Naming an album after a Matrix sequel is definitely tempting fate. Based on the tracks we’ve already heard, Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded looks like it might be something of a spiritual cousin to the film: heartless, mechanical, an exercise in diminishing returns.

Street single ‘Roman Reloaded’ didn’t really hit the mark, and ‘Starships’ was the worst sort of hollow cash-grab. Does ‘Champion’ break the run? Well, not especially.

The instrumental is an exercise in gloomy pomp, all martial rum-pum-pum and tin-can melodrama. The unloveable chorus promises a “celebration”, but the mood is dour. Minaj keeps thinks restrained; her tone is ultra-controlled, and her lyrics – ‘this one for the hood, this one for the kids’ – show her sticking to the script. Nas, hoarse and disinterested, doesn’t sound much like Nas at all. As with the Wayne feature on ‘Roman Reloaded’, Minaj simply isn’t getting the best out of her collaborators.

Drake, clearly in familiar sonic territory, fares much better: his reedy voice cuts through the sonic fog like a barber’s razor. Young Jeezy, oddly enough, comes out best. In contrast to Minaj’s pitch-corrected chorus, Jeezy’s grizzled voice naturally sounds like its been through the bitcrusher; his guest spot adds a bit of personality to an otherwise fairly faceless cut. ‘Champion’, for all its start power, further suggests that Minaj – once irrepressible – is playing things straight for now.

You can download ‘Champion’ here.