Anybody who loves hip-hop will know the name, Nicki Minaj. Born Onika Maraj in the St James neighbourhood of Trinidad, the female rapper has cemented her place in the hip-hop history books and arguably as the best female rapper of all time. Initially raised by her grandmother in the Caribbean, Minaj was left by her mother and father while they attempted to build a life for themselves in the United States. Minaj has always remained proud of her Caribbean roots and often returns for Carnival, one of the nation’s most celebrated holidays.
Raised in South Jamaica, Queens, Minaj had previously admitted that she hated living in the US when she first arrived. Friends of Maraj have highlighted in documentaries how she was always very theatrical from a young age, which carried through into her music. The Queens musician is known for her outlandish style, accent-infused rhymes and multiple personalities. Due to her eccentric demeanour, Minaj initially decided to become an actor and attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia high school for performing arts.
After graduating as a drama major, Minaj went straight into doing auditions and bagged the off-Broadway play In Case You Forget in 2001. However, after getting fired from her job as a waitress at Red Lobster, and not getting call-backs from auditions, Minaj began exploring the world of rap. Alongside her friends Loustar, Seven Up, and Safaree Samuels as part of the Hood$tars. However her break came when she met record executive and entrepreneur Fendi who got her a spot on his popular DVD ‘The Come Up DVD’. Maraj appeared on ‘The Come Up DVD’ several times between 2003 and 2006, She would eventually get noticed by Young Money legend Lil Wayne.
Since she entered the mainstream circa 2009, Minaj has sold over 100 million records worldwide and has earned 21 top ten singles in her career thus far. Across her 15-year career, Minaj has released four studio albums, one compilation album, and three mixtapes. Minaj began releasing albums every two years in 2010. However, after her 2014 album The Pinkprint, she began releasing every four years until 2023. As her career begins to wind down after over 15, we’ve decided to compile a thorough playlist of her 25 best-ever tracks.
The 25 best Nicki Minaj songs ever:
- ‘Itty Bitty Piggy’
- ‘Beam Me Up Scotty’
- ‘Super Bass’
- ‘Check It Out’ ft Will.i.am
- ‘Massive Attack’ ft Sean Garrett
- ‘Moment 4 Life’ ft Drake
- ‘Did It On ‘Em’
- ‘Roman’s Revenge’ ft Eminem
- ‘Fly’ ft Rihanna
- ‘Stupid Hoe’
- ‘Beez In The Trap’ ft 2chainz
- ‘Come On Cone’
- ‘Pills N Potions’
- ‘Feelin Myself’ ft Beyoncé
- ‘Truffle Butter’ ft Drake & Lil Wayne
- ‘Anaconda’
- ‘MEGATRON’
- ‘Chun-Li’
- ‘Barbie Dreams’
- ‘Rich Sex’ ft Lil Wayne
- ‘Barbie Tingz’
- ‘No Frauds’ ft Lil Wayne & Drake
- ‘Hard White’
- ‘We Go Up’ ft Fivio Foreign
- ‘Do We Have A Problem?’ ft Lil Baby