Nicki Minaj: Pink Friday 2 review – ‘You’re never far from a glowing endorsement of her own vagina’

Stepping away from Barbie-Girl pop towards her strengths as a rapper, this is the sound of a more mature artist in fierce command of her talent

More than any other genre, hip-hop loves a sequel. Jay-Z. Eminem, Future, Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Method Man: all have felt impelled to release a branded follow-up to their best-loved work, usually years after the event. Their proliferation isn’t quite enough to dispel a slight sense of shoring up declining inspiration by revisiting past glories – it’s unlikely Nas would have felt the need to revisit his landmark 1994 debut Illmatic with 2001’s Stillmatic had his previous album I Am … not been so poorly received – but that isn’t really the case with Pink Friday 2, an album Nicki Minaj has been trailing since 2019.

Whatever you make of Minaj’s recent releases, her career is hardly in the doldrums. It might take a concerted effort to get through her Ice Spice collaboration, Barbie World, without feeling the will to live ebbing from you – time has done little to make its chief sample source, Aqua’s Europop hit Barbie Girl, any less annoying – but you can’t argue with the figures. Streamed 371m times on Spotify alone, a hit everywhere from Honduras to Hungary: it was her 23rd US Top 10 single, more than any other female rapper. This is not a woman in need of a commercial boost, something she’s quick to underline: “I tell ’em I’m moving units, my videos gonna view it,” she snaps on FTCU. “Spotify ain’t gonna lie, they’re really streaming my music.”