Ever the calculating businesswoman, Nicki Minaj took a relatively low-budget video and managed to spin it into a must-see video. How? By placing her two soft lips on hip-hop legend and recently divorced rapper Nas.
The romance angle with Drake worked for a little bit, but that one at least made some sense, since they had the Young Money connection between them. But Nas and Nicki? By smooching and cuddling with Nicki, Nas is lending the Nickster some of his street cred, which has taken a hit since Nicki began producing dance-pop anthems like "Turn Me On" and "Starships."
And the deal is mutually beneficial, as it provides Nas with some much needed PR and star power for his upcoming album, Life Is Good, which has seen little buzz. The only problem with this genius pairing? Chris Brown has to tag along.
Watch the video for Nicki's latest single below
This is Nicki's way of scaling things down and going back to basics. She has one wig, a few regular outfits and a hoodie.
Benny Boom deserves credit for putting together something so simple and sweet. The colors are a friendly pastel shade and the lighting gives you a storybook feeling. Considering the nightmarish divorce Nas recently went through with Kelis, he probably had to pinch himself to make sure he was still alive after experiencing such sweet love.
Nicki and Nas have believable chemistry as well. Nas plays cool and controlled to Nicki's bubbling enthusiasm. It's just unfortunate that Chris Brown had to be third-wheeled in there. Since Nas took on the role of the love interest, Benny just kind of stuck Chris in the middle without placing him in the video's plot in any logical way.
Couldn't Nicki just have cut a solo version of the track instead?
