Nicki+Minaj

Laura, Why did you start a new page and not use the page on the left titled Laura's page?

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj was born December 8, 1984 in Queens, New York. Nicki's father was abusive, an alcoholic, and abused drugs and Nicki was raised by her single mother. This is known to start Nicki's veiws on "girl power" and feminism. She graduated from LaGuardia High School  in Manhattan  where she studied singing and acting. Through the many jobs she went through as a young adult, Nicki was always pursuing her dreams to become a female artist, specifically a rapper. She wanted everyone to know her name as a great female rapper, because there were not many of them around..

Nicki Minaj started performing right out of high school, but it wasn't all she'd dreamt of. She went from background vocals, to singing chorusing and hooks for other rappers, to singing vocals in her own band. She was the only female in this group and sang lead vocals, but left the group in 2006. Nicki Minaj was finally found by Fendi, on myspace and appeared on the Carter Edition DVD. There, she was noticed by Lil Wayne, who emmediately noticed her talent and wanted her on his Young Money label. Lil Wayne and Nicki then went out to make mix tapes together and in April 2007, she released her first mixtape called "Playtime is Over" where she was dressed up as a Barbie on the cover. In the year 2010, Nicki has been nominated for Best New Artist, Best Female Hip-Hop Artist,Best new Artist (Young Money), Best Group (Young Money), and Veiwer's Choice (for Bedrock ft. Lloyd). In 2008, she released another mixtape called "Sucka Free" in 2009 released "Beam Me Up Scotty". Nicki Minaj is a very creative artist. She writes all her own music and comes up with all of her own lyrics, and performs them how she wants. Although she choses to rap, Nicki can also sing..and displays her singing talent in various songs by rapping the verses and singing the chorus. She also covers songs by other rappers or singers and makes up entertaining lyrics. She is into mostly rap and hip-hop and I feel that is what she does best and shouldn't try to branch out and try to perform other types of music. Her music doesn't really have a lot of instruments in her music, just the beat of the song, but they always flow and are always a catchy tune. She usually has very upbeat music, although some of her songs show her slower side, like the lyrics below. Although Nicki's lyrics are sometimes a tad provocitive and explicit, this is what makes some people like her. You won't enjoy listening to her music unless you already enjoy rap or hip-hop. I personally like Nicki Minaj because she has good lyrics, they are always very creative and very catchy, and you can tell she puts a lot of thought into each song. Sometimes her songs make me laugh and sometimes they make me think "wow, that was a really good line." Also, she is a girl rapper, which was a little less rare earlier with Lil Kim, and Missy Elliot, but not so much anymore. I also enjoy male rappers but sometimes i do not enjoy listen to their lyrics on how they refer to girls, Nicki's lyrics have none of that, obviously. She is just such a unique indiviual. Nicki Minaj Lyrics - Your Love - Most Recent Single []

When asked who she is influenced by, Nicki replies with names like Lauryn Hill, Natasha Bedingfield, Missy Elliot, Lil Kim and Foxy Brown. She also says she studied acting and was interested in being an actress from watching Jada Pinkett Smith. But when it comes down to her biggest inspiration, all the credit goes to Lil Wayne. "Wayne has always been my biggest influence, I always say I learned from him the most, he never stops grinding. It showed me, yo, this dude is the truth, and I'm going to follow in his footsteps."

"People don't know what a female rapper does. We're so not used to seeing it. It's nonexsistent in categories. I don't know where I fit in in the spectrum of rap yet; I think now i'm kind of proving myself, but before, people thought I was more of a sex symbol or wannabe sex symbol, that's why i make the goofiest faces; I dont want people to think I'm up here to be cute. I'm trying to entertain. I'm just trying to show my true personality, and I think that means more than anything else. and when personality is at the forefront, it's not about male or female."

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All Pictures Courtesy of Google