Nicki Minaj - The Pink Print (2014)

Maybe it's a fashion reference and not what you're thinking of.

i guess it could be both but it's definitely a reference to the blueprint, c'mon

^ Yeah

i mean there's a song on roman reloaded called "hov lane"

maybe it's just about carpooling

she's flipping commuter culture

Someone Photoshop a traffic vest to a shot of her in the video and traffic wands instead of guns please.

i like the new song but yeah it doesn't sit right to act like the "you can't get with me unless you have money" conceit is pro-feminist

j0rdan otm about pinkprint too, that's a good title as is, fashion pun is a bridge too far

i am excited for this

yeah i guess i am not as impressed by 'rhyming the same word with itself over and over' as others. and the class stuff is pretty vile too (99% stand up).

so often when i hear nicki rap i want her to take on some, any other subject, just for the sake of sheer novelty

Maura spot on. The track is fine, but the idea that there's a progressive message (or even real, significant thought) behind the sub-IANAHB2 garbage that comes out of her mouth and that we must celebrate her for speaking rare, important truths is just insane to me.

this track loses a lot w/o the visual i think... it's mostly just a sketch of a song otherwise

that rape line is really not cool

I dont even get how this attacks patriarchy, even slightly. It attacks men she's not attracted to because they aren't successful enough.

Right. If anything it reinforces patriarchy.

This makes me want to play "Sucka Nigga" at full volume on loop for about an hour.

http://theculture.forharriet.com/2014/02/nicki-minaj-uses-iconic-malcolm-x-image.html

Students of Civil Rights history will recall Dr. King broke from Malcolm X after his controversial 1964 call for broke-scrub rape

you should have rethought every single part of that joke

i love nicki for the sociopathic hedonistic ultracapitalist thrills and i'm excited for this album but you have to work p fuckin hard to get progressivism out of her money-and-aggression shtick. the closest she comes to actually being progressive is that song where she lists all the famous women she's hanging out with. that isn't very close. i like her cuz her narcissism's a rush.

the most patriarchy-hostile stuff she does is the goopy pop songs that boys hate.

I agree w Maura, that said we've tolerated gross lines from dudes that can rap their ass off forever

they had much smaller asses, though

biggie could fill out a thong

I haven't tolerated those lines.

But whatever.

sorry

he thought he was on the rap bro thread when he wrote that "we"

True

"The word "nigga" causes so much debate in our community while the "nigga" behavior gets praised and worship."

Nicki noooooooo http://instagram.com/p/kXxSthL8Vv/

Don't know if this flips the male gaze, but maybe puts it on blast a bit, what with her walking around rapping about having no time for guys intercut with disembodied male eyes leering at her before she machine guns them down. Also didn't read that as anti-broke dude so much as anti-dudes who front and talk shit but are going nowhere. I mean, unless we're about to retroactively declare "No Scrubs" to be classist reinforcement of patriarchy, not really sure how it differs much from something like that give or take several dozen curse words.

That rape line's still beyond unnecessary.

can we not blurred-lines nicki please

(by "we" I mean "we, the thinkpiece public," not "we, this thread")

I think we have to get past the "black people are annoyed by the Malcom X imagery, esp. during Black History Month" storm first before we get to the "is this actually progressive?" argument

Too late, katherine:

http://massappeal.com/nicki-minaj-eat-crusty-boxer-briefs-nia/
http://jezebel.com/nicki-minajs-new-song-is-a-rapey-waste-of-time-1521690861

The use of the imagery was clumsy bc it looked like the title was talking about malcolm rather than her identifying w/ malcolm, she shoulda just dressed up like him a la KRS One

although people would prob still be like "At least KRS One wasn't showing off his 'assets'!"

That Mass Appeal piece was terrible respectability politics run amok.

I'm not giving Jezebel any clicks.

Yeah, that Jez piece isn't any better. Conflates that rape line with her going pop.

this track loses a lot w/o the visual i think... it's mostly just a sketch of a song otherwise

― le goon (J0rdan S.), Thursday, February 13, 2014 11:05 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Part of the appeal is this, I think, like no chorus, just going hard for 40 bars or however many there are

Kinda like Dreams & Nightmares Intro

Don't think I can make it past the first paragraph of that Mass Appeal piece

sacha jenkins! haven't seen that name in awhile

TREY SONGZ NO

https://soundcloud.com/buyamadeustrack/trigga-look-yall

oh noooooo

Kinda like Dreams & Nightmares Intro

― 龜, Thursday, February 13, 2014 7:02 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

-_-

"lookin ass" is more like a mixtape freestyle than anything

I chose that example also cause of the way she modulates her emotional output

Don't know if this flips the male gaze, but maybe puts it on blast a bit, what with her walking around rapping about having no time for guys intercut with disembodied male eyes leering at her before she machine guns them down. Also didn't read that as anti-broke dude so much as anti-dudes who front and talk shit but are going nowhere. I mean, unless we're about to retroactively declare "No Scrubs" to be classist reinforcement of patriarchy, not really sure how it differs much from something like that give or take several dozen curse words.

― Greer, Thursday, February 13, 2014 11:01 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah this is p much what i think. the status stuff is not progressive and has never been but...

I agree w Maura, that said we've tolerated gross lines from dudes that can rap their ass off forever

― sXe & the banshees (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, February 13, 2014 6:24 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is the context. i don't know, the rape line is easy to condemn and i'm not sure i want to defend it but this is the context. i don't think any woman, even scattergun nicki, would go there in a blasé, it doesn't mean anything, it's just a metaphor, mealy-mouthed way. it's a "how does it feel to be on the receiving end, once, of something women experience all the time" moment. is it the best way of making her point? is it progressive? probably not. does it perpetuate rape culture? unfortunately, you can't argue that it doesn't. but look at the comments underneath the video. and look at this trey songz nonsense. this song and that line has dudes shook.

also, looking at this from the perspective of the evolution of nicki minaj: look, she's historically gunned for fellow women. not just the lil kim maybe-specific stuff but "these bitches are my sons" etc. the people on the receiving end of her disses were almost always women, rarely men. the past year or so she's visibly shifted her focus to eviscerating men - "i'm out", "boss ass bitch" and now this.

this track loses a lot w/o the visual i think... it's mostly just a sketch of a song otherwise

well...yeah, did you think it was anything other than this? nicki's obviously still in the "whetting your appetite with remixes and freestyles" stage of the album campaign

I guess my reaction is "what kind of weak-ass dude do you have to be to be shook by this?" which is pretty much an entirely different thread

I guess my reaction is "what kind of weak-ass dude do you have to be to be shook by this?" which is pretty much an entirely different thread

well...indeed. but there they are, shook.

i hadn't even seen the malcolm x artwork til i read that thinkpiece.

https://www.complex.com/music/2018/08/nicki-minaj-queen-first-week-projections

sales are rly bad

Reviews are pretty poor. Anyone here listened all the way thru?

It's better and more cohesive than Pinkprint. It's just difficult to get excited about Nicki doing the same thing she's been competently doing since then over a full album.

pinkprint had more awesome songs than this

not sure what she has left to say really... feels like she's mostly just making the same songs over and over

That’s kind of been my impression from the advance singles and other recent stuff...

lmao the "miss aretha i just passed her" lyric is unfortunate timing

There was a crazy crowd of screamers on 42nd near 6th on Wednesday who were apparently there to see her.

what is happening to nicki minaj right now is very sad. it may warrant a separate thread.

^ what’s going on Dyl

https://pitchfork.com/news/nicki-minajs-queen-debuts-at-no-2-beat-by-travis-scott/

her downfall is becoming public spectacle. it's a horrible fate that has befell many women and will await many more.

Downfall?

it's a shame the sales isnt a flop at all

yeah having an album sell that much is nowhere near a flop, especially as its obvious why it isn't #1

the article claiming that Nicki "called out" Travis Scott is kind of weird since she just said she talked to him and he agreed with her

Looks like she'll be sitting in front of him @ the #VMAs tonite: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DlDJ6zaV4AEgCEO.jpg

https://pitchfork.com/news/nicki-minaj-and-future-cancel-north-american-leg-of-tour/

There are some real clunkers on this, I still want to root for her but there's moments that feel eye-rolling obvious

Chun swae ftw

Overlong, no quality control and exhausting - both Drake and this are just records made for numbers - some good stuff but tons of duds

The Drake album is overlong, yes, but it's also wayyyyyyy better than this.

Yeah

I really have been trying to love this

the album is great c'mon

i think the stuff here is basically everything we wanted from nicki like 5 years ago but in a year that no one cares

haven't heard it since release week but i remember being pleasantly surprised by some tracks

Yeah it’s growing on me bracket

Probably too harsh

Opening track is beautiful

agreed!