Saturday, April 18, 2015

Nicki Minaj: The Story of Roman

This post is just going to break down Nicki's character Roman Zolanski in the songs "Roman's Revenge," "Roman Holiday," "Roman in Moscow," and "Moment 4 Life."
There is a continuing story arch throughout these songs:

Roman's Revenge:
Roman comes out as homosexual and all his friends turn on him. His mother, Martha, is frightened and thinks the devil possessed him.

Roman Holiday:
Martha tries to change Roman. She tries having him exorcized, but that didn't work. This song has a lot of Christian and church themes, such as a bridge covering "Come All Ye Faithful." After Martha realizes Roman is still gay, she sends him off on a "Roman Holiday."

Moment 4 Life:
In the video, Martha tells Nicki Minaj that Roman has been sent to boarding school is Moscow. This school is a rehabilitation center for homosexuality.

Roman in Moscow:
Roman is pissed. He goes on a rampage after Nicki Minaj saves him from the school. He yells at Martha that he is who he is. He also yells at his friends who abandoned him because they treated him like he was less than a man. He fights back that for coming out and having that courage, he is the strongest man of them all.

Roman then died soon after. It is unclear as to whether Minaj will resurrect him.

Roman isn't this angry, malevolent character. In other songs such as "Raining Men" and "Give Me All Your Luvin'" he is lighter and fun-loving.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hari I feel like you have been waiting a long time to break this down. I want to personally suggest the app Rap Genius because it helps to break down artists lyrics. It honestly astounds me all of the time how meaningful a lot of artists' lyrics are. Such as "You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon being chubby checker and his alcohol problem.