A very colorful crowd fills the Bayfront Park. Whether it be the pink haired Barbz, the couples who found any excuse to rub on each other, or the mom fighting for her tiny daughters space to see the stage, we are all there for the same reason. To experience the dual performance of Nicki, and her butt.
I channel my inner prairie dog and poke my head from every angle, hoping to be the first to spot Nicki. But the diva makes us wait like some type of cruel foreplay. Finally the stage pulls a magic trick and drops the black curtain revealing a 2 story stage. I began to imagine all possible scenarios. Will she free fall from a helicopter? Swing from a vine like Tarzan? Just when I thought my legs were announcing their retirement, I spot a bundle of hair at a small opening on the floor of the stage. The head of hair rises just enough to show us the beautiful face and tiny arms of Nicki Minaj, then stops. Did they forget to grease the levers on that thing? Was the whole concert going to be just Nicki's head? We scream anyway. A quarter of Nicki is enough to satisfy us. Finally the platform extends like an Inspector Gadget arm. She is above us, teasing us with her black lace cover up. I pray that it somehow gets caught in the contraction she's on so that we can see more booty. It doesn't.
The show begins with "All Things go" where Nicki puts the V in vent and opens up to us as if we had grown up with her on the playground and known her for years. As the first song comes to an end, the tower of Nicki lowers and so does that black vail previously covering her buns. The moment we've all been waiting for! She later goes on to ask "where all the independent women" were, and although I sometimes cannot open my own jars, I proudly lose my shit. It's artist like Nicki who are fertilizing the idea of feminism. We haven't had this much girl power since Spice Girls! So yes, I raise my number 2 in the air when Nicki raps about "shittin on em".
The show picks up when the freakier side of Nicki starts to show. I can feel my heart slowly breaking when only the voice of Beyonce is present during "Feeling Myself" and "Flawless" performance. I send a little prayer to the trap godesses in hopes that they will one day tour together. For the moment being, her stage partner is her boo Meek Mill. They face each other in front of a larger than life screen showing black and white pictures of the proud new couple. She later brings 2 fans on stage, and asks one to take over the microphone. If I would've closed my eyes I wouldn't have been able to tell it wasn't Nicki. Just kidding.
The ending is everything. Our sweat plays a part of glue that makes our clothes stick to us, our hair like we were caught in a Twister and Nicki still takes her time walking up and down the front of the stage, waving like the queen that she is, trying her best to make eye contact with us. It's a moment to let us know that we are present and that this night wasn't just another butt dream.
It's safe to say Nicki left a Pink Print in our pink hearts.