Nicki Minaj

 Nicki Minaj was born in the Caribbean. She moved to New York at age 5 and overcame a difficult childhood to become an accomplished hip-hop artist. Lil Wayne, her labelmate has called her an "icon" who has "reach that is far beyond anything I ever imagined." Nicki will be remembered as one of the most influential performers to have ever done it. She was born Onika Tanya Mraj, a native of Saint James, Trinidad and Tobago on December 8, 1982. At the age of five years old, she moved to Queens with her family. Minaj's father was a severe drug addict who had a long history of violence. In a failed effort to kill Minaj's mom, he set fire at the family home. These first struggle, Minaj has said, helped fuel her drive to overcome the obstacles her parents lived. "I've always had this female empowerment thing in my head," she said in Details magazine "because I wanted my mom to be stronger, and she was not. "If I'm successful, she'll alter my life," I thought. In order to achieve that Minaj was a young Minaj developed personas for herself that would allow her to reinvent herself. Her first name was "Cookie" followed by "Harajuku Barbie" and finally Nicki Minaj. Minaj said that her fantasy was the reality she lived. Minaj clearly had a gift in performing.