Nicki Minaj

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Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, known professionally as Nicki Minaj, is a Trinidadian-born rapper, singer, songwriter and actress. She is noted for her versatility as an artist, her "sharp" lyrics and animated flow in her rapping and her usage of alter egos and accents.

## Public Image

*Billboard* listed Minaj the fourth-most-active musician on social media on its March 2011 Social 50 chart. Minaj is also the most followed rapper on Instagram, with 175 million followers as of 2022. On Twitter, she is one of the most followed rappers, with 22 million followers on the app, as of 2021. She joined *American Idol* as a judge in 2013. BET has named Minaj as a "gay icon." Minaj was a vocal proponent of streams counting towards an artist's RIAA certifications. The organization later announced in 2016 that it would be modernizing the certification process for albums, including on-demand audio and video streams, as reported by *Yahoo! News*.

Minaj has been called as a "fashion icon" by *Allure, Time,* *XXL* and has been called a "camp style icon" by Refinery29. She has cited Alexander McQueen, Gianni Versace, and Christian Louboutin as her favorite designers. *The Huffington Post* described her style as "risk-taking" and "far-out", with "bold sartorial choices"; Minaj has been included on the annual *Maxim* Hot 100 list several times. In 2014, Minaj underwent a reinvention in her image sporting a "natural" and "softer" look, wearing fewer wigs and less colourful costumes. She stated that she "went so far to the other side that there's only one place to go from there. You can either continue doing costumes or you can just say, "Hey guess what? This will shock them even more. Doing nothing will shock them even more"".

Her physique, notably her buttocks, has attracted significant attention from the media. Early in her career, she made autographing breasts part of her movement to empower women. In 2010, she said that although she originally felt obligated to mimic the provocative behavior of the "female rappers of [her] day", she intended to subdue her sexuality because she "[wants] 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."

Minaj talked about feminism in an interview with *Vogue* in 2015, saying "There are things that I do that feminists don't like, and there are things that I do that they do like. I don't label myself. I just say the truth about what I feel. I feel like women can do anything that they put their minds to." In 2018, an interview with *Elle*, in which she discussed sex workers, her own sex appeal, and sexuality in music and on social media, attracted criticism. In *The New York Times Magazine*, music critic Vanessa Grigoriadis said that Minaj "has become expert at modelling the ways that women can wield power in the industry. But she has also drawn attention to the ways in which power can be embodied by a woman standing up for herself and speaking her own mind."

The cover art and music video for her 2014 single, "Anaconda", attracted significant media attention upon release. The music video was viewed 19.6 million times in its first 24 hours of release. *The Guardian* called the video "racy" but noted that she "doesn't shy from ruffling her audience's feathers", while others praised Minaj for "owning her sexuality", examining her work through a feminist perspective. Another writer for *The Guardian* said, of the "Anaconda" video, Minaj turns "the classic song into a conversation, and refuses to let the camera objectify her lap dance by keeping it zoomed out, at a distance."

## Controversies

### COVID-19 vaccine controversy

In September 2021, Minaj announced she would not be attending the 2021 Met Gala due to the COVID-19 vaccine requirement. She stated that she has avoided public appearances and traveling after contracting the virus herself and having to quarantine from her son as a result. Minaj shared several tweets about her unvaccinated status and claimed she wanted to do more research and be comfortable with her decision first. She alleged in a Tweet that her cousin's friend in Trinidad suffered swollen testicles and became impotent as a result of the vaccine. These tweets received backlash where her story about her cousin's friend became the subject of jokes and memes. Trinidad and Tobago health minister Terrence Deyalsingh declared that Minaj's claims were false and that no such report existed.

Shortly after, Minaj recommended other people get the vaccine and set up a Twitter poll on COVID-19 vaccine brands. She tweeted that she was sure she would get vaccinated herself because of touring. The White House offered Minaj a phone call with a doctor to answer questions about the safety of the vaccine. In an Instagram Live response two days later, she claimed that she was "simply asking questions" and she did not "give any facts" about the vaccine. Reporters allegedly harassed Minaj's family for a story, with Minaj sharing some text messages she alleged were harassment on social media.

### Legal issues

In 1995, Minaj's husband, Kenneth Petty, was convicted of attempted first-degree rape for a 1994 assault that occurred when both he and the victim (named Jennifer Hough) were teenagers. Petty was sentenced to 18 to 54 months in state prison and served just under four years, being released in January 1999. In August 2021, Hough filed a lawsuit against Minaj and Petty for alleged harassment and intimidation to recant her account of the assault. Hough later gave an interview about the accusations on the talk show *The Real*. While Minaj has not publicly commented on the lawsuit, she denied the accusations in a December case filing: "I never asked [Hough] to change her story, I never offered her any money in return for a statement, and I did not threaten her with any type of harm if she chose not to provide a statement." Hough later voluntarily dropped the case against Minaj, with her lawyers claiming "jurisdictional issues" and telling a judge that it was going to be refiled in California. Minaj's lawyer countered their claims, saying that the refiling was a "friviolous gambit to avoid a sanctions motion."

## Trivia

* She Has a Mix-Cultured Nationality.
* Nicki Minaj's Parents are Gospel Singers.
* Her Tough Childhood Has Shaped her Personality.
* She has a Controversial Brother.
* She Was Fired from Her Waitressing Gig.
* She was a Broadway Star!
* Nicki Wrote Her First Rap When She Was 12.