Nicki Minaj is a dark empress in the new video for her icy Queen track “Hard White.” The Mike Ho-directed clip, which was released on Thursday night (Jan. 31), opens with a regal Minaj strutting down a neon walkway in the dark wearing a shimmering silver cape before jumping to a dark image of her in a flowing, goth-y black dress with a spiky crown on her head.
“Work hard just to get half back/ (Used to) work hard just to get half back/ (Now I’m) gettin’ to it that way/ Straight up, straight up,” Minaj raps over the grinding !Illmind beat. A bit early for Halloween, the American Horror Story-style visual is filled with spooky imagery, from dead crows with bleeding beaks to rows of spent shell casings and groups of ashen-faced zombies. Through it all, Minaj sits on a throne in her silver Gaultier metal bodysuit and espouses the value of grinding while the undead writhe around her.
Minaj recently became the first female artist with 100 career visits to the Billboard Hot 100 chart after debuting at No. 83 on the survey dated Nov. 10 as the featured artist on Tyga’s “Dip.” The rapper is slated to kick off the European leg of her NIcki WRLD Tour on Feb. 21 in Munich, Germany at Olympiahalle.
Watch the “Hard White” video below.