Roman Holiday (song)

"Roman Holiday" is a song by rapper Nicki Minaj, released as the opening track from her second album, '' Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded'' (2012). It was written by Minaj, Larry Nacht, Winston Thomas and Safaree Samuels, and produced by Blackout (Thomas) and Pink Friday Productions. Two months prior to the album's official release, Minaj performed what many viewed as a controversial rendition of the song at the 54th Grammy Awards ceremony on February 12, 2012, which received controversy from the Catholic Church for the usage of religious imagery. Minaj was the first solo female rapper to perform at the Grammys.

Background

In an interview with MTV, Minaj discussed the fate of her character and alter-ego, Roman Zolanski: "...if you're not familiar with Roman, then you will be familiar with him very soon. He's the boy that lives inside of me. He's a lunatic and he's gay, and he'll be on ''Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded'' (the new album) a lot." Minaj imagined Roman as having been exiled to Russia. "Well, he was there n Moscowsecretly because Martha wanted him to go there. So they put him in this thing with monks and nuns; they were trying to rehabilitate him." Minaj debuted the character live during a controversial performance at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards.

Composition

"Roman Holiday" is a fast-paced hip-hop and pop rap song influenced by opera music that runs for four minutes and five seconds. It features complex production, utilizing elements such as rattling sound effects, sonic drops, synths, and lasers. The chorus is sung by singer Marissa Bregman. The song also references the traditional hymn "Oh Come All Ye Faithful".

Critical reception

Jessica Hopper, from '' Spin'' magazine, called the song "nearly flawless" and "pure theater, the closest hip-hop's gotten to its own 'Bohemian Rhapsody', full of thrilling crescendos and twitchy verses that verge on the ridiculous, but always shift toward the triumphant." She described the song as part of the "gratifying front end (of the album)" and dismissed "subsequent pop tracks as a paying of the piper": "The too-perfect, Dr. Luke-produced songs are her penance for sneaking deranged yodeling ode 'Roman Holiday' in there." Jim Farber of '' New York Daily News'' praised the song's style and philosophy: "The peak parts of the star's second CD, ''Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded'', turn that trend smack on its back. The rhythms, textures and inflections of the best tracks far outfreak, and outwit, any get-up the star has ever sported. Take the opening cut, 'Roman Holiday'. When Minaj previewed this ditty on the Grammys back in February, her zany (some said blasphemous) theatrics obscured the originality of both the beat and of Minaj's rapping attack. On the disk, you can bask in her fitful, stuttering style—a manic cadence informed by its own grace. In the space of one track, Minaj mixes pitches and flows to create as much rhythmic surprise as a top comic. Using the persona of Roman Zolanski—the most amped-up gay man imaginable—Minaj unleashes a great spew of profane humor. She matches that to vocal and percussive rhythms that meld a Trinidadian patois, a New York attitude and a hip hop bounce. Such a pan-cultural swirl shoots Missy Elliott's brand of hip-hop surreality to the moon."

Jody Rosen of ''Rolling Stone'', said "Nicki Minaj is a purist's nightmare. She doesn't just straddle pop categories, she dumps them in a Cuisinart, whips them to a frothy purée, then trains a guided missile at the whole mess." To illustrate his point, Rosen went on to describe "Roman Holiday": "(The album) ''Roman Reloaded'' opens with Minaj – a biracial woman from Queens via Trinidad – ranting in the voice of her (Polish?) homosexual 'twin brother' alter ego. In the same song, she takes on the voice of Martha Zolanski, Roman's mother, singing in a cartoon Cockney accent. 'Take your medication, Roman,' counsels Minaj/Martha. 'Quack, quack to a duck and a chicken, too/Put the hyena in a freakin' zoo,' answers Minaj/ Roman. Later, she bursts into 'O Come, All Ye Faithful." Al Fox of the BBC
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