15 Nicki Minaj Facts You Should Know

When Nicki Minaj first made her way into the mainstream hip-hop scene, the Queens MC looked just as animated as her bars. She was colorful, wild, eccentric and was all about her business. In 2016, it's no different. 

With singles like “Super Bass” and “Starships,” she had the ladies and the teenyboppers in the palm of her hand. For those that weren't too fond of her pop fare, mixtape tracks like "I Get Crazy" and "Itty Bitty Piggy" had grown men respecting her skills and the future of the female rap movement. Naysayers wondered if she would last, but if they thought it was a gimmick, the Billboard charts proved otherwise -- Nicki’s first two albums peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

As the years progressed, fans watched Nicki evolve from a costumed princess to the poised queen of hip-hop. She built her claim to fame from the beginning by offering raunchy, whimsical and raw rhymes. And she didn't save it all for herself. When she collaborated, she bodied French Montana's "Freaks," added fire to Trey Songz's "Bottoms Up" and delivered one of the best verses of her career on Kanye West's "Monster." She even went toe-to-toe with Eminem on her track "Roman's Revenge." Her hustle proved to be to her benefit when by 2014 she scored her fourth No. 1 single and became the first female rapper with the most No. 1 hits in the 56-year history of the charts.

While she's been busy topping the charts for the last few years, the rapper has also has let the world see another side to her. She's certainly not as guarded as she once was in interviews, being open about her troubled childhood, failed relationships, dreams of motherhood and ambitions as a rider for Young Money/Cash Money.

But even with her candid lyrics, transparent interviews and Twitter Q&A's, there are still some things you may not know about Young Money's first lady. Peep the gallery above to discover 15 Nicki Minaj Facts You Should Know.

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