Nicki Minaj (born Onika Maraj) is a female rapper from Southside Jamaica, Queens, New York, NY.

Nicki Minaj grew up in New York, her parents of Afro-Trinidadian and Indo-Asian origin[2] She graduated from LaGuardia High School in Manhattan where she studied singing and acting.[3] She started off singing background vocals and hooks for local rappers. In order to stand out from other aspiring singers, she began writing raps, and started out as the lone female in a group, (which she left in 2006).

Nicki Minaj was discovered on MySpace by Dirty Money CEO Fendi, who signed her to his Dirty Money label.After appearing on The Carter Edition of Dirty Money`s The Come Up DVD series, Minaj was contacted by Lil Wayne. The two collaborated on a number of mixtape tracks.[4] In April 2007, she released her first mixtape, Playtime Is Over, where she posed as a Barbie doll on the cover. Lil Wayne appeared on the track "Can`t Stop, Won`t Stop".

In 2008, Minaj released her mixtape, Sucka Free. Minaj appeared in the July issue of XXL magazine, giving a brief overview of her life up to that point in time. Later that year, Minaj won Female Artist of the Year at the Underground Music Awards. .[5]

Minaj released Beam Me Up Scotty, another mixtape, in 2009. It received generally positive coverage on the websites of both BET and MTV.

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