Another musical milestone is on the way for Nicki Minaj.
The Queens-bred rapper will be honored with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at this month’s MTV Video Music Awards in Newark in recognition of her career-long contribution to pop culture, organizers announced Monday.
Minaj, a 10-time Grammy nominee who has sold more than 100 million records, is the second female rapper to be selected for the Video Vanguard Award, following 2019 recipient Missy Elliott.
“Nicki has broken barriers for women in hip-hop with her versatility and creative artistry,” Viacom executive Bruce Gillmer said Monday.
“She has changed the music industry and cemented her status as a global superstar with her crossover appeal, genre-defying style and continues to be unapologetically ‘Nicki.’ “
Minaj — whose hits include “Super Bass,” “Anaconda” and “Starships” — is a five-time VMAs winner, most recently picking up the trophy for Best Power Anthem for “Hot Girl Summer” in 2019.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/2ANWTL3AB5DS5G26T2G3J42GDY.jpg)
Her Best Hip Hop nomination for “Do We Have a Problem?” at this year’s ceremony is the 17th VMA title of her career.
This year’s show will be held on August 28 at the Prudential Center. Minaj, 39, was born in Trinidad and Tobago but moved to New York during her youth and attended Manhattan’s famed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School.
The Video Vanguard Award was introduced at the first VMA ceremony in 1984, with previous recipients of the honor including the Beatles, Madonna, Jackson, LL Cool J, Beyoncé, Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez. It was last awarded in 2019.
Minaj said days before the 2021 VMAs that she had to pull out of a performance at the last minute, tweeting at the time, “I’ll explain why another day. But I love those guys on MTV. thanks Bruce. I love you so much. We’re there next year kids.”
She then tweeted a few days later, “I was getting ready for vmas then I shot a video and guess who got COVID?”
