Nicki Minaj opens up about her last conversation with her dad before he passed away and the song she wrote to honor him.
The Queens rapper is still mourning the death of her father, Robert Maraj, who was struck down and killed by a hit-and-run driver in 2021, and she’s finally opening up about how his loss has affected her and her family.
While speaking with Ebro Darden on Apple Music, Nicki Minaj recollected the day’s events while being a new mother as she had recently given birth to her son. According to her, Mr Maraj had planned to come and meet his grandson for the first time, but the meet-up never happened.
“So right after I had the baby, and it was during corona, and nobody knew what was going on…that day, as I’m rocking him, the phone rings, and I see it’s my father. I normally would not have picked up because I don’t like to be on the phone with the baby there. I would’ve called him back [but] something said: ‘Pick up the phone'” she began.
Minaj also hinted at her father’s battles with addiction as she expressed hope to help him.
“I picked up, he was very happy, and he was like: ‘Baby, I could come on Monday?’ because he had been waiting to be able to come to Cali to help me. I kept on saying: ‘Come on out’. He wasn’t really happy, but I knew that when he came [to] be with us, we were going to be happy. He is this amazing, great person who livens up the whole house. I was like: ‘Yes, we were going to get help'” she said.
Nicki Minaj also recalled the day she received the dreadful news.
“[The phone rang again]. It was my mother, telling me that my father was in an accident and that she didn’t know what was going to happen, and she would call me back… everything started spinning … [I] couldn’t believe [how quickly everything happened] … he was the happiest that I had heard him in a long time,” Minaj said.
Nicki Minaj also revealed that her song “Are You Gone Already” is a tribute to her father, where she expresses regret that he never got to meet his grandson, which would have been a full circle moment for them all.
