Female rapper known as Nicki Minaj was born Onika Maraj on December 8, 1984. Of Trinidadian descent, she is from Jamaica, Queens, New York. She was raised by a single mother while her father was on drugs, however despite her rough environment, Minaj went on to study singing and acting at LaGuardia High School in Manhattan (the school that inspired the movie Fame). After graduating Nicki Minaj worked as an administrative assistant and dedicated her free time to pursuing a music career. She got her start singing background vocals and hooks for local rappers. However, she had a great desire to stand out from other aspiring artists and began to write her own raps. Some of her influences were Missy Eliot, Foxy Brown, and Lil′ Kim. Nicki then began to branch out and was noticed by Dirty Money CEO Fendi on Myspace.com. Dirty Money signed Minaj and she soon appeared on the front of the Dirty Money Label, and ′The Come Up′ DVD. When Minaj appeared on the cover of ′The Carter Edition′ of the DVD series, she was then noticed by rap star Lil′ Wayne. Lil′ Wayne immediately called Fendi to set up a meeting with Nicki Minaj. Lil′ Wayne thought that Minaj would be the perfect face for his Young Money label because of her ability to write her own material and her unique style.

Onika Maraj started calling herself Nicki Minaj because she says she was “eating chicks” metaphorically on the mic. Minaj also uses several other alias such as Nicki the Ninja, Harajuki Barbie, Nicki Lewinsky, and Sit on your favorite rapper′s face. Nicki Minaj explains calling herself Nicki Lewinsky in connection with Monica Lewinsky who had an affair with President Bill Clinton. She says that Monica Lewinsky missed an opportunity to gain a great deal of power and control therefore by using the alias Lewinsky she wants to remind women to hold onto their power.

Soon Nicki Minaj and Lil′ Wayne collaborated on tracks such as Sunshine, and Big Spender. Nicki Minaj finally released her first mixtape in April of 2007. The mixtape was called Playtime is Over and featured Minaj dressed as a Barbie on the cover. Her first mixtape was Sucka Free and caused a lot of controversy. Nicki graced the cover and promotional posters with her legs spread which she says she used to “pull people in”. Nicki was then featured in the July issue of XXL magazine. Nicki′s big break however was when Lil′ Wayne collaborated with her on mixtape favorite, High as a Kite. From then on Nicki Minaj has had nothing but success. She released her mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty in Spring of 2009 and received much attention from several outlets such as MTV, BET, and AllHipHop.com. Now, her music can be heard on any hip hop radio station and her videos are featured on BET′s 106 & Park as well as MTV. She has become one of the hottest female rappers currently on the music scene.