Taqiqin

Pink Friday is the debut studio album by Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj, released on November 19, 2010 through Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Universal Motown. Its deluxe version contains three additional songs and was released simultaneously. The album was preceded by the singles "Your Love" and "Right Thru Me" which were released in June and September 2010, respectively. In addition a previously released joint single between Nicki Minaj & will.i.am titled, "Check It Out" appears on the album.

After a major record label bidding war, Young Money Entertainment announced on August 31, 2009 that Minaj had signed a 360 deal with the label in which she retains and owns all of her 360 rights – including merchandising, sponsorships, endorsements, touring and publishing. Sessions for the album began in 2009 with a tentative release in the second quarter of 2010. Nicki Minaj stated in an MTV interview that "Married In The Club" was set to be the lead single from the album and was slated for a November 2009 release.Plans for the single were cancelled and Minaj explained in a February 2010 interview with MTV that she had scrapped the previous material and began recording again from scratch. Minaj explained, "I have songs that where I am now, they aren't a great representation of me to where I'm at musically. I wanna start from scratch but I do have my single and it'll be out."

Minaj stated the great importance of the album to her and all females in hip-hop in an interview with V103’s Greg Street stating; “They won’t look to sign other female rappers because they’ll say, ‘Her buzz was so crazy and if she couldn’t do it, then no one can do it.’ And I don’t want that to happen, so I’m doing this as well for all the girls. I hope that with the success of the album—because I know it will be successful, I believe it will be successful—I hope that this opens doors for all of the girls everywhere. Even as far as I’ve come right now, it’s a testament in my mind,” she said. “So I hope the female rappers will understand how big it is, just for our culture, that the album does well.

On August 3, 2010 Minaj revealed on a Ustream.tv channel for her fans that the albums name would be Pink Friday stating, “To carry on a great tradition of Black Friday, we are going to switch it up this year in honor of the Nicki Minaj album and call that day Pink Friday, and call my album Pink Friday,!” A deluxe edition of the album has also been confirmed. Nicki Minaj released the artwork for her album cover on Friday, October 15, 2010. Rap-Up commented on the album cover stating "The cover features Minaj as a doll alarmingly staring at the camera, sitting armless on the ground with her elongated legs in a flowing silver corset, pink stilettos, and a stark pink wig.

On her Twitter Minaj stated that if she reached one-million followers she would dedicate a Ustream to her fans. On August 3, Minaj went on Ustream to call fans who emailed her their phone numbers and to reveal the album's title. On June 17, 2010, promotional photos for the album were leaked online, depicting Minaj in a neon-orange wig dressed as a ninja. It is unknown if the photoshoot will be included in the final album artwork. On July 8, 2010, Minaj announced via Twitter that the album will be released on November 23, 2010. It was later announced that the album got pushed up by one day to November 22, 2010. Minaj's official website and related social networking pages later announced that the digital download version of the album would be availabe for pre-order through iTunes on October 30, less than a month before the release date of the physical edition. Music videos for four additional tracks are planned: "Moment 4 Life" featuring Drake, "Save Me", "Fly" featuring Rihanna, and "Girls Fall Like Dominoes".

Nicki Minaj announced via the social networking site Twitter that she would kick off a five-date Pink Friday Tour a month before the album drops. Tweeting, "Ok Barbz, here are the 1st 5 dates on my Pink Friday Tour," the tour began in Philadelphia on October 22, and ran through October 30 in Trinidad and Tobago. Further dates are yet to be announced.