Gag City has been neither merely the talk of the town nor that of a singular country but of the global village of Barbs worldwide, united in the common purpose of celebrating Pink Friday. From fictitious passport snaps to candy-pink clouds hovering over make-believe buildings and shorelines shared on the socials by fans, Nicki Minaj’s fifth studio album, Pink Friday 2, has been a figment of people’s collective imagination, and now it has breached the threshold of the living.
The twenty-two-track follow-up to the first Pink Friday features her old and frequent collaborators Lil Wayne and Drake, as well as North Carolina rapper J. Cole and eccentric hip-hop muso Lil Uzi Vert.
The sequel to her 2010 breakout tape oozes the essence of nostalgia in its sound selection and choice of themes. The Queen of Rap to-and-froes between two spectrums, from plumbing the depths of grief and emotional turmoil, such as in the LP’s opener to asserting her dominance with a sneering step and veneer, as heard on “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” and “Big Difference”.
Somewhere in between this chasm, Nicki indulges herself (as she normally does) with sexual verbal gymnastics, summoning her “Anaconda” spirit to replicate the form on the whimsical “Super Freaky Girl” and the preening yet self-aware “Cowgirl” alongside Lourdiz.
The experience of Pink Friday 2 hinges on the potency of emotion, which is at a raw high throughout the project. Whether she’s lilting as a pink-feathered canary or bristling with indignation in her barred-up raps, Nicki hardly swallows her pride and doesn’t bother putting her heart in her back pocket to accommodate those she feels deserve the full might of her wrath and also loved ones who have earned her respect.
It’s not enough for the multi-Grammy nominee to wear her soul on her shoulders; she dons it all over her body in the brightest hue of pink without an iota of reservation.
“Are You Gone Already” is the paradoxical high note of the album. Superimposed on a phantom-like Billie Eilish sample, the opening theme mourns the passing of Nicki’s father, Robert Maraj, back in 2021, lamenting the fact that her child will never have a relationship with his grandfather (“You never got to meet papa”).
In contrast, the soulful “Let Me Calm Down” and the Caribbean-style “Needle” celebrate the triumph of love in the face of challenges and appreciating romance for the joy it brings and the mental refreshment it provides. With lush and bass-heavy production, the curation of the album flows with ease and leaves no song sounding misplaced.
Pink Friday 2 might have been over a decade coming, but Nicki displays fire and hunger that belies all the years she’s burned up in the game. Already past her forties, the album feels like a warm-up, an intense spar that heralds the coming of yet another magnum opus in her decorated discography.
Listen here:
