Travis Scott is a master at the album bundle. It propelled his 2018 album Astroworld to the top of the Billboard 200. He's on pace to do it again with the streaming release of his 2014 mixtape Days Before Rodeo. The Houston rapper is pulling out all the stops when it comes to different album packages. He has different versions with different bonus tracks. He has a live version titled Live from Atlanta, and a chopped and screwed version. Nicki Minaj was the artist who got beat out by Astroworld in 2018, and she's doing her best to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Sabrina Carpenter dropped her album Short N Sweet the same day as Days Before Rodeo. She is the main competition for Scott when it comes to topping the Billboard 200. Carpenter saw the parallels with her situation and Minaj's in 2018, and decided to highlight it. "This is for Nicki," she tweeted on August 29. The gesture did not go unnoticed by the the rapper, who returned the love during an Instagram Live. Nicki Minaj shouted Sabrina Carpenter out, and urged fans to go and buy her album. "Shout out Sabrina Carpenter, shout out all the Sabrina Carpenter fans," Minaj stated. It's a much more measured response than the one she gave in 2018.
Nicki Minaj Shows Love To Sabrina Carpenter's Fans
Nicki Minaj infamously popped off during an episode of her Queen Radio show. She insulted Travis Scott for using bundles to boost his sales, and felt that her album should have been number one. "What we're not gonna do is have that Auto-Tune man selling f*cking sweaters," she said. "Telling you he sold half a million albums, because he f*cking didn't." Minaj also called out Spotify and the mother of Scott's child, Kylie Jenner, for using their platforms to inflate Astroworld sales even further.
The plot thickened after Nicki Minaj showed love to the "Espresso" singer, though. Kanye West decided to enter the chat. West, who has been on bad terms with Minaj as of late, decided to repost a version of Scott's album on his Instagram Story. Kanye West has a propensity for joining conflicts he has nothing to do with (just ask Kendrick Lamar), and he appears to have struck again. It'll be fascinating to see if more artists pick sides in the unfolding Travis Scott vs. Sabrina Carpenter sales competition.