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Nicki Minaj, the "uncrowned queen" of the rap world, migrated to the US with her family as a 5-year-old, from the island country of Trinidad and Tobago. Minaj grew up with two siblings—his older brother, Jelani Maraj, and younger brother, Micaiah Jelani.
The High School rapper also has two half-siblings, one of whom is the 18-year-old Ming Li Maraj, who goes by the name of Ming Luanli. The half-siblings are over two decades apart in age, with Ming Li having recently started her career as a rapper, following in Nicki Minaj's footsteps. Nicki's younger half-brother, Brandon Lamar, has also been a rapper-singer since 2007.
Ming Luanli is a rapper and a co-owner of a crypto exchange
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Ming Li, who is just 18 years old, started her career as a rapper earlier in 2024, by getting featured in the Rakeem Love track, Do It Again. The song's official music video has amassed 128K views on YouTube so far. Luanli's verse in the song addresses the struggles in her relationship and the assertion of her independence.
Soon after Do It Again's release, Luanli uploaded her debut track - THINKING BOUT U - featuring Iz LaMarr and Masika Kalysha, on February 8, 2024. The rapper is yet to release a music video for the track.
Besides music, Nicki Minaj's half-sister has also started a career in the world of business. She co-owns a crypto exchange called Quantum Swap with Rakeem Love, and the duo calls themselves "the first Black co-owners of a crypto exchange." The music video of their first collaboration, Do It Again, was also sponsored by Quantum Swap.
In June 2024, Ming Luanli appeared as a guest in an episode of the We In Miami podcast, where the budding rapper revealed that she was bis*xual. Confessing that her first kiss had been with a girl back when she was in seventh grade, Ming also mentioned that she felt like "the guy in the relationship" with women.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Luanli also admitted to being in a relationship, saying, "I'm all booed up." While she didn't disclose the name of her current boyfriend, she did admit that it started with "T" and that the guy was from New York, and had dated a famous rapper in the past.
Ming opened up about her relationship with Nicki Minaj
Talking about the relationship Ming Luanli shares with Nicki Minaj on the We In Miami podcast, the 18-year-old said that the two spoke from time to time, but weren't as close as most sisters. Luanli explained:
"She was a good sister. She did check up on me and my dad from time to time. She always made sure we were at least good, situated in a way. It doesn’t matter if she was distant or not. I don’t have no hate towards her and if people think that I do, that’s y’all problem not mine."
Ming also admitted on the podcast that she was bullied about being Nicki's sister growing up, saying:
"I used to be bullied a lot for it. People used to say like, ‘Oh if this person was your sister, why didn’t she do this for you? Why didn’t she do that for you?’ I never needed her to help me get to my goal. I just needed her to see that I can do it and she could be proud of me, without thinking that I needed to have an easy way to get to the top.”
Elsewhere, Ming also disclosed that she and Minaj had frequent arguments in the past, and both of them were otherwise preoccupied with their own matters to stay close in touch.
The new rapper made it clear that she no longer wanted to be recognized as just "Nicki Minaj's sister," but to build an identity of her own, adding:
"We gon’ (sic) clear this up y’all, as I’m starting my music career, I’ll no longer be known as Nicki Minaj’s little sister. I am Ming Luan Li. I’m going to make big moves on my own, without any secret favors. I’m going to climb to the top.”
While Nicki Minaj hasn't directly addressed any of the remarks made by Ming on the podcast, the Super Freaky Girl rapper did comment about talent not being inherited while speaking to her fans, "Barbz," on Stationhead, which is being perceived as an indirect response to Ming Li.
