With a flow that launched a thousand features,
Nicki Minaj
's talent seemed to find its perfect niche in any of her multiple guest appearances on other artist's hits or in chart-topping singles that wrapped the most digestible version of her snarling delivery in a sugar-coating designed for pop radio. The infectious sparkle of her singles was largely lacking in her full-length albums, which could feel inconsistent or torn between
Minaj
's fierce skills as a rapper and her calculated pop star veneer. Fourth album
Queen
follows four years after 2014's
The Pinkprint
, and finds
offering a darker atmosphere and focusing on her ferocious rap skills more than her well-tested commercial accessibility. With an hour-plus-running time,
stretches out languidly, making space for
to follow various paths as the album moves on. Melodic and radio-friendly fare like the
Ariana Grande
-assisted "Bed" exemplifies
's signature pop/rap hybrid formula, and she finds the sweet spot for this formula when she co-mingles sticky vocal hooks with vicious flows as on album-opener "Ganja Burns." "Barbie Dreams" adds layers to
's return to rap form, referencing not just the
Notorious B.I.G.
's
Ready to Die
classic "Just Playing (Dreams)," but also throws back the first time she visited this theme on "Dreams 07," the first track on her debut mixtape
Playtime Is Over
. Rhyming over the same beat over a decade later,
is at her meanest and most hilarious as she drags famous rappers in an unrelenting stream of bilious rhymes. Similarly, the jittery "LLC" uncorks
's flow at its most ruthless, delivering rhymes that are so quick, funny, and complexly constructed that they're hard to take in the first time. Other strong moments come with the
Foxy Brown
collaboration "Coco Chanel," a humid banger built on a dancehall-flavored beat, as well as the weirdly catchy "Majesty," a song with a quirky hook that takes notes from
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
-era
Kanye West
. ~ Fred Thomas