[Review] Trina - Amazin'

Artist: Trina
Album: Amazin'
Release Date: 4th May 2010
Producers: Jim Jonsin, J.R. Rotem, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, DJ Frank E, Mario Winans, Hitsquad, Oddz N Endz, Schife, OhZee, CP Hollywood, KParn, Maxwell Smart, Blackout Movement, DVS Productions, Young Yonny and Bigg D & Lamb.
Guests: Diddy, Keri Hilson, Lil' Wayne, Rick Ross, Lady Saw, Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida, Git Fresh, Lyfe Jennings, Kalenna Harper, Shonie & Monica.

Despite only having a handfull of successfull female rappers in the industry, the gender fight for the 'Queen of Hip Hop' title is very competitive. While Lil' Kim unarguably held the position in the mid to late 90's, a series of legal troubles and issues within the music industry and record labels have resulted in a lack of recent material being released, and her popularity has also faded.

Foxy Brown may have also been a competitor for Kim in the past, again she has been in the middle of pointless legal disputes which have kept her on MTV news for the wrong reasons.

But it seems every male (and some females if you read the rumours) are all after one name whom has become linked with Young Money rapper, Lil' Wayne..... Nicki Minaj. Nicki has exploded onto the scene like Drake did last year with feature after feature, and now it is almost certain that she is sitting on the thrown. She has already appeared on various other albums such as the new Usher CD, Ludacris's Battle Of The Sexes, as well as hooking up with Mariah Carey, Bobby Valentino, Lil' Wayne and the rest of the Young Money crew.

So has all of this taken the shine away from Trina? The Miami rapper has always been consistant on the Hip Hop scene, and is returning with a 5th studio album - 'Amazin'. While I was left disappointed with her last CD, I was still a little bit skeptical with the new album. Rumours appeared on the internet of collaborations with Lady Gaga and Diddy, I wasn't sure whether or not this would materialise into some sort of super CD.

However, when I got this copy of the album, and looked through the tracklist, I was left puzzled as to why the Lady Gaga collaboration had been replaced with Dirty Money's Kalenna Harper. It was sort of reminiscent of two years ago when we were promised that Christina Milian was going to be singing the hook on 'Single Again', the lead single on the last album. Whether this was due to some sort of legal issue with the record labels, fans who want to hear the Lady Gaga version of the song can still find it on Youtube.

The album starts off quite positive, witht the lead single, 'Million Dollar Girl' with Keri Hilson and Diddy featured. The song is very commercial, and seems to carry more of a pop feel than would you get with the rest of the album. While female rivaly has been quite sharp in the past, with various feuds between the artists, it is quite suprising to see Trina feature Nicki Minaj on the album despite most of the attention now switching to the Young Money artist. And if you think that was a suprise, it was also strange seeing her ex, Lil' Wayne on there too, especially since we have learned that Weezy has since fathered several children to several women....almost at the same time!

Overall, the album is strong, but I was a little bit disappointed that there is no more than a handfull of songs which I enjoyed. 'Dang A Lang' is a very sexual song, as the title suggests, but apart from that, there does not appear to be the flabour that you would expect after seeing the list of producers. J.R. Rotem has been a hitmaker of late, but he did not shine on this time out, as did J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, and it is the same throughout. Maybe the label blew the budget on getting Nicki Minaj.

5/10