Nicki Minaj: Do both Pink Fridays compare?

In late 2023 rap icon Nicki Minaj released the sequel to her debut and ironically perceived 'pink Friday' album, though these two albums have the same name, do they compare? And how much does the original album hold up in today's world of music and pop culture?

Realized in 2010, the original Pink Friday record was Nicki's debut album with Young Money Entertainment, it received 3x platinum awards and was preserved amazingly by critics and fans, with its sickening features and iconic verses, Pink Friday was a beloved classic in the world of hip hop and was praised for its ability to also dabble in pop.

However some of the tracks, in modern day, have been seen to age like a glass of OJ you left on your side table and forgot about. Many see the original Pink Friday as a product of its 2010 time, tracks like; Check it out and Right through me, show this with the beats and rapping style. Its giving super base, unlike super base these tracks show the more annoying nostalgia of 2010 rather than the fun summer atmosphere of that time in music.

On the contrary many of the pieces on the original album do in fact hold up and are classics not only in Nicks discography but also staples in rap as a hole, they are timeless and could pass as modern r&b tune.Tracks as Your love, Romans Revenge and Did it on'em shows the timeless aspect of this album many artists in 2010 flopped at.

When Pink Friday 2 was released it was meat with a lot of praise, the lengthy 22 tracks was seen as a throw back to why Nicki rose as a star in the first place, and yes there are pieces on the sequel that are beams of light however few of the other tracks are almost lackluster or similar to the rest, when hearing the name i hoped for a more similar tone to the original, perhaps even redoing a few of the tracks and modernizing them or reintroducing the same features, yet it served me some solid, chill tracks with not much fun or interesting sounds as the 2010 album did, it seemed very 'safe' and a product of the synthy, PinkPanthers style that is the formula of a good song in this day and age.which is quite disappointing. Yes some tracks on the original don't quite translate in today's culture, but still it was daring and different to what was on the charts at the time.

If Pink Friday 2 was a stand alone record, with a different name and association, it would be a fine piece with deep personal lyrics with consistent, almost but not quite, 'dull' beats that feel euphoric. But nevertheless, it is not. It's a direct relation to the original. It's almost like American Psycho and American Psycho 2 with Mila Kunis, its directly related to the original however doesn't level up or have the same daring aspects that the first one did.

Overall i believe that pink friday 2 is a solid good album that has amazing samples and tracks, in particular the piece last time i saw you, is a real emotional, amazing, methodical track, a lot of the album is like this. Howevr for the most part that is not what the original pink Friday was, the original pink Friday was a bold piece of fearless music that really represented Nicki.

So perhaps it's just a marketing fad or just a name they stuck on there to get people interested who loved the original. Or perhaps it really is what Nicki thinks today's pink Friday would look like.

I really adore Nicki and her art, however these albums don't compare and I believe they shouldn't be associated with one another.

This review was a product of solely listening to both albums and commenting

by Lucy