Nicki Minaj Returns Home to Trinidad

Nicki Minaj received an outpouring of love and support when she arrived back in Trinidad for a show on Saturday. The Young Money rapper left her home country when she was five, but still holds it close to her heart. “I want to eventually bring Trinidadian music and culture to the world,” she told press including Trinidad and Tobago’s Newsday. “If any of you have anything you want me to promote, get it to me.”

The Harajuku Barbie was swarmed by fans when she took her family shopping at a local mall. Her mother Carol Maraj, pictured above, admitted even she was taken aback by her daughter’s rise to stardom. “She has always been talented but this success still takes me by surprise,” she said.

Minaj, who has several aliases including Roman Zolanski, considered changing her stage name back to her legal name Maraj. “I was always called Nicki at home so I was known as Nicki Maraj, but my first producer did not like Maraj and thought Minaj sounded better,” she revealed. “I still hate the name and I was going to go back to Maraj on the album, but people told me no because my fans like it.