Nicki Minaj announced her decision to once again push back the release date for Queen. It will now come out Aug. 17. Her highly-anticipated fourth album was originally going to drop on June 15, before she pushed it to Aug. 10. Now fans will have to wait one more week to hear the latest project from Onika.
Nicki announced the delay by sharing her Essentials playlist on Apple Music with a special note to fans:
Nicki also announced that she'll be hosting a listening party in New York City and is hand-picking 100 fans to join her.
Last night, Minaj went on Twitter to share her dilemma and the reasoning for the album’s delay with her Barbs. She revealed that one of the songs on Queen “features 1of the greatest rappers of all time,” but also includes a Tracy Chapman sample that hadn’t been cleared. She presented an ultimatum: does she cut the track, or push back the album date?
Looks like she’s decided to do the latter. She hasn’t revealed which Chapman song she needs cleared, but she did reach out to the artist on Twitter.
Her fans are also attempting to do their part. One overzealous Barb slid into the DMs of a Tracy Chapman fan account, offering up Nicki's own $2 million for the sample. The rapper shared the fan's attempt on Instagram with a tinge of frustration.
Queen will now hit shelves on Aug. 17. Listen to Nicki's new playlist below.
