Remember that killer verse Nicki Minaj delivered on Kanye West's Monster?
Smart, sassy, and super scary, it showed that at her best, the 32-year-old can be considered among the best rappers around.
Sadly, the follow-up to 2010's Pink Friday has too few of those moments. Packed with A-list guest spots, an expansive array of styles and some seriously dodgy R&B padding, The Pinkprint runs to nearly 70 minutes over a marathon 21 tracks.
Minaj shows she's great in small doses - try the thuggish grunt of Only, Want Some More's brilliantly comical lyrical adventures, or Four Door Aventador's old school Missy Elliott lope.
I Lied and The Crying Game add early emotional touches, and when Beyonce shows up on Feeling Myself, the pair go head-to-head like two heavyweights squaring off in a boxing ring.
The result is the album's killer defining moment. But getting to The Pinkprint's best bits sure can feel like an experiment in patience, with terrible attempts at rave-pop (The Night is Still Young), badly produced Eminem rip-offs (Bed of Lies), and even a mopey Rihanna-style ballad (Grand Piano).
Trimmed to 12 tracks, The Pinkprint could have been the grand Nicki Minaj statement she obviously intended it to be. But unlike the bouncing booty in her controversial Anaconda video, there's plenty of sagging here.
Remember that killer verse Nicki Minaj delivered on Kanye West's Monster?
Label:
Young Money/Universal
Verdict:
Belated, bloated follow-up to breakthrough
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