Review: Nicki Minaj Album – Queen

The one, the only, the infamous Nicki Minaj, a worldwide talent in an area that not many females have delved into, rap. She is known for her no holds barred and savage esque raps, in songs like Barbie Dreams, where she tears apart every known big rapper in the game. She has made it well known that she is in high demand due to men due to her various “assets”. Thus she essentially has always played the card that she is untouchable, and in the music industry she has been untouchable. In this article we are gonna review her comeback after disappearing off the map entirely with the emergence of a new face in the female rap game, Cardi B. In her comeback album she aims to make it very clear that she is in fact the Queen of the rap game, and her Billboard success shows the same. From multiple featured hits, to songs off her Album catching much attention. All that and more in this review of the Nicki Minaj album and her success in 2018 leading into 2019.

Billboard Hot 100

Nicki Minaj’s success dates back all the way to November 2010, where she released her debut album Pink Friday. It featured tracks such as “Check it Out” which peaked at 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 shortly after her debut albums release. Another track from that album was “Right Thru Me” which was very successful Billboard Hot 100. Lastly her third big single from that album was “Moment for Life” which did very well on the Billboard Hot 100. This album really put Nicki Minaj on the map as the go to girl in the rap game. This led to a slew of features over the last 9 years. She is now a household name in the music industry and has just released tour dates with Juice WRLD. This has sparked a lot of buzz at it is her first tour in quite a while.

2018 was a successful year for Nicki Minaj, starting off with some of her features. “FEFE” with the rapper 6ixN9ne, this song is the trap hit banger of the summer leading into the start of the school year. This song is made with the assist of Murda Beatz, this song has a catchy trap backing with a drop out of the chorus. This song is right in Nicki’s wheelhouse as it makes listeners feel like a bad mofo, if you know what I mean. This song was played in clubs all over the United States and was very well known, the lyrics are incredibly witty and in the standard styling of what you’d expect from Nicki Minaj. An instant classic and a billboard hot 100 success.

Another Success for Nicki this past year was off her Album Queen, is the track Chun Li which peaked out at 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. This song is the typical style of Nicki, where she has a bumping back beat that is in the style of hip hop, not quite as much trap as the typical song that is peaking high on the Billboard Hot 100 at the current moment. It features more of a 90’s style drum kit break with a trap fusion kick rhythm however. Nicki Minaj is at it again as she is in every song, she is making her worth known as she raps as one of the more confident rappers in the game. Generally rappers are all about flexing and at the end of the day Nicki Minaj really is the queen of flexing on everyone else in the game. It is and always has been her goal to leave every other rapper in the dust.

While she had much widespread success, she really reached out of her comfort zone on the track IDOL where she was featured on a track by BTS which sounds like almost a K-Pop and American pop/ trap mashup that you can either listen to in your house or on your way to the club. It’s really an interesting mash up that is one for the ages, not many people have reached out into the K-Pop scene as an American rapper, so this could really be interesting in 2019 as she is definitely making her comeback into the rap game and potentially breaking over into more songs similar to this one.