Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj in 1982. As one of the most successful rappers and crossover pop stars of her age, Minaj is part of a lineage that includes Jay-Z, Missy Elliot, Drake, and Beyoncé.
Minaj's fame was canonized with stand-alone singles like "Superbass," "Starships," and "Anaconda," all of which were chart-topping smash hits with stream counts in the hundreds of millions. Establishing herself as more an iconic presence than an album artist, Minaj released well over 70 singles under her own name in her first decade of recording, and stole the show in guest appearances on countless hits for other artists. Her 2010 debut album Pink Friday saw the rapper branching out into radio-friendly melodicism, and accordingly it was the first of her albums to sell in the multi-platinum reaches and top chart positions internationally. Her range isn't limited to mixtape fire, however, as her crossovers into pop territory have yielded some of her most successful work. As a rapper, Minaj is ferocious, known for a unique flow that turns on a dime from sugary to snarling, with razor-sharp wordplay and mercilessly blunt lyricism.
She worked closely with Drake, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and virtually every upper-echelon rapper and pop star before ascending to the level of fame that had her selling millions of albums and performing in the Super Bowl halftime show. Her early days included shaky attempts at an acting career and losing her job at Red Lobster for being rude to customers, Minaj progressed quickly from MySpace demos to nationally adored mixtapes to household-name status. With an unmistakable style and charisma, Nicki Minaj skyrocketed to superstardom with a talent that brought to mind past legends but wasn't quite like anything that came before her.