45 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Nicki Minaj

9 years ago

45 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Nicki Minaj

Hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj is a famous American
rapper, singer, songwriter, vocal actress, and a
television superstar. She was featured in seven
songs on Billboard's Hot 100 at the same time,
even before the release of her debut album in
2010.

1. Her full name is Onika Tanya Maraj.

2. She was born on December 8, 1982 in Saint
James, Trinidad and Tobago. Her
grandmother took care of her there.

3. She has 2 brothers and 1 sister sister.

4. She is of African, Trinidadian and Indo-Asian
descent.

5. As a child, Nicki had a rough upbringing. Her
father was abusive and a drug addict. He tried
to kill her mother and even attempted to set
the house on fire.

6. She was moved to Queens, New York at the
age of 5 with her mother.

7. She wrote her first rap song at the age of 12.

8. In middle school Nicki used to play the
clarinet.
Source: Pixabay

9. She learnt acting at the La Guardia High
School of Music and Art, the school that
inspired the movie Fame.

10. Nicki took up a job at the Red Lobster
restaurant as a waitress before she became
famous.

11. Her tough upbringing 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.'"

12. Nicki Minaj used to sing as a backup singer for
the local New York City Rappers group before
she became so popular.

13. She had a host of nicknames before settling
on Nicki Minaj. Her very first name was
Cookie which was later changed to Harajuku
Barbie and finally what we know now "Nicki
Minaj."

14. She was eventually discovered by Dirty
Money CEO Fendi, who came across Minaj's
MySpace page, loved what he heard, and
immediately signed her to his label.

15. Her first mix tape titled "Playtime Is Over"
came out in 2007.

16. Nicki Minaj's first breakthrough as a rapper
was with Lil' Wayne in which they recorded a
variety of mixtapes.

17. In 2010, Nicki Minaj's songs topped the charts
of Billboard's Top 100.

18. Nicki Minaj is also the first female singer to
top Billboard's Hot Rap Songs chart since
2002.

19. Some of Nicki's influences include Foxy
Brown, Missy Elliott, Lil Kim and of course, Lil
Wayne!

20. She is 5'4? tall.

21. She is gorgeous and known for her curvy
figure, but she has had some help in that
department. Nicki had butt implants as
shown in these before and after photos. She
has never officially admitted or denied it, but
she did deny rumors that she had work done
to her face. "I don't mind the questions, I
don't mind the fascination ... But I've said this
before, it doesn't define me. So, I try my best
not to focus my energy on it," she explained.
"Like, if you guys focus energy on and spend
energy on it, I don't mind it. You know,
people are sitting in the barbershop talking
about my butt, it's conversational. That's
what people are gonna do. As long as they're
talking about Nicki Minaj, I'm good."

22. She has one tattoo on her left arm. It is in
Chinese, and translates to "God is with me
always".

23. Just in case it wasn't obvious enough, her
favorite color is pink.

24. She is a chocoholic and her favorite is Kit Kats
and Twix bars.

25 = Go to 46

26. She says she is a great cook and enjoys it very
much.

27. Minaj reached a national audience with her
2012 Super Bowl appearance. She performed
alongside pop superstar Madonna in the
game's popular halftime show.

28. Speaking of Madonna, she kissed the
superstar on her 29th birthday.

29. In March 2012, Minaj made a guest
appearance on the popular television
competition American Idol.

30. When she joined American Idol, she
reportedly told Jennifer Lopez, a former
celebrity judge, to "scoot over a little bit".
Rumors then flew of a feud between Minaj
and Lopez, which Minaj later dismissed.

31. However, things did get steamy on the show
ambetween her and fellow celebrity judge
Mariah Carey. The pair seemed to get off on
the wrong foot and had some heated
arguments while on screen.

32. Minaj and Carey got into an argument during
auditions in Charlotte, North Carolina, with
Minaj later storming off stage.

33. She was also critical of the show, tweeting
that American Idol "is NOT a singing
competition."

34. Her favorite go-to snack is strawberry-banana
yogurt.

35. Her favorite fast food restaurant is Popeye's.

36. Nicki is the first female rap artist ever to
perform at Yankee Stadium.

37. She enjoys watching TV whenever she can
and her favorite program to watch is Judge
Judy. "She (Judge Judy) is just straightforward,
but she doesn't realize that she's really -- in
her next life -- a comedian," she said in an
interview.

38. She loves shopping for clothes and her
favorite stores to shop at are costume stores.
It kinda shows.

39. Her single, Starships, holds the #1 spot as
Most Consecutive Weeks in the Billboard Top
10 songs that debuted there with 21 weeks
ahead of The Black Eyed Peas, I Gotta Feeling
with 20 weeks.

40. She helped raise $250 million to people with
AIDS with her Viva Glam lipstick.

41. Her favorite fruit are mangos.

42. She sometimes goes in and out of her English
accent during interviews and songs. Minaj
says her inspiration behind the accents are
Scary Spice (Melanie Brown) and Hermione
(Emma Watson) from the Harry Potter movie
series.

43. Her favorite actress is Zoë Saldana.

44. Her first "Hollywood crush" was Morris
Chestnut and Omar Epps.

45. She has alter egos: Roman Zolanski, Rosa,
Norman, Tyrone and so many more.

46. Nicki has been featured on over 20 different
tracks by artists such as Mariah Carey, Robin
Thicke, Justin Bieber, Drake, Rihanna and
Sean Kingston.

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