Nicki Minaj has never been one to shy away from repping her Trinidadian roots. The “Super Freaky Girl” rapper returned to her home country in 2020 to celebrate Carnival just a few weeks before pandemic lockdowns began. Now, with the pandemic in the rear view, Minaj is back in Trinidad for Carnival and living it up Trini style.

Minaj’s return to the island nation comes days after she teamed up with fellow Trinidadian artists Machel Montano and Destra for a remix of their soca song “Shake the Place.” “Trinidad my country, the greatest carnival of all time,” she raps on the track. “I’m reppin’ that red, that white, that black / I’m reppin’ my real flag.”

Minaj linked up with Montano, Destra, and Patrice Roberts for an all-Trini affair while in town. The performers couldn’t have been more excited to welcome the Video Vanguard honoree home.

“She’s not just the queen of rap, she’s a queen period,” Destra said in a clip of the meetup. “Queen tings, king tings. That’s all that comes out of Trinidad,” Minaj declared in response. Destra and Roberts were just two of the eight Caribbean women Minaj recruited for “The Fine Nine” remix of her Skeng collab “Likkle Miss” last year.

“LEGENDARY FOOTAGE WITH THE GREATS OF MY COUNTRY. I COULDN’T BE MORE PROUD IF I TRIED,” the Queens-raised MC captioned the post of the gathering. “Wish my grandmother was alive to see this. Wish daddy was alive to see this.”

Minaj has shown her fans over the years just how much she values her country and its rich culture. The music video for her 2012 hit single “Pound the Alarm” was filmed in her hometown of Port of Spain, Trinidad and showcased the grandiose feather creations that Carnival attendees don every year. Over a decade later, not much has changed as she documents her colorful looks on Instagram.

The annual Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is just one of many events throughout the Caribbean and the Americas held to mark the day before Ash Wednesday and party before the solemn season of Lent. Rio de Janeiro’s famed Carnival returned in 2023 for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic. And of course, New Orleans rang in the special occasion as it does every year with its massive Mardi Gras festival.