Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj
Onika Tanya Maraj, known professionally as Nicki Minaj, is a Trinidadian-born American rapper, singer and songwriter. Born in Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago and raised in South Jamaica, Queens, New York, Minaj earned public attention after releasing three mixtapes between 2007–09. She has been signed to Young Money Entertainment since 2009...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRapper
Date of Birth8 December 1982
CitySaint James, Trinidad And Tobago
CountryUnited States of America
If people are sitting in the barbershop talking about my butt, it's conversational. That's what people are gonna do.
I feel like my entire career and life, I've been judged by people who did not really know me. I definitely think that they probably were right to assume what they had assumed about me, because there was such little to go on out there.
I don't mind being called a weirdo. There are a lot of people in hip-hop who are probably never going to get what I do. But, by just being myself, I end up touching a lot more people who might never have paid much attention to a female rapper.
Every woman is a character - but people need to see I'm a regular human. It's like you wear a pink wig and you're no longer human all of sudden.
People's expectations of what I'm capable of doing are very low. People have been used to hearing little one-liners and me play around.
As a designer, you always take facets of different people and you mix them together with your own thoughts and information and creativity and passion.
I have to have the sensibility to keep Versace company in good shape because there are so many people working for it, and we need to have the company grow and also be relevant. So I work very hard for all that to happen, and I wish people would know me for that and be satisfied.
The music is always blasting wherever I am that people always knock on my door and say, "It's too loud!"
But, by just being myself, I end up touching a lot more people who might never have paid much attention to a female rapper.
I looked at people like Lil Wayne. I would go to the studio and I would observe Wayne, and I would literally pray. I would say 'God, give me his work ethic'.
You want to know what scares people? Success.
I want people - especially young girls - to know that in life, nothing is going to be based on sex appeal. You've got to have something else to go with that.
I don't have to do things just to please people. It's okay to do what I love because what I love, my fans love. And they're really the only ones that should matter.
Sometimes you don't realize how far you've gotten until you look around at the people who are still trailing far behind you.