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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Nicki Minaj postpones North American tour amid tumultuous week

Nicki Minaj performs at the BET Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Sunday, June 24, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Richard Shotwell / Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
By Peter Sblendorio New York Daily News

Fans are going to have to wait awhile to see Nicki Minaj perform.

The rapper, 35, is postponing the North American leg of her upcoming “NickiHndrxx” tour – which had been set to begin next month – until May 2019.

“This is all happening because I pushed my album back two months,” Minaj said in a video Wednesday. “I just finished writing and recording hours before the album came out. So now, I just simply don’t have to time to rehearse, and be on the road, and time to give you guys the level of the show I need to give.”

Minaj will stick kick off the European portion of the tour in February as scheduled. She said in her video announcement that she’s unsure if Future – who had been tapped to co-headline the tour – will be able to join her for the North American run due to the rescheduling.

“I really apologize,” Minaj concluded her video. “But it’ll be worth it.”

The sudden postponement comes during a week where Minaj has fumed about her new album, “Queen,” finishing behind Travis Scott’s “Astroworld,” complaining that Scott bundled his album with concert and merchandise sales and venting that his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, helped his sales by promoting his upcoming tour on social media.

She also called out Spotify for allegedly trying to teach her “a lesson” for premiering her album 10 minutes early on an Apple Music radio show, and garnered backlash when she compared her fight against streaming services to Harriet Tubman freeing slaves.

“Queen” is Minaj’s fourth studio album, and her first in four years. Her last headlining tour, “The Pinkprint Tour,” wrapped up in 2016.

She was originally slated to perform at Newark’s Prudential Center on Oct. 7 and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Oct. 11 before the postponement. Minaj has not announced dates for the rescheduled shows.