Nicki Minaj launched her extremely anticipated “Pink Friday 2” album final month and he or she’s been on a whirlwind press tour ever since. In her most up-to-date interview to advertise her fifth studio album, she sat down with Apple Music podcast and music influencer Ebro Darden.
In contrast to many different interviewers, Ebro posed a query that delved into Nicki’s private life, pushing her to disclose the that means of one in all her most considerate songs on the venture.
The 2 talked in regards to the first tune on the album, “Are You Gone Already,” a observe that was recorded in honor of her father, Robert Maraj, who died in a hit-and-run collision in 2021 months after her son was born.
Ebro tried to unpack the lyrics, erroneously stating that the platinum-selling artist began the tune by speaking to her son about his grandfather.
“You by no means obtained to fulfill Papa,” the lyric within the first verse of the tune says.
Nonetheless, the Younger Cash princess corrected him, explaining that she was really speaking to her dad and shared that her son’s nickname is “Papa Bear.”
The child was born throughout the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2020, so the star says she didn’t need individuals across the little one, household included, in worry of the infant getting sick. Minaj mentioned the weekend after her father was supposed to return however he succumbed to his accidents.
“I’m rocking [the baby] and the telephone rang. I look down and I see it’s my father,” she mentioned, including that she usually wouldn’t have picked up the decision as a result of she was along with her little one and attempting to place him to sleep. Nonetheless, she determined to choose up and was glad that she did.
“He was very completely happy,” she recalled. “He was like, ‘Child, I might come on Monday,’ as a result of he had been ready to have the ability to come to Cali to assist me.”
This was Friday, Feb. 12, 2021. He had the accident the identical evening as his dialog along with his movie star daughter and died on Saturday, Feb. 13, by no means having the ability to see his grandson.
The 41-year-old additionally mentioned that the tune was otherworldly, impressed by a sequence of goals she had days earlier than her father could be killed.
Recounting the heartbreaking second when her mom referred to as to ship the information of her father’s accident, Nicki shared that the recurring goals she had eerily mirrored the telephone name she finally obtained in actuality.
“[I]t’s the precise duplicate of a name I had in about 4 or 5 goals,” she mentioned. “[In the dream] the individual was saying, ‘[Something happened to] your mother, we’re going to name you again and let you understand how it went.’ However this name now could be with my father,” she mentioned. “And I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. I dreamt this.’ … I didn’t keep in mind the way it ended.”
Furthermore, two nights earlier than her father’s accident, Nicki had a vivid premonitory dream, prompting her to textual content individuals near her about it.
“One thing unhealthy is occurring, and everyone wants to wish,” the “Second for Life” vocalist advised her pals and family members.
She continued to explain her dream, recalling, “I noticed all this blood popping out of somebody’s head laying on the ground, however the individual was acutely aware, they had been scared, however it was simply pouring out within the hair, after which, two nights later, [the accident] occurred.”
The 2 additionally spoke in regards to the title of the tune and the place she obtained it from. Nicki revealed that it stemmed from a prayer a pastor buddy provided whereas comforting her after she obtained the devastating information. She mentioned one thing within the pit of her abdomen advised her her dad was gone.
“Why I mentioned, ‘Are you gone already?’ is as a result of I knew he was gone already,” she mentioned.
A technique she knew he was gone was as a result of their prayer modified from “assist him” to “calling him again.”
Prayer couldn’t carry him again.
The person liable for the deadly hit-and-run was later recognized, pleading responsible to felony costs in Nassau County’s Lengthy Island state court docket. In August 2022, he obtained a one-year jail sentence. Moreover, he confronted a $5,000 fantastic and a six-month suspension of his driver’s license.
