Queen Nicki Minaj

Who is Nicki Minaj? Nicki Minaj—real name Onika Tanya Maraj—is a Trinidadian-born, Queens-raised rap queen, business mogul, and pop culture icon who redefined what it means to be a woman in hip-hop. She exploded onto the scene in the late 2000s with razor-sharp mixtapes, a Barbie persona, and a lyrical venom that made the industry pay attention. By the time her debut album Pink Friday dropped in 2010, she had already body-bagged half the rap game.