I really would like to dig Kid Sister. When there are so few female MCs on offer and with a chance of succeeding, I'd like for every single one of them to be irresistible, which is, of course, unfair, both because my standards are particularistic, and because what set of dudes so I submit them to? But there's something about her flow in her latest "Big 'n' Bad" that isn't quite working for me:
I don't know if it's a function of her accent, or the production on this particular song, or if she's just going at a speed that's slightly above her threshold for comprehensibility, but I'm a pretty good listener, and I'm losing at least a third of her lyrics in this one. I don't think you should be able to memorize every word in a song the first time you hear it, but I think you should be able to comprehend every line. Not everyone can go exceptionally fast, or even fast, and even meet that comprehensibility standard. I've said many times before that one of the reasons I like Eminem so much is because he's fast and clear—even if I find what he's saying tiresome, I find his skills compelling. But if you can't be fast and clear, it's better to slow it down and be articulate. I think that's actually one of the reasons I like Nicki Minaj; she knows to stay within range of her skill set. Speaking of which, how cute is the video for "Your Love"?
I really like the high-fashion and amateur-theatricality pairing in this. It feels sort of like a hip-hop Pacific Overtures. The one thing I wish is that the sword fight was a little better-choreographed. It's a bit goofy, in a video where everything else is working. For a song about a guy who carries hundreds of thousands of dollars in his pockets, and for a singer whose make her name in being outre, I think this is remarkably restrained: the cloth river and the cloth blood, the simple wooden bridge, the absence of distinguishing sets. I wouldn't have expected the simplicity, and I'm gratified by finding it.