Sign In to rate and review

CRITIC REVIEWS

82
Sputnikmusic

Minaj’s latest release is a complicated being, one that might never sit easy, but the layers she provides for the listener to peel through provide for an engaging and ultimately satisfying experience.

80
AllMusic

A bold progression from her previous work with some porno and punch line classics thrown in, The Pinkprint is certainly scattered, but it's well written and weighty where it needs to be, and it remains intriguing the whole way through.

80
Billboard

The Pinkprint — while fat-trimming could’ve been afforded –- stands as the sweet spot where a newly stripped image and sound align. The union properly widens the scope not of Nicki Minaj, but of Onika Maraj.

80
Rolling Stone

Riding diabolically hot beats from producers like Mike Will Made It and Hit-Boy, she breathes fire and oozes soul every time she touches the mic. This is a rap royal in full flex.

80
Exclaim!

Nicki is more personal, more timeless and more connected to her own artistry here, serving some of the most superlative work of her established career on The Pinkprint, as the rap queen uncovers the most vulnerable side to her yet

80
HipHopDX

The Pinkprint runs a middle path between pop over exertion and real lyricism, creating an everything for someone aesthetic that Nicki doesn't allow to shift into wastefullness.

80
FACT Magazine

The Pinkprint is ultimately Nicki’s most cohesive project. It’s her most revealing about her recent and long-term emotional struggles

75
A.V. Club

The PinkPrint is the closest Nicki Minaj has ever gotten to balancing her tendencies, and the furthest she’s ever been from emotional stability.

75
Pitchfork

It’s not a return to Mixtape Nicki, or a third round of Nicki The Brand’s world-conquering dance-pop. It’s an album by Onika Maraj. And it’s a serious album, in the sense that it asks to be taken seriously.

70
SPIN

The Pinkprint overwhelmingly shifts the MC out of the competitive mindset into a more personal one than anything she'd previously put her name on.

70
Slant Magazine
The results land somewhere between the inspired but uneven wildness of her debut and the lightweight mainstream bid of its follow-up, with an album that mimics the rhythms of neither, exploring new ground with admirable, if sometimes misguided, aplomb.
70
Complex

The Pinkprint is her most fully-realized record to date, a personal, imaginative, sex-positive, expanded vision of Pink Friday and Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded that isn’t a radical shift, but instead improves upon what Minaj can execute well.

67
Consequence of Sound

If The Pinkprint is a letdown compared to The Blueprint, then Minaj brought it on herself. However, as a breakup album that takes heartbreak in every direction possible, it provides a template worth imitating.

60
Time Out London

This third album is the New Yorker’s most cohesive collection yet, but also her least thrilling.

60
NOW Magazine
Even on the obvious misses, it’s clear that no other MC can match Minaj’s dramatic vocal versatility.
60
The Arts Desk
Much of the album lopes along on spartan, albeit stadium-sized, moody downtempo electro, giving Minaj's lyrics admirable space.
55
Paste

The Pinkprint has moments. Some are great, but most are not.

50
The 405

Nicki Minaj just isn't that good anymore, sadly.

50
NME

Minaj’s third album comes off as a bog-standard chart-ready hip-hop/pop crossover, full of autotuned choruses, guest spots, scatterings of dance music, big singles and ample padding – at 19 tracks it feels twice as long as it should be. 

50
Entertainment Weekly
Minaj clearly wants to be thought of as a singularity, but she’s less an iconoclast than a fractured simulacrum — Frankenstein’s monster haphazardly stitching herself together without a blueprint.
43
Pretty Much Amazing

The Pinkprint not only doesn’t succeed in breaking free from Nicki’s pattern of lame, but, in fact, might mark her least impressive release to date.

40
Clash
This seems like a step in the wrong direction: a Nicki Minaj album from somebody who’s thoroughly fed up of being Nicki Minaj.
GersonAOTY
82

One of the female rap albums that most marked and influenced the decade. Nicki found the perfect balance between pop and hip-hop showing that she is not only a lyrical beast in terms of rap but also has decent vocals that show her vulnerability such as the exciting "Grand Piano" that closes the album.

I feel like the album missed a lot in the middle with some fillers like "Want Some More" and "Trini Dem Girls" but it quickly pays off in the final part bringing ... read more

LukasLima
78

Em "The Pinkprint", a rapper Nicki Minaj atinge o ápice de sua qualidade, é uma obra muito pessoal com ótimas composições onde a rapper conta sobre sua vida e sua jornada, e também vemos muita versatilidade, os vocais de Minaj ficaram perfeitos no R&B, tem até um leve toque de soul, os vocais dela em "Grande Piano" são de arrepiar, também em "I Lied" e "Pills N Potions", sendo essa ... read more

NeedlefluuJr
96

The official sophomore album from the somewhat controversial discography of popular Trinidad-based rapper Nicki Minaj has finally reached my ears! I describe her discography as controversial because of the number of negativity it has received. Ik i’m fairly infamous for the fact that her latest record Pink Friday 2 is my favourite album of all time, but like I have said many times, I am fearless of hate and am just here to express my opinion. Anyhow what’s surprising about this ... read more

whenthehissing
77

her only good album

rfflstrz
78

So nostalgic for this era of Nicki. Truly one of a kind.

serjtankian
80

serj tankian approved

Purchasing The Pinkprint from Amazon helps support Album of the Year. Or consider a donation?
Become a Donor
Donor badge, no ads + more benefits.
Advertisement

Track List

Year End Lists

#11/Flavorwire
#14/Complex
#47/Pazz & Jop
Sign in to comment
2mo
7mo
10mo
1y
1y


Added on: September 9, 2014