“Quack, quack to a duck and a chicken, too/Put the hyena in a freakin’ zoo,” answers Minaj/ Roman. “Take your medication, Roman,” counsels Minaj/Martha. In the same song, she takes on the voice of Martha Zolanski, Roman’s mother, singing in a cartoon Cockney accent. Roman Reloaded opens with Minaj – a biracial woman from Queens via Trinidad – ranting in the voice of her (Polish?) homosexual “twin brother” alter ego. (By the sound of “Right by My Side” – a blustery duet with Chris Brown – she can cruise in the Jordin Sparks lane, too.) Then there’s the Roman Zolanski lane. It’s true: She’s one of the few performers who can rival Jay-Z‘s blend of artistic bona fides and sheer star power.īut Minaj is also in the Gaga lane, the Bowie lane, the Missy Elliott and Gary Glitter and Katy Perry and Betty Boop lanes. “I’m in the HOV lane,” Minaj boasts on her second LP. But she’s a bubblegum starlet as well, delivering confections to the nation’s mall rats. She is a rapper’s rapper, a master of flow and punch lines, with skills to please the most exacting gatekeepers of hip-hop street cred. She doesn’t just straddle pop categories, she dumps them in a Cuisinart, whips them to a frothy purée, then trains a guided missile at the whole mess.
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