Nicki Minaj Cancels Major Concert Appearance

Nicki Minaj won't be headlining the Dec. 4 stop of iHeartRadio's Jingle Ball Tour in Chicago as originally planned. The "Super Bass" artist, whose new album Pink Friday 2 is scheduled for release on Dec. 8, took to X (formerly Twitter) the day before her Dec. 4 show to break the news that she would be unable to perform as scheduled.

"Hi guys, I have to tell you something. ... Hope it doesn't make you sad," she began. "I won't be able to perform tmrw in #Chicago for Jingle Ball. I was so excited to see you guys. Pls accept my sincerest apologies. I'll make it up to you on the Chicago stops of my tour early next year. Details to come." She then revealed that Lil Wayne would be replacing her as the headliner for the show in question. 

"HOWEVER!!!!! My beloved brother/boss stepped up for me so that I wouldn't have to push my album back. His name is Lil Wayne AKA the GOAT," Minaj explained. "He will perform tmrw @ the Chicago show." Wayne has been confirmed as replacing the "Barbie World" rapper on the Dec. 4 lineup by the official concert listing on Ticketmaster. In addition to Wayne, Jelly Roll, Big Time Rush, Doechii, (G)I-DLE and Kaliii are set to perform. 

Minaj continued on social media, "I am STILL performing @ the #Atlanta Jingle Ball on the 14th and now I'll ALSO be performing at the #Miami Jingle Ball on the 16th," confirming that her album is "STILL dropping this FRIDAY." Pink Friday 2 was originally scheduled to be released on Nov. 17, but was pushed back to Dec. 8, the artist's birthday, to avoid a conflict with Wayne's joint album with 2 Chainz, Welcome 2 Collegrove.

Minaj previously revealed she suffered from writer's block during her pregnancy and didn't want to say "freaky" stuff, which also caused the project to be delayed. Pink Friday 2 is the follow-up to Minaj's 2018 album, Queen, and the "Anaconda" artist recently shared on X that it was "just beyond anything I could have imagined."

"If you on my $h!t list, you will never EVER recover. The. Fkng. End," she teased. She also appeared to share some lyrics from an unnamed track on the album which read, "I just wanna watch him do his push-ups w/his sweats on/ Every time he hit it, he gon nail it like a press-on/ When I ride his d!&@ the only time he gettin flexed on/ Hit it from the bak with my pumps & my dress on."