Pink Friday

Pink Friday is the debut studio album by American recording artist Nicki Minaj, released on November 19, 2010, by Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records, and Universal Motown. It features production styles crossing the genres of pop, hip-hop and R&B. Contributions to the album's production came from a wide range of producers including J.R. Rotem, Bangladesh, Swizz Beatz, T-Minus and will.i.am. After a much anticipated release as the result of Minaj's extensive featured appearances on the singles of other artists, Pink Friday debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart with first-week sales of 375,000 copies. Ultimately reaching number one on the chart, it has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and, as of February 2012, had sold 1,774,000 copies in the United States.

The album's intended lead single, "Massive Attack", was commercially unsuccessful, and was therefore removed from the album. Pink Friday was preceded by the singles "Your Love" and "Right Thru Me" which were released in June and September 2010, respectively. The former reached number one on the Rap Songs chart, while the latter peaked at number two. A previously released joint single between American rapper will.i.am and Minaj, "Check It Out," appears on the album. A third single, "Moment 4 Life", featuring Canadian rapper Drake was released in December 2010 and topped the Rap Songs chart in the US.

"Roman's Revenge", which originally featured rapper Eminem, was remixed to feature Minaj's labelmate Lil Wayne, and was released as a promotional single on January 19, 2011. After being released as the album's fourth single, "Did It On'em" received positive reviews from critics, eventually peaking at number 4 on the US Hot Rap Songs chart. "Girls Fall Like Dominoes" was released as a single in Australia and the U.K. as the sixth single overall. It samples "Dominos" by British indie rock band The Big Pink. On May 13, 2011, "Super Bass", a deluxe version bonus track, was released as a single. It is one of Minaj's most successful singles, reaching number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The seventh single from the album, "Fly", featuring Barbados singer Rihanna, was released on August 30, 2011. It has since peaked at number 19 on the Hot 100.

Background
After a major record label bidding war, Young Money Entertainment announced on August 31, 2009 that Minaj had been released a 360 deal with the label in which she retains and owns all of her 360 rights – including merchandising, sponsorships, endorsements, touring and publishing. Sessions for the album began in 2009 with a tentative release in the second quarter of 2010. Minaj stated in an MTV interview that "Married in the Club" was set to be the lead single from the album and was slated for a November 2009 release. Plans for the single were cancelled and Minaj explained in a February 2010 interview with MTV that she had scrapped the previous material and began recording again from scratch. Minaj explained, "I have songs that where I am now, they aren't a great representation of me to where I'm at musically. I wanna start from scratch but I do have my single and it'll be out."

Minaj spoke about the great importance of the album to her and all females in hip-hop in an interview with V103's Greg Street, stating; "They won't look to sign other female rappers because they'll say, 'Her buzz was so crazy and if she couldn't do it, then no one can do it.' And I don't want that to happen, so I'm doing this as well for all the girls. I hope that with the success of the album—because I know it will be successful, I believe it will be successful—I hope that this opens doors for all of the girls everywhere. Even as far as I've come right now, it's a testament in my mind," she said. "So I hope the female rappers will understand how big it is, just for our culture, that the album does well."

Recording and production
Recording sessions for the album took place at several recording locations, including 25 Sound Studios in Detroit, Chalice Recording Studios in Los Angeles, and Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California. Hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz confirmed his collaboration with Minaj for the album, with Minaj discussing a song "Catch Me", that she described as "moody" and "mellow futuristic" which later became a bonus track on the album. Minaj also confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that The Black Eyed Peas member and record producer will.i.am contributed production to the album. She stated in the interview that "The album is much more emotional than you anticipate, which is a great thing. And I know women are gonna connect to the album so much. I felt like for so many years I was the girl who did the catchy little raps, and it's time for me now to tell my story, and in telling my story, I'm really telling every girl's story. We all go through the same thing. So the album is gonna feel very personal to every female." Producer Bangladesh also contributed to the album.

Hip-hop rap artist and producer Kanye West was also confirmed for the album. In an interview with Interview Minaj stated that she would be toning down her sex appeal for the album, stating: "I made a conscious decision to try to tone down the sexiness," she told Interview magazine. "I want people—especially young girls—to know that in life, nothing is going to be based on sex appeal. You've got to have something else to go with that." The song "Right Thru Me", which Minaj confirmed as a "standout" track of the album, was confirmed for the album with Minaj stating, "It's not gonna come right now. It'll come closer to when the album drops, but it's a really, really pretty song. Everyone's gonna like it. It's just really insightful but in a very conversational kind of way." In an interview with 95.8 Capital FM, Rihanna stated that after the two collaborated on "Raining Men" from her album Loud, that they would be teaming up together for a possible second collaboration on Minaj's Pink Friday.

A joint single between Minaj and will.i.am titled "Check It Out", which samples "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, was released on September 3, 2010 via digital download. On an unexpected Ustream on October 25, 2010, Minaj discussed a song she had recently recorded with fellow label-mate Drake, which later ended up on the album and became a single and had a music video filmed for it. Minaj revealed exclusively to Rap-Up that she collaborated with rapper Eminem on a Swizz Beatz-produced track titled "Roman's Revenge" which references Minaj's alter-ego Roman Zolanski and features Eminem's alter-ego Slim Shady. "Moment 4 Life" featuring Drake impacted US Rhythmic radio on December 7, 2010.

Release and promotion
On her Twitter Minaj stated that if she reached one million followers she would dedicate a Ustream to her fans. On August 3, Minaj went on Ustream to call fans who emailed her their phone numbers and to reveal the album's title. On August 3, 2010 Minaj revealed on a Ustream.tv channel for her fans that the album's name would be Pink Friday, stating, "To carry on a great tradition of Black Friday, we are going to switch it up this year in honor of the Nicki Minaj album and call that day Pink Friday, and call my album Pink Friday!" A deluxe edition of the album was also confirmed. Minaj released the artwork for her album cover on Friday, October 15, 2010. Rap-Up commented on the album cover, stating "The cover features Minaj as a doll alarmingly staring at the camera, sitting armless on the ground with her elongated legs in a flowing silver corset, pink stilettos, and a stark pink wig."

On June 17, 2010, promotional photos for the album were leaked online, depicting Minaj in a neon-orange wig dressed as a ninja. On July 8, 2010, Minaj announced via Twitter that the album would be released on November 23, 2010. It was later announced that the album was pushed up by one day to November 22, 2010. Minaj's official website and related social networking pages later announced that the digital download version of the album would be available for pre-order through iTunes on October 30, less than a month before the release date of the physical edition. Music videos for four additional tracks are planned: "Moment 4 Life" featuring Drake, "Save Me", "Fly" featuring Rihanna, and "Girls Fall like Dominoes". (Only those for "Moment 4 Life" and "Fly" have been released as of October 2011.) On January 5, 2011, Minaj booked Sanaa Hamri to direct the music video for "Fly" featuring Rihanna. In March 2011, Minaj booked Sanaa Hamri to direct the video for "Super Bass". At the beginning of May, a teaser trailer was released for "Super Bass". Around Memorial Day weekend, it was expected that the previously recorded video for the track, "Fly", would be released in September, which was proven true.

Tour
Minaj announced via the social networking site Twitter that she would kick off a five-date promotional tour a month before the album dropped. Tweeting, "Ok Barbz, here are the 1st 5 dates on my Pink Friday Tour," the tour began in Philadelphia on October 22, and ran through October 30 in Trinidad and Tobago.

Singles
"Massive Attack" was released on April 13, 2010 through digital distribution. It charted at number 65 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song was a distinct change from Minaj's previous work on mixtapes and features, thus receiving mixed to positive reviews from critics, commending lyrical content and distinctiveness, but critiquing that it did not fit her "Barbie" persona well. The song bubbled under the Billboard Hot 100 at #22, and peaked at #65 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Massive Attack" was initially announced as the album's lead single, however, after the single's poor chart performance, Minaj dethroned its lead single status and declared that it would not be featured on Pink Friday. "Your Love" was released as the album's first official US single on June 1, 2010 and as the first single in the United Kingdom on July 2, 2010. Initially, the song had never been planned for release, but due to abounding airplay it was mastered and used as the follow-up to "Massive Attack". The song peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at 5 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and topped the Hot Rap Songs chart for eight consecutive weeks. Minaj became the first female artist to top the Hot Rap Songs chart unaccompanied since 2002. It also charted in Canada and the UK. "Right Thru Me" was released on September 24, 2010 and officially impacted urban radio on October 5, 2010. A music video directed by Diane Martel was released for the single on October 27, 2010. "Check It Out" was released as a joint single by will.i.am and Minaj on September 3, 2010. A music video for the song was directed by Rich Lee and released October 25, 2010.

"Moment 4 Life", which features Drake, officially impacted Rhythmic radio on December 7, 2010. The music video for "Moment 4 Life" was released on January 27, 2011. "Roman's Revenge" featuring Eminem was released as a promotional single to iTunes on October 30, 2010. A re-worked version of "Roman's Revenge" featuring Lil Wayne was released to the iTunes Store on January 19, 2011. "Did It On'em" was sent to rhythmic radio on March 7, 2011 and "Super Bass" impacted radio on April 5, 2011. "Super Bass" was released to iTunes in some markets on May 13, 2011. In its seventh week on the US Billboard Hot 100, the song has achieved number 10, making it Minaj's first top ten placement as a lead artist. The song's title is also used as part of the title of a UK deluxe edition of the album, called the "Super Bass edition". "Girls Fall like Dominoes" was released in Australia on April 11, 2011, and in the UK on April 15. "Fly" was officially released as the album's eight and final single. It was sent to US rhythmic radio on August 30, 2011. and to Top 40/Mainstream single.

Commercial performance
Pink Friday debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 375,000 copies: this marked the second-highest sales week for a female hip hop recording artist, behind Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1998. The album debuted at number eight in Canada, number 30 in Ireland, and number 34 in the UK. On January 5, 2011, Pink Friday was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. One month after its release Pink Friday went platinum selling a total of 1,035,000 copies, and never left the top ten of the Billboard 200. On the week of February 9, 2011, Pink Friday went to number one, after its eleventh week on the Billboard 200, selling 45,000 copies in that week. As of February 2012, the album had sold more than 1,774,000 copies in the United States.

In the UK, in its fourteenth week, Pink Friday climbed back into the top forty at number 34, the same position it peaked at during the week of its album release. The following week, the album climbed to a new peak of number 32. On April 1, 2011 Pink Friday was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry, with sales of 100,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom. On August 7, 2011 the album raced back up the charts at a new peak of number 16. As of April 2012, the album had sold 281,346 copies in the UK. On 5 April, 2012, Pink Friday was certified Platinum in the UK, with over 300,000 copies sold.

Critical response
Pink Friday received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, based on 25 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Rolling Stone writer Rob Sheffield gave it three-and-a-half out of five stars and called it "surprisingly pop". James Reed of The Boston Globe called it "a brash pop album brimming with Minaj's various personae and Technicolor rhymes". Entertainment Weekly's Brad Wete commended Minaj's "knack for melody" and "boasting lyrics". Sam Wolfson of NME complimented Minaj's "pop sensibility" and found her "volatility and quirks [...] reminiscent of heyday Lil Wayne". USA Today's Steve Jones wrote that the album "swerves effortlessly from hard-core rap to sweet pop bliss". Los Angeles Times writer Margaret Wappler commented that it "shows Minaj is on the cusp", while Ann Powers noted Minaj's attempt to showcase her multi-faceted range and complimented her female perspective. Pitchfork Media's Scott Plagenhoef expressed a mixed response towards its pop concessions, but stated "Fortunately, even when she's aiming down the middle of the road, she's at least better than almost anyone else". Allison Stewart of The Washington Post stated "Friday nibbles at the edges of what female rappers are allowed to do, even as it provides a steady helping of pop hits". In his consumer guide for MSN Music, critic Robert Christgau gave the album an A rating and stated "she's proud to be shameless, with the hooks to back it up".

Andy Gill of The Independent gave a rating of three stars out of five, writing that "Right Thru Me" is the only track that exhibits "adequate use of [Minaj's] R&B vocal skills" among an album of unoriginal "rap braggadocio". Slant Magazine's Jesse Cataldo praised Minaj's versatility on tracks like "Roman's Revenge", but was disappointed with the collaborative "Moment 4 Life", noting she could have shown more confidence by acting as a foil for Drake, but didn't. Kitty Empire of The Observer called the album a "triumph of prevarication", but stated "Pink Friday can't decide whether Minaj is a rapper or just another pop artist [...] This album's pop quotient... is adequate, but anonymous." Rich Juzwiak of The Village Voice criticized the album's "r&b crossover" material and found it lyrically "underwhelming". Despite complimenting Minaj's "adoption of personas", Alexis Petridis of The Guardian commented that "For every burst of originality, there's a burst of generic frosty synth and Auto-Tune", noting that "the pop- and R&B-influenced tracks simply aren't as exciting, lyrically or musically, as the foam-mouthed hardcore ones". Marc Hogan of Spin stated "As an MC showcase... the album falls short", but ultimately viewed it as "a budding artist's love letter to pop — well-wrought and exuberantly penned". Allmusic's David Jeffries wrote that it "both dazzles and disappoints", stating "Feed off the production, the great musical ideas, and Minaj's keen sense of her surroundings, and Pink Friday is an outstanding success". "Did It on'em" appeared on Rolling Stone's Best Singles of 2010 list at number 25.

Track listing
The official track listing as reported by MTV was revealed through the iTunes Store on October 30, 2010.
 * Standard edition


 * Deluxe edition


 * Notes
 * * indicates additional producer(s).
 * The chorus for "Super Bass" features main vocals from Ester Dean, but Dean is not noted as being featured on the track.

Samples and interpolations
Adapted from album booklet.
 * "Right Thru Me" contains samples of "Always With Me, Always With You" by Joe Satriani.
 * "Check It Out":
 * embodies portions and samples of "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.
 * contains elements and samples of "Think (About It)" written by James Brown, performed by Lyn Collins.
 * "Blazin" samples "Don't You (Forget About Me)" performed by Simple Minds.
 * "Here I Am" samples "Red Sky" by John B and Shaz Sparks.
 * "Your Love" samples "No More I Love You's" by Annie Lennox.
 * "Girls Fall Like Dominoes":
 * Contains samples from "Dominos" written by The Big Pink.
 * Contains interpolations of "Trailar Load a Girls" written by Cleveland Browne, Greville Gordon and Whycliffe Johnson.

Personnel
Credits for Pink Friday adapted from Allmusic.


 * Chris Bellman – mastering
 * Joshua Berkman – A&R
 * Sandy Brummels – art direction
 * Noel Cadastre – assistant
 * Dwayne "Tha President" Carter – executive producer
 * Lyttleton "Cartwheel" Carter – assistant
 * Ariel Chobaz – engineer, mixing
 * Seandrae "Mr. Bangladesh" Crawford – producer
 * James Cruz – A&R, management
 * Sean Combs – management
 * DJ Ammo – synthesizer
 * Dylan Dresdow – mixing
 * Chris Gehringer – mastering
 * Kevin Hissink – electric guitar
 * John B. – keyboards, producer, programming
 * Padraic Kerin – engineer


 * Kenny Meiselas – legal counsel
 * Drew Money – producer
 * Charles Moniz – engineer
 * J.R. Rotem – arranger, mixing
 * Safaree "SB" Samuels – A&R, vocals
 * Ed Shapiro – legal counsel
 * Noah "40" Shebib – engineer
 * Olivia Smith – package design
 * Shaz Sparks – vocals
 * Swizz Beatz – producer
 * T-Minus – producer
 * Pop Wansel – producer
 * will.i.am – drum programming, engineer, producer, synthesizer
 * Bryan Williams – executive producer
 * Ronald Williams – executive producer
 * G.L. Wood – photography