After her 2018 album Queen, Nicki Minaj didn't make any more music for a while. It turned out to be her longest hiatus from music. But through her break, the rapper kept making headlines, especially due to her controversial relationship with husband Kenneth Petty. She also kept in touch with her fans via Instagram Live despite having troubles using it.
Recently, as she makes her return to music, the Super Bass hitmaker opened up about motherhood and why she doesn't want her son — unofficially named 'Simba' — to follow in her footsteps.
The Real Reason Nicki Minaj Took A Hiatus From Music
In December 2019, Minaj announced that she was retiring from music to focus on her family. Two years later, she told her fans that she "soooo needed" that hiatus. During a Q&A session on Twitter, a fan asked if her break had any impact on her mental health. She answered: "Great question. Yes. It was soooo needed for me. I appreciate u guys so much for waiting. But yea, very much needed that zen for important bonding time w|my son, getting back fluid w|writing & smthn else I don't want to discuss yet. If u know u know."
In February that year, Minaj also went through the "most devastating loss" in her life — the tragic passing of her father Robert Maraj. "Tho I can't really bring myself to discuss the passing of my father as yet; I can say it has been the most devastating loss of my life," the rapper wrote on her website at that time. "I find myself wanting to call him all the time. More so now that he's gone. Life is funny that way. May his soul rest in paradise. He was very loved & will be very missed."
The Pills N Potions singer had a turbulent relationship with her father growing up. He was abusive to Minaj's mother and was also addicted to drugs and alcohol. "When I first came to America, I would go in my room and kneel down at the foot of my bed and pray that God would make me rich so that I could take care of my mother," the rapper recounted. "Because I always felt like if I took care of my mother, my mother wouldn't have to stay with my father, and he was the one at the time, that was bringing us pain. We didn't want him around at all, and so I always felt like being rich would cure everything, and that was always what drove me."
How Motherhood Changed Nicki Minaj
In February 2022, Minaj said that having a child gave her a fresh perspective in life. "I think motherhood has made me see more good in people, more good in the universe. It makes you more of a forgiving person," she said during an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden . "When I look at my son, I'm reminded that I am so blessed. I realized, for so many women, this is their dream. Their dream is to have a child and not everybody gets that blessing. So when you have a little baby, you are reminded every day like, 'Oh my God. Thank you God for this little gift.'"
The Barbie Tingz artist also shared some hilarious moments with her kid who sometimes acts like a grown-up. "He's just walking around and telling everybody, grown adults, 'What are you doing? What are you doing?'" she told Corden. "If I'm feeding him his food and take too long with the next spoon, he's like 'What are you doing? What are you doing?' I'm like, what are YOU doing? And he repeats everything now so a couple of times I feel like we might've heard him say something a little crazy."
Why Nicki Minaj Isn't Letting Her Son Rap
In a recent episode of the DJ Buck & Friends podcast, Minaj said that despite her son being a "show-off," she doesn't want him to pursue rap someday. "So I will just say that it's been a great experience. I'm learning a lot, I'm laughing a lot," the Starships singer said of her year-and-a-half-old son. "He's a show-off, but I'm not letting him rap. I'm not letting him do nothing about no music." Well, her son hates rap anyway...
"When I was in my belly hated rap music. He would kick really hard," she tweeted. "But it did move a little to the rhythm of Seeing Green before I posted that topic. While I was pregnant I could only put on relaxing music like Enya, classical music so that it was calmer. That's why I couldn't finish my album while I was pregnant."
For now, the rapper is just enjoying her son's company. "When I look at my son, sometimes when I'm stressing about something, I look at my son and I realize, 'What are you mad at? Look at what God blessed you with,'" she said. "This is the ultimate blessing of the universe. There's no greater blessing. There's none. You can't think of one greater blessing that the universe gives us as human beings." Minaj previously said that "becoming a mom is by far the most fulfilling job I've ever taken on."
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