The past four months have been a test of patience and loyalty for Nicki Minaj fans. In April, the rapper debuted two new singles, “Barbie Tingz” and “Chun-Li,” the latter of which marked the lead single off her fourth studio album, Queen. Minaj originally announced a June 15 release for the album, but later pushed it to August 10, and eventually to August 17, citing a clearance issue with a Tracy Chapman sample. Evidently, her team cleared the sample, because Minaj announced last night on her new Apple Music Beats 1 radio show, “Queen Radio,” that the album would drop today.
Release date headaches aside, Minaj’s Queen rollout has been a whirlwind of chart gains and questionable PR stunts. She scored her first solo Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in four years with “Chun-Li,” which earned a platinum certification from the RIAA. She unleashed the wrath of her super-fans, the Barbz, on unsuspecting culture writer Wanna Thompson, who tweeted the mildest of criticism toward her. She collaborated with vile 22-year-old rapper 6ix9ine—who previously pled guilty to the use of a child in a sexual performance—on the equally vile “FEFE,” which nonetheless crashed onto the Hot 100 at No. 3.
Thankfully, “FEFE” is absent from Minaj’s overstuffed Queen, her first album since 2014’s The Pinkprint. Predictably, Minaj has a lot to say, and she spares no expense on the star-studded album. It’s a lyrically dense and musically diverse release that would have benefited from stricter quality control, but nonetheless gives Minaj the triumphant comeback she needed.
Minaj’s newfound sense of purpose is evident from Queen’s opening track, the slow-building “Ganja Burns.” She raps with dexterity and restraint over clean guitar chords that give way to crunchy, single-note leads, delivering a tastefully sung, steadily ascending hook in the chorus. It’s a low-key, counterintuitive opener that nonetheless makes for a powerful mission statement. Minaj is determined to reclaim her crown as the reigning queen of hip-hop from the newcomers she perceives as copycats, rapping, “You can’t wear a Nicki wig and then be Nicki.”
But as one of the most successful women in a male-dominated genre, Minaj has to grapple with more than just healthy competition. In “Barbie Dreams,” she rattles off a list of high-profile rappers who have tried and failed to bed her over the years. Of course, it's not meant to be taken literally: it's a scathing diss track first and foremost, but can also be read as a savagely hilarious indictment of music industry sexism, and a testament to Minaj’s enduring success within the field. Her clever punchlines and rapid-fire flow make up for the dated, pedestrian backing track, consisting of little more than a looped guitar riff and fat drums.
Sadly, that lyrical ability can’t salvage a track when Minaj cedes it to her collaborators, such as the Eminem-assisted “Majesty.” It’s fitting that Minaj, who’s cultivated one of the most fiercely protective musical fan bases, would share a track with the artist who pioneered the term “stan” with his 2000 hit of the same name. But Em overstays his welcome on the clunky pop-rap track that sinks under dated piano chords, melodramatic string swells and a grating vocal hook from British singer/rapper Labrinth. He toys with an awkward singsong flow before unleashing a string of light-speed, monotone bars—a trite formula that he’s milked since 2009’s Revival, scoring pop hits but sacrificing his artistry along the way. “Majesty” is doomed to be mediocre at best, but Minaj could’ve slashed Eminem’s verse altogether and made a more serviceable track at half the length.
Minaj also lets her collaborators get the better of her on “Chun Swae,” featuring Rae Sremmurd’s Swae Lee. The 23-year-old crooner renders the song’s chorus unlistenable with falsetto vocals that verge on self-parody, mumbling nonsense lyrics like “Fall off in the spot, every girl coming like a shark.” Add in Metro Boomin’s “If Young Metro don’t trust you I’m gon’ shoot ya” tag, and “Chun Swae” literally sounds like hip-hop madlibs for fifth graders. “You’re in the middle of Queen right now, thinking, ‘I see why she call this s**t Queen’,” Minaj boasts at the end of the six-minute track. A better question is: Who green-lit this self-indulgent mess?
Other partnerships on Queen prove more effective, such as the album’s first outright banger, “Rich Sex” featuring Lil Wayne. This is Minaj’s comfort zone: fat trap beats, hypnotic choruses and lots of braggadocio to spare. Minaj gets to flex as an MC without stretching herself too thin musically, and even Lil Wayne offers a respectable performance, despite getting less decipherable as his verse progresses. Minaj also finds her ideal partner in The Weeknd on “Thought I Knew You,” a sultry R&B/rap banger that sports some of Queen’s lushest production. The “Starboy” singer meets Minaj halfway, his buttery tenor serving as the perfect counterpoint to her clipped, Auto-Tuned raps and distorted vocals.
It’s no coincidence that most of Queen’s best tracks hover around the three-minute mark, giving Minaj enough time to develop a singular idea without veering into self-indulgence. She rides the hypnotic trap beat of “Hard White” and sings a delightfully Auto-Tuned chorus that takes cues from Migos’ tried-and-tested formula. Her slick double entendres are swathed in lush, tropical beats on “Bed,” the sex-positive pop banger featuring Ariana Grande that deserved to peak much higher than No. 43 on the Hot 100. “Chun-Li” takes on a new life in the context of the album as well, sounding positively explosive and nearly erasing the memory of the disastrous “Chun Swae” preceding it.
There are enough obvious standouts on Queen to constitute an airtight 10-song album. But artists increasingly love to overstuff their albums to rack up more streams, and Minaj is not immune to this trend. One can almost pinpoint the exact place at which she runs out of steam, as the opulent sex-and-money jaunt “Good Form” gives way to the perfunctory pop atmospherics of “Nip Tuck.” From there, Minaj winds through the needless, 55-second “2 Lit 2 Late Interlude” and the mawkish Pop2k throwback “Come See About Me.” She and Future undermine the playfully spooky instrumental of “Sir” with uninspired verses, doing little to drum up excitement for their upcoming NICKIHNDRXX co-headlining tour.
Fortunately, Minaj regains her footing at the end of Queen with the exhilarating one-two punch of “Coco Chanel” and “Inspirations Outro.” Fellow Trinidadian rapper Foxy Brown shows up for a downright filthy guest verse, usurping Minaj on her own track. That’s not an insult, either: Minaj delivers one of her most fiery performances on Queen, ending the album with a thunderous closing statement: “Bless up, Bob Marley, yes, king lion/ Marchin' with Lauryn Hill to Zion/ Caribbean, tings what I am/ Me and Fox gettin' paper like we ain't tryin’.”
With Queen, Nicki Minaj has crafted an excellent 10-song album and hidden it inside a scattershot 19-song album. Still, she accomplished what she set out to do: prove to skeptics that she can still spit with the same vitriol she had at the beginning of her career, and give fans plenty to sink their teeth into without pandering to them. For those reasons alone, Queen is a success that warrants repeat spins to decipher all of Minaj’s multi-layered boasts and subtle potshots at other rappers. It’s a rewarding listen if you’re willing to dig. Thankfully, the Barbz have never been afraid to put in work.
(CNN) Nicki Minaj has dropped her latest album.
After pushing back the release date multiple times, "Queen" finally made its debut on Friday.
Minaj went live through the album track-by-track via Apple Music's Beats 1.
The collection features several collaborations, including "Rich Sex" with Lil Wayne and "Majesty," featuring Eminem and Labrinth.
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Nicki Minaj's 'Queen' Is Out Today
Nicki Minaj’s Queen is literally a moving target.
Just last week, it was unveiled that Minaj would be delaying her album's release for a second time, pushing Queen back to Aug. 17, due to complications relating to the clearance of a Tracy Chapman sample. Its release date has been moved a third time, to noon today (Aug. 10). The new release window piggy-backs on her new “Queen Radio” show on Apple Music’s Beats 1, which went live late Thursday.
“I was gonna play the album right now but someone fucked up,” she said during the broadcast, Spin reports. “It’s a lot of corporate drama in here.” Nicki also said she’d completed the album just three hours before going on air.
On Friday, just 60 minutes before its release, Minaj will return to Beats 1 to play Queen in full and walk through each track, sharing stories behind each number, which should include the previously-released “Chun-Li,” “Bed” and “Rich Sex.”
Nicki Minaj's 'Queen' Surprise Sends Fans Into a Frenzy: See The Tweets
Nicki Minaj surprise released her highly anticipated album Queen on Friday, (Aug. 10) and fans are blowing up the Internet in celebration. Featuring Eminem, The Weeknd, Lil Wayne, and Ariana Grande on her fourth LP, the follow-up to 2014's The Pinkprint has been worth the wait for Minaj's loyal fan base.
While #Queen trends on Twitter, some of the best tweets revolve around "Barbie Dreams," a power-move track exposing the likes of DJ Khaled, Meek Mill, and Young Thug.
The tea has been spilled, and the Barbz are here for it. Check out some of the best reactions to Queen's surprise arrival below.
This me almost finished with the album and still thinking about Barbie Dreams pic.twitter.com/eTwnujqAXc — T’sha (@blaquecranes) August 10, 2018
Nicki on Barbie Dreams: “I used to f**k with young Thug.... caught him in my dressing room stealing dresses and sh*t” #Queen
Young Thug: pic.twitter.com/N3lwQDHCCR — muhammed (@drmed181) August 10, 2018
Bruh Nicki Minaj really said
1. "Shoutout Desiigner, cause he made it out of special Ed"
2. "I would've had that Odell Beckham banging the cake Till I saw him hoping out of cars dancing to Drake"
#QueenRadio #Queen Barbie Dreams pic.twitter.com/sJv2Y5TlAo — Madaliso (@Madaliso_95) August 10, 2018
Nicki on Barbie Dreams SKSKWKSHAKSN I am living pic.twitter.com/i6pQl1duE3 — Jaylan (@jaytavon) August 10, 2018
Why would she snap like that on Barbie Dreams WHYYY pic.twitter.com/Sz9GLQhMLl — Amiyah Scott (@KingAmiyahScott) August 10, 2018
The male rap community after listening to Barbie dreams pic.twitter.com/4fdLnGyDAG — Paul Gatlin (@Ggatlinpg) August 10, 2018
Nicki told us she was beating asses and taking names....I just wasn't expecting it to be this str8 forward...Barbie Dreams is that girl #QueenRadio pic.twitter.com/vxqGPciE9D — Tae D'jair (@taedjair) August 10, 2018
i’m ready for all the drama barbie dreams causes ---- pic.twitter.com/UCITdO2Fh0 — you mad doggy? (@ahleeshuhh) August 10, 2018
Nicki on Barbie Dreams: “I used to f**k with young Thug.... caught him in my dressing room stealing dresses and sh*t” #Queen
Young Thug: “911?” pic.twitter.com/82MEdNIU6s — 6’7-Eleven Inches (@LeBandzJames1) August 10, 2018
NICKIIIIIIIIIII BARBIE DREAMS ARE YOU FR-- straight violation I have to clean out my phone. She’s burning all bridges this is crazyyy
But mood -- pic.twitter.com/76ENDO60c6 — Shauna (@BlvckCurrency) August 10, 2018
nicki done called out meek for still being in her dms, young thug for secretly stealing her dresses, lil uzi for going to hell, karrueche for talking shit, desiigner for being just dumb, AND DJ KHALED FOR STRAIGHT UP BEING FAT. LMFAOOOOO — anthony (@pinkxprint) August 10, 2018
everybody writing their disses back for nicki like... pic.twitter.com/fVRiPZCOww — lucci (@glohuntas) August 10, 2018
Roman showing up at the end of Barbie dreams like #Queen pic.twitter.com/wydrIxEv5b — Kylie Gonzalez (@holykylieg) August 10, 2018
“drake worth a hundred milli, always buying me shit, but I don't know if the p*ssy wet or if he cryin & shit
meek still be in my DMs, I be having to duck him
I used to pray for times like this
Face ass when I f*ck him” - barbie dreams
onika. why. — Brandon Caldwell (@_brandoc) August 10, 2018
After I’m finish with #Queen I’m going back 2 “Barbie Dreams” that song is just pic.twitter.com/thGuw3VQLN — Mayweather Jab (@DT2K15) August 10, 2018
Meek & everybody else hearing Barbie Dreams like #QueeanRadio pic.twitter.com/40ZwPuNzPK — the trap princess ------♀️-- (@BhyreeGuwap) August 10, 2018
Nicki when she wrote Barbie Dreams pic.twitter.com/fqoyJqqW2f — LADY BØY (@localdragqueer) August 10, 2018
