Nicki's first time on a video set was during the shooting of Gucci Mane's “Five Star Chick.”
"My hands just went on my hips and I became like a doll. I had never done that before or planned to do it — it just happened.” The whole concept of being a doll would go on to create a phenomenon with her fans, where young girls imitated her dance during performances. Onika had already gone through a series of incarnations, always creating new identities for herself. “Fantasy was my reality,” she explained. Different names included Cookie, Harajuka Barbie and finally Nicki Minaj. Minaj has even dubbed her fans, “Barbz,” in reference to her Nicki the Barbie persona.
Even after settling on her present persona, Nicki has still been known to project another alter ego, known as Roman Zolanski. Roman has been referred to as her mythical “twin sister,” but is most commonly associated with the channeling of rage and frustration, a means of venting.
Nicki was very excited at the debut of her first studio album, “Pink Friday.” It gave her the opportunity to begin revealing how she wanted herself to be seen, as well as expose her fans to her many different personalities and temperaments.
“The album is coming along just spectacular,” Minaj revealed in an MTV interview. “I been doing a lot of work with Swizz [Beatz], and the stuff that we been coming upon is magical. When people hear the album, they’re going to get to know Onika. And no one knows Onika. I really didn’t think I would be this excited about the songs that I’m coming up with. I’m really, really proud … I’m gonna let the album introduce my alter ego. As of now, you’ll know Nicki and you’ll know Roman, my crazy alter ego, Roman Zolanski. But you’ll meet Onika before the year ends.”
Despite her many getups and caricatures, Nicki Minaj prefers to wear loose clothes – a pair of jeans and some slippers. It’s odd to think that she gets more strange looks when she dons a more down to earth appearance.
“Every woman is a character, but people need to see I'm a regular human. It's like, you wear a pink wig and you're no longer human all of sudden. You're a thing. Like today, the photographer was, like, ‘Where is that Nicki Minaj smile?’ But this shoot doesn't call for the Nicki Minaj smile. You guys wanted me subdued, so I'm gonna give you a different side. I'm not gonna pull a string and be like, ‘It's Barbie, bitch!’”