Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne will not be facing off in an album sales showdown next month as the former has pushed back the release of Pink Friday 2.
Nicki’s eagerly anticipated new album was supposed to arrive on November 17 — the same day as Wayne’s Welcome 2 ColleGrove collaboration with 2 Chainz.
But as she told fans on Instagram Live on Tuesday (October 24), the project has been delayed to her birthday, which falls on December 8.
During the livestream, the “Super Freaky Girl” hitmaker said the decision to delay her album was quietly made “some time” ago and denied suggestions that her Young Money mentor had deliberately invaded her release date.
“I have changed my album date,” she said. “It’s been changed for some time now behind the scenes. As you can tell, Weezy and 2 Chainz, they announced their date, and you know how me and Weezy play.
“He would never do that if that was my album date, so I wanted to make sure you guys were aware of that. ‘Cause I saw some of you guys questioning that.”
She continued: “So I’ve changed my album date to — and it’s for a reason that the Barbz will be in agreement with, trust me. When I tell you why I’ve changed it, you will be like, ‘You did the right thing, Nick.’
“The new album date for this incredible body of work that I’m so proud of is on a very special day to me and to the Barbz […] Pink Friday 2, I’m so happy to announce, will be out on my birthday, December 8th.”
Nicki Minaj later explained that Pink Friday 2 was delayed due to a shipping issue regarding the vinyl copies of her album.
“We ended up not being able to get the vinyls in time for first week, and they were actually available for December 1st, the following week,” she said. “So, I chose between December 1st and my birthday, and I chose my birthday.”
Although her new album will no longer be arriving on November 17, Nicki promised that it will still be a “major Pink Friday” as she plans to announce her new tour that day.
The Queens, New York native previously said the trek will “start around the first quarter of 2024″ and has hailed it as her “greatest tour” yet.
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“Even though this album is called Prink Friday 2, even though we love the nostalgia, this will not remind you of another tour. That’s how I’ll say it,” she said on Instagram Live earlier this month. “I mean, it’s gonna be greater than every other tour combined — like this album.
“This will be a very different feeling tour, even if you’ve been to every Nicki Minaj tour that’s ever existed. There are certain things that I always do similar in all my tours; this time, it’s going to be a completely different perspective.”
Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj has so far shared two covers for Pink Friday 2 — one for the standard version and another for the vinyl edition — along with a handful of potential singles, including “Super Freaky Girl,”“Red Ruby Da Sleeze” and “Last Time I Saw You.”
The album will serve as the long-awaited follow-up to 2018’s Queen, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 185,000 album-equivalent units in its first week.
