Nick Minaj grew up in New York.
L. L. Berger was a high-end Department Store based in Buffalo , New York . Nicki Minaj . Born in Saint James , Trinidad and Tobago ( a district of Trinidad 's capital Port of Spain ) and raised in South Jamaica , Queens , New York , Minaj earned public attention after releasing three mixtapes between 2007 and 2009 . Tech Valley began as a marketing name for the eastern part of the U.S. state of New York , encompassing the Capital District and the Hudson Valley . Originated in 1998 to promote the greater Albany area as a high-tech competitor to regions such as Silicon Valley and Boston , the moniker subsequently grew to represent the counties in New York between IBM 's Westchester County plants in the south and the U.S.-Canadian border to the north , and has since evolved to constitute both the technologically-oriented metonym and the geographic territory comprising most of New York State north of New York City .