Queen is the fourth studio album from Nicki Minaj. I used to be a huge fan of hers back when I discovered rap music. I don't know why I specifically liked her the most but I loved her music. Anyway, these past couple of years have not been kind to Nicki Minaj. Until last year, Nicki was the most polished and successful female rapper of the 2010s. More female rappers like Young M.A, Remy Ma, and Cardi B have been coming up and apparently, this was making her mad. After throwing some shots at Remy Ma, she responded with "Shether," an insanely good diss track that tore Nicki apart. After that, the beef turned into a shitshow. Remy Ma tried to go Back to Back releasing another diss and then shat the bed and Nicki barely responded on her 2016 single "No Frauds" with Drake and Lil Wayne. In 2017, Cardi B was the next to come for Nicki's crown as her single "Bodak Yellow" exploded like an atom bomb, quickly rising to the top of the charts and giving her first number one single before Nicki. Their beef is mostly just rumors and speculation but it does seem like Nicki is jealous of Cardi's rapid rise to superstardom. Essentially, this album is supposed to show who the real queen of rap is.
The reason why I loved Nicki Minaj the most is her charisma and confidence, and she brings it at the same level on this release. There are numerous points during this album where she seems hungry like she's ready to come for just about everyone. I've always loved Nicki's rap music more than her pop music so I was glad to hear that this album was more rap-focused. I also appreciated the varied production. This album doesn't sound like the same type of beats over and over again.
And as expected, this album has its fair share of problems. Let's start with a complaint that makes me sound like a broken record, which is that this album is TOO. DAMN. LONG. This album isn't perfect and still wouldn't be without the filler, but it would at least be much better if it wasn't 19 tracks and 66 minutes. There are a bunch of tracks that run a minute too long and only serve to pad the album's runtime. On "Thought I Knew You," there's an outro where she references dead presidents for a solid minute. On "Chun Swae," one of my favorites, she takes a minute to shout out a bunch of people and her fans. On "Chun-Li," there are many breakdowns that kill the vibe of the song completely. On Good Form, she has to tack on refrain and a pre-chorus along with the hook. And then the album ends with her separating the last minute of "Coco Chanel" and calling it the "Inspirations Outro." Also, this album's rollout was a fucking trainwreck. She dropped multiple singles at once instead of taking her time along with releasing them on non-Fridays so she doesn't get a full tracking week. What's even worse is that she flipped this album's release date so much. First, it was supposed to come out on June 15. Then it's August 10. Then she releases a weird letter about her pushing it back to August 17. No wait, it's August 10 again. And it's dropping at noon on Friday and now she won't be getting a full tracking week. If this album flops, that's on her.
I feel like Nicki would be more respected if she focused more on herself outside of the booth rather than on every other female rapper who's ready to "take her crown." The competition between female rappers is incredibly toxic and it's entirely Nicki's fault. She instilled this mentality that there can only be one great female rapper. In a male-driven genre, it would make more sense for female rappers to support each other rather than beef.
"Barbie Dreams" might be one of the funniest songs this year. It's unbelievable how just about every bar in the first two verses is a shot or joke about someone. Here are some of the highlights:
"I tried to fuck 50 for a powerful hour / But all that ni**a wanna do is talk Power for hours."
"Drake worth a hundred milli, always buying me shit / But I don't know if the pussy wet or if he cryin' and shit"
"Meek still be in my DM's I be havin' to duck him"
"Man, Uzi is my baby he ain't takin' a L / But he literally when I said 'Go to hell!'"
"Had to cancel DJ Khaled, boy, we ain't speakin' / Ain't no fat ni**a tellin' me what he ain't eatin'"
This album is incredibly inconsistent. There are some great songs, there are some bad songs, and there's barely any in between. I consider this to be Nicki's weakest project behind Pink Friday...Roman Reloaded.
Singles
Rich Sex - feat. Lil Wayne [This song would be much worse without Wayne.]
Bed - feat. Ariana Grande [I wrote this song off at first but when I listened to it again it clicked with me. I have no idea why.]
Chun-Li [Would be an iconic Nicki song if it didn't have so many breaks.]
Best Tracks
Majesty - feat. Eminem x Labrinth [Why is every 2018 Eminem feature so much better than Revival?]
Barbie Dreams
Chun Swae - feat. Swae Lee
LLC
Sir - feat. Future
Worst Tracks
Thought I Knew You - feat. The Weeknd
Nip Tuck
Come See About Me
Score: 5/10
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