Album: Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday... Roman Reloaded (Young Money/Universal)

Why is American hip-hop running scared of critics? Minaj refused to send out review copies of her second album, but it leaked anyway.

It starts poorly with "Roman Holiday", on which Minaj affects the worst Mockney accent since Audrey Hepburn, and thereafter alternates between exuberant chart pop and sparse, low-slung beats and pottymouthed bragging. Overlong at 19 tracks, it has its moments. There, Nicki. Was that so scary?