The rapper\u2019s ascent to the summit of MAGA land came to a head Wednesday at a U.S. Treasury event,<\/a> where Minaj \u2014 wearing a white fur coat and her signature long acrylic nails \u2014 stood on stage with Trump, squeezed his hand and declared: \u201cI am probably the president\u2019s number one fan, and that\u2019s not going to change.\u201d<\/p>\n The public proclamation marked the end of any speculation by Barbz (the name of Minaj\u2019s ruthlessly devoted fans) over her political stance. Some had previously refused to believe that Minaj, an undocumented immigrant who spent years cultivating a progressive fanbase within queer communities and people of color, would rally behind a president who has threatened LGBTQ+ rights<\/a> and declared a war on immigrants. <\/a><\/p>\n So how did we get here? Read ahead for the chronicle of Minaj\u2019s come-up and downfall.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Nicki Minaj showed her support for Donald Trump at the Treasury Department’s Trump Accounts Summit (Getty Images)<\/p>\n Nicki Minaj\u2019s rap takeover<\/p>\n Minaj\u2019s domination of the hip-hop world happened quickly. After years of murmurings about the Trinidad-born rapper\u2019s freestyles in the underground mixtape game, she was launched into global superstardom with her 2010 debut album Pink Friday<\/a>. The record, which topped the Billboard 200, featured superstars like Eminem, Rihanna and Kanye West, and went on to be certified triple-platinum. Her singles \u201cMoment 4 Life,\u201d \u201cYour Love,\u201d \u201cFly,\u201d \u201cCheck It Out\u201d and \u201cSuper Bass\u201d all became hits that entered the Top 40 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 at the time.<\/p>\n The rapper solidified her status as a pop culture icon by showing off her outrageous fashion style and sense of humor at public events. She sang at the 2011 Victoria\u2019s Secret Fashion Show and performed with Prince at the 2011 Versace collection launch for H&M. Minaj also opened for Britney Spears\u2019s tour that year, and appeared as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. She took the stage with Madonna at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show in 2012 and became the first female rapper to perform at the Grammy Awards that year. <\/p>\n She then released Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded in April 2012, which featured pop hits \u201cStarships\u201d and \u201cBeez in the Trap,\u201d and embarked on her first headlining world tour. Her third album, The Pinkprint, dropped in 2014, spawning hit singles \u201cAnaconda\u201d and \u201cOnly,\u201d which featured Drake, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown. <\/p>\n By 2015, Minaj\u2019s music was a permanent fixture on most popular radio stations. In a genre that was previously dominated by men, she broke through the landscape with witty wordplay and by taking on different personas in her songs. Time named Minaj one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Nicki Minaj took the stage with Madonna during the Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show in February 2012 (Getty Images) open image in gallery<\/p>\n Nicki Minaj performed during the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (Getty Images)<\/p>\n However, Minaj\u2019s momentum began to slow as her once standalone takeover ushered in a new age of female rap \u2014 stars like Cardi B, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, and Ice Spice. <\/p>\n The 12-time-Grammy-nominated artist still had her wins, but they became more sparse. Minaj achieved her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles with Doja Cat\u2019s \u201cSay So\u201d and 6ix9ine\u2019s \u201cTrollz\u201d in 2020. She scored her first solo U.S. number-one single with \u201cSuper Freaky Girl,\u201d from her most recent album, Pink Friday 2 (2023)<\/a>. The album cemented her as the female rapper with the most number-one albums in history and propelled her on the highest-grossing concert tour ever by a woman in hip-hop.<\/p>\n Despite its success, the Pink Friday 2 world tour unfolded alongside a looming issue: Minaj\u2019s ongoing feud with Megan Thee Stallion.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Nicki Minaj\u2019s Pink Friday 2 World Tour was the highest-grossing concert tour ever by a woman in hip-hop (Getty Images for Live Nation)<\/p>\n Nicki Minaj vs. Megan Thee Stallion <\/p>\n Minaj\u2019s career has been marked by multiple feuds with other celebrities. Miley Cyrus<\/a>, Cardi B<\/a> and Kanye West <\/a>are just a few of the stars she has publicly fought with, but none have been as vicious as her rivalry with fellow rhymer Megan Thee Stallion.<\/p>\n Going back as far as 2021, Minaj and Megan have taken swipes at each other in lyrics of their songs, though Megan has said she doesn\u2019t know what started the bitterness<\/a>. However, Megan decidedly crossed a line with her hit 2024 single, \u201cHiss.\u201d<\/p>\n Although Megan didn\u2019t mention Minaj by name, the track\u2019s lyrics were widely interpreted to include a dig at Minaj and her husband, Kenneth Petty, <\/a>who is a registered sex offender after being convicted of attempted rape for a 1994 assault. Minaj lashed out at Megan in response to the song\u2019s release and sparked backlash by making light of emotional topics like the 2019 death of Megan\u2019s mom <\/a>and the controversial shooting by fellow rapper Tory Lanez <\/a>that left Megan with a foot wound.<\/p>\n While fans and rap peers largely stood by Megan\u2019s side in the face-off, Minaj became further isolated from her \u201cQueen of Rap\u201d title as other artists were praised for taking up her torch in the genre. Doechii, for example, became only the third woman ever to win Best Rap Album at the 2025 Grammys for Alligator Bites Never Heal and was shortly thereafter named Billboard\u2019s 2025 Woman of the Year.<\/a><\/p>\n Nicki Minaj\u2019s rise to MAGA darling<\/p>\n During Trump\u2019s first presidential term, Minaj had spoken out against his mass deportation efforts of immigrants as a Trinidad-born woman who moved to New York City with her family when she was five years old. She wrote<\/a> on Facebook in 2018: \u201cI came to this country as an illegal immigrant @ 5 years old. I can\u2019t imagine the horror of being in a strange place & having my parents stripped away from me at the age of 5. This is so scary to me. Please stop this. Can you try to imagine the terror & panic these kids feel right now?\u201d<\/p>\n By the fall of 2025, Minaj had begun to use her social media platforms to praise Trump, which some Barbz initially took as her trolling. The rapper is known for her outspoken opinions, but had never publicly endorsed a political candidate (if you don\u2019t count her rap lyric on \u201cMercy\u201d that jokingly referenced her voting for Mitt Romney<\/a>).<\/p>\n In November, Minaj thanked Trump for his threats against the Nigerian government <\/a>over the \u201ckilling of Christians,\u201d and later joined his administration at a panel <\/a>to speak about the issue. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Nicki Minaj (right) faced backlash for her surprise appearance with conservative activist Erika Kirk at Turning Point USA\u2019s four-day AmericaFest 2026 (Getty Images)<\/p>\n The next month, she raised eyebrows by joining Charlie Kirk\u2019s widow, Erika Kirk,<\/a> at a Turning Point USA event, where the rapper said she was tired of being \u201cpushed around\u201d and vowed to speak her mind about her support for Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cThis administration is full of people with heart and soul, and they make me proud of them. Our vice president, he makes me … well, I love both of them,\u201d Minaj said. \u201cBoth of them have a very uncanny ability to be someone that you relate to.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of Minaj\u2019s fans shared their devastated responses on social media to the ostracized star\u2019s embrace of the Trump administration and its conservative values. Some wondered if the move was a cash grab as others called for boycotts of the rapper\u2019s music and shared pictures of their merchandise in the trash. <\/p>\n Others theorized that Minaj, who once sang, \u201cIsland girl, Donald Trump want me go home,\u201d in reference to Trump\u2019s anti-immigration policies, was aligning herself with the controversial president in order to fast-track a path to legal residency in the U.S. <\/a>That theory was pushed further Wednesday, when Minaj appeared to show off her new million-dollar Trump Gold Card, <\/a>which the president promised would get owners citizenship \u201cin record time.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Nicki](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Nicki-Minaj-and-Donald-Trump.jpeg\")
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