Onika Tanya Maraj is Nicki Minaj's full name.¹⁾

Nicki was born in Southside Jamaica Queens, New York, on December 8, 1982.²⁾

She has African, Trinidadian, and Indo-Asian ancestors.³⁾

Nicki has a tattoo on the left side of her arm. It's in Chinese and means “God is always with me”.⁴⁾

She attended Manhattan's LaGuardia High School.⁵⁾

She is acrophobic, which means she is terrified of heights.⁶⁾

Nicki doesn't like cats and much prefers dogs.⁷⁾

Nicki's father, Robert Maraj, is a financial executive and part-time gospel singer, while her mother, Carol, is a gospel vocalist who has also worked in payroll and accounting departments.⁸⁾

When she was a child, her drug-addicted father sold all of their possessions and even set fire to their house in an effort to murder her mother. Minaj's difficult upbringing instilled in her the desire to build a name for herself and empower other women in vulnerable situations, such as her mother.⁹⁾

Nicki's 38-year-old brother, Jelani Maraj, was convicted in 2017 of predatory sexual assault on his 11-year-old stepdaughter.¹⁰⁾