Queen
| Queen
Queen
Queen is the fourth studio album by American rapper and singer Nicki Minaj. It was released on August 10, 2018, through Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records. It is Minaj's first album in four years, following The Pinkprint (2014). The rapper started recording the album in late 2016, and throughout 2017 and 2018, she collaborated with a handful of producers and songwriters to reach her desired sound. It features guest appearances by rappers Eminem, Foxy Brown, Future, Swae Lee, and Lil Wayne; and singers Ariana Grande, Labrinth, and The Weeknd. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Queen
It showcases the band in all their ornate splendor yet it's strangely lean and hard, revealing just how good the band was in their early days as a hard rock band.
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Rolling Stone
1973 - Their debut album is superb. ... Let’s just say that the product of drummer Roger Meddows Taylor and bassist Deacon John is explosive, a colossal sonic volcano whose eruption maketh the earth tremble.
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brianmay.com
this was Queen's first album, and they haven't done a bad job with it
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Only Solitaire
Wow, what a fun debut album.
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Pitchfork
2011 - This ambitious set of reissues highlights a strange band whose career was as varied and resourceful as any act in rock.
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ZRockR
2015 - Queen’s first album is one of the forgotten gems in their proverbial crown, and fans owe it to themselves to add this one to their collections.
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Mike Ladano
I was surprised how raw it sounds.
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Pitchfork
On her most rap-oriented release yet, Nicki jettisons all the industry madness, drowns out the noise, and creates rap the way she believes it should sound.
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Spin
Queen looks to the past and has no grasp on anything present. -
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NME
Unfortunately, in trying to take on all comers at once, there are parts of Queen that few like an overreach.
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Variety
a melodious shot at soft, subtone rapping in a manner not unlike a saxophone’s gentle toot.
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The Guardian
Not everything connects on the rapper’s regal fourth album, but when it does, she shows what a unique talent she is.
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The Diamondback
Perhaps if she hadn't discussed so frequently how great Queen would be, the reception of the album would've been more positive.
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The Atlantic
The rapper emphasizes her smarts and ferocity on her fourth album, Queen, but to what end? -
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Rolling Stone
The pathfinding rapper strikes a regal pose an album full of spectacular moments.
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Entertainment Weekly
Minaj positions influence and prestige as the two things she is not willing to compromise on.
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Forbes
'Queen' Is A Great 10-Song Album Hiding Inside A Messy 19-Song Album.
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Hip Hop DX
A lucrative career has allowed Nicki a ton of leeway and even if Queen doesn’t benefit from a goofy social media challenge, her queendom is safe for now.
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Consequence of Sound
Like a Starbucks coffee, Minaj serves a consistent product with a reliable buzz
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Time
Queen asserts Minaj’s rightful place if not at the top, then certainly near it.
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Hot New Hip Hop
The landscape may have changed, but her position has once again been affirmed. May the trumpets blare in accordance.
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Vulture
Queen coming out more or less on par with The Pinkprint.
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The Needle Drop
Nicki Minaj still has her energy, technical ability, and sharp lyricism going for her, but too often on Queen these are drowned out by generic production and horrid features.
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Billboard
Queen exists to exemplify Nicki’s proven longevity, which is enough of a rarity to finally declare her as well-deserved rap royalty.
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Refinery29
Where Minaj is at her best on Queen are the moments when she asserts her own power, stepping forward to advance the power of all women.
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Independent
It may lack cohesion at certain points, but one thing is never in doubt: Minaj is still one of the best in her field.
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XXL
Queen offers a tasting menu of classic New York hip-hop, diasporic sounds and future pop hits—a safe play that will satisfy everyone to some degree.
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Fader
There are flashes of brilliance on Queen but they’re mostly eclipsed by chaos.
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The Line of Best Fit
Queen includes 19 tracks, which some might consider to be too long for an album. But Minaj avoids boring her listeners by changing up her flow and the atomosphere of each track.
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exclaim!
Despite having several songs that were more filler than functional, highlights her ability to adapt to an ever-changing sonic landscape.
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Sputnik Music
Queen’s greatest asset is Nicki’s dual propensity for virtuosic verses and catchy pop elements. She skillfully blends them on the album’s best tracks.
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AllMusic
Queen is another chapter of Minaj's good but largely meandering and inconsistent full-length album output.
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NOW Magazine
There are enough good songs to give Queen a pass, but if it’s going to be 19 tracks, it needs to be more consistently awesome.
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The 405
Nicki Minaj is rap royalty, but Queen finds her struggling to maintain her throne.
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Los Angeles Times
Nicki Minaj still cares about the old way of doing things. Does anybody else?
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PopMatters
Queen's title implies it's meant to function as a coronation for one of the biggest rappers ever, but it's more the sound of Minaj fighting to keep that crown on her head.
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Slant
Queen finds Minaj falling back on some frustratingly familiar shortcomings.
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US Magazine
Minaj Comes Out Swinging on 'Queen'
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DJ Booth
a new dawn is upon us, and unless she starts to change with the times, I forsee a hip-hop landscape where Nicki is talked about in the past tense.
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Hot Press
Hip hop's arch disser comes out swinging on 'Queen'
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Washington Post
“Queen” only feels connected to the current rap zeitgeist in the saddest way.
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highsnobiety
Queen spans a potentially exhausting length, but Minaj’s fourth album also differs from the others
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Gulf News
The rapper continues to put her faith in the old way of doing things — even if listeners, as she surely knows, couldn’t care less.
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The Ringer
Bloated and unfocused.
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North Texas Daily
The reign continues for the Queen of hip hop.
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Stereogum
Queen is a better album than those advance singles suggest, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a good album.
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The Muse
the Queen of today seems to have lost her vigor and purpose.
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The Young Folks
Queen is the closest she’s come to 2010’s Pink Friday.
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Maroon Weekly
The four year hiatus from new music has done Minaj well.
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Idolator
Critics may have doubted her, but it turns out that there is certainly a place at the table for Nicki in 2018.
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Pulse
Minaj's head fails to fit perfectly into the crown on 'Queen'
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No Ripcord
Queen has the potential to be career-defining, if only its namesake would let it.
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Atwood Magazine
The ‘Queen’ Reigns Supreme on Nicki Minaj’s Regal Fourth Offering.
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Yahoo!
With “Queen,” [Nicki] is doubling down on both her toughness and her regal status.
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IOL
'Queen' reeks of ill decisions and insecurity.
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Complex
Nicki holds her own on 'Queen'
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The Musical Hype
Minaj asserts her queenly status on confident, energetic rap verses.
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NZ Herald
after a four-year wait since a disappointing previous release, I needed more.
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Fansided
It will be hard for her to top this album, but as always, she will.
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Vulturehound
Another attempt for Minaj to mature but once again a lack of cohesion makes for a record with more misses than hits.
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The Red and Black
Calm, collected verses and genius sampling, her fourth studio album is one of her best yet.
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Spectrum Culture
It’s hard not to think how strong this album would be if its 66 minutes were pared down to 40.
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Uproxx
On ‘Queen,’ Nicki Minaj’s Only Competition Is Herself And Her Past Success.
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The Sentry
Queen has something for everyone, Minaj draws people in by creating tracks anyone can enjoy.
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Spectrum Pulse
Queen probably shows Nicki Minaj as the most consistent MC she's ever been in terms of bars or punchlines.
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NPR
Fraught with teetering shade, Internet trolling, a flip-flopping release date and awkwardly timed collaborations, the lead-up to this album has been, let's be honest, a shambles.
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i-D
Unfortunately, for an album called Queen, Nicki Minaj exhibits too much creative uncertainty and a lack of focus to sit on the throne comfortably.
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Soul in Stereo
Queen isn’t much better or worse than the typical Nicki album.
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Brooklyn Vegan
[Queen] has a finer display of rapping than a lot of 2018’s other superstar rap albums have, and it’s still a fun album to listen to.
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WhatCulture
Queen is a testament to Minaj’s manifold melodic talents - and to the contention that less really is more.
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Thirstkey
Nicki Minaj officially crowns herself hip-hop's queen, but does nothing on this album to back it up. It's bloated, it's boring and it's basic.
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setlist.fm
Nicki accomplished what she came do to: prove once again that she is the same queen of rap that she was at the beginning of her career.
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The Weekender
Nicki Minaj comes just short of greatness on ‘Queen’
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The Ratings Game
Queen is no overwhelming keeper.
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The Anthrocene
What Queen delivers is the simple reassurance Minaj is not going to be dethroned any time soon.
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E.97
On 'Queen, Minaj dethrones herself.
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The Fresh Committee
Queen is an album every die-hard Nicki fan will cherish.
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Highland Cavelier
This record-breaking album has solidified Nicki Minaj’s throne as the queen of rap and people will be watching to see what she does next.
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Riffs and Rhymes
While it had been four years since Nicki’s last project, this album seems…rushed.
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Repeating Islands
It may lack cohesion at certain points, but one thing is never in doubt: Minaj is still one of the best in her field.
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Newsday
'Queen' shows why [Nicki]'s still hip-hop's best female rapper.
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Immortal Reviews
It's not a perfect record and it really doesn't have the same punch all the way through, but it starts and ends powerfully.
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Study Breaks
“Queen” may be their front row seat to a potentially transformative era of her career.
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The Hollywood Reporter
When all is said and done, it’s just another playlist of disconnected mish-mash bangers that we’ll probably forget in two weeks
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Playboy
largely forgettable, trite singles could move the needle or garner excitement for a full project.
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