Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty aka Nicki Minaj has been in the entertainment game for 20 years now, and on the new Pink Friday 2 World Tour, she is wise to remind you of her reign.
Not many stars could deluge their audience with 15 cuts from their new album and have nearly 30 more songs at the ready to fill up a show, Nicki, arguably the best female rapper in the game can.
And she did Wednesday, Sept. 4., at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly.
Starting off strong with "I'm The Best" to kick off the show, Nicki dipped into the original Pink Friday to get the people on their feet and then reeled off four bangers from the sequel starting with "Barbie Dangerous" through "Press Play" to set the tone that her Barbs are in the house to celebrate the most recent wax.
The platinum-selling fifth studio album was the Trini rapper's third number one LP, which made her the first female rapper to achieve that feat.
On IG and Twitter you might see The Pink Friday 2 World Tour given the hashtag #GagCity. That is a play on the LGBTQ+ slang "gag" which means to be awestruck by something.
This third leg of the tour has seen a new hashtag of #GagCityReloaded as she takes her final victory lap. This is the deluxe version of PF2 that she announced while selling out 79 gigs over three continents.
It's not only a huge personal accomplishment for Nicki, but also for female stars in hip-hop, because there has been a glass ceiling in a way in the genre where the belief was female rappers couldn't headline arena shows around the world.
This tour has proven that trope to be as laughable as it is insulting.
Not only is the 41 year-old packing them in without any gimmicks or giant co-headliners, but listen to them sing her lyrics back at her when she gives her fans a chance.
They know the new tunes, the old ones, and even her featured hits like "No Flex Zone" that she did with Rae Sremmurd a decade ago.
Wanna feel old? Swae Lee is 31 now and Slim Jxmmi is 32.
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Bianca Landrau (who goes by Bia) is the opener on this leg (along with Tyga). You may remember her from the Oxygen series Sisterhood of Hip Hop.
Together they covered her single "WHOLE LOTTA MONEY" and she held her own next to Minaj, who has been known to feud with some, but has also lifted up plenty of female singers and rappers over her time in the game. It's nice to see her support Bia.
For better or worse, on Twitter, where Minaj thrives, so much of the comments about her tour revolve around her look, her hair, her outfits, and her overall image.
This is ironic because when she first came out Minaj was as known for her outrageous wigs as she was for her lightning fast rhymes. Over time she put those almost cartoonish looks aside so she could be taken more seriously.
But alas, when she brought out her 2010 bob wig, everyone noticed.
After she pranced around with Bia, Nicki live debuted "Mamita" from the deluxe version of PF2, GagCityReloaded.
It was just a few weeks ago that Minaj tweeted how happy she was with the sound of her voice on the track, which means the September 13 release date might very well come true.
It's good to please the Queen.
For the next two months Minaj will be traveling around the US reminding people who she is and why she deserves respect, so grab your tickets from her website while you can.
