Entertainment journalist Isoul Harris was chosen to pen Nicki Minaj’s biography titled ‘Nicki Minaj: Hip Pop Moments 4 Life’. Normally biographies are written after a celebrity dies, but Isoul thought the “hyper-sexual, wild-child” lyricist’s story needed to be told now.
“Her story is ultimate Horatio Alger, the Nicki Minaj edition,” writes pop culture expert Isoul Harris.
In his usual explorative writing style, Isoul details Nicki’s meteoric rise in Nicki Minaj: Hip Pop Moments 4 Life. Published by Omnibus Press, the world’s largest specialist publisher of music-related books, Harris takes readers on a journey through Onika Tanya Maraj’s transformation into the industry’s most recognizable and controversial female rapper.
Isoul continues:
“Nicki Minaj has become a pop culture firebrand. Not more than five years ago, she was a no name underground rapper working at odd jobs to survive in New York City,” says Harris. “With sheer determination and undeniable talent, she now has fans worldwide and record-shattering achievements. I decided to write Nicki Minaj: Hip Pop Moments 4 Life to breakdown her shockingly fast rise to fame and document her place in musical history.”
From a press release:
“Currently an executive editor at UPTOWN, a national luxury lifestyle magazine, Harris, a graduate of both Morehouse College and New York University as well as a former public school teacher, has served as a managing editor of Los Angeles based 944, entertainment editor of Niche Media’s Atlanta Peach as well as entertainment editor of Upscale, a reporter for People magazine, a columnist for AOL’s Black Voices.com and entertainment correspondent for Boostmobile.com, the cell-phone carrier’s popular online community. In addition, Harris’s work has been featured in The New York Post’s revered Page Six, InStyle, Vibe, MSNBC.com plus he has appeared as a guest expert on CNN’s Headline News
Harris, who resides in New York City, first made a name for himself as the trailblazing Editor-in-Chief of rolling out Urbanstyle Weekly, the country’s rare African American-oriented entertainment and lifestyle weekly, by landing covers and exclusive interviews with Jada Pinkett-Smith, Will Smith, Rosario Dawson and many other celebrities who were groundbreaking firsts for the publication.
Throughout his illustrious career, Harris has interviewed some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Janet Jackson, Rihanna, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Drew Barrymore, LeAnn Rimes, Usher, Beyoncé, OutKast, Vince Vaughn, Queen Latifah, Owen Wilson, Vin Diesel, Ice Cube, Brandy and the list goes on. Still, given his pedigree in entertainment journalism, he found Nicki Minaj to be a provocative subject.
“When I visit cities like Berlin, Paris, Tokyo, London and Moscow, I notice Nicki’s reach. With pop songs like “Starships” and “Pound The Alarm”, combined with her fiery personality and image, she has resurrected the relevancy of the female rapper and is helping maintain hip-hop’s position on the world stage. Electronic dance music moves the masses these days and she is combining hip-hop, pop and EDM for an interesting mix. Whether so-called hip-hop purists like it or not.”
Nicki Minaj: Hip Pop Moments 4 Life is available in Europe on October 15, 2012 and April 2013 in the United States.
