Five years since her last studio album, Nicki Minaj is back with Pink Friday 2, the highly anticipated sequel to her iconic debut album Pink Friday. Already selling phenomenally and projected to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, Pink Friday 2 has officially secured Minaj’s legacy as the Queen of Rap, and it’s the final lesson in a masterclass on how to sell records, remain relevant for over a decade, and evolve as an artist while maintaining a signature sound.
‘Pink Friday 2’ is an Instant Nicki Minaj Classic
Pink Friday 2 is excellent – no Barb will be disappointed. It’s got everything a Minaj album should have: samples everyone will recognize, features from two of her closest confidantes and most frequent collaborators – Drake and Lil Wayne, references to Barbies and the color pink, an alter ego, a healthy mix of upbeat tracks and ballads, melodic singing, and smooth flows. Some might knock Minaj for not taking any obvious risks, but she doesn’t need to. She knows who she is as an artist, and this album is proof. Minaj hasn’t changed over the years – she’s just gotten better.
While other artists have been experimenting with genres and pushing boundaries until they break, Minaj has stayed in her lane and honed her craft. She knows where her talents lie, and instead of recording an album on which she only sings or trying her hand at pure pop, the rapper has developed a signature sound and used it to procure a handful of high-quality pieces of art.
And none of those albums has ever been boring. Minaj’s sound has never gotten stale because she’s improved technically and artistically and because she’s been selective with her releases, only dropping albums when they’re fully realized. This has resulted in both critical and commercial success.
She’s Always Been That Girl
As noted, Minaj hasn’t released a studio album in five years, but this is by no means a comeback album. Minaj can’t come back because she’s never left. During her longest drought between albums yet, Minaj kept fans fed with a re-release of an old mixtape, features on other artists’ tracks and albums, collaborative singles for enormous movies, and both official and unofficial singles dropped as early as a year and four months before the release of the album. Minaj knows exactly what she’s doing.
Though her output hasn’t been as great as some of her contemporaries who rose to stardom at the same time, Pink Friday 2 shows that Minaj was right to drop just five studio albums in 13 years. Other artists would be wise to follow in her footsteps.
Pink Friday 2 is streaming now wherever you listen to music.
