It's a well-known fact that any song sounds better if you add a Nicki Minaj guest verse. Britney Spears's 'Til the World Ends hardly needed improving and yet Minaj's unhinged opening rap on the remix does just that, Willow Smith's disappointing Fireball is partially saved by her and, of course, Kanye West's Monster is totally owned by her frenetic final verse. She'd probably even improve something by Mumford & Sons.
After the huge success of Pink Friday's Super Bass – a song that's been nearly as omnipotent as anything Adele has done this year – the stakes are high for her second album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, due in February. For those who need a quick recap, Roman is Minaj's male gay alter-ego, and it's he who will dominate the album, with early teaser single Roman in Moscow detailing how she's brought him out of retirement (expect this all to get quite boring by February to be honest).
Stupid Hoe is the second song to emerge from the album (it's not the single – apparently that's called Va Va Voom), and like Roman in Moscow it seems to forgo a chorus or even an actual tune in favour of cute one-liners. These one-liners tend to work well as part of a frantic cameo on someone else's song, but here it sounds more like she's run out of ideas. With an opening verse that mentions Brad, Angelina and Jennifer Anniston (very 2009) and an extended attack on rap foe Lil Kim, it feels like something that could have come off an early mixtape. Still, at least the production – all double-quick drum claps and strange squeaking sound effects – allows her to showcase that breathless rapping style, which is still something she does better than anyone.
