State Champ Radio Hip-Hop
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Sometimes you just catch a weird vibe off someone and you don’t know what it is, but you just don’t want to find out. That’s how Jelly Roll described the time he had a chance to meet Sean “Diddy” Combs last October when both men were guests on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, but declined the photo-op at the last minute for reasons he still can’t explain.
Jelly was on Kimmel to perform on the Oct. 30 episode that featured Diddy as a panel guest, months before a series of shocking revelations emerged accusing the hip-hop mogul of sexual assault and sex trafficking.
“This is the first time in my career, ever, where they said, ‘Do you want to meet such-and-such?’ And I said, ‘Yeah,’ and I started walking that way,” the “Son of a Sinner” singer said on the CANCELLED With Tana Mongeau podcast last week after wife Bunnie XO admitted that despite being a conspiracy theorist at heart she doesn’t believe in the illuminati.
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Asked if he’s ever had a “weird” interaction with a fellow celeb or gotten illuminati vibes from one, Jelly joked, “ain’t nobody trying to touch my butt… maybe i’m not their type?” The refreshingly candid singer then said he did have one story about odd vibes that he would probably “get in trouble” for telling, before going ahead and telling it.
“And as I was getting down the hallway — this is a true story — I said, ‘Nah,’ and went and got back in the car,” Jelly Roll said of the aborted Diddy meet-up. “I don’t know what it was, and I made a joke at first, ‘you don’t wanna meet the guy that got Tupac killed…’ And nobody thought that was funny… When we were walking, I was like, I don’t know. Very seldom does things rub me in a way where I was like, ‘I don’t even know if that’s a picture I want.’”
While the photo-op didn’t happen, Jelly Roll’s instinct about the Bad Boy Records mogul and one of the first hip-hop billionaires now seems prescient since Combs’ ex-, singer Cassie Ventura, filed a lawsuit against Combs alleging years of physical abuse and rape just two weeks later; the bombshell filing led to a quick, private settlement within one day, whose terms have not been revealed.
Combs was quickly swarmed with a series of similar suits, including one claiming the “gang rape” of an unnamed teenage woman in 2003 when she was 17-years-old, as well as suits by two other women claiming Combs sexually assaulted, drugged and beat them; Combs has vehemently denied all the allegations. As the civil suits began to stack up, Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided and searched by Homeland Security agents on March 25 reportedly linked to a sex trafficking investigation.
In the wake of the legal action, Combs stepped down as the chairman of his digital media company Revolt, 18 brands formerly associated with Diddy severed ties with his E-commerce company Empower Global and Hulu scrapped a planned Combs family reality series.
Watch the Jelly Roll interview below (Diddy talk begins at 42:50 mark):
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Keith LeBlanc, the multi-talented drummer/producer who helped shape the sound of early hip-hop with his playing on albums by the Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash has died at 69. LeBlanc’s death was confirmed in a statement from his label, On-U Sound, as well as LeBlanc’s wife, Fran LeBlanc, who told Variety that her husband died on April 4 due to an undisclosed illness.
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“All of us at On-U Sound are heartbroken to share the news that the great Keith LeBlanc has passed away,” read a statement from the label.
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Over the course of a four-decade career that began with his gig working along bassist Doug Wimbish and guitarist Skip “Little Axe” McDonald as part of the house band for rap pioneers the Sugarhill Gang in the early 1980s, LeBlanc played with and performed on records that spanned electronica, rock and pop.
LeBlanc’s work can be heard on such landmark Sugar Hill records as “Apache” and “8th Wonder,” as well as Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five’s “It’s Nasty” and the 1982 album The Message. In a nod to his versatility, LeBlanc spent the 1980s and 1990s playing sessions with a wide variety of acts, from Ministry to R.E.M., Seal and Annie Lennox, as well as adding his production and engineering expertise to Nine Inc Nails’ landmark 1989 industrial rock classic debut, Pretty Hate Machine.
Born in Bristol, CT in 1954, LeBlanc also had a robust solo career, drumming on tracks for English producer Adrian Sherwood’s On-U Sound productions. He snagged an unexpected underground solo hit in 1983 with “No Sell Out,” which sampled the voice of late Nation of figurehead Malcolm X over bouncy synths and drum machine beats and is considered one of the first songs to use samples in a commercial release.
He also performed in the rotating lineup of Sherwood’s industrial hip-hop band Tackhead in the late 1980s and early 1990s alongside Wimbish and McDonald after Sherwood was impressed with LeBlanc’s musicianship, inviting the trio to join him in London for experimental sessions.
“Once ensconced in the studio, they continued their sample-based explorations, with the producer as a fourth member manning the mixing desk. This is something they would also replicate in their live set-up, with Adrian dubbing and processing the musicians in real time as they played on stage,” On U’s memorial read. “Cutting records simultaneously as Fats Comet (for the more dancefloor-oriented material) and Tackhead (for their more aggressive political tracks), they also became the second incarnation of The Maffia, the uncompromising backing band of Mark Stewart [the Pop Group]. The members were additionally involved in solo projects, session assignments, and appearances in other mysterious guises on the On-U roster, such as Barmy Army and Strange Parcels.”
In a statement, Sherwood said, “Keith was a major, major talent ..incredible drummer, producer and musician.. Along with Doug, Skip and also dearly missed Mark Stewart we enjoyed some of the most creative times together that shaped my musical life. Thank you Brother Keith..Love Forever. Heart and Soul.”
LeBlanc also released six solo albums during that period, including his 1986 album Major Malfunction, which was inspired by the space shuttle Challenger disaster. Throughout his musical adventures, LeBlanc folded in hip-hop, spoken word, film/TV samples and a mix of live drumming and programmed beats, releasing material through his Blanc Records label, which also offered fans budget-priced collections of “sample packs” featuring beats and effects.
Among his other notable recordings is an appearance on “Little” Steven Van Zandt’s 1985 anti-apartheid all-star single “Sun City,” as well as collaborations with McDonald’s blues-leaning group Little Axe and writing/producing for Living Colour, Peter Gabriel and The Cure and drumming on songs by James Brown, the Rolling Stones, Stone Roses and Sinead O’Connor, among many others.
Check out some of LeBlanc’s music below.
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The Roots are hitting the road this summer with some special friends. The Tonight Show house band will take a break from playing celebrities onto stage and doing bits with host Jimmy Fallon to play a run of dates from May through September with kindred spirit hip-hop experimentalists Digable Planets and Arrested Development.
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After announcing an initial slate of dates for the Hip-Hop Is the Love of My Life outing last week with the message “This is for the ones that really fell in LOVE with this,” the band has filled the roster out with a more robust run. The mostly weekend shows will commence on May 11 with a gig at the Mountain Winery Concert Series in Saratoga, CA and a spot on the Wonderfront Festival in San Diego on May 12 before setting up shop in Philadelphia for this year’s edition of their Roots Picnic festival.
This year’s June 1-2 Picnic will feature André 3000 and his bag of magical flutes, Jill Scott, Lil Wayne, Gunna, Victoria Monét, Method Man, Nas, Redman and Sexyy Red, and others performing in The Mann in Fairmount Park.
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A quick pop-in at the Reggae Rise Up Maryland 2024 festival in Baltimore on June 23 will be followed by a June 29 gig at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles and then a pair of dates in July in Denver and Seattle, before a hop over the Atlantic for a couple of dates in England and Germany before a return to U.S. shores in August for shows in Houston and Irving, Texas, Highland Park, IL, Sterling Heights, MI, Atlanta, Vienna, VA and a Sept. 1 show at the MGM Music Hall at Fenway in Boston.
In keeping with their job supporting Fallon since 2009 — on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and then, beginning in 2014 on The Tonight Show — the majority of this summer’s dates will be weekend gigs that will allow the group to be in their spots in Studio 6B in Rockefeller Center in New York for their nightly gig.
Check out the dates for the Roots’ Hip-Hop Is the Love of My Life 2024 tour below.
May 11 – Saratoga, CA @ The Mountain Winery Concert Series
May 12 – San Diego, CA @ Wonderfront Festival
June 1 – Philadelphia, PA @ Roots Picnic 2024
June 2 – Philadelphia, PA @ Roots Picnic 2024
June 23 – Baltimore, MD @ Reggae Rise Up Maryland 2024
June 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl *^
July 20 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
July 21 – Seattle, WA @ Woodland Park Zoo
August 1 – Tower Of London, UK @ Crystal Palace Bowl
August 2 – Margate, UK @ Dreamland
August 5 – Berlin, DE @ Uber Eats Music Hall
August 16 – Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall *^
August 17 – Irving, TX @ The Pavilion At Toyota Music Factory *^
August 24 – Highland Park, IL @ Ravinia Festival *^
August 25 – Sterling Heights, MI @ Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill *^
August 29 – Atlanta, GA @ Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park *^
August 31 – Vienna, VA @ Filene Center at Wolf Trap *^
Sept. 1 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway *^’July 20 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
* = w/ Arrested Development^ = w/ Digable Planets
What’s in the water lately?
Since Future and Metro Boomin dropped We Don’t Trust You a couple of weeks back, rap drama has spilled out from all corners. First, Kendrick Lamar ignited a civil war between the Big 3, which now is down to Drake and Lamar after J. Cole politely bowed out this weekend at Dreamville Fest. Then you have the ladies of rap going at it, with Glorilla beefing with JT from the City Girls late last week over Big Glo’s song “Aite.”
And then today, the OGs, Joe Budden and Skillz, went back and forth over Cole’s backtracking.
Now Skillz…… there is NO LIVING BREATHING person that has you as a better MC than me. & YOU can’t career shame a mosquito with a mixtape. And the one time a year ppl wanted to hear from you got stolen from you. Go be with your family. https://t.co/YA4vjnetNY— Joe Budden (@JoeBudden) April 8, 2024
But the biggest story in “Today in Rap Beef” is undoubtedly Meek Mill being upset with Wale for taking a picture with someone he’s no longer friends with. In a now-deleted tweet, Meek posted a screenshot of Wale’s photo with Philly rapper Dean Stay Ready and wrote, “Wale never liked me.”
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Meek Mill goes off on Wale after he linked up with Meek’s former bestfriend Dean in Philadelphia.”Wale never liked me … now ima treat him like the streets every time I see him.” 😳 pic.twitter.com/AL0fnGBUW3— No Jumper (@nojumper) April 8, 2024
Wale responded, suggesting he didn’t realize taking a flick with Dean would end up being this serious.
When u get in other people unserious drama in this industry 90pct of the time they be back friends… eventually ..and then u look silly… in the end… so I love minding my business. If a photo can create such vitriol , one has to ask himself some questions. Happy Monday— Wale (@Wale) April 8, 2024
Meek then accused Wale of having “always been jealous” of him and said the D.C. rapper “killed all his relationships.” He followed it up with a series of tweets mentioning a fight Wale had in D.C., how he doesn’t believe any sex stories about Diddy, how he’s his own publicist, and how he’s treating X like his journal, among other things.
This why the rap game screwed along of niggas be having these secretly jealous vibes you can’t do songs or tours with them lol he’s always been jealous of me but tryna link with meek haters intentionally ..wale killed all his relationships dont come around again with bad energy! https://t.co/8UelusekMx— MeekMill (@MeekMill) April 8, 2024
We’re only four months into 2024 and this isn’t the first time Meek has had a public meltdown on social media. Back in February, after being named in a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs by a producer who worked on his Grammy-nominated The Love Album: Off the Grid, Meek hopped on X and told DJ Akademiks to stop playing with his name, accused a competing music label of trying to smear him, promoted his Heathenism EP, and then asked his fans to send him the lawsuit so he could read it for himself. It was quite the day.
But as to why Meek would be so mad at his former labelmate for taking a photo with Dean Stay Ready, look no further than a DJ Akademiks interview. In the video interview, Dean talked about his past relationship with Meek Mill and accused the head Dreamchaser of blackballing him. The two reportedly had a falling-out due to Dean’s belief that Meek was preventing the advancement of his career.
More than three decades into her storied career, Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott is gearing up for her first-ever headlining tour. On Monday morning (April 8) the “Work It” rapper announced the dates for her Out of This World – The Missy Elliott Experience 2024 North American arena tour, which is slated to kick off on on July 4 in Vancouver at Rogers Arena, and include stops in Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, Houston, Tampa, Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Brooklyn and Detroit before winding down on August 22 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL.
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The summer outing will feature support from Busta Rhymes, Ciara and Elliott’s longtime musical partner producer Timbaland. The poster for the tour features Missy, Busta and Ciara dressed in Mad Max-style futuristic leather outfits standing in front of a giant space ship.
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“This is an incredible time in my life as I am experiencing so many milestone ‘firsts.’ Being the FIRST female Hip Hop artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and now going out on my FIRST headline tour,” Elliott said in a statement about the 24-city tour co-produced by Live Nation and Elliott’s longtime manager Mona Scott-Young. “Fans have been asking me to tour forever but I wanted to wait until I felt the time was right because I knew if I was ever going to do it, I had to do it big, and I had to do it with family! So get ready to be taken OUT OF THIS WORLD with me, Busta Rhymes, Ciara, and Timbaland! We can’t wait to share this experience with the fans!”
In keeping with Elliott’s legendarily out-there music videos, the tour announce was accompanied by a short teaser video helmed by another one of Missy’s frequent collaborators, director Dave Meyers. “In 2024, these three icons come together to show you something you’ve never seen before,” Elliott says in voiceover in the clip in which she, Busta and Ciara emerge from the spacecraft.
“Something not right,” Elliott says at one point as the shoot is interrupted by confusion. “This is not Earth!” That leads to Busta busting out a paper celestial map only to discover that he took a “wrong turn” at Mars, a revelation that makes Ciara short of breath. Missy then calls Timbaland on her old school brick cell phone to complain about Busta’s terrible sense of space direction.
In an additional statement about her client’s first-ever headlining tour, Scott-Young said, “Missy has always been an iconic groundbreaker and continuously pushes herself to be bolder and go where she has never been before – and surprisingly, one of those places is headlining her own tour! For decades, fans and peers worldwide have clamored for Missy to tour and they’re finally going to get what they’ve been asking for as she teams up with Ciara, Busta, and longtime partner-in-rhyme Timbaland, to deliver a start-to-finish, nonstop, high-octane, OUT OF THIS WORLD concert experience. This will be one for the books, so trust me, you don’t want to miss it!”
Tickets for the tour will go on sale first through a Verizon presale that kicks off on Tuesday (April 9) beginning at 10 a.m. local time through Thursday (April 11) at 10 p.m. local time; click here for more details. Following additional presales throughout the week, the general onsale for the tour will begin on Friday (April 12) at 10 a.m. local time here.
Check out the dates for the tour and the teaser video below.
Missy Elliott 2024 Out of This World dates:
July 4 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
July 6 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
July 9 — Oakland, CA @ Oakland Arena
July 11 — Los Angeles, CA @ Crypto.com Arena
July 13 — Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
July 16 — Denver, CO @ Ball Arena
July 18 — Austin, TX @ Moody Center
July 20 — Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
July 21 — Fort Worth, TX @ Dickies Arena
July 24 — Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
July 25 — Sunrise, FL @ Amerant Bank Arena
Saturday, July 27 — Atlanta, GA — State Farm Arena
August 1 — Baltimore, MD @ CFG Bank Arena
August 2 — Hampton, VA @ Hampton Coliseum
August 3 — Belmont Park, NY @ UBS Arena
August 5 — Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
August 8 — Washington, DC @ Capital One Arena
August 9 — Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
August 10 — Boston, MA @ TD Garden
August 12 — Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
August 15 — Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
August 17 — Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
August 19 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
August 22 — Rosemont, IL @ Allstate Arena
Megan Thee Stallion is not afraid of any ban. The “Sweetest Pie” rapper issued a bold challenge on Saturday (April 6) when she launched what she dubbed “IG after dark” with a provocative twerking video just weeks after the social media company reportedly warned her that the cheeky poster for the MC’s upcoming Hot Girl Summer tour might violate its community standards.
“IG after dark lol and nobody better not challenge me bc this the best ass on IG 🤪 or if you think so tag me in your video 😂 stream WANNA BE,” Meg wrote alongside a video in which she shook her behind at the camera to the strains of her GloRilla collab “Wanna Be” while wearing barely there black shorts, furry boots, a t-shit and black beanie with rabbit ears.
By Sunday night, Meg had already posted a series of clips of fans who blew her away with their challenge videos, including one that elicited a “well damn” response from the star and another potential winner from Bad Girls Club alum Natalie Nunn.
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Meg’s challenge came after she said the poster for her upcoming Hot Girl Summer tour — in which she was seen in a magazine cover-like image laying on her stomach in a shallow pool while wearing a cheeky silver thong bikini — got flagged by Instagram for being too sexy for public viewing. “HOTTIESSS GET READY TO COME HAVE SOME FUN WITH ME AT THEE HOT GIRL SUMMER TOUR,” read the caption on the original post, which urged hotties to get their “outfits ready nowww!”
In a later Instagram Story, Meg posted a screenshot of what she described as a warning she reportedly got from the social media site telling her that the pic may have breached the site’s guidelines, which could lead to limits being put on her account. “Nooooo it’s just a lil cheek lol,” Megan reportedly commented.
Megan’s first-ever headlining tour will hit 31 cities and arenas in major markets, including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Memphis, Atlanta and Philadelphia, as well as the rapper’s Houston hometown. After the U.S. dates end with a June 22 show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Megan will go international beginning on July 4 in Glasgow, Scotland, with additional shows in England, France, Germany, and Ireland.
Check out Meg’s video below.
Doja Cat‘s Scarlet 2 CLAUDE has topped this week’s new music poll.
Music fans voted in a poll published Friday (April 5) on Billboard, choosing the deluxe edition of the 28-year-old superstar rapper’s fourth studio album as their favorite new music release of the past week.
Scarlet 2 CLAUDE brought in nearly 70% of the vote, beating out new music by J. Cole (Might Delete Later), Vampire Weekend (Only God Was Above Us), Young Miko, (att.), Kehlani (“After Hours”), Bryson Tiller (Bryson Tiller), and others.
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The expanded version of Scarlet — named after the villainous character from The Hunchback of Notre Dame — features seven new tracks: “Masc,” “Acknowledge Me,” “Head High,” “Gang,” “Rider,” “Urrrge” and “Hungry.”
“I feel like it connects to the story of ‘Scarlet’ in some way,” Doja explained on The Therapy Gecko Podcast. “And if you look up his personality traits and who he is and his story, you’ll understand the whole connection. There’s a control aspect. He just abuses his power and his control and is dogmatic and a total c—.”
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Doja launched the original edition Scarlet in June with the release of “Attention,” which debuted and peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. The accompanying music video — which previewed the era’s overarching horror aesthetic — picked up six nominations at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, ultimately winning best art direction. “Paint the Town Red,” the record’s first radio single, soon followed with a catchy hook and a bouncy Dionne Warwick-sampling beat. The song became Doja’s second Hot 100 No. 1 — her first unaccompanied — becoming the first hip-hop song to reach the top of the ranking in 2023.
Trailing behind Scarlet 2 CLAUDE on the poll is the “other” category, which brought in 14% of the vote. Placing third was J. Cole’s new surprise project Might Delete Later, which pulled in 5% of the vote.
See the final results of this week’s new music release poll below.
A larger-than-life, inflatable Ice Spice was seen rolling by on a flatbed truck down the streets of New York City on Saturday (April 6). The unexpected sight was promoting the rapper’s new collaboration with Alexander Wang. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Fans were quick to capture […]
Cardi B is celebrating the sixth anniversary of her debut album, Invasion of Privacy — and throwing in a little teaser of what’s to come next. Invasion of Privacy was released in 2018, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and earning a Grammy win for best rap album at the 2019 […]
What’s rap beef?
Rap beef is when the best claim the throne. This has happened throughout the genre’s history. Battling on wax is etched in stone, the ritual is one of the game’s 10 Rap Commandments. Rap’s been a game of thrones since the very beginning. Do the knowledge on MC Shan and KRS-One or Kool Moe Dee vs. LL Cool J. Carrying on tradition, last night J. Cole responded to Kendrick’s sneak attack on “7 Minute Drill,” the last track on his surprise mixtape Might Delete Later. However, he sounded like his heart wasn’t fully in it like when Nino had to put G-Money down, just as he alluded to on the song. And instead of a headshot like most expected, Cole instead fired a shot in the air. His retort wasn’t enough.
Though Cole gets right to it and is very direct, he never crosses the lines that need to be crossed. To be fair, he does say this is just a warning shot and this thing is just getting started. But when you first hear Cole spit, “Now I’m front of the line with a comfortable lead/How ironic, soon as I got it, now he want somethin’ with me” as he runs down his thoughts on Lamar’s catalog and claims to have overtaken him in the power rankings, your ears perk up and you start rubbing your hands together, expecting a proper reply. But then he just coasts along until the beat switches to something a little more sinister courtesy of Griselda stalwart Conductor Williams and your ears perk up again.
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And still, Cole plays with his food and never truly handles his business. Instead, he comes off reluctant to really engage, spitting, “My text flooded with the hunger for a toxic reply/I’m hesitant, I love my brother, but I’m not gonna lie/I’m powered up for real, that shit would feel like swattin’ a fly/Four albums in twelve years, n—a, I can divide.” Cole knew he needed to send a shot back, especially before the weekend of his annual Dreamville Fest. What’s interesting is “7 Minute Drill” would’ve hit a little harder if, instead of just coopting Jay lyrics, he went full Jigga and premiered it live on stage and not on streaming services on New Music Fridays. He missed the opportunity to put Kenny on that Dreamville screen.
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When Jay-Z was closing out his Volume era at the end of the ‘90s, he and Nas were the Defacto Kings of Rap with acts like Prodigy and Scarface not far behind. Jay was aware of the stakes and the history of this thing of ours. He understood what it took to be the best. So, at Hot 97’s annual Summer Jam concert in 2001, he boldly reached for the crown and snatched it. During his set he performed “Takeover” for the first time, months before it would appear on his sixth album, The Blueprint, and called Nas out by name. That moment was so seismic and important to hip-hop history, people forgot that he brought out Michael Jackson during that same performance! The stakes were that high. Now, over 20 years later, another band of kings must usher in a new era.
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The Big 3 Civil War has officially begun. Last month, Future and Metro Boomin dropped their chart topping collab album We Don’t Trust You. It’s essentially the equivalent of the Mean Girls burn book directed at Drake. On the album’s sixth track, “Like That,” there was a hidden pipe bomb that reverberated throughout every corner of hip-hop. It was very slick on Future and Metro’s part and fitting that they and Lamar chose that song to launch their offensive, with its Rodney-O & Joe Cooley sample serving as a reminder that at the end of the day, this is hip-hop.
Those saying Kendrick’s verse is mid (for the record, they’re delusional, but for the sake of an argument let’s go with it) are missing the point. The “Like That” verse has the potential to be the Big 3 Era’s defining moment. It’s closer to Jay on that Summer Jam stage performing “Takeover” than it is to Lamar’s first attempt at claiming the throne with ‘Control” back in 2013. We Don’t Trust You and Kenny’s vitriol have sparked the beginnings of a power struggle atop Mt. Rap and the game will be better for it in the long run.
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“Like That” is the number one song in the country. It’s being played in sports arenas and during “NBA on TNT” halftime shows. This is a page taken out of Drake’s own playbook. His Meek Mill diss “Back to Back” was made to be played in clubs and on the radio; you couldn’t escape it. The song peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and put a dent in Meek’s resume forever. Now, Drake and Cole find themselves in the position Nas was in when Jay said his name on that Summer Jam stage. Cole’s first rebuttal fell flat, but he still has a chance to drop an “Ether.” Drake, however, should pay attention to the response J. Cole is getting. He now knows that warmup jabs aren’t going to get it done, nor will they appease the fans thirsty to watch the game’s three biggest stars go bar-for-bar. Drake needs a “No Vaseline” or, you know, another “Back to Back.”
But one thing is for sure: The Great Rap Battle of 2024 is here, folks.
