搬运译Pitchfork评Nicki Minaj 2018年专辑《Queen》(女皇)

搬运自：微信公众号【评论搬一堆】（在原文基础上添加了英语原文与排版调整）

翻译：Yana.Z

校正：Iris六百零七/Ryan-Chopin

To reign over the charts, the critics, and the streets, a hip-hop star with pop ambitions must be everything to everyone while holding on tight to their identity. This balancing act is especially unforgiving for women, and Nicki Minaj has contended with these double standards and sky-high expectations for over a decade. Her biggest chart successes have come with songs like 2014’s bawdy “Anaconda,” and the effervescent “Super Bass” from her 2010 debut, but there are still incessant calls for some combination of the take-no-prisoners snarl of her breakout verse on “Monster” and serious art made up of reflection and maturity. But with Queen, Nicki jettisons all the industry madness, drowns out the noise, and creates rap the way she believes it should sound.

要想统治榜单、拉拢舆论和独占鳌头，对于一个有成为流行天后野心的说唱歌星来说，必须在打动每个人的同时，紧紧坚守住自己的个性。此般保持平衡对一位女性来说是尤其困难的，但Nicki Minaj十多年来一直与这些双重标准和高期望值抗争。她出道以来，2014年发行的歌曲“Anaconda”便在排行榜上取得了巨大的成功；她在2010年的首张专辑中，利用俏皮活泼的“Super Bass”吸引了大众的眼球，除此之外，同样不断引人关注的还有“Monster”里具有攻击性的桥段，以及引发人生思考、追求成熟的音乐艺术作品。但在《Queen》中，Nicki抛弃了整个行业的热门价值取向和元素，屏蔽了外界噪音，并坚持自己的本心创造了属于自己的说唱作品。

Due to hip-hop’s sexist, one-at-a-time cap on women dominating the genre, this is the first time Nicki has ever released an album with another commercially successful woman also climbing rap’s ranks. And whatever pressure—whether real or spectator-projected—is there, she rises to the occasion with Queen, her most rap-oriented full-length to date. Never lacking for charisma and attitude, her flows and cadences are a whirlwind of husky aggression and bouncing animation. She sends shots in every direction (“Don’t duck if it don’t apply,” she sneers on one track) with the confidence of a woman holding court in a kingdom she conquered. From Michael Jackson to Sizzla to Patti Labelle, she drops so many names and references that someone could get a halfway decent music (fashion and sports too) lesson if they Googled them all. They spill out as both venerating homages and a testament to her high-powered lifestyle.

一直以来，由于嘻哈音乐对女性的性别歧视，向来只有一位女性能站在这个流派的顶端，这也是Minaj第一次与另一位在商业上取得巨大成功的说唱女歌手同时段发行专辑。不管有多大的压力，不管是真实的还是旁观者主观意义上揣测的，她都用她最具有说唱文化深度的《Queen》来应对。她从来不缺乏魅力和态度，她的技巧和节奏是最强有力的攻击，就像跳跃感极强的动画旋风。她像一位女王在征服自己的王国一样，朝各个方向发起进攻。从Michael Jackson到Sizzla，再到Patti Labelle，她联系了太多的名字和事件，以至于如果都在Google上查阅这些人，那么可能会得到一次女王音乐课的机会（和时尚与体育相关的）。这些不仅仅是她在向前辈致敬，更是她的生活丰富充实的佐证。

With the album’s contentious rollout, marred by social media drama and middling singles, Nicki really buried the two big ledes here. “Barbie Dreams,” which adapts Notorious B.I.G.’s “Just Playing (Dreams)” and updates Nicki’s own “Dreams 07” cut from her 2007 mixtape Playtime Is Over, is a flamethrowing pink slip delivered with a wink. Positioning some of rap’s biggest names in her crosshairs, she playfully jabs at her peers, turning their reputations into reasons they won’t be seeing her in the bedroom. It highlights the kind of quick wit and humor that earned her the spotlight to begin with. And in a proud display of her Caribbean background, she enlists fellow Trini-rhymer Foxy Brown for the patois-flavored “Coco Chanel.” The two share a magnetic synergy as they trade verses over a dancehall production that interpolates the classic Showtime Riddim. The cross-generational collaboration is significant—particularly for Nicki, who is rarely caught on wax with other female rappers and considers Brown an idol.

随着这张专辑的推出，社交媒体上的闹剧和二流单曲的影响让它备受争议，但Minaj真的在专辑中留了两把刷子。改编自Notorious B.I.G.的“Just Playing(Dreams) ”和Minaj07年的《Playing Is Over》中的“Dreams 07”及更新后的“Barbie Dreams”，是一首难得的良曲。她在歌中利用说唱界当红人物的名声，温柔地抨击，指出他们不能和她共处一室享受乐趣的原因。这个手段突出了她的机智和幽默，而这也是她一开始就备受瞩目的原因。在“Coco Chanel”中，Minaj找来了同为特立尼达人的Foxy Brown，用当地口音自豪地展示了加勒比海的背景。他们合作改编制作了Showtime Riddim的“Dancehall”，产生了奇妙的磁场协同效应。这次跨世代的合作意义重大，特别是对于Minaj来说，她很少和其他女说唱歌手合作，况且Brown是她的偶像。

With those peaks coming at either end of the album, the middle faces an impossible task of keeping the pace over an hour-long hike. The lows range from fine (“Bed”) to forgettable (“Thought I Knew You”), but the highs are immaculate: The electrifying “LLC” and the twerk-ready “Good Form” showcase the rapper’s inimitable technique, the one that turned heads in the first place. Little tricks, like her play on the phonetics of “good form,” which she alternates to sound like “good for him,” are the kind of flourishes that set her apart. On the slow-burner “Come See About Me,” she gives the bravado a rest and, over a swelling piano-laced production, reminisces about a past lover in a manner more hopeful than heartbroken. Like the sappy The Pinkprint closer “Grand Piano” or the yearning “Save Me” from Pink Friday, there’s always a moment of pause when she goes full-ballad. But even though singing isn’t exactly Nicki’s secret weapon, it offers an additional emotional texture that isn’t available to her when she’s flowing.

这两首歌分别是这张专辑的两座山峰，所以中间的歌曲就面临着一个艰巨到几乎不可能完成的任务，那就是在这长达一小时的专辑曲目中脱颖而出。专辑的低谷是从精细的“Bed”到毫无记忆点的“Thought I Knew You”，但其高潮是无懈可击的：激动人心的“LLC”和“Good Form”展示了Minaj独特到无人能及的技巧。一些小把戏（例如她在“Good Form”中的发音和吐词上，听起来像是“good for him”）使她脱颖而出。在“Come See About Me”这个慢节奏歌曲中，她收起了自己的强大气场，伴随着钢琴曲，她以一种充满希望而不是心碎的方式回忆前任。在粉印中的“Grand Piano”和《Pink Friday》中的“Save Me”中我们可以发现，当Minaj在唱抒情曲时，总是会有片刻的停顿来倾诉缓慢的情感。尽管唱歌并不是Minaj的秘密武器，但它提供了一种额外的情感层次，这是她在说唱过程中无法获得的。

Nicki has spent her career engaged in a battle against being boxed in. The bubbly pop markers that separate her albums from her early mixtapes were evidence of her fear of becoming just another rapper. Queen is the safe and sturdy middle ground. The lyrical barbs are there, but nearly every song is glossy enough to spend some time in the Top 40. The album offers hints of nearly every era and iteration of her career thus far: the razor-tongued Nicki the Ninja, the sexually-charged Nicki Lewinsky, and even the zany Roman teases an appearance at the tail end of “Barbie Dreams.” The connections between past and present, between style and form, make Queen feel like her most creatively honest album. She remains a force—whether you’re willing to bow or not.

在其职业生涯中，Minaj一直致力于一场反对被禁锢、被定型的斗争。那些与她早期的混音作品大相径庭的泡沫流行元素，证明了她不甘停留于一个平庸的说唱歌手。《Queen》是安全而坚固的中间地带，这其中每一首歌曲几乎都被打磨得光鲜亮丽，值得在榜单前40名待上一段时间。这张专辑透露了她职业生涯中每一个时代的线索：言辞尖刻的尼基·忍者、性感妩媚的尼基·莱温斯基，甚至连Roman也出现在“Barbie Dreams”的结尾。过去与现在、个性与定式之间的联系，成就了《Queen》这张她最有创意的专辑。不管你愿不愿意俯首称臣，Minaj都拥有一股势不可挡的力量。