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This past Tuesday night (March 12), Bun B blew the roof off of NRG Stadium in Houston when he held the 2024 RodeoHouston concert, which featured the likes of Rick Ross, Nelly and Lil Jon amongst others. But fans in attendance got a surprise treat when the King of The North touched down in the big state down South.
That’s right, Drizzy Drake made a surprise guest appearance towards the end of the show and was introduced as “our newest resident” by the Hip-Hop OG. “Please make some noise for Drizzy Drake!” Bun B said. Rolling up like a boss and donning some Texas-ish attire, Drake took to the stage before the roaring crowd and delved into a few of his hits from his illustrious catalogue including “N 2 Deep,” SICKO MODE” and “November 18th.”
With the crowd eating out of his hand with every bar he delivered, Drake gave everyone in attendance something to remember before retreating into the night and possibly getting some Trill Burgers courtesy of Bun B himself.
Say what you want about Drake, but the man does know how to put on a show. Check out some more videos of Drake getting into the spirit of Houston’s Rodeo show below. Let us know if you were there to witness greatness in the comments section.
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A new documentary series taking viewers inside the notable Magic City gentlemen’s club produced by Drake and Jermaine Dupri debuted at SXSW to rave reviews.
If you mention Magic City to anyone in and out of Atlanta, Georgia, you’re bound to get an approving response. The well-known strip club is the focus of a new documentary series, Magic City: An American Fantasy, which has Hip-Hop icon Jermaine Dupri and superstar Drake as producers. However, it is not currently attached to any distributor or platform. The series made its debut at the South By Southwest Festival Monday (March 11), with director Charles Todd and producer Cole Brown on hand to field questions from the audience along with fellow producer Jami Gertz after the first episode was screened at the Zach Theatre in Austin, Texas.
On the red carpet, Todd spoke of the influence that the strip club has. “Magic City is a purveyor of culture, and its an A&R – all the biggest hits that you hear on the radio, if it doesn’t break at Magic City, it doesn’t break, period.” Brown also spoke about the fine line everyone walked in bringing the series to the screen. “We wanted to walk a fine line with nudity, in particular — where you can’t make a documentary about a strip club and not have any nudity, it just isn’t true to form — and you’re trying to tell the true story,” he said. “At the same time, we didn’t want it to be salacious, gratuitous. We wanted to use it in such a way that you’re getting an image of what this place is. But if you go to Magic City, you see all the anatomy.”
That was underscored by Gigi McGuire, a former dancer at Magic City who appeared at the premiere and appears nude in the series. “I understood the vision of the artistic value of what they were trying to achieve, and I had no problem with agreeing to show these titties,” she told the audience, adding: “Strip is art, and the art is being celebrated, clearly.” In addition to Drake, the series also features appearances by Big Boi, Shaquille O’Neal, T.I., Killer Mike and Nelly.
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Drake has been proclaimed the “Petty King” and even called himself such in a recent song, so it was assumed that Ye, formerly Kanye West dissing him would garner a response. Via his Instagram Story feed, Drake seemed to respond to Ye’s deleted Instagram rant via a popular 50 Cent meme.
Ye posted then deleted a fiery Instagram post dissing the likes of Adidas, Daily Mail, and others he deemed to have wronged him. The post was in support of his track “Carnival” from the Vultures 1 project hitting the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart but soon turned into him unleashing a series of disses of which Drizzy was a target.
In the rant, Ye seemed miffed that Drake added Lil Durk to his upcoming tour with J. Cole just as Ye’s team was rolling out the Vultures project which features the “All My Life” star.
Using the 50 Cent “why he say f*ck me for” meme, it looks like the Canadian superstar used the moment to make one of his notorious slick retorts without naming names.
Of course, the OVO Sound honcho has said Kanye’s name before on tracks along with other jabs over the years although it was thought the pair patched things up after performing together in a joint concert in support of Larry Hoover.
We imagine this exchange won’t be the last of it.
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Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, is currently celebrating hitting the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts with the track “Carnival” from his joint album Vultures with Ty Dolla $ign. In a now-deleted post, Ye unloaded on Drake and adidas while also shouting out his collaborators.
Ye, FKA Kanye West, took to Instagram on Monday (March 11) and thanked Ty Dolla $ign, Playboi Carti, and Rich The Kid, who all feature on the “Carnival” track. According to Billboard, this is the first time Rich The Kid and Playboi Carti have hit the top of the Hot 100 chart.
However, despite this achievement, Ye had some choice words for several people in his deleted Instagram rant.
“Rich Ty Carti and the supporters that stood by us through everything This number #1 is for you. It’s for the people who won’t be manipulated by the system,” began the rant. “And f*ck adidas and everybody who works there or with them. Anyone who goes to school with anyone who’s parents work at adidas. Just know they tried to destroy me and here we are with the number 1 song in the world.”
The post ended with the shot at Drizzy.
“That’s how I feel And it’s f*ck Drake for taking Durk right at the beginning of the Vuktures [Vultures] role out I’ll come back to yall if I think of more f*ck you’s,” the post ends.
Drake, known for taking subtle and direct jabs at the Chicago superstar in times past, has not responded.
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4Batz, who hit it big with his “Act II: Date @ 8” at the tail end of 2023, earned himself a Drake feature for the remix of his breakout single. Now, after labels were vying for the young artist’s attention, 4Batz inked an EP deal with Drake’s OVO Sound label according to a new report.
As seen over on Billboard, the news of 4Batz inking what is being called a “short-term license” by the outlet puts an end to speculation after it was teased that Drake would be joining the Dallas, Texas native on the “Act II: Date @ 8” track. The song picked up a lot of buzz after dropping in December of last year, and on The Joe Budden Podcast‘s Sleepers section, the host featured the viral track.
The outlet says that several labels have been clamoring to sign 4Batz and the song charted on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 59. Last Friday (March 8), the remix with Drizzy hit the DSPs, adding a significant boost to the already-buzzing track
Congratulations to 4Batz and his entire team. Check out the “Act II: Date @ 8” remix below.
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Photo: @4batzz / Instagram
Good! Lovin’! Feel so! Numb!”
It had been seven years since PartyNextDoor had performed in The 6. But one Thursday night last May, approximately 2,500 fans at History — the Toronto venue Drake, Party’s OVO label boss, opened in partnership with Live Nation in 2021 — welcomed him home to the city, feverishly chanting the lyrics to his beloved hits like “Wus Good/Curious.”
SiriusXM Canada had tapped the singer, songwriter and producer to headline the free, sold-out PartyNextDoor & Friends concert to celebrate its new 24/7 hip-hop and R&B channel, Mixtape: North, which highlights homegrown Canadian talent. And what better way to fete the country’s brightest stars than by transforming History into a full-fledged OVO Fest? Nearly all of the influential label’s roster took the stage, and even Drake himself made a surprise appearance to perform his and Party’s mid-2010s collaborations “Recognize” and “Come and See Me.”
“I don’t mean to put you on the spot or anything. I know you hate this the most,” Drake said, chuckling, his arm wrapped around his introverted labelmate. “I’m so grateful for you. I would not be the artist I am if it wasn’t for you.” Then, turning to the audience: “This is really my favorite artist in the world.”
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PartyNextDoor plays Billboard Presents THE STAGE at SXSW on March 14. Get your tickets here.
Over the last decade, Party, 30, established himself as an alternative R&B auteur who seduced listeners — and shaped his genre — with hazy, hypnotic Auto-Tuned vocal melodies, nocturnal trap production and carnal yet cognitive lyricism about what pleasures (and problems) the wee hours sometimes bring. And while that often added up to a late-night, hedonistic vibe, his authentic, limber patois and dancehall-infused rhythms also gave his music an irresistible Caribbean flavor.
Meanwhile, he established himself as one of pop music’s most sought-out hit-makers, working in various roles behind the scenes with artists including Kanye West, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Post Malone and Rihanna, the lattermost of whom he has made two Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits with: the nine-week No. 1 “Work,” featuring Drake (which he co-wrote and sang backup on), and DJ Khaled’s seven-week No. 2 “Wild Thoughts” (which he co-wrote and produced), featuring Bryson Tiller. Some fans and critics have argued that his leaked reference tracks for those songs — where Party himself sings them — sound better than their final star-powered versions.
“He has written some of the biggest songs of our time,” says his longtime manager and Range Media managing partner, Tyler Henry. “He has contributed to [work by] some of the greatest artists. He’s an artist himself. He’s truly one of one.” Henry first met Party in 2013 when he was the assistant road and tour manager for Drake, who had picked his latest OVO signee to support his Would You Like a Tour? trek. Henry started managing him the following year, and Party remains a key part of the manager’s roster, along with WondaGurl, HARV, Loshendrix and more.
Gucci shirt and Jacque Marie Mage eyewear.
Erica Hernández
Yet even with his impressive résumé, Party hasn’t achieved the level of stardom many R&B fans expected him to when he helped record some of the defining pop hits of the 2010s, excelling behind the scenes but failing to fully step out from Drake’s shadow. When asked about the pressure of being signed by such a colossal artist and ensuring his body of work can stand on its own, Party trails off. Despite previously expressing superstar ambitions, it seems like he has had to recalibrate his career goals.
“I’m just keeping the main ting the main ting,” Party says. “The only thing that’s important, that has changed my life, is dropping music. I’m not worried about the fame.” Speaking today in Los Angeles, wearing a simple, textured black hoodie, matching sweats and white Nike Air Force 1s, he certainly doesn’t seem like an attention-seeker. But he does sport one flashy accessory: a silver pendant chain with a cartoon rendering of a girl sticking her tongue out — a gift from Drake celebrating their “Members Only” collaboration from his latest Billboard 200-topping album, For All the Dogs. “Drake has the same one,” Party says proudly.
The rap titan’s co-sign increased awareness (and with that, scrutiny) of Party. But his frequent absences from the public eye — he has only put out three solo albums, in 2014, 2016 and 2020 — have also made it hard for fans to stay engaged with his releases or know what he’s up to. If he’s put in front of a laptop, Party says, “I’ll make a full album.” If it’s that easy, then why does he disappear for years in between each one? “I get into relationships and then music becomes second,” he admits matter-of-factly. “I think I’m going to take a break from relationships, a long break, and just get back to making music.” Of course, those same relationships often ensure Party has plenty of songwriting material to work with when he makes his way back to the studio.
“After you and a girl break up, does she know she’ll eventually become the subject of a PartyNextDoor song?” I ask.
“I think everyone knows that,” he responds smugly.
Erica Hernández
Relationships, frivolous or serious, are the common thread throughout Party’s music. He says he approaches his songs from a “me and her” perspective, creating the intimacy that’s also required for the prime PartyNextDoor listening experience. His solitary music resonated especially during the pandemic, and in October 2020, Party and his team appealed to lonely fans finding comfort in catalog music by dropping PartyPack, a set of seven fan-favorite deep cuts that hadn’t previously been available on digital service providers. Sometimes fans have unearthed his old songs themselves: Thanks to a dance challenge, the sped-up version of “Her Way” from his 2014 debut album, PartyNextDoor Two, blew up on TikTok in 2023, becoming the year’s most popular TikTok song in Canada and third-most popular in the United States.
And while he has continued to find new fans with the success of his older music — Party’s song catalog increased from 645.8 million on-demand U.S. streams (including user-generated content) in 2022 to 1.1 billion streams in 2023, according to Luminate — most successful artists can’t sit back, relax and rely on their fans to run up their catalog. Outside of the PartyNextDoor & Friends Toronto show, Party has only performed at a handful of festivals (like Las Vegas’ Lovers & Friends) and college shows since the pandemic’s live-music pause ended. But, as Henry explains it, those were just the prelude to Party’s next act. “We like to do a few each year to make sure we’re fresh and in front of people’s minds,” he says. “It keeps us sharp for when a moment like this album comes.”
That album is his upcoming fourth full-length, PartyNextDoor 4 — P4 for short. And while there’s no release date set, Party promises it’s his most focused project yet. “This is the hardest I’ve ever worked on an album. This is the proudest I’ve felt,” he says. “I’m excited to grind even more for the next [one]. I’m in love with how hard you should work for it.”
Growing up in the “moody” Toronto suburb of Mississauga, the artist born Jahron Anthony Brathwaite imagined himself as Ahmal, the student who sings “Oh Happy Day” in 1993’s Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. Following in the footsteps of his Jamaican mother, Party joined his church’s choir and eventually moved up to a more advanced singing group within the church. “I had a solo coming up, and I was so nervous. I was going to get my sh-t off just like that Sister Act movie. I was going to get my moment. But they just cut it,” he says with a shrug.
Instead of dwelling on the defeat, he dove deeper into his newfound passion. He soon became fascinated with boy bands like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. But “once I understood who I am in the world as a Black man, I started really getting into Black music,” he says, citing Jodeci and 112 as inspirations. “I think Slim from 112 is part of the reason why I pitched up my music, because he sounded so young when he was getting older.”
Party questioned if being a “dread-headed” Jamaican guy from the Toronto suburbs meant he could be a “real” R&B singer. “Real R&B is pretty. It’s six-pack, it’s shaven head, low fade,” he says. But at 16 he tried his luck, dropping out of school and moving to Los Angeles, after posting his first songs to MySpace under the name “Jahron B.” They included cheeky, upbeat tracks like “Monica Follow Me Back” — which he made to persuade a girl named Monica to follow him back on Twitter (he succeeded) — as well as somber, piano-driven ballads like “Daughters,” describing how a drug-fueled hookup led to an accidental pregnancy.
Around that time, veteran A&R executive Shalik Berry showed “Daughters” to Warner Chappell Music’s Ryan Press, then-senior director of A&R (and now president of North America), who was immediately blown away by the intense storytelling. “After I heard that one song, I was like, ‘I have to sign this kid,’ ” says Press, who did so in 2012.
Louis Vuitton hat and shirt and Jason of Beverly Hills ring.
Erica Hernández
In 2016, Press helped Party establish his own joint venture with Warner Chappell called JA Publishing Group, which still operates and currently houses G. Ry, Prep Bijan, Phwesh and Alex Lustig (the lattermost also has a partnership with OVO president Mr. Morgan’s publishing company, M3 Ent). “ ‘Hey, man, if you’re stepping into this side of the business, you’re dealing with people’s livelihoods,’ ” Press recalls telling the young musician. “ ‘We got to handle business properly. You got to have the same passion for them that I have for you.’ ” Party took the advice to heart. “He wanted to create an ecosystem that other great talent could thrive and be successful under,” Henry adds, noting that Party even made sure one of his signees worked on a big record before assisting him in securing “a pretty large six-figure” publishing deal. But as much as Party loved helping other creatives get their shine, he was still waiting for his turn.
Getting his singing career off the ground had been a struggle. As a preteen, he tried out for the Canadian music competition series The Next Star but was cut. He remembers gushing during one of the taped interviews for the show about how he wanted “to sing like Aubrey Graham.” The person recording him “was an actor on Degrassi. And he laughed at me. He’s like, ‘Drake, the one who makes music in my dressing room?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I think he’s the best ever.’ ”
Years later, Party would take his stage name from the FL Studio software audio filter titled “partynextdoor” — which reminded him of OVO co-founder Noah “40” Shebib’s dark, brooding production. When he first heard the effect, Party recalls, “I was just like, ‘This is me. I’m going to make all my music sound like this.’ ”
Once Party started taking meetings with labels, fellow Jamaican Canadian producer and frequent Drake collaborator Boi-1da caught wind of it and ran the artist’s name up the OVO flagpole. When Drake and 40 eventually invited Party to the studio, “we just meshed,” he says. Party became the first recording artist signed to OVO in 2013, and the label opted for a low-key yet fitting announcement: His track “Make a Mil” was posted on the OVO blog, the digital hotbed for new talent that ultimately transformed into the boutique label it is today.
Erica Hernández
Throughout OVO’s history, some have questioned the way the label supports its artists not named Drake; Drake and the OVO team declined to even be interviewed for this story. In 2016, a Noisey headline asked, “Is OVO Sound A Hip-Hop Label Or Drake’s Personal Hit Factory?” And upon joining OVO, Party did support his label boss immediately: He provided background vocals for “Own It” and “Come Thru” on Drake’s 2013 album, Nothing Was the Same, and produced and co-wrote “Legend,” “Preach” and “Wednesday Night Interlude” on 2015’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, featuring on the latter two songs. Two months before Nothing Was the Same, Party dropped his self-titled debut EP, which earned rave reviews and yielded the Miguel-sampling classic “Break From Toronto.” The following year, PartyNextDoor Two cracked the top 20 of the Billboard 200. However, in the subsequent years, Party’s output grew less frequent and his allure dwindled.
In a 2015 PartyNextDoor Fader cover story — built around the musician’s first-ever interview — OVO co-founder and Drake manager Oliver El-Khatib said that part of OVO’s ethos was restricting access to its artists and letting the music speak for itself. But while that air of mystery maintains OVO’s cool reputation, banking on Drake’s star power to draw in new fans can keep the rest of his labelmates in his orbit at the expense of their own career growth.
While Party’s artist career hung in the balance, his songwriting vocation took off. Press says he was always in Party’s ear about possibly working with Rihanna because of their shared Caribbean heritage. When the star — who at the time was also signed to Warner Chappell — hosted a writing camp for what would become her 2016 album, ANTI, at her Malibu, Calif., home in 2015, Press called up Party to come through. Despite being in a house full of other competing songwriters and producers, Party insisted that he spend time alone with her so he could make songs that fit her vibe.
“I remember her telling us she was drinking vodka and water at that time. I had never seen Party drink vodka until that night. I think he even smoked a cigarette because she had smoked,” Henry says of the night the two made “Work.” The song became ANTI’s biggest hit, with 1.6 billion official on-demand U.S. streams. “Seeing the way he spoke to her and the questions he asked and the way he fully submersed himself into her identity was what made the song special. And he does it with all the artists he works with. He doesn’t write these generic songs that we try to find a home for. He writes them very purposefully for that artist.”
While “Work” reigned atop the Hot 100 in March 2016, Party finally got his own breakthrough as an artist with the Drake-assisted “Come and See Me.” The song earned Party his debut Hot 100 entry as a lead artist, peaking at No. 55, and yielded his first Grammy Award nod, for best R&B song. (He was also up for album of the year for contributing to Drake’s Views.) “Come and See Me” has become the biggest streaming song from his catalog, with 854.2 million official on-demand U.S. streams.
Finally, it seemed Party the artist was stepping firmly out of Drake’s shadow — even though the rapper was featured on the track, it was unquestionably a spotlight for his signee. “Come and See Me” earned Party the recognition he craved. But solo fame turned out to be less gratifying than he’d thought it would be.
In 2017, the year before Kanye West released his eighth studio album, Ye, he invited Party to his Yeezy Studio in Calabasas, Calif., and gave him the freedom and space to create whatever he pleased — offering no indication as to what he might eventually do with it.
So Party was surprised when, as he listened to Ye along with millions of others upon its June 2018 release, he heard one of his Calabasas freestyles. The song, “Ghost Town,” had additional vocals from Kid Cudi and 070 Shake, but only credited Party as a featured artist. “I didn’t know what he was going to do with it. It’s different when I have no creative control. It is raw. ‘Someday,’ ” he sings in a similar fashion to his recorded vocals. He initially felt caught off guard, but became appreciative of West’s trust in his talent. “It wasn’t about working with PartyNextDoor. It was just about liking what I did creatively,” he says. “Ghost Town” reached No. 16 on the Hot 100 — Party’s highest-charting hit on the all-genre list.
The way West used Party’s sketch to make “Ghost Town” startled him because, when it comes to his own music, Party pays attention to every painstaking detail. “He’s the most meticulous and thorough person I’ve ever met,” Henry says. “He’ll spend six months mixing a song or fly to Toronto four times just to work with 40 to get it right.”
Erica Hernández
Party, however, admits he didn’t have that laser focus when making his last two studio albums, PartyNextDoor 3 and PartyMobile. “I was still handling that sh-t like demos,” he says, adding that he wasn’t “using everything I learned as a producer, as a writer, as an engineer.” Even though rough freestyles like 2014’s “Persian Rugs” — one of the loosies later included on PartyPack — proved he didn’t need polished records to develop a robust fan base, he vows to never “cheat” on the quality of his art again.
On P4’s forthcoming single, “Real Woman,” Party resharpens those creative tools, layering his vocals with bright, twinkling synths, trap hi-hats and a backing choir. But considering his last single, “Resentment,” debuted in the top 10 of Hot R&B Songs last July and fell off the chart after three weeks, it’s unclear how much momentum “Real Woman” will build for this album cycle.
Fortunately, he has plenty of performances in the coming months where he can perform the new material, including Rolling Loud California and, at the end of March, Souled Out, Australia’s first modern R&B and soul festival, which will be held across five cities. “I have so much anxiety before a show, but I always tell my manager, ‘This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’ I always forget that until I step on the stage,” he says.
Reconnecting with his fans live — and making sure the music he performs is of the highest possible quality — is, in the end, what fuels him, even if playing the part of a traditional megastar isn’t a natural fit.
“I know Drake and people always tell me, ‘Bro, you have to come out more!’ I’m an introvert, I’m shy,” he says. He’s not active on social media either because he doesn’t “have the narcissism” to believe people are personally invested in what he’s posting. And anyway, he doesn’t want to distract from what’s important: “I’m focused on making classic music.”
This story originally appeared in the March 9, 2024, issue of Billboard.
We’ve seen this before. A new artist breaks through with a hot new single that seems to completely dominate social media and group chats, alike. But as fire as the song is, the artist doesn’t manage to break into the mainstream. Then, Drake steps in and throws an alley that would make D Wade do a double take.
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The OVO Capo either adds a verse to the bubbling track or finds his way onto a completely new offering. Suddenly, not only is the song with Drake everywhere—radio, Billboard Hot 100, every car driving around your neighborhood—the artist is now a household name who appears on every radio show and podcast. It’s the Drake Effect. Future, Migos, ILoveMakonnen (for better or worse), and BlocBoy JB have all been recipients. And now, according to a few cryptic IG posts, it appears that 4Batz, the quasi-mysterious new R&B artist who has a love of Pooh Shiesty masks, may be the latest beneficiary of Drake’s goodwill.
But does he need it?
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If you haven’t heard 4Batz’s breakthrough single, “act ii: date @ 8,” you’ve undoubtedly seen clips from his “From the Block Performance” that featured him crooning into a microphone through gold grills while his friends hover in the background, dancing and punctuating certain lines like professional hype men.
The video itself isn’t spectacular, it looks like every other “From the Block Performance”—a franchise produced by the 4 Shooters Only YouTube channel that features rappers in their home city performing, well, from the block. The only difference is 4batz isn’t a rapper. He’s an R&B singer with a childlike falsetto who sounds like he was raised on nothing but The Weeknd’s first three mixtapes. And like The Weeknd, his voice is surprisingly delicate even if the words it’s delivering are at times surprisingly abrasive.
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The song and video went viral, catapulting the Texas native into stardom before anybody really knew anything about him. His own YouTube channel only has three videos, the first being “act i: stickerz ’99′” which was uploaded in October of last year and now has over 2 million views. The “Official Visualizer” for “act ii: date @ 8” has 3.1 million views.
As its popularity increased a number of artists took note and offered their support. SZA left a comment on one of his Instagram posts, he FaceTimed with Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West), and Timbaland posted a reaction video to the song wherein he says Drake should collaborate with 4Batz.
All of that lead to the song debuting at #77 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and igniting a bidding war that sources said would “end in a robust seven-figure deal” for the artist. And, now, as the song continues to climb the charts, 4Batz posted a video on Instagram last night announcing a “date & 8” remix and asked his fans “who yall want on the remix”?
A quick look at his comments show that the early favorites are Brent Fiyaz, SZA, and Bryson Tiller. But fans really believe it’s the 6 God since he also took to Instagram last night and posted a Story that said “Date @ 8 REMIX” with mentions of 4Batz and his longtime producer Noah “40” Shebib.
While Brent and Bryson would both add interesting elements to the single, and SZA would add a wallop of star power, a remix with Drake will undoubtedly push the single way, way up the charts. He’s one of the biggest pop stars in the world and easily the biggest rapper in the game. A verse from him is enough to launch entire careers (just ask JB).
But 4Batz’s career seems to be moving along just fine. The rollout of his singles has been deliberate and interesting. He’s landed at an aesthetic that accentuates his music. And people seem to be genuinely rooting for him. A top 40 hit doesn’t seem too far away.
But Drake is Drake. The guy with 328 Hot 100 entries. Even if 4batz doesn’t need the Drake Effect, helping him get to 329 may be too tempting to turn down.
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Source: Cole Burston / Getty / Drake
The 6 God, aka Drake, is currently on tour again, calling for Tory Lanez’s freedom and, at the same time, continues making big moves in Hollywood.
Deadline reports that Apple TV+ has greenlit a new 10-episode sci-fi drama series called Neuromancer based on William Gibson’s award-winning debut novel of the same name.
Skydance Entertainment and Anonymous Content will co-produce, and Drake and his production company DreamCrew Entertainment produce.
JD Dillard (Sleight, Devotion) and Graham Roland (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Dark Winds) will co-develop the series, with Roland as showrunner and Dillard directing the pilot episode.
“We’re incredibly excited to be bringing this iconic property to Apple TV+,” Graham Roland and JD Dillard said in a joint statement. “Since we became friends nearly ten years ago, we’ve looked for something to team up on, so this collaboration marks a dream come true. Neuromancer has inspired so much of the science fiction that’s come after it, and we’re looking forward to bringing television audiences into Gibson’s definitive ‘cyberpunk’ world.”
Synopsis Per Deadline:
The streamer reveals Neuromancer will follow a damaged, top-rung super-hacker named Case who is thrust into a web of digital espionage and high-stakes crime with his partner Molly, a razor-girl assassin with mirrored eyes, aiming to pull a heist on a corporate dynasty with untold secrets.
For Drake, he continues to dabble in the world of television. The rapper currently serves as an executive producer on Sam Levinson’s hit HBO drama series Euphoria starring Zendaya.
Drake was also instrumental in helping get Top Boy’s fifth season on Netflix.
It seems when it comes to hit shows, Drake has the Midas touch; we shall see if that streak continues with Neuromancer.
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Drake is getting blasted on X, formerly Twitter, for showing online support for the currently incarcerated Tory Lanez. In an Instagram Story post, Drake calls for the freedom of Tory Lanez which has sparked a barrage of online criticism.
Drake, 37, shared an image of Tory Lanez to his Story feed with the words under the photo reading “3 You,” which many assume to be suggesting freedom for Lanez. Lanez, 31, was found guilty in 2022 of felony assault for shooting and injuring Megan Thee Stallion. In August of 2023, Lanez was officially sentenced to 10 years behind bars in connection to the matter.
Several Hip-Hop figures and fans on social media seemed to side with Lanez during his legal ordeal with Megan Thee Stallion, with many believing that the shooting incident never took place among other unproven yet heavily discussed theories.
There have also been shots taken via songs towards Megan Thee Stallion, including a perceived shot from Drake on the song “Circo Loco” from his joint album with 21 Savage, Her Loss. However, 21 Savage claims that the Canadian superstar was not pointing his verse in that direction.
Despite that clarification from the Atlanta rapper, some believe that Drizzy holds some manner of animosity towards women rappers and that his support of Tory Lanez qualifies those assumptions. We’ve got reactions from X below.
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Source: YouTube / OVO
Now that Drake has brought back the baggy pants look from yesteryear, it seems like the man isn’t done with the retro vibes as he’s taken to using an OG camcorder for his directorial work on his latest visuals for the SZA and Sexyy Red assisted, “Rich Baby Daddy.”
For the video celebrating the pregnancy he has with his “wife” Sexyy Red, Drake captures the beautiful moments of their baby shower before Red goes into labor and they dash to the hospital where she gives birth to their little bundle of joy.
To help mark the joyous moment, Drake, Red and SZA are joined by a gang of thick young women who seem to have made their way to the hospital directly from the club as they twerk up and down the hallways of the medical center. Even Sexyy Red joins in on the twerking competition right after pushing a whole little person out her body. That’s… impressive?
Check out the visuals to “Rich Baby Daddy,” and let us know your thoughts on the joint in the comments section below.
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