American rapper and R&B singer-songwriter, Nicki Minaj, has an estimated net worth of $75 million. In 2011, Nicki Minaj became the first female rapper to join the Forbes Magazine’s Hip-Hop Cash Kings list at No. 15 with $6.5 million earnings between 2010 to 2011. Currently, she is the only female on the list.

Her debut album Pink Friday went platinum shortly after its launch in 2011, and she’s not shy about her earnings: on Kanye West’s “Monster,” she boasts that she gets $50,000 for her guest verses. She is known for her brightly colored wigs and ensembles whose style ranges from a girlish voice to a guttural growl. Influenced by the unpredictable rhymes of Missy Elliot along with the sexually charged attitudes of Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown, the Queens native was discovered thanks to her MySpace page. It was there that Dirty Money Entertainment CEO Fendi first heard her ability to freestyle and first laid eyes on her steamy set of promo shots. With killer curves, she was obviously proud to flaunt, plus a background in the performing arts thanks to the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art (the school that had inspired the movie Fame), Minaj was a perfect fit for Fendi’s urban DVD magazine, The Come Up.

Minaj appeared in numerous volumes, including number 11, which spotlighted her future label boss, superstar rapper Lil Wayne. Through Fendi, Wayne contacted Minaj and signed her to his Young Money label. They began building her career through mixtapes like Lil Wayne’s Dedication 3 and Minaj’s own Sucka Free. Meanwhile, appearances on various remixes — everything from T.I.’s “No Matter What” to Jeffree Star’s club track “Cupcakes Taste Like Violence” — helped spread the word. The big breakthrough came when Wayne added his rhymes to her “High as a Kite” single, a mixtape favorite in 2008.

The year 2009 saw more guest appearances and mixtapes, including the Beam Me up Scotty mixtape, featuring the street single “I Get Crazy.” In 2010, the singles “Your Love” and “Check It Out” preceded the release of her official debut album, Pink Friday. Nicki was born Onika Tanya Maraj on December 8, 1982 in Saint James, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. To date, she has sold 20 million singles as a lead artist and 60 million singles as a featured artist worldwide.

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