It’s fair to say that 2014 has been the year of the ass, from songs like J-Lo and Pitbull’s ode Booty, to Kim Kardashian’s ‘Break The Internet’ photo shoot. Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda was perhaps the most shocking instance of bum loving with its Sir Mixalot sample, provocative lyrics (“f*ck those skinny bitches in the club”) and meme-inducing video that makes Miley Cyrus twerking look like a daytime Disney show.
Don’t be fooled,
though. Anaconda might be the lead single from ‘The Pinkprint’ but it’s far
from indicative of the album at large.
Instead, Minaj has mostly stripped away the caricatures and neon wigs
for a far more serious, and dark, tone. Opening
autobiographical track All Things Go discusses
family issues, violence and death over a minimal trap beat, whilst second track
I Lied explores self-preservation in heartbreak
over sombre, spectral production. Later
there’s the mid-tempo stuttering Favorite
that features Jeremih doing a great Drake impression, a duet with Meek Mill
in Buy A Heart and its whirring
electronic production, and the downbeat ballad Pills N Potions that’s perhaps her most personal track to date.
A major highlight, is
The Crying Game, a song that features
vocals from Jessie Ware. It may seem
like an odd pairing but in practice it’s sheer brilliance. Ware’s modern-soul style fits neatly with the
R&B infused hip-hop of ‘The Pinkprint’, Minaj spitting out the pensive verses
and Ware hauntingly slinking around the chorus melodies. It’s a song that epitomises two female
artists at the top of their game.
And with a name like
‘The Pinkprint’ (probably a nod to counter Jay-Z’s ‘Blueprint’ albums), this is
something of a feminist manifesto that proves Minaj can take on the boys. As a return to a core rap sound for this
album, Minaj more than stands up to scrutiny compared to her male
contemporaries, the likes of which she collaborates with on Only – Drake, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown. “I never f*cked Wayne I never f*cked Drake, all
my life man f*ck’s sake”, is the aggressive line that opens her verse. And on Feeling
Myself she duets with the Queen Feminist herself Beyoncé, Bey knowingly
spinning the line “changed the game with that digital drop, know where you was
when that digital popped, I stopped the world” in a statement of feminine power.
It’s not all serious, though, as Anaconda exemplifies. Minaj has always been best when she’s toying
with both pop and rap (see Super Bass) and ‘The Pinkprint’ is no different. Pop princess Ariana Grande sings on the
deliciously sensual Get On Your Knees
and Skylar Grey features on the (fairly trite) pop ballad Bed of Lies. Trini Dem Girls sees Minaj hurling
herself into Jamaican dancehall that will no doubt compete with Anaconda in the twerking stakes. The
Night Is Still Young, meanwhile, is pure pop dance – something we’ve seen
before from Minaj, but equally something she does so well.
‘The Pinkprint’ is a long-winded
album, particularly in deluxe form. The
likes of Want Some More and Four Door Aventador are little more than
rap padding, final track Grand Piano is
another needless ballad, and the odd lyric feels stilted (Only’s “yeah, that was a set up for a punchline on duct tape”
especially). Overall, though, the good
far outweighs the bad. Most of the year
has seen Iggy Azalea taking over the charts, but she’s been superceded by Minaj
as the female rapper on top.
4/5
Gizzle’s Choice:
* The Crying Game
* Get On Your Knees
* The Night Is Still Young
Listen: ‘The Pinkprint’ is
available now.