Nicki Minaj Says There Was Almost a Drake Collab on 'Queen'

However, a collaboration with Drake didn't make the final version, mostly because it wasn't finished in time.

The rapper dropped by The Whoollywood Shuffle on Eminem's Shade 45 SiriusXM channel on Friday (Aug. 17), where she revealed that the song was dropped just hours before readying the release. “Drake and I were working on something, but I didn't want to change the date of the album,” she said. “So about two days before I had to turn it in, he and I had been going back and forth. And then even up until, I would say, within 12 hours of having to turn in my album, we were going back and forth.”

Minaj noted that Drake was also busy gearing up for his upcoming Aubrey and the Three Migos Tour: “He had come to my studio, we found something that we really, really loved. But he was also going through that process of getting stuff right for his tour, and I had to understand that,” she said. “As an artist, I always try to put myself in the artist's shoes, and not try to be selfish.”

Listen to the whole clip below. Queen is up against Travis Scott's Astroworld for No. 1 on next week's Billboard 200 albums chart. If Minaj claims the victory, she will be the first female rap artist with three No. 1 albums.