THERE'S DEFINITELY a lot of hype surrounding Nicki Minaj. And for good reason, I suppose. In April 2009 she got coverage on BET and MTV with a mixtape.

She won Female Artist of the Year at the Underground Music Awards in 2008. This year she won Best New Artist and Best Female Hip-Hop Artist at the BET Awards and won another 3 awards at the BET Hip-Hop Awards.

All this took place before she put out an album. So it's expected that, with that debut album "Pink Friday" in stores now, people are going to want her to deliver in a way she never did before. Does she?

Nicki has an energy that creates her signature style. Whether she is aggressive and in-your-face or trying something a little more somber, she's good at getting attention at the start of a track. Keeping it throughout, when the lyrics start flowing, are sometimes a different story.

The eccentric delivery that she applies to her raps don't compensate for a general lack of lyrical content and skill, but only makes it tolerable over the beat. Her rhymes aren't risky, interesting, or even at some points consistent, instead apparently aiming to just sound good.

At most places it's pretty much drippy boastfulness that quickly becomes repetitive or turns incoherent.

The beats in this album are a pure joy to listen to, but often times on their own. You're sure to sit and admire the simple catchiness of some of these tunes.

Most likely while that's going on you'll forget there are words over it or be annoyed by the unnecessary distraction. They aren't the overly simplistic, bass-heavy stuff you're used to, but a little better tailored to what Nicki does — or tries to do — on the track...well, Nicki and her alter-egos.

Nicki Minaj tries on more than one style for different songs on this album - the Nicki that we're all used to, the Slim-Shady-like Roman Zolanski that appeared in "Roman's Revenge" and the gentler Onika Maraj.

Of all three personas that Minaj adopts in the album, Onika is the most pleasing to the air.

It is an extreme shift from the rap present in the rest of the album, and a sound for sore ears; her singing talent may not be extraordinary, but it is definitely both surprising and soothing, and adds a pop and R&B element to some of the tracks.

Even more pleasing are the opportunities that it isn't forced to accompany her raps but is given its own time to shine, like 'Save Me', one of her much more somber tracks.

Even over the more rap-centric beats, her voice seems to float over in a way that her still-decent hip-hop flow just doesn't. Of course the rabid energy of Roman and the calm boastfulness of Nicki are both entertaining, but when met with the calming vocals that Onika brings to the table, it's hard to not be slightly touched.

As with every rap album, there are collaborations. With "Pink Friday" in particular, most of the featured names are expected. With the similarities between Minaj's rage-filled, active style and that of Eminem, there is an at least entertaining "Roman's Revenge" with both of them side-by-side.

They match each other in style and delivery and it makes for a lively tune, but don't bring anything of quality. With Minaj lending her lyrical input to Rihanna's latest album "Loud", she returns the favor in this album with the hook for "Fly", which works well for the song despite the fact that it doesn't give the song anything that Nicki couldn't provide herself.

Her Young Money Entertainment colleague Drake touches down on "Moment 4 Life", with his own signature delivery that almost always catches. After her presence on his "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" track, "Monster", Kanye West features in her song "Blazin", where he has a natural presence there that is easily felt to the point where it feels like he takes over the track.

Somewhat surprising is the bubbly "Check It Out", featuring and produced by will.i.am, which still holds the pop sound of most of his work. Even more unexpected was the final song of the album, "Last Chance" featuring one of Minaj's influences, Natasha Bedingfield, which brings a slight rock twist to the album but could have put Bedingfield's beautiful voice to greater use.

It may not yet fit the definition of horrible. However, not only does it not live up to the hype but it doesn't completely fit the definition of good either.

A good talent for riding a beat is thrown away with mediocre lyrical content, and Onika's pure singing voice is something you will quickly find yourself wanting to hear more of on its own.

The features do well to save it to a degree though, and the music supporting it all is still sure to make you bob your head in the maxi with your ipod on and your earphones in. Some of these songs should be in any playlist, but on a while, "Pink Friday" isn't even good on a really good day.

Rating: Break it!

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