Nicki Minaj Trivia
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This Nicki Minaj trivia quiz has 74 free questions with answers and follows the whole arc: the girl born in Port of Spain and raised in New York, the performing-arts high school and the restaurant job, the mixtapes that got a Young Money label boss on the phone, and the debut album that opened bigger than any female rap record this century. From there it moves through the songs everyone knows, the alter egos, the film and television detours, and the run of Billboard records that made her the best-selling female rapper of all time, right up to Pink Friday 2 and the Gag City tour. The early questions are gentle enough for casual listeners; the later ones dig into chart peaks, sample sources, tour details and business ventures that only serious fans will know. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries and other primary references before publishing, so you can trust the results and argue about them with confidence.
30 of 74 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is Nicki Minaj's birth name?
Onika Tanya Maraj
Her birth name is Onika Tanya Maraj; born in Trinidad and Tobago in 1982, she adopted the stage name Nicki Minaj while chasing a rap career in New York in the mid-2000s.
Q 02She was born in the Saint James district of which Trinidad and Tobago city?
Port of Spain
She was born in Saint James, a district of Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, and lived there with her grandmother while her mother went ahead to New York.
Q 03At roughly what age was she brought to live with her parents in New York City?
5
Her mother had moved to the Bronx to attend Monroe College before sending for her, and the family settled in the South Jamaica neighborhood.
Q 04Which New York City borough did she grow up in after arriving from the Caribbean?
Queens
She grew up in Queens, in the South Jamaica neighborhood; a planned Freeform sitcom about her childhood there, titled Nicki, never made it to air.
Q 05She successfully auditioned for which specialist New York City public high school?
LaGuardia
She attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in Manhattan, the school that inspired Fame, where she trained in acting.
Q 06Before her music career took off, she waited tables at a Bronx branch of which restaurant chain?
Red Lobster
She waited tables at a Red Lobster in the Bronx and has said she was fired for being rude to customers, one of several jobs she held before rapping paid.
Q 07What was the New York hip hop group Nicki Minaj rapped in from 2002 to 2004 called?
Hoodstars
The Hoodstars, formed in 2002, included Lou$tar, son of Full Force's Bowlegged Lou, and Safaree Samuels; the group split after recording a WWE entrance theme in 2004.
Q 08In 2004 her early group recorded a WWE entrance theme, 'Don't Mess With', for which Diva?
Victoria
'Don't Mess With' was the entrance theme of WWE Diva Victoria and appeared on the 2004 compilation ThemeAddict: WWE The Music, Vol. 6.
Q 09Who is credited with changing her stage name to 'Minaj' after signing her to Dirty Money?
Fendi
Fendi, head of the Brooklyn label Dirty Money Entertainment, found her on Myspace, signed her to a 180-day contract and is credited with changing her stage name to Minaj.
Q 10What was the title of her first mixtape, released in July 2007?
Playtime Is Over
Playtime Is Over, her debut mixtape, was released on July 5, 2007, by the Brooklyn label Dirty Money Entertainment, a year before her second mixtape, Sucka Free.
Q 11Her rap on The Come Up DVD caught which rapper's attention, leading to an invite to his Young Money imprint?
Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne spotted her on The Come Up DVD and signed her to his Young Money Entertainment imprint in August 2009, the year of her Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape.
Q 12Her 2009 mixtape Beam Me Up Scotty was reissued in 2021 and debuted where on the Billboard 200?
2
That made it the highest-charting re-released mixtape by any rapper and the highest debut ever for a female rap mixtape.
Q 13Which 2010 Sean Garrett-featuring single was dropped as Pink Friday's lead single after underperforming?
Massive Attack
'Massive Attack', featuring Sean Garrett and produced by Alex da Kid, was released in April 2010 as Pink Friday's intended lead single but was dropped from the album after a weak chart run.
Q 21Roman's proper British mother, heard screaming at the end of 'Roman's Revenge', is which alter ego?
Martha
Martha Zolanski, Roman's prim British mother, scolds him in an English accent in the outro of 'Roman's Revenge' and plays the fairy godmother in the 'Moment 4 Life' video.
Q 22Which invented character was her first childhood identity, created to escape her parents' fighting?
Cookie
Cookie was the first of the characters she invented as a child; the persona later gave way to Harajuku Barbie and then to Nicki Minaj herself.
Q 23Which indie folk act's frontman, Justin Vernon, sings on 'Monster' with Kanye West, Jay-Z and Rick Ross?
Bon Iver
Justin Vernon fronts Bon Iver, the Wisconsin indie folk project behind For Emma, Forever Ago; he sings the intro and outro of 'Monster' on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
Q 14Pink Friday's lead single 'Your Love' samples a 1995 cover of 'No More I Love You's' by whom?
Annie Lennox
'Your Love' samples Annie Lennox's 1995 version of 'No More I Love You's', a song first recorded by The Lover Speaks in 1986; the Pop Wansel-produced track leaked before its official release.
Q 15Her 2010 single 'Check It Out' with will.i.am is built around the hook of which 1979 Buggles song?
Video Killed the Radio Star
'Check It Out' is built on the hook of the Buggles' 'Video Killed the Radio Star', the first music video MTV ever aired in 1981; the Nicki Minaj and will.i.am track peaked at number 24 on the Hot 100.
Q 16Which fellow Young Money artist is featured on the Pink Friday single 'Moment 4 Life'?
Drake
Drake, her Young Money labelmate, raps the second verse of 'Moment 4 Life', which was nominated for Best Rap Performance at the 2012 Grammy Awards and peaked at number 13 on the Hot 100.
Q 17Pink Friday sold how many copies in its first week in the United States?
375,000
Pink Friday sold 375,000 copies in its first week in November 2010, entering the Billboard 200 just behind Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and reached the top in February 2011.
Q 18Pink Friday's opening week was second all-time for a female rap album only to which 1998 album?
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill opened with about 422,000 copies in September 1998, the biggest first week for a female rap album when Pink Friday arrived in 2010.
Q 19On 'Roman's Revenge', Nicki's alter ego trades verses with which rapper performing as his own alter ego?
Eminem
Eminem appears as his Slim Shady persona on 'Roman's Revenge', a Swizz Beatz-produced Pink Friday track on which the two trade insult-heavy verses.
Q 20Which alter ego did she describe as a 'demon', a 'lunatic' and a gay boy who lives inside her?
Roman Zolanski
Roman Zolanski, the volatile alter ego she has called a demon and a lunatic, got a whole album named for him with 2012's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
Q 24Performing 'Monster' in 2010, she became the first female rapper to perform at which venue?
Yankee Stadium
She joined Kanye West for 'Monster' at Yankee Stadium in September 2010, a guest spot during Jay-Z's Home & Home concerts in the Bronx.
Q 25Her first Grammy nomination, in 2010, was for a guest verse on which rapper's 'My Chick Bad'?
Ludacris
Ludacris's 'My Chick Bad', featuring her verse, was nominated for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 53rd Grammys; a year later she earned three more nods, including Best New Artist.
Q 26Which song did Nicki Minaj perform at the 2012 Grammys, in an exorcism-themed staging?
Roman Holiday
'Roman Holiday', from Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, got a mock-exorcism staging at the 54th Grammys in February 2012 that drew condemnation from the Catholic League's Bill Donohue.
Q 27In 2022 the MTV VMAs gave her which career-honoring prize, followed by a medley of her hits?
Video Vanguard Award
She received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2022 MTV VMAs, which she also co-hosted with LL Cool J and Jack Harlow before hosting the 2023 show alone.
Q 28'Super Bass' became a sleeper hit in 2011 and peaked at what position on the Billboard Hot 100?
3
At the time it was the highest-charting solo single by a female rapper since Missy Elliott's 'Work It' in 2002.
Q 29Which songwriter co-wrote 'Super Bass' and also provides its additional vocals?
Ester Dean
Ester Dean, the writer behind hits like Rihanna's 'Rude Boy', co-wrote 'Super Bass' with producers Kane Beatz and JMIKE and sings its additional vocals.
Q 30In 2011 she was an opening act on which pop star's Femme Fatale Tour?
Britney Spears
Britney Spears headlined the 2011 Femme Fatale Tour with her as an opener; that year the two also teamed with Kesha on a remix of 'Till the World Ends' that hit number three in the US.