Mariah Carey went gold with September’s Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, but that wasn’t good enough for Island Def Jam; her label’s now attempting to beat a few more sales out of that dead horse with the Keanu Reeves–indebted remix and duets album Angel’s Advocate. Two new clips — “Up Out My Face†with Nicki Minaj and “Angels Cry†with Ne-Yo — were released today ahead of the album’s March release, and, gloriously, both were co-directed by Nick Cannon. We’re featuring “Face†not because the new take taps into the original’s underlying genius or anything, but solely thanks to the presence of Minaj: The Lil Wayne cohort has accrued some mixtape buzz, but this is her biggest commercial platform to date, and we’re wondering if she’s got what it takes to get famous.
Minaj is the latest in a long line of hypersexual female emcees, but her shtick can be pretty funny (like on Young Money’s “Bedrock,†when she audibly wonders if now is the right time to put a certain part of her anatomy on a guy’s sideburns). She acquits herself well in the spotlight, dropping a few sharp lines (we like: “I bob and weave ‘em, hit ‘em wit that Mayweather jab/I get the thumbs up like I’m hailing a yellow cab/My flow nuts like M&M’s in a yellow bagâ€). Check it out and let us know what you think. (Bonus: there’s a Nick Cannon cameo!)