Nicki Minaj said playtime is over … now. The rapper has released her first studio album in five years, the third installment in the Pink Friday trilogy, just in time for her 41st birthday, December 8. “The new album date for this incredible body of work that I am so proud of is on a very special day to me and to the Barbz,†she said in an Instagram Live, adding that she’s getting out of the way for Lil Wayne to drop his joint album with 2 Chainz, Welcome 2 Collegrove November 17. Pink Friday 2 was previously already pushed from October to November, when she gave fans the cover of the album to keke about over the Labor Day weekend — there are no days off for Minaj. Ahead of the release, we got three singles, “Super Freaky Girl,†“Red Ruby Da Sleeze,†and “Last Time I Saw You.†She promised that the project would take her fans to “Gag City,†and Barbz have been eagerly waiting to move in. The album’s full tracklist includes 22 songs, with features from J. Cole, Lil Wayne, Tate Kobang, Drake, Lil Uzi Vert, Skillibeng, Skeng, Future, Tasha Cobbs Leonard. Billie Eilish’s vocals can also be heard on the opening track.
Just because she hasn’t been an albums artist of late doesn’t mean the rapper hasn’t had a presence on the charts or in pop culture. She scored a top-ten hit by featuring on Ice Spice’s “Princess Diana†in April, while last year’s “Super Freaky Girl†debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, her first solo hit to rise to the top of the charts. Albums wise, 2018’s Queen peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and the first two entries of her Pink trilogy — Pink Friday (2010) and Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012) — landed at No. 1. All the while, questions continued to swirl around the rapper’s personal life — namely, her controversial marriage to Kenneth Petty, who was sentenced to three years probation after failing to register as a sex offender in 2022, and why a docuseries promising her “raw†story was shelved by HBO Max and will move forward without a distributor. None of the mess has stopped Nick the Boss from closing deals, though. The self-described Harajuku Barbie said a concert tour will follow the release of the album. Like, why do the other girls even bother at this point?
This post has been updated.