A Rough Revisit

Nicki Minaj and Cardi B’s beef has bubbled up again, and I figured since I know Cardi’s two albums, I should check out another Nicki album. I reviewed her debut earlier this year and was disappointed in it, although I understood the lane. It just felt more like an album for young girls to me, which is great, but not a style for me, obviously. Time for me to check out an album in full. The most recent one I heard before this, besides her debut, was Queen back in 2018. When I was bumping the Joe Budden Ganja Burn remix, iykyk, lol.

Things start with Are You Gone Already, a song that has Nicki singing and rapping over some super angelic production. Personally, I don’t really have an interest in Nicki singing, and that’s not particularly new for me. So, any songs like this have an uphill battle, unfortunately. Barbie Dangerous has Nicki fully rapping, but unfortunately, this song just doesn’t do it with the Biggie “Notorious Thugs” flow. I think it’s the simplicity of this beat that made me realize, for the first time, that I’m not as big a fan of Nicki’s regular voice as I thought I was. She needs the voice-changing effects, in my opinion.

FTCU and Beep Beep were both steps up from the previous tracks, both in Nicki’s performance and the production. Fallin 4 U was very average to me. I know Nicki is originally a Young Money artist, and that works for her, I get it, but man, that sound/era is not for me and just won’t fully wash away from those artists. The run of Fallin 4 U, Let Me Calm Down, RNB, Pink Birthday, Needle, and Cowgirl are songs I thought were terrible, honestly. This is maybe the first time I can say a Lil Uzi Vert-featured song ended a bad run of songs. Everybody was cool; it was high-energy and not covered in layers of Young Money vibes like the previous songs.

The rest after that stretch does get better, although there’s still some hit-and-miss going on. Big Difference, Red Ruby Da Sleeze, Super Freaky Girl, Bahm Bahm, and My Life are all good songs, some I’d already been a fan of, but all ones I wouldn’t mind returning to later or using on a personal playlist. The rest of the tracks not listed are ones I really wasn’t into—still rapping but more singing, beats that didn’t hit, and moods that I wasn’t feeling.

This album is too long for me, and there’s too much trying to go on. I know if Nicki Minaj did a full singing album, she’d get some crap for that, but man, I’d really rather the singing and vibes of those songs be separate from the rapping stuff. Nicki gets her bag, so who cares what I think, but for me, this should’ve been chopped down and refined to the hip-hop stuff, and it would be much better.

Standout Tracks: Beep Beep, Red Ruby Da Sleeze, Super Freaky Girl, Bahm Bahm

Album Rating: 👑👑👑👑👑 (5.5/10)