By shelz.
Nicki Minaj walked into a situation that has been brewing for years: the problem with femcees. And with talent that vacillates from tepid to genius as fast and disjointed as some of her raps, she has managed to position herself at the forefront of a mainstream party of one. She has embraced that role completely and with all those lights shining, ears listening and eyes watching, she will drop Pink Friday. If you were expecting her to prove the naysayers wrong and spin Hip-Hop on its axis, your Christmas isn’t going to be too merry.
Minaj has worked the schizo shtick well. She’s Sybil meets Lil Kim meets Betty Boop in a game of what character am I going to be today. There is the sweet-voiced seductress who gives money to the babies in Haiti that seamlessly morphs in the ranting, raging rap wack job that eats your brains and then rocks gold teeth and fangs. Unfortunately, Nicki left the “Monster” caged for most of Pink Friday. Instead she is primarily a pop maven who meanders into rap territory spitting glitter-tinged verses over repetitive and plastic-like-Barbie production.
She introduces herself, runs through her brief career and her lonely at the top jet-setting existence in “I’m the Best.” The lyrics sit atop some bumble bee synth and digital strings that follow a generic pop blueprint, complete with snare to add a little splash of Hip-Hop. The pop fest gets the boot when “Romans Revenge” pops up. Its sure and steady strings, monotonous almost, throw the attention completely to the cut throat lyrics. Nicki does her best to conjure the insanity with her spectrum spanning, off kilter delivery and tosses stone after stone at Kimberly Jones, but she gets mugged on her own track by an amazing and amazingly harsh verse from Eminem.
“Do It On’em” is in for shock value only. Nicki what if’s about having a dick and pissing and shitting all over her haters when she isn’t eating some lucky gals puddy. Minaj’s delivery is covered in a type of stoicism that she hasn’t mastered yet and she ends up with more track than words. The slow drag over the metronome-like cow bell and drunken warning sirens that compose the foundation makes the song dull.
“Save Me” with its heart monitor driven track projects Nicki’s despondency and a need for intervention, but Nicki seems fine. Its the song that clearly needs saving. Next is “Moment 4 Life” a serviceable track that finds Minaj and Drake savoring their careers as Duke and Duchess of Young Money. However, the royal duo couldn’t churn out anything special and okay isn’t good enough from the hottest pair in the game. Will.i.am shows up to offer both his producer and feature rapper guy styles on “Check It Out,” the Buggles inspired joint that sounds like it could have easily been removed from BEP’s last album. It’s cute, quirky and underwhelming. I know I’ve listened to “Fly” with Rihanna several times. I still don’t remember it.
Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget about Me” is sampled for the Kanye-assisted “Blazin.” It invokes the 80’s without the corniness and Nicki big ups herself into next week with a tight and amusing delivery that incorporates some Drake punch lines and a little Mitch Green/Jigga/Young Chris whisper flow along with about 50 other styles. Kanye’s playful conceit wins this round, with his word play coming in a close second.
“Here I Am” is an interesting juxtaposition of Hip-Hop and pop as they are both built into the track, but Minaj drops the ball with breaks long enough to make you forget she was rapping and a rap tedious enough to make that memory lapse plausible. The “Bitch” inspired verse at the end is lifeless.
The loss of Nicki’s hardcore and the birth of her soft serve is addressed in “Dear Old Nicki” suggesting she is aware of a problem with her reinvention. It’s the most thoughtful of her material. “Last Chance” with Natasha Bedingfield is a radio offering in a field of similar tunes and a lack luster ending to an album peppered with tedium.
Pink Friday’s issue is simple. The fractured personality of Minaj’s artistry has crafted two separate audiences who were both addressed with this album. The tilt is towards the tinkerbell and purple pen carrying contingent with the Hip-Hop heads being tossed some muted tracks. Minaj tried, but unlike Jigga when she came to the fork in the road she couldn’t walk straight and both audiences will lose a little in return. So no, Hip-Hop will not spin on its axis, Hard Core will not be over taken and Nicki’s personality disorder will not act as her defining characteristic. On the contrary, it’s Pink Friday’s Achilles heel.
Nicki Minaj feat Kayne West – “Blazin”
Nicki Minaj feat. Kanye West – Blazin’ (Prod. by Drew Money)(2)
Out of 5
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I just listened to the whole thing & I completely get it. She shows all of the different parts of her personality throughout the albu
I’m the best: I’m the fucking best, I’m just tellin you bitches.
Did it on em: Holy shit, this bitch is fucked. That guy in the back is hilarious though, reminds me of Birdman in the background of some of Waynes mixtape songs just talkin shit
Right through me: I honestly at the end of that song felt like you had no feelings, and then wham.
Fly: This is a song that I show I can sing back-up with Rihanna and make it sound not bad, good song to play at a concert to make people believe she can sing (like Drake) + it has Rihanna, she picked exactly the right people to feature with in the whole album.
Save Me: I’m crazy but a bit vulnerable, I looooove this song, so good
Moment for Life: BOMBBBBB, love this song
Check it out: Pop, getting tons of radio play, video has korean in it so asian people are going to love it, working with Will.I.Am genius
Blazin:Though this one was like 45 seconds too long, if it was shorter I’d give it a 5, maybe a 4.1 now
Here I Am: I’m pretty sure she said she’d take some percacet, would explain some of the crazyness, another vulnerable song
Dear old Nicki: Kind of like Lady Gaga on the Album Cover of Fame Monster with the black hair and tears, her moarning the death of the old Stefanie to just right off the board to crazy 100% of the time. Nicki has put out enough shit that this should really be considered like the Fame Monster, not the Fame. Didn’t like this song that much though.
Your Love: Another song that gets mad air play, plays in the McDonalds I work at all the time, McDonalds! I liked it the first 100 times
Last Chance: By this point you think she’s just a whackjob & then she throws in something really normal. If it was just Nicki saying she was about to shoot you would be like, oh snap, bitch is gonna kill someone. But the NB is belting it out so it makes her seem more normal, I’m sure they’ll play this all the time.
Massive Attack: I wasn’t a huge fan when this song came out but hearing it at the end of this album after all of the rest of the songs I like it alot more. It really is a massive attack on the music industry, she knows she’s gonna fuck shit up!
Hello Good Morning remix: I always loved this song, as SOON as I heard the remix this was my jam but again, at the end of this album it just CONCRETED her complete reign with this album. Blows away ALL other female rappers, Lil Wayne, Drake & Nicki Minaj are just gonna fuck shit up!
I give this album a 4.8/5
It’s hard to pick out exact things I didn’t like because I really enjoyed the journey through the mind of Nicki Minaj & her many personalities. I could listen to it almost straight through, bomb album, I think she is the Black Lady Gaga, she is going to take over the world, I can’t wait until her & Lady Gaga team up. Young Money is gonna destroy now that Waynes out of jail
I didn’t understand the singles by themselves but as an album I think it’s amazing,
Stef D
How do you give a review, basically saying she is lame on every track (which having heard first listens for some of them–I heartily agree) and then give in 3/5. Which is basically saying, had I not read your review, that it’s ok enough to buy? I think it should have been 2/5 according to what you said.
@Hmmm
There were only a few songs I just didn’t like. The rest was acceptable with a few high points found here and there. She was bested by her features (minus Drake), but her contributions to those songs weren’t bad, theirs were just better. I don’t think it was bad enough for a 2, but i appreciate your opinion.
Wow, you gave it 3? You honestly thought this was acceptable for a debut? Maybe because I’m male and over 13, I thought this was one of the worst albums to drop all year. It wasn’t even good Pop, and as far as Hip-Hop, it shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence. I went into listening to this with no expectations, and it sure delivered.
@turbocity
well as far as it being a debut, i don’t think we cut new artists enough slack with their first presentation anymore. we used to let them fiddle around with their sound a bit and there was an actual development staff working with them. now its kinda do or die from jump for them. and yes, acceptable would be a good word to describe the album. its far from great but i found the lesser songs to be snooze worthy more than straight up abominations. and fusion is what we have these days…so considering this album “Hip Hop” at this point in the game is just semantics imo. but believe me…i do get your point. thanks.
I agree with you as far as it not being Hip-Hop at all and not great on a pop level. that being said it doens’t suck ass, but it’s underwhelming considering the amount of time she had and themomentum she had gained leading in to the album. I too didn’t expect anything. I think a 3 is fair as a pop measure. as far as Hip-Hop, thumbs down
the problem with this is that pop makes more money and and straight up hip hop does not…..i said that to say this………..niki minaj is a fly mc (commimg form another female) her biggest problem and money maker are songs like your love they’re huge but do not quench the thirst of striaght hip hop heads. but she tryna make money. they all are (whens the last time u picked a supposed hip or randb album and got just that) let me know cuz i’m dyin for it. very few can do it an make all happy hence lauren hill(miseducation) rapping and singing but with her on every track u felt every emotion organically not as something manuufactured or even biggie(life after death) that album has every type of song yet they like yeah thats it right there u know. i think the album sucks, her delivery is great but i’m very much unfulfilled. i know hip hop is so multifaceted but i wouldn’t call this something that as a female that i’ve been waiting for. i’m little older but i come from a era where lil kim, foxy, lauren, missey, trina, rah dggah all had it goin on wit crazy producion and lyrical skills at the same time (i still have the old vibe mag with the ladies on the cover). none of which i’m gettin from the album its all over the place doin neither pop or hip justice.
ps ( i had to write this) this album reminds me of kims second album (but not as Good). thats why kim is so mad when she sees niki cuz what niki is doin right now is what people could not understand kim for doin on her secon album. (she was ahead of her time)
A terrible album from front to back guess she made this crap for females, gays and lesbian. No street shit in this album, dont drive while playing this album you might fall asleep at the wheel and kill yourself. My suggestion just throw it out the window, there isnt one song on this album better than one verse that lil kim did on the mobb deep remix…Not One!
With the amount of feature Nicki has had in the last yr, i expected a much better production from this album. From a music lover of all genres, I was not impressed with the album and I was really lost. Where is the Nicki I felt in love with from the Come-Up DVD or the Schizo barb from kayne’s Monster. In addition, the review of this site gave her 3 out of 5 but your statements, from the review, seem more like a 2. I personally would give it a 2.5-3.