As a young female solo artist who had just broken up with the rap crew she started her career with in the early 2000s, Nicki Minaj was signed by one of the most relevant rap icons, Lil Wayne.
Onika Tanya Maraj professionally known as Nicki Minaj is confident female rapper very comfortable in her domain and who was initially doubted by many, especially given how female rappers were going downhill during the time she started to emerge in the mid-2000s. Who knew she would come on to save the female rap game entirely to become one of the top female rappers in the world?
According to Lil Wayne, so many people discouraged him from signing a female to his label. Before eventually signing Nicki in 2009 to Young Money, Weezy had done his thorough research about Nicki after discovering her on several popular DVDs in New York.
Despite being discouraged, he wanted to sign the female rapper at all cost. Nicki wasn’t just a potential signee for Young Money. She was an unapologetic Wayne fan and this helped a great deal.
In fact, she recalls that when she ever got on phone with her idol, she didn’t believe it actually happened.
“It’s insane, coz I can literally remember the first time I spoke with Wayne on phone. I was in my moma’s house in my bedroom and I was cleaning my room all day. He said that he saw me on a DVD and he wanted to fly me out ” – said Nicki
Nicki Minaj added that,
“He was looking for a female for his Young Money crew and I was wondering that but why me out the many girls who rap, and he said I should come down and record, I thought I was gonna die, coz I was super-duper obsessed with him”.
After joining Young Money in 2009, Nicki went on to release her first album “Pinky Friday” and the rest is history. According to Wikipedia, the album has been certified 3× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined album sales, track sales, and song streams equivalent of three million album-sale units. In fact, it’s so unreal how the Minaj went on to secure top spot in global rap scene.
Now married with a child, she echoes that she did not think marriage was going to be so “fascinating and refreshing” and thinks it’s been because so because she married someone who is her soulmate and who understands her entirely.
To all the future young rappers reading this, it be your story someday and remember that in life you’re not pinned to fail where others have failed, so have no limits.
