[review] Nicki Minaj, "Pink Friday"

Today is Pink Friday, but it's actually Tuesday, the day when albums "drop", and today Nicki Minaj's long awaited debut album Pink Friday dropped and OMIGOD, it is so good, you guys.

If you're not familiar with Nicki Minaj, clearly have not gotten crunk with me and I'm not sure if you inhabit the world at all. I am a huge Nicki fan because she's a talented badass lady with thick thighs and bangs- basically everything I aspire to be (I've got the thick thighs and thick bangs down, by the way).

Nicki has been "feat." with every artist today from the brilliant Lil Wayne to the deplorable Will.I.Am, but it is about goddamn time this sought after artist is doin' it for herself. I admit I was nervous before listening to Pink Friday; Nicki's featuring raps always left me wanting more from her, but I worried that she couldn't carry the weight of a full solo album.

I was wrong. Sorry for doubting you, girl!! With the first track off Pink Friday, "I'm the Best" Nicki explains exactly what her listeners are getting into: I hear the coming for me because the top is lonely/I'm fighting for the girls never thought they can win.

I am sure Pink Friday will be filed under "Hip Hop" because Nicki is a Black woman, but the album is, thank god, beyond classification. The beats are produced, sometimes overly so, and she samples everyone without sounding tired or redundant. She features everyone from Drake (her rumoured boo), to Kayne to Natasha Bedingfield (in the suprisingly good "Last Chance"). The only weak track is "Roman's Revenge" which is, surprise surprise, feat. Eminem.

I don't know if Nicki would call herself a feminist. But Nicki's pro-woman/IMA-FUCKIN-BADASS-BITCH lyrics is what sends my pop loving feminist heart aflutter. Nicki is mainstream but is spiting, I'm a woman/hear me roar and she's not messin'. The word "bitch" is Nicki's favorite and I fucking love her for it. I have a complicated relationship with the word "bitch" (which I will get into in a later post. HOLD YR BREATH). But Nicki doesn't use it the way that frat dudes use the word ( i.e.,"That bitch is so dumb, bro"), or the way some women use it to 'horizontally oppress' other women (i.e.,"That bitch stole my shoes/boyfriend"). She calls herself a bitch, calls girls she loves bitches, and the haters are bitches, too.

Aside from the very danceable/stomp-able beats, what I love about Pink Friday is that Nicki comes off incredibly sincere and just real. There are a couple of slow love jamz that are among my least favorite, but even when showing her rarer, vulnerable side, Nicki isn't sticking us with the same pop bullshit. From "Save Me", Ima bitch/ Ima monster/Yes Ima beast and I feast when I conquer/But I'm alone on my throne. Nicki's a bitch, but a bitch with feelings, and this bitch gets it and loves it.


Best traxxx: 1. "I'm the Best", "Did it on 'em", "Super Bass", "Your Love"