Father of rapper Nicki Minaj killed in hit-and-run in Mineola: police

Robert Pelaez
Robert Maraj, the father of rapper Nicki Minaj, died on Saturday after a hit-and-run incident that occurred in Mineola Friday night. (Photo courtesy of Google Maps)

Robert Maraj, the father of rapper Nicki Minaj, died on Saturday after a hit-and-run incident on Roslyn Road Friday in Mineola on Friday night, according to a report from the Nassau County Police Department.

Officials said the 64-year-old Maraj was hit by an unidentified vehicle while walking through the intersection of Roslyn Road and Raff Avenue after 6 p.m.

The driver of the vehicle fled the scene and Maraj was taken to a local hospital, initially listed in critical condition, according to the report.

Health officials declared Maraj dead on Saturday and the county’s Homicide Squad is still looking into the investigation. 

Efforts to reach officials and family members of Maraj for an update on the investigation were unavailing.  Multiple news outlets reached out to Minaj for comment and were unavailing, but representatives of the rapper confirmed the death of her father.

In several interviews, Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj, said her father displayed various forms of abuse, ranging from drugs and alcohol to setting her childhood house on fire while her mother was still inside in Jamaica, Queens.

“It’s the price you pay when you abuse drugs and alcohol,” Minaj said in a 2010 Rolling Stone interview. “Maybe one day your daughter will be famous and talk to every magazine about it, so think about that, dads out there who want to be crazy.”

Minaj said she was not physically abused by her father in a 2015 interview with the New York Times, but confirmed his actions caused emotional harm to her and her mother.

“I would always hear him yelling and cursing, always,” Minaj told the Times. “And it made me feel it was the way to interact, because that’s how I saw him interacting.’’

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