Onika Maraj is a female rap artist better known by her alias, Nicki Minaj. She was born on December 8, 1984  in Southside Jamaica, Queens, NewYork. Nicki spent her childhood years in a disruptive household, along with her enduring mother and a father addicted to drugs. Regardless of her stressful surroundings, Minaj chose to study singing and acting where she went on to graduate from LaGuardia High School in Manhattan.

She spent the majority of her time focusing on her music career while holding down a job as an administrative assistant. Nicki Minaj began her career singing background vocal as well as hooks and choruses for rappers within her community. With the increasing number of aspiring singers, Nicki decided to write raps to stand out from other female artists. She began rapping in a rap group being the only female but she left the group in 2006.

Nicki was continually grinding and promoting her music until she got noticed on her Myspace by Dirty Money CEO, Fendi. After listening to her Fendi became intrigued with her unique style and talent. He immediately decided to sign her to her Dirty Money Label as the leading lady as well as premiering her on his The Come Up DVD.

Fendi intentionally put Nicki Minaj on The Carter Edition of the DVD series, directly before Lil Wayne‘s scene so that Lil Wayne would see her. Lil Wayne watched her segment of the DVD & immediately called Fendi to schedule a meeting with Nicki. Lil Wayne was just starting his own Young Money label and thought she would be perfect for the label with her different style of rapping and ability to write her own material. In April of 2007, she introduced her deubt mixtape called Playtime is Over where she presented herself a Barbie doll on the cover. Lil Wayne made an appearance on the song “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” which also appeared on Lil Wayne’s Da Drought 3 where most people learned of her. Since then, the two have collaborated on numerous mixtape trakcs such as“Sunshine”, “Big Spender” and more recently a song entitled “Higher than a Kite” over T.I.’s “My Swag” instrumental.

Almost a year afterwards, Minaj presented her second mixtape called Sucka Free presented by the Young Money president himself, Lil Wayne. Controversy surrounded this as Nicki held a photoshoot where she mimiced fellow female rapper Lil’ Kim picture by posing with her legs spread. Nicki Minaj defended herself and her picture by saying that it was simply used as a gimic to “pull people in” and get them to listen to her music. With much publicity surrounding Nicki Minaj, she landed in the July issue of the famous XXL magazine summarizing her life up to her new founded success.

Actually using her real last name Maraj, Nicki said that she began calling herself Minaj due to the fact that she started “eating chicks”, using her aggresive rapping talent. Minaj is pronounced as Menage, merely spelled in order to compliment her actual last name with a J rather than the conventional spelling.

Apart from her unique moniker, Minaj also has a variety of aliases for herself, such as; “Nicki Lewenski”, “AKA Sit on your favorite rapper’s face”, among many others.

Nicki Minaj Myspace Biography

Any encounter with Nicki Minaj will arouse a heightened sense that there is more to her than meets the eye and inspire the desire to experience this modern day “Wonder Woman”. Nicki Minaj – the name alone appeals to the decadence within us all. Whoever thinks that you can’t “have your cake and eat it to,” has obviously not met Nicki. The surname Minaj is the metaphor which underscores Nicki’s empowerment to have it all and do it all! This 23 year old native of Jamaica, New York (Queens, Southside) is also a trained and accomplished writer, singer, actress and hip hop artist. Her “Wonder Woman” characteristics are embodied in the three facets of Nicki Minaj. The three elements that comprise this modern day “Wonder Woman” are Nicki the Ninja, Nicki the Harajuku Barbie and Nicki the Boss. Nicki the Ninja is a hip hop lyrical assassin, which is sometimes naughty. Nicki the Harajuku Barbie accentuates the qualities of an imaginative, fun, coquettish girly girl- fashionista…that loves all things pink. This is also the muse who ignites the transformation of Nicki’s performances as an R &B/Pop singer and future Rock Star Icon. Nicki the Boss- the ingenious austere business woman that always thinks outside of the box. Most importantly, this boss lady is never afraid to assert herself.

Career

Nicki honed her innate ability and star potential at the renowned school of performing arts which was denoted in the movie and television series FAME. It was not long before she began to attract the attention of local producers and hip hop artist in the rap genre. Reluctant at first to cast herself as a rapper, her apprehension was predicated on the thought that the industry would attempt to limit her to one thing; when she knew that she was so much more. Decidedly, Nicki accepted the challenge and embarked on the journey of a female emcee in a hip hop world dominated by males.

It was not long before her lyrical skills were sought after by the likes of Lil’ Wayne. Nicki was determined not to befall the ill-fate of so many other talented female rappers. Instead she opted to qualify her lyrical skills through the ranks of the underground mix tape circuit. Success was inevitably achieved with her critically acclaimed performance credit on the DVD entitled “The Come Up” and mixtapes like Playtime is Over and the infamous Sucka Free. Now in demand Nicki’s role expands as a featured artist and female persona of Lil Wayne’s record label Young Money Entertainment. In addition, she has a worked with celebrated recording artists Bobby Valentino and Jadakiss. Nicki has also collaborated with Atlantic recording artist Gucci Mane. Both Gucci and Nicki are managed by Debra Antney of Mizay Entertainment.

The evolution of Nicki Minaj continues as she exploits her talents as a singer and explores her passion as a writer. Nicki is currently in the studio recording her first album which will feature some R&B and Pop songs. Of equal importance, she is also engaged in writing new materials for herself and other artists. Nicki is also considering several acting roles which includes playing the lead character of Erica Payne in the film adaptation of the six time Essence’s best bestselling novel “Charge it to the Game” by author Michele A. Fletcher. Nicki is the current winner of the Underground Music Awards (UMA) female artist of the year. She is also currently nominated for the Southern Entertainment Awards (SEA) Female Mixtape Artist of the Year.

http://www.myspace.com/nickiminaj/