Nicki Minaj’s Queen, the follow-up to 2014’s The Pinkprint, was supposed to come out on June 15; it was then pushed back to today, August 10, allowing Minaj the time to release another single and tease her fanbase a little; an uncleared Tracy Chapman sample delayed things further, however, and the release date for her fourth studio album was moved to next Friday, August 17.
And now she’s decided to release the damn thing anyway.
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Minaj launched her new Beats 1 radio show last night and told her listeners that Queen had been finished three hours prior. She then tried to play the record in full, live, but her management quickly told her that, for legal reasons, she should absolutely not do that. Eventually, they settled on some sort of compromise: she’d come back to Beats 1 today, play it out in full at 12 PM EST, and have an on-air chat with Zane Lowe.
Queen hit streaming services before noon, an hour after she sat down for her interview. Eminem, Lil Wayne, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, and Swae Lee all feature. Listen to it on Apple Music.
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