Beam Me Up Scotty (mixtape)

Beam Me Up Scotty was recorded after Lil Wayne noticed Minaj's appearance on Queens-based underground rap label Dirty Money Records on "The Come Up" DVD series.[1] He is credited with mentoring Minaj as she recorded Beam Me Up Scotty, two years after her appearance on "Don't Stop, Won't Stop", a track from Wayne's acclaimed 2007 mixtape Da Drought 3 that sampled "Can't Stop, Won't Stop" by Young Gunz.[2] Minaj says of her time on tour with Lil Wayne: "It made me hungry. That's what inspired me and the music for the Beam Me Up Scotty tape — the I Am Music Tour."[3]

Minaj credits Beam Me Up Scotty with re-focusing her on her music at a time when much of her career efforts were associated with her image:

I was OK, but I wasn't focusing on the music. I was doing pictures and stuff like that, so people knew me more for pictures than my music. But with the Beam Me Up Scotty mixtape, they have to take me seriously as an artist. So, I would say maybe a year ago, I started sharpening my skills. Recently, I've been singing more. Now it's official – it's going down like 'Town Julie Brown.[4]

"I Get Crazy", featuring Lil Wayne, charted on the U.S. R&B charts due to heavy airplay.[5] A music video for the song "Itty Bitty Piggy" was released for the song due to popular demand.[6] The video is shots of Nicki performing the song live at a club concert and behind the scenes of the Beam Me Up Scotty photo shoot. The video was premiered on Hoodaffairs on Demand who also had a part in shooting the clip.[7] "Go Hard", featuring Lil Wayne, was promoted with a music video shot by director Koach K. Rich.

Beam Me Up Scotty was well received by critics and fans alike receiving an average score of 78.[9] MTV's Mixtape Daily chose Beam Me Up Scotty as its weekly pick on May 4, 2009, giving the album positive reviews: "Yeah, you are going to hear a bunch of more-than-just-friendly shout-outs to the ladies – Nicki says she loves the girls and has no problem surrounding herself with "bad bitches." Mixtape Daily favored tracks such as "I Get Crazy (feat. Lil Wayne)", "Kill the DJ" & "Envy".[10] Beam Me Up Scotty is credited with helping distinguish Minaj as a popular female figure in a male-dominated genre.

BET.com's SoundOff TV gave Minaj a positive review on her mixtape while commenting on impressions of Minaj herself: "I’m not going to front, when Nicki first hit my 'new rapper radar' I immediately hit the 'I’ll pass' button since the parallels between her and Lil' Kim were extremely similar. Dark skin thick girl rapping about explicit issues we only talk about behind closed doors – yeah, I’d say she was a carbon copy. But after removing the stubborn sticker from my forehead, I sat down and dissected shorty’s material and the parallels didn’t exist like I once thought."[11]

In his consumer guide for MSN Music, critic Robert Christgau gave Beam Me Up Scotty an A- rating,[8] indicating "the kind of garden-variety good record that is the great luxury of musical micromarketing and overproduction. Anyone open to its aesthetic will enjoy more than half its tracks".[12]

According to Rob Molster of The Cavalier Daily, Beam Me Up Scotty "garnered [Minaj] a reputation for delivering vicious lyrics with a fresh style...[and] also revealed Minaj to have a knack for invoking alternative personalities, adding another layer to her already complex persona."[5] The recording is credited with helping to create Minaj's fanbase.[13] Shortly after its release, Minaj, along with other Cash Money/Young Money artists, appeared on MTV.com's Mixtape Daily to discuss the recording.[3][14]