Pink Friday 2
After delays, teases, rumors, and more, Nicki Minaj’s epic and much-anticipated follow-up to 2018’s *Queen* arrives to close out 2023 in style. At 22 tracks and over 70 minutes, the epic project features Minaj tag-teaming with fellow global stars like J. Cole, Drake, Future, Lil Wayne, and Lil Uzi Vert—that is, when she’s not aiming for the throne on solo cuts. Like 2010’s *Pink Friday* (Minaj’s debut album), *Pink Friday 2* features Minaj showcasing the various ways she can carry a track. On some songs, she brings out her best bars, unloading clever one-liners and technically flashy verses. On the album’s second track, “Barbie Dangerous,” Minaj spits over a hypnotizing piano melody and drums that hit like a punch in the gut. Switching between a smooth, controlled flow and a vicious double-time delivery, Minaj is in full control of the song’s dynamics from beginning to end. She makes her claim as one of rap’s great innovators, spitting, “Name a rapper that can channel Big Poppa and push out Papa Bear/Whole mother of the year/Every summer, I come out to walk bitches, make ’em disappear/But to me, it\'s just another year.” On “Nicki Hendrix,” she teams up with Future and taps into his toxic vulnerability, writing a song of love and love lost that would fit nicely into her collaborator’s catalog. At her best, Nicki is uninhibited by style, substance, or delivery. She raps, “Baby, did you think there were a million mes?/I guess I underestimated you too.” Whether engaging in a street cypher with J. Cole, chirping at exes with Drake, or lamenting what once was with Future, Nicki Minaj shows off every weapon in her arsenal on *Pink Friday 2*.
Thirteen years after her landmark album Pink Friday, the pop-rap superstar aims to conjure and build on that moment with an ambitious 22-song statement that is a very mixed bag.
Similarities to Nicki Minaj's 2010 original may run only name-deep, but this sample-heavy material holds its own. Read the NME review of 'Pink Friday 2'
The rapper enlists guests such as Billie Eilish, Drake and Lil Wayne – but the throne is still hers
While some moments of interpolation are more inspired, the musician’s increasing reliance on recognisable samples can start to feel like cruise control
You underestimate Nicki Minaj at your peril. Almost 15 years in the game she’s still out here, still breaking barriers. In a music landscape defined by
Unlike its predecessor, Nicki Minaj's ‘Pink Friday 2’ doesn’t leave much of an impression, and certainly won’t reshape the hip-hop landscape.
Pink Friday 2 is the sound of Nicki Minaj cracking her knuckles and getting her hands dirty again. It's the purest distillation of her uniquely feminine bravado.
Stepping away from Barbie-Girl pop towards her strengths as a rapper, this is the sound of a more mature artist in fierce command of her talent