Lyrically , " Roman 's Revenge " has been described as " unrelenting " , " bonkers " , " angry " and " outrageous " . Critics found Minaj 's lyrics as intense and incisive , but Eminem 's rap has been noted as being similar to his earlier work and contains misogyny and homophobia . Many critics questioned Minaj 's alter-ego , Roman Zolanski , as being an " angry gay male " because it was expected that the rappers would go toe-to-toe in-between verses . The song makes references to Disney 's Princess Jasmine and Aladdin , iPods , and New York Giant Eli Manning as well as the song " Scenario " by A Tribe Called Quest , the latter of which is referenced through the line " Rawr , rawr like a dungeon dragon " which is taken from Busta Rhymes ' verse in " Scenario . " David Jeffries of '' AllMusic '' called the song the key track of the album , referring to Minaj as a savage as she " roars like a tiger " while standing up to Eminem . Brad Wete of '' Entertainment Weekly '' called the song " merciless " , as Nicki/Roman tears into the song with lyrics firing at whoever they are meant to be fired at . Alexis Petridis of '' The Guardian '' praised the song 's eerie and vulgar tone , referring to Minaj 's tone of voice as " thrilling , quivering & edge-of-panic . " Margaret Wappler of '' Los Angeles Times '' complemented Minaj 's " huffing and puffing " at Eminem 's alter-ego , while both characters exchange violent lyrics . Praising the song as the main track of the album , Scott Plagenhoef of '' Pitchfork Media '' complimented the song as aggressive and pointed out Eminem 's use of " recycling his Shady-circa-99 persona . " Jesse Cataldo of '' Slant '' dissected the track while attempting to understand Roman Zolanski as a " less carefully identified sliver of herself than the embodiment of what makes her appealing . " Cataldo additionally added that the song gets " violently up in your face . " However , other critics dismissed and negatively reviewed the anti-gay slurs rapped by guest-feature Eminem . '' Idolator '' positively reviewed the song as an " experiment , " while praising the verses of Minaj while dismissing Eminem 's " typical misogyny and homophobia . " Marc Hogan of '' Spin '' praised the song for noting Minaj 's capabilities to " compete with the big boys " in rap . He noted that Eminem and Minaj trade verses over " pulsating Swizz Beatz strings " . Although Eminem makes a " killer blow " with an anti-gay slur on gay-friendly Minaj 's track " , Minaj retaliates with " outlandish British accent . " Zach Baron and Rich Juzwiak of '' The Village Voice '' both debated on the track , praising it as well as dismissing the anti-gay lyrics by Eminem . Zach Baron praised Minaj for upstaging Eminem by stating that the guest-feature deserved to be shown up by Minaj as she additionally add 's more character into the song with additional voice-changes . Rich Juzwiak approached the song as the gay-male-alter-ego Roman Zolanski verses the anti-gay Slim Shady , and praised Minaj/Zolanski for " winning the battle . " Juzwiak later questioned Minaj 's alter-ego Roman as an " angry gay-male , " stating that Roman 's character should have gone ahead with knocking Eminem for his past " anti-gay-epithet , " and his ' piss-on-women misogyny . " Many critics considered the song a " diss " towards Lil ' Kim , who has been in disputes with Minaj since the beginning of her career . Mariel Concepcion of '' Billboard '' dissected the song stating " Nicki Minaj 's highly-talked about " Roman 's Revenge " track hit the net over the weekend , and the Harajuku Barbie appears to be taking jabs at Lil ' Kim . " In the first verse Minaj takes shots saying " '' Look at my show footage how these girls be spazzing/So fuck I look like getting back to a has-been/Yeah I said it has-been/hang it up/flatscreen '' " then again " '' You out of work/I know it 's tough/but enough is enough '' / " Minaj then specifically takes jabs at Baltimore rapper Keys and Lil ' Kim in the second verse rapping , " '' Is this the thanks that I get for putting you bitches on / is it my fault that all of you bitches gone '' / " and following this line this inferred she was talking about Lil ' Kim " '' Nicki she just mad cause you took the spot / word that bitch mad cause I took the spot / Well bitch if you aint shitting then get off the pot/Got some niggas out in Brooklyn that 'll off ya top '' / . Minaj also subliminally took jabs at rapper Keys with " '' I see them dusty ass Filas , Levi 's / Raggedy Ann 's / Holes in your knee highs '' " . Lil ' Kim fired back at the song at a club-concert , stating " I will erase this bitch ’s social security number . First of all , I do n’t even need a record right now and I ’d kill that bitch with my old shit . My records ai n’t just enter the charts , they made history . What the fuck is this bullshit , this shit come and go ! " Minaj later stated in an interview on '' The Wendy Williams Show '' that , " They know what I 'm talking about . See that 's the thing when you put out records ; you know only the ' guilty ones ' feel like you 're talking about them . So you know , if you have nothing to worry about , if you have n't came out saying stuff , if you never came out saying your ungrateful bullshit then you would n't worry about it . " In response to " Roman 's Revenge " , Lil ' Kim released " Black Friday " which debuted on DJ Absolut ’s Hot 97 show on Thanksgiving Day . The song samples Pharoahe Monch ’s instrumental from “ Simon Says " and takes lyrical jabs at Minaj , stating " This ai n’t a championship fight , I been the greatest / See the fact is , what you doing , I did it / Lames tryna clone my style and run wit it / That ’s cool , I was the first one wit it / You ’s a Lil ’ Kim wannabe , you just hate to admit it . ” Minaj performed the song live during '' VH1 's Diva 's Support the Troops '' for the men and women of the military . The song was accompanied by other singles from the rapper 's debut album and " Girls Just Wan na Have Fun " with Katy Perry . After winning the MTV Video Music Award for Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards , she said that " The new album is going to have a lot of Roman on it ... And if you 're not familiar with Roman , then you will be familiar with him very soon . He ’s the boy that lives inside of me . He 's a lunatic and he 's gay and he 'll be on there a lot . " Minaj performed a snippet of the song during her performance at the 54th Grammy Awards . She has performed the song on select dates of her Pink Friday Tour . She has also added the song to her Pink Friday : Reloaded Tour setlist
2011 MTV Video Music Awards
2011 MTV Video Music Awards
Roman's Revenge