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Nicki Minaj delays album

Rap superstar Nicki Minaj has pushed back the release of her new album by two months to give her time to "perfect" the project.

The Starships hitmaker took to Instagram on Thursday for a live session with fans to provide an update on her first album in four years, titled Queen, which had previously been due to drop on 15 June.

Nicki explained she had originally been planning to share the news, one of two major announcements, during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show earlier this week before a bad bout of the flu forced her to scrap the flight to Los Angeles to tape the interview.

Instead, she used social media to reach out to fans and explain why she was delaying the follow-up to 2014's The Pinkprint.

After revealing there would be "three surprises happening between June 11th and June 15th," Nicki said, "The album itself I think I wanna put out on August 10th..."

Admitting bosses at her labels, Young Money Entertainment and Cash Money Records, had urged her to stick to the June release, she continued, "Trust me, it's the better choice, so it's August 10th, and I'm so excited. This album is just so incredible. I can't give y'all half a**ed s**t (sic). The label can't understand that level of perfection..."

Nicki wants to use the extra time to put the finishing touches to a few collaborations and "make them even doper", while she also suggested there were other production issues.

"Some other stuff happened with some beats," she remarked, although she didn't expand on the problem.

"Trust me, I know what's best... for the execution of this project," Nicki added.

However, the hip-hop star is working on ways to make it up to her loyal fanbase, including possibly staging special album listening parties, and inviting some lucky devotees to attend rehearsals for her upcoming tour, which will kick off in September.

Nicki will also be releasing a documentary chronicling the making of Queen, but in the meantime, she has another new track lined up with fellow rappers YG, Big Sean, and 2 Chainz, which will hit the Internet on Friday.

"I love you and I thank you for your unconditional love and support," she said.

Elsewhere in the Instagram Live session, Nicki announced she would be holding another Twitter giveaway later on Thursday, to help A-grade students pay off their college tuition, student loans, and other school-related fees.

She previously showed her generosity a year ago, when she responded to a number of requests for financial aid from devotees.

This time around, she wants to give away between $25,000 and $50,000.

"So guys, have your tweets ready...," Nicki urged. "The last time we did it, it was really really dope (great), I was really proud of it."



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