Music

FILE - Nicki Minaj presents the award for favorite duo or group - pop/rock at the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, in this Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015, file photo. The 64-year-old father of rapper Nicki Minaj has died after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in New York, police said. Robert Maraj was walking along a road in Mineola on Long Island at 6:15 p.m. Friday when he was hit by a car that kept going, Nassau County police said. Maraj was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, FIle)
Nicki Minaj's father, Robert Maraj, 64, has died after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in New York, police said. AP

Nicki Minaj's father, Robert Maraj, killed in New York hit-and-run

The Grammy-nominated rapper's father, 64, was hit while walking in Mineola, Long Island, on Friday

AFP

February 17, 2021

The father of rapper Nicki Minaj has died after being struck by a hit-and-run driver near New York City, police said on Sunday.

Robert Maraj, 64, was walking on a road in Mineola, Long Island at 6.15pm local time on Friday when he was hit, Nassau County Police Department said.

The driver left the scene of the accident, and Maraj was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Saturday.

"The investigation is ongoing," police said.

The statement did not specify Maraj's relationship to Minaj, but a police spokesman confirmed he was the Super Bass singer's father.

Minaj, 38, was born in Trinidad and Tobago and raised in the Queens borough of New York City.

The rapper has been nominated for 10 Grammy awards during her career.