Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj is a Trinidadian-American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actress whose two-decade career has produced multiple defining 21st-century international hip-hop-and-pop singles — particularly her 2010 first commercial album Pink Friday and her 2018 single "Anaconda." She was born Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty on December 8, 1982, in Saint James, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, into an Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Trinidadian family. Her father Robert Maraj was a Trinidadian financial-executive and her mother Carol Maraj was a Trinidadian-American gospel singer. The family relocated to Queens, New York City, when Nicki was five.

Her education at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in Manhattan (graduated 2001) launched her early-career path. Her 2007 first underground-mixtape release Playtime Is Over — and her subsequent 2008 second mixtape Sucka Free and 2009 third mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty — launched her late-2000s American underground-hip-hop public profile.

Her 2009 Young Money Cash Money Records signing under hip-hop producer Lil Wayne launched her 2010 commercial breakthrough. The November 22, 2010 first commercial album Pink Friday — released by Young Money Cash Money — debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and produced her single "Super Bass." The album sold over three million copies worldwide.

Her 2014 third commercial album The Pinkprint — released December 15, 2014 — produced her single "Anaconda" (which sampled Sir Mix-a-Lot's 1992 "Baby Got Back") and launched her mid-2010s American international hip-hop-and-pop commercial peak. Her subsequent career across the late 2010s has produced multiple American chart hits — particularly her 2018 single "Bed" (with Ariana Grande), her 2018 fifth commercial album Queen, her 2022 single "Super Freaky Girl," and her 2023 fifth-anniversary commercial album Pink Friday 2. She married American producer Kenneth Petty in 2019, and the couple has one son.

Her name Nicki began as the diminutive of Nicole (from the Greek Nikolaos meaning "victory of the people"). Nicki has been a popular American girls' name across the late 20th century.