Steven Klein isn’t the type of man who will do just anyone‘s music video (though looking back at his past three, done for Lady Gaga, Brooke Candy and Kanye West, maybe that’s an overstatement), so for Nicki Minaj to finagle him for the visuals of her lead single, “Chun-Li,” for her forthcoming fourth studio album is certainly no small coup. Named in honor of the first female fighter of the Capcom Street Fighter series, Minaj is perhaps able to get away with mimicking an Asian woman solely because she’s not white. And yes, Minaj is clearly referencing herself as an OG of the rap game by choosing Chun-Li as her alter ego–though, of course, we all know how Lil’ Kim feels about that.
Mimicking the torture prison scenes of secretprojectrevolution, which Klein worked on with Madonna, the intro to the video finds two guards approaching Minaj’s a.k.a Chun-Li’s cell as her voiceover describes, “I knew you’d come. Somehow I just knew you’d find me. Not knowing where I was or when I was coming back sent you crazy. I kept my spies on you though. I didn’t like what they reported back.” All of this clearly being shade to any rap fans suddenly turning their affections to Cardi B, and the album that has solidified the demise of hip hop (in addition to Kanye West’s “slavery was a choice” theory). But she doesn’t stop there, adding, “I thought you were smarter than that. You had to have known that this was strategically designed architecture. Architecture that only I have the pinkprint for.” Of course, at this point Klein’s lens has focused on the black and white image of Minaj’s famed curves, and the controversial backside that goes with them. “Nevertheless, you took the bait.” It is at this moment that Chun-Li stoically strips her attacker of his sword and we dissolve to a motif awash in Miami pinks and purples (at times, rather like the color wheel of Beyoncé’s “6 Inch” video) that Klein is always amenable to when he’s not favoring classic B&W.
In fact, the entire narrative isn’t so much a narrative as Minaj posing and angling in various couture-drenched ensembles, at one point being animated and at another taking a few moments to disinterestedly kick the shit out of her tormentors. And then there is that thread where she’s atop a car against the backdrop of a Tokyo-like cityscape that rather updates the look to Spice Girls’ “Spice Up Your Life.” Dancing street fighters toward the end bring a touch more liveliness, but overall, the entire “plot” of the video is reliant on Klein’s capable stylization and Minaj’s predilection for sporting the finer things as she touts her various accomplishments. In truth, it’s Giovanni Bianco’s take on “Barbie Tingz” that gives Minaj a touch more visual depth.
