State Champ Radio Hip Hop News
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Metro Boomin has joined the ranks of musical artists selling their publishing catalogs, recently making a deal that earns him $70 million.
According to reports, the producer behind hits from Migos, Kanye West, and Future has sold off part of his existing publishing catalog to the Shamrock Capital firm. Sources with knowledge of the deal estimate that the “Jumpman” producer received close to $70 million. Representatives for Metro Boomin’ declined to comment on the transaction, and Shamrock Capital didn’t respond to press inquiries.
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News of the deal comes as Metro Boomin’ has recently released a new album, HEROES & VILLAINS. The album contains features from Takeoff, Future, Chris Brown, 21 Savage, and The Weeknd. The deal is only for “part” of the catalog, but there is no information as to what that includes.
Music catalog purchases have held the attention of those in the music industry as well as observers. Last month, reports stated that the estate of the late superstar Michael Jackson is planning to sell half of its interests in his music catalog for an estimated price of $800 to $900 million. Hip-Hop artists are now finding themselves in the eyesight of interested firms – Dr. Dre sold a collection of music streams and other assets to Shamrock Holdings and Universal Music Group for a sum close to $250 million.Justin Bieber has also taken the plunge and sold the rights to his music catalog in January for an estimated $200 million.
The discussion over artists’ catalogs and Hip-Hop have also been in the spotlight due to the recent arrival of the entire catalog of the iconic group De La Soul last Friday (March 3rd). The catalog had been withheld from digital streaming platforms for years in a fight with their label, Tommy Boy Records and its parent company, Warner Music Group. In addition, the Quality Control independent label which is home to Migos, Lil Yachty and Lil Baby was acquired in a major deal by the South Korean entertainment firm Hybe America for $320 million.
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A public library system in New York City is launching a new program celebrating 50 years of Hip-Hop, with the guidance of the legendary “Uncle” Ralph McDaniels.
Last week, the Queens Public Library announced a partnership with over 30 libraries, colleges, and art institutions nationwide to honor the culture of Hip-Hop celebrating 50 years of existence. The partnership was made possible through funding via a $267,760 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) That has led to the launch of “Collections of Culture: 50 Years of Hip Hop Inside Libraries, Museums, and Archives,” which will be coordinated by the library’s Hip-Hop coordinator, Ralph McDaniels.
McDaniels, the beloved host of the iconic Video Music Box television show has been in that role with the library since 2015. As a venerable archivist of the culture, the Brooklyn native has been instrumental in providing education about all of the elements of Hip-Hop. “Hip-hop has been a learning tool for many years,” McDaniels said in the statement. “We are humbled by the IMLS grant and the response we have received from our partners and collaborators and excited that communities around the country will come together to deepen their understanding of Hip-Hop as it turns 50.”
The six-month program kicked off last Monday (February 27th) as Grammy Award-winner and Hip-Hop pioneer Chuck D joined McDaniels at the Central Branch of the QPL for a discussion on the culture turning 50 and the borough of Queens’ impact as well as other subjects. The QPL is also working with The Gates Preserve, a multimedia hip-hop archiving and preservation firm that is helping each institution create original programming along with creating a digital archive of each event for QPL’s Digital Hip-Hop Archive.
“QPL’s hip-hop program has drawn people of all ages and backgrounds to our spaces and has created a unique community connected by a love for music and knowledge,” said QPL President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott in the release. “We are thrilled to share our experience with libraries, museums, and other educational institutions across the country to celebrate hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, and we are grateful to the Institute of Museum and Library Services and our partners for their tremendous support in making sure that hip hop remains part of our culture for generations to come.”
For more information on upcoming programs, check out the dedicated website here.
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Rap legends Chuck D and Daddy-O have united once more with a new project and movement featuring many of the big names in Hip-Hop to address the issues of the community.
Over 30 years since the original “Self Destruction” track was released, a new project helmed by Chuck D of Public Enemy and Daddy-O of Stetsasonic entitled “Stop Self Destruction,” was announced in a press release. The icons and longtime friends were part of the original song released in 1989, which brought together the greatest names in Hip-Hop on the East Coast to decry the rising violence in the Black community.
This time around, both MCs are partnering with the music label Opposition to create the track “Stop Self Destruction,” featuring some of the best artists from around the world. The song will be the spearhead of the initiative to spark meaningful discussions and actions regarding the state of Hip-Hop and the community, which has seen an alarming number of artists lost to violence, substance abuse, suicide and those lost to the penal system.
“Hip Hop has always helped each generation find its voice. Right now, there are more issues to speak about than ever before, but there are also more distractions. It’s our responsibility, as an artist-first label, to ensure that artists who speak about what’s really going on in their communities are getting the proper amount of attention and support. These artists will shape the voice of a generation,” said Opposition’s label head Shane Gil in the press release.
The new movement will also produce more documentaries and videos focusing on these issues and the culture. The collaboration with Opposition, whose mission is to be forward-thinking with respect to its artists, began in 2021 as Chuck D and Daddy-O were featured on a virtual panel discussion with Gil for the South by Southwest Festival that year. Shortly after, top artists from the Bay Area including E-40 and Too Short released a track called “8:46” referencing the length of time that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck in 2020, leading to his death.
Visit here to find out more about the Stop Self Destruction movement.
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The judge presiding over the racketeering case of Young Thug has ordered a probe over the release of a video showing a possible evidence leak.
According to reports, Fulton County Superior Court Chief Judge Ural Glanville ordered the investigation after a video was posted online where a witness was offering to provide information about the rapper for leniency. The footage was taken from an interview conducted in 2021.
On Wednesday (March 1), Judge Glanville issued a reminder to attorneys for the prosecution and the defense that certain evidence must be kept secret until the trial. “It affects everyone’s right to a fair trial,” the judge said. “I don’t know who did this but if this pertains to you, please amend your ways. You’re playing a very dangerous game with your six-digit bar number.”
Gina Bernard, the defense attorney for JayMan aka Jayden Myrick, filed a motion for a mistrial over the video leak citing that it “made it impossible for him to receive a fair trial, as well as a jury that is honestly and truly fair and impartial.”
Prosecutors countered that the video might’ve been leaked by the defense. “The state has absolutely no interest in leaking this video to members of the public, as its dissemination serves only to intimidate and harass witnesses called upon by the state to testify in a very serious and high-profile case,” they wrote.
Judge Glanville dismissed the motion and also warned that if more evidence makes it into the public eye that he will only let discovery evidence be shown in his chambers. “For me to have to deal with this at this point in the trial is just unacceptable,” he said. Currently, jury selection for the trial has been going on for two months and is expected to go on for another several months.
The highly-publicized trial of Young Thug and 13 of his YSL associates for racketeering and other criminal activities is projected to take six to nine months. Prosecutors claim that the group billed themselves as “Young Slime Life,” and operated a criminal enterprise associated with the Bloods gang in Atlanta, Georgia. Defense attorneys claim that YSL simply stands for “Young Stoner Life” and it represents a record label founded by Young Thug.
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In another bad sign for adidas after cutting ties with Ye aka Kanye West, their credit ratings have been cut by S&P Global due
to the company’s expectations of earnings losses for 2023.
In a disclosure statement that was published on Tuesday (February 21st), the noted agency that judges the ability of companies to pay back what they’ve borrowed declared that they were cutting the global athletic brand’s long and short-term credit rating from “A+” to “A-“. They based this on the company’s warnings that their earnings would take a serious hit after cutting ties with the controversial artist. Adidas had previously projected that the dissolution of their deal with Ye could cost them $1.3 billion.
“Adidas faces a multitude of business challenges, including the termination of its Yeezy partnership, ongoing competitive pressures in the Chinese market, and a contraction of consumer demand in Western countries,” it said in the statement. They went on to state that adidas’ warning had a tremendous effect on their decision, especially when it came to uncertainty over their remaining Yeezy stock that it could still write off and not refit for sale. “This estimate is materially worse than our previous base-case scenario.”
Adidas terminated its partnership with Ye in late October after the DONDA artist had made a string of antisemitic comments. This included an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast where he publicly challenged the brand over his behavior and comments taken from an unaired interview with Tucker Carlson of Fox News.
S&P Global Ratings is not the only group of its kind to have a gloomy outlook on adidas’ expected financial fortunes for the year. Bernstein Research published a report that the company might’ve experienced these struggles even if it maintained its ties with Ye. They also projected that Adidas could experience losses of $2 billion, more than the estimated figure expressed in their disclosure statement. “The sales decline is about more than just Yeezy,” Bernstein analyst Aneesha Sherman said in an internal note. “We are concerned about the underlying health of the business that would drive such a drastic guide-down, even after stripping out the Yeezy impact.”
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The artist known as Ye is expected to be the subject of an upcoming documentary and a podcast from the BBC.
Word has it that Mobeen Azhar will be the host of the We Need to Talk About Kanye documentary planned by the British network. (The title is tentative, per the network.) The BAFTA-winning investigative journalist will follow the “Flashing Lights” rapper as he sets out on his campaign to become president in 2024. Azhar has been lauded for his work as the lead journalist in the documentary The Battle for Britney, which covered the battle over pop star Britney Spears’ conservatorship in detail.
The one-off documentary will be accompanied by an eight-part podcast series entitled The Kanye Story. The series is expected to feature various figures from Ye’s life from his early days until now. Both projects were ordered by the newly-minted Head of Popular Music Jonathan Rothery. UK-based company Forest Sounds will be in charge of the production, with Abacus Media Rights handling the distribution. No date has been set for the documentary, which will air on BBC Two.
The news comes as Ye is dealing with the aftermath of his antisemitic remarks & behavior, which began on Twitter last October. Since then, he has suffered multiple setbacks on the business front, including the severing of ties with Adidas. It has not stopped him from associating with far-right figures like Nick Fuentes and meeting with former President Donald Trump last Thanksgiving.
Another project featuring the multi-hyphenate entertainer done in collaboration with MRC was shelved in October. MRC studio executives Modi Wiczyk, Asif Satchu and Scott Tenley released a statement at that time, saying:“Last week he sampled and remixed a classic tune that has charted for over 3,000 years — the lie that Jews are evil and conspire to control the world for their own gain.”
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Vic Mensa went deep in depth about solidifying his spirit, and the beef he had with DJ Akademiks in the past, via a new interview.
The Chicago native sat down for a lengthy profile with Paper, in which he spoke heavily about his creative and personal journey to this point. Going back to Ghana, where his father’s family still resides, has been vital. “I’ve been able to build some pretty phenomenal things using that privilege and treat it as an opportunity to play that role to be the bridge between Black America and Africa,” Mensa said.
While the There’s A Lot Going On artist has been striving towards bettering himself on all fronts, he did touch upon a recent moment where a clip where he publicly called out media personality DJ Akademiks for exploitation of the Chicago drill scene and violence re-emerged. Mensa said it came from a personal connection.
“Because a kid that I grew up with and went to karate with when we were five years old ended up being a street n***a, gang banging, et cetera. He was also a very talented rapper. When he got killed, there was music involved, there were big drill artists involved, and I heard about it on Akademiks’ parasitic platform. So that’s why I was upset,” he said.
Mensa prefaced that by speaking at length about the differences between the emerging drill scene in Ghana and what already exists in Chicago. “Their music largely reflects their realities, which are not the same as American drill realities. Ghana is a very peaceful place. People don’t get killed like that. There’s a lot of struggle though, so their music is rooted in struggle,” he remarked.
The former Ye collaborator also spoke about his commitment to sobriety, which helped him confront various moments in his past and recalibrate his relationships. He also talked about how he’s come to accept being labeled a conscious rapper: “I can never be mad at the idea of being a conscious rapper. The truth is just that I’m a multifaceted person.”
Vic Mensa also spoke about his foray into punk music, and how he and Chance The Rapper linked up along with Erykah Badu and other artists to organize and perform at the Black Star Line Festival that took place in January.
—Photo: Momodu Mansaray / Getty
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Adidas has released information that estimates the company could lose over one billion dollars after parting ways with Ye aka Kanye West, citing issues with moving previously manufactured stock as a cause.
On Thursday (Feb. 9), the athletic brand released a statement on its website concerning its estimated financial outlook for this year. It opened by addressing the company’s decision to end its partnership with the rapper last October, stating that it could lose $1.3 billion due to being unable to move the rapper and designer’s Yeezy clothing and footwear.
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“The numbers speak for themselves. We are currently not performing the way we should,” said adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden in the statement. “2023 will be a year of transition to set the base to again be a growing and profitable company.” The full report discloses that $534 million alone could be lost in operating costs for the year and “accounts for the significant adverse impact from not selling the existing stock.”
Adidas had previously expressed plans to sell the remaining Yeezy sneakers under its own name at a discount, which would save them $300 million in marketing fees and royalty payments. That option does come with some challenges. “All of this work is extremely labor intensive and it can only be done one shoe at a time,” said Matt Powell, a footwear retail expert. “So, it’s very costly to go through this process.” Destroying the goods is another option, but industry experts have advised against such a move.
The news comes after the company decided to sever its ties with Ye after the “Father Stretch My Hands” rapper made a series of antisemitic remarks in interviews and online. Initially putting the “partnership under review” after Ye wore a “White Lives Matter” t-shirt. Adidas made the decision to drop him after he appeared on the Drink Champs podcast and said, “I can say antisemitic s*** and adidas cannot drop me.” It follows behind the news that their IVY PARK collaboration with Beyoncé failed to match sales expectations last year, with sales dropping by 50%, according to reports.
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Former MC Dee Barnes published a lengthy statement calling out the Grammys after they named what she deemed the “Ike Turner Award” after Dr. Dre.
In an op-ed published in Rolling Stone on Wednesday (Feb. 8), the journalist and rapper spoke out about the move by the Black Music Collective to bestow that honor. Barnes was assaulted by the producer and rapper when he was then a member of N.W.A. At the time, she was the host of Pump It Up!, a Hip-Hop show on Fox that ran for two years and was key to the rise of the culture. Dre issued an apology in 2015 to the New York Times, not naming anyone in particular.
In the op-ed, Barnes spoke about how she initially was welcoming of the Impact Award being given to industry legends Missy Elliott, Epic Records CEO Sylvia Rhone and Lil Wayne along with Dr. Dre. Her position changed once she learned that the award would be named after him.
“Everybody wants to separate the art from the artist, and sometimes that’s just not possible,” she said, referring to his past history of abuse by saying “to name an award after someone with that type of history in the music industry, you might as well call it the Ike Turner Award.”
After speaking out about the struggles she’s endured, Barnes was shut out from the industry. Which led to her battling to house and provide for herself on a long-term basis. “The blacklisting I’ve faced still feels active, and it took me a long time to accept that,” she said.
Barnes likened her situation to the vitriol that Megan Thee Stallion endured after being the victim of assault by Tory Lanez. “I watched what happened to my little sister Megan, and it just was heartbreaking to me because we have not changed in all these years.” She ended the op-ed by revealing that she is working on a memoir and getting back into journalism, thanks to the support of Black women writers and journalists.
She also hoped for a chance to settle things once and for all with Dr. Dre in a face-to-face summit. “But I think that’s going to be the only thing to turn the tide, so to speak — if we have a come-to-Jesus moment in person, in public. Because everything happened publicly, it’s got to have closure publicly.”
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The backstage dispute between Quavo and Offset at the Grammy Awards was halted apparently due to Cardi B stepping in, reportedly.
The “WAP” rapper had just gone backstage after presenting the award for Best Rap Album to Kendrick Lamar at the ceremony on Sunday night (Feb. 5th), when video cameras from Entertainment Tonight caught her scolding both members of the Migos group, Quavo, and Offset. “Both of y’all wrong. Both of y’all! This is not right,” she yelled before continuing: “No, b—-es, shut the f–k up. ’Cause you shouldn’t have been talking.” Cardi B is married to Offset, and the two share two children – their daughter Kulture and their son, Wave.
It was unclear whom the latter comments were directed towards, but it was later revealed that the two were having a heated argument ahead of the “In Memoriam” tribute segment of the show where their late colleague Takeoff would be honored. According to TMZ, both Offset and Quavo were asked to take part but Quavo refused to let Offset join him onstage. The two allegedly got into a scuffle and had to be separated.
Quavo would appear onstage shortly after to perform “Without You”, a song he wrote specifically for Takeoff, who was also his nephew. Offset is also related to the two, as a cousin. The absence of Offset led many watching to be a bit disappointed at the bad blood that still exists between the remaining Migos members. Offset would later deny that there was any altercation,
posting to Twitter: “What tf look like fighting my brother yal n—-s is crazy.”
The murder of Takeoff outside of a bowling alley in downtown Houston, Texas last November has been extremely hard on both Quavo and Offset. Offset has been vocal about his grief, saying that he’s been in a “dark place” since the tragic incident. Quavo, who was present at the time of the shooting, has also been publicly and privately mourning the loss. The alleged shooter, Patrick Xavier Clark, is set to stand trial for the incident on March 9th.
