Nicki Minaj, electrifying the world with her talented voice and her vibrantly colored wigs.

A little over a year ago New Yorker Onika Minaj, better known as her stage name Nicki Minaj, was not as well known as Katy Perry or Rihanna, but getting there.

Having her first live performance at the pre-VMA show, she mesmerized the audience with her cool style of rapping and singing as well as her very animated performance. The very out-of-the-box lyrics keeps her fans on their toes.

“She’s one of the few female rappers that are good” said sophomore Ayan Ali.

But where did it all begin? In 2007, Minaj released her first CD Playtimes Over, with Lil Wayne appearing in the song “Can’t stop, won’t stop’, then in the next year releasing Sucka Free.

In 2009, after Beam me up Scotty was released, in which Minaj got a lot of attention for her bold songs, she was signed with Young Money Entertainment.

Many artists have also taken notice of her talent, and are pairing up with Minaj. Artists like Ludacris, will.i.am, Sean Garret, Justin Bieber, Taio Cruz, Diddy, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, have all taken notice of the young singer.

Minaj’s voice is just one of the things about her that perks people’s interests, another being her outrageous outfits.

“Her style is very cool and memorable” said senior Lauren Marquez.

Very form-fitting and bright, her clothes show off her wacky style. For example her cotton candy pink wig paired with a purple spandex jumpsuit, or her intense orange wig worn with a floor length white dress, sported at the 2010 Black Entertainment TV awards.

Minaj’s style may be getting a lot of publicity, but so are her amount of accomplishments.

At the BET awards she won Best Female Hip Hop artist, as well as Best New Artist. She also received nominations for the best new artist at the MTV music awards, and Best international Act at the Mobo Awards.

She may have started out as unknown Onija Minaj, but she’s becoming known as the daring Nicki Minaj strutting the stage with her confident voice and wild clothing.

“She’s almost like a black version of Lady Gaga” said sophomore Alison Aguilar.