Nicki Minaj no longer coming to the Sprint Center this fall
The long-awaited Kansas City concert debut for rap superstar Nicki Minaj is no longer happening. At least not this year.
Live Nation, the promoter for the tour, announced that Minaj’s NickiHndrxx co-headlining tour with Future, slated to come to the Sprint Center on Nov. 4, had been scrapped.
“Nicki Minaj has decided to re-evaluate elements of production on the NickiHndrxx Tour,” the company said in a statement. “Due to scheduling conflicts Future will not be on the North American run. Nicki Minaj will be announcing new North American dates to kick off in May 2019.”
Dates for the European leg of the tour, beginning in February, will stay the same.
Minaj released a Snapchat video on Twitter on Thursday explaining the decision to postpone.
“I just finished writing and recording literally hours before the album came out,” Minaj said, “so now I just simply don’t have the time to rehearse and be on the road in time to give you guys the level of show I need to give.”
The tour is a promotion for “Queen,” Minaj’s fourth studio album, released on Aug. 10, nearly two months after its original June 15 date.
Billboard magazine speculated that the tour’s cancellation was due to poor ticket sales. Minaj responded via a lengthy Instagram retort.
“I haven’t CANCELLED anything,” Minaj wrote. “I reversed the order of the US & EUROPEAN LEGS of my tour. This is for obvious reasons to anyone with a brain … My album was originally going to drop in June which would’ve given me 3 months of tour rehearsal. However, I was still writing & recording up to last week … I can’t rehearse 4 WEEKS for a tour I originally planned on rehearsing 3 months for. I give my fans QUALITY. I write & co produce my own music. Therefore, I can’t rehearse while I’m WRITING & RECORDING my album.”
The cancellation news caps a chaotic week for Minaj.
After “Queen” debuted with lackluster sales and at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 charts behind rapper Travis Scott’s “Astroworld” album, Minaj took aim at Scott, his girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, and music streaming services.
In a string of tweets, Minaj accused Scott of bundling his album with his tour merchandise to inflate sales (though Minaj employed the same tactic with “Queen” and NickiHndrxx). Minaj also accused Spotify of downplaying “Queen’s” promotion in retaliation for her debuting the album on Apple Music first.
“I put my blood sweat and tears in writing a dope album only for Travis Scott to have (his girlfriend) Kylie Jenner post a tour pass telling ppl to come see her & (her daughter) Stormi,” she tweeted after her LP fell 20,000 album-equivalent units short of the Billboard 200’s top spot. “I’m actually laughing. #Queen broke the record of being number 1 in 86 countries.”
It’s been a month of scheduling curve balls for the Sprint Center. Drake, who like Minaj is from the Young Money music label, recently spent nearly a week in Kansas City after twice postponing his tour with rap group Migos. And last week, Rod Stewart canceled at the last minute because of strep throat. That concert was postponed to October.
Refunds for the NickiHndrxx tour are available at points of purchase. Live Nation says new tour dates and information will be unveiled shortly.
This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 2:43 PM.