Nicki Minaj
The Pinkprint (Deluxe)
Album · Hip-Hop/Rap · 2014
Audacious booty-popping bangers and tender confessionals show the best of both Nickis on this sweeping, star-packed third record. Yes, menacing street tracks like “Four Door Aventador”—and cameos from Drake, Meek Mill and Li’l Wayne—will sate the hardcore. But there are innovative, chart-ready surprises too. “Feeling Myself” is a Beyoncé-backed masterpiece of female empowerment and G-funk swagger, “Anaconda” gives us four minutes of deranged, rump-shaking perfection and closing ballad “Grand Piano” finds hip hop’s queen of hyperactive characterisation daring to show us herself.