Nicki Minaj - The Pink Print (2014)

prob cuz it's impossible to detect a personality beyond all the gauzy clouds of feels

this is otm. Even her supposedly confessional songs feel oddly impersonal, like she's just feigning vague emotions instead of actually revealing something about herself.

I know most of this board isn't a fan of Drake's feel-y material either, but at least that guy really opens up from time to time, getting into the specifics of why he's a shitty person (he's unfaithful; he's entitled; he trades money for affection; he burns bridges; he's not even talking to Nicki). Obviously he's still in control of his image when he confides all of these things, but it feels personal. When Nicki does it she feels a million miles away.

you guys, I want to listen to this but I haven't figured out the proper taste calculus yet

― burbbhrbhbbhbburbbb ranks (The Reverend), Thursday, December 11, 2014 5:38 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

xp good post Evan

nicki as a supposed student of the ny rap game ought to know more than most about how hard and emotional can go together in ways better than this

― r|t|c, Thursday, December 11, 2014 4:04 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nothing supposed about it, she was a straight up NY street/punchline rapper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w56UQK7QpBw

this is a transitional one, she's moving a little closer to what she would become

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGMszqpAf9o

then this is even closer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60ZVWNlZr9k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olJcsyYgJmA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_V1LRIsEDQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agro8r4nyGQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXtsGAkyeIo

hate that duct tape like so much

not enough nazi imagery timo

video was on to something with the shot of nicki's bound and bleeding male captives and then the song started and then the rest of the video happened STORY OF HER CAREER

i'm starting to not hate this song, tbh, although i definitely understand why most people on this thread do

nicki abusing a dude who looks vaguely like khal drogo from game of thrones is never not entertaining

Chris Brown looks like a Sith Lord.

so ppl are picking up the bonus edition version of this album in europe only to find that "anaconda" has been swapped out for... its instrumental.

just about sums up this whole album campaign

the cheese freestyle meme predicted vine

that whole freestyle is dope tho, one of the times disney movie nicki really worked

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khnpjNnXydw

the "only" video is somehow more hilariously bad than the song

"the night is still young" is pretty go as far as dr. luke/nicki collabos go... the songwriting unfortunately isn't that great but the production is a nifty kinda john hughes soundtrack thing

pretty good

I can't believe anyone let OJ Da Juiceman happen

my favorite part of that is how he only raps 12 bars but 3 of them start with "young jewman"

he also drops "10 rings on like i'm playin' b-ball"!!! was this the rough draft for his legendary xxl freshman verse???

This video reminded me Lil B's flow is OJ's

nicki cracking up at the into to OJ's verse is amusing

OJ Da Juiceman is my hero.

truffle butter is def a jam, wayne sounds better than he has in like min 4 yrs, also on 'after that' from the future tape

so ppl are picking up the bonus edition version of this album in europe only to find that "anaconda" has been swapped out for... its instrumental.

just about sums up this whole album campaign

― prolego, Friday, December 12, 2014 12:26 PM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol @ this

deeply regret i couldnt have experienced that mysteriously genius anticlimax first hand, mightve drawn me into some ineffable genius of the pinkprint fugue

so ppl are picking up the bonus edition version of this album in europe only to find that "anaconda" has been swapped out for... its instrumental.

incredible messiness

Hahahaha the instrumental for Anaconda is just 4 bars of Baby Got Back right?

like a vine

looped for the very first time

truffle butter is def a jam, wayne sounds better than he has in like min 4 yrs, also on 'after that' from the future tape

― johnny crunch, Friday, December 12, 2014 8:07 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the original kid heat record >>>

This video reminded me Lil B's flow is OJ's

― ANU (sisilafami), Friday, December 12, 2014 2:01 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

true

obviously "wamables" is decent

the further away any given nicki minaj track is from the main album in 2014 the better it is

The best stuff save Truffle Butter and Shanghai is on the "proper" album.* The run from Get On Your Knees to Anaconda is great and easily the best on any of her albums.

*does this idea of the standard edition being the proper album and the deluxe being regarded as optional bonuses even have any value in 2014 when major label artists push deluxe editions over the standard, the standards routinely sell less than the deluxe edition and deluxes routinely contain great tracks anyway?

you'd seriously take

get on your knees/feeling myself/only/want some more/four door aventador/favorite/buy a heart/trini dem girls/anaconda

over

roman holiday/come on a cone/i am your leader/beez in the trap/hov lane/roman reloaded

"yes i'm going to celebrate the run of songs on the record with 'only' in the middle of it"

"Only" is the only dark mark in that run and I like it better than I do Roman Holiday, so yeah, Pinkprint wins that one.

lol

this album sort of typifies the risks in judging music according to its political importance. the p4k review was entirely accurate in analysing what nicki was trying to do on it and why presenting herself as a human being with emotions is in theory important, but you could tell the reviewer still didn't like it much (most of the songs she praised were the pre-pinkprint material and the bonus tracks). the idea of a nicki minaj powerful enough to be vulnerable is a tremendous one but that doesn't mean she's actually done it well.

i think the review presented a consistent POV that is pretty near mine, although the grade probably coulda been lower and better matched the content but w/e numbers

lol

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, December 16, 2014 2:13 PM (49 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Cute!

Yeah agreed. She likes it more than I do but it was well written and well thought and right now I'm more worried about underrating it than overrating it. The jezebel one was over the top though.

the p4k review is great, agreed

just throwing this out there but i've been wondering for some time if the marginalization of black women in pop music has led to an increasing pressure on the three that are hugely successful and visible (beyoncé, nicki and rihanna) to be politically important and represent and evaluate what it means to be a (black) woman in the industry and society today in their music. beyoncé and nicki have evidently grappled with these things for years but there feels like more scrutiny than ever for them to live up to certain expectations placed upon them.

of course in general it's great there's more female reviewers writing and discussing these things notwithstanding.

yeah concur with all praise for the pitchfork review, meaghan garvey is awesome

another p good review, by lindsay zoladz at vulture http://www.vulture.com/2014/12/pinkprint-is-a-badass-breakup-album.html

molly lambert calling it nicki's erotica: http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/nicki-minaj-pinkprint/