Nicki Minaj

Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty (née Maraj; born December 8, 1982), known professionally as Nicki Minaj ( NIK-ee min-AHZH), is a Trinidadian rapper, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as the "Queen of Rap" and one of the most influential rappers of all time, she is credited as a driving force in the mainstream resurgence of female rap in the early 2010s. Known for her dynamic rap flow, witty lyrics, musical versatility, and alter egos, Minaj first gained recognition after releasing three mixtapes between 2007 and 2009.

Her debut studio album, Pink Friday (2010), topped the US Billboard 200 and produced the largest female rap album sales week of the 21st century; it spawned the RIAA diamond-certified top-five single "Super Bass". Minaj explored dance-pop on her second US number-one album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012), yielding the internationally successful single "Starships". She returned to her hip hop roots with her third and fourth albums, The Pinkprint (2014) and Queen (2018), which yielded hit singles "Anaconda" and "Chun-Li". Minaj achieved her first two Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles in 2020 as a featured artist on Doja Cat's "Say So" and 6ix9ine's "Trollz"; the former was the first female rap collaboration to top the chart. Two years later, she garnered her first solo US number-one song with "Super Freaky Girl", the lead single from her fifth studio album, Pink Friday 2 (2023), which debuted at number one in the US and broke several female rap sales and streaming records. The accompanying concert tour became the highest-grossing tour for a female rapper.

Minaj is one of the world's best-selling music artists, and the best-selling female rapper, with over 100 million records sold. She is also among the RIAA's 50 highest-certified digital singles artists. In 2023, Billboard and Vibe ranked her as the greatest female rapper of all time. Her various accolades include a Brit Award, five Billboard Music Awards, nine American Music Awards, eight MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), 12 BET Awards, a Soul Train Music Award, and three Guinness World Records. In 2012, Forbes included Minaj in its 30 Under 30 listicle, and in 2016, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Her outspoken views, personal life, and fanbase have received significant media attention.

Minaj founded the Heavy On It Records label imprint in 2023. Outside of music, her other endeavors include a fragrance line, a press on nails line, a Loci sneakers collection, the radio show Queen Radio (2018–2023), and as an actress, she played roles in the animated films Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), and the comedy films The Other Woman (2014) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016). On television, she served as a judge on the twelfth season of American Idol (2013).