Pink Friday 2 Review
“I’m still the highest-selling female rapper for the record.” - Nicki Minaj, “Truffle Butter”, 2014
Sixteen years ago Onika T. Maraj, better known by her stage name Nicki Minaj, released her first solo mixtape Playtime is Over, and was featured on The Come Up DVD. She was strategically placed right before Lil Wayne's slot, catching his attention as he sought a New York-native female rapper to join his budding label Young Money. He went on to sign his first female artist shortly after signing Drake and the rest is history. Lil Wayne, one of the greatest rappers of all time, extended his legacy by producing two more of the greatest rappers of all time in Drake & Nicki respectively.
After two more mixtapes and a record-breaking debut album in 2010's Pink Friday, she went on to back up the hefty claims she made early on in her career as the Queen of Rap. Thirteen years, four albums, and a baby later she's released her highly anticipated fifth studio album Pink Friday 2. I got it, let's play it, and rate it 1-5.
Here's how I will review the album: I will rate each song from 1 to 5 based on the lyrics, music, how smoothly it flows, and how good it sounds overall. I will also consider the order of the songs, how well they fit together, and the overall sound of the album. My review will focus on the album's quality rather than personal preference, similar to how I review movies and TV shows. Finally, I will calculate the scores and give an overall rating out of 5.
1. Are You Gone Already - 4/5
Nicki Minaj's album intros have always been a vulnerable moment for her. In this song, she opens up about her father's death, just days before he was supposed to meet her son. The standout feature of this track is the impressive production, with a seamless integration of Billie Eilish's "When The Party's Over" sample. Minaj's flow blends effortlessly with the music, showcasing a deeper side to her typically flamboyant style. The beat, produced by Finneas, channels a 2016 Kanye West vibe.
2. Barbie Dangerous - 4.5/5
Sampling "Notorious Thugs" by Biggie & Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Nicki quickly showcases her rap skills. She addresses beef and acknowledges the ongoing conversation about not collaborating with newer female rappers. Despite the scrutiny, she responds with tweets and on her radio show. In a perfect world, she would take Beyoncé's approach and address criticisms through her music. Love rap!
3. FTCU - 5/5
With a great use of Waka Flocka’s 2010 mixtape hit, “Fuck The Club Up” off the tape Flockavelli, Nicki continues to keep foot on necks lyrically with one of the hardest-produced beats of the year by ATL Jacob. FTCU is a top 3 on the album for me and that first verse is one of the best on the album. This is the song where the speculated shots at Megan Thee Stallion take place.
4. Beep Beep - 4/5
“Is that you talking to me? It’s that deep? If I don’t even know you exist, is that beef?” Need she say more? The strong run of production and fierce bars continues here with “Beep Beep”.
5. Falling For You - 4/5
“Falling For You” begins to slow the pace down, but the song is still a very strong one lyrically speaking. While production slips a bit here the bars make up for it. With a subtle play on words, we get a seeming diss to Big Latto here.
6. Let Me Calm Down Ft. J. Cole - 3.5/5
The strong upbeat, rap-heavy opening of the album takes a pause here as Minaj details arguments and reconciliations in her relationship she experienced. J. Cole comes on the track and acts as a therapist, directing his verse to her partner and how to essentially accept all that comes with being with a powerful woman in the spotlight. In Nicki’s Vogue interview, she talks about how things got testy in her relationship after having her baby. My favorite aspect of this song is the production by ATL Jacob, Hendrix Smoke & Kuji. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was hoping for a J. Cole x Nicki Minaj song to be laced with bars.
“I’m not going to lie, things got testy between us…there’s no such thing as confidence in parenthood.”
- Nicki Minaj via Vogue
7. RNB Ft. Lil Wayne & Tate Kobang - 4/5
“RNB”, short for real nigga bitch, is a fun track. The song also has elements of an R&B song in it through the production and featured vocals by Tate Kobang. The seesaw of rap and singing works well in Minaj’s favor here and any song involving sex has become a favorite of Lil Wayne. It works.
8. Pink Birthday - 4/5
This song was a sleeper on my first listen but came out to be a top 3 song on the album for me. I think this and “RNB” are gonna be standout tracks and captions for women for the next year to come. I’m usually 50/50 on Nicki’s singing on her rap songs but this in addition to the production is perfectly executed. It’s reminiscent of “Favorite” from her 2014 album The Pinkprint.
9. Needle Ft. Drake - 4/5
Needle continues the vibey flow of the album with a Drake feature that sounds like it should’ve been on his 2022 House/Dance album, Honestly, Nevermind. It’s great, it flows well between the former and the latter songs and again,
10. Cowgirl Ft. Lourdiz - 3/5
The album has been strong and cohesive in terms of sound. The song "Cowgirl" is sensual and describes Minaj's desires. It is the first pop-rap song on the album. Minaj is familiar with this sound and has perfected it, setting a standard for female rappers to achieve success. This formula has received praise, but Minaj faced criticism for releasing a pop album in 2012. The feature from up-and-coming artist Lourdiz is good, and Ariana Grande's background vocals would have added an extra layer. It's likely Grande was intended to be featured, but she & her ponytail were busy filming the Wicked movie.
11. Everybody ft. Lil Uzi Vert - 4/5
BANGER. I can hear the kids shaking their hips savagely to this as I write this review, friends. It’s fun, there are bars, and the beat albeit heavily sampling Junior Senior’s “Move Your Feet”, is good. Funny enough, while Billboard cites this as the best song on the album, Minaj shared that she wrote it in five minutes for her Call of Duty collaboration that debuted earlier this year. The most impressive part about this song is that the sample limits her ability to deliver bars with a repeated theme throughout it, but she still manages to sneak a hefty amount of them in (see “Sir” from her last album Queen featuring Future). Lil Uzi is fun on here as well. Nicki proves she can take a trend and turn it fully up. She’ll master a trend if given the opportunity 90% of the time as well as set them.
12. Big Difference - 5/5
Let’s talk about RAP. Following “Everybody”, listeners are seamlessly transitioned back into a rap-heavy run. Rap is competitive and aggressive and “Big Difference” is the perfect example of that. In my mind, this is the follow-up to Pink Friday’s “Did It On Em”.
“You bitches don't count and these bitches can't count, I am not the one, two, or the three. You bitches look up to me. You said you look up to her, but really you look up to me.”
- Nicki Minaj on “Big Difference”
13. Red Ruby Da Sleeze - 5/5
The highest-selling female rap song of 2023. I will not waste your or my time elaborating. Flawless placement on the tracklist as well.
14. Forward From Trini Ft. Skillibeng & Skeng - 2/5
Here is where the album loses momentum and the cohesiveness begins to stray. Not only due to the song itself but the placement. And as far as the song, well… I’m sorry Nicki, Skeng, Skillibeng & Trinidad the country as a whole 🇹🇹
15. Pink Friday Girls - 3.5/5
Here’s where we get into her well-known pop-rap section of the album. Sampling Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”, this is Minaj’s follow-up to the biggest song on Pink Friday, “Superbass”. This may very well be the next single if she wants to encourage the general public to keep the album sales stable. It’s a fun song.
16. Super Freaky Girl - 3/5
F-R-EEEEEEEE-A-K. I’m ok. “Super Freaky Girl” did land Minaj her first solo number-one hit on the Hot 100. Because of the sales of this song, “Red Ruby Da Sleeze” & “Last Time I Saw You” the album is already seeing well-earned success commercially.
17. Bahm Bahm - 3.5/5
“Bahm Bahm” has bars but is lacking on the production side of things. Its placement is also a little odd, but it’s a song for when you’re looking for light bars but nothing too lethal. The flow gets exhausting by the halfway point.
18. My Life - 3/5
Here’s where I think we get a couple of filler tracks from previously recorded albums. “My Life” is fine, but with a twenty-two-song album and such strong entries earlier in the project, I think we could’ve done without this, “Bahm Bahm” & “Nicki Hendrix”.
19. Nicki Hendrix Ft. Future - 3.5/5
Future is really good on this song and I’d rather have had his full version with Nicki featured on it. I think the chemistry is lacking between the two artists here, but sound-wise it’s pretty good. Great production here as well by B Ham & Vincent "Life" Shaw.
20. Blessings Ft. Tasha Cobbs Leonard - 3.5/5
Here’s where the album begins to find its spark again. On paper, this collaboration looks like an odd duo, but you’ll find yourself surprised by where it takes you. Tasha Cobbs Leonard does a great job at elevating this song with her vocals.
21. Last Time I Saw You - 4/5
Sampling The Neighbourhood’s white banger, “Sweater Weather”, Nicki gives you a ballad-heavy track that describes the loss of a friend, lover, family member, or whatever is relevant to you. “Last Time I Saw You” is Minaj’s best performance vocally to date. She sings in a soft whisper-like tone and gives you a melodramatic rap in the middle of it. The most impressive parts of this are the background vocals and the production by ATL Jacob, TooDope!, Frankie Bash, Hendrix Smoke & Bak. Big win for ATL Jacob being prominently featured throughout the beats of this album.
22. Just The Memories - 3.5/5
Reminds you of “Still I Rise” from her breakout mixtape, Beam Me Up Scotty. Vocals entwined with raps, Minaj isn’t focused on delivering bars here. She’s set on delivering a message describing the trials she faced in her upcoming as an artist and lowkey lending a free game to anyone who listens.
Nicki Minaj's album has strong tracks that prove her greatness as the Queen of Rap. She showcases her skill with fierce lyrics like "I give bitches the crown they fuck around and lose it, nah" and "Who wanna be a millionaire, I'm ya lifeline. These bitches always checking for me like a Nike sign" Her raw talent is undeniable.
Another flex from Minaj is her album sales. In under 48 hours, the album already went gold by selling at least 500,000 copies in the US alone. This all off of one single, one buzz single, and a fan-led album rollout of “Gag City” the week of the album’s release that got major brands and corporations involved; all of this came from Minaj simply tweeting the phrase now and then spanning back to October. The Barbz are an insane cult-like group of people, but they’re buying the music.
“I tell ‘em I’m moving units, my videos they gone view it. Spotify ain’t gotta lie, they really streamin’ my music”
- Nicki Minaj on “FTCU”.
Final verdict: 3.7/5
While the bars are there, the sound is great and the album is a lot of fun, the cohesiveness of the album fell very flat between tracks 14-20 and finds its way back a little too late at the last 3 songs. A few tracks before then seem misplaced and rushed in terms of where they land and the songs that aren’t hits are huge misses making this lengthy album feel longer than it should at times. Having said that, it’s a good album if you’re new here and a great album for her die hard fans. If I had to say where this fell in her discography it would be The Pinkprint > Pink Friday > Pink Friday 2 > Queen > Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
Here’s my listening guide for Pink Friday 2:
Looking for Nicki to talk that real “I’m the coldest out here” talk? Check out tracks 2-5, 11-13 & 17.
Looking for a more mellow vibe with vocals? Check out tracks 1, 6, 9 & 18-22.
And if you’re a big fan of her pop-rap bangers check out tracks 10 & 14-16.
What did you think of the album? Which songs are your favorite? And if you haven’t listened to it yet, do you think you’ll give a few songs a shot after reading this? Let me know in the comments below & on socials everywhere @ejgwrites!