Meet Nicki Minaj’s Father, Mother, Sister and Brother

Nicki Minaj’s father is Robert Maraj, while her mother is Carol Maraj. She has four siblings, including an elder brother named Jelani Maraj, a younger brother, Micaiah, and two half-siblings named Ming and Brandon Lamar. 

The importance of family in one’s life can never be overemphasized. They give support and love necessary for us to go into the world and conquer. They also hold our hands and encourage us when we fail. However, on the flip side, the family can also be an inescapable source of pain and embarrassment, and one person that can attest to this is rapper Nicki Minaj.

Hailed as the most influential rapper of all time, Minaj rose from very humble and difficult beginnings, including having a drug-addict of a father, to break into the music industry. Since then, she has released several hit singles and albums. She has also nabbed numerous awards and is now the richest female rap act of all time. Minaj has worked quite hard to get to where she is today and as such, avoids needless controversies. Howbeit, she has found herself being drawn into them thanks to her loved ones.

Nicki Minaj’s Father Struggled With Substance Abuse and Once Burned Down Their House

Nicki Minaj
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Nicki Minaj’s father is Robert Maraj. Robert has Trinidadian and Indian ancestry and initially grew up in Trinidad and Tobago before moving to the states in search of a better life. He worked as a finance executive and also did some gospel singing. He later got involved in drugs and alcohol, so much that he became an addict. Nicki’s father would disappear from home for days on end and only return in order to hit up her mother for money with which to buy more drugs. When he didn’t get his wish, he would turn physically abusive and threaten to kill the lady.

This pattern persisted for several years and Nicki began to fear for her mother’s safety. Her fears nearly became reality when she was in her teens. On one particular day, her dad set their house on fire with their mom inside. Luckily for them, she was able to escape before the fire razed the house. All these memories stay with Nicki to date and she has even rapped about it in one of her tracks titled Autobiography. Her father is not too happy with her airing his dirty linens in public but he has made his peace with it. He has also gotten help for his problems and his daughter has stated that she has forgiven him. He himself has also stated that he loves her very much.

Nicki Minaj’s Mother, Carol, Runs a Non-profit Outfit To Assist Victims Of Domestic Violence and is Also a Singer

The person who bore the brunt of Robert’s abuses is Nicki’s mother, Carol Maraj. Carol is originally from Trinidad and Tobago and spent the first 24 years of her life in that country. During this period, she completed her education and found work as an accounting clerk and later, as a teller. She also met and married Robert and they had their first two kids before migrating to America. In America, the abusive tendencies that Carol had sensed in her husband started manifesting more. Things got especially difficult when he began abusing drugs but she hung in there and drew her hope and strength from her kids.

A turning point in Carol’s life came when she attended a church revival service at the invitation of a neighbor. She responded to the altar call, later got baptized, and became a youth leader in the church. Carol continued to experience abuse at home but trusted the Lord to heal her husband. Heal him the Lord eventually did but Carol is no longer with Robert. She still loves him but just as a Christian brother.

Meanwhile, the lady has established the Carol Maraj Foundation which helps victims of domestic abuse. It provides them with encouragement, emotional support, a mobile beauty spa, and financial empowerment programs. The foundation eventually hopes to have its own facility that will accommodate victims of domestic violence in emergency situations; organize rehabilitation training; and job-readiness programs. Carol has also dabbled into music and released her first song, God’s Been Good, in 2014. She and her daughter are yet to collaborate but they are quite close. Minaj remembers all the sacrifices that her mom made for her and is glad that she can give her a good life with her fortune.

Meet Nicki Minaj’s Only Sister – Ming

Nicki Minaj has four siblings, one of whom is her younger half-sister named Ming. Ming is still quite young and as such, her famous, older, half-sister jealously protects her from the spotlight. The rapper has succumbed on a few occasions though and has shared lovely posts about her on social media in the past. For instance, in 2013, Nicki posted two pictures of Ming on Twitter and captioned it #littlesistersrock, #ming, and #sister love u.

Fast-forward to 2020, Minaj is still very close to her little sister and shared a video of them with their father. The video led to a lot of reactions as many fans concluded that they look so much alike and that gorgeousness must run in their family.

Micaiah, is Nicki Minaj’s Youngest Brother

Minaj’s youngest brother is Micaiah. Micaiah was born in March 1998 which makes him about 16 years younger than his elder sister. Much like Ming, Nicki really loves her little brother. She has sent him shoutouts in several of her songs such as All Things Go (2015) and Top of the World (2011). She also posted some lovely pictures of them both while wishing him a happy 22nd birthday on the 29th of March 2020.

There is no word on what Micaiah is actually up to but it is safe to presume that he must be in college or done with that stage already, given that he is at the appropriate age. His big sister also expressed her wishes for him to attend college in her 2014 song, All Things Go. Seeing as she has the wealth to make that wish a reality, it is likely that this is where the young man is at.

Nicki Minaj’s Brother, Brandon Lamar, Has Also Tried His Hands at the Rap Game But With Less Success

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj and her mom are not the only singers in the family. Another person who has tried the music industry is her younger half-brother named Brandon Lamar. Lamar is also a rapper and released his first music videos in 2007. Since then, he has dropped several tracks and remixes, including 4 My Town, Dismissed, and Bottoms Up. He has also received acclaim from major hip-hop blog sites such as ALLHIPHOP.COM and COMPLEX.COM (which praised his remix of Lloyd Banks’ track Beamer Benz or Bentley).

All these, however, pale in comparison to his superstar sister who has dropped monster hit singles, such as Super Bass, Starships, Chun-Li, and Anaconda, and has sold about 100 million records, making her one of the bestselling music acts in the world. Nicki and Lamar don’t seem to be quite close but there is no doubt that they must be on good terms.

Jelani Maraj is Nicki Minaj’s Brother Who Was Convicted of Rape in 2017

Nicki Minaj
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The person whose actions have most threatened to drag Nicki Minaj through the mud is her beloved elder brother, Jelani Maraj. Jelani was convicted in 2017 of raping his then 11-year-old stepdaughter repeatedly. According to the victim, the incidents took place while her mom was out at work and spanned between April and November 2015. It happened about four times each week and sometimes twice in one day.

Jelani reportedly threatened the girl that he would send her away or hit her in order to keep her docile. It was her brother who eventually noticed what was going on and told a child protection worker. He was then arrested in December 2015 and charged with sexual assault and endangering a minor. The trial lasted up until 2017 and Nicki supported her brother. She visited him in jail and even alleged that the girl’s mother wanted to extort about $25 million from her in order to drop the charge. This was not enough to save her brother and in 2018, he was sentenced to 25 years to life. He remains incarcerated to date.

Nicki Minaj Became a First-time Mom in September 2020

Nicki Minaj and her husband are now first-time parents, having welcomed their first child on the 30th of September 2020. The development made Nicki happy as she has been quite frank about her desire to have a child. The rapper previously revealed in a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone that she made the heartbreaking decision to abort a child at the age of 16 because she didn’t have anything to offer the child. She stated that the incident haunts her but maintains that she is in favor of abortion rights.

Back in 2014, Nicki also told Vogue Italia that she doesn’t want to be all about work without experiencing the joys of family. Happily, that dream came true and the rapper gave the first indication of her pregnancy in May 2020 when she alluded to nonstop peeing, nausea, and cravings in a post. Later in July 2020, she shared a series of pre-pregnancy pictures which showed her cradling her belly in some daring outfits.

Her bundle of joy finally arrived in September. Details are still scarce about the child, including sex and name, but one thing that is for sure is that the child won’t lack love from the parents.

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