Fans turned out in their droves to watch the "Queen" perform the West Midlands leg of her World Tour.
With a string of bad PR surrounding the North American tour and two cancelled shows in Europe, anticipation ran high for the Arena Birmingham performance which for many could make or break her dwindling title as the Queen of Rap.
Would she be an hour late as she was in London? Would streams of fans be forced to chant the name of her rap rival Cardi B after a cancelled show as was the case in Bordeaux?
Thankfully both predictions were only partly true for yesterday’s show and the Trinian-born rapper and singer along with her supporting acts still managed to put on an entertaining show.
Homegrown R&B artist Ray BLK was the perfect choice for opening the show. Her vivacious infectious personality hyped up the crowd as she belted out her most popular hits including Run Run, Chill Out and Got my Own.
After a short break, she was followed by American rapper, Juice Wrld who paid tribute to artists who died in the last year such as Mac Miller and XXX Tentacion. He rounded off his set with his UK hit, Lucid Dreams, as the audience eagerly chanted for Nicki.
Up until this point, the standing area was only half full and empty spaces littered the seating area which was worrying considering promoters allegedly struggled to sell out the tour, having to resort to 2-4-1 ticket offers.
At around 9.20pm, text on the screen announced: "the Queen will be on stage in 90 seconds".
Only 30 minutes later than scheduled, the rapper emerged on stage atop a huge pink sparkling pegasus to the son, Majesty - a collaboration with UK artist Labrinth.
To get the crowd going she performed some of her most popular songs including, Feeling Myself and Truffle Butter.
One of the most hilarious moments of the show was Nicki’s attempt at an English accent in which she asked: “Has anyone brought me any scones?”
2019 concerts
It all seemed to be going well and controversy-free until after the first interval. The microphone and DJ’s sound equipment conked out.
Word of advice to Nicki's team? Get a new sound engineer. The rest of the European tour has also been plagued by reports of “technical issues”.
Despite this, the audience were supportive and chanted her name and acoustically sang along to Your Love until it was resolved.
Once it was all up and running, Nicki had a surprise for the crowd in the shape of Brummie rapper, Lady Leshur .
After belting out Brush Your Teeth, the local artist coyly played on the feud between Nicki and Cardi B by saying: “Queen Nicki inspired most of the female rappers that are out here but they won’t admit it”, to which the American rapper replied with a sly smile: “My lips are sealed.”
Acknowledging her West Indian roots, the performer also brought out Jamaican artist, Stylo G, Lisa Mercedez and Ms Banks from the UK.
All in all, Ms Minaj certainly knows how to work a crowd and her Birmingham fans showered her in adoration. Is this enough to keep the crown as the Queen of Rap?
Only new music rather than relying on old pop classics can determine that.
