Nicki Minaj is known for many things as a rapper—tongue-twisting wordplay, larger-than-life voices, a disregard for conventional verse structure—but she rarely opens up about herself. Even when her songs are clearly deeply personal, it’s usually done in a vague, more or less universal way that obscures details about her own life. When asked if she tries to keep her life private by Fader earlier this year, her revealing response was “Yup.”
So “All Things Go,” the Boi-1da and Vinylz-produced lead song from The Pinkprint and the Nicki Minaj track that arrived this morning via MissInfo, is a rare breed and a revealing look for even the Nicki Minaj fans most familiar with her biography. In a Twitter Q&A yesterday, Nicki called it one of the most emotional songs on the album:
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And it is, for better or worse. Nicki opens up big time, talking about her goals to have kids, her younger cousin who died, her relationship with her mother, her hopes for her younger brother Micaiah to go to college, and a child she almost had 16 years ago. “I lost my little cousin to a senseless act of violence / his sister said he wanted to stay with me but I didn’t invite him / why didn’t he ask?” she raps at one point, while going on in the third verse to observe “I want ‘Caiah to go to college just to say we did it / My child with Aaron would have been 16 any minute / so in some ways I feel like ‘Caiah is the both of them.”
It’s not the most technically dazzling Nicki Minaj has ever been, but it’s definitely a different look for her and a positive sign for The Pinkprint as being an album that dares, at least in some places, to avoid the easiest, most obvious route and sets that tone from the beginning. The Pinkprint is out December 15. Check out “All Things Go” below, along with the full track list, which Nicki shared earlier this week:
The Pinkprint:
1. “All Things Go”
2. “I Lied”
3. “The Crying Game” (Feat. Jessie Ware)
4. “Get on Your Knees” (Feat. Ariana Grande)
5. “Feeling Myself” (Feat. Beyoncé)
6. “Only” (Feat. Drake, Lil’ Wayne & Chris Brown)
7. “Want Some More”
8. “Four Door Aventador”
9. “Favorite” (Feat. Jeremih)
10. “Buy a Heart” (Feat. Meek Mill)
11. “Trini Dem Girls” (Feat. Lunchmoney Lewis)
12. “Anaconda”
13. “The Night Is Still Young”
14. “Pills and Potions”
15. “Bed of Lies” (Feat. Skylar Grey)
16. “Grand Piano”
17. “Big Daddy” (Feat. Meek Mill)
18. “Shanghai”
19. “Win Again”
