While Nicki was originally mulling pushing back her upcoming Queen album over sample clearance, it would appear the Ruler of Barbz has rendered a verdict. The anticipated album has now landed a release date of August 17th, as confirmed in a message from Minaj herself, as penned for her Apple Music Essentials playlist:
My darlings!!! I have a huge surprise that I can’t share until the day before #Queen drops. So in the meantime, check out this playlist I made for you guys. I did #FEFE with my new BFF from BROOKLYN. He’s a little funny looking but he’s really sweet under all those tats. New York til da DEF!!!! Ha! Last time I teamed up with YG was for his remix to “My Hitta.” We recently performed #BigBank at the BET Awards and had a blast wit my dudes Big Sean and 2 Chainz. I have classic bops with all 3 of them so I’m including them on this list. I’m super excited about my recent collaboration with Ariana Grande. She’s one of the realest artists I’ve had the pleasure of working with. She couldn’t fly with me to Turks to shoot the #BedVideo so we shot her scenes in Malibu. We’re actually working on edit number 2 for the #BedVideo to include all the fun stuff we had to remove. I love “Ball For Me” with Post Malone. Not sure why he won’t release the video. It’s DOPE!!! I hope you enjoy my playlist. Can’t wait for you guys to hear my 4th album QUEEN ON AUGUST 17!!!!!!!
Last night, Nicki seemed caught in a dilemma of sorts, in which she seemed unsure whether or not a delay would be worth the trouble. Apparently, the roadblock in question was a sample clearance issue, specifically a Tracy Chapman sample. Such intel was revealed after a well-intentioned Barb slid into Chapman's (or at least a Chapman fanpage) DMs to plead a case on Nikki's behalf. While it's perhaps naive to assume a sample clearing deal can get done in a mere week, here's hoping that Nicki hasn't grown addicted to the process.
Ya'll still looking forward for Nicki's Queen?