Queen
“You were a queen before him. You’ll be a queen after him,” Nicki Minaj tweeted a few months ahead of her fourth studio album, *QUEEN*. Throughout her meteoric rise and even more impressive reign as one of the most formidable voices in hip-hop, female empowerment remains a constant in Nicki’s messaging. It was a motivating factor in the making of this album, which includes “Barbie Dreams,” a toothy and hilarious flip of The Notorious B.I.G. classic “Just Playing (Dreams),” wherein Nicki upends the concept of predatory masculinity, lining up a gang of her rap contemporaries as potential conquests. Elsewhere, Nicki raises a lighter to her Caribbean roots with “Ganja Burns,” which could work just as well as a dancehall riddim; goes bar for fiery bar—again—with Eminem on “Majesty”; and provides a simple solution for the Barbz dealing with unappreciative partners on “Nip Tuck.” “I think my role is putting out music that makes women feel like they can go from a poor neighborhood to doing records with the greats and being hailed as someone that shifted the culture,” Nicki told Beats 1 host Zane Lowe. “There are songs on the album that I feel women really need right now.”
On her most rap-oriented release yet, Nicki jettisons all the industry madness, drowns out the noise, and creates rap the way she believes it should sound.
Nicki Minaj reaches for the throne room, Animal Collective unearths an interesting live artifact, Death Cab do more Death Cabbing, and more in this week of new releases.
On her new album, Minaj puts male rappers - and more - in their place
Nicki Minaj’s Queen tries so hard to impress everyone that it risks failing to satisfy anyone.
Not everything connects on the rapper’s regal fourth album, but when it does, she shows what a unique talent she is
It’s hard not to think how strong this album would be if its 66 minutes were pared down to 40.