Month: June 2021

A testament to how hip-hop has dominated the charts in the last half-decade, Lil Baby is dangerously close to passing Eminem in terms of who has the most overall entries on the Billboard Hot 100. After charting a grand total of sixteen songs from his collaborative album with Lil Durk last week, the Atlanta rapper officially has ninety total entries on the chart. For comparison’s sake, hip-hop legend Eminem has ninety-one entries over his long-spanning career.

While the two rappers don’t necessarily have parallel career paths, this statistic speaks more to how music consumption has changed globally in the last few years. Hip-hop has overtaken pop as the top genre, meaning that more hip-hop songs are charting these days. Even deeper album cuts will end up on the Hot 100, whereas Eminem didn’t have those same opportunities when he was at the biggest point of his career. Considering the fact that Lil Baby hasn’t been in the game for that long, it may be surprising to see that he’s already caught up to some of the greats in this aspect. In fact, he seems destined to catch up to Drake, the man who helped him launch his major platform, in the coming years.

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Right now, Drake has 233 total entries on the chart. He’s followed by Lil Wayne with 173, Future with 123, Nicki Minaj with 118, Kanye West with 109, and JAY-Z with 102. If Lil Baby releases another album before the end of this year, he likely has a chance to pass Eminem, JAY-Z, and maybe even Kanye West before the end of 2021. How crazy is that?

Check out the top-ranking rappers on the Billboard Hot 100’s all-time list below and let us know if you think Lil Baby is coming for legend status.

Back in March of last year, Young Dolph unleashed his Juicy J-produced collaboration with Megan thee Stallion “RNB.” Featured on his project Rich Slave that arrived later that summer, the song went on to be a hit for the artists. A year after its release, however, the Memphis rapper and the Houston Hottie were hit with a $600,000 lawsuit from a band accusing them of ripping off the melody of their song. 

The goth band Midnight Syndicate claimed that Juicy J used their track “Nocterm Aeternus” and intentionally used over 94% of the recording to make “RNB.” The group was particularly offended that no one bothered to contact them to seek licenses and permission to use the sample of one of their most popular songs. Luckily for Dolph and Megan, new reports confirm that the case has been dismissed.  

According to new court filings, Dolph, who is the lead artist on the track, and Midnight Syndicate have reached a settlement over the case. Last week, the judge presiding the case dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, which means that the suit cannot be refiled.

Additionally, the terms of the settlement are confidential, so there’s no telling if Dolph, Megan, or Juicy J had to fork over any money. 

In the original complaint filed by the band’s lawyer, it read, “Defendants’ acts of infringement were and are willful because Defendants Juicy J and/or Young Dolph (in concert with one or more of the other Defendants) knew they did not own the Copyrighted Noctem Aeternus Recording and Copyrighted Noctem Aeternus Composition, yet they still created ‘RNB’ (feat. Megan Thee Stallion)” entirely based on Plaintiff’s copyrights without Plaintiff’s permission and without ever seeking permission.

“Defendants’ sample was not merely a few seconds but lasted for the entire duration of “RNB (feat. Megan Thee Stallion),”  it finished. They were previously looking to remove the single from record stores and streaming platforms until a settlement was reached, but lucky for the trappers, they scored a pretty sweet deal in the end. 

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It might have taken a few years, but Lil Baby and Lil Durk have officially reached the top of the rap game’s uppermost echelon. Together, they recently connected to deliver The Voice Of The Heroes, a collaborative effort that yielded eighteen tracks with guest appearances from Travis Scott, Meek Mill, Rod Wave, and Young Thug.

Without even having to drop a lead single, Baby and Durk’s Voice Of The Heroes went on to move 158k album-equivalent units, a tally that easily secured them the top position on the Billboard charts. Given the project’s hype and popularity, many songs ultimately found themselves cracking the Hot 100 chart, with sixteen of eighteen locking it down in various positions. 

Billboard recently shared a breakdown of the Voice Of The Heroes Hot 100 positions on their Twitter page. “Hats Off” with Travis Scott was the highest-charting at #16. Title track “Voice Of The Heroes” hit #21, “2040” hit #31, “How It Feels” hit #34, “Still Runnin” with Meek Mill hit #43, “Who I Want” hit #46, “Still Hood” hit #56, and “Okay” slid two spots below it at #58.

The streak continues with “Man Of My Word” at #60, “Medical” at #67, “Rich Off Pain” with Rod Wave at #68, “Lying” at #70, “That’s Facts” at #73, “Please” at #79, “Up The Side” with Young Thug at #80, and “If You Want To” squeaking in at #99. At this moment, only “Make It Out” and “Bruised Up” did not make the cut — yet. 

Clearly, the people have spoken. The Voice Of The Heroes may very well go down as one of the defining albums of 2021, at least on the commercial end. Congratulations to Baby and Durk for another powerhouse performance, and be sure to check out our own review on the project right here. 

At the beginning of the year, reports surfaced that Nicki Minaj’s father Robert Maraj was reportedly struck and killed by a driver in a hit-and-run incident. Later identified as 70-year-old Charles Polevich, the man eventually turned himself in over to law enforcement days after the incident.  

Minaj’s mother Carol subsequently filed a $150 million lawsuit over Robert Maraj’s death against Polevich for allegedly being responsible for the killing. According to new court documents obtained by Radar, Polevich was said to have denied any sort of wrongdoing in the incident that left Maraj fatally injured. 

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According to the publication, the 70-year-old attempted to dismiss the lawsuit. In his defense, his lawyer accused the Young Money alum’s father of being, “reckless, careless and negligent in crossing the street.” He additionally claimed that his client had to make a, “sudden and unexpected circumstance, not of his own making” because he was in the face of an emergency. 

Nicki’s mother Carol Maraj filed the lawsuit against Polevich back in March. Represented by attornies Ben Crump and Paul Napoli, the former shared on his Instagram, “Paul Napoli and I have filed a $150 million lawsuit in the hit-and-run death of Robert Maraj, @nickiminaj’s father.”

“He was fatally injured in a hit-and-run accident on February 12, 2021, when he was struck by a car being driven by Charles Polevich as Mr. [Robert] walked along a Long Island road,” Ben added. “After striking [Robert], [Charles] left the accident scene and did not call for emergency services or render aid to [Robert].”

“He was not only irresponsible and negligent, but more concerned about running away and hiding than seeking help,” the renowned attorney concluded. “[Charles’] behavior was criminal, cowardly, and immoral. We will hold him responsible for his reckless actions that led to Robert Maraj’s death!”

As mentioned, Polevich turned himself over to police days after the incident. He was then released from prison after fulfilling a $250,000 bond. 

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People have been remembering DJ Khaled’s infamous comments from a 2015 interview following the removal of a specific scene in the animated Harley Quinn series. The mega-producer has been trending on Twitter for the last twenty-four hours but, unfortunately for him, it has nothing to do with his latest studio album Khaled Khaled. On the contrary, people are bringing up Khaled’s name in response to the comments made by Harley Quinn co-creator Justin Halpern about a scene that was removed from the show’s third season.

During an interview with Variety, Halpern admitted that DC asked the show’s producers to remove a scene depicting Batman and Catwoman engaging in oral sex. “It’s incredibly gratifying and free to be using characters that are considered villains because you just have so much more leeway,” he said. “A perfect example of that is in this third season of Harley [when] we had a moment where Batman was going down on Catwoman. And DC was like, ‘You can’t do that. You absolutely cannot do that.’ They’re like, ‘Heroes don’t do that.’ So, we said, ‘Are you saying heroes are just selfish lovers?’ They were like, ‘No, it’s that we sell consumer toys for heroes. It’s hard to sell a toy if Batman is also going down on someone.’”

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The comments refreshed the memories of thousands of pop culture lovers who not-so-fondly remembered DJ Khaled’s previous remarks about (not) going down on his wife. “If you holding it down for your woman, I feel like the woman should praise and the man should praise the Queen,” said the artist during a 2015 interview with The Breakfast Club. “But, you know, my way of praising is called, ‘How was dinner? You like the house you living in? You like all them clothes you getting? I’m taking care of your family, I’m taking care of my family.'”

When Angela Yee asked Khaled if he goes down on his wife, he said, “Nah, never. Nah, I can’t do that. Hell nah… I can’t do that. I don’t do that.”

Who knew that DJ Khaled and Batman had so much in common? See what everyone is saying below.