After being featured on what seemed like hundreds of successful songs, out-of-this-world rap artist, Nicki Minaj, released her debut album back in 2010. Now in 2012, Minaj has unleashed her sophomore project, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, an album that seems to be half hip-hop and half pop, but 100% Nicki Minaj, or in this case her alter ego Roman Zolanski. Preceded by a handful of disappointing tracks such as “Roman in Moscow”, “Stupid Hoe”, and official lead single “Starships”, the unique album showcases Minaj excelling at her natural talents while trying to create music that will crossover into every genre to make her a bigger star than she already is.
The album quickly starts off strong with one of my personal favorites. “Roman Holiday” made its premiere at this year’s Grammys where Minaj’s controversial performance of the song overshadowed the lyrics and delivery. Minaj promised to unleash her male alter ego and she did not let us down. The artist is dealing with an identity crisis and hearing her struggling with the two strong personalities is a real delight to experience.
The Minaj we experienced when she first burst onto the scene appears once again on “Come On a Cone”. Quickly referencing the success of her hit single “Super Bass” and her appearances on Ellen, the singer claims she already made it. The entire song is just describing how amazing she is, claiming that a song is only a hit when she is on it and paparazzi will get paid big for a photo of her.
Another great hip-hop moment comes from “I Am Your Leader”, a track that shows why Minaj is at the top of the game. The track is a masterpiece well before Rick Ross makes his guest appearance, but he just takes the song to another level with a clever verse. If this is Roman singing then I could listen to him for the rest of the album, I just wished he appeared more on this track.
“Beez in the Trap” is a song that garnered some critical praise before the album’s release, but I cannot seem to grasp why that happened. Minaj does throw out some amazing lines that got my head nodding, but after a minute I was just waiting for it to end. The song loses all its steam and falls flat when compared to most of the track list. Everyone has different taste I guess.
The album continues with “HOV Lane”, a song which has Minaj rapping about how she is ahead of everybody in the music industry. I will not argue with that statement. The artist is just about everywhere today and artists are now looking to her for inspiration and trends when it used to be the other way around. The fast-paced rap track is a nice listen; I give it my seal of approval.
The title track seems to be one of the last songs recorded for the album as it references the Grammys and a recent title of Minaj being one of the top five MCs in the game today. The song is far from great, it’s not even good. Minaj calls on her mentor, Lil Wayne, to try and help the disaster, but all that gets showcased is the lack of chemistry between the two and Wayne’s inability to stay relevant.
Again Minaj calls on some big names to help her out on the empowerment track “Champion”. The artist raps some of her most personal lyrics on the album and Minaj evokes some real, powerful emotion. However, the guest features actually bring down the quality of the song. Even the great Drake does not give the track his best effort, he falls flat. Minaj should have kept this one as a solo performance.
It seems like Chris Brown has been forgiven for his past domestic violence accusations. Well at least in the music community. Minaj teams up with Rihanna’s ex-boyfriend on “Right By My Side”. The two artists show there is some apparent chemistry and that translate to a decent performance on a catchy, cute song. The track has more an R&B vibe to it and resembles the sound of Minaj’s “Right Thru Me”.
I am going to quickly bash “Sex in the Lounge” which has Bobby V taking over the sex-fueled, explicit, raunchy track to unnecessary territory. The song is pure trash, just skip it.
I have already given my two cents on the summery, carefree lead single “Starships”. I feel that the song is a catchy, generic song that Minaj released for chart success instead of critical acclaim. The track has its bright moments, but can get annoying very fast. This is not the artist we came to love, but after the success of “Super Bass” you knew Minaj was going to keep venturing into pop music.
Nicki called on producer RedOne, Gaga’s main collaborator, for expert assistance in crafting an earworm of a pop song and they succeeded on “Pound the Alarm”. The song is one that should be blasting in the clubs right now. I cannot stop dancing to the infectious beat. The pre-chours, “we getting hotter and hotter, sexy and hotter”, is horrible, but I can look past that on this great experimental track.
The fast-paced “Whip It” has Minaj spitting an impressive verse at the beginning, but the song unfortunately falls into the category of pop fluff showing up on the radio every day. RedOne’s production should be commended, it gives the song a refreshing vibe, but it sounds like any other song on the market right now. Minaj showed signs on uniqueness, but it is all quickly disappearing.
“Automatic”, another RedOne produced effort, grabs the attention of the listener right off the bat and does not necessarily let go of it, but the grip loosens a tad bit. The chorus has to be considered one of the best moments on the album, I can see DJs spinning this record around the world, and it may even have the potential to be a future single. This is an example of where “Pop Minaj” works.
If you ignore the nice intro to “Beautiful Sinner”, I think the track would have fit perfectly on Madonna’s latest album. I don’t even know if that should be considered a compliment or an insult. The material does not show off Minaj’s true talents of being a force in the hip-hop genre, I think Lil Kim will have a laugh here. The track is forgettable and should have been left off the final track list.
Nicki is never really able to show the softer side of her tough interior and personality, but that side shines brightly and beautifully on “Marilyn Monroe”. The ballad of the album is a well-crafted, soft performance of insecurity and despair. Minaj’s vocals come through without any theatrics or demon-like delivery and they honestly blew me away. If this song does not get single treatment, it will be a real shame.
When “Young Forever” leaked prior to the album’s release it had me torn between loving it and ignoring it. Minaj shows the softer side of her character again and it is a pleasure to hear. It may not get the massive commercial response an artist will like, but it will show critics that her career is validated and not just one-note. I am glad for the song’s inclusion. Minaj does not need to act crazy all the time.
I have been praising Minaj’s development of being an artist that can crossover into many genres and not just a rap star, but on “Fire Burns” I find myself missing the artist that emerged at the beginning of her career. After a couple of songs, the Young Money artist is turning into a completely different person and I do not know if I want to see that. Traces of her first album are gone and I want them back.
“Gun Shot” is another slow cut from the album that has Minaj and Beenie Man exchanging verses of a powerful love. The unusual pairing actually works and I found myself interested and intrigued. Beenie Man takes the material to the next level and I think he saves the song from becoming a failure or dull moment. I think the two should collaborate together as soon as possible.
The album closes with “Stupid Hoe”, the horrid of a track. Why was it included?
Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded would have been great albums if the hip-hop and pop aspects were split in two, but as a whole the project lacks cohesiveness. Nicki Minaj is trying to find herself as a person, but she loses herself as an artist and it is sad to experience. While Minaj shows why she is on top of the rap game by delivering impressive verse after impressive verse, her experimenting within the pop/dance genre will leave many confused and probably upset. Having RedOne produce four tracks on the album forces them to sound the same. There is really no effort put into them. Minaj is just hoping for the repeated success of “Super Bass”. Roman Zolanski is never identified and the album is too long for its own good. The album receives a 73%.
Tracks to Hear: “Roman Holiday”, “HOV Lane”, “Pound the Alarm” and “Marilyn Monroe”,
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