Rapper Nicki Minaj’s father has died after being struck in a hit-and-run accident in Long Island, New York, the police said, Associated Press reported.

Robert Maraj, 64, was hit by a car while walking along a road in Mineola at 6:15 pm Friday, Nassau County police said. Maraj was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead on Saturday.

The driver fled the scene and is yet to be identified. Police are asking any witnesses to the fatal crash to come forward.

However, reportedly, the witnesses were unable to give authorities a description of the suspect.

Minaj, 38, is yet to make any public statement about her father’s death.

The tragic news comes four months after the Super Bass rapper, who was born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad and was raised in the New York City borough of Queens, welcomed her first child with husband Kenneth Petty. 

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Earlier in January 2020, Minaj’s brother Jelani Maraj was life-sentenced for raping an 11-year-old child. 

Minaj has spoken about her rather complex relationship with her father on multiple occasions, often posting photos of the pair sharing loving embraces on social media. 

In 2010 she opened up about how Maraj was allegedly abusive toward her mother, his wife Carol, the Daily Mail reported. 

“He drank a lot and did drugs, and he would get violent when he did. When he set fire to the house, he was attempting to kill my mother,” she said at the time, the Daily Mail.

“She got out before it burned all the way down. I’ve always had this female-empowerment thing in the back of my mind — because I wanted my mother to be stronger, and she couldn’t be. I thought: ‘If I’m successful, I can change her life.'”