Music Review: Nicki Minaj & Lil' Wayne "High School"
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Nicki Minaj & Lil’ Wayne
High School
Album: Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded: The Re-Up
Year: 2013
Nicki Minaj rehabilitates her boyfriend after his recent prison release in the choppy “High School.”
Glinting synths open the single, setting a serene tone. He takes a bottle of vodka and hands her one of her own. After he turns his back and she hears the click of the bottle opening, she puts other vodka away. He could spend all day drinking and wants her to join in with him. She did once and as she learned, though, he can be a mean drunk. Since then, she tries to minimize his liquor intake. She sits on his lap and starts kissing her neck. She puts his bottle down and says she would like for them to have a private party in their bedroom. She hopes she can get into AA eventually. She met him through some friends about a year and a half ago. He was originally came from Jamaica but managed to stay in the United States with some forged visas. He said there was nothing for him there. However, he had gotten into drug dealing and was living well. He had finished his 5 year sentence for drug possession and trafficking. He was selling heroin in the suburbs and cocaine to the jail. His girlfriend at the time told all everything to the DEA. At the trial, she said she was afraid for their little boy. Crime, it seemed to her, was the only way he had known how to survive. It wasn’t a life he wanted to lead. She decided to take him on. She let him move into her place and was able to find him a job with her brother. He hadn’t been anywhere else other than New York. She decided he needed to see other places, too. She planned a vacation for them in Belgium after he received the first real paid time off he’s ever had. Now, he lives in a nice home with a beautiful view of the city. She won’t let him go back to jail ever again. She’s the one person in his life who actually gives a damn about him. (“He said he came from Jamaica, he owned a couple acres/A couple fake visas cause he never got his papers/Gave up on love, fucking with them heart breakers/But he was gettin' money with the movers and the shakers/He was mixed with a couple things, ball like a couple rings/Bricks in the condo and grams to Sing Sing/Left arm, baby mother tatted/5-year bid up north when they ratted/Anyway, I felt him, helped him, put him on lock, seat belt him/Took him out to Belgium, welcome/Bitches this pretty, that's seldom/This box better than the box he was held in/I'm Momma Dee in that order, I call him Daddy like daughters/He like it when I get drunk, but I like it when he be sober/That's top of the toppa, I never fuck with beginners/I let him play with my ***** then lick it off of his fingers/I'm in the zone.”)
In the chorus, she says she’s not going to screw him over. They aren’t kids trying to power trip over one another. Her friends are his friends. He’s free and can do whatever he wants (within legal limits.) (“They holler at me but it's you/You, this ain't high school/Me and my crew, we can slide through/Give it to you whenever you want/Put it wherever you want/Baby, it's yours/Anywhere, everywhere/Baby, it's your world, ain't it?/Baby, it's your world, ain't it?”)
Lil’ Wayne thinks she’s no different from the other women who betrayed him. All she does is sleep around. He thinks she’s has another guy she’s seeing. He doesn’t like her best friend. She’s a lesbian and it squicks him out. Minaj told him that she dated her for a while. She said she was confused and trying to figure things out. She has a mean side to her, too. It’s why she can’t get along with her mom. She doesn’t ever work enough to pay for the bills. He tells her to find a real job all the time. She snaps back that she needs a ring first. He guffaws, saying she’s delusional. She accuses him of cheating on her. He tells her that she’s playing around, too. He instructs her to put on a tube top and booty shorts. When people hear him say that to her, their jaws drop. He tells them to fuck off. However, she’s an excellent lay which is why he stays and that’s it’s a place to crash. Then, one day she says she’s pregnant. He denies that it’s his. (“She got a ***** at home, and one on the side/Best friend is a dyke, they fucked around a few times/Her and her momma alike, so all they do is fight/I tell her make me some money, she tell me "make me a wife"/I tell her, "Bitch, you crazy, fuck wrong with you?"/And excuse my French, but I'm a long kisser/And then she try to tell me I'm the only one that's hittin'/And I say, "What about them ****** ?" She say, "What about them ******?"/You right, what you doing tonight?/Put on something tight, don't judge me, I get life/She love me like a brother, but fuck me like a husband/***** like a oven, too hot to put my tongue in/All I had to do is rub it, the genie out the bottle/***** so wet, I'mma need goggles/She tell me that's it's mine, I tell her stop lying/Mine and who else? She say worry 'bout yourself/Lil Tune.”)
Minaj raps the chorus again.
In the final section, Minaj thinks she can change him if she has enough sex with him. (“I know you want it, boy/I see you tryin'/Just keep on pushin'/I'm a let you slide in/Just close your eyes and/This horizon/It's ready, come get you some/Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.”)
Minaj’s managerial rap lays down the law. From her point of view, he’s paid he’s debt to society and deserves another chance. He can be a benefit to society. His alcoholism is troubling, though. However, he can be saved. From a lyrical standpoint, it’s Minaj at her best. It sneaks a political message about prison reformation.
Lil’ Wayne’s contemptous rap reminds Minaj who pays her bills. He’s a misognyistic, homophobic waste of space undoing the goodwill Minaj created. He turns her into the villian for simply asking him to take responsibility. In the end, he makes Minaj look foolish and a violent enabler. She had it handled. All Lil’ Wayne is interference.
In the meddled “High School” Minaj builds a great story until Lil’ Wayne knocks it down, not to be outdone.