Roman in Moscow

Album: single release only (2011)
Charted: 64
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Songfacts®:

  • This song sees the Queens native Nicki Minaj rapping as her foul mouthed gay boy alter ego Roman Zolanski. Minaj has claimed in interviews that Roman is her twin and she becomes him when angry. The song was released to iTunes and to the radio on December 2, 2011.
  • Roman Zolanski has been compared to Eminem's alter ego Slim Shady, and on the song "Roman's Revenge," Minaj and Eminem trade bars as their second selves. Other appearances by the potty-mouthed, nihilistic gay boy include on Trey Song's "Bottoms Up," Kanye West's "Monster" and Minaj's own "Moment 4 Life."
  • The song and video finds Minaj as Roman Zolanski taking shots and spitting out insults all over Moscow. Minaj explained to MTV News: "Well, he was there [in Moscow] secretly because [alter ego] Martha wanted him to go there, so they put him in this thing with monks and nuns; they were trying to rehabilitate him."
  • The song was produced by Street Runner (Lil Wayne) and Raymond "Sarom" Diaz (Royce da 5'9"). After their beat initially caught Minaj's ear, it took about a moth for the production duo to tweak their instrumental to the Queens MC's satisfaction. "Once we heard from Nicki's camp that they were really interested in the track, we had to go back in on it and tailor make it a little more for her," StreetRunner told MTV News. "It took a good eight tries to get it into pocket, but once we got it, we knew it."

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