Album Review: Nicki Minaj – ‘Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded’

Published: Tuesday 3rd Apr 2012 by David

After whipping up a frenzy with her debut ‘Pink Friday’ in 2010this week sees Nicki Minaj stake her claim as a formidable chart force with the arrival of her eagerly awaited sophomore set ‘Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded‘.

A pick ‘n’ mix of genres, the project is split loosely in two; a musical melee, the set finds itself divided between songs rolled in Hip-Hop grit and others soaked in Pop fantasy.

Boasting a tracklist as polarised as the artist performing them, the question on the lips of many remains: beyond the wigs, schtick, and “eccentric”, does Nicki deliver on the most important release of her career?

In short, “yes”. However, it’s a response served with a potent side-course of “caution”.

For, despite delivering the goods on an Urban front, ‘Reloaded’s upper echelon serves up the depth of a steam-pressed pancake.Indeed, while the Drake, Nas and Jeezy assisted ‘Champion‘ gets an “A” for poignancy, its neighbours can be summed up with the following sentences:

I’m better than you.

You wish you were me.

I’m richer than you.

Are you aware that you wish you were me?

The repetitiveness of such “bravado” holistically takes little from the gems that are the Hitboy produced duo ‘Come On A Come‘ and ‘I Am Your Leader‘. After all, a degree of “pomposity” ultimately serves as genre-cornerstone of commercial Hip-Hop. This does, however, in select instances make for exhausting listening- especially on the Hip Hop Quorn that is the Kenoe cooked ‘Beez In The Trap‘.

On ‘Trap‘, the Young Money star turns the ignorance up to ignorant levels, delivering lazy one liners and an ever lazier hook over a lazy-sparse beat which ironically “works” – but only in isolation. Surprising, as the Rico Beats produced cut  sits right above  ‘Roman Reloaded’ (a track destined for the Kill Bill 3 soundtrack) and the stuttering ‘Hov Lane‘ – the older and far more sassier sister to Pink Friday’s ‘I’m The Best’.

So, with relative R&B fillers in her trunk (‘Lounge and ‘Right By My Side (ft. Chris Brown)’, Minaj heads for the Promise Land, trading Clue and Flex for Snooki and Sophia Grace –  serving up dream like numbers with even dreamier melodies.

Every jam- from the summer soaked ‘Starships‘, to the fist pumping ‘Beautiful Sinner’ is as organic as the last, kicking dust in the face of any in doubt of her crossover appeal. There’s the Euro-ready ‘Automatic’ soaring with ‘It’s automatic, some might call it insane- I assure you I’ll be stuck in your brain‘ and ‘Whip It’, sonic mozzarella at its best.

In essence, Nicki becomes Lolly with bars. Yet a Flo’Rida she is not.

Because, unlike Rida, Nicki isn’t playing dress up with Pop. No. Instead, she fashions and molds it to her taste, as best evidenced on ‘Va Va Voom‘  and the album’s standout track, the RedOne produced ‘Pound The Alarm‘.

With prom night in mind, Minaj spawns ‘Young Forever’ and the Jam-Pop ‘Gunshot’, then gets all kinds of vulnerable with ‘Marilyn Monroe‘ and the Rihanna tinged ‘Fire Burns‘. All solid.

********

So just how does ‘Roman Reloaded’ stack up holistically?

Without a doubt, the LP lacks the cohesion of ‘Pink Friday.  However, this is negated by its boldness. Indeed, as a body of work, ‘Reloaded’ stands as the bravest release since  GaGa‘s ‘Born This Way’.

For, despite being the chaotic home of perhaps one too many tracks, the album is fun, sexy, smart and absolutely “out there”. All of which make it the only Pop effort worth picking up this year – thus far.

That Grape Juice Rating:

4/5

Reviewer: David Asante.

Do you agree?

 

Comments 77

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  1. YOOSONDALOOSE April 2, 2012

    In love with Nicki’s new album, so good!

  2. trucieb April 2, 2012

    best song on there is the one with Chris Brown. Not all impressed with the hip hop since its all collaboration. and the Pop tracks are lame and meant for actual pop singers. Not at all impressed though I’m still a Nicki fan.

  3. trucieb April 2, 2012

    Oh I take some of that back, I do like Champion!

  4. bryanric April 2, 2012

    agreed 100%…glad you guys are doing album reviews again

  5. hmmm April 2, 2012

    The whole album as a whole is wack

  6. Sheesh April 2, 2012

    I love Roman Holiday, Fire Burns, Gunshot, Right by My Side, Champion, and S** Lounge. The rest of the album was ehh…

  7. ASAP (As Sincere As Possible) April 2, 2012

    The pop tracks of the album are much stronger than the hip hop songs and granted that she’s a rapper, that can’t be very good. I’m citing her as a pop artist from now on tbh.

  8. ChrisFresh April 2, 2012

    BULLLLLL.nettt

    Nicki didn’t bring it what so ever on this album, and I waited all year.
    Pink Friday was muchhh better..
    If you give it 4 outta 5.. name the next 3 singles that could come off of this album??

    I give it a 2 outta 5..

  9. Marcus April 2, 2012

    I was NOT impressed with this album at all!! She did not bring her best to this. She has lost her way along the road of ‘superstardom’. I wish the older Nicki would come back and that she would be herself instead of what everyone wants her to be.

  10. nikoyuki April 2, 2012

    Quote:

    One of Nicki Minaj’s many gimmicks is that she has multiple personalities, and if it wasn’t true before she made the jump from mixtape scene-stealer to unlikely Top 40 staple, then it probably became true around the time she showed up on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to reenact a YouTube performance of “Super Bass” with two fans, aged five and eight. Personally, I like the idea of an America where it’s considered boring when adorable British girls are flown in to hang out with lesbian talk show hosts and multiracial female rappers, but for Minaj that was indeed the moment where she seemed closest to the PG standards of mega-star innocuousness. That must’ve been confusing for a woman whose rap-radio single at the time was “Did It on ‘Em,” where she rides a nasty beat and talks about shitting on her competitors, who would perform at the Grammy Awards a few months later and p*** off the Catholic League by staging an exorcism, proving, as though the mutually plagiaristic Madonna-Gaga organism hadn’t, that humping any arbitrarily chosen piece of Catholic iconography is still the safest bet for scandal on demand, and then on American Idol shortly afterward, ready to make like Katy Perry for a crowd mostly comprised of tweens and their parents.

    It’s no wonder, then, that Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded starts with Minaj acting out a literal identity crisis on “Roman Holiday,” reintroducing us to Roman Zolanski, her psychotic male alter ego. The whole idea of Roman being a separate character who occasionally fights his way into command of Minaj is one that’s been realized inconsistently so far, and it’s hard to tell if there’s supposed to be a specific voice corresponding to Roman or if he’s embodied more abstractly in the attitude of Minaj’s tougher-sounding rap numbers. Either way, I think that Slant’s own Jesse Cataldo nailed it in his review of Minaj’s Pink Friday when he observed that the Roman persona never actually scans as one among a Sybil-like legion. Minaj is either exceling in her niche—which is dishing out vulgar, violent trash-talk with all the manic vocal contortions we’ve come to expect—or she’s doing something far less interesting. That seemed less obviously true after “Super Bass” showed just how good Minaj could make bubblegum rap sound, but Roman Reloaded more than makes the case that “Super Bass” was a fluke and that Minaj’s potential as a crossover artist is negligible.

    The three tracks following “Roman Holiday” are “Roman” songs—i.e., hard, confrontational rap songs with guests like Cam’ron and Rick Ross. And they’re brilliant. “Come on a Cone” has her rhyming over a snarling knot of synths that sounds like a swarm of bees, and includes breaks for Minaj to do her best approximation of a pop-diva vocal while she coos about putting her d*** in your face. It’s one of the most hilarious and genuinely unexpected moments I’ve heard from a rapper not named Missy Elliott. It’s followed by “I Am Your Leader” and “Beez in the Trap,” two excellent tracks which manage to sound both bubbly and heavy as Minaj delivers her most effortlessly entertaining s***-talk to date.

    The remaining 53 minutes of Roman Reloaded are a disaster, so much so that I could fill the rest of this review with a non-exhaustive list of the most embarrassing missteps. The album is partitioned almost exactly between a rap half and a pop half; the former is unquestionably stronger, but after “Beez in the Trap,” it limps off to its own disheartening conclusion. “Champion” finds Minaj, Drake, Nas, and Young Jeezy incapable of landing a solid verse between them, and “S** in the Lounge,” with Lil Wayne and Bobby V, is an R&B seduction so tepid that it verges on parody. After the first 59 seconds, Minaj vanishes altogether so that Bobby V can sing about treating a girl (presumably Minaj) to “s** in the lounge,” which must be a close second to s** in the bedroom on the list of wholly ordinary places for lovemaking.

    If Roman Reloaded ended there it would just be a disappointing album, but tacked on to this mediocre rap album is a ghastly and desperate bid for a hit single that sees Minaj and producer RedOne snatching items from a veritable sale rack of tired Top 40 tricks and tossing them hastily over the most basic synth and drum-machine presets. “Starships” and the three functionally interchangeable tracks that follow are retro-techno-pop earsores comprised of indiscriminately arranged bits of LMFAO’s “I’m S*** and I Know It,” Rihanna’s “We Found Love,” and pretty much any recent Britney Spears or Katy Perry song you can name. Minaj isn’t much of a singer, and not much of a lyricist either. For the chorus to her self-affirmation anthem, Minaj shouts “Starships were meant to fly!,” echoing “Baby, you’re a firework!” for its uncomprehending intuition that if something is in the sky then it must also be inspiring, while her repeated exhortation on “Pound the Alarm” to get things “hotter and hotter and s*** and hotter” is about as weak as club-jam come-ons get. On a Madonna-by-way-of-Gaga knock-off called “Beautiful Sinner,” Minaj fumbles around making vapid s**-as-religion metaphors that are insightful about neither topic, though her ambitious choice of role models ensures that the song is better than “Marilyn Monroe,” which sounds like it was written for Demi Lovato, or “Young Forever,” which sounds, inexplicably, exactly like the Ready Set’s mediocre hit “Love Like Woe.”

    Some of these songs just sound cheap and rushed in the way that major-label filler typically does, but “Beautiful Sinner” and “Marilyn Monroe,” being such dimly apprehended approximations of the cultural references currently in vogue, suggest that the prospects for Minaj’s pop career are already terminal. In their attempt to rush out a “Super Bass” follow-up, Minaj’s producers have cynically wrung her for every dopey could-be-hit she’s good for, determined to squeeze as much chart mileage as they can from a performer who brings nothing of value to the table where making chart-pop is concerned. Though you could call Roman Reloaded schizophrenic, the better word would be noncommittal. Most of the songs are just too generic and referential to read as an extension of anyone’s ego, alter or otherwise. Minaj seems to think that when she writes and performs a pop song, she has to exclude the warped humor and aggression of her rapping, but how much more interesting would it be to hear her (as Roman, or whatever) tear through a catalogue of recent pop clichés with as much intention to mock as to imitate? When she isn’t rapping, Minaj conveys no personality, not many, and her obsession with Barbie dolls and Disney princesses starts to look like a disappointingly accurate hunch about the extent of her own agency in the music industry.” – Slant Magazine

  11. RoyalKev April 2, 2012

    I was listening to the album this weekend and I enjoyed it. I was pleasantly surprised. Nicki got my respect and she’s good at what she do.

    http://www.thepagewithroyalkev.com

  12. Rob April 2, 2012

    I didn’t really care for her first CD. But this one, I LOVE! Def a summer banger!

  13. therealhonesttruth April 2, 2012

    If Lil’ Kim had Nicki Minaj. voice and Nicki Minaj had Lil’ Kims raps it would be perfect. But until then I’m off the scence

  14. nikoyuki April 2, 2012

    1.5 stars Slant Magazine rating, sorry barbie. Maybe next time dear

  15. Joey April 2, 2012

    4/5 seriously, the two songs lil kim just released is better then all this s***

  16. RDK April 2, 2012

    NIKOYUKI who gives a sh-t about some dog sh-t mag,get da f-ck out of here with your bullsh-t,you haters are mega press,don’t you get it that we don’t give a f-ck at this point,we are used to haters like you and some third rate Bias blogs and mags talking sh-t,we co-coexist with yall now and bus a shot at you hyenas and vultures from time to time,target practice,nothing you all come with will surprise us,you all are so predictable and so d-mn sad i say.

  17. nxn April 2, 2012

    i’m not understanding? you constantly bash Rihanna when all she’s being is her, but this grown ass woman sellls out, yeah that’s i said it and i will say it again! sell i out i don’t care if she’s got a few songs rapping, 80% of this album is GARBAGE; and i think you should have several seats for that review, this album is a nicki’s desperate attempt to compete with rihann, katy and gaga but the only thing is her songs don’t like her own they sound like the aforementioned artists, i was so geeked for this album, i’m thoroughly disappointed!! hope she got the garbage out of her system and am waiting for the third album then…

  18. RDK April 2, 2012

    JOEY man you kim fans delusions are on another level,you can’t be serious you must be trying to start s*** well anything is possible in yall little fantasy world and on another hand what the f-ck do,s kim have to do with this,this post is about nicki not kim…anyways same i Co-sign that review and score 100%+

  19. RDK April 2, 2012

    NXN go kill your self enough said.

  20. Kreayshawn April 2, 2012

    This goes for that n***** who wrote that long ass book that nobody read please shut up and take your cotton picking ass back to sleep.

    Buy my album this summer

  21. Mike April 2, 2012

    Damn kreayshawn it’s like that I knew you rolled like that lol good luck on your soon to be flop album.

    Anyway nicki will sell records regardless Cus she has a BIG fan base

    End of story

  22. JP April 2, 2012

    wow…someone had to pay this site for this review. lol 4 out of 5? anybody with ears immediately knows that’s highly suspect.

    Lady Gaga’s album brave? lol Pretentious hot mess is more like it. tisk tisk tisk.

  23. KAT DELUNA FAN April 2, 2012

    I have mad respect for Nicki Minaj.She is the hardest woman in the music industry.

    REVIEW:
    Roman holiday: is pure fire,it’s the pure moment when an artist is creating and having fun with himself.The productions are insane,she is free in her lyrics.Whatever you understand it or not,the song is pure fire.

    Come on a cone,Beez in the trap:I dont like those songs because of the auto congratulation brought to the extreme.The prods (especially Trap) is hot,I regret the fact that she couldnt rock this song on her own.The Dic in your face is ….So Nicki 😆

    I am your leader:Another assisted track with featuring,I am loving this track like crazy.I love when she seems to not rap with aggressivity yet stays extremely cocky

    Hov Lane:My second fave rap track after RH,she is finally rapping 😆 The flow is sick but the lyrics are dull.

    Roman R:At this point,I am mad at another collabos.I’ll rather get Roman in moscow

    Champion,S** & Right:I dont like those fake pop songs disguise in a R&B track.

    Straships:I get used to this “Perry’ sound.The song is cute,I want the video NOW

    Pound the alarm:I dont understand the enthousiasm behind this “Kat deluna” reject type of song.Maybe because as a kat deluna fan,I am familiar with this sound.Nicki is 3 years late with this one

    Whip it:My fav song from the Pop side,I love the intro ..the end lacks something

    Beautiful sinner to Gun shot: cute but ➡

    Stupid H**:I am of the 1% of human being in love this song since day one

    Masquerade:I really like this song,what a grower and adorable song.The lyrics are such a cutie cute piece.

    Va va voom:Song is a SB-lite,nothing special.

    In conclusion:
    1-Nicki worked alot,I cant believe she found the time to write 22 songs in between her 2 Tours (with Wayne & britney),her numerous collabos,her performances,the videos,the last minute remixes…How she did.BOW DOWN

    2-I applaud her generosity to give everybody something to bump to cause 5 rap songs and 5 pop songs could have been enough.

    3-I understood that Nicki feels better her pop star role than in her rapper’s one.She had more collabos in her rap songs which suppose her insecurity killing her urban tracks on her own.

    4-I wished the album was more cohesive,she wants to sell tones of records with this one..she will because RR has enough Mega hits til the summer 2013.The commercial purpose of this album is way to blatant to not ruin the album quality in the process.

    Good Luck Nicki,the 2012 It girl !!!!!!!!!!!!

  24. Dlux April 2, 2012

    Nicki should have made this a 2 disc album. This album is all over the place. I cant even finish listening to it. I’m sure her younger following will appreciate this tho, but me being a grown man feel beyond retarded listening to this album.

  25. RDK April 2, 2012

    JP what your feelings is hurt,your ava looks like a hot pile of dog sh-t you are more delusional than a kim fan if you think that sh-t is s-xy,get da f-ck out of here.

  26. Black Madonna April 2, 2012

    LUV HER..

  27. >PF:RR 4.3.12 April 2, 2012

    i love the album.

  28. nikoyuki April 2, 2012

    S*****. Reviews. All. Across. The. Board. Deal. B******. Sophomore Slump if I don’t know one. NK lived up to the hype that was Hardcore.

  29. CURIOUS GEORGE LMMFAO! April 2, 2012

    All you URBAN listeners are fukin frauds. yall talk s*** about Nicki selling out going pop but check this out… If Nicki only sticks to urban music she would be lining her pockets with pickle juice cus you urban s*** talkers download the s*** for free and give her a pat on the back and leave her with pickled pockets. If she goes pop she’ll get the support she deserves. NOW, let me say Nicki Minaj only has 1 song on this album that I absolutely hate and thats Stupid H**. The rest of the album is great. This album is devided into 2 parts and I’m putting the 2 parts against eachother (URBAN -vs- POP). lets just see which genre sells more as a single. The (POP) single Starships has already stormed the charts so now i’m wondering where the s*** talking (URBAN) buyers are for Beez In The Trap & Roman Reloaded. Ask yourself, would you do URBAN or POP??…Tuh, judging by the sells I would POP my ass all da way to da bank.

  30. commanderofthedancefloor April 2, 2012

    when she said last year that she tried pleasing everyone with her first album and that her next one would be more natural and more of her! i got excited! i think she started to do that with the first two buzz singles but when they didnt take off like they wanted then they made a change to more pop and dance music, which i believe is why the album got pushed back two months!! the album is too much!

    this album doesnt mesh together and the hip hop songs seem to not get as much attention as the pop songs did! its like the hip hop was just put on so that she could still call this a rap album!!! i am so dissapointed because her older lyrics like on kanyes monster were insane! i know she can absolutley destroy a real hip hop album and i will wait until that day if it ever comes!

  31. VFB April 2, 2012

    I heard it……it is a HOT MESS! SPEND YOUR MONEY ON SOMETHING ELSE.

  32. commanderofthedancefloor April 2, 2012

    ugh i am so dissapointed with this album but i love i am your leader!

    she catered more to the pop crowd which dissapointed me because she said with this album she wasnt going to worry about pleasing other people which obviously she forgot that she said that!

    the hip hop songs seemed to just be thrown ontheir with the pop songs so that she could call this a rap album! and still call herself a rapper! imo

    i will wait for a true hip hop album with insane lyrics like nicki did on kanyes monster because i know she can do it! i just want her to not worry about sales and do a hip hop album!! who knows she could actually still have good sales!!

  33. LMAO April 2, 2012

    I LOVE IT. Each dance/pop track on the album are instant hits without a doubt.

  34. PAU April 2, 2012

    F A B U L O U S

  35. Always love you, Whitney (RIP) April 2, 2012

    Fire burns doesn’t sound anything like rihanna. Matterfact that song sucks and needs to be burned for real. I like beautiful sinner. It kinda reminds me of rihanna in her loud era. hov lane, come on a cone, roman holiday, I am your leader I would play just to gain a reaction out of people around me listening. That girl is something else and too funny. And sorry I think va va voom is not nick’s own sound. It sounds like Ke$ha/Britney/Gaga mixed in one. Not feeling that song. I give the album 3/5.

  36. kayla April 2, 2012

    it’s a very good album..it gives her fans what they want..and since she went on tour with Britney Spears and GAINED pop fans, she put some pop on there, but she didn’t loose root of her hip-hop self either..im mean Roman Holiday, genius…Come On A Cone, fuckking great…HOV Lane, dammmn b****….so for all of the people that really took the time to discuss each and every inch of the album they don’t like….guess what #TeamMinaj is doing…nicki said we don’t sit and soak in our success…we bout to b #1 one, so it’s like thank you, hugs and kisses..and we on to the next thing, which in this case is tour..im sooooo sorry lil kim can’t pay her debt and give you guys so more garbage…oh and must i say, after only 6 Hours after the release in the UK, the CD was #1 on ITunes top hip-hop/rap Cd’s??? And in Germany a hour after it’s release, it was #2…so guess what b******……
    “Nicki is your leader, Nicki is your leader, and if your not a believer, suck a big d***”
    #IfYouWasn’tSoUglyIWouldPutMyDickOnYoFace

  37. Jessica April 2, 2012

    Still trash garbage just like her first album, no damn lyrical substance whatsoever. She looks retarded with the Barbie/ Clown get up, she’s a FLOP!!! People who have real brains know she is trash garbage. FLOP!!!!

  38. topsdrops April 2, 2012

    chick is not rapping on the hole CD so what dose that make her cause b**** cant sing people like anything

  39. THE GREAT LACEFRONCE. April 2, 2012

    If you want an ACCURATE review of this album, see Billboards review of this SHITE album !!!

    It will be a FLOP 🙂 😀

    Watch it sell less than PF…Which was a LOCAL album btw 😉 ( remember how much it sold ww )

    Everyone can’t be a WORLDWIDE legend like Queen Ri !!!

  40. Os April 2, 2012

    i see the haters are out in swarms,anyways love them pics,buying my copy of the album tomarrow.

  41. Mike April 2, 2012

    Tried ass top 40 pop beats, dated sounding bubblegum pop, terrible rapping, lyrics and singing, no clear direction, etc. The entire thing is a mess and how anyone can give it anything beyond 1 star is beyond me.

    It’s try hard and terrible. And I agree with comparing it to BTW, because that s*** was terrible too. I know she has a fanbase that needs pleased (god only knows why she has stans) but it’s pretty much getting panned by all critics and rightfully so.

    And I’m not being a “hater”. It’s terrible and how anyone can justify this piece of s*** just to please her incompetent fans who will settle for any s*** is worrying at this point. People are encouraging this s***.

    Nicki is a joke and she’s proving it. She has no career direction and proves she has to rely on tired ass pop tricks to keep herself going. She is talented but like Gaga has done, she’s overshadowing it by trying to stay relevant and become a big popstar. Meanwhile people like Adele don’t have to do s*** and they still top the charts and garner actual respect and recognition without losing themselves musically.

  42. NICKIMINAJDAPRESIDENT April 2, 2012

    NICKI MINAJ HAS CREATED THE PERFECT ALBUM TO PLEASE HER URBAN/ HIP/HOP FANS AND HER POP FANS SHE GAINED AFTER SUPER BASS. THIS ALBUM WILL BE A BIG COMMERCIAL SUCCESS ALONG WITH ITS SINGLES AND VIDEOS. THIS COULD BE THE YEAR OF NICKI! ALL THE HATERS ARE PRESSED BECAUSE THEY KNOW NICKI WILL SELL LOTS WITH THIS ALBUM! NICKI IS A HARDWORKER AND DESERVES HER SUCCESS! AMAZING ALBUM! GONNA DOWNLOAD TOMORROW! 2012 YEAR OF NICKI MINAJ B****!!!!! HATERS STAY MAD WHEN THIS TOPS THE CHARTS HAHAHAHAHAHA MAD CRUSTY ASS H*** !!!!

  43. yasss April 2, 2012

    yassss exactly my thoughts, only i gave it a 5/5.

  44. FAME FLOPPED N TEAM BREEZY ARE SCUZZY H*** April 2, 2012

    LMAOOOOOO YOU ALL ARE UPSET BUT WHY? DID YOU ACTUALLY THINK THESE NICKI MINAJ STANS WHO JUST SO HAPPEN TO RUN THIS BLOGSITE WOULD BE OBJECTIVE IN WRITING THIS REVIEW? OF COURSE THEY WOULD GIVE THIS ALBUM HIGH MARKS NO MATTER HOW CRAPPY IT IS. YOU WANT ACCURACY GO OVER TO BILLBOARD, HUFFINGTON POST, SLANT MAGAZINE, AND MANY OTHERS TO SEE THE TRUE TEA. TGJ TORE THIS ALBUM TO SHREDS YET STILL GAVE IT HIGH MARKS. LMAOOOOOOOOO FUNNY.

  45. CURIOUS GEORGE LMMFAO! April 2, 2012

    @MIKE Who do you think is going to buy this album? If your answer is (Nicki’s Fans) you’re correct. So if you’re not a fan why are you mad? you don’t have to like or buy her album cus her fans will. You can keep your lil coins for Lil’Kim’s album and maybe by the time she drops one you’ll be a millionaire….. DIC IN YO FACE, NIC-KI’S DIC IN YO FAAACE YEAH!!

  46. jarrett goer April 2, 2012

    i love nicki minaji, but i think the album is too long and lacks direction and theres way too many features and album fillers, it was thrown together. i would just be happy with the first 12 songs, and i would be happy, but the corny pop songs kinda of ruined the album, the first album had more substance and balance!!

  47. Lady Gaga: The Quintessential Pop Star of This Generation April 3, 2012

    Nicki did it. And yes the album was very bold of her, especially since there are more pop songs than rap songs.

    She’s gonna lose fans, but gain more. I just became on of her new fans.

    She is one of the more talented ones and she did a decent live performance of Turn Me On, so she has my respect.

    Go Nicki f*** the naysayers and the ex-fans. 🙂

  48. FOR REAL April 3, 2012

    Loool People giving this album a bad review are just stupid tbh. They have no idea what they are talking about. It’s so hard to be an artist these days, Lady Gaga does b*******, half of which I don’t understand and I consider myself someone who understands a lot of b*******.

    Nicki fans say they rap and they want her to be true to herself, so she gives them Did it on ’em then they go around and buy Superbass lol. I’m not a Nicki Minaj fan, in fact I hate her (hate is a strong word but hey that’s how I feel) but If I was her I would make the whole album POP lol. Say what you want about Nicki, but she’s smart!!

    Until you become an artist, I suggest you give props to someone being successful.

  49. FOR REAL April 3, 2012

    I just back from reading the review of this album on billboard. LOOL Damnnnn!! I thought I hated this biatch (did I sau Biatch, I mean B****), even I wouldn’t give her such reviews loool, harsh!!

    I stopped taking Billboard reviews seriously man, they are all hypocrites, They’ll give the album bad reviews and then end up making it best Rap album and then take some of her songs off her album and put it up there with the best. I hope they just say how they really feel about the album and stop saying b*******.

    Loool and Lil’ Kim fans kept saying we want Lil’ Kim raps and s*** then they end up not buying her album. She ended up selling it on paypal!!! (Sad)…. Lil’ Kim is now making money off Nicki coz she goes on talk shows and chat s*** about her. I’m sure if you go to her crib, she’s listening to Nicki’s album hahahaha.

  50. Remey April 3, 2012

    NIcki definitely took a risk with this album, and it shows the artistic license every artist has the right to have. Nicki is a commercial mogul. In just 2 years, she has reinvented herself, which is HARD to do. Most artists struggle at successfully pulling off this task. The only ones that have done it with ease are Rihanna and Madonna.

    While the sophomore album has become the “prove you’re worthy to stay” LP, I think her third album will solidify her and determine whether Nicki is here to stay or just a trend. Because at that point, she should have a formula. Britney stuck with the “keep it pop” and “keep the same producers” formula. Rihanna kept the “reinvention” formula. So soon Nicki must decide too.

    Sophomore LPs have been amazing the last 2 years. Katy Perry and Drake def showed out on their sophomore LPs and they are riding straight to the bank.

  51. Minajesty April 3, 2012

    i give the album 2.5/5

    if she replaced beautiful sinner and fire burns with 1 or 2 hip hop tracks i wouldve given it 3.5/5.

    i know other barbz are saying “shes being versatile”, she isnt, shes selling out. the first half of the album is really good.

  52. 4everAKEEM April 3, 2012

    This is a Horrible Review…..2.7/5

  53. Official Music Junkie April 3, 2012

    This is the only good review that I have seen for this album.
    On a whole my opinion is that album is very weak and I feel that Nicki is at the point where she needs to make the choice whether she is going to do fast food pop music or versatile hip hop, because she is losing fans on both sides of the fence.
    http://theofficialmusicjunkie.b*******.co.uk/

  54. The One and Only Miss Perrylicious April 3, 2012

    One of the best album of the year 2012!
    Good job Nicki.

  55. ♛ POP Royalty ♛ (Rude Boy) April 3, 2012

    i ONLY love the pop songs , and only “i’m your leader” in the rap songs.

    my rating 3.5/5 🙂

  56. Quan April 3, 2012

    I waited for my friend to buy it first. Listened to her copy & I refuse to spend money on that garbage. Im sorry she disappointed me like knew she would. I’ll save my coin for MONICA’s “New Life” & BRANDY’s “Two Eleven” cause Roman is some b******* gimmick that I cant deal with!

  57. P**** POP (THE B**** OF THAT GRAPE JUICE) April 3, 2012

    ok ur review is f***** horrible.. but the album is amazing. even better then what i expected really..
    va va voom is goin to smash when be released. other surefire gits are pound the alarm and whip it. they will smash worlwide and champion will be a hit in the u.s. dont like the second single with chris brown though…

  58. Kevo #teamkimmyblanco April 3, 2012

    Mind u…please really get into them Hip Hop songs…the fact stills remains Nicki is corny. Those songs are a joke. She does sound like Wayne…repetitive and corny…this girl is a joke

  59. King Tasha April 3, 2012

    I heard Beyoncé rapping “b****** ain’t s*** and they ain’t saying nothing, a hundred m************ can’t tell me nothing”

  60. BitchIcantevenspellwelfare April 3, 2012

    I am a Nicki fan but this album is nowhere NEAR being a 4/5. Not even close.

    More like a 1.5 -2/5– sorry.

  61. FOR REAL April 3, 2012

    I agree with REMEY, well said!!!!!

  62. Ghetto Trickanomitry April 3, 2012

    I listened to this album with an open mind and honestly was disappointed. This is a stupid album… You A stupid H** Stupid Stupid H** lmao

  63. LAX April 3, 2012

    HATERS HATERS HATERS WHOLE OF HATERS IN THIS B****

  64. my name is name April 3, 2012

    Flop flop flop when is this mophead h** gonna go away? Lmao She’s bozo the clown the album is allo ver the place.She needs to regroup for about 2yrs figure out who the heck she is, or trying to be like, in the meanwhile she is losing fans.

  65. THE GREAT LACEFRONCE. April 4, 2012

    Dicki GARBAJ will FLOP LMAOOOOOO 😕

    This Talentless h** is DONE! 😉
    All these tracks are pure SHITE

    THE GREAT LACEFRONCE is no Krim stan but Sicki GARBAJs album was TRASH.

  66. GAZ525 April 4, 2012

    Where has original Nicki gone?? Her mixtapes were amazing, keys under palm trees, kill the dj. Pink friday was ok but this is a hot mess. All she does is either try and fit as many dis jointed words as she can into 16bars or grunt and scream like a white girl on crack. I miss old Nicki when her rhymes where tight and she had a real idea of who she was and what she wanted to represent. She used to be a hip hop artist, now she’s chruning out bubblegum pop for teenagers. granted she’ll make alot of money but none of her recent music will leave any lasting impressions.
    Go back to your roots, feature on some hot hip hop tracks and put some effort into your verses, we know you can do it the evidence is there.

  67. FOR REAL April 4, 2012

    LOOL GAZ525, you keep saying you want the old Nicki, But the old Nicki is not commercial and will make no money coz people like you wouldn’t buy her mixtape but rather download it. She’s just trying to make a living and tbh if I was in her situation I would do the same…

    People don’t know what they want, they say they want hip hop, when you give them hip hop, they moan and criticise everything about it, like oh we want the old hip hop, there’s too much nostalgia going on. People should leave the past alone and look to the future, I guess Nicki is doing the same. She knows she won’t sell s*** if she makes a rap album coz the majority of people want POP, not urban. She’s being smart. Even Lupe Fiasco is doing the same lol

  68. myopinionis April 6, 2012

    the album sucks point blank period. champion is cool everything else is sale out s***. she will never make a hood album becuz the hood dont buy albums they bootleg there for she caters to the white folks. no????? then why she got so much pop s*** on there why she look white on the cover

  69. Zaza April 7, 2012

    @CURIOUS GEORGE LMMFAO!

    Stop it with your weak-ass arguments for a weak-ass sellout , again with the lame ‘urban fans don’t buy so she had to go pop to survive” lies! Drake, Kanye and Jay-Z just to name a few,are all ‘urban’ and they manage to sell, they’re hardly out in the streets begging for pennies are they? You don’t have to start singing like Katy Perry to make bread if you’re good enough. Nicki made her lame pop bed, she’s gotta lie in it!

  70. FOR REAL April 9, 2012

    Lol ZAZA, u have no idea wat u’r talking about. She’s a female rapper, itz not like they’re in demand mate. To survive, ofcourse she has to go POP. All the artists u mentioned are male. If a female rapper wants to be in the game, she has to go that extra mile, tht’s a fact. N yesshe’s gud enuff, her sales speak for itself. U stop it with your weak ass argument

  71. Dj8london May 2, 2012

    Pink friday was a amazing album and followed up with what i can only describe as a total, steaming, pile of poo.

    I want my money back.

  72. alex August 17, 2012

    It always makes me laugh when people care so much about someone they hate or don’t understand. Just leave them alone and go on to something you do like, what’s the point of talking about Minaj if she confuses you? Because you like to be confused by her, that’s why. I can’t stand some south rappers for example because I think they suck, I don’t want to talk about them, I don’t want to hear their names, I just want to stay as far away as possible, I don’t want to write articles about them, I just want a world without them in it. Let her make the music that she wants, some people will love it and follow her till the end and some will hate it till the end, no biggie, I just love the way people care so much about her to even mention her name and go watch her videos and criticize her videos after just watching it, hilarious. One more view for her suckas. Get off her back and go listen to Nas all day if you like, I doubt it because we need balance. One day I’ll listen to Nas and I know what to expect, thn I put on Nicki because I know what to expect, and I bump it down Watts all day long, then the next day I bump Jay Rock or Absoul, its all balance, listen to what you like and leave the rest of the artists to be loved by other people. The world doesn’t revolve around you. Nicki is on some extra talented stuff and not everyone will be able to see that, pop or not, talent is talent, take it from someone who is not talented at all, she is impressive. Very.

  73. recording studios December 16, 2014

    excellent points altogether, you just won a new reader.

    What would you recommend about your post that you simply made a few days in the past?
    Any certain?

  74. Mimo January 29, 2018

    I was listening to the album this weekend and I enjoyed it. I was pleasantly surprised. Nicki got my respect and she’s good at what she do

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