When Nicki Minaj first hit the scene she was known for all of her split personalities, or alter egos, that she would take on while rapping. From crazy stylistic characters in her music videos to caricature voices in her songs, Minaj displayed something that wasn’t in the hip hop culture.
Other rappers like Lil Kim and Foxy Brown concentrated on a “hard” image in the 90s, and being the “queen Bee.” Minaj let her personality out, ushering a new generation, whether it was through her Barbie-inspired personality or Roman Zolanski, a personality that’s been described as a “violent gay male alter-ego.”
Although she has parted from a lot of her personalities in her recent work, it seems like Minaj is ready to revisit a personality in her new song with Lil Wayne and Tyga called “Senile.”
“Senile,” which was released with artwork featuring a pop art cover with the famous image of Albert Einstein sticking his tongue out, introduces a powerful trio who come together to make probably one of the most colorful songs as of late. Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, and Tyga define their parts right away. Tyga raps on the hook, the opening belongs to Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne follows. This time around, it seems like Minaj is trying to once again merge the image of “being hard” but through a very feminine personality of Queen Barbie.
Nicki spit out a powerful verse:
“Yeah I got an Audemar, I ain’t set the time once/And I know they say they shine, I ain’t seen ’em shine once/All these rappers is my sons, and I’m always nine months.”
Another memorable verse by the rapper includes: “I got this sh– locked tighter than a bear hug/when them bitches rap n—s need an ear plug.”
In addition to this single, the female rapper, who is arguably the most famous these days, released a single called “Lookin A** N****.”
The compilation album featuring Nicki Minaj is called Young Money: Rise of an Empire . For those who are looking for Minaj’s solo work, her follow up to her sophomore album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded , will be released sometime within the year.
Her latest will be called The Pink Print , and is said to drastically stray from her second album, which had experimented with different elements of pop and dance. This album is said to incorporate more of a traditional hip hop flow. It will be interesting to see how Nicki Minaj fares in streamlining a hip hop sound without the main backing of musical elements that make up most of Top 40 radio.
[Image credit: sinosplice via photopin cc ]