FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Music

Welcome Back the Nicki Minaj We Fell In Love With

You Know That Nicki Minaj Verse on “Monster” that is always referenced? All her new stuff is like that too.
Ryan Bassil
London, GB

Like the arrival of the sun and small talk about holidays, it’s impossible not to refer to Nicki Minaj’s verse on Kanye West’s “Monster” when speaking on her career.

“I’ll say Bride of Chucky is child’s play / just killed another career it’s a mild day”.

Everything about that verse, the delivery, the inflection, the angry-rage, posited her an artist who could go bar-for-bar with any of the rap greats – Kanye, JAY Z, and Rick Ross had all been bettered and it was exciting to see where she’d head next.

Advertisement

“Stupid Hoe” and “Roman Reloaded” both showcased a similar sort of ferocity but largely, at least here in the UK, Nicki Minaj was only referred to as the artist who had “a sick verse on Monster” or an extended cousin of Young Money. It’s not that her songs weren’t popular – they were. It’s that, once it became painful to listen to “Monster” for the infinite time, Nicki was critically slept on – deemed too commercial.

Four years later and Nicki has not left. She’s still dropping bars that go harder than Rick Ross at an all-you-can-eat Shrimp buffett, and this is a reminder of that. This week she dropped the Lil Herb featuring “Chi-Raq”.

And here’s a bunch of other stuff that she dropped earlier in 2014. Let’s play Nicki Minaj catch-up!

Follow Ryan on Twitter: @RyanBassil