
Calling all Barbs!
Last week, rapper/singer/professional dick-in-your-facer Nicki Minaj released her sophomore record, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, which just debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 this week. (While you’re at it, check out the MuuMuse review of Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded now!)
Didn’t hop aboard your Starship to get a copy in stores yet? Why not, you Stupid Hoe? Albums don’t just Come On A Cone, you know! Don’t be a Beautiful Sinner and snag it online…I’m Right By Your Side!
MuuMuse is giving away 3 deluxe edition copies of Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
Want to be a Champion? It’s easy! To enter to win, take a Roman Holiday to Twitter and tweet me with the following message:
I’m in the HOV Lane, and you @MuuMuse? I wanna win @NickiMinaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, ho! http://bit.ly/HxRQrv
You’ll be Automatic-ally entered to win! 3 entries will be randomly selected and notified on Wednesday, April 18. US entries only, please. Va Va Voom!
Good luck! If you win, you’ll finally understand how Marilyn Monroe felt.
Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded was released on April 3. (iTunes)

After serving up endlessly ferocious features on tracks like “Bottoms Up” by Trey Songz, Usher‘s “Lil Freak,” Jay Sean‘s “2012 (It Ain’t The End)” and her grand triumph, a spotlight stealing verse on Kanye West‘s star-studded “Monster,” Nicki Minaj‘s 2010 debut Pink Friday should have been a roaring proclamation that the new face of female rap had finally arrived.
Instead, the album turned out to be a plodding series of motivational cliches and lukewarm midtempos about overcoming obstacles, following your dreams and rising above. And that’s fair–after all, she managed to defy expectations, skyrocket to the top of the charts, reinvent the boundaries of female rap (and rap in general) and ultimately became the most important thing to happen to female rap since Lil’ Kim and Missy Elliott in the span of about two years.
Still, the album equivalent of one Taylor Swift surprise face after another about being on top wasn’t nearly as captivating as the fire she was spitting on everyone else’s songs. By the end, the album barely showcased why her star rose so quickly in the first place.
Two more years have passed, and Minaj is back for another solo round–Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded–and this time, she’s actually packing some heat.

Mizz Nicki Minaj has just unveiled the explicit clip for “Beez In The Trap,” a song about, um, being in the trap, from her not at all insane o’clock sophomore record, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.
The Benny Boom-directed clip for Nicki’s latest…single (Is it even a single? Who knows–everything’s a single with this era!) sees the multi-talented singer/rapper/dick-in-your-facer dancing dirty, serving body and stacking bills up in the club with sexy ladies in a very throwback ’90′s rap video sort of way.
The fashions, however, are thoroughly 22nd century Minaj: a chlorine green wig, bright blue eyeshadow–you know, the works. Plus, there’s a rather severe gyration in a leopard onesie. I’d call her brave, but the bitch clearly stole my Saturday night look.
Oh, and there’s also an appearance by newcomer 2 Chainz, whose verse includes some rather fantastic rhymes about potential career opportunities and spending dollars on fancy items, including my all-time favorite reference ever: “True Religion trousers.” I am very impressed!
So like, “Beez In The Trap” bumps hard and the video makes me want to pound the alarm and all, but where’s the clip for “HOV Lane”? Or “Whip It”? Or…the current single, “Starships”? I know it’s hard to get a starship out on loan, but still…
On a related note, I got to watch Nicki perform and then awkwardly stand next to her at the R Lounge (the ass is fantastic close up I assure you) at yesterday’s Nokia’s Lumia 900 event in Times Square. It was, as we say in the industry, “a hoot.”
Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded was released on April 3. (iTunes)

The next 60-second snippet from Madonna‘s MDNA has arrived.
Today’s track? “I Don’t Give A”, produced by Martin Solveig and featuring a guest verse by “Give Me All Your Luvin” collaborator, Nicki Minaj.
If “Falling Free” provided tingles of Ray Of Light, “I Don’t Give A” is a heaping helping of American Life…on acid. “I’m gonna be okay/I don’t care what the people say!” the Queen declares above a stomping, soldiering hip-tronica beat.
“I Don’t Give A” is a defiant middle finger in sonic form, featuring Madge preaching what she preaches best (fuck everyone else’s opinion!) and working as hard as ever: It’s fresh, powerful, and much more convincingly “modern” in execution than the cringe-worthy rap in “American Life.”
I’m also living for that stuttering transition before Nicki’s verse (which, by the way, sounds amazing so far.) “Ay yo Madonna, you are the original Don Dada!” Ugh, so good. Need this album. CRAVE this album.
“And if it was a failure, I don’t give a….”
Keep track of all the previously released snippets:
“Falling Free” | “I’m Addicted” | “Love Spent” | “Gang Bang” | “Superstar”
MDNA will be released on March 26. (iTunes)

When Nicki Minaj isn’t busy flying around on starships, she’s getting all turned on with the bouncing House beats of Mr. David Guetta.
As you’ve surely heard by now, “Turn Me On,” Miss Minaj’s collaboration with the acclaimed French DJ/producer, has been burning up the Billboard charts for the past month, having already hit #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Dance/Club Play charts.
To celebrate the release, MuuMuse is proud to be giving away 5 copies of the 6-track “Turn Me On” Remix EP.
To enter to win, follow me on Twitter at @MuuMuse and tweet me with the following phrase:
Come on and turn me on, @MuuMuse! I want that @DavidGuetta & @NickiMinaj remix EP!
Five winners will be randomly selected and notified via DM on Wednesday, March 7. US entrants only, please!
The tracklisting for the remix EP is as follows:
1.) Turn Me On (Michael Calfan Remix)
2.) Turn Me On (David Guetta and Laidback Luke Remix)
3.) Turn Me On (Sidney Samson Remix)
4.) Turn Me On (JP Candela Remix)
5.) Turn Me On (Sebastien Drums Remix)
6.) Turn Me On (Extended Mix)
Good luck!
“Turn Me On” (Remixes EP) was released on January 27. (iTunes)

Ester Dean‘s dropping it low on her own once again–and this time, she’s coming full force.
As we knew already, the Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter, responsible for literally millions of hit songs for artists like Katy Perry (“Firework), Nicki Minaj (“Super Bass) and most of all, Rihanna (“Rude Boy,” “S&M,” “What’s My Name?”), is finally stepping out for her highly anticipated solo venture in 2012 under Roc Nation.
“Gimmie Money” is the first taste of Dean’s upcoming work and, following the proven success rate of all songs with “Gimme” in the title, it’s a solid smash.
Dean’s signature raspy vocals works well against the bangin’, gritty beat, which I’m only assuming is a Stargate pairing given that the synthesizers and melodies are deeply reminiscent of her prior smashes with the Norwegian duo, including RiRi’s “What’s My Name?”, “Only Girl,” and most noticeably of all, Nicole Scherzinger‘s “Right There.”
“I need your love more than a ring/I like nice things, that’s the icing/But you gotta give me more, and make me your girl,” she urges. That’s right fellas–this isn’t a “Get Your Money Up” situation. All Ester wants is you.
The song also includes a solid cameo by the always reliable (in feature form, anyway) Nicki Minaj on a guest verse. I mean: “Chopsticks, you know we don’t give a fork”? You’ve got to love Mizz Minaj’s features–even if she sometimes acts like, um, a stupid hoe.
Basically, this track has all the makings of a blazin’ Top 40 RiRi banga, but this time around, it’s Dean’s turn to get her shine in the spotlight–and rightfully so.

Don’t play the stupid game,
’cause I’m a different kind of blogger!
I know damn well you’ve been parading around the house with your pom-poms out all week cheering on The Holy Madge ever since she premiered “Give Me All Your Luvin” (feat. M.I.A. & Nicki Minaj) during her Halftime Show at the Super Bowl.
Now, I want you to get your paws on a physical copy! (This physical attraction, it’s a chemical attraction…)
MuuMuse is proud to be giving away 5 copies of Madonna’s “Give Me All Your Luvin” (feat. M.I.A. & Nicki Minaj) single.
To enter to win, just tweet me with the following phrase:
L-U-V, @MuuMuse! Y-O-U, you wanna give me that #Madonna single? http://www.muumuse.com/?p=27641
5 winners will be randomly selected and notified on Tuesday, February 21. This is a standard CD single–no remixes. US entries only.
Let’s forget about time…and dance our lives away! Good L-U-C-K!
L-U-V, Madonna!
Madonna’s upcoming twelfth studio album, MDNA, will be released on March 26. (iTunes)

Nicki Minaj has a new song out. It’s called “Starships” and it’s, well…amazing. And entirely derivative. (It’s a theme this week, apparently.)
In fact, the RedOne-produced “Starships” (which was co-produced and penned by Carl Falk, Rami Yacoub and Wayne Hector) is almost impressively derivative, “borrowing” from nearly every Top 10 radio hit of 2011 (including one of Minaj’s own): The opening guitar lick of P!nk‘s “Raise Your Glass,” the surging pulse of David Guetta‘s “Where Them Girls At (feat. Flo Rida & Minaj),” the beat breakdown of LMFAO‘s “Party Rock Anthem,” the rallying “Whoa-oh-oh-oh!” cry of Britney‘s “Till The World Ends,” and the bridge of Chris Brown‘s “Yeah 3x.” It’s almost like one of those DJ Earworm year end mash-ups…except, you know, not.
As a result, the song’s a lot like Mizz Minaj’s Grammy Award performance on Sunday–completely nuts o’clock. But unlike Mizz Minaj’s Grammy Award performance on Sunday, I’m actually having some fun this time around.
Like “Super Bass,” “Starships” sees Minaj moving further and further away from her rap roots (RIP Mixtape Minaj) into pop territory, now relying on drunk club-pop (a la her latest collaboration with David Guetta, “Turn Me On”) to propel her to new heights. And while the rapping is left to a minimum, it’s still classic Minaj brand insanity, bouncing between the beach, to refusing to pay rent–even briefly championing gay rights: “Fuck who you want, fuck who you’d like!”
Sure, it’s frivolous and almost shamefully mindless–that’s the point, according to Minaj. From Seacrest:
I’ve never had this much fun recording music in my life. My first album I was very guarded. I felt like I was making music to please everyone else. I had to be politically correct, but this album I am just creating music, and it there’s such a big difference. Literally in the studio we were cracking up laughing, having fun, and enjoying ourselves. The music itself your going to get every side that I’ve ever shown and then a little bit extra. I’ve tried to make it very, very balanced, because I don’t ever want to be boxed in, and that’s always what drives me. So I made a very diverse album.
Honestly, it’s just nice to see that Godney’s influence is still going strong in 2012.
As if she wasn’t enough of a polarizing figure in pop, Minaj is bound to further ensconce her haters, enamor her lovers, or, as I suspect to be the case with most people, result in the same begrudging reaction I had to Katy Perry‘s “Part Of Me”:
Goddammit, that’s good.
HIGHER THAN A MOTHAFUCKA!
“Starships” was released on February 14. (iTunes)






