,000,000 copies worldwide. In 2012, Minaj embarked on two worldwide tours, the Pink Friday Tour and the Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour.
Minaj's artistry features fast-paced rapping, alter egos and accents, notably British cockney. Her outlandish and colorful costumes, wigs and clothing have given her recognition as a fashion icon. She featured as a voice actress in Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, is currently serving as a judge on American Idol and has endorsed Adidas, MAC Cosmetics, and Pepsi. Minaj's work has earned her six BET Awards, two American Music Awards, two MTV Music Award and Billboard's 2011 Rising Star. She is the first female artist included on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List, with The New York Times suggesting that some consider her "the most influential female rapper of all time.
Onika Tanya Maraj was born December 8, 1982 or 1984 in Saint James, a suburb of Trinidad and Tobago's capital city Port of Spain. to parents Carol and Robert Maraj, an accounting clerk/gospel singer and an employee at American Express, respectively. Her parents are of mixed Indian and Afro-Trinidadian ancestry and she lived in Saint James with her grandmother. Minaj is the middle sister to brothers Makiya and Jelani, as mentioned in her song "I'm the Best" on her debut album, Pink Friday. Her mother would occasionally visit, and one day, when Minaj was five, her mother picked her up to move to the Queens borough of New York City. According to Minaj, her father drank heavily, took drugs, and once tried to kill her mother by setting the house on fire.
Minaj attended Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School 210, where she played the clarinet. She then graduated from LaGuardia High School, which specializes in music and the visual and performing arts. Minaj participated in the drama program and initially planned to sing at LaGuardia, but lost her voice on the day of the audition. Minaj had a passion to become an actress, but failed at attempts to pursue her career due to the lack of roles she received. In 2001, she was cast in the off-Broadway play, "In Case You Forget". After her acting career failed to take off, Minaj worked at Red Lobster in the Bronx at the age of 19 as a waitress and purchased her first vehicle, a BMW. Minaj was fired from Red Lobster because of her discourteousness to customers. She stated she had been fired from "at least fifteen jobs" for similar antics. Other jobs Minaj held were administrative assistant, customer service, an office manager position at an unknown business located on Wall Street.
After exploring other career options, Minaj rapped in a foursome group called "Hoodstars," which consisted of group members Scaff Beezy, Lou$tar, and 7even Up. The group recorded the entrance song for WWE wrestler Victoria titled "Don't Mess With," it was featured on the compilation album ThemeAddict: WWE The Music, Vol.6. Minaj left the group, unsatisfied with their lack of success. During this time, Minaj uploaded a few songs on her Myspace profile and sent a few of her songs to people in the music industry. Fendi, CEO of the Brooklyn label Dirty Money Entertainment, who also found rapper Gravy, discovered the music and contacted Minaj, signing her to his label. Initially, Minaj adopted the pseudonym "Nicki Maraj", later changing to "Nicki Minaj", stating "My real name is Maraj. Fendi flipped it when he met me because I had such a nasty flow! I eat bitches!" Under Fendi's label, Minaj appeared on the popular street DVD "The Come Up Volume 11" that featured underground rappers from New York.
2007–09: Mixtapes and Young Money
Minaj released her first mixtape Playtime Is Over in 2007 with Dirty Money Records. Her second mixtape, Sucka Free, was released on July 7, 2008 under the label Be. She won the Female Artist of the Year award at the 2008 Underground Music Awards shortly after. On April 18, 2009, Minaj released her third mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty under the label of Trapaholics Records; it received positive coverage on both BET and MTV. She also appeared in XXL magazine during this time.In August 2009, Minaj signed a record deal with Young Money Entertainment, with distribution from Universal Motown Records, after fellow American rapper Lil Wayne discovered her on The Come Up DVD. Minaj generated significant attention when she first appeared on Yo Gotti's 5 Star Chick video, which gave her mainstream success with the urban community. At the request of Jay-Z, Minaj was asked to feature on Robin Thicke's single Shakin' It 4 Daddy. Following the guest appearance, Minaj was given a solo rap verse in the single "BedRock". The record garnered huge commercial success, reaching number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. She also appeared on "Roger That," which charted at number 56. The song, particularly Minaj, received positive reviews from critics. In December 2009, both songs were included in Young Money Entertainment's debut collaborative studio album We Are Young Money. The album charted in the top ten on the Billboard 200, reaching number 9 and later receiving a Gold Certification by the RIAA. Minaj was featured on Mariah Carey's "Up Out My Face" and its music video. The collaboration was well received by critics.
2010–11: Pink Friday and commercial breakthrough
Pink Friday was released on November 19, 2010. A buzz single, "Massive Attack", was released in April. In August, Minaj released "Your Love" as the first official single from her debut album. The single peaked at 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, 7 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, and topped the Rap Songs chart. Minaj became the first female artist to be included on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List and the first female artist to top the chart unaccompanied since 2002. In October 2010, Minaj became the first artist to have seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously. She released a two singles in September 2010; one a joint single with The Black Eyed Peas front man, will.i.am titled, "Check It Out," and the other "Right Thru Me." The music videos for both were released in late October. "Moment 4 Life" was released as the fourth single on December 7, 2010, featuring Canadian rapper Drake, becoming a success on the Billboard Hot 100. The single peaked at number 5 on the Hot Rap Songs.
The album gained Platinum certification in the United States a month after the release. On January 29, 2011, Minaj appeared on Saturday Night Live as the musical guest, performing "Right Thru Me" and "Moment 4 Life". On February 9, 2011, Pink Friday reached number one on the Billboard 200 in its eleventh week on the chart. Minaj turned down an offer to become a judge on The X Factor, as rapped on her Roman Reloaded song, due to the salary for the gig. In June 2011, Minaj was an opening act along with Jessie and the Toy Boys and Nervo on Britney Spears' sixth concert tour, the Femme Fatale Tour, in support of her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale. She and singer Kesha were featured on the remix of Spears' track "Till the World Ends," which charted at number 3 in the US in April 2011.
"Super Bass" was released from Pink Friday in May 2011. The single charted within the top 10 in many countries including the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Canada, and later was certified as quadruple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song gained positive reviews from critics. Minaj went on to attribute the success of the single in part to Taylor Swift, saying in an interview with American radio station 102.7 KIIS FM, "Taylor Swift did her little interview about 'Super Bass' and [it] took off in the States with the people sort of knowing it...It’s just really uncanny how all that stuff happens...We didn’t plan it like that." Minaj voiced a character in the 3D animated film, Ice Age: Continental Drift, as Steffie, a woolly mammoth. Minaj is also featured on French DJ David Guetta's 2011 album, Nothing but the Beat, on the singles "Where Them Girls At" and "Turn Me On".
2011–present: Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, touring and American Idol
On February 12, 2012,Nicki Minaj debuted her another electropop song, "Roman Holiday", at the 54th Grammy Awards, becoming first song performed on the Grammy stage by a solo female rapper. The exorcism-themed performance drew a mixed response online. She was featured on "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (with M.I.A.) and "I Don't Give A," both songs (the first being the lead single) from Madonna's 2012 album MDNA. The trio performed the former during the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show in February. The album's second single, "Right by My Side," which features Chris Brown, was released on March 27, 2012. Following the album's release, it peaked at number 24 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart. It also peaked in the lower regions of the UK singles chart, at position #101. The third single, an electro-hop song called "Beez in the Trap", which features 2 Chainz was released to U.S. Urban radio on April 24, 2012. It was premiered on DJ Flex's radio show at Hot 97 on March 20, 2012. It peaked at number 24 on the US Billboard Rap Songs Chart. The video was premiered on April 6, 2012 on Minaj's VEVO account.
Minaj began her first worldwide tour, the Pink Friday Tour, on May 16, 2012, and will be followed by the Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour, set to begin in October. Minaj cancelled her appearance at the 2012 V Festival in the United Kingdom and the final show of her Pink Friday Tour in Dublin due to the damage of her vocal chords.
Minaj revealed the bottle design for her fragrance, "Pink Friday," through Twitter. The bottle bears a pink wig, a gold-platted bust, and a chain that hangs from the neck, bearing her name, similar to the cover of her debut album, Pink Friday. On August 24, 2012, Minaj premiered the music video for "I Am Your Leader" through Vevo. She was featured on Lil Wayne's mixtape, Dedication 4, in September 2012. Minaj won the award for Best Female Video at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, and performed "Girl on Fire" with Alicia Keys and special guest gymnast Gabby Douglas. That evening, she announced that Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded will be re-released on November 19, 2012 as Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded – The Re-Up. It will feature different album artwork than the original and will be released on a second disc with 5–8 songs, and with a 90 minute DVD. The first single from the re-release, "The Boys", with Cassie, was released on September 13, 2012.
In August 2012, reports emerged speculating that Minaj will join the judging panel for the twelfth season of American Idol, though Minaj commented at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, "You know what? At this time, I have no comment on that one." On September 16, 2012, it was confirmed that Minaj would join the panel alongside Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, and Keith Urban, beginning immediately with the auditions starting the same day.Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey have received much media attention for their on-set American Idol tension. Featuring Cassie, the video for Minaj and she's collaboration, "The Boys" saw its VEVO debut on October 18, 2012. E! announced that Minaj is set to star in three documentary specials, premiering on November 4, 2012, titled Nicki Minaj: My Truth. Accompanying the announcement as the music video for the fifth single of her sophomoric album, Roman Reloaded, "Va Va Voom". On November 3, 2012, Minaj debuted her second single, Freedom, from the re-release of her sophmore album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded: The Re-Up. It was released via Twitter worldwide and by radio station 1xtra in the UK.
Minaj is known for wearing outlandish costumes and wigs, which leads to comparisons to Lady Gaga, and is often called "the black Lady Gaga"; Minaj refutes comparisons between the two. She cites Alexander McQueen, Versace, and Christian Louboutin as her favorite designers. The Huffington Post described Minaj's fashion as "risk-taking", "bold sartorial choices", and "far-out", with Yahoo! commenting that her costume was "colorful", "crazy" and stated that "the world would certainly be very quiet without Ms Minaj"Nicki Minaj has been invited to attend various events for fashion designers. Donatella Versace invited Minaj to perform for the launch of the collaboration of Versace for H&M alongside Prince. She also performed "Super Bass" at a Victoria Secret fashion show in November 2011. Nicki was personally invited to be sat with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour during New York Fashion Week to see designers such as Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera.
With over 14,000 tweets and 14 million followers, Billboard ranked Minaj the sixth most active user of microblogging website Twitter. In March 2011, Billboard named Minaj the fourth most active musician on social media, through their Social 50 chart. The chart tracks Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, and Instagram usage. On Twitter, she is the most followed rapper in the world. Upon Twitter and in public appearances and interviews, Minaj refers to her fans collectively as "Barbz" and her male Hetrosexual and LGBT following as "Boyz" and "Ken Barbz," respectively, alluding to her "Harajaku Barbie" persona. Minaj deleted her Twitter account for eight days in April 2012, following a dispute between her and fans who wanted to leak snippets of her then-unreleased album. At the time, she possessed 11 million followers and lost over a million followers as a result of the ordeal.
In 2012, amateur cartoonist David Monger( I have a nephew with that same name ) authored a popular web series based on Nicki Minaj called The Nekci Menij Show. Featuring pop icons from Madonna to Marina and the Diamonds, the characters are illustrated in an intentionally crude manner accompanied by SMS language so as to mirror the internet meme Dolan Duck. Since September 2012, the show had garnered more than 600,000 views on YouTube. Primarily crafted using Microsoft Paint, the show is intended as a satire of celebrity syndrome and stan culture.
Alter egos
While growing up,Nicki Minaj's home life was often chaotic, with her parents constantly fighting. As a means of escape, she would create characters and live her life through them, saying, "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." Nicki also introduced "Point Dexter" on her skit on SNL as an alter-ego, but she has since mentioned Point Dexter as one of her alter-egos.On November 18, 2010, Minaj assumed an alter ego named "Nicki Teresa" Wearing a colorful scarf around her head, she went around as the "healer to her fans" as she visited them at The Garden of Dreams Foundation at Fuse studios in New York City. Nicki made an appearance on Lopez Tonight on December 6, 2010 and presented a different alter-ego for the Spanish-inspired occasion, named "Rosa" (pronounced Rrrrrosa).
For Pink Friday, Minaj created another alter ego, "Roman Zolanski," which Minaj claims is her "twin brother" that was born inside her, out of rage, and becomes him when she is angry. She has also said he is "a demon inside her." Roman has been compared to Eminem's alter ego Slim Shady, and on the song "Roman's Revenge" from Pink Friday, Minaj and Eminem collaborate, using these alter egos. On the collaboration, she said "The new album is going to have a lot of Roman on it ... And if you're not familiar with Roman, then you will be familiar with him very soon. He’s the boy that lives inside of me. He's a lunatic and he's gay and he'll be on there a lot." Roman also has a "mother" called "Martha Zolanski," who also appeared on "Roman's Revenge," with a British accent, and on "Roman Holiday", singing for the first time. Martha appears in the video for "Moment 4 Life" where she appears to be Minaj's magical godmother. In songs such as "All I Do Is Win (Remix)" it is Minaj rapping. Nicki stated that on her debut album, fans will get to "meet" Nicki, Roman and Onika. Nicki also produces with her management team and personal friends as Pink Friday Productions, most notable for producing in her second studio album.
Nicki is known for her animated rapping style, particularly her flow. She often combines metaphors, punchlines, and wordplay into her work, which has received comparisons to her mentor, Lil Wayne. The New York Times described Minaj as "a sparkling rapper with a gift for comic accents and unexpected turns of phrase. She's a walking exaggeration, outsize in sound, personality and look. And she's a rapid evolver, discarding old modes as easily as adopting new ones." While many critics describe her technique as bubblegum rap, Minaj explained, "What people don't know is that before I was doing that craziness I was doing me, I was just doing regular sounding rap that anyone could hear and identify with. But once I started doing all that weird shit—im not mad at it because it got everyone’s attention". Widely recognized as a rap artist, Minaj heavily lends herself to electronic music genres, especially electropop. Her debut album Pink Friday marked her exploration of the genre, spawning a string of electro-hits, including "Super Bass"Following the same conventions of combining rap with electronic synths, Minaj's second album pervasively toiled in the electropop genre and generated various songs, including "HOV Lane", "Whip It", "Automatic", Come On A Cone", "Young Forever", and "Fire Burns", and the Billboard hits, "Roman Holiday" and "Beez in the Trap". At this stage in Minaj's career, the electro-hop chanteuse adventured into collaborations with other artist, producing additional electronic hits "The Boys" with "Me & U" singer Cassie and "Beauty and a Beat" with Canadadian pop singer Justin Bieber.
Her verse in Kanye West's "Monster" was well received by critics, stating she had the best verse in the song. Her alter egos are incorporated in her lyrics through her use of British accents (Roman Zolanski) and being soft-spoken (Harajuku Barbie.) Ice-T says of Minaj's rapping style, "[Minaj] does her thing. She has her own way of doing it. She has an ill vocal delivery. She kind of reminds me of a female Busta Rhymes, like how she throws her voice in different directions – but she's no Lil' Kim".
Minaj has stated that artists who have influenced her musical style include Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, Lil Wayne, Lauryn Hill, Jadakiss, Natasha Bedingfield, Foxy Brown, Lil' Kim and Missy Elliott. She was also inspired by Janet Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Jones, M.I.A., and Cyndi Lauper.
Nicki cites Foxy Brown and Jay-Z as major influences, saying, "I really loved [Foxy] as a female rapper. I was really interested in her mind and her aura, I was really, really into Jay-Z. Me and my friends in high school, we were reciting all of the Jay lyrics. His words were our words in our conversations all the time. I never really told Foxy how much she has influenced me and how much she changed my life, and you've gotta tell people that when they're alive to even be able to take the compliment, instead of paying tribute to them when they're no longer here." She has said that Foxy Brown was "the most influential female rapper" and that her album Broken Silence changed her life.Jada Pinkett Smith is one of Minaj's role models in her acting career. Minaj was inspired by R&B singer Monica, and used to sing her song "Why I Love You So Much" at every talent show she was in. Minaj referred to Monica as one of her biggest musical influences of all time whilst performing in Atlanta on her Pink Friday Tour. Kanye West, Trina, and Drake have been named as influences to Nicki. Betsey Johnson is another one of Minaj's fashion icon, saying, "[Betsey] is a free spirit. When I met her the other day, I felt like I knew her for my whole life. She's so warm and considerate and caring. She's amazingly talented and I've been wearing her clothes forever, so to meet her was like, 'Yay!' [I was] bowing down to her;
Nicki has signed contracts with a variety of corporate interests and manufacturing companies. In 2011, she helped launch Casio's TRYX digital camera in Times Square, along with The Roots. She launched the Nokia Lumia 900 in Times Square followed by an performance of "Starships," "Super Bass," and "Right by My Side."Nicki Minaj
contracted an promotional deal with Pepsi in which she appeared in a commercial, which was shot in Argentina for the global LiveForNow campaign, and internet advertisements. The commercial featured a remix of "Moment 4 Life." Mattel produced a custom Nicki Minaj-themed Barbie to be auctioned on charitybuzz and was valued at an estimate of $US15,000 dollars.
MAC Cosmetics collaborated with Minaj on many business ventures, such as a limited edition lipstick called Pink 4 Friday that went on sale for four consecutive Fridays starting November 26, 2010 to promote the release of Pink Friday, and also as part of the Viva Glam campaign with Ricky Martin in Latin America, which has raised $US250 million dollars for MAC AIDS Fund. Nicki has collaborated with OPI Products on a six-piece nail polish collection with colors named after her songs.
With designer Jeremy Scott, Minaj signed an endorsement deal with Adidas' fall and winter 2012 campaign to appear in Internet advertisements and commercials for Adidas Originals. The ad was filmed in a disclosed location in Brooklyn, also featuring Big Sean, Derrick Rose, Sky Ferreira and 2NE1, all around the world wearing Adidas attire. The commercial used Minaj's song "Masquerade" as the theme song for the ad. Nicki plans to launch her own clothing line in 2013, and described it as "Harajuku Barbie." Nicki revealed via Twitter that she is working on two books. Nicki has teamed up with Give Back Brands to launch her new fragrance "Pink Friday" in September 2012, which will be sold under exclusive license to Macy's in the United States and Elizabeth Arden internationally. Nicki's single "Super Bass" was featured on the Just Dance 4 video game that was released October 2012.
Discography
Main article: Nicki Minaj discography
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Nicki's tours
Opening act
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