# Queen (Nicki Minaj album)
**Queen** is the fourth studio album by the Trinidadian-American rapper [Nicki Minaj](https://www.edgepedia.org/nicki-minaj), released on August 10, 2018 through Young Money, Cash Money, and [Republic Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/republic-records). The standard edition contains 19 tracks running 1 hour and 6 minutes, with guest appearances from Eminem, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Lil Wayne, Swae Lee, Future, Labrinth, and Foxy Brown.[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/queen/1398449449?at=10l4PB&ct=albumAM&uo=4) • [2](https://www.thefader.com/2018/08/10/nicki-minaj-queen-album) It was her first studio album in nearly four years, following 2014's *The Pinkprint*.[3](https://time.com/5364696/nicki-minaj-queen-album-review/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | August 10, 2018, surprise-released a week earlier than planned; Young Money/Cash Money/Republic[4](https://time.com/5363083/5-songs-you-need-to-listen-to-this-week-59/) |
| Length | 19 tracks, 1 hour 6 minutes (standard edition); deluxe and bonus versions have 20 tracks[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/queen/1398449449?at=10l4PB&ct=albumAM&uo=4) |
| Chart debut | No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 185,000 equivalent units, including about 78,000 album sales and 129 million streams, behind Travis Scott's *Astroworld*[5](https://www.wral.com/archive/17782655/) |
| Singles | "Chun-Li," "Barbie Tingz," "Bed" (with Ariana Grande), and "Ganja Burns" preceded the release[6](https://www.grammy.com/news/listen-nicki-minajs-new-album-queen-out-now/) |
| Awards | "Chun-Li" won Best Hip-Hop Video at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards[7](https://time.com/5369448/nicki-minaj-vmas-2018/) |
| Notable tracks | "Ganja Burns," "Majesty" (with Eminem and Labrinth), "Barbie Dreams," "Rich Sex" (with Lil Wayne), "Coco Chanel" (with Foxy Brown)[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/queen/1398449449?at=10l4PB&ct=albumAM&uo=4) |
## Background and recording
Minaj began working on the album in earnest in December 2017, though some songs dated back a year and a half earlier; she recorded in Miami and California in late 2017 and early 2018.[8](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2018/05/nicki-minaj-queen-rumors/) She announced the album at the [Met Gala](https://www.edgepedia.org/met-gala) in May 2018 with an expected June 15 release, and a documentary on its making was slated for August 10.[9](https://www.grammy.com/news/nicki-minaj-previews-queen-doc-coming-august) The release date shifted several times. In early August 2018 Minaj said she was pushing the album back while seeking clearance from [Tracy Chapman](https://www.edgepedia.org/tracy-chapman) for a sample; a tweet she later deleted said a song featured "one of the greatest rappers of all time" and that she had "no clue it sampled the legend #TracyChapman," and she posted a text conversation in which Chapman was offered US$2 million to grant permission in time for an August 10 release.[10](https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/00/09/89/64/04832/08-03-2018.pdf) The album ultimately arrived a week earlier than expected as a surprise release.[4](https://time.com/5363083/5-songs-you-need-to-listen-to-this-week-59/)
The rollout was also shaped by the [Remy Ma](https://www.edgepedia.org/remy-ma) feud: Remy Ma's diss track "Shether," released in February 2017, had put pressure on the album's original rollout plan.[11](https://www.onthebulletin.com/album-reviews/2018/08/10/nicki-queen-review) Minaj premiered the official artwork on June 7, 2018.[12](https://files-backend.assets.thrillshare.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1909/Elm/e69d49bb-6b6e-4111-a060-247e9494fffe/4.2_EP.pdf?disposition=inline)
## Music and themes
The album opens with "Ganja Burns," on which Minaj ruminates on the forces she sees aligned against her, from imitators using ghostwriters to energy-sucking men, before pivoting to a "living well is the best revenge" stance.[3](https://time.com/5364696/nicki-minaj-queen-album-review/) "Barbie Dreams" flips [The Notorious B.I.G.](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-notorious-b-i-g)'s "Just Playing (Dreams)," with Minaj name-checking and roasting a long list of rappers including [Meek Mill](https://www.edgepedia.org/meek-mill), Drake, Desiigner, Young Thug, and [DJ Khaled](https://www.edgepedia.org/dj-khaled).[13](https://pitchfork.com/news/nicki-minajs-new-album-queen-tracklist-features-eminem-the-weeknd/) "Coco Chanel," featuring fellow Trinidadian-American rapper Foxy Brown, shouts out Caribbean musicians, and "Majesty" pairs Minaj with Eminem and Labrinth.[3](https://time.com/5364696/nicki-minaj-queen-album-review/)
Minaj framed the album around female empowerment. "I think my role is putting out music that makes women feel like they can go from a poor neighborhood to doing records with the greats and being hailed as someone that shifted the culture," she told Beats 1 host [Zane Lowe](https://www.edgepedia.org/zane-lowe), adding, "There are songs on the album that I feel women really need right now."[1](https://music.apple.com/us/album/queen/1398449449?at=10l4PB&ct=albumAM&uo=4) Production drew on the Atlanta trap architect Mike Will Made-It and the Drake associate Boi-1da, among others.[3](https://time.com/5364696/nicki-minaj-queen-album-review/)
## Chart performance and the Astroworld dispute
*Queen* debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 185,000 equivalent units, including about 78,000 complete-album sales and 129 million streams, while [Travis Scott](https://www.edgepedia.org/travis-scott)'s *[Astroworld](https://www.edgepedia.org/astroworld-album)* held No. 1 for a second week with 205,000 equivalent units.[5](https://www.wral.com/archive/17782655/) • [14](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrolli/2018/08/22/nicki-minaj-queen-debacle/) Minaj publicly objected to Scott's practice of bundling *Astroworld* with tour tickets, which his girlfriend [Kylie Jenner](https://www.edgepedia.org/kylie-jenner) advertised on Instagram, and she accused Spotify of threatening to "punish" her for debuting the album early on her Beats 1 radio show, Queen Radio; Spotify denied the allegations in a statement to Variety.[15](https://www.theringer.com/2018/08/20/music/nicki-minaj-queen-sales-billboard-charts-spotify-beats-1-travis-scott-astroworld) She also claimed the album had reached No. 1 in 86 countries.[15](https://www.theringer.com/2018/08/20/music/nicki-minaj-queen-sales-billboard-charts-spotify-beats-1-travis-scott-astroworld)
The dispute had a policy aftermath: Billboard later changed its rules to combat merch and album bundling, with Minaj's complaint about *Queen* debuting at No. 2 cited as part of the context.[16](https://pitchfork.com/news/billboard-changing-rules-to-combat-merchalbum-bundling/)
After release, Minaj added "FEFE," her collaboration with 6ix9ine that peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, to the album in an attempt to boost its streams.[14](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrolli/2018/08/22/nicki-minaj-queen-debacle/)
## Promotion
Minaj promoted the album through Queen Radio, her show on Apple Music's Beats 1, where she ran through the album track by track on release day.[2](https://www.thefader.com/2018/08/10/nicki-minaj-queen-album) Days later she performed a medley from the album, opening with "Majesty" and continuing into "Barbie Dreams," from Manhattan's Oculus transport hub at the 2018 [MTV Video Music Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/mtv-video-music-awards), where "Chun-Li" won Best Hip-Hop Video.[7](https://time.com/5369448/nicki-minaj-vmas-2018/)
## Critical reception
Reviews were mixed. Time described the album as introspective and said it reasserted Minaj's place near the top, while noting that her tendency to rhyme a word with itself could grow monotonous across a 19-track, hour-plus album.[3](https://time.com/5364696/nicki-minaj-queen-album-review/) NOW Magazine gave it three stars and argued the album failed to make full use of her talents, praising "Majesty" and "Run & Hide" but finding the romantic songs flat.[17](https://nowtoronto.com/music/album-reviews/nicki-minaj-queen/) The Los Angeles Times wrote that the "fuddy-duddy stance" of composing by hand felt bitterly defensive, even as Minaj lived up to her boasts about her craft "almost all the time."[18](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-nicki-minaj-queen-review-20180812-story.html) AllMusic called Queen another chapter of Minaj's "good but largely meandering and inconsistent" full-length output, and highlighted "Coco Chanel" with Foxy Brown as possibly her best collaboration on record.[19](https://www.allmusic.com/album/queen-mw0003186142) A recurring criticism among reviewers was length: NOW Magazine argued that if the album was going to run 19 tracks, it needed to be more consistently strong.[17](https://nowtoronto.com/music/album-reviews/nicki-minaj-queen/)
## References
1. [Queen – Album by Nicki Minaj, Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/queen/1398449449?at=10l4PB&ct=albumAM&uo=4)
2. [Nicki Minaj's Queen is here, The FADER](https://www.thefader.com/2018/08/10/nicki-minaj-queen-album)
3. [Nicki Minaj's Introspective New Album Queen Reasserts Her Place Near the Top, Time](https://time.com/5364696/nicki-minaj-queen-album-review/)
4. [5 Songs You Need to Listen to This Week, Time](https://time.com/5363083/5-songs-you-need-to-listen-to-this-week-59/)
5. [Nicki Minaj Cries Foul, but Travis Scott Is No. 1, WRAL](https://www.wral.com/archive/17782655/)
6. [Listen: Nicki Minaj's New Album 'Queen' Is Out Now, GRAMMY.com](https://www.grammy.com/news/listen-nicki-minajs-new-album-queen-out-now/)
7. [Watch Nicki Minaj Stun With Her 2018 MTV Video Music Awards Performance, Time](https://time.com/5369448/nicki-minaj-vmas-2018/)
8. [Nicki Minaj's New Album 'Queen': What We Know, Spin](https://www.spinmagazine.com/2018/05/nicki-minaj-queen-rumors/)
9. [Nicki Minaj Previews 'Queen' Doc Coming In August, GRAMMY.com](https://www.grammy.com/news/nicki-minaj-previews-queen-doc-coming-august)
10. [Friday August 3, 2018 newspaper page, UF Digital Collections](https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/UF/00/09/89/64/04832/08-03-2018.pdf)
11. [Album Review: Nicki Minaj, 'Queen', The Bulletin](https://www.onthebulletin.com/album-reviews/2018/08/10/nicki-queen-review)
12. [School newspaper feature on Nicki Minaj's Queen](https://files-backend.assets.thrillshare.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/1909/Elm/e69d49bb-6b6e-4111-a060-247e9494fffe/4.2_EP.pdf?disposition=inline)
13. [Nicki Minaj Releases New Album Queen: Listen, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/news/nicki-minajs-new-album-queen-tracklist-features-eminem-the-weeknd/)
14. [Nicki Minaj Is Blaming All The Wrong People For Her 'Queen' Debacle, Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrolli/2018/08/22/nicki-minaj-queen-debacle/)
15. [Nicki Minaj's 'Queen' May Not Survive Its Own Rollout, The Ringer](https://www.theringer.com/2018/08/20/music/nicki-minaj-queen-sales-billboard-charts-spotify-beats-1-travis-scott-astroworld)
16. [Billboard Changing Rules to Combat Merch/Album Bundling, Following Controversy, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/news/billboard-changing-rules-to-combat-merchalbum-bundling/)
17. [Nicki Minaj's Queen fails to make full use of her talents, NOW Magazine](https://nowtoronto.com/music/album-reviews/nicki-minaj-queen/)
18. [Review: Nicki Minaj still cares about the old way of doing things, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-nicki-minaj-queen-review-20180812-story.html)
19. [Queen – Nicki Minaj, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/queen-mw0003186142)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Hip hop albums › Pop rap and crossover albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license