by Chris Scott
www.thesimpleguideto.com
The Simple Guide to Nicki Minaj
Published by Chris Scott at Smashwords.
Copyright 2011 Chris Scott
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Facts:
Name – Onika Maraj
Date of Birth – 8th December 1984
Born – Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/nickiminaj
Twitter - @nickiminaj - http://twitter.com/#!/NICKIMINAJ
Website – http://mypinkfriday.com/
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Nicki Minaj: Rap’s Chameleon Queen
She has become a record-breaking, chart-topping, trend-setting superstar – and all of this achieved by her early 20’s. Nicky Minaj rose from inauspicious beginnings to make it to the top of the hip hop world, working with the biggest names in pop music and creating a place for herself in a generally male-dominated industry. Her unique look and voice have quickly given her a place in the music business that has her set to stay at the top for the long haul.
This Queen of Rap’s meteoric rise to fame is an amazing story of a girl who took the fantasies of her childhood and made them into the basis for a female rap star the likes of which the world has never seen.
The Beginnings of Nicki Minaj.
Nicki Minaj was born as Onika Maraj on December 8th, 1984 in a suburb of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago called Saint James. The young Nicki was raised by her grandmother for the first five years of her life while her parents searched for a new home for the family in Queens, New York. The mixture of Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Asian bloodlines from her parents created in Nicki a striking beauty that she would grow into quickly and make her trademark.
At five years old Nicki was reclaimed by her mother, who took her live in Queens. Her life was one filled with adversity and an array of struggles. By all accounts her home life was one that was strained; her father had problems with addictions to drugs and alcohol, and domestic violence was an unfortunate part of her daily life. Her mother struggled to both take care of Nicki and deal with the difficulties in her relationship with Nicki’s father. Minaj herself says that at one point her father tried to burn the house down and kill her mother. Still, Nicki managed to find a way to flourish in spite of these problems.
One of the ways the young Nicki found to deal with the upheaval in her home was to create alter egos – different identities for herself that she used to escape reality. Characters she created included “Cookie” and “Harajuku Barbie”, many of which would one day find their way into her on-stage persona. Even Nicki Minaj is one of the names and personalities that Onika created as a child – this would be the name by which she made her mark on the music industry. Nicki says she lived much of her youth in a fantasy world; a place where she could be whoever she wanted to be.
Nicki attended the illustrious La Guardia High School, an arts-focused school for those who are interested pursuing acting, music and other performing and fine arts careers. The school has among its famous alumni big names such as Al Pacino and Liza Minnelli. There, Nicki studied drama; although singing was her original focus, she lost her voice on the day of the audition and did not make it into the singing program at LaGuardia. Still, Nicki’s true love was for music, particularly rap and hip hop, and she set out with the intention of making a name for herself in that very competitive field.
Although nothing in her early years could have predicted her rise to fame, within a few years of graduating high school Nicki Minaj would be headed towards the very top of the rap hill, named among the best in the business along with such power players in the world of rap as Eminem and Lil’ Wayne – one of the people who helped to bring her to the attention of the world.
Nicki’s Road to Rap Queen.
In August of 2011, Rolling Stone named the “Kings of Hip Hop” – the top 20 rap and hip hop artists based on an array of different factors including album sales, charts, YouTube views and more. Only one woman appeared on the list – a Queen among the Kings: Nicki Minaj. It was proof positive of just how influential and popular Nicki has become in the world of hip hop.
Early in life, Nicki realized that rap was the focus she wanted for her musical career. In high school, she was known for free-styling rap verses; she began writing her own lyrics and songs while still in school. Nicki harnessed the power of the internet by using MySpace to get her music to the public. In 2007, she released her first mix tape, Playtime Is Over with the Dirty Money record label. She followed it a year later with a second mix tape called Sucka Free. Nicki had grabbed the attention of Grammy Award winning rapper L’il Wayne; this attention soon let her being offered a record deal with his label. That same year she demonstrated that she had already made her mark when she won the Underground Music Awards Female Artist of the Year honor. She also took home BET awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Hip Hop Artist and was nominated for a Teen Choice Award.
In 2008 Nicki Minaj was the first performer signed to L’il Wayne’s record label, Young Money. It would be a decision that he certainly wouldn’t regret; Nicki was to fast become one of the label’s top sellers and would release one of four chart-topping #1 albums for Young Money. In the meantime, Nicki released two more mix tapes and also appeared in a feature in XXL magazine. She was well on her way to gaining notoriety as well as fame for her music; posing in a squatting position with her legs spread - in homage to another Queen of Rap, L’il Kim - Nicki started a buzz with the promotional images for Sucka Free. In the interview for XXL magazine Nicki was unapologetic and made it clear that she was prepared to take on all comers.