Nicki Minajis opening up about the final moments she shared with her late father.
On Thursday, Apple Music is set to releasean interviewwith the Queen of Rap, 41, about her journey creating her new albumPink Friday 2and the events in her personal life that informed it. Ahead of the episode’s premiere at 4 p.m. ET, PEOPLE is exclusively premiering a clip from the superstar’s conversation with Ebro Darden about the last time she spoke with her late father Robert Maraj, whodied in a car accident at age 64 in February 2021.
The “Barbie World” rapper explained that she felt an inkling to answer a call from her father one day when she was holdingher son(whom she and her husbandKenneth “Zoo” Pettywelcomed in September 2020).
Nicki Minaj in an Apple Music interview.Courtesy of Apple Music
Courtesy of Apple Music
“He wasn’t really happy, but I knew that, when he came [to] be with us, we were going to be happy,” the “Super Freaky Girl” rapper added. “He is this amazing, great person, who livens up the whole house. I was like, ‘Yes, we were going to get help.’”
Ebro Darden and Nicki Minaj in an Apple Music interview.Courtesy of Apple Music
The Grammy-nominated artist explained that, later that night, she woke up to a call from her motherCarol Marajwho said that her father had been in a hit-and-run. She said, “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. And then, everything started spinning.”
Minaj added that she “couldn’t believe” how quickly everything happened, especially because “he was the happiest that I had heard him in a long time,” when they spoke just hours earlier.
Because of how painful the loss was, and since Maraj never got to meet his grandson, the hitmaker revealed that it was important to her to startPink Friday 2“speaking to [her] father.”
Explaining the verses on the intro track “Are You Gone Already,” she shared, “I call my son Papa Bear. So I’m telling my father, ‘You never got to meet Papa.’ And then, I begin to explain the time from my mother first calling me, telling me he was in an accident, to her calling me, telling me that he didn’t make it.” (After audio of her speaking tenderly to her son and a sample ofBillie Eilish’s “When the Party’s Over” plays on the track, Minaj raps, “You never got to meet Papa / He sweet proper, he keep Mama on my toes,” and details how tragedy interfered with their plans to reunite in the near future.)
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The “Super Bass” artist long had atumultuous relationship with her father, whom she shared was abusive towards her mother and struggled with addiction in the past. However in recent years, the rap star opened up in interviews and social media about how they were working to repair their relationship.
Nicki Minaj in Los Angeles in July 2023.Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage
Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage
Since his death, Minaj has also reflected upon how she now recognizes that herfather was a “victim too” when it came to his addiction.
In an interviewwithVoguein November 2023, she said, “I think about watching my father go back and forth [with addiction], and I just wish that at the time I understood that he wasn’t doing it because he wanted to.”
The hip-hop superstar dropped her long-awaited fifth studio album, which featured both pop-rap bangers and more introspective songs about loss like “Last Time I Saw You,” in December. Next year, she’ll take the project out on the road with amassive North American arena tour.
source: people.com
