After four long years, several release date changes, and a whole lot of drama, Nicki Minaj’s fourth album Queen has finally dropped. The cover sees the rapper looking suitably otherworldly in an Ancient Egyptian-inspired bikini and headpiece (yes you read that correctly), but the real fire is coming from the tracklist and guest artists. The album features a stellar cast comprised of Lil Wayne, Ariana Grande, Eminem, the Weeknd, and Future.
We’ve already heard “Chun Li” and the Grande-featuring ‘Bed,” but one of the album’s most noteworthy moments comes from her diss track. On “Barbie Dreams,” an update of previous track “Dreams,” the oft embattled rapper unleashes disses on Drake, Meek Mill (“still be in my DM’s, I be trying to duck him”), Lil Uzi Vert, Desiigner, and Young Thug. “Used to fuck with Young Thug, I ain’t addressing this shit/I caught him in my dressing rooms stealing dresses and shit,” raps Minaj, which frankly seems vaguely homophobic from someone making one of the campest comebacks of all time. Final track “Inspirations Outro” hits a more positive note, name checking Lauryn Hill and Bob Marley as her guiding lights, set to dancehall rhythms. She also finds time to rap about the pleasures of having sex while rich (“Rich Sex”), something we too hope to enjoy at some point in the future, and getting high and thinking about your man (“Ganja Burn”). “You were a queen before him. You’ll be a queen after him,” Minaj recently tweeted — is Queen going to cement her status as the empress of rap?