Nicki Minaj can now officially add ‘mother’ to her multi-hyphenate resume — without counting all the bitches who are her sons. TMZ reports the “Move Ya Hips” and “Trollz” rapper gave birth to her first child with husband Kenneth Petty in Los Angeles on Wednesday (September 30). Nicki has not announced the child’s sex or name yet.
The colorful rapper first announced her pregnancy in July after months of secrecy, posting a surprise baby bump photo to her Instagram. And while the bump photo did come out of the blue, Nicki had been planning on starting a family for some time before that, announcing that she was “retiring” from rap in pursuit of that goal. Although her fans lamented the announcement with some dramatic reactions, it turns out that her retirement was short-lived, as she returned with the new track “Yikes” just weeks later — after announcing her marriage to Kenneth Petty due to an expiring license.
Ironically, Nicki’s experienced almost as many career highs since “retiring” as she did in the decade prior. Calming her Barbz’s attack on Doja Cat for calling them Twitter gangsters, she joined her meme-loving, anime-inspired successor on her “Say So” remix, garnering the first No. 1 of Nicki’s career. Her next collaboration — with Tekashi 69 for “Trollz” — also peaked at No. 1 despite its controversial reception from fans. While her next collab with ASAP Ferg turned out to fall well short of that benchmark, prompting an amusing overreaction from the Barbz, Nicki has joined her onetime rival Cardi B in proving that motherhood is no bar to career success. Congrats to Nicki and Kenneth!