The opening line of Nicki Minaj’s second track, “Roman’s Revenge,” off of her debut, Pink Friday, pretty much describes this firecracker: “I am not Jasmine/I am Aladdin.” Short and not-so-sweet but as you will come to discover in the testosterone-fueled track featuring Eminem, it’s very true.
After music videos that were released portraying Minaj as yet another pop/R&B singer/rapper, the album shows many different sides and goes to the extreme in both cases.
The first batch of songs on the album plain suck but it finally gets better. Unfortunately it’s not till the sixth track, “Save Me,” a slow song that shows off Minaj’s voice and has a nice electronic beat … It really did save her because I was about to give up on the disc.
The following songs are pretty good listens, featuring the likes of Drake (“Moment 4 Life“), Will.i.am (“Check It Out“) and Kanye West (“Blazin’“). Her songs go back and forth from beasty, masculine rapper to sweet, feminine singer. Her flow is okay, except for the multiple times she throws in random words that have little to do with the previous verse just because they rhyme.
At one point during the disc, she claims to be doing this for women but I hardly consider her a role model. She can argue that her sick flow allows her to keep up with the boys but with a song like “Roman’s Revenge,” all of her credibility is shot in that respect.
Overall, Pink Friday is a decent debut for an artist who’s been hyped like crazy. The album is fun and catchy but don’t expect Minaj to break through to the top of many best of the year lists.
Buy the album at our record store on Amazon
Here are some other albums on EnterTheShell.com that you may be interested in:
- Album Review – Thank Me Later by Drake
- Kanye West releases short film
- Free Song Download – “I’m Da Best” by Shunda K
- Nicki Minaj releases new music video
- The Enter The Shell Show – Savvy Live
Nicki Minaj is hyped up and I don’t understand why! So the fact that her album sucks does not surprise me in the least…She needs to top trying to be the black Lady Gaga because it’s not working. She should’ve stuck to being in the “featuring Nicki Minaj” spot, that way you hear less of her !!
Trish! I agree that the hype doesn’t have much validity to it. I do like that her rap is aggressive but sometimes it’s TOO aggressive! She’s definitely not a “woman’s” rapper. But other than that, she’s pretty much every other pop star out there. I like her album, but it starts off lame. There’s not very much substance to it, but it’s a fun listen nonetheless.