Nicki Minaj reigns supreme with new album ‘Queen’

Nicki Minaj’s new Beats 1 radio show on Apple Music, Queen Radio, is starting off with a bang this week. On Friday, the rapper announced to her Barbz fanbase that she’d be releasing her much-anticipated new album, Queen, early. As in: right then and there.

The album, Minaj’s fourth studio release, had been delayed several times. It was most recently bumped from August 10 to August 17 because of a sample-clearance issue. That introduced a potential conflict with collaborator Ariana Grande, a fellow Republic Records labelmate, whose new album drops on August 17 as well. The two perform a duet on Queen, the single Bed.

Tired of keeping her kingdom waiting, Minaj unleashed her latest by surprise — it was so fresh, in fact, that she had only just finished mixing the album hours earlier, she said on her radio show.

“Thank you to all these MAGICAL girls. Where do I begin? Dream come true,” Minaj posted on Instagram afterwards. “Thank you for showing up for me yesterday. Love you all so much. Last night’s show was the highest rated show in Beats history. You guys made something that was very scary for me one of the best nights of my life.”

The new album also features the likes of Eminem, the Weeknd, Lil Wayne, Foxy Brown and others.