Her Wikipedia bio is surprisingly long for someone who's career is only three years old. The gist of it is, Minaj has become as famous for her obnoxious behavior and multi-colored wigs as she has for her musical ability. Maybe more so.
From Wikipedia:
Onika Tanya Maraj was born December 8, 1982 in Saint James, a suburb of Trinidad and Tobago's capital city Port of Spain to parents Carol and Robert Maraj, an accounting clerk/gospel singer and an employee at American Express, respectively. Her parents are of mixed Indian and Afro-Trinidadian ancestry and she lived in Saint James with her grandmother ... Her mother would occasionally visit, and one day, when Minaj was five, her mother picked her up to move to the Queens borough of New York City. According to Minaj, her father drank heavily, took drugs, and once tried to kill her mother by setting the house on fire.
After high school Maraj pursued acting in NYC while working odd jobs.
[Onika] was fired from Red Lobster because of her discourteousness to customers. She stated she had been fired from "at least fifteen jobs" for similar antics
Imagine that.
Acting didn't work out, so she turned her attention to music, trying to find her way through the world of underground rap. Somewhere along the way, a producer changed her name to "Nicki Minaj" and she stuck with it.
In 2009, Minaj was featured on a compilation album We Are Young Money which became a Billboard Top 10 hit and led to more high profile collaborations, such as "Up Out My Face" with future Idol co-judge Mariah Carey.
[Her debut album] Pink Friday was released on November 19, 2010. Minaj became the first female artist to be included on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List and the first female artist to top the chart unaccompanied since 2002. In October 2010, Minaj became the first artist to have seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously ... The album gained Platinum certification in the United States a month after the release.
You can view Minaj's videos HERE, but most of them are marked "explicit" so click at your own risk.
The rest of her bio is strange and sordid (the feud with Carey, questions about her sexuality and her multiple personalities). Read that at your own risk too.
Judging Experience:
None. But as you might have guessed, that doesn't stop Minaj from offering her opinion on any and every subject. And, as is fashionable these days, she responds to any form of criticism with either violence (Mariah Carey claimed she threatened to shoot her (source)) or by screaming RACISM!
You'd think being a rock superstar would earn Steven Tyler a modicum of respect. Not quite.Tyler recently critiqued current "American Idol" judge Nicki Minaj, saying the rap star would likely vote down a young Bob Dylan if he tried out for the show.
Current judge Nicki Minaj responded with a vulgar Twitter tirade:
"You assume that I wouldn't have liked Bob Dylan???" Minaj responded via Twitter. "Why? black? rapper? what? go **** yourself and worry about yourself babe."
"I understand you really wanted to keep your job [on Idol] but take that up with the producers," she continued. "I would have sent Bob Dylan to a cornfield??? Steven, you haven't seen me judge one single solitary contestant yet! … That's a racist comment … Lets make [Steven] a shirt that says 'No Coloreds Allowed' then escort him down 2 Barbara Walters so he can tell [her] how he was threatened w/guns."
Racist?Tyler went on to say his "American Idol" crew, which included black judge Randy Jackson and Latina Jennifer Lopez, would have given someone like Dylan the green light.
Is the pop culture world condemning Minaj for her cruel comments and incendiary accusation?
Nope.
Is Tyler slinking away and apologizing for offending Minaj?
Yup.
It's standard operating procedure in the Age of Obama. The race card can fit virtually any situation, and you don't need facts to back it up. Chris Matthews can call Mitt Romney supporters racist without proof and keep his gig. Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns can savage the Tea Party as racist without proof and retain his standing in film circles.
So when Minaj fired off her angry retort, she knew she would face no backlash. In fact, she could have predicted Tyler, a rock legend, would quickly apologize for doing nothing wrong.
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American Idol Appearances:
None.
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