Drake has been setting and breaking records all year and he has another one to add to the list. According to released reports from Neilsen Soundscan, Drizzy’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, is the top selling digital album of 2015. It has sold over 951,000 digital copies.
IYRTITL dropped digitally on Feb. 21st and sold 535,000 its first week, debuting in the no. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart. The physical copy of the album hit stores on Apr. 21st. With all sales plus streaming combined, the album achieved platinum status. This album has also been crowned the most illegally downloaded album for 2015 as well.
Other top hip-hop digital albums that landed among the list include Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly at no. 5 with over 479,000 digitally sold, Drake and Future’s What A Time To Be Alive at no. 6 with over 396,000 sold and Dr. Dre’s Compton at the no. 9 slot with over 364,000 sold.
With a number one album out and several songs charting in the Hip-Hop R&B Billboard charts, Fetty Wap and his Zoo Gang are as popular as a group can get. Lets not forget they are signed to the industry executive all-star team label, 300 Ent. who is killing the game right now. As a label they have various tie-ins with Google, Twitter and other brands to make this movement even bigger than you might think. But, after a motor bike accident just a few weeks ago with Kid Ink a few weeks back, Fetty and his team are back at it dropping content. Take a look at this Day In the Life below filmed by Noisey. Fetty details his rise to fame with his Zoo Gang family, and we get to learn about the Paterson, New Jersey star’s rise to fame and the part his Zoo Gang family had in that success. Enjoy!
You might remember Richie Evans from his Black Wall Street days as “Juice McCain”. It seems like Richie and Game are still working in this new song “Phatty”.
Richie’s first mix tape as Juice McCain had features from Ice Cube, Lil Wayne, and Nas. He also performed at The BET Hip Hop Awards and The Late Show with David Letterman.
After announcing that he was heading out on an intimate, 8-date tour to promote To Pimp A Butterfly, Kendrick Lamar has revealed the first four cities he will be performing in.
For “Kunta’s Groove Sessions,” K. Dot will be bringing along fellow TDE spitter Jay Rock and his own live band, named Wesley’s Theory after the opening track of TPAB. The “Blacker the Berry” rapper will be hitting the stage in smaller venues than what he is used to when he visits Atlanta, Dallas, Washington, D.C and Oakland.
Ticket information is available here. Peep the first four tour dates below.
October 27 – Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle
October 29 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Music Hall
November 1 – Washington, D.C. @ Lincoln Theatre
November 10 – Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
After suffering a stroke last week, Three 6 Mafia member Koopsta Knicca has passed away, TMZ reports. Koopsta, born Robert Cooper Phillips, was 40-years-old.
It was announced yesterday (Oct. 8) that he was hospitalized due to suffering a brain aneurysm. False reports had surfaced that he had passed away, which Gangsta Boo refuted via Twitter. Unfortunately, Phillips ended up passing away early Friday morning (Oct. 9th). His death was confirmed through the groups’ publicist Dove Clark with The Commercial Appeal.
Phillips was a founding member of Three 6 Mafia but parted ways with the group in 1999 due to legal issues. He continued to release projects like Da K Project and Undaground Muzik, Vol. 1, before he reunited with Lord Infamous, Gangsta Boo and Juicy J to form Da Mafia 6ix. Before his death, he was working on a project with DJ Paul.
“Me and Koop had just started writing his new album ‘Devil’s Playground 2’… but we didn’t get a chance to record yet,” said DJ Paul in a statement. “We had concerts coming up starting next month too. He also just got a home in Vegas that he was moving to on Tuesday, but never got to even see it in person.”
A GoFundMe had been launched to collect donations for his medical bills but not it will also help pay for his funeral.
A few musical powerhouse are teaming up for something huge, and no it’s not a song or a tour. Jay Z, Beyonce, Kanye West, Pharrell Williams and Rihanna have filed a lawsuit against the French clothing line ElevenParis for using their images, lyrics and names on their apparel, Refinery29 reports.
ElevenParis is accused of a total of 58 charges, including trademark infringement, unfair competition and dilution and violation of publicity rights. These artists have had their face, lyrics and name plastered on t-shirts, cell phone cases, sweatshirts, hats and tank tops.
“Even after receiving warning to cease selling the infringing goods, defendants continue to sell unauthorized products and to trade upon the goodwill associated with the plaintiffs, all for defendants’ profits,” the lawsuit reads.
All of the garbs boasting the plantiffs’ work has been removed from the site. Read the full lawsuit here.
Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again” video has hit a billion views on Youtube. The Fast and Furious 7 Soundtrack single has become the first hip-hop video to achieve such a milestone, according to Entertainment Weekly. The visual is now the 10th most viewed video ever.
The sentimental song, which was written in memory of actor Paul Walker, also set Spotify records for getting the most streams in one day at 4.2 million and for getting the most streams in a week in 26 countries. It also tied with Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” for the longest running rap song to be in the no. 1 spot on the Billboard chart.
Other videos on the billion views club include Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk,” Katy Perry’s “Roar” and “Dark Horse,” and Justin Bieber’s “Baby.”
Yesterday (October 8) Jeezy stopped by the A3C Festival in his hometown of Atlanta to have a 40-minute live interview with noted journalist Marc Lamont Hill. The Loudermilk Center was filled to capacity as the self-proclaimed creator of Trap music discussed his upcoming Church In These Streets album, conversing with Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Meek Mill versus Drake battle, and more.
Read some of AllHipHop.com’s highlights from “A3Conversation with Young Jeezy and Marc Lamont Hill” below.
“Church In These Streets” Cover Art
On the concept behind his Church In These Streets album:
In a society where everybody’s trying to bring us down as a culture, I wanted to uplift us. Gods don’t kill gods. We just speak highly of each other. The whole theory behind Church In These Streets – just so you know I’m not Creflo Dollar or nothing like that. He wants that $80 million jet. I’ll take a Caprice.
But I just wanted people to take me seriously. Everything that I’ve ever said in my music was the god-honest truth. When I say “church in the streets,” I mean in the streets. I don’t mean in the church…
When you come to a Jeezy show, it’s a lot of people that’s been through the same struggle that I’ve been through. They understand my way of thinking. I want to bring that to the world. I came and I did Trap music – I did start that just so you know – because it was the only thing that I had that I could be genuine about and still be myself, tell my story and people understood it. That started a whole genre of music.
When you say church in the streets, it’s just me taking that responsibility. Don’t get it messed up. It’s still hard. The album’s going to be hard. It ain’t nothing soft about it. It’s real.
When we came up, we had OGs and people we respected, but this generation ain’t like that. So I’m going to see if I can bring some of that back.
On embracing the Pastor Young nickname:
I definitely didn’t go Ma$e [laughs]. When I came in the game I was the Snowman. That was for a lot of reasons, but nowadays I feel like I’m somebody that’s held to a high regard and high standards.
It’s on me to give the younger cats the game, because when you got in this game I told you how to trap or die and get your money. But obviously a lot of y’all grew up now, so you want to know what the next step is. Pastor Young is somebody you got to take seriously. You don’t want to hear what you got to do next from the Snowman. It’s a little different.
The homies just started calling me [Pastor Young], because everybody that knows me knows that if you talk to Jeezy, everything I’m going to say to you is positive. I had so much negativity in my life, I’m just a positive person.
On the killing of Michael Brown and the aftermath in Ferguson:
If you ask me a lot of people just care about their money. They don’t care about their people. That could be their own family. Some people get this money and don’t even take care of their kids. Some people get this money and don’t take care of their momma. So why would they go speak on an incident that has nothing to do with them? That has something to do with a young, black man that got gunned down in a town that they never been to before?
Me and Wiz Khalifa was on tour. That was like the worst date of the whole tour. I remember going to Wiz’s room, and I said, “I really think we should give the money we make tonight to the family.” He was with it. I actually spoke with Mike Brown’s mother.
I went to the QuikTrip [in Ferguson], because I wanted to really see what was going on. When I went over there, I saw something that I thought I would never see in my life. I saw officers that was in this neighborhood with M-16 machine guns. I saw kids riding on bikes with t-shirts tied over their faces, throwing fire bombs. To me, that’s what I call a war. That’s what I addressed in the letter. We’re at war. But who’s the enemy? This is America.
I don’t want to see that spread out. If that was to happen in Atlanta, you’re talking about the same young cats that I watched grow up to be young men. I don’t want to see them out there having to fight for their freedom and their lives because we’re being put in this situation. Because somebody took somebody’s life, and they don’t want to stand up for it. If you do something, you got to take responsibility for that.
Jeezy @ the burned down QuikTrip in Ferguson, Missouri
On speaking with Min. Farrakhan:
Farrakhan’s a great guy. I had an incident that happened to me, and he called me like four or five days before the incident happened. He said, “Brother Jeezy, I like your message. You’re sounding really smart in your interviews, but I just want you to know the enemy is watching you.” I said, “I’m good. I’m a street dude with some good credit. I ain’t worried about nothing out here.”
I be damned if a week later I was in jail for something that I didn’t do. [Farrakhan] actually called me on the phone – we had an hour long conversation about the enemy. I was like, “Who are you talking about? I’m not in the hood no more. The Bloods and Crips are over there, we’re good.” I didn’t really realize what was going on until I was put in that situation.
I remember getting locked up for something that had nothing to do with me at all. I was put in a situation because of my name. Out of all this time where I was working and people saying, “We’re just proud of where you’re going,” they just brought me back down to a n##### status overnight. I couldn’t believe that. As a black man, as a taxpayer, I was hurt…
As soon as I got out of the County [jail], I got in the car. My guy gave me the phone. It’s Farrakhan, “Brother Jeezy, I told you that the enemy…” [laughs]. I said, “Man they’re for real!” I went to Chicago. Normally when he talks I listen, but I was really listening. I said, “So who are they? What do they want with me? What did I do?”
He just made it clear, “You really got to watch your message.” With everything I say, I mean every word of it. That just showed me the power of words and who you are.
On Hip Hop beefs:
[It makes me feel] terrible – WWF. I walk around this city all day. I ain’t never had a problem in the world. You got to understand. It’s propaganda and bullsh*t. Everybody’s just trying to sell themselves. So the worse thing a person can do to you is see you work so hard to sit on this stage, and they want to be on this stage where you’re at. The only way they know to be on that stage is if the oppose you and make people think you ain’t the way you are. When you’re still trying to get on the next stage, they just want to be on this one.
Both [Drake and Meek] are my guys. I would love to see them get the money. But it is what it is. It was rap beef…
I got to be honest Drake did his thing. Drake is very strategic. He’s from another country. They sit back and watch everything. They look at Hip Hop like an art. We just take it as music. They watched the Nas and Jay beef, the Biggie and Pac beef. They studied this sh*t. They’re fans of the game, not just the actual music – the business of it, the strategic moves.
And I love Meek Mill. Don’t get it confused. Meek Mill represents everything that we are. He’s one of the cats that came after me that I respected his grind. I ain’t no peace maker. I ain’t none of that, but let’s get the money. F*ck the bullsh*t.
At the end of the day, nobody touched your momma, your kids, or your money. So y’all can agree to disagree. They did what they did, they had their little battle, and now we’re on to the next thing.
It’s a lot going on down in Atlanta this week/weekend as it is BET Hip Hop Awards, A3C, and Bad Boy Weekend all at the same d*mn time! It’s never a dull moment in the A so it’s no surprise that there was some rumored tension at one of this week’s events. A ‘Pray For Kenya’ benefit concert was held to assist the families of the 147 Garissa University College Victims. The concert featured Trinidad James, Rich Homie Quan, Jacquees, Cyhi The Prynce, Bankroll Fresh, Sonny Digital, Travis Porter, Scotty Atl, Ryan Leslie and more. Rumor has it that Rich Homie Quan and Skooly got into a fight at the show. The two rappers dissed each other on tracks previously. Skooly said a few months ago he doesn’t even beef, and he doesn’t even know what the beef was really about. Whatever the beef is about, it clearly isn’t over.
We have now learned from B.O.B himself that he and Sevyn Streeter have in fact split up. While that rumor has now been confirmed, another rumor about the situation is spreading. The friend of the young lady who B.O.B was in a couple of selfies with has now said B.O.B. reached out to @Briteady randomly on Instagram asking her to be a part of the drama and publicity stunt as it would be good publicity for her business. The friend says Bobby Ray promised to promote the woman’s business in exchange for her going along with it, but after it hit the media he changed his mind. The friend also says she has “receipts” that B.O.B. sought the girl out for his own publicity stunt. B.O.B. jumped on Instagram and said all in all he was just trying to smash.
(AllHipHop News) Young Thug has been a rap enigma of sorts. His lyrics are often hard to decipher, he tends to wear women’s clothing, and he rarely gives interviews. The Atlanta-based rhymer did allow The Guardian to ask him questions, and the discussion revealed Thugger appears to be fine with both the criticism and praise hurled at him.
“I like everything that people say,” stated Thug. “No matter what they say. You gay, you a punk. You got a nice girlfriend, you’re ugly, you can’t rap, you’re the hardest.”
Thug’s team barred the interviewer from bringing up his issues with Lil Wayne or any legal situations, but the “Stoner” performer did touch on two of his mentors – Gucci Mane and Birdman. According to Thugger, he will always have respect for the two Southern rap moguls.
“It don’t matter how big you is – motherf*cker, this is Birdman, he has half a billion dollars. He call, you need to answer the phone,” said Thug. “It’s like, I’m just human. If Gucci’s calling your phone – the man’s a f*cking legend – why won’t you answer your phone? How could you ever think you’re bigger than him?”
It seems like Chief Keef is hit with a child support case and a paternity suit every other day. Despite the fact that Chief Keef has a few child support cases against him, he decided to flex on Instagram with a post of him holding stacks of money to his ear with the caption,
“Wait let me call u back.”
We are sure some of these baby mamas will try to use this against him. We are still trying to figure out how these women decided to get pregnant by Keef.
(AllHipHop News) Back in 2007, Jay Z launched his 10th solo album American Gangster with the lead single “Blue Magic.” The track was produced by The Neptunes, and the song placed on Billboard‘s Hot 100, Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs, and Hot Rap Tracks charts.
It turns out the beat that eventually became Hov’s ode to the famous Frank Lucas street product could have been in the hands of Southern rapper Yung Joc. The star of Love & Hip Hop Atlanta spoke with DJ Smallz Eyes about passing on the track.
Joc talked about meeting with Pharrell in Miami. The superproducer played the track, and he even presented a way to tackle the beat.
“He gave me this rap flow. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s Rakim. Yeah, I know that sh*t,'” said Joc. “I was listening to the beat and the concept. I was like, ‘I don’t know if that’s me… I want some of that wild sh*t you do. This sh*t’s kind of calm.”
According to Joc, his then Bad Boy boss Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs and Jay entered in the session. The rest of the story leads to how “Blue Magic” ended up on American Gangster.
“Jay Z was like, ‘Yo Joc, if you don’t want it, I’m gonna take it.’ I was like, ‘Hold on. What the f*ck’s going on? You’re trying to use Jay to make me…” recalls Joc. “I’m looking at Jay Z, and I gotta ask myself, ‘Is this a move they’re doing to make me be like okay I want to do it cause I don’t want to let him have it.'”
He continued, “I was like, ‘You know what Jay? I think you should have this beat. It fits you.”
It seems like EVERYONE wants a piece of Rihanna. The latest athlete to shoot their shot at RiRi was none other than Chad “OchoCinco” Johnson. He candidly tweeted about sliding his nudes up in Rihanna’s DMs. He said she hasn’t texted him or responded yet because she might still be in shock. LOL Chad has no chill! I mean who wouldn’t send Rihanna their nudes? LOL. SMH.
(AllHipHop News) Keith Murray versus Fredro Starr finally went down on October 4 in Brooklyn. The two Hip Hop veterans were joined by Loaded Lux, Murda Mook, DJ Enuff, and several other rappers.
MC WAR has now released the official YouTube video of the head-to-head battle. Check out the match up between the Def Squad member and the Onyx representative, then vote in the poll for who you think won.
(AllHipHop News) Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder Damon Dash has been in a long custody battle with his ex-wife Rachel Roy. The latest court fight has gone to Roy.
According to TMZ, a Los Angeles judge agreed with Roy’s complaints that Dash smokes too much marijuana and upheld the decision for the father to have monitored visits with their seven-year-old daughter. Dash was also ordered to refrain from smoking weed 24 hours before each visit with the child.
The two parents have been going at each other in public over child custody and child support for months. In February, Dash referred to his ex as a “weak woman” after she hired attorney Donnell Suares.
The lawyer responded in a statement to AllHipHop.com, writing “Mr. Dash described the mother of his children as ‘weak.’ My client is a strong and intelligent woman seeking to recover what she is rightfully and legally owed according to the law.”
After many delays, The Game’s “The Documentary 2” is finally here. The 19 track project features elite rap artist such as Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Future, Drake and more! Stay tuned as The Game will be dropping “The Documentary 2.5” on October 16th. Stream “The Documentary 2” in its entirety on Spotify below or purchase now on iTunes. How well does the sequel compare to Game’s debut album? Let us know your thoughts in the c-section. Enjoy!
(AllHipHop News) Paper is tapping current Hip Hop representatives to pay homage to deceased icons of the culture. After Kendrick Lamar honored Eazy-E, the publication recruited Marshall “Eminem” Mathers to pen a personal essay about Tupac Shakur.
“He was taking things further than a lot of rappers at the time — pushing it to the next level as far as giving feeling to his words and his music,” writes Eminem. “A lot of people say, ‘You feel Pac,’ and it’s absolutely true. The way he chose which words to say with which beat was genius.”
Previously, Eminem wrote a letter to Pac’s mother Afeni Shakur. He also drew a picture of the late West Coast legend. Both items are now at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
“When his mother, Afeni [Shakur], let me produce one of Tupac’s albums – the Loyal to the Game album – I wrote her a letter thanking her for letting me do it,” added Em. “You wouldn’t be able to tell the 18/19-year-old Marshall that he would ever be able to get his hands on some Tupac vocals and have that opportunity. It was such a significant piece of history for me and so much fun.”
The Shady Records leader continued his praise for Pac, “Regardless of how good a rapper someone is, it’s easy for things to eventually get dated. But when you make songs like Tupac did, songs that feel like something, that feeling never goes away.”
Koopsta Knicca has not died contrary to rampant misreporting, but the Three 6 Mafia member is on life support after suffering a near-fatal brain aneurysm.
A GoFundMe account has already been set up to help with the tremendous medical bills.
Oddly, the news of Koopsta’s passing started with DJ Paul of the group, who made the announcement on his Instagram account.
Below is a statement from his management.
Robert Cooper Phillips better known to the world as Koopsta Knicca (Supa Cool) of the Oscar award winning group, Three 6 Mafia, is in need of his fans and friends support now, more than ever.
Koop recently suffered an aneurysm and is in critical condition at an undisclosed hospital in Memphis, TN.
Doctors have advised that arrangements should be prepared for Koop and that he is in need of a miracle. We are asking his fans to come together and help raise a fund that will support him in the event of a miracle to take care of any medical bills etc. that he may have, or towards his arrangements should they be needed.
We thank you for the outpour of care, concern, and support of Koopsta Knicca (Supa Cool). Keep him in your prayers.
Unfortunately, Phillips ended up passing away early Friday morning (Oct. 9th). His death was confirmed through the groups’ publicist Dove Clark with 
