Nicki Minaj has been the most prevalent female artist in hip-hop for well over a decade and has made a wealth of fantastic material. The multi-platinum-selling emcee (real name Onika Maraj) has been at the forefront of the culture for many reasons. Whether it was her fiery outbursts on Twitter or her raunchy music videos, Minaj captured the world’s imagination when she first arrived in the summer of 2009.
Signing with Young Money in 2007, the ‘Anaconda’ musician first entered the mainstream in 2009 when she appeared on the hit Young Money single ‘Bed Rock’ and has been an icon ever since. Her Barbie aesthetic and theatrical rap style was a sight to behold and something fresh and new in hip-hop.
That said, as she has progressed in her career Nicki Minaj has made some bad and good decisions musically. Her 2012 single ‘Starships’ landed her in hot water with the hip-hop community as she turned her back on the genre for a pivot towards Eurodance, and she has since revealed she regretted that moment.
However, aside from ranting on Instagram and other non-music-related controversies, the Queens lyricist has also made some fantastic musical decisions in her career, including some that have even seen her shoot to the top of the charts in unprecedented circumstances.
In 2020, Minaj took to her Apple Radio station Queen Radio to discuss her career decisions, musical regrets and triumphs with her fans. During the segment, the ‘Moment 4 Life’ singer reeled through her four albums and picked out her favourite song from each project.
Each of Minaj’s albums reflects an era of her domination and captures the musical landscape in which it got made. For example, her sophomore project Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, leans heavily towards pop and EDM, featuring production from the likes of David Guetta and RedOne, Eurodance powerhouses who were ruling the charts then.
The Pinkprint saw the Eurodance version of Minaj effectively perish and, as such, saw a much more rap-orientated album. Queen also saw Minaj go back to more hip-hop. However, there were some tracks made to shock. Between 2010 and 2023, Minaj has released four albums. Below you can see her favourite songs from her own projects.
Nicki Minaj’s favourite Nicki Minaj songs:
- ‘Roman’s Revenge’ featuring Eminem – Pink Friday, (2010)
- ‘Beez In The Trap’ ft 2 Chainz – Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, (2012)
- ‘Feeling Myself’ featuring Beyonce – The Pinkprint, (2014)
- ‘Chun-Li’ – Queen, (2018)
