Nicki Minaj was only a judge on American Idol for one season, but her career before and after the show has broken ground for many modern-day female rappers to thrive in the music industry. After releasing a few mixtapes that got enough attention from high-profile rappers, Nicki went on to link up with Lil Wayne. She would eventually come to consider him as a brother and mentor, going as far as signing onto his Young Money label. In hindsight, there were a few moments that served as symbols for Nicki Minaj's career breakthrough - but many hip hop enthusiasts consider her featured verse in Kanye West's "Monster" as the ultimate highlight.
As Nicki Minaj advanced in her career, she had a hot streak of successful singles and features in other artists' songs. Nicki's most popular songs of all time include "Super Bass", "Starships", "Anaconda", "Chun-Li", and "Bang Bang" with Jessie J and Ariana Grande. In 2013, Fox tried to revitalize the American Idol judging panel by bringing in huge stars like Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj. However, that promising casting decision turned out to be very unfortunate, as Mariah and Nicki found themselves in a wild behind-the-scenes feud that outshone the actual Idol season 12 competition.
But regardless of how negative her American Idol experience was, Nicki Minaj is one of the most popular and well-respected rappers in the music industry. Over the course of her career, Nicki has released four studio albums and sold 3,725,000 copies of them combined. The breakdown is as follows: 2010's Pink Friday (2 million copies), 2012's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (900,000 copies), 2014's The Pinkprint (680,000 copies), and 2018's Queen (145,000 copies). Nicki's first-ever #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart happened in 2020, as she was featured in Doja Cat's "Say So" remix. As of 2021, Nicki has a reported net worth of $85 million (via Celebrity Net Worth).
These days, Nicki Minaj is staying out of any drama as she focuses on taking care of her family. Nicki married her current partner, Kenneth Petty a.k.a. "Zoo," in 2019. In September 2020, she gave birth to their first child together, a baby boy. Unfortunately, Nicki has also had to deal with a family tragedy as of late. In February 2021, Nicki's father, Robert Maraj, died from a hit-and-run accident while he was casually walking on the street. Understandably, Nicki has stepped away from the spotlight in recent times in order to raise her newborn and mourn the loss of her father.
The fans are eager to listen to new music from Nicki Minaj, and the American Idol fans will always remember her legendary feud with Mariah Carey on the show. With that said, it is safe to assume that Nicki won't come back to judge a reality competition on TV anytime soon.
American Idol season 19 airs Sundays & Mondays at 8 pm ET/PT on ABC.
Sources: Celebrity Net Worth