Nicki Minaj

Why she matters

Onika Tanya Maraj was born in Saint James, Port of Spain, Trinidad, and moved to South Jamaica, Queens, at five. She auditioned into LaGuardia High School, the city’s performing-arts school, and from 2002 to 2004 rapped in a group called Hoodstars. Already, people around her noticed the voices. When Warner Bros. showed interest in signing her out of the group, the deal required a ghostwriter. She said no.

She went solo and independent, putting songs up on MySpace and sending them to people in the industry. A Brooklyn production company signed her off MySpace in 2006, the name became Nicki Minaj, and the mixtapes started: Playtime Is Over in 2007, Sucka Free in 2008, Beam Me Up Scotty in 2009. Lil Wayne brought her into the Young Money orbit, but she kept working on her own until a bidding war in 2009, when she signed with Young Money on terms that left her owning her 360 rights: merchandise, endorsements, touring and publishing.

Pink Friday came out in November 2010. A month earlier she’d appeared on Kanye West’s “Monster” next to Jay-Z and Rick Ross, and plenty of critics called hers the best verse on the song. In our view that was the moment the conversation about her changed from novelty to threat. Critics have since singled out her switches in cadence, speed and accent, and her alter egos, as the core of the style.

What a working rapper can take from it

Write your own, and protect it. She turned down a label offer because it came with someone else writing her songs. That’s a creative stance and a business one: the writer owns a share of the song. Know what you’re giving away before you sign, and get your songs registered in your name. The song registration guide walks through it.

Treat delivery as part of the writing. Her accents, characters and sudden speed changes land like decisions, and she has said she sometimes spends hours revising her work. When you draft, mark where the voice changes and why. Then record it in separate passes so each voice gets its own take; the vocal-recording guide covers setting up for that.

Read the whole deal, not just the advance. Her Young Money deal is remembered for what she kept. When someone wants to sign you, ask who owns merch, touring and publishing before you ask how much they’re paying.