Hunting for the edit...

In these days of party playlists and iPod mix-tapes, sometimes all we want is a radio edit. As artists seem to every-frequently pack their albums with four-minute-plus long tracks and lengthy instrumental segways between songs, we're often left with little bits and pieces that while perfectly fine in the context of the album, just don't fit when we're listening to the track individually.

Now, normally this wouldn't be a problem, but in an age of declining 'proper' single releases - where there will be no official CD release, or in some cases no digital release either. Instead an album campaign will just see a stream of 'promo singles' and the artist will just leave the public to download the lengthy album versions, forcing fans who want the edited versions to track down expensive radio promo's on Ebay or wait til the edit surfaces on some random compilation CD months later.

When we hear a song on the radio, that is the version of the song we want; yet still these versions never seem to surface with anything approaching regularity on the regular download services.

Maybe it's just the completist in me but sometimes all I want is a nice three-and-a-half minute long version of a song, all the awesomeness packed into a bite-size chunk I can comfortably fit into my daily commute.

Nicki Minaj feat. Lil Wayne - Roman's Revenge

Roman's Revenge is without a doubt one of Nicki Minaj's defining moments, and if you loved the Eminem version on her album, then the Lil Wayne radio edit is a lovely little bonus. There's just so much energy, so much enthusiasm. Almost so much that it becomes cocky. But we love Nicki for it.

'Rah rah, like a dungeon dragon'. I defy anyone who listens to this song not to have this stuck in your head by the end of the day. It's genius lyrics like this that elevate Nicki a cut above all the rest. Oh, and Lil Wayne doesn't let us down either: 'I like a big wet pussy with a fork and a spoon'. Straight to the point eh?

That mechanistic machine-gun beat drives away as Nicki spits her words out - hell, it's almost Shakespearean the way she takes on her various roles in the last minute or so of the song. Slightly terrifying, rather cute and endearing, but very very cool.

The only thing I miss in this radio edit is the genius British accent outro Nicki does in the album version. 'You've gone mad, MAD I TELL YOU!' But of course, with Nicki, every inch of the madness is to be lapped up and embraced, because quite frankly, what she does with it is amazing.