Here’s What Nicki Minaj Was Doing Before She Became Famous

https://www.capitalxtra.com/artists/nicki-minaj/lists/through-the-years-transformation/

In just a few years the 'Anaconda' rapper has undergone a radical transformation.  Before she
was famous: Nicki Minaj shows off her more natural side.

No, Nicki wasn't born wearing a wig! This rare photo of her before she was famous shows Nicki
looking a little more regular than she is usually known for in the press. Picture: Instagram

Everyone has heard the name Nicki Minaj by now. She is not just a successful rapper,
singer, and actress, this woman has her own recognizable style and is an idol for the
young generation. Have you ever wondered what she was up to before she gained
worldwide fame? Read about Nicki Minaj before she was famous rapping and find out
all the secrets about her past. Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1142986-nicki-minaj-
famous-rapping.html

Who is Nicki Minaj and why is she so popular? Fame came to Onika Tanya Maraj
unexpectedly, when she almost lost hope for it. Before the release of her most
successful albums Pink Friday and Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded in 2010 and 2012
respectively, this woman had to endure a lot of difficulties on her way to success. For
years, she tried to build the foundation for her career by working at different jobs before
she finally became recognizable in show business. Nowadays, Onika goes by the stage
name Nicki Minaj, and her biggest hits “Starships”, “Super Bass” and “Anaconda” are
loved by people all over the world. Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1142986-nicki-
minaj-famous-rapping.html

What was Nicki’s bumpy road to success and popularity like? Here, you will find out
everything about Nicki Minaj’s life before her fame. You will also see pictures of Nicki
Minaj prior to becoming a worldwide-known celebrity. Read
more: https://www.legit.ng/1142986-nicki-minaj-famous-rapping.html

Nicki Minaj early years: how did she become a star? The future rap queen was born in
Saint James, a town in Trinidad and Tobago, to Robert and Carol Maraj. As a child,
Nicki lived with her grandma and siblings in Saint James and later moved to Queens,
New York with her mom. Nicki said that while she appreciated her family and their
attempts at motivating her, she always lacked discipline and strictness from them. Her
father was a heavy drinker and addict and was violent towards his family. Once, he
even burned their house. Nicki said later in interviews that she always felt the power
within herself, and wanted to show her mother that she can be strong and successful.
Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1142986-nicki-minaj-famous-rapping.html
After she graduated from high school, Nicki decided to pursue her dream to become a
famous and successful actress. She was even cast for one of the Off-Broadway plays.
Aside that, she had many jobs during these years. She worked as a waitress,
administrative assistant, customer service assistant, and office manager. However,
Nicki said that she got fired from at least fifteen jobs because of her fiery temper. Even
nowadays she is known for getting into fights with various celebrities. At the beginning
of her career, Nicki Minaj tried to perform with girl bands, before she realized she
wanted to go solo. Originally she did not want to take the stage name Nicki Minaj. Her
music producer actually convinced her to change Maraj to Minaj, and to this day Nicki
confesses that she is not a big fan of her new name. She prefers to stay Onika Maraj
among her family and close friends. Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1142986-nicki-
minaj-famous-rapping.html

Her true career success started when she released her very first mixtape “Playtime is
Over”, and the second one, “Sucka Free”. After the releases of these tapes, she
transformed into an award-winning artist and started reaching high positions on
Billboard and other notable music charts. In 2009, she signed a contract with Lil
Wayne’s label Young Money Entertainment, and since then her rapping career has
been going upward. She began recording songs and performing with famous artists like
Mariah Carey and Robin Thicke. The following year, she released her breakthrough
album titled “Pink Friday”, which marked a start of a new era for her. She was not just a
girl who was sometimes featured on other artists’ songs anymore – she became a real
star. The whole world found out the name Nicki Minaj, and she earned loads of money
from her album sales and tours. Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1142986-nicki-minaj-
famous-rapping.html

Since then, the years of Nicki’s success followed. Her name is the first that comes to
mind when you think of a prominent female rapper. She released two more albums:
“Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded” and “The Pinkprint”. Aside that, she performed at
various ceremonies where she won awards, collaborated with multiple famous
superstars like Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Jessie J and Madonna, and was a judge
on American Idol. Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1142986-nicki-minaj-famous-
rapping.html

She is known for her animated style of rapping, which usually contains a lot of wordplay
and metaphors. Apart from that, Nicki’s personality is really outstanding – she always
impresses the public with her new looks, which are sometimes quite explicit. There is
nothing this woman is afraid of. Nicki Minaj is believed to have done a plastic surgery,
even though she did not confirm these rumors. See the photos of Nicki Minaj before and
after. Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1142986-nicki-minaj-famous-rapping.html
Nicki Minaj alter egos Before she became popular, Nicki Minaj tried impersonating
different alter egos. This is a regular thing among celebrities, sometimes they enjoy
feeling like they are someone else. To this day she still comes up with different
personas sometimes. At first, Nicki went by the name Cookie. She came up with this
idea because she wanted to escape the difficult life at home with her parents constantly
arguing. Read more: https://www.legit.ng/1142986-nicki-minaj-famous-rapping.html

Later, Cookie transformed into The Harajuku Barbie, who is notorious for her sweet
manner of singing, unlike Nicki’s strong and powerful rapping verses. For her album
“Pink Friday”, Nicki created a new alter ego, whose name is Roman Zolanski. She
revealed that Roman is basically her when she is angry. Nicki had various other alter
egos, which prove her creativity and flexibility as an artist. Read
more: https://www.legit.ng/1142986-nicki-minaj-famous-rapping.html

https://umusic.co.nz/umusic/pop/10-things-you-should-know-about-nicki-minaj/

With her latest album ‘Queen’ soaring to #1 in multiple countries, it is without a doubt
that Nicki Minaj is the Queen of her realm! The Trinidadian-American rapper, singer,
songwriter and actress has conquered every avenue but there are some things that only
the barbz (her amazing fans) know about her. If you have recently jumped on the Nicki
love train and would like to gain a bit of insider knowledge on the Queen of Rap, here
are 10 things that you should know about Nicki Minaj.

1. Okay, first things first I’ll eat your brains..

If you don’t know the next part to this famous line, then jump on iTunes or Spotify right
now and search for ‘Monster’ feat. Nicki Minaj. Nicki bodied her verse in this song,
outshining the male line up and making herself known as a fierce competitor in the rap
game. It is definitely one of her greatest moments!

2. Nicki’s real name is Onika Tanya Maraj

‘Maraj’ means king – which isn’t surprising considering she is, as Nicki herself once
said, the Queen AND King of New York!

3. Nicki is Trinidadian born

Yes, before Onika went on her journey to claim the throne of New York, she was born in
the beautiful island country of Trinidad and Tobago on December 8, 1982. She moved
to Queens, New York at the age of 5.

4. Nicki is a businesswoman
While it may seem like she is all about the fun and games, Nicki is a businesswoman in
her own right. She personally oversees all aspects of her image and is at the forefront of
all of her business decisions. Nicki’s not only assertive, she’s a boss!
 5. Nicki has one of the best celebrity-fan relationships.
Nicki truly appreciates and wants the best for all of her fans, the barbz. She makes
every effort to connect with them on a personal level, both on social media and in
person. She also recently set up a fund to help some of her fans pay off their student
loans and always encourages them to stay in school and get an education.

6. Nicki’s latest masterpiece, ‘Queen’ is her fourth album.

Her previous three albums were Pink Friday (2010), Pink Friday: Roman
Reloaded (2012) and The Pinkprint (2014). She also released three mixtapes prior to
her first album: Playtime Is Over (2007), Sucka Free with Lil Wayne (2008) and Beam
Me Up Scotty (2009). If you want a crash course in Nicki Minaj, start with Playtime is
Over and work yourself through the years.

7. Nicki has deep, emotional, inspirational songs too!

This may come as a surprise to some, but Nicki is not just about her hyped up songs
like ‘Super Bass’, ‘Starships’ and ‘Anaconda’. She has an array of deep, emotional and
inspirational songs too. One listen over ‘The Pinkprint’ and you will come across some
of her most beautiful works. Don’t forget to check out ‘Come See About Me’ on ‘Queen’,
it will most definitely get you in them feels.

8. Mango Hi-Chews are Nicki’s favourite candy.

In 2013, Nicki posted a picture on Instagram showcasing her favourite candy – Mango
Hi-Chews. They’re amazing! You should definitely give them a try.  

9. Nicki has her own dictionary – the Nictionary.

If you haven’t noticed already, Nicki and the barbz have their own lingo and outsiders
often have a hard time catching on. Quite a few years ago, Nicki created the Nictionary
– a dictionary app with some of her most used terms at the time. Although the app is no
longer available there are several links to the Nictionary online.

10. ‘@nickiminaj’ was not Nicki’s first Instagram account name

When Nicki Minaj first joined Instagram in 2013, the account at name ‘@nickiminaj’ was
being used by an imposter so Nicki created an account with a different at name –
‘@allpinkbarbiedreamhouse’

This old account still exists on Instagram but Nicki is no longer active on there.
However, there are over 6k people that still follow the account – most likely waiting on
first dibs if the Queen of Rap ever posts on there again. Who knows? Maybe she will
one day ?

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/18/how-waitressing-prepared-nicki-minaj-for-success.html

As the highest paid woman in hip-hop, Nicki Minaj has found enormous success in a
male-dominated industry, earning $16 million this year.
For T Magazine’s The Greats issue, the rapper spoke with bestselling author Roxane
Gay about her climb to the top and the factors that have set her apart from her
competition.

Reminiscing about the early stages of her career — which included singing alongside
rappers and working odd jobs — Minaj describes how she used her time as a waitress
to find inspiration and practice songwriting.

“I would take people’s order and then a rap might come to me just by what they’re
wearing or what they said or did,” says Minaj, “and I would go in the kitchen and write it
down, put it in the back of my little thing or my apron, and by the time I was done I
would have all of these sheets of paper thrown around everywhere with raps.”

Minaj isn’t the only super-successful individual who’s worked menial jobs on the way to
the top.

Shark Tank investor Daymond John worked as a waiter at Red Lobster for five years
while developing his FUBU clothing line. Self-made millionaire before becoming a
successful entrepreneur, and billionaire Warren Buffett worked as a newspaper delivery
boy for the Washington Post before becoming the successful investor he is today.

At the Iconic Tour in Los Angeles earlier this year, Robbins spoke about how his job as
a janitor offered him the space to really consider what he wanted.

“If you can find a place where you can do something that gives you freedom and gives
you a chance to really take control of your own time, it leads toward the idea of maybe
owning your own business,” he said.

https://www.vulture.com/2012/02/nicki-minaj-before-she-was-famous.html

Before she dressed like demented ballerinas and swapped wigs with Katy Perry, Nicki
wore Old Navy and rapped in the streets. [BuzzFeed]

Stars like Nicki Minaj, Pink, and even Madonna worked everyday jobs before they
became who they are today.

It's hard to believe that some of the biggest names in Hollywood worked a regular 9-5
job. Like many of us, several pop stars we know and love held down odd jobs here and
there to make ends meet, whether it was working in the fast-food industry, driving a
truck, or working in retail.

Stars like Nicki Minaj, Pink, and even Madonna worked everyday jobs before they
became who they are today. While they are regarded as some of the most talented stars
in the world, they were once just like us and worked extremely hard to make it to the
top.
Before Nicki Minaj became one of the biggest female rap stars, she was working as a
waitress in New York City at Red Lobster. The rapper worked at the seafood restaurant
when she went by her first name, Onika, but admitted that she wasn't the best employee.

Minaj also worked at a phone company, while she was still concentrating on her career
in music. She admitted that she even thought about going back to a regular 9-5 job after
she had no money and no food to eat, but thankfully, she landed her dream career.

https://www.papermag.com/nicki-minaj-jeffree-star-2626477840.html?
rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2

When Nicki Minaj appeared on Jeffree Star's single "Lollipop Luxury," the Brooklyn

rapper was largely a mixtape artist, just beginning to generate buzz through
Myspace and her growing relationship with Lil Wayne. She'd released her debut
mixtape, Playtime Is Over, in July 2007, her second, Sucka Free, in April 2008,
and Beam Me Up Scotty in April 2009, which helped launch her to a new level of hip-
hop fame through its chart-topping track, "I Get Crazy."

As the self-declared "Queen of Myspace," Star was arguably one the most visible
figures on the social media platform, which hadn't yet been overshadowed by
successors Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. He became popular initially as a
makeup artist, painting the faces of celebrities like Kelly Osbourne, and eventually
eased into electronic music, first through his 2007 debut EP, Eyelash Curlers &
Butcher Knives (What's the Difference?).

He was polarizing, but he was powerful, flaunting a bubblegum pink, feminine

persona that danced with gender and dark motifs, from serial killers to fallen
celebrities. Though millions of Myspace users loved to critique him, they loved even
more to click, comment and constantly come back. So it made sense for a rising
artist to partner with Star at the time — especially someone like Minaj, who was
securing rap credibility while also creating a bond with her young LGBTQ fans, who
then were wearing skinny jeans, dying their hair jet black, and frequenting Warped
Tour.

"Lollipop Luxury," co-written by Star and produced by Smile Future, was initially
released without Minaj on his 2008 sophomore EP, Cupcakes Taste Like Violence.
Packaged with glittery synths and unruly arrogance, the track was a climax in the
musical style Star had been carving out for himself online. It ambitiously united all
of Star's obsessions — candy, wealth, sex, self-obsession, and celebrity — inside a
dance-pop single blatantly designed to shock.
"Fuck me, I'm a celebrity/ Can't take your eyes off me/ I'll make you fuck me just to
get somewhere," Star sings on the pre-chorus, with a melody that sounds like a
bitchy lullaby, as if he's threatening and luring all at once. "Fuck me, I'm a celebrity/
Can't take your hands off me/ I know you wanna suck me, what you waiting for?"

Following the track's success, Star announced he'd be rereleasing it on his debut
full-length album, Beauty Killer, through his own record label Popsicle Records. This
version would feature a guest appearance from Minaj, which officially dropped in
September 2009 — only one month after the breakout rap sensation signed with
Young Money Entertainment. "Lollipop Luxury" was before "BedRock," before
"Roger That," and well before Minaj finally unveiled her first solo single, "Massive
Attack," in March 2010.

Her verse kept in line with Star's original cocky flow: "I'm a super superstar on
Hollywood Boulevard/ And I can make all of the boys come to my yard," Minaj raps
with a bratty attitude through autotune. "You see Jeffree, I can show you how to do
it/ Make-make a lollipop squirt squirt a lot of fluid."

Their collaboration was one of the more pop-friendly tunes on Beauty Killer, which
had cover art (shot by Kat Von D) with Star's hands wrapped in bandages and
dripping blood. Other tracks were doused in searing electric guitars, twisted
storytelling, and more aggressive punk-rock production — a shift from the Peaches-
inspired electro of Cupcakes Taste Like Violence. On "Get Away With Murder," Star
threatens to break his lover's heart without any consequences; "Louis Vuitton Body
Bag" features Blink-182 guitarist Matt Skiba; and "Love Rhymes With Fuck You"
outlines an insane, masochistic love affair: "You're trash, but it feels like love," Star
shouts.

https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/4322557487