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, organizers announced Monday.
Minaj, a 10-time Grammy nominee who’s sold more than 100 million records, is the second female rapper 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 shifted the music industry and cemented her status as a global superstar with her crossover appeal, genre-defying style and continuing to be unapologetically ‘Nicki.’ ”
Minaj — whose hits include “Super Bass,” “Anaconda” and “Starships” — is a five-time winner at the VMAs, most recently receiving the trophy for best power anthem for “Hot Girl Summer” in 2019.
Her nomination in the best hip hop category for “Do We Have a Problem?” at this year’s ceremony is the 17th VMAs nod of her career.
This year’s show will take place Aug. 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 very first VMAs ceremony in 1984, with past 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 ceremony that she had to back out of a performance last minute, tweeting at the time, “I’ll explain why another day. But I love those guys at MTV. thank you Bruce. I love you so much. Next year we there baby.”
She then tweeted a few days later,” I was prepping for vmas then i shot a video & guess who got COVID?”
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