This is Nicki Minaj’s debut album but it seems like she’s been around for awhile. Before Pink Friday, Nicki seemed to be a guest on almost every hit on the radio. And to be honest, she made the track and blew away everyone else more often than not.

She was always doing these brash, hardcore raps in her guest spots and that’s what made her hot. So you’d think the first single from her debut would be a straight rap track. Instead, it’s Nicki singing and rapping softly on “Your Love”. Maybe she just wanted to show another side of her so that people wouldn’t be too surprised when her album dropped.

The second single is “Right Thru Me” and again has Nicki singing and rapping. I don’t hear anyone complaining though, she can actually sing. Her voice has a nice tone whether she’s rapping or singing, which is nice.

Before you get to those tracks on the album, it opens up with “I’m The Best” where Nicki talks about how far she’s come in such a short time. At the end, she says “I hope they coming for me cause the top is lonely”. She definitely seems at the top right now.

Eminem shows up for “Roman’s Revenge” which is just a crazy track. Nicki changes her voice repeatedly and even goes through different accents. The verses are full of creative lyrics and she and Eminem seem to try and outdo each other. She does a nice job too. How many people can keep up with Em’s crazyiness on a track anyway? In one verse, Eminem raps “It’s Shady and Nicki Minaj, you might find the sight quite off/But don’t ask why bitch/Ask why not”. Why not indeed, they should do more together.

“Did It On’em” is pretty much what it sounds like. She’s rapping about how she’s taken over and dropped a big deuce on the other female rappers. I know that Lil’ Kim has taken offense to Nicki and even made a track to show her up. But I was never a real fan of Lil’ Kim and I don’t think she was really that big. Nicki’s album is better than anything I heard from Kim so maybe she should shut up.

There are several guests on the album. The next is Rihanna appearing on “Fly”. In this track, Nicki talks about how people try to label her and bring her down. But she’s standing up for others to show that you can do it if you try. She says “I am not a word, I am not a line/I am not a girl that can ever be defined/I am not fly, I am levitation/I represent an entire generation”.

“Save Me” is an emotional track. Nicki slows things down and does more singing than rapping. From the words, it sounds like she’s a bit lonely and is looking for someone to save her. Which would pretty much go right along with the title huh?

Drake joins Nicki on “Moment 4 Life” and the two discuss how great it is to be them right now and how good life is. They want to stay like this forever, and probably will for quite awhile. Normally Nicki outshines everyone but this time, Drake outdoes her a bit.

On “Check It Out”, will.i.am joins Nicki and there is a sample of “Video Killed The Radio Star” playing in the background. It’s a really nice track and I’m sure you’ll hear it played at a lot of parties. It could even be turned into a dance track.

“Blazin” has a sample of the Simple Minds’ “Don’t You Forget About Me” but it’s sped up and could be hard to recognize for some people. Nicki has a verse and then Kanye West comes in for a verse. Kanye’s verse is awesome and Nicki is, again, a bit upstaged.

“Here I Am” is Nicki talking about how this is her and if you like it, you’re free to come along. But if you don’t, you can leave and that’s ok because she doesn’t need you anyway.

Nicki even writes a track to herself called “Dear Old Nicki”. In it, she talks about how she used to be and how she had to transform to grow and make it big. But she says that “Old Nicki” promised to come back one day and “New Nicki” is holding her to that.

The album closes with another guest appearance. This time, it’s Natasha Bedingfield. Not quite who you expected huh? Yeah, me either. But it does sound nice and the two sing together in the chorus. The track talks about how Nicki is finally where she wants to be and she’s ready for anyone that wants to come after her.

Overall, this is a nice debut. I’ll admit that it’s not what I expected. Nicki had been so great in her verses whenever she was a guest on a track and part of me expected that she would just expand those great verses into great rap tracks. And while she does have some nice verses, it doesn’t feel as strong. Part of that may be because she isn’t just a rapper on this album, she is also a singer. And even though the album wasn’t exactly what I expected, I was pleasantly surprised by her singing ability. I don’t have a problem with artists making albums that go through a few genres, IF they can pull it off. Nicki shows that she’s able to rap and sing some R&B. On “Check It Out”, she hints that she may be able to pull off a pop sound as well.

I’ve read reviews where people complained that this isn’t a strictly rap album and put Nicki down for it. Well, it’s her album, she can do what she wants. I don’t care if she wants to try a few things out. So far, they all seem to be working for her. She’ll do more great rap verses to please her rap fans but I hope that she doesn’t abandon the singing completely. Pink Friday is a better debut than I’ve heard from most and it seems to be doing well so far. I’m sure we can expect even better things from Nicki Minaj in the future too.