Nicki Minaj has never looked better in a video than she does in “The Boys.” Cassie, who is stunning, bares most of her, ehm, assets for the clip. The girls strut besides and inside of cars, immobile for the sake of the traditional girls-with-cars trope in hip-hop videos.
The “The Boys” of hip-hop, much of Minaj’s new video will ring familiar, albeit in furious colors of magenta, aggressive greens, volcanic reds and the rapper’s favorite color pink — conveniently coordinated with their bikinis. Barbie and her hook-singing guest literally stop traffic with their look, and where else would they be headed but the salon? The leading ladies also flirt with each other throughout, Minaj even simulating going down on her comely friend.
On its face (pun intended), “The Boys” pretty much follows all the rules for a proper male gaze. Except for the part where Minaj sets a barber shop on fire, killing its inhabitants.
If you don’t listen closely to the lyrics (which is somewhat impossible to do, considering the crystal-clearness of that refrain), this track takes solid aim at the boys of hip-hop, how they expect their “love” to be hand-delivered as a commodity: “They want to touch it, taste it, see it, pet it, bone it, own it.” Here, Cassie and Minaj even put a bow on it.
Minaj’s “revenge” to that notion is carried out in her sentencing, letting loose of her flame-thrower. She and its creators also try to mix up the genders, by putting Cassie in a suit without a shirt on underneath, for instance, or Nicki rocking denim in a princess-styled two-piece. Minaj’s attack on the barber shop actually seems methodical, pre-planned, less as an actual violent act and more of a warning, that if this is how “the boys” carry on, they’re gonna get burned.
Unfortunately, though, the glossiness of this package will override any social commentary it actually brings to the table. As is evident already through Minaj’s Twitter response and retweets, fans are arriving on the other side, naturally, responding “OMG bikini ” and the ilk. It’s disappointing, after how punk, rude and awesome the single was when it first dropped. Minaj is giving it to “the boys”… by giving them what they want, with only a whiff of danger.
But, hey, at least it’s still better than “Starships.”
“The Boys” is the new single off of “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, The Re-Up,” a confusingly titled repackaging of confoundingly titled “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded,” due on Nov. 19.