Port-of-Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), is a rapper, singer, songwriter, composer, model and American actress. At the age of five, she moved to the Queens District, New York, USA. Minaj is studying to become an actress at Laguardia High School (The Fame School) in Manhattan and graduates with honors. From 2007 to 2009 she released 3 mixtapes; Playtime Is Over , Sucka Free , and Beam Me Up Scotty that has sold 1 million copies, a feat for an underground artist, she signed with the record label Young Money in 2009.

In November 2010, Nicki Minaj released his first album titled Pink Friday the same day as Kanye West's album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, it drains to 375,000 copies in a week when released in the United States , he reached the top spot of the Billboard 200 American chart , and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) a month after its release. She became the first female artist to place seven singles at the same time in the American Billboard Hot 100. Her second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded , released in 2012, also reached the top of the charts and her single, Starships , reached fifth place in the Billboard Hot 100. Minaj's third album, The Pinkprint (2014), is preceded by the release of his second single, Anaconda , which reaches the second place in the Hot 100, and becomes his highest single in date in the USA. The rapper's fourth album, Queen, is coming out in 2018, and the lead single Chun-Li becomes its 16th top 10 in the United States. Minaj also makes her acting debut in The Ice Age 4 in 2012, and physically in the Triple Alliance movie in 2014 and then in Barbershop: The Next Cut in 2016. In 2013, she is one of the judges during the twelfth season of American Idol .

In 2013, Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé and Michelle Obama are recognized as the most influential black women by The New York Times ² . In April 2017, Minaj became the highest ranked female artist in the history of Billboard Hot 100 surpassing the previous record of Aretha Franklin (73). To date, she has 99 titles in the Hot 100, making her the fourth-highest-ranking artist. She is also a recipient of four American Music Awards, eight BET Awards, two MTV Music Awards, two MTV Europe Music Awards, five Billboard Music Awards , several ASCAP and BMI Awards, a prize for writing talent, and a prize for "Songwriter of the year" in 2013 and Billboard Magazine's "rising star" award in 2011. Between 2011 and 2017, Nicki Minaj earned $ 122.5 million.

Onika Tanya Maraj, better known as Nicki Minaj, was born on December 8, 1982 in the Saint James district of Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago ^{3 , 4} . At that time, his parents, Carol and Robert Maraj, respectively ⁵ working in accounting and at American Express. His mother is Afro-Caribbean (Afro-Trinidadian) and his father is of Indian origin ^{6 , 7} . Minaj is the youngest of three children, two boys ^8: Micaiah Maraj Maraj Jelani. The singer often mentions them in her songs, as in I'm the Best who is on her first studio album Pink Friday (2010) ⁹ . In St. James, Minaj lives with his grandmother ^10. His mother makes him ¹⁰ occasionally visit. One day, at the age of five, her mother recovered, and Minaj moved into the borough of Queens, New York, United States ^10. According to Nicki Minaj, her father drank heavily, took drugs, and once tried to kill her mother by setting fire to the house ^11. Minaj enrolled at Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School 210 where she learned to play clarinet ¹⁰ . She later graduated with honors from LaGuardia High School ^{12 , 13} . Minaj loses her voice a few days before the audition entry of the singing program, she then passes an audition to enter the program of drama, thanks to which she is selected ¹² . Minaj wants to become an actress but, faced with the lack of proposals, she abandons this path. In 2001, she spends the casting of In Case You Forget , an Off-Broadway ¹⁴ .

After stopping her film career, Minaj worked as a waitress at the Red Lobster , an American restaurant chain, in the Bronx. At the age of 19 ¹⁵ . Minaj is licensed restaurant because of his rudeness to customers ^16. She admits in an interview she was fired several times on the same ground ^16. Minaj also worked as an administrative assistant, in a customer service or office manager on Wall Street ^{17 , 18} . She decides one day to another to devote herself to rap and stops working. Nicki Minaj is discovered on Myspace in 2002 by Fendi, who signs her on her Dirty Money label. After collaborating with the American wrestling federation World Wrestling Entertainment interpreting Lady to Mess With for the federation (which will become the entry theme of the wrestler Victoria until her departure from the company), and after appearing on the series The Carter Edition of Young Money The Come Up , Nicki Minaj is contacted by Lil Wayne. The two artists then collaborate on many titles of mixtapes ¹⁹ .

Nicki began his Hot 97 career with DJ Kay Slay and signed with Dirty Money Records. In April 2007, she released her first mixtape, Playtime Is Over , where she posed like a Barbie doll on the cover. Lil Wayne appears on the title Can not Stop, Will not Stop . In 2008, Nicki Minaj releases her mixtape, Sucka Free . She appears on the July issue of the XXL magazine, giving an overview of her hitherto unknown life. Later in the year, Nicki Minaj won the prize for female artist of the year at ²⁰ Underground Music Awards. She then released a new mixtape, called Beam Me Up Scotty , in 2009. Then the Boycott Nicki Minaj operation ends at the end of 2009 ^{21 , 22} .

In August 2009, she signed with the label Young Money Entertainment, distributed by Universal Motown. She released the single Massive Attack in collaboration with Sean Garrett ²³ . She also collaborated on Jeffree Star's 2009 album Beauty Killer on the Lollipop Luxury title. In 2010, she appeared on the second single My Chick Bad from the album Battle of the Sexes by Ludacris released the same year. She also participates in the song Woohoo from the album Bionic by Christina Aguilera. She won three trophies at the BET Awards in October 2010 in the categories "Rookie of the Year," "People's Champ" and "Made You Look the award" for his fashion style ^24. She also goes to the MTV Video Music Awards 2010, during which she opens the ceremony by performing Your Love and Check it Out , with Will.I.Am ²⁵ . Nicki Minaj was nominated in the "Revelation of the Year" category, but it was Justin Bieber who won the trophy.

It's Barbie Bitch! is Nicki Minaj's best-known mixtape so far and has made her famous all over the world. Thanks to this mixtape, Nicki Minaj signed with Universal Motown in 2009. Very good media coverage, more than 55 000 copies sold in the world, the mixtape is number 5 in the Top 50. In 2009 she also realized the video clip of Itty Bitty Piggy with HoodAffairs. In the interview of "The Come Up DVD" she explains that she did not expect to be so successful and that it was just beginning … Thus Nicki Minaj begins to use his alter ego "Harajuka Barbie". In January 2010, she collaborated on the title Up Out My Face by Mariah Carey ²⁶ .

Her debut album Pink Friday is released on November 22, 2010. The singles include Your Love , Check It Out , Right Thru Me , Moment 4 Life , Fly and Super Bass (VMA's best hip-hop clip ²⁷ ). It sells at its first week of release, more than 375,000 copies in the United States ^28. This album contains 13 songs including collaborations with Kanye West, Rihanna, Eminem, Drake and Natasha Bedingfield. The week of its release, the album Pink Friday reached the second place of sales (Billboard 200) in the United States. The album is sacred gold disc in the United States just three weeks after its release and after a month, more than 650 000 copies of the album had already passed ^29. Six weeks after its release, with more than a million records sold ³⁰ , Pink Friday is a platinum ²⁸ platinum. Several weeks after its release, this album ranks ^No. 1 in sales in the US ^{[ref. necessary]} . In 2013, the album Pink Friday lists 3,800,000 copies sold. She gets a proposal for the Grammy Awards 2011. She becomes the first hip-hop singer ^{[ref. needed]} to be ranked in the Hot 100 Billboard with seven songs. At the end of 2010, Rolling Stone magazine awarded her the title of "new queen of hip-hop" ³¹ following the success of her first album. In January 2011, she took part in a song of The Lonely Island, titled Do the creep . From June to August 2011, Nicki Minaj performs the first part of the American and Canadian tour of singer Britney Spears. A week after the release of his collaboration with David Guetta and Flo Rida on the song Where Them Girls At , the song reaches the top spot of sales on iTunes in France, Germany, Australia, Canada, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland ^{[ref. necessary]} .

On June 26, 2011, during the BET Awards 2011 ceremony in Los Angeles, Nicki Minaj is named best female hip-hop artist. On August 28, Nicki Minaj goes to the MTV Video Music Awards 2011, where she wins the "Best Hip-Hop Video Clip" award. Nicki Minaj records a new Fireball collaboration with Willow Smith, and is also featured on Drake's second album Take Care . In early November 2011, Give Me All Your Luvin ', which is to be the first single of Madonna's new album, is available on the Internet. She is present on the commercialized version for the official release of the album in January 2012 ³² . On November 20, 2011, during the ceremony of the American Music Awards, she opens the ceremony with David Guetta to perform his featuring ^[What?] Turn Me On with the French disc jockey. She will also sing Super Bass . During the evening, she won two awards: Best Rap / Hip Hop, and Best Rap / Hip Hop Album.

Nicki Minaj named "Rising Star" of 2011 by Billboard ^{[ref. necessary]} . She is honored on December 2, 2011, at the 2011 Billboard Women in Music Event in New York. She released Pink Friday , to which rapper Lil Kim responds with Black Friday . On November 22, 2011, Nicki Minaj and singer Pop Katy Perry are the first to be announced as presenters of the special concert organized to announce the list of selected at the 2012 Grammy Awards, which took place at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. , November 30, 2011. The 2012 Grammy Awards ceremony was held on February 12, 2012 ³³ . Nicki Minaj gets three proposals for the 54 ^th Grammy Awards, in the categories "Revelation of the Year", "Rap Album of the Year", "Best Rap Performance" (for Moment 4 Life in collaboration with Drake). On 31 January 2012, the video Turn Me On she recorded with David Guetta is unveiled to promote the single that was ranked ^4th of the Billboard Hot 100 ^{[ref. necessary]} . Three days later, Madonna's 'Give Me All Your Luvin' clip makes its appearance. During the half-time of the Super Bowl final on February 5, 2012 in Indianapolis, she participated in Madonna's performance on the Give Me All Your Luvin 'title at Lucas Oil Stadium.

At the 2012 Grammy Awards, Nicki Minaj performed on stage performing Roman Holiday , one of the new titles on her new Pink Friday album : Roman Reloaded . On February 14, 2012, during Ryan Seacrest's show, the first official single of his new album is released. On February 23, 2012, the new single Starships produced by RedOne is broadcast on radio and enters ninth place for its first week then climbs to sixth place in the Billboard Hot 100 ^{[ref. necessary]} . The next day, she performs on stage at the NBA All-Star Game 2012 where she performs Moment 4 Life , Turn Me On , Super Bass , Starships . Nicki Minaj's second studio album, titled Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded , focuses on the return of Roman Zolanski, who was first featured on the previous album Pink Friday, still under the label Young Money-Cash Money Records, and produced with RedOne, ^Dr. Luke, Chris Brown, Lil 'Wayne, Drake and Kane Beatz who was the producer of Super Bass .

Officially in the bins on April 2 and 3, 2012 in France and the United States, the album offers 19 to 22 titles according to the editions. In Pink Friday: Roman Realoaded , the title Stupid Hoe is included. This album features pop songs like Starships , which ranks second in the Official UK Singles Chart ³⁴ , in first place in the Official UK Singles R & B Chart ³⁵ , and in first place. sales in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom ^{36 , 37} . According to the Billboard 200 , its sales are estimated at 253,000 copies sold in the United States within a week ^{[ref. necessary]} . The album is also ^No. 1 class sales in the categories "best album of R & B / hip-hop", "Best Rap Album" and "Best Digital Album" in the US ^{[ref. necessary]} . On April 9, 2012, Nicki Minaj is chosen by Nokia to promote the launch of the Nokia Lumia 900 ³⁸ . This event took place in Times Square where she performed on stage performing Starships , Right by My Side and Super Bass . At the Billboard Music Awards 2012, she won the prize for the best video for Super Bass .

From May to August 2012, she toured Pink Friday Tour with a total of 41 dates (19 in North America, 3 in Oceania, 4 in Asia, and 15 in Europe). On July 12, 2012, during his international tour, his title Starships , having sold more than 3.2 million copies online, remains 21 consecutive weeks in the Top 10 Hot 100 Billboard, dethroning I Gotta Feeling of Black Eyed Peas ³⁹ . On September 6, 2012, she went to the MTV Video Music Awards 2012 in Los Angeles, where she won the Best Female Video Award for her Starships clip. During the ceremony, she also performed with Alicia Keys at Staples Center where she performed Girl On Fire . In an election campaign for the US presidential election of 2012, she decided to engage and give full support to the outgoing President Barack Obama openly criticizing his opponent Mitt Romney and all Republican voters ^40. End of September 2012, Nicki Minaj joins the jury of the twelfth season of American Idol also made up of Keith Urban, Mariah Carey and Randy Jackson ^41. According to several reports, ^{42 , 43 , 44} , altercations occurred between her and Mariah Carey during the hearings of the program. The show aired early 2013. In September 2012, Nicki Minaj launches her first fragrance called Pink Friday in New York.

On October 21, 2012, Nicki Minaj launches her international tour, the Pink Friday: Reloaded Tour, in Nottingham, UK, which will end December 8, 2012, in Perth, Australia, for a total of 21 dates (15 in Europe, 6 in Oceania). On November 9, 2012, Nicki Minaj released a new version of the album called Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded: The Re-Up , containing eight new titles. On November 9, 2012, in full recording of her fourth album announced at the end of 2013, Nicki Minaj does not go to Frankfurt, Germany, for the ceremony of the MTV Europe Music Awards 2012 where she won her first MTV Europe music award in the category "Best hip-hop artist" ⁴⁵ . On November 18 in Los Angeles, Nicki Minaj went to the 2012 American Music Awards where she held the most proposals with Rihanna for this edition. During the ceremony, she performed her new single Freedom and won two awards in the categories "Rap / Hip Hop Artist" and "Rap / Hip Hop Album".

On 12 April 2013, she became the most chartée rapper in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, with forty-four appearances ^46.

At the end of 2013, we ^[Who?] Announce that Nicki Minaj is working on an upcoming studio album: The Pinkprint , which is scheduled for release in 2014. She describes this album as a sequel to Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded: The Re-Up ⁴⁷ . In an interview with MTV, she says it will be a totally hip-hop album, unlike her previous album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded . Nicki Minaj also claims that the work on her third album will be "of a higher level": "I'm really excited, and the people I'm working with now are people I've never worked with before, so is as if they brought a new sound to the album, I've never experienced ^48. On December 30, 2013, Nicki Minaj remixes PTAF's Boss Ass Bitch (Pretty Taking All Fades) on SoundCloud ⁴⁹ .

On February 12, 2014, Nicki Minaj made a video for the song Lookin Ass from Young Money's Rise of an Empire , by Young Money. On April 13, she released a new song Chi-Raq with Chicago rapper Lil Herb, through SoundCloud. On April 25, his first film in a leading role comes out in the cinema. The Other Woman (Triple Alliance in France) is a success in the United States where it ranks ¹ at the box office with $ 24.7 million collected in just three days, dethroning Captain America: The Winter Soldier ⁵⁰ . May 3, 2014, she released the song Yasss Bish! with rapper Soulja Boy (the latter also produced the song) still on SoundCloud ⁵¹ . These latest releases are only freestyle songs that will not appear on his upcoming album The Pinkprint . On May 21, 2014, the singer reveals the song Pills N Potions , first official single of her new album The Pinkprint ⁵² . The single has sold more than 525,000 copies in the United States. On 29 June 2014, Minaj won the award for "best female hip-hop artist" at BET Awards 2014 for the fifth consecutive year ^53, making her the only male or female artist to win the award for "Best Hip artist -hop ", thus beating its own record. On August 4, Nicki Minaj unveils her second single Anaconda which reaches 24 ^th place on the French iTunes Store in less than a day. On the US iTunes Store, the song takes a very good start to reach the first place on August 5th. She also announced on August 4 by promoting her single Anaconda that her tour will start early 2015 for Europe to finish the summer by the United States. In addition, his album The Pinkprint will be released between October and December 2014. 15 days after the promotion of his single, Nicki Minaj finally released the music video of Anaconda . On August 21, it is seen almost 20 million times in less than 24 hours ^54. On August 10, Nicki announces via Twitter that his new album The Pinkprint will be released on November 24th.

On September 12, 2014, Nicki starts in Paris and plays the evening and the next day alongside Beyoncé Flawless , at the On The Run Tour at the Stade de France, making her the first rapper to have played at this place, one the largest stadiums in Europe (the largest stadium in Europe being Camp Nou). The next day, Nicki announces on Instagram his presentation to MTV EMA ⁵⁵ . On 24 October the MTV EMA website unveils a new advertisement ⁵⁶ , which features Nicki Minaj who became the queen of the world after her performance at the MTV EMA. On October 27, Nicki Minaj announced via a press release to postpone the release of his album to December 15 following unexpected problems at Young Money ⁵⁷ . However, on October 28, she unveiled the third single of her third album Only featuring Drake, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown ⁵⁸ which will be accompanied by a clip on December 12, 2014 on Nicki Minaj's YouTube channel. On November 9, 2014, at the MTV Europe Music Awards, she unveiled part of the fourth single from her album Bed of Lies duet with Skylar Gray. The single is unveiled in full on November 16, Nicki also claims to be accompanied by a clip. December 15, 2014 finally released The Pinkprint very well received in the commercial and from the critics with 244 000 copies sold in a week ⁵⁹ and the criticism that is unanimous to say that it is the best album of Nicki Minaj since the beginning of his career.

On December 8, 2014, Nicki Minaj announces the dates of his European tour The Pinkprint Tour which his passage in Paris at the Zenith of Paris on March 25 and 26, 2015. On March 16, 2015, Nicki Minaj announces the dates of his tour in the United States and in Canada ⁶⁰ . On December 21, 2014, it is confirmed that the duo Nicki and Beyonce Feeling Myself will be the next single from album ⁶¹ . On December 25, 2014, the magazine Complex publishes an article in which Nicki Minaj named "best rapper of the year 2014" ⁶² .

In March 2015, Minaj became the first female artist to place four songs simultaneously in the top 10 charters of Billboard's Mainstream R & B / Hip-Hop ⁶³ . At the BET Awards 2015, Minaj receives its 6 ^th consecutive award for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, and since becoming the most successful female rapper in this category ^64. In May 2015, Minaj announces that it will play in the ^3rd part of the film Barbershop, alongside Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Eve and others. Titled Barbershop: The Next Cut , the film is released on April 15, 2016 and receives a positive reception, earning an average score of 93% at Rotten Tomatoes. Minaj played the role of Draya, provocative dressing ^65.

In early 2016, Minaj is announced as executive producer and will appear in a comedy series based on her life in Queens, New York. The series, titled Nicki , is scheduled for broadcast in 2016 on Freeform (eg ABC Family). The pilot is filmed in his hometown in January 2016, and production has continued ever since. Ariana Neal will play the role of the young Nicki, alongside Selita Ebanks (her mother), Wesly Jonathan (her father) and McCarrie McCausland (her older brother) ⁶⁶ .

During the year 2016, Nicki Minaj is working on her fourth album to be released in 2018. To make her fanbase wait, she released many remixes, duets and freestyle. It appears on the remix of Down in the DM Yo Gotti and makes this title a hit that is placed at the ^13th spot on the Billboard Hot 100 ^67. Her list of collaborations continues to expand: she poses on Do You Mind of DJ Khaled with Chris Brown, August Alsina, Jeremih, Future and Rick Ross then on Side to Side of Ariana Grande which becomes one of the biggest hits 2016, ranking ^4th on the Billboard Hot 100. the music video of this song gets over a billion views on YouTube (in 2017); it's Minaj's second single to reach that number after Hey Mama . He is named best video clip at the IHeartRadio Music Awards. Nicki performs at the MTV Video Music Awards 2016 and at the 2016 American Music Awards with Ariana Grande ⁶⁸ . While nobody expected, she released on September 4, 2016 on SoundCloud, the title The Pinkprint Freestyle . She reiterates on November 15 of the same year while going out, still on SoundCloud, a Black Beatles remix of Rae Sremmurd named Black Barbies . The title is placed at the ^20th spot of Billboard's hot rap songs after being released on the iTunes Store and on streaming platforms like Tidal, Spotify or Apple Music ^69.

In 2017, she appears on Jason Derulo's Swalla , Major Lazer's Run Up and PartyNextDoor, Nick Jonas's Bom Bidi Bom (this title is part of the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack), Make Love by Gucci Mane, Light My Body Up by David Guetta, "Realize" by 2 chainz, "Plain Jane Remix" by Asap Ferg and Kissing Strangers by DNCE. On the titles Make Love and Swalla , she attacks the rapper Remy Ma who responds by releasing the diss-track Shether, February 25, less than 24 hours after the release of titles Nicki Minaj. Meanwhile, Nicki completes the recording of her album in Paris during Fashion Week before releasing the Changed It singles on March 9 in collaboration with her mentor Lil Wayne, Regret in Your Tears, who talks about Nicki's breakup. Meek Mill in 2016 and No Frauds with Drake and Lil Wayne which is an answer to Remy Ma. The clip of the latter was released on April 19, ⁷⁰ . The 3 ^rd promotional song from Katy Perry Whiteness's album is Swish Swish , with the participation of Nicki Minaj. This title was released on May 19, ⁷¹ . On ¹ June 2017, the US rapper Yo Gotti released the single rake it up along with Nicki Minaj. The collaboration of these two rappers reached the ^eighth place of Billboard Hot 100, the biggest success of Yo Gotti to date ⁷² . The title becomes a summer success; rappers are invited to perform live on American television on the set of the Jimmy Fallon Show on September 14.

After the media lashed out with rapper Cardi B, Nicki silenced the rumors by appearing with her on the Migos Motor Sport title, released on October 27, 2017. On November 3, 2017, Lil Uzi Vert published the remix of his title The Way Life Goes featuring Nicki Minaj ⁷³ .

After a break of four months on social networks ^74, Nicki Minaj is back April 12, 2018 with the release of two titles: Chun-Li, the first official single from his Queen album and the promotional single Barbie Tingz ^75. Chun-Li is critically acclaimed and one week later ranks 10th in the US Hot 100 ⁷⁶ ranking.

On May 7, 2018, Minaj announces on the red carpet of Met Gala that her 4th studio album is entitled Queen and will be released on June 15, ⁷⁷ . However the rapper announces May 24 that not being completely ready and satisfied with her work, the exit of Queen is postponed to August 10, 2018 ⁷⁸ . On May 19, Minaj is the star musical guest of the final episode of the 43rd season of Saturday Night Live, presented by comedian Tina Fey ⁷⁹ . She plays Chun-Li and Poke It Out , a title in collaboration with rapper Playboi Carti released May 11, ⁸⁰ .

On June 7, Minaj unveils the cover of the album on Twitter ⁸¹ . Photographed by the famous duo Mert and Marcus, Minaj poses naked on a tree branch, wearing only jewelry and a headdress inspired by Cleopatra. Four days later, on June 11, Minaj released a second promotional single entitled Rich Sex , featuring his close friend and longtime collaborator Lil Wayne. She also announces the NickiHndrxx world tour during which she will share the poster with the American rapper Future ⁸² .

On July 22, 2018, the rapper 6ix9ine released the song Fefe featuring Nicki Minaj ⁸³ . The title quickly reached the ^3rd place at the Hot 100, while the clip is viewed over 12 million times on the day of its release. After its release is pushed back a second time, Queen album finally released August 10, 2018 as previously announced ^84. Minaj unveils the video for the opening title of the album Ganja Burn on August 13, ⁸⁵ . On August 14, the title Barbie Dreams is officially announced as the third official single.

Queen begins in ^2nd position record chart Billboard 200, with 185,000 copies sold (78 000 physical sales) ^86. The album is later certified gold in the United States by the RIAA (500,000 sales). On August 20, 2018, Minaj received the Best Hip-Hop Video Award at the 35th MTV Video Music Awards for the Chun-Li ⁸⁷ clip.

Nicki Minaj's vocal range is a maid-like soprano that covers 2 octaves and 4 notes (D3-Bb5). Although classified as a rapper, she has demonstrated her ability to lead a melody with accuracy. Her voice is full of character and energy: she is able to switch between a thick and serious timbre and another light, quickly producing a brilliant contrast. His medium is solid and chest voice is able to reach the ^5th octave. However, the latter is thin and becomes weaker and weaker when growing. Super Bass and Fly are good examples ^89.

Beyond her voice, Minaj is also known for her lively rap style, especially her flow. She often combines metaphors, punchlines and word games in her work, which has been compared to her mentor Lil Wayne. The New York Times calls Minaj "sparkling rapper with comical accents and unexpected turns, a marvelous exaggeration, a sound, a personality and a look out of the ordinary", a rapid evolution, rejecting old fashion as easily as in adopt new ones. "Although many critics describe her technique as bubblegum rap, Minaj said," What people do not know is that before doing this madness, I was just doing rap with which everyone could hear and identify themselves. I started doing all that weird shit - I'm not sorry because it caught everyone's attention. "

Noted as a rap artist, it lends itself to electronic music genres (especially electropop). Pink Friday a marqué son exploration des genres, engendrant des chansons électro, y compris le "Super Bass". Le deuxième album de Minaj, qui combine aussi le rap avec la musique de synthétiseur, a eu un certain nombre de chansons électro-hop et electropop: "HOV Lane", "Whip It", "Automatic", "Come on a Cone", "Fire Burns" ", " Roman Holiday " et" Beez in the Trap " tandis que" Starships "est une chanson d'eurodance. Elle a collaboré avec d'autres artistes, produisant plus de chansons électroniques: "The Boys" avec la chanteuse Cassie et "Beauty and a Beat" avec Justin Bieber. Son vers dans "Monster" de Kanye West a été acclamé par la critique et a grandement contribué à sa popularité ; beaucoup de critiques ont dit qu'elle avait le meilleur couplet de la chanson. Ses alter ego sont incorporés avec ses paroles dans les accents britanniques (Roman Zolanski) ou dans la soft-spokerture (Harajuku Barbie). Ice-T a dit à propos du style de Minaj : "[Minaj] fait ce qu'elle veut, elle a sa propre façon de faire, elle a un mal à faire, elle me fait penser à une femme Busta Rhymes, comme elle jette sa voix dans des directions différentes. ". Le vers "Monster" de Minaj a été listé par Complex comme le meilleur vers rap de l'année 2010. West a prétendu à un moment donné qu'il envisageait de supprimer son verset de la piste, parce qu'il craignait que cela éclipse son propre travail.

Minaj est la meilleure amie du rappeur Drake depuis qu'ils se sont rencontrés au sein du label YMCMB. Cependant, la brouille qui oppose Drake au compagnon de Nicki Minaj, Meek Mill, les distance ⁹⁰ . Minaj est la seule rappeuse féminine à être représentée dans la liste des Hip Hop Cash Kings de Forbes , elle était classée n ^o 15 en ayant gagné 6,5 millions de dollars en 2011 ⁹¹ , n ^o 9 avec 15,5 millions de dollars en 2012 ⁹² , n ^o 5 avec 29 millions de dollars en 2013 ⁹³ , n ^o 12 avec 14 millions de dollars en 2014 ⁹⁴ ,n ^o 10 avec 21 millions de dollars en 2015, n ^o 6 en 2016 avec 20,5 millions de dollars et n ^o 15 en 2017 avec 16 millions de dollars. Ce qui fait un total de 122,5 millions de dollars en 7 ans.

En juillet 2011, son cousin Nicholas Telemaque est assassiné près de son domicile de Brooklyn, à New York ⁹⁵ . Minaj lui rend hommage à plusieurs reprises, notamment dans ses chansons Champion et All Things Go ⁹⁶ .

Les critiques notent l'utilisation de diverses identités sexuelles au sein de sa musique, avec certains laissant sous-entendre qu'elle soit lesbienne ¹⁰³ . Cependant, elle déclare qu'elle n'a jamais eu et ne désire pas avoir de relations sexuelles avec des femmes ¹² .

En 2014, Nicki Minaj se sépare du producteur de musique, Safaree Samuels, son compagnon depuis plus de douze ans, et qu'elle présentait comme « son meilleur ami » ^{104 , 105 , 106 , 107} . Elle s'inspire d'ailleurs de leur séparation pour écrire la plupart des chansons de l'album, The Pinkprint ¹⁰⁸ . Elle révèle dans le documentaire de MTV My Time Again qu'il l'avait demandé en mariage. Elle lui a cependant répondu qu'elle voulait prendre du recul ¹⁰⁹ . Après leur séparation, ce dernier l'a poursuivie en justice pour avoir été « abusé émotionnellement et physiquement » ¹¹⁰ .

Après plusieurs mois de rumeurs, dans sa chanson Autobiography (qui figure sur la mixtape Sucka Free, 2008), Nicki Minaj révèle s'être fait avorter lorsqu'elle était adolescente ¹¹¹ . N'étant toujours pas sous le feu des projecteurs, elle a écrit cette chanson pensant que personne ne l'entendrait. Maintenant que des millions de fans ont écouté ses confessions, elle n'hésite pas à en reparler dans All Things Go (tiré de l'album The Pinkprint ), une nouvelle chanson autobiographique. Elle y révèle le prénom du père ainsi que l'âge qu'aurait eu son enfant. Elle raconte dans une interview pour le magazine Rolling Stone en janvier 2015, que cette décision va hanter toute sa vie : « J'ai cru que j'allais mourir. J'étais une adolescente. C'était la chose la plus dure que j'ai jamais faite. » Dans le documentaire MTV My Time Again , elle dit avoir toujours pensé que son destin était d'abord de réussir sa carrière, puis avoir des enfants.

Le rappeur Meek Mill confirme, le 12 avril 2015, être en couple avec Nicki Minaj ¹¹² . Le couple sort un titre en duo le 26 juin 2015, All Eyes On You, dont le clip montre les deux vivant leur histoire d'amour ¹¹³ . Elle confirme leur séparation un an après, le 5 janvier 2017 ^{114 , 115}

Suite à sa rupture avec Meek, Nicki fréquente le rappeur Nas, de qui elle était proche depuis plusieurs années déjà. Ils se séparent en janvier 2018 ¹¹⁶ .

L'enfance de Nicki est chahutée par les disputes constantes de ses parents ¹¹⁷ . Comme moyen d'évasion, elle se crée des personnages, des alter egos et vit sa vie à travers eux. « Pour échapper à leurs disputes, je devais m'imaginer devenir une nouvelle personne. Cookie est ma première identité qui est restée avec moi pendant un certain temps. Après il y a eu Harajuku Barbie, puis Nicki Minaj. L'imaginaire est ma réalité ¹¹⁷ . » Minaj présente également Point Dexter lors d'un sketch dans l'émission américaine Saturday Night Live comme un alter ego, elle mentionne que Point Dexter est un alter ego parmi d'autres. En décembre 2008, Minaj révèle l'alter ego Nicki Lewinsky, Nicki Lewinsky serait la « méchante » Nicki Minaj, elle se sert de cet alter ego quand elle est énervée. Nicki Lewinsky apparaît dans Dang A Lang de Trina et dans YU MAD de Birdman.

En novembre 2010, Minaj assume l'alter ego Nicki Teresa ¹¹⁸ . Teresa porte un foulard coloré sur ses cheveux, sa première apparition est lors d'une visite au Garden of Dreams Foundation aux studios Fuse à New York ¹¹⁸ . Minaj fait une apparition dans l'émission Lopez Tonight le 6 décembre 2010 et présente son alter ego d'inspiration hispanique Rosa ¹¹⁹ . Pour son album Pink Friday , Minaj utilise un autre alter ego Roman Zolanski, dont elle explique qu'il s'agit d'un « frère jumeau » et qu'il est né en elle de rage, et qu'elle se transforme en lui lorsqu'elle est en colère. Elle explique qu'il est « un démon en-elle » ¹²⁰ . Facilement comparable à l'alter ego d'Eminem, Slim Shady , les deux personnages se rencontrent justement lors de la collaboration des deux artistes dans Roman's Revenge sur l'album Pink Friday . Minaj explique qu'il y a « beaucoup de Roman » dans cet album et que « si l'on n'est pas familiarisé avec lui, après on le serait » ¹²¹ . Elle explique que Roman est homosexuel et lunatique ¹²¹ . Il aurait également une mère à l'accent britannique appelée Martha Zolanski qui est présente dans la chanson Roman's Revenge ou dans Roman Holiday ^{122 , 123} . Martha apparaît aussi dans le clip de la chanson Moment 4 Life (2010) où elle représente la fée marraine de Minaj. Il a aussi une petite sœur nommée Loriee Zolanski qui apparaît dans Stupid Hoe de Nicki Minaj. Sur son premier album, Nicki explique que l'auditeur peut rencontrer Nicki Minaj, Roman Zolanski et Onika Tanya Maraj ¹²⁰ .

Durant toute sa carrière, Nicki Minaj a été nommée plus de 208 fois et a remporté plus de 93 prix. En juin 2017, elle devient la rappeuse ayant reçu le plus de prix devant Missy Elliott.