Following the success of her comeback single ‘Super Freaky Girl’, which earned her the number-one Billboard 100 spot and a shock Grammy snub, Nicki Minaj is back, and she comes riding a wrecking ball.
The advent of the singer and rapper’s newest offering, ‘Red Ruby Da Sleeze’, heralds the coming of her fifth studio album due later this year, her first full-length outing since 2018’s Queen.
And on her latest single, the Queen of Rap pulled no punches, aiming for the heads of contemporary female rappers who’ve tried to usurp her spot over the past couple of years since going on a hiatus.
From a musical perspective, the production is dancehall-inspired, featuring “Oh-oooooooh-oh-ooooooooh” chants as Minaj switches between classic Nicki rapping and assuming her Caribbean persona.
Standing on a prominent sample (and vocals) of ‘Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)’ by Harlem-born rapper Lumidee, the song’s exotic energy stands in stark contrast with Minaj’s brash and belligerent tone. Not exactly a surprising quality, considering that Nicki Minaj has, throughout her career, shown to have a liking for groovy beats paired with aggressive lyricism.
Listen to “Barbie Dreams”, for example.
Running for three minutes and thirty-four seconds, Nicki Minaj takes shots with her pen loaded with bullets that don’t quite have the names of her victims directly written. However, as much as the shots are subliminal, there’s enough meat on the lines to know who’s being spoken of.
In the first verse, she disses American rapper Megan thee Stallion, with whom she once made the hit “Hot Girl Summer”. She raps, “But I don’t fuck with horses since Christopher Reeves”, citing the Reeves horse incident which left him paralyzed while also taking a shot at Megan, since a stallion is a type of a horse.
Other notable female rappers who catch smoke throughout the song are Latto (“We don’t be Karen like Donna, na-na-na-na-na”) and Cardi B (“All them, all them botched face photos, why would you post those?”)
The most fascinating aspect of ‘Red Ruby Da Sleeze’is its playability, with the funky production and clean vocal delivery dovetailing to create a radio-friendly jam. Nicki has crafted a song not as a rapper but as a hitmaker, keeping in mind to keep the shock value at a minimum to establish a balance between the rhythm of the words and the beats.
After the Recording Academy averted their faces from ‘Super Freaky Girl’, Nicki seems to have shrugged off any indignation. In the song, her focus is more on her status, her influence, and her throne. The result is a focused single that sees Nicki in her most disrespectful form, which is what many fans have been waiting for. And she has delivered sensationally.
Listen to “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” here
