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It might be May now, but the Great Rap War of 2024 feels like it’s finally really getting going. It’s been an acrimonious week for two hip-hop’s biggest titans, with Drake and Kendrick Lamar committing to the mudslinging over the course of an EP’s worth of new music.
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From K. Dot’s blistering “Euphoria” to his immediately anthemic “Not Like Us” — and who can forget the bone-chillingly incisive “Meet the Grahams” and “6:16 in LA” — the Compton MC has been bringing the heat with each new song. Drake, to his credit, has also been throwing some major punches, from the explosive “Family Matters” to the searing, yet defensive, “The Heart Part 6.”
Of course, the other big story to rock the R&B and hip-hop worlds this weekend was the shocking last-minute cancellation of Lovers & Friends. On Friday night (May 3), the festival’s organizers announced that the jam-packed one-day-only show would be called off due to high wind warnings from the National Weather Service.
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With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Skylar Simone’s radio-ready debut single to Hunxho‘s latest ATL anthem. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: Ravyn Lenae, “Love Me Not”
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In 2022, Ravyn Lenae enraptured music heads with Hypnos, her impressive debut LP. With the first tastes of her forthcoming sophomore studio album, Lenae is laying the groundwork for her mainstream commercial breakthrough. “Love Is Blind” serves up more of the ethereal R&B that grounded Hypnos, but “Love Me Not” signals a slick pivot into a rollicking guitar-packed pop-facing sound that evokes longtime collaborator Steve Lacy and his runaway Billboard Hot 100 smash, “Bad Habit.” “Soon as you leave me, we always lose connection/ It’s gettin’ messy, I think that your affection/ Don’t loosen your grip, got a hold on me/ Now, forever, let’s get back together,” she sweetly croons, cycling through a relationship that clearly relishes its built-in road bumps.
Baby Money, “Shinin”
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Baby Money is a breath of fresh air and another shooting star out of Detroit’s bubbling rap scene. “Shinin” arrives just a week ahead of the rapper’s H.I.M. (Hustle In Me) project as Baby looks to make right on his promise to Quality Control as the famed label’s first signee out of the D. The 26-year-old flexes the badge of honor and pressure that comes with ending generational curses as his family’s first millionaire. He then recalls a street tale preaching what goes around comes around as one can never fully detach from street life. “He got a body as a kid and tried to leave the streets/ They caught his ass years later like Keefe D,” Money candidly raps while referencing Keefe D’s arrest for murdering 2Pac well over two decades later. We don’t recommend boiling your icy diamond chains on the stove like he does in the “Shinin” music video though.
Coco Jones, “Here We Go (Uh Oh)”
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2023 marked a landmark year for Coco Jones. From her first Grammy win to a chart-topping hit in “ICU,” Jones has quickly ascended to some of contemporary R&B’s most towering heights. For the first offering from her new forthcoming LP, the Disney alumna opts to double down on her smoky tone, delivering a track that’s rooted in the raspy storytelling of Jazmine Sullivan. “I was rollin’ in his bed, you was rent free in my head/ I thought I was done with that, please, please/ I wanna love another person/ Can I please love another person?” she pleads over slinky, soulful production courtesy of Cardiak and WU10. Between the Lenny Williams “‘Cause I Love You” sample and Coco’s alluring voice — that slight vocal fry hits all the right notes — “Here We Go” is a winner.
Hunxho feat. Mike Will Made-It & 2 Chainz, “Come Over”
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It’s an ATL affair with Hunxho, 2 Chainz and Mike Will Made-It running the three-man weave through Georgia’s capital city. Instead of drowning their sorrows throwing bands at Magic City, Hunxho and the Drench God pass the baton back and forth while spewing about how they’re showering their woman with luxury gifts and the best life has to offer. “I done got her every bag, I’m talkin’ ’bout every purse,” the 24-year-old boasts as Chainz offers to go the extra mile while cracking the lobster of a surf-and-turf meal or fixing her ponytail and shooting a Zelle transfer to bolster her bank account. The only complaint about “Come Over” would be the last minute being strictly instrumental, leaving room for another verse from either of the Atlanta natives or another special guest that is never properly taken advantage of.
Skylar Simone, “Shiver”
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To celebrate her recent signing to Def Jam, Skylar Simone has recruited renowned Grammy-winning producer D’Mile for her debut single under the label. Effortlessly flipping between full-bodied belts and fluttery falsetto-housed ad-libs, “Shiver” captures both the sweetness and the sensuality that comes with leaning into the power of sexual and romantic tension. “Make it melt like ice when I shiver/ River open wide when I shiver,” she coos. By the time those whistle notes come in at the tail end of the song, “Shiver” has established itself as a well-crafted ode to the sweetest pop&B confections of the late ’90s and early ’00s.
4batz, “act v: there goes another vase”
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The Dallas native delivered his first project in the form of his u made me a st4r last week. The final single recalls a ’90s R&B aesthetic as 4batz croons about the pain of a toxic lover. (He revealed to Complex that the EP was inspired by his ex Jada). “Thought we was good, why you blocked me/ You tell your friends why you love me/ They won’t understand ’cause you’re perfect for me,” he sings with his heart on ice. 4batz continues his ascension with the EP in another stepping stone toward stardom – even if it means picking at the scar tissue left from a fractured relationship, which inherently helps others – along with himself – cathartically heal.
Rihanna had a brand-new look over the weekend when she accompanied boyfriend A$AP Rocky to his A$AP Rocky X Puma pop-up in Miami on Saturday during the Grand Prix F1 event in town. The bubblegum pink locks she rocked accompanied a look that included a black satin dress and matching corset, as well as a […]
While Drake has been sparring with Kendrick Lamar in the spicy feud sweeping the rap world, the 6 God has had smoke for Metro Boomin as well. It’s unclear exactly what sparked the beef between Drizzy and the producer, but after Drake sniped Metro on “Push Ups,” he came after him again on “Family Matters” over the weekend.
On the fiery diss track that arrived May 3, Drake used Boomin’s government name — Leland Wayne — with the OVO boss also insinuating that he had been intimate with Metro’s girl. (“Leland Wayne, he a f–king lame, so I know he had to be an influence”).
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“The drum thing was laughable so I let it slide but what we not gon do is spread lies and have my loved ones involved nobody ever hit my girl n—a we grew up together she’s a real woman and not even in the industry but I guess #youwouldntknownunboutdatttt,” Metro responded on X Sunday (May 5).
“Now go make another song telling more lies cause we both know you can’t tell everyone why I don’t f–k wit u,” he continued in a second tweet. “that wouldn’t be a good look either for u so imma spare us both wit that.”
That was only the tip of the iceberg for Metro, who referred to Drake as a “colonizer” of hip-hop while attaching photos from Pusha T’s “The Story of Adidon” artwork featuring Drizzy in blackface. He went on to jab Drake about “pushing 40” having his nails painted, and more.
The St. Louis native also claimed that Drake attempted to block “Like That” from being serviced to radio, and attached an allegedly leaked email from label attorneys that went viral on X.
“I’m lame but the first week after #LikeThat you tried to block it at radio,” he tweeted. “I been sitting on this email for a month now but was just sparing you oh u aint #LikeThat record???”
Metro then upped the ante by hosting a “BBL Drizzy Beat Giveaway,” having fans rap over a beat mocking Drake’s alleged cosmetic surgery. The prize? The 30-year-old’s going to give the best freestyle a free beat. “I know a n—a with lipo scars not tryna call me lame,” he wrote.
“You just cheffed a beat about my a–?” Drake asked in response on Instagram to Metro’s giveaway.
The 6 God made the latest entry in the Drake-Kendrick Lamar feud as of press time on Sunday night (May 5) with the defensive “The Heart Part 6.” Drizzy cleared the air on pedophile allegations and sniped at Kendrick’s relationship with fiancée Whitney Alford.
Metro wasn’t impressed, as he tweeted out a Chris Paul meme Sunday night, mocking how even with Drake’s newest diss record, he’s still down a ton of points in the Kendrick battle.
Read some of Metro Boomin’s reactions to Drake below:
now go make another song telling more lies cause we both know you can’t tell everyone why I don’t fuck wit u that wouldn’t be a good look either for u so imma spare us both wit that— Metro Boomin (@MetroBoomin) May 5, 2024
the drum thing was laughable so I let it slide but what we not gon do is spread lies and have my loved ones involved nobody ever hit my girl nigga we grew up together 😂😂😭😭she’s a real woman and not even in the industry but I guess #youwouldntknownunboutdatttt— Metro Boomin (@MetroBoomin) May 5, 2024
Drake and Kendrick Lamar have spent the first weeks of spring 2024 waging one of the biggest music wars in recent memory against one another, dropping diss tracks with little time in between. And suffice to say, the content of the songs has been shocking. With lyrics containing everything from below-the-belt jabs about one another’s […]
Usher deeply believes in the old “show must go on” maxim. After the singer got the disappointing news that his headlining gig at this weekend’s planned Lovers & Friends Festival 2024 in Las Vegas was canceled due to the threat of dangerous weather conditions, the “Confessions” star found another way to celebrate.
According to the Las Vegas Journal-Review, after the festival slated to draw more than 65,000 fans to the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on Saturday was scotched due to threats of high winds, Usher packed up his planned “Bad Girl: 20 Years of Confessions” celebration and moved it indoors to the more intimate 1,900-capacity Jewel at Aria Hotel club.
The paper said Ush’s first show in Vegas since his killer Super Bowl headlining show at Allegiant Stadium across town earlier this year found him playing a medley of hits to a packed club that including guest spots by his good friends Jermaine Dupri, Lil Jon and Victoria Monét, who slipped into the DJ booth for a bit. The paper said other A-listers on hand included Real Housewives of Beverly Hills co-star Crystal Kung Minkoff, as well as the Backstreet Boys’ AJ McLean and Howie Dorough and Kandi Burruss, among others.
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TMZ reported that Usher arrived in an all-white outfit around three hours after the festival cancellation, with Lil Jon joining him for “Lovers and Friends,” the rapper’s 2004 Crunk Juice single that also featured Luda.
In addition to Usher, the Lovers show was slated to feature sets from the Backstreet Boys, Gwen Stefani, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Nas, Ludacris and many more. Shortly after organizers said the one-day festival was going to be called of over weather, Usher shared a message with fans expressing his disappointment.
“Mannn… I’m just as disappointed as you are. We were getting ready to turn up and celebrate today. I have to follow the orders of city officials and the National Weather Service for everyone’s protection and stand strong in my belief that everything happens for a reason,” Usher tweeted. “I’m sorry we won’t get to see each other today, but know that I am always working on something to express my heartfelt gratitude for each and every one of you who continue to support me.”
Fans who purchased their Lovers & Friends tickets directly through Front Gate Tickets will receive a refund within 30 days, organizers said.
Drake has made his own entry into Kendrick Lamar’s famed The Heart series with the defensive “The Heart Part 6” on Sunday (May 5).
The Aretha Franklin-sampling diss hit YouTube on Sunday night (May 5) with cover art featuring an Instagram comment made by Dave Free of a black heart and hand-heart on an Instagram photo posted by Kendrick’s fiancée Whitney Alford with their children.
Drake continued to double down on domestic violence allegations against the Compton rapper as well as Lamar’s manager, Dave Free, allegedly fathering an illegitimate child with Whitney. (Whitney is following Free on IG but not Lamar).
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“And why isn’t Whitney denying all of the allegations/ Why is she following Dave Free and not Mr. Morale/ You haven’t seen the kids in six months, the distance is wild/ Dave leaving heart emojis underneath pics of the child,” he raps.
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The 6 God then changed focus to debunk claims of pedophilia made by Lamar in previous tracks such as “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us.”
“Speaking of anything with a child, let’s get to that now/ This Epstein angle was the shit I expected/ TikTok videos you collected and dissected/ Instead of being on some dis-direct s–t/ You rather f—ing grab your pen and misdirect s–t,” he contests.
He continued later into “The Heart Part 6” referencing his friendship with 20-year-old Stranger Things actress Millie Bobby Brown. “Only f—–g with Whitney’s, not Millie Bobby Brown’s, I’d never look twice at no teenager,” Drizzy declares.
As far as the allegations of having a secret 11-year-old daughter he was hiding from the world that Kendrick rapped about on “Meet the Grahams,” Drake claimed that OVO actually planted the story as bait to trick the former TDE rapper, which Lamar took and ran with.
“We plotted for a week and then we fed you the information/ A daughter that’s eleven years old, I bet he takes it/ We thought about givin’ a fake name or a destination,” he recalls.
Drake finished out the five-minute marathon speaking directly to Kendrick while seemingly being disappointed in the alleged lies he’s spewing in the feud as he claims his bars have been straight facts.
“You would be a worthy competitor if I was really a predator and you weren’t f—–g lying to every blog or an editor but, it is what it is,” he raps with a sigh.
Metro Boomin isn’t backing down from dissing Drake as he reacted to “The Heart Part 6” with a Chris Paul meme essentially saying the OVO boss is still down a ton of points in the battle with K. Dot.
“The Heart Part 6” follows Drake’s “Family Matters” with his Kendrick Lamar diss track entries.
Lamar didn’t give Drizzy’s “Family Matters” even an hour of the spotlight before returning fire with the scathing “Meet the Grahams” Friday night (May 3), and he followed up with the Mustard-produced “Not Like Us” less than 24 hours later.
It’s anyone’s guess where this goes from here with both rappers digging their heels in and firing at-will to close out a historic hip-hop weekend.
Listen to “The Heart Part 6” below.
The Heart Part 6 out nowAnd we know you’re dropping 6 mins after so instead of posting my address you have a lot to addresshttps://t.co/hL9tOiuuhh— Drizzy (@Drake) May 6, 2024
The war between Drake and Kendrick Lamar is in full swing after both men gave fans one of the most historic days in hip-hop on Friday (May 3). The “Poetic Justice” collaborators delivered vicious diss tracks aimed at each other in what can be considered the second round of their heavyweight bout. In round one, […]
Mere minutes after Drake’s “Family Matters” arrived, Kendrick Lamar returned fire with the blistering “Meet the Grahams.” As the clock struck midnight on the East Coast on Saturday (May 4), K. Dot released his third Drake diss track this week. Family seems to be the common theme as he calls out Drizzy for being a […]
Drake didn’t waste much time unloading the clip as he replied to Kendrick Lamar with the eviscerating “Family Matters” on Friday night (May 3).
“Family Matters” arrived on YouTube about 14 hours after K. Dot delivered his “6:16 in LA” diss track. Drizzy picks up where he left off to finish “Push Ups” and snipes at Lamar and his alleged fractured relationship with fiancee Whitney Alford, which he claims is filled with infidelity.
“You the Black messiah wifing up a mixed queen/ And hit vanilla cream to help out with your self-esteem/ On some Bobby sh–, I wanna know what Whitney need,” he spews.
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At one point, Drake alleges that one of Kendrick’s kids could actually be Dave Free’s, Lamar’s pgLang partner.
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“Your baby mama captions always screamin, ‘Save me’/ You did her dirty all her life, you tryna make peace/ I heard that one of them little kids might be Dave Free/ Don’t make it dave freeze/ Cause if your GM is your BM secret BD,” Drake contests.
There’s a menacing beat switch and Drake turns his sights to his other opps in the music game while dissing A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd, Metro Boomin, Future and Rick Ross.
“Rakim talking sh– again/ Gassed ’cause you hit my BM first n—a do the math who I was hitting then/ I ain’t even know you rap still because they only talking about your ‘fit again/ Probably gotta have a kid again before you think of dropping any sh– again/ Even when you do drop they gonna say you should’ve modeled because it’s mid again,” Drake raps while landing a right hook on Rocky.
Drake is apologetic about having static with Future, but blames Metro Boomin — who he calls by his government name (Leland Green) — and insinuates he has a romantic past with a woman who has history with Metro.
“Pluto sh– make me sick to my stomach, we ain’t never really been through it/ Leland Wayne he a f—ing lame so I know he had to be an influence,” Drake continues.
There’s always room for smoke with Rozay as Drizzy jabs at his correction officer past: “Body after body and you know Rick reading my Miranda Rights.”
The accompanying music video finds Drake heading to the New Ho King Chinese restaurant Kendrick referenced on “Euphoria.”
With a beat switch into the third track, Drizzy puts the scope back on Lamar and questions him moving to New York and living the “bachelor life,” while also trolling him about the jewelry he purchased from 2Pac’s estate and Pharrell’s collection.
Kendrick went back-to-back with “Euphoria” and “6:16 in LA” before Drake stepped in with a seven-minute thrashing. This doesn’t seem like it will be coming to an end anytime soon either.
Watch the “Family Matters” video below.
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Kendrick Lamar surprised the rap world by hurling another bomb in Drake’s direction with “6:16 in LA” arriving on Friday (May 3).
The Al Green-sampling Drake diss track has yet to hit streaming services and is currently only available on Kendrick Lamar’s Instagram, but that didn’t stop fans from going ballistic Friday morning heading into the weekend.
K. Dot accuses Drake of having traitors inside the OVO camp leaking information to the opposition while name-dropping 6 God affiliates like Akademiks and Zack Bia.
“Have you ever thought that OVO was working for me?/ Fake bully, I hate bullies/ You must be a terrible person/ Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it/ Can’t Toosie Slide up out of this one, it’s just gon’ resurface,” Lamar raps.
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Fans, critics and more flooded social media with opinions of Kendrick’s surprise attack, with “6:16” arriving just three days after the scathing “Euphoria,” which served as the Compton legend’s response to Drake’s “Push Ups” diss.
“Kendrick don’t give two sh–s about you needing a club banger… This rider music. Underground rap fan heat,” Hot 97 host Ebro Darden wrote.
Another person saluted Akademiks being name-dropped on tracks by both sides in the war. “Akademiks being mentioned by both Drake and Kendrick Lamar in diss records is legendary. He’s apart of HipHop history, even if you love him or hate him, thats objectively a win for independent media,” they wrote.
While Spotify’s Carl Chery added: “Every now and then I hear people say Kendrick is too high brow and his lyrics are too hard to understand. I heard it a few times in the context of this battle. This is rap. You guys just have a low rap IQ.”
Some fans were left with their jaws on the floor after finding out that Taylor Swift’s frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff was a co-producer on “6:16 in LA.” (Drake poked at Lamar for working with Swift on “Push Ups.”) “So this track literally is Taylor Made Okay Kendrick I see you,” one Drake fan said on X.
The debate about who’s winning the Drake-Kendrick war is sure to rage on well into the weekend as fans await the 6 God’s next move — which better be his best move — in the battle.
Find more of the reactions to “6:16 in LA” below.
Kendrick don’t give two shits about you needing a club banger…This rider music.Underground rap fan heat.— the Old Man Ebro (@oldmanebro) May 3, 2024
The title of ‘6:16 in LA’ might be the QUINTUPLE entendre that Drake asked for 🤯🤯• Kendrick Lamar drops the song at exactly 6:16am• 16th of June 2024 is father’s day in Canada• 16th of June 1972 Tupac Shakur was born• 16th of June 1994 OJ Simpsons murder trial… pic.twitter.com/q7sUA33Vat— Hip Hop All Day (@HipHopAllDayy) May 3, 2024
This may be the last era of battle rap we see at a mainstream level. A lot of the new rappers solve their beef in the streets or they don’t care lyrically enough to engage. We gotta enjoy Drake & Kendrick while they here— Naji (@NajiChill) May 3, 2024
looked deeper into the lyrics and found that kendrick lamar rushed for 616 yards during the first super bowl that was ever played on june 16, 1916his QB? that’s right — jesus christ.— charles (“you look good” – andy reid) mcdonald (@FourVerts) May 3, 2024
Unlike many, I don’t think Kendrick even hates Drake. I think he just don’t take that nigga serious and is offended that somebody so lame is still walking around like they’re not a lame because they got bread and relationships they essentially paid for. We all know one of those.— Lawrence Burney (@TrueLaurels) May 3, 2024
drake’s been rapping about his paranoia for years and years now and then kendrick drops a diss entirely of telling him “yeah your entire inner circle hates you and is giving me information” LMFAO— 💆🏽♂️ (@ziyanm_) May 3, 2024
Kendrick is living the dream of everyone who hates someone but didn’t really have a reason to go off until the person he hated opened his mouth.— Joel D. Anderson 🆓 (@byjoelanderson) May 3, 2024
The craziest thing about that Kendrick song is Drake’s uncle is playing guitar on that Al Green song he sampled to diss him on. That’s extremely calculated on top of all of the other entendres.— LAKIM (@LAKIMisAlive) May 3, 2024
Drake really want to diss everybody again. Kendrick life boring as hell. I know he got some shit on the rest of them. That 20 v 1 narrative was a winning strategy.— 🗝®️ (@MADEREESE) May 3, 2024
If your girl believes Drake is winning right now, keep her. She’s a real a dummy🤣— MrMajestrix (@MrMajestrix) May 3, 2024
Still tied, but Drake has the edge. 2-2— Fw (@Relly__1) May 3, 2024