[Review] "Queen": Nicki Minaj's long-awaited album

After a series of false release dates, Nicki Minaj's fourth studio album entitled Queen is finally unveiled to the world.

An experimental album

One thing is clear: Queen is a mostly hip-hop album, far from the dance and pop sounds of Starships and Superbass. Second, Queen is the rapper' s most experimental album. Indeed, there are several instrumentation changes in the middle of the songs, including the incredible Barbie Dreams, a hymn to guys who tried to try their luck sexually speaking with her and Majesty, along with Eminem and Labrinth, who goes from a trap beat to a piano accompaniment in the chorus. 

At the same time, Queen is not only experimental but eclectic. There's a huge R&B presence especially on Hard White and Thought I Knew You, along with The Weeknd. Similarly, there is reggae in Barbie Dreams, trap on Rich Sex and tropical afro-beat especially on Ganja Burns and the pearl of the album Coco Chanel with Foxy Brown.

The intact essence of Nicki Minaj

However, this sonic evolution still keeps intact the essence of Nicki Minaj especially on Ganja Burns, a perfect mix between hip-hop verses and a pop chorus. We also have the slow tracks, such as Come See About Me, which uses Save Me and Grand Piano, in his old albums, to stay loyal to his older fans. 

In terms of lyrics, Nicki Minaj is more wild, sexual and rebellious than ever "I like money more than dick, nigga, that's a fact," she says on Rich Sex. However, her speech always remains the same: she will always remain the queen of rap despite the imitations "Yo, you can't wear Nicki wig and then be Nicki" ("yo, you can't wear Nicki's wig and then become Nicki"), she sings on Ganja Burns.

Queen is an album that proves once again that Nicki Minaj has one of the best flows in the music industry, especially on Good Form and her single Chun-Li. However, there are songs that are not memorable, including most of the second half of the album with the terrible Chun Swae which lasts 6 minutes and the sequence of ballads. Similarly, the order of the pieces makes the listener travel in completely different sounds that ends up destabilizing. In the absence of the non-memorable tracks, Queen is exactly what fans have been waiting for: purely hip-hop songs with the immense energy and steamy lyrics of one of the best rappers of the moment.  

8/10