Nicki Minaj's Only lyric video: the other cultural references On Halloween, Nicki Minaj released a lyric video for her new track, Only, featuring rappers and singers Drake, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown. The graphic black, white and red animation, directed by Jeff Osborne, has attracted criticism for evoking the crowd scenes and bold iconography associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nuremberg Rally, among other aspects of the Nazi regime. Richard Phillips portraits Contemporary American painter Richard Phillips creates portraits of "wasted beauty," inspired by images found in soft porn and fashion magazines. The painting above was one used by British house music trio Dirty Vegas on their 2002 self-titled album. Minaj's portrayal in the video evokes the military hat, pout and sunglasses of Phillips' sitter. The Triumph of the Will There are several moments in Osborne's video which recall the 1934 Nazi propaganda film, including images of Hitler addressing a crowd of thousands, the Grecian temple-inspired buildings and planes flying above urban landscapes. Here Minaj walks through a crowd of soldiers in uniform, and there's a similar scene above it from the Leni Riefenstahl-directed film. The women of Sin City Osborne's video shares the feel of Frank Miller's stark animations, and the subsequent film adaptations. In particular, the bombastic portrayal of women, with wind in the hair, reddened lips and a high-contrast background, in both films is similar. V for Vendetta Alan Moore's 1982 graphic novel, which was then turned into a film by the Wachowskis, in 2006, must have had some influence on Osborne. Not only are there strong themes of a fascist regime, but the strong red, white and black colour scheme is present in both. Banksy's CCTV camera art The inclusion of modern CCTV cameras in Osborne's otherwise vintage video strikes a chord, and is reminiscent of the way British street artist Banksy uses the urban surveillance equipment in his work. Banksy has painted witty messages across from CCTV cameras in the past, and set them to represent a family of birds building a nest. Transformers Blink and you'll miss it, but there are some transforming, agile robots in Osborne's video. They look strikingly like those from the Transformers franchise, including from the latest film, Transformers 4, above.