December 7, 2023
Ahead of New Nicki Minaj Album, We're Entering Fan-Built 'Gag City'
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 5 MIN.
Not just building a city on rock and roll, Nicki Minaj fans have used AI-generated imagery to envision the pink-hued environs of "Gag City" ahead of Minaj's new album, "Pink Friday 2," which drops Dec. 8.
Minaj herself may have been an inspiration for the rapid rise of the flamboyantly colored virtual architecture, much of which can be seen on X (formerly Twitter). Ahead of the new album, the singer "released the album cover, which showed the Super Bass rapper standing on what looked to be a pink subway platform above pink clouds and a pink-tinted city," noted UK newspaper the Mirror.
"Her fans, lovingly called the Barbz, decided that the city below her on the album cover was named Gag City, a play on the word 'gagged,' which can be used to describe something, usually a celebrity, as amazing or stunning," the Mirror clarified.
"After Gag City was named, fans were left wondering what the city could possibly look like, so they turned to AI."
Certain quarters of X promptly became virtual neighborhoods for the Town that Minaj Fans Built. The Mirror noted that "all the buildings [are] tinted pink and its citizens [wear] Nicki's signature pink bobbed wig.
The creative phenom took off with such speed that contributors to the massive collab winked at its overnight success.
"Fans have even gone so far as to ask AI to create spas, radio halls, and marijuana dispensaries that are presumably used to boost the city's economy," the newspaper marveled.
Generously, Barbz have allowed that Minaj isn't the only game in town. The news outlet related that "fans are asking AI to create what it would look like when other celebrities visit Gag City, like Michael Jackson or Ariana Grande."
Other elements of the wider pop culture also readily seeped across the borders of the digital metropolis.
Even so, Minaj remains very much the mayor, if you will, of Gag City, as seen in "AI images of 'Nicki Minaj... giving away free CDs to the poor on the outskirts of Gag City,'" the Mirror recounted, not to mention one tweet that envisions how "Nicki will be giving her 'I Had a Gag' speech tomorrow ahead of pink friday 2 release."
Minaj herself got in on the fun – and inspired more AI artwork.
Minaj's "Pink Friday 2" drops tomorrow, Dec. 8.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
