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Since Bobby Shmurda’s long-awaited release from prison earlier this week, the culture has been a joyous, celebratory state. The Brooklyn rapper spent the last six years of his life behind bars due to gang charges, and after years of speculation that he may be granted early parole, Bobby Shmurda was finally released from prison on Tuesday morning. Now, the “Hot N****” rapper is enjoying life as a free man and easing back into the public eye.

According to breaking news from today, it looks like Bobby has yet another reason to celebrate. As previously reported by Billboard, the recently freed rapper’s streams have experienced a massive spike following his release from prison. According to MRC Data, on-demand streams of Bobby Shmurda’s entire catalog, in the United States alone, are up 624% since his homecoming on February 23. 

Considering the hype and anticipation for the Shmurda She Wrote rapper’s release, it’s not at all surprising that the rapper’s streams have increased so drastically. With a surge of this magnitude, now definitely seems like the perfect opportunity for Bobby to drop new music.

As we’ve reported on time and time again, numbers don’t lie, so this streaming surge definitely proves that the Brooklyn artist is one of the most pressing rappers out right now. What Bobby Shmurda songs have you been bumping since his release on Tuesday?

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When people discuss notable hip-hop entrepreneurs, it’s not often that Nas’ name comes up in the early stages of the conversation. Yet in reality, he probably should, considering the fact that he remains one of the rap game’s shrewdest investors. Case in point, his Queensbridge Venture Partners company has made notable investments in Dropbox, Ring, Parachute, SeatGeek, General Assembly, Robinhood, Casper, Pillpack, and Pluto TV among others — many of which have paid out quite favorably for the legendary lyricist.

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Yesterday night, Nas’ manager Anthony Saleh, otherwise known by his Instagram handle Dudebro, took a moment to highlight the impressive nature of his partner’s investment portfolio. “Nas would beat any artist in a tech investment portfolio Verzuz,” he wrote, a message that went on to catch Nas’ attention. “I agree,” added the Queensbridge lyricist, who seems to recognize exactly how dominant he is in this particular field of business. 

Though many were rightfully impressed by Nas’ flex, others used the opportunity of seeing his name and Verzuz in the same sentence to fantasize about their own potential musical match-ups. Naturally, Nas has been a frequently-requested contender in Tim and Swizzy’s friendly competition, though only a select number of artists would stand a remote chance of keeping stride. Basically, Nas excels whether the hypothetical Verzuz battle criteria centers on music or investment portfolio — if that’s not the making of a true GOAT contender, what is? 

While rappers such as Asian Doll have spoken out against their hometowns, Travis Scott has been showing major love to Houston and ensuring that its residents aren’t suffering amidst the state’s harsh winter conditions. In a selfless move by the Astroworld artist, it appears that he is doing everything that he can to uplift his hometown as the city endures the brutal winter storm, which also perfectly coincides with his new 2021 goal of becoming a better person.

According to TMZ, Travis Scott and his Cactus Jack Foundation have teamed up with Houston’s municipal staff, local nonprofits, and operating restaurants to launch an emergency food program that will feed 50,000 residents who’ve been impacted by Texas’ historic freeze. As a result of several Houston residents enduring ridiculously low temperatures, not having access to water, and suffering from power outages, the Rodeo rapper‘s latest humanitarian effort is focused on delivering warm meals to thousands of the families that have been affected.

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Starting earlier this Friday, Travis Scott’s food deliveries have been taking place all over the city, and TMZ also reports that in addition to the warm meals being dispersed across Houston, residents have also been given clean water. Our thoughts are with all of the residents of Houston and Texas who are suffering through Texas’ historic freeze.

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EA is no stranger to fielding scorn from the gaming community. Yet a threat from Snoop Dogg carries more weight than that of the average irate gamer. An ardent online competitor in his own right, Snoop recently found his quiet-night-in disrupted by a server outage, one that left him incapable of engaging in his fierce Madden rivalries. As such, he took to Instagram to issue the gaming corporation an ultimatum, one that found him looking toward different — though not necessarily greener — pastures.

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“EA, you n***as got thirty-minutes to get them servers back on,” warns Snoop. “If you don’t, I’m switching to the Soulja Boy Console. I know that n***a got some games on that muthafucka that work. Soulja Boy, hit your uncle up. Draco! You got Madden on your shit? Cause EA playing games. I done been hit by a thousand muthafuckas — they saying they want to play. What the fuck man! Get it together. Get right, or get left. Soulja Boy, get Madden on your shit.”

Soulja Boy wasted little time in responding to Uncle Snoop’s message, sharing a clip on Instagram and promoting his infamous SouljaGame console in the process. “Tell em unk @snoopdogg,” he writes, though no word on whether he’s planning on pursuing making Madden a cross-platform affair. In fact, it’s not even entirely clear as to whether the SouljaGame supports online functionality to begin with. Either way, it still makes for an amusing clip — even if it doesn’t ultimately lead to any Snoop-narrated “Fighting Soulja – Draco Editio‪n” Let’s Play videos.