Formal Booking Requisition

Talent Dossier

Onika Tanya Maraj was born on December 8, 1982,in the Saint James district of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.Her father was Robert Maraj (1956–2021), a financial executive and part-time gospel singer of Dougla (Afro-Trinidadian mother and Indo-Trinidadian father) descent. Her mother, Carol, is also a gospel singer with Afro-Trinidadian ancestry.Her mother worked in payroll and accounting departments during Minaj's youth.Her father was an alcoholic and crack cocaine addict whom Minaj described as violent to her mother and committed arson on their house in December 1987.Minaj has three siblings, including an older brother, a younger brother, and a younger half-sister. As a child, Minaj lived with her grandmother in Saint James in a household with 11 cousins.Her mother worked many jobs in Saint James before getting her green card at the age of 24. She then moved to the Bronx in New York to attend Monroe College, leaving Minaj in Trinidad with her grandmother. When Minaj was five, Carol brought her to live with her and her father in South Jamaica, Queens.Minaj said she arrived in the U.S as an illegal immigrant, after which she gained legal resident status.She recalled, "I don't think I had a lot of discipline in my household. My mom motivated me, but it wasn't a strict household. I kind of wanted a strict household."