Nicki Minaj closes down Times Square

Rapper Nicki Minaj brought New York's Times Square to a standstill on Friday evening (06Apr12) after staging a surprise performance for 30,000 fans.

The Super Bass hitmaker teamed up with cell phone company Nokia to take over the popular tourist spot and she halted traffic as she performed a medley of her hits.

The mini-set was brought to a visually spectacular close as graphics on large LED screens appeared to show 60-foot (18.29-metre) high waves cascading down a building behind Minaj, choreographed to a DJ Doorly remix of her popular single Starships. The event was filmed as part of the star's video for the remixed track.

Taking to Twitter.com after the surprise gig, Minaj wrote, "Just had my all time #moment4life. Thank u sooo much! The crowd that was staring back @ me tonite (sic)...smh (shaking my head). #one4thebooks - a sea of amazing ppl (people). Wow."