Rap Radio

Playboi Carti has officially announced his highly anticipated Whole Lotta Red album will actually be arriving... and very soon.
Carti took to social media to share a pre-order link for the project and the album's Art Dealer-designed cover, writing, "AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I t0LD U ! I L0v3 u PRE 0RDeR NOW."
He later tweeted "12/25," confirming speculation that the album will drop on Christmas Day.

In addition to sharing the pre-order link for the project, Carti dropped off a batch of merch. The collection includes t-shirts, hoodies, shorts, hats, and more.

Fans began to suspect that Whole Lotta Red was headed for a December 25 release after Art Dealer, who produced Carti's "Long Time" track from Die Lit, shared an IG post that pointed to Christmas as being the day of the project's drop.

Also last week, Carti took to IG to post a photo of himself hanging with Kid Cudi and announcing that the Man on the Moon III: The Chosen artist will be featured on Whole Lotta Red. 
"i fL3w 2 bro," Carti wrote. "toLD hiM hiS mUSic iS WORLd nEEdED . V3ry good GUY bEAUtiFUL sPirit . HE wILL bE oN THis ALBuM . L0v3 hiM . W3 ALL do."

On the subject of Whole Lotta Red features, it also appears that Travis Scott will be included on the album.

Carti's previous album, his debut Die Lit, was released back in May of 2018 and featured appearances from Lil Uzi Vert, Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott, Skepta, Chief Keef, Gunna, Young Thug, Bryson Tiller, and others.

Rap crooner Tory Lanez didn’t just bring it for his new Loner capsule. The hip-hop star shares an open message about just how much meaning and personal feelings fans can look forward to when they hear his new rap pack.

TL lights up his Instagram page with a full-fledged message about the new release. Lanez admits his personal struggles fueled his decision to completely snap on the project. TL also promises to drop the release on December 18.

While he didn’t initially give out an exact drop date, Tory did recently deliver a huge teaser. TL encouraged Instagram followers to leave 30,000 comments in an announcement post and – in exchange – he would add more music to every upcoming music capsule he’s preparing to release.

A few days ago, TL went to his social media pages to geek out over his own success. Lanez shared a massive stat showing his Spotify presence looks stronger than ever despite having a public falling out with ex-pal Megan Thee Stallion last summer.

Hours prior to his celebrating, Tory took to Twitter to let it be known he’s doing just fine. He shut down all haters and tweeted out a message to the doubters who tried to take him down and suggest his career is over. The message came after various hip-hop artists have shared their year-end streaming stats.

cupcakKe released her new diss track "How To Rob (Remix)" this week, taking aim at a number of other rappers, including Megan Thee Stallion and Sukihana. The latter was offended by cupcakKe's words about her, so she jumped right back with a record of her own, releasing "Rob Who?" a few days later. The saga continues as cupcakKe has just come through with another record that has taken social media by storm, titled "The Gag Is".

"You spoke on my mother . So I spoke on yo kids," wrote cupcakKe about the song, in which she suggests she'll kill all three of Suki's children. "Family is family F*CK THEM b*stards."

Her bars are extra harsh this time around, calling out Suki for sliding in her DMs asking for a verse and clowning the rapper for her skills in the studio and in the bedroom. "How you wanna be me so f*cking bad/But you can't f*cking deepthroat," rapped cupcakKe on this one.
Do you think Suki will respond?

Lil Wayne is closing out 2020 with a bang.
Less than a month after the release of his No Ceilings 3 mixtape, the rapper unveiled the 14-track "Side B" on Friday (Dec. 18). The compilation, hosted by DJ Khaled, features all-star appearances from Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Rich the Kid, Euro, and Lil Twist.


Both Big Sean and Lil Wayne himself have been teasing the project for a while. Two weeks ago, Weezy hinted at it during an Instagram Live session, while Sean shared on Thursday (Dec. 17) that "[Lil Wayne] said he not done wit No Ceilings 3!!! Part 2 drop tomorrow! so We went for 100 bars off dis bitch jus for fun!"

Lil Wayne has capped off the year with more heat in Side B of No Ceilings 3.
Toward the end of the initial NC3 release's closing track, "Afro," DJ Khaled informed listeners that "part 2 is coming soon." As we all know, "soon" is a noncommittal word that is used for a wide range of ETAs, especially when it comes to promised music releases. Would it come in a few weeks? A few months? Maybe a year? No one really knew—that is, until tonight.
Just weeks after No Ceilings 3 dropped, Young Money announced Wayne would drop the album's much-anticipated B side exclusively on DatPiff. The 14-track project, hosted by Khaled, consists of titles like "Low Down," "Peanut Butter," and "Sum 2 Prove," and includes guest appearances by everyone from 2 Chainz and Rich the Kid to Lil Twist and Big Sean.

Although Wayne and Co. didn't officially announce B side until Friday, Sean began hinting at the project earlier this month, and confirmed its release via social media just a day before it arrived.
"The

Sometimes Dixie D’Amelio doesn’t want to be happy. Sometimes she just wants to bash a car with a barbed-wire bat. The TikTok influencer goes hard in the music video for her new single “One Whole Day” featuring Wiz Khalifa. Yes, the man who tried to suggest Cardi B wasn’t self-made is on a song with Dixie D’Amelio [*blinks twice*]. ANYWAY, it’s low-key a bop, with D’Amelio returning to the moody pop she started her musical career with all the way back in June. While people were side-eyeing the teaser (which dropped last night) where D’Amelio sings “one day I was really, really, really, really sad,” the full song is a triumphant response to a breakup. The video also features her boyfriend Noah Beck and her sister, TikTok’s most followed, Charli D’Amelio. Dixie’s debut hit “Be Happy” may have gotten eaten up by haters, but it has over 94 million views on YouTube and a remix featuring blackberry and Lil Mosey, and in October, she dropped a Christmas song, “Naughty List,” with One Direction’s own Liam Payne. The haters work hard, but the D’Amelio team works harder.

Rumors of an impending alternative version of Eminem’s Music To Be Murdered By album have been floating around online for the past several days. While KXNG Crooked more or less debunked its existence — or at least played coy about knowing anything about it — producer Dem Jointz appeared to suggest otherwise.
In an Instagram post shared on Tuesday (December 15), Dem Jointz displayed the cover art for several projects he says he worked on this year. In addition to crafting the song “Never Love Again” for Music To Be Murdered By, Dem apparently contributed to a Music To Be Murdered By: Side B, which sits right next to the original cover art in the photo.

He wrote in the caption, “Even Thru The Shit-Storm, Thank God For Another Successful Year!! . . . #ProducedWrittenMixedByDemJointz.”

Whether this was an egregious error and Slim Shady and his team are chewing him out as Wednesday (December 16) gets underway remains to be seen. But Shady sleuths have been attempting to uncover clues to confirm another dose of Eminem is right around the corner.
The rumor started to gain steam after fans spotted director Cole Bennett, who was behind Shady’s “Godzilla” video, in Detroit’s 8 Mile area. Then, a heavily bearded Eminem was snapped in front of a green screen, pointing to another music video.

On Sunday (December 13), an album cover for the mythical Music To Be Murdered 2: B Sides project began making the rounds on Twitter and was followed by a tracklist boasting features from Royce Da 5’9, Cordae and singer Skylar Grey, among others.
But Crooked insinuated the alleged tracklist was bunk after someone pointed out the COB (Circle of Bosses) logo was fake, tweeting, “Oh I know that part for sure because I own that company haha but salute.” He added, “Dear Stans.. I can absolutely not confirm ANYTHING that has my logo on it. Sorry guys.”

As for Dem Jointz, the Compton native has worked with Dr. Dre numerous times in the past. In 2015, he co-produced four tracks on Dre’s third studio album Compton — “Genocide” featuring Kendrick Lamar, “Medicine Man” with Eminem, Candice Pillay and Anderson .Paak, “Deep Water” featuring Kendrick and Justus and “Satisfiction” with Snoop Dogg, Marsha Ambrosius and King Mez.

This year’s credits include Kanye West’s “Wash Us in the Blood” featuring Travis Scott and Super Junior’s “2YA2YAO!” He’s also produced music for Janet Jackson, Brandy, Jordin Sparks, Rihanna, and Christina Aguilera.
Music To Be Murdered By found Eminem rapping over Dre beats for the first time since Recovery’s “So Bad.” The billionaire Hip Hop mogul is credited as executive producer on the album. For now, Shady fans are hoping Side B will arrive on Friday (December 18).

Not long after releasing the song, cupcakKe became a trending topic on social media as people began dissecting her pen, but she remained steadfast and stood by her track. The rapper was praised by fans for bringing a competitive element back to the rap game while others were confused as to why she went after artists with whom she doesn't seem to have any ties.

"I think it's a beautiful thing & any one upset with it it's just use to the mediocre," cupcakKe told her critics. "Understand it's not male rappers complaining it's female rappers . Sit back & enjoy talent at its finest & for the last time it's all love to all the rappers mentioned. Don't be sensitive." Check it out and let us know what you think.

In early 2020, Mario Judah was going through it.
He had been making beats for years, but things weren’t working out like he planned. So, when a friend suggested he try writing hooks for artists to sing, he gave it a shot. After several months of trying, though, he didn’t find much success as a songwriter either.
Holed up at home in Atlanta during the pandemic, he was in a dark place. "I was down, bro," he says now. "I was down to the bottom."
Feeling like he didn’t have anything to lose, Judah attempted to sing one day. He had played around with his voice in the past, trying to hit high notes, but on this day, he approached it differently. Using vibrato, he threw himself into a melody he had just written and bellowed, "Now it is time for you to die very rouuuuugh."
That's the day Mario Judah discovered his superpower.
"Before that, I didn't know I could sing at all," he reveals. "I had no idea. It's like if you found a treasure or a cheat code in a video game that you didn't know was available. It's amazing. It bugs me out. Now I wake up every morning, like, damn."

He recorded the song, titled it "Die Very Rough," and uploaded it to the internet. Centered around Judah's powerful vocal delivery and off-the-wall lyrics ("I'm a big dog, big bear, n***a, I'm a lion/I'm the predator of the prey that is hiding") over a hard-hitting beat, it was primed for viral success.
Within weeks, the song caught the attention of management and production company One Room Media, who invited Judah to Maryland to shoot a video for it. Then everything exploded. Within three months of its release, the music video racked up over 10 million plays on YouTube, spawned countless memes, and received praise from the likes of Trippie Redd and Lil Uzi Vert.

Since then, Judah has shown an innate ability to go viral online. Playing a short set at Rolling Loud's virtual festival on Halloween, he performed DaBaby’s hit song "Rockstar" without permission, and then laid on his back and screamed throughout "Die Very Rough." Memes ensued.
Then, in a hilarious twist, Judah decided to put his own release plans on hold and devote his full attention to a singular mission: force Playboi Carti’s hand into releasing his long-anticipated album, Whole Lotta Red. Using his newly discovered voice to scream into his phone every day, Judah warned Carti that he would "drop Whole Lotta Red for him" if Carti didn't release the album by Dec. 6. When that deadline came and went, Judah dropped his own interpretation of a Whole Lotta Red single (complete with his own spin on the baby voice) called “Bih Yah.” Within 24 hours, it had 1.4 million views on YouTube and Judah’s face was all over everyone’s timelines.

Now, Mario Judah can’t stop going viral.
As Boi-1da put it, "Mario Judah the most entertaining MFer on the internet fr."

To get a better feel for one of the most viral new artists on the planet, we set up a Zoom call with Judah this week. Completely on-brand, he scheduled the interview for 10:00 p.m., long after the sun had set. The conversation, lightly edited and condensed for clarity, is below.

Youngboy Never Broke Again - Green Dot.
YoungBoy Never Broke Again, whose full name is Kentrell Gaulden, formally announced the December 5th gig last month. Having taken place at the Central Florida Fairgrounds (indoors, that is, and presumably in the main exhibit space or the commercial building), the show was promoted under the #MensClosetAnniversaryParty hashtag by the namesake Orlando clothing and footwear company.
Footage of the concert, which cost its aged 18 and up attendees between $75 and $200 per ticket, shows a substantial, tightly packed, and largely mask-less audience enjoying the event just feet from NBA YoungBoy. And though at least one security professional separated the 21-year-old rapper from this massive collection of fans, a smaller (but still sizable and non-socially distanced) crowd assembled on stage, directly around Gaulden.

At one point, this on-stage group lifted YoungBoy, who dropped a single entitled “How I Been” yesterday evening, into the air. Moreover, it bears mentioning that the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native has stayed decidedly busy throughout the pandemic, including by releasing a pair of commercial mixtapes towards the year’s start, a new studio album, Top, in September, a compilation album, and a different, non-commercial mixtape yet, Until I Return, in November.

Predictably, footage of Gaulden’s latest show quickly began circulating on social media, with a notable portion of the corresponding comments proving critical of the concert as well as YoungBoy Never Broke Again himself. Worth noting is that while most of these clips were captured by members of the audience – many of whom appeared to be using their mobile devices to record the set – YoungBoy Never Broke Again also uploaded a high-definition video documenting the happening.
“heard a nba youngboy concert was happening in florida. that’s sad. in the middle of a f–king pandemic? … LMFAOOO YALL STANDARDS ARE SO LOW, WHERES THE SELF RESPECT?!” penned one critical Twitter user.
“Imagine breaking social distancing and other pandemic guidelines to go see NBA YoungBoy…… I mean it’s bad to go to any concert rn but to risk your life to see HIM?” stated another reproving observer.
“Nba young boy concert was hype lastnight,” wrote a fan who’s on the other side of the issue.
In late September, Louisiana police arrested YoungBoy Never Broke Again (along with 15 others) on felony drug charges after receiving an anonymous tip. At nearly the same time, news of the rapper’s coming child with Yaya Mayweather, daughter of boxing great Floyd Mayweather Jr., started making headlines. NBA YoungBoy then deleted each of his social-media profiles, excepting his Facebook account.

SNOT - MURDA MURDA. Tucked into a tightly-closed hoodie, $NOT chooses not to wear his personality on his sleeve, but in his social media presence. Images of the rapper rarely show more than the center of his face beyond swank streetwear. Although his aesthetic may signify shyness and mystery, $NOT does not hesitate to digitally deliver charisma garnering him a cult-like following who enjoy both the music and the interaction.
Born Edy Edouard, the 22-year-old rapper is a rising force among Gen-Z’s hip-hop newcomers. $NOT’s breakout hit “GOSHA” has earned over 17 million plays on Soundcloud alone and over 100 million streams on all digital service providers. Another fan favorite “Billy Boy” is featured on an episode of HBO hit series Euphoria, starring Zendaya

His nonchalant flow and reserved style does not diminish his dark, heavy lyrics and straight-to-it delivery. $NOT's music has space to evolve — a lot of it is riddled in expletives and chauvinistic interpretations of relationships and sex — but like his contemporaries, he’s describing a reality that questions gender roles and agency. His debut project - TRAGEDY +, released March 6, showcases $NOT’s ability to approach music with fresh ears. He blends Southern hip-hop influences with modern, edgy synths and warm guitars, creating melodies on heartbreak and violence.
“‘Pressure’ is really like my favorite, favorite song,” he says of track that delves into the trappings of a perilous lifestyle of crime and impassive sex. The Florida-bred rapper crafted a unique sound that has garnered the likes of Billie Eilish, however, the admiration that matters most to $NOT comes from his fans.
$NOT’s strong relationship with his fans derives from their digital bond. Instead of operating as a solo force, separate from listeners, he sees the importance of connecting with his audience and the value in their engagement. The rapper interacts with fans on Twitter, Instagram, and even in group chats.
“I’ll literally add fans in a group chat and talk to them. I try to interact. It will be a hundred groups with fans and I’ll just talk, tell them that I’m dropping something. They’ll be really amped up,” says $NOT.

On Tik-Tok, fans use his sound as the background for their skits and dance videos. $NOT makes the effort to create special moments for his followers with a habit of ‘going crazy’ on Twitter, his favorite social media app for engagement. What will be interesting is if the rapper chooses to interrogate the growing desire for conscious lyricism into his music for his ever-expanding, honest fanbase.
All the while, $NOT enthusiasts go above and beyond to support their reigning underground king of alternative rap, as he continues to break into mainstream audiences. They frequently share his music, generate custom memes, and upload selfies mimicking his distinct extra-cozy hoodie style. Fans even purchased $NOT a shoutout from actor Drake Bell, in support of - TRAGEDY +.

For $NOT, however, many of his fans came before “GOSHA” propelled him to new levels of fame. Although $NOT has a strong online fan-club, his admirers greet him with the same energy offline. $NOT admits he had to adjust to some in-person fan interactions. “Sometimes it'll be awkward talking,” the rapper admits. “When they are talking to me it's cool and then, you know...awkward silence. [But] I still like meeting them in person.”

Off the strength of his SoundCloud releases and social media audience, mosh pits across North America raged out in $NOT’s presence before the world shut down due to coronavirus. At the top of 2020, the rapper wrapped up his first tour.
“I will never forget that,” says $NOT. He continues, listing Vancouver, Chicago, and New York as favorite stops, “All of them were lit, but for some reason, I really like Canada. They caught me off guard. The people there are real crazy. They’re nice people but they are real crazy at a show.”