We remember when every line Nick Minaj spat seemed like a battle cry. Now, after a long album cycle of pop radio sweetness and cotton candy cute, a bonus track has emerged from around the time of Pink Friday's recording, produced by Swizz Beatz. The beat is hard and she sounds pissed, like her boxing gloves are firmly on. Then the chorus kicks in, and she is crooning like an R&B romantic. What's going on here? Maybe this is how all of Pink Friday was supposed to sound—a powerful hybrid of pugnacity and sugar, instead of what actually happened, with pop sensibilities taking over the whole affair. Even the song's subject matter seems to synthesize her personalities: it's about fighting, sure, but fighting over a boyfriend.
Download: Nicki Minaj, "Catch Me"
