Onika Tanya Maraj was born on December 8, 1982, in Saint James, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

She played the clarinet while attending Elizabeth Blackwell Middle School in Queens.

In 2014, she revealed to GQ that she had been fired from Red Lobster as a teen waitress for chasing down a customer who had stolen her pen.

She was discovered by Lil Wayne and signed to his record label Young Money Entertainment in 2009.

With her parents frequently fighting during her childhood, Minaj lived through characters she created as a means of escape. Her first identity was Cookie, who became Harajuku Barbie and (later) Nicki Minaj. For Pink Friday, Minaj created another alter ego: Roman Zolanski, "a demon inside her", Minaj's "twin brother" whose character she assumes when she is angry. Roman has been compared to Eminem's alter ego Slim Shady, and on "Roman's Revenge" Minaj and Eminem collaborate as their alter egos.

Nicki is an expert twerker, as evidenced by appearances in music videos such as Busta Rhymes' "Twerk It", Robin Thicke's "Shakin' It 4 Daddy", Big Sean's "Dance (A$$)", and Wale's "Clappers".

"I remember when I couldn't buy my mother a couch
Now I'm sittin' at the closin' bought my mother a house"

Pink Friday (2010) features guest vocals from Eminem, Rihanna, Drake, will.i.am, Kanye West and Natasha Bedingfield. Nicki had previously released three mixtapes: Playtime Is Over (2007), Sucka Free (2008), and Beam Me Up Scotty (2009).

The internet almost exploded when it saw the wild lapdance Nicki gave Drake in her "Anaconda" video. Afterwards, he took to Twitter to confirm that he was thrilled to be selected for the cameo. "Def the best invite to a video shoot EVER. #ViewsFromMyChair #MyAnacondaWasWayUp"

The 'Barbies' or 'Barbz' are Nicki's legion of fans that know all of her lyrics, hang on her every rhyme and adore her every high-heeled boot.