Born December 8, 1984 in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, of mixed Indian and African ancestry. She lived in Trinidad with her grandmother until age 5 when she moved to Jamaica, Queens, New York.A graduate of LaGuardia High School, Nicki Minaj began her career in 2004 singing background vocals and hooks for rappers in New York City. She was discovered on MySpace by Dirty Money CEO Fendi, who signed her to the label in 2004. After appearing on "The Carter Edition" of Young Money's The Come Up DVD series, Minaj was contacted by Lil Wayne, which lead to her release from Dirty Money.In April 2007, she released her first mixtape, Playtime Is Over, posing as a Barbie doll on the cover.
Nicki Minaj, born Onika Tanya Maraj on December 8, 1984, is a Trinidadian-American rapper and singer-songwriter signed to Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records.
Her debut album, Pink Friday, is due for release on November 23rd 2010. The album's lead buzz track, Massive Attack, features singer-rapper Sean Garrett and was released on April 13th 2010, peaking at #19 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Songs chart. Your Love, the album's second single, was released on June 1st following a premature leak. The song peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #1 on the Rap Songs chart, thus becoming Minaj's most successful single release to date. A third single, Right Thru Me, is due for release on October 5th 2010.
From Wikipedia:Onika Tanya Maraj (born December 8, 1984), better known by her stage name Nicki Minaj (pronounced /m??n???/), is a rapper and singer-songwriter who was born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago, but moved to the Queens borough of New York City as a child and graduated from LaGuardia High School in 2003. She released her first mixtape Playtime Is Over in 2007, which was followed by Sucka Free and Beam Me Up Scotty in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Minaj was discovered by fellow American rapper Lil Wayne and signed a deal to Young Money Entertainment with distribution from Universal Motown in August 2009.
Her debut studio album Pink Friday (2010) became a commercial success, peaking atop of the U.S. Billboard 200 and being certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) a month after its release. She became the first artist ever to have seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time. Her second single, "Your Love", reached number-one on the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart, making Minaj the first female artist to top the chart unaccompanied since 2002. She also became the first female artist to be included on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List.