Pink Friday has been a defining era in music history for
Nicki Minaj and for mainstream hip hop music. While she has her haters like
Lil’Kim, there are more supporters that are happy to herald in a new era of
female rap, and Minaj has the goods to spearhead this new wave of female rap
artists in.
The Re-Up is the third album in the Pink Friday series and
seems to find the balance between the hardcore rap of Pink Friday and the
mainstream dubstep of Roman Reloaded.
The first two albums have been both
critical and commercial successes, and Re-Up has entered into that territory
again.
Teaming up with Ciara, Cassie and Lil Wayne, Minaj has once
again secured the best of and obscure artists to appear on her album instead of
the other way around.
This is the third and final album in the Pink Friday series
and with a total of 8 tracks, it is the perfect closure for the album series.
Pink Friday was drenched in traditional hip-hop/rap tracks, then Roman
Re-Loaded was mainly dubstep mainstream with a streak of Minaj all through it,
and Re-Up tends to blend the first two together and strike that balance between
mainstream and hip-hop.
Up In Flames is the perfect introduction to this album, a
gospel choir backed theme song, has addictive urban grooves infused with Minaj’s
rap style with some great choir vocals. It is the type of song that no-one has
done before and shows why Minaj belongs at the forefront of the industry.
Nicki wowed audiences at the AMA’s with the hip-hop ballad
Freedom, and the album version is just as inspiring.
The standout track for this album lies in “I’m Legit”
featuring the extremely under-rated Ciara, the blend of both callout and rap
are an excellent combination and should hopefully see the two working together
in the future.
Another obscure pop artist Cassie guests on “The Boys” the
track that took a while to grow but now I am addicted. The oddest track is titled "I Endorse These Strippers" and once you get past the odd lyrics the song surprisingly works, as does the album as a whole.
The mix of mainstream
and traditional tracks on this make a great farewell to Pink Friday and I would
suggest making a playlist with all 3 Pink Friday albums in it, pressing shuffle
and listening to some of the greatest urban music in recent days.
The Re-Up is available both digitally and in stores now.
Review by Alaisdair Dewar