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Nicki Minaj is a self-proclaimed queen of rap, and for good reason. In her 15-year-long career in the rap industry, Minaj has collaborated with a majority of industry leaders - both singers and rappers.
With four headlining world tours and five studio albums under her belt, the Pink Friday rapper is the wealthiest of all female rap artists in the world today. She's also the most followed rapper on Instagram, with over 227 million followers on the platform.
However, when it comes to tattoos, Minaj is quite minimalistic. Unlike many other celebrities who flaunt tattoos in double digits, the Anaconda rapper has only two tattoos. Here's a look at Nicki Minaj's tattoos and what they mean.
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The meaning behind Nicki Minaj's tattoos explained
Nicki Minaj has gotten two tattoos so far, and the first one came before she entered the music industry. It was when she was in her teen years and wanted to get a Chinese phrase tattooed on her body.
The phrase - shàngdì yŭ nĭ cháng zài - translates to "God is with me always" in English. However, Minaj got it tattooed in Mandarin.
Nicki Minaj's second tattoo came over two decades later, in 2018. The Starships rapper got in June, when she was working on her fourth studio album, Queen. It stood for the name Minaj referred to herself as often, also calling her fans Barbz as its derivation.
The album contained Barbie Dreams, which later became its most controversial song. While Nicki didn't know it at the time, she would also be featured in the Barbie World track when the Barbie movie was released several years later.
The tattoo session was filmed for an episode of VH1's Black Ink Crew Chicago. The episode saw Minaj approaching Ryan Henry - the Chicago-based tattoo artist - when he was in LA to do her tattoo, telling him:
"I have an album called Queen, and I want to always remember this era in my life, it’s like the best era that I’ve ever had making an album. So I want to commemorate that with getting a tatt."
Nicki also confessed to having heard that wrist tattoos hurt a lot, which is why she was nervous about it. Henry reassured the rapper that it was nothing she couldn't handle.
Nicki Minaj originally wanted to get the Chinese tattoo on her neck
In August 2010, Nicki Minaj was in a Q&A session with Billboard, where she was asked when she got her Chinese tattoo. The Chun Li rapper responded that she didn't exactly remember the age, but it was "maybe 16".
When asked to share more about the tattoo, Minaj said:
"I wish I never got the tattoo, because it’s on my arm. So when I wanna wear a beautiful evening gown and go out with the queen, she doesn’t like my tattoo too much."
The Young Money artist then revealed that she had never planned to get the tattoo on her hand. Her initial choice was the back of her neck. Revealing the story behind the change of her tattoo's location, Nicki said:
"I told the guy: ‘Could you empty the ink out? I just wanna see how the needle feels, like if it’s gonna hurt real bad?’ So when he put that needle on that bone, I was like ‘Never…Just do it on my arm…I already paid for the tattoo just do it on my arm.'"
Minaj then went on to explain how she was worried about her mother, Carol Maraj's, reaction to the tattoo, admitting that she already had a tongue ring which Maraj disapproved of at the time. The rapper continued:
"When she saw the tattoo and the tongue ring, she was like ‘I am disowning you.’ She was like, ‘You need to not have that’ and she was dead serious, and I was like bummed out that I went and got the tattoo. I eventually took the tongue ring out"
Nicki Minaj also shared that she believed teenagers to be too young to decide "what you want on your body," and that one should wait at least till they're 21 to get a tattoo. When asked if she would get the tattoo again, she replied in the negative.
Nicki Minaj followed up Queen with Pink Friday 2 five years later, in December 2023. The rapper is currently on a tour accompanying her most recent album, which she will conclude on October 11.
