The Pinkprint is released

Why it matters

The Pinkprint came out December 15, 2014, on Young Money/Cash Money/Republic. It is Nicki Minaj's third studio album. The title is, in part, a direct response to Jay-Z's The Blueprint (which itself referenced earlier blueprint-titled records); Nicki had been clear in interviews that she was claiming the title as her own commercial statement. The album sold 244,000 copies in its first week and is, by general critical consensus, Nicki's most consistent studio album. "Anaconda" was the lead single and a major commercial moment (the video was viewed more than 19 million times in its first day, then a record for Vevo). "Only" with Drake, Lil Wayne, and Chris Brown. "Truffle Butter." "Bed of Lies." Nicki had spent the previous several years moving between strict rap projects and broader pop crossover; The Pinkprint is the album that consolidated the two registers into one project. She would, by the late 2010s and 2020s, become a more polarizing public figure, but the catalog she built in the early-to-mid-2010s is the catalog. The Pinkprint is the consolidating record. You should hear it.