We learned that Rihanna and the folks at Def Jam plan on doing a SURPRISE RELEASE of her new album THIS WEEKEND. We spoke to TWO Def Jam insiders that CONFIRMED the plans.

First off, we’d like to APOLOGIZE to our QUEEN Rihanna and Def Jam for messing up your surprise. They’re gonna HATE US for ruining their SURPRISE RELEASE. But we’re SNITCHES BY NATURE, and when we learned about Rihanna’s album . . . we HAD TO TELL Y’all. Forgive us RIH ?

Anyways, here is what we know. Everything in here is CONFIRMED FACT and not RUMOR.

We spoke with a Def Jam insider, who spilled the tea. The insider told us that Rihanna recorded a complete album earlier in the year, but the record label SCRAPPED IT – and brought in KANYE WEST to help her out. The snitch explained, “Kanye was brought in basically to make sure that the album would work.” Kanye and Rih have been working OVERTIME for the past month to make it work. They turned in all the tracks last week, and the label has signed off on EVERYTHING. And just like BEYONCE did last November – Rihanna and Def Jam plan to “secretly” relase the album this weekend.

The insider told us that the album is 100% FIRE . . .she explained, “This album will make Rihanna the number one artist in the world. Bigger than Taylor Swift, or Beyonce.” YES it is that good. We ALLEGEDLY heard some of it (#NotSnitchingOnOurselves) and we AGREE 100%.

A few tidbits about the album – we’re told that RIHANNA HAS A SONG WITH BEYONCE . . . their first ever. And that she also has a track with NICKI MINAJ TOO. Jay Z and Kanye are also on the album.

And the title of the new album is 1988 – not R8 like most are expecting – remember that tattoo she got. . .