Review: Pink Friday by Nicki Minaj

Photo courtesy of www.idolator.com

By Ariel Smallwood

Perhaps it is her larger-than-life-personality that fans have grown to expect from the self-proclaimed Barbie. It could be the exhilarated raps that led to Rolling Stone dubbing her the new queen Hip Hop. Whatever the case is, Nicki Minaj seems to appeal to everyone.  Her debut album, Pink Friday, tries to speak to every demographic, but just appears to have an identity crisis. The record features an incoherent blend of ballads, hardcore rap and dance tracks. The bipolar nature of the album seems like the first meeting of rapper Nicki Minaj, alter ego Roman Zolanski, and Onika Miraj, Minaj’s birth name.

Chart-topping single “Your Love” as well as the mid-album “Save Me” offer satisfaction for the R&B lover while “I’m The Best” allows Minaj to return to her mix tape roots. The second track of the album, “Roman’s Revenge” is arguably the best track of the record. This song, a diss record with a solid beat, receives much of its energy from an Eminem feature. Other notable tracks include her second single “Right Thru Me” in which the enchanting rhythm cannot save the song from elementary lyrics like “you let me win/you let me ride/you let me rock/you let me slide”. “Did It On'em” suffers from an ever-present hype man in the background that sounds like a remix done by a DJ that you downloaded illegally. “Check It Out” seems misplaced and forces a strange and unwelcome break from the Brooklyn-born rapper who isn’t afraid of anything. I

n fact, it seems like the only tracks worth listening to are the tracks where Minaj is singing in some form. Minaj displays more of a talent for singing than she does for wordplay, and her debut album makes her seem like more of a lady-in-waiting than a queen.