Nicki Minaj, who
just released
a steamy video with hubby Meek Mill, has been slaying the rap game
since she started releasing mixtapes in 2007. You might know that the
Trinidad-born star holds the title of most followed rapper on Twitter,
counts Beyoncé as a friend and collaborator, and will eagerly speak up
when she feels she's been dissed. But there is much more to the
outspoken artist than her accomplishments and feuds. Read below for an
essential lesson in Nicki 101.
1. She Was Fired from Red Lobster…. Multiple Times
Minaj bounced around jobs while trying to make a name for herself in the
rap world and even worked for several Red Lobsters in New York. "I got
fired from, like, every Red Lobster you could think of: The Bronx, Long
Island, Queens, everywhere," she told Atlanta's Hot 109.7. The hip-hop
star has said she had many shortcomings as a waitress (like her nails
falling into the food), but one incident she recounted for
Billboard
put her on the fast-track to unemployment: "I chased a customer out of
the restaurant once so I could stick my middle finger up at her and
demand that she give me my pen back. I swear to God I was bad."
2. She Went to School for Acting
The chart-topping
rapper always knew she was meant to be a star, but as a teen Minaj
believed acting would be her way into the spotlight. The "Truffle
Butter" singer attended Manhattan's prestigious LaGuardia school of
performing arts, where she studied acting, and after graduating, she
even nabbed a role in an off-Broadway play,
In Case You Forgot.
3. There's a Story Behind Her Alter Egos
If you've
listened to any of Minaj's songs, chances are you've heard from one of
her many personas. Her characters include the angry, unapologetic Roman,
Roman's British mother, Martha, and girly fashionista Barbie. Minaj's
alter egos aren't just a creative outlet; her "first identity," Cookie,
helped her cope with her dad's drug addiction and his abusive treatment
of her mother. "To get away from all their fighting, I would imagine
being a new person … Fantasy was my reality," Minaj told
New York magazine about her childhood.
4. She Feels "Haunted" by an Abortion She Had as a Teen
When
Minaj was in her teens she became pregnant with her first love's child.
"It was the hardest thing I'd ever gone through," she told
Rolling Stone
of having an abortion. "[The decision has] haunted me all my life."
Minaj alludes to her choice to terminate the pregnancy in the emotional
song "All Things Go," in which she raps, "My child with Aaron would have
been 16, any minute."
5. She Loves Judge Judy and Larry David
"
Curb Your Enthusiasm is my favorite show of all freaking time, I want to marry Larry David," Minaj admitted in a
Billboard
interview. Judge Judy also gets Minaj glued to her tube. "She's just
straightforward but she doesn't realize that she's really, in her next
life, a comedian," the rapper said. "I think it's hilarious like when
people don't know how funny they are, when they're dead serious and I'm
literally on the floor crying. I just love her."
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