Other than local Seattle artists, I don’t listen to much hip-hop, and especially not much mainstream hip-hop. Drake and Kanye are pretty much it. In fact, though she had three full mixtapes out by the time it was released, my first foray into Minaj-dom was her verse on Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Friday’s “Monster.” Needless to say, I was blown away.
She was so inventive, so charismatic, so hilarious… but as I explored more of her work, I didn’t find anything that compared. I’ve enjoyed her singles enough - the “Your Love”s and “Best I Ever Had”s, and this most recent one, “Moment 4 Life,” is interesting enough too. I like that this single is, as has been mentioned, about her career and aspirations and isn’t another love song.
I think my favorite thing about this song is, interestingly enough, the video - Nicki as both King and Fairy Godmother, the spin on the whole Cinderella theme… and I like the other themes that flow through her work, and I wonder if she’s some sort of mad genius and I’m just not getting it yet because I don’t listen to her music enough? Like, who is this “Roman” character? He obviously showed up on that Eminem (I think?) song, and then she mentions him in the intro of this video as well. Is Drake playing Roman? Why is he in almost every Nicki video? All I’m saying is, maybe she’s creating this entire fantasy world that her songs inhabit and I’m unaware. I wouldn’t be surprised.
[mp3] [download]