Birdman Says Nicki Minaj Follow-Up Coming Early 2012

Birdman is dishing the goods on his YMCMB princess, Nicki Minaj.

The labelhead recently told Billboard.com that Nicki Nick is in the studio working on her sophomore album, which he anticipates will drop first quarter.

"Nicki's back in the studio, so we're looking to drop Nicki in the first quarter," Baby revealed, adding that the set's first single could be released as early as this year.

"Maybe this year? I don't know," he said. "We're really thinking it out. But she's in the studio, and we're looking real soon, because she's ready to go and we're ready to go with her."

Additionally, Birdman said that Drake, whose Take Care sophomore LP is projected to sell close to 700,000 copies in its first week, will film a music video for "The Motto," a bonus track on the album which features Lil Wayne, next week, while clips for the Minaj-assisted "Make Me Proud" and the title track, alongside Rihanna, are likely on the way as well.

In the meantime, Birdman says Drake is feeling "relief" now that the set has finally been officially released (following an early leak).

"Drake put a lot on his shoulders when he was finishing his album and… I think Drake deserves everything he's getting," he said. "He's the future of music, to me and he's gonna get bigger and better. I think Drake's gonna be the one to break a lot of barriers with sales. It's just his second album -- I could see him doing a million-plus his first week in the future. It's gonna be incredible, and we're just gonna have to wait and see."—Gina Montana