If you rearrange some of the letters in Nicki Minaj's name you can come up with 'Ninja'; here's a review of her new album.

A steady hand is useful when applying makeup liberally..

Nicki ‘I’m Not A Popstar!’ Minaj has become just that with the release of her second full-length album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded. Despite the rather misleading title, the set isn’t a re-release of her debut Pink Friday, but rather an entirely new collection of songs that frequently see the rapper stray to the ‘dark side’ and take on the chanteuse role that saw her reach new commercial heights with ‘Superbass’. Nicki’s teamed up with pop producer RedOne (Gaga, J.Lo, Jason DeRulo) for a number of commercially-oriented tracks, including the euphoric worldwide smash ‘Starships’. Across much of the album there are traces of the dance-pop craze that has taken most commercial genres by storm in recent years. Among these pleasant transgressions from Minaj’s original sound, she also ensures her musical roots are also well-represented.

Hip-hop beats find a welcome home on the title track and a handful of others. Taking up rappers’ tendency to rap about their own success, ‘Come On A Cone’ is an enjoyable, if slightly disconcerting, way to become acquainted with Nicki’s achievements and ego. To solidify her status within the upper echelon of the rap scene, Minaj collaborates with a slew of peers, including Lil Wayne, Rick Ross and Young Jeezy. 2 Chainz features on the captivatingly sparse, sinister ‘Beez In The Trap’, which is a definite highlight.

At time Minaj’s gimmicks (holding syllables for as long as her breath allooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooows, her penchant for unintelligible gobbledegook) become grating. However, her conscious exploration of multiple genres allows results in an album that never becomes too stale; the mixture between rapping and singing means that aformentioned ‘trademarks’ are only utilised fairly sporadically. Overall, the album serves as an interesting example of the multiple (and frequently contradictory) expectations put upon someone in Minaj’s position: as a female operating in what is primarily a man’s genre, she has to be sexy, assertive, polished, rough, bold, self-centred, humble and sassy, among umpteen other qualities. These conflicting pressures result in an album that, despite lacking in a definitive sense of identity, is enjoyable in its variety.

3/5. 

Buy Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (Deluxe Edition) from here! If you're not from Australia then YOU CAN FIND IT YOURSELF, please and thank you.