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This week has seen so much hype for J. Cole’s The Off Season that you’d think it was dropping this Friday. Alas, the big day is set to arrive next Friday, May 14th, which gives ample time for Cole and his Dreamville associates to drum up hype to the umpteenth degree. We’ve already heard from Cozz on the matter, who confidently declared the project to be Cole’s best album yet. It would appear he’s not alone in that promising assessment.

Frequent Cole collaborator Bas, who held it down alongside him on “My Ni**a Just Made Bail,” “Boca Raton,” and “Down Bad,” also took a moment to throw a bit of coal into the hype train’s engine. “The Off-Season @realcoleworld 5/14/21 @dreamville,” writes Bas. “I ain’t never lied to you. Y’all can get out my dm’s now. this is up there with bros best works to date. put my word on that too.

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Bas’ claim was swiftly echoed by Dreamville co-founder Ibrahim H, who deemed Bas’ praise to be “big facts.” While it’s not entirely surprising to see a label uniting behind a big release, it’s still cool to see Bas and Cozz alike stepping up and recognizing what Cole is bringing to the table. One has to wonder if we’ll see a heavier Dreamville presence on The Off-Season, or if J. Cole will hold true to his oft-cited mantra of going “platinum with no features.”

We already saw Timbaland teasing a potential J. Cole Off-Season collaboration, so it’s entirely possible that Cole is opening the door for guest appearances on this go-around. It would certainly be exciting to see an increased Dreamville presence, perhaps a “Down Bad” reunion posse cut with Bas, J.I.D, and EarthGang or even a conceptually driven response to Cozz and Reason’s “Lambo Truck.” All bets are well and truly off.

Look for the Bas and Cozz approved The Off-Season to arrive in full on Friday, May 14th. Do you think this one has the potential to be Cole’s magnum opus?

What would the world of hip-hop be without its beefs? The latest involves rising emcees 22Gz and CJ, and it’s pretty much been brewing up since the beginning of this year. Their war of words seems to be sparked by a battle over who controls Brooklyn’s buzzing drill scene in rap, with 22Gz recently adding fuel to the fire on the most petty platform possible: Instagram!

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“HOW THE FUCK YOU SCREAMING WHOOPTY,” 22Gz wrote as an all-caps caption on a picture he posted a few days ago, following up by adding, “YOU AINT WHOOPTY.” Now we’re not trying to start trouble here by a long shot, but you would be fooling yourself to think that comment wasn’t aimed at CJ in some sort of way. Back in February he had way more to say in regards to his dislike for CJ, breaking down their beef to AllHipHop by saying, “I just wanted the credit for my s*** because I done gave sauce to damn near everybody in the city and nobody tapped in. Even the opps use my s*** — all the lingo you see, all the dancing, that’s mine.” That comment was also a blanket statement meant for Tekashi 6ix9ine to snuggle up in as well, with 22Gz ultimately just wanting his props for being the first out of New York, Brooklyn in particular, to make the drill scene pop off.

On the other side, CJ told us exclusively for HNHH’s Rise & Grind that “Whoopty” was simply a thing of magic, stating, “I was on YouTube one day, just scrolling through instrumental and that sample had caught my attention. And the song is produced by a producer named  Pxcoyo. He’s from Romania. The knock on the beat was just crazy. I was like “ Yeah I definitely gotta jump on this and see what I could do with it.” I locked in the studio and made magic.” Sounds pretty harmless, no?

Does 22Gz have a point? Is CJ getting unfair treatment for a rookie? Let us know your thoughts down below in the comments section as always: 

Adele’s casual photo dump gave a rare sneak peek into the singer living her best life, still without revealing any real details about her birthday celebration. The post was a huge hit nonetheless, accumulating over 4 million likes in just a few hours.

The first photo in the set is a striking black-and-white image of the singer, followed by a photo of her swimming in clear waters with a gleeful smile. The last photo, an action shot of her twirling in a tie-dye dress, shows off her fit figure. 

Adele’s weight loss was a big accomplishment for the singer, and has followed her in the headlines ever since. Her sudden reveal of her over 100-pound weight loss left the industry stunned, applauding the singer for her dramatic transformation.

After all the attention from her first weight loss post, she has remained fairly inactive on social media. The singer fell off the music scene in 2015, after the release of her third album, 25,leaving fans mystified by her new elusive personality.

Her seemingly random return to social media has sparked album release rumors among fans on social media, as many have commented. The singer teased at the album during her SNL appearance in September, making a joke out of the commentary she received upon her host announcement saying, “Why isn’t she the musical guest?’ And stuff like that, and there’s a couple of reasons. My album’s not finished, and I’m also too scared to do both.”

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We’re slowly approaching what should be another Hot Girl Summer. Over the past two years, Megan Thee Stallion has dominated the charts and streaming platforms as a Southern titan in the rap game. The two-year run has undoubtedly taken a few unexpected twists and turns but it also earned the Houston rapper two number one singles and a #2 debut on the Billboard 200.

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Though she hasn’t made any announcements for a new project, it seems she’ll be keeping herself busy in the foreseeable future with an upcoming series on Snapchat. Megan Thee Stallion, along with her pet dog Foe Thee Frenchie, will be the hosts of the platform’s new series, Off Thee Leash.

“With multiple Grammys to her name, including Best New Artist, Megan Thee Stallion commands the charts, popular culture, and now Snapchat! In this new series, she’ll be joined by celebrity friends and their pets hosted in a way that only Megan can,” the show’s description reads. 

Off Thee Leash will find Meg connecting with other dog moms on the Hot Girl Ranch where they’ll explore their love for pets, among other topics.

The announcement of a new show comes shortly after the rapper announced a brief hiatus to recharge. Maybe we’ll be getting some new music from her after the launch of her upcoming series. Check Meg’s announcement below. 

The next release from Freddie Gibbs is shaping up to be his best, at least from the list of producers he revealed that he’s been working with. Usual suspects like The Alchemist and Madlib have secured slots but others like Pharrell, Metro Boomin, Mike Will Made It, and more have also been confirmed for SSS.

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The rapper has yet to tease any of the features on the project but we could probably suspect some Griselda cameos on the tracklist. However, Gibbs’ latest photo dump on Instagram has left fans hoping that he’ll be trading bars with the 6ix God himself. The rapper took to Instagram where he shared a photo of himself alongside Drake, presumably in Los Angeles somewhere. The caption only read, “Photo dump” along with a bunny and owl emoji but a few comments left underneath the picture might indicate a collab in the works. Gibbs’ right-hand man Diego, wrote, “6GOD X LORDS,” along with five star emojis. “Sounds about right,” he added. Meanwhile, Gibbs manager Lambo wrote, “BIG BOSS OWL.” 

Mind you, none of this actually confirms that they’ve locked in the studio but it seems inevitable at this point. Gibbs has previously been seen clubbing with OVO affiliate Baka in the past. Freddie Gibbs has previously listed Drake among his top 5 MCs in the game during a podcast with Bootleg Kev last year and has also mentioned in a separate that he wanted to go bar-for-bar with the Toronto rapper. 

Would you want to hear Freddie Gibbs and Drake on a track?