St. Louis native Nelly, also known as Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. distracted himself with music at a young age. He formed a group, St. Lunatics, with his high school friends: Kyjuan, Murphy Lee, Slo Down, City Spud, and Ali. Nelly’s pull to rap music started out as an avid listener to artists like Jay Z, Outkast, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, and Rakim. Further, he became assured that rap was the path he would assemble as his career. Here we have five of Nelly’s best records, and you’ll agree that these tracks still get the party started.
5. “Ride Wit Me” feat. St. Lunatics
Country Grammar, released in 2000, gave us “Ride Wit Me” featuring Nelly’s crew member and brother, City Spud from St. Lunatics. The song was produced by Dj Jay E, pushing the album to sell 10 million copies globally. The hook interpolates Bill Clinton’s strategy slogan “Hey, must be the Economy, Stupid!” Further, the intro interposes DJ Jimi’s ’92 hit “Where They At?”
4. “The Fix” ft. Jeremih
“The Fix” featured R&B singer Jeremih and became a hit at first listen. The DJ Mustard and Mike Free’s beat-mastering interpolates Marvin Gaye’s ’82 hit song “Sexual Healing.” Due to Nelly and Mustard being under the same division and publisher, clearing the track was less of a hassle. “The Fix” debuted on Billboard Hot 100 at No 86.
Next on the list is “Get Like Me” with Nick Minaj and Pharrell Williams. The megaproducer fuses his distinct producing style that uses a percussive beat. He subtly adds drum elements through the song in the background. The sound is evocative of the early 2010s era. The success of “Get Like Me” was unexpected but not surprising. With an all-star lineup like Nicki’s multifaceted skills and Pharrell’s unique production style, it was inevitable. MTV News’s Rob Markman reportedly praised the song and mentioned how complementary the trio was to each other.
2. “Hot In Herre”
Nelly delivers an upbeat, house party inspired by “Hot in Herre.” He was working hard to outplay his debut album on this second attempt, Nellyville, and succeeded. The mood-lifter comprises vocals from Dani Stevenson, his former labelmate at Universal. The hook inserts “Bustin’ Loose,” Chuck Brown’s ’79 single.
The Neptune-produced track implants the popular Go-Go sound from the ’70s, by way of Chuck Brown as aforementioned. Nelly instigates fun and a few double entendres to spice things up. His entry in his first verse is slick and evokes the highest level of nostalgia. He starts off, “I was like, good gracious, ass is bodacious,” and “Flirtatious, tryna show patience.”
Last on the best of Nelly’s songs list is another gem from Nellyville. “Dilemma” featuring Kelly Rowland is a classic infusion of Soul, Rap, and Indie pop. When the music video dropped, fans of Destiny’s Child and Nelly sparked dating rumors. Their chemistry in the video sent the media into a whirlwind.
The best of Nelly’s songs are underrated and should be reviewed more often. He is a crucial player in Hip-Hop with his musical contributions. Does your best of Nelly’s songs list look like ours? Tell us in the comments.
Tyler, The Creator’s 2021 album, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST, has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Additionally, it has achieved the unique feat of reaching No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in three different years (2021, 2022, and 2023). For its latest chart-topping ascent, the popularity was fueled by the release of a deluxe edition of the album, titled The Estate Sale.
Tyler released the original version of CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST back in June 2021. The album featured collaborations with DJ Drama, 42 Dugg, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Lil Wayne, Lil Uzi Vert, Pharrell Williams, and many more across its 16-song tracklist. The project debuted atop the Billboard 200 while moving 169,000 album-equivalent units.
Tyler, The Creator On Stage At Coachella
INDIO, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 16: Tyler, the Creator performs with Kali Uchis at the Coachella Stage during the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 16, 2023 in Indio, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella)
As for The Estate Sale, Tyler shared the updated version last month. The new tracks feature appearances from Vince Staples, Madlib, A$AP Rocky, and YG. Further bringing more streams to Tyler’s music, he recently performed at Coachella during Kali Uchis‘ set. The two ran through their collaboration, “See You Again,” off of Tyler’s Flower Boy album.
Last month, Tyler also appeared on the Hulu series RapCaviar Presents, during which he discussed his love for being a rapper. “I’m a rapper. I love that shit. It’s a beautiful thing,” he stated at the time. “We’re good with words. We’re good with rhythm. We know pockets. We hear a collection of sounds and one thing and say, ‘Ahh, I know what could go over this.’ That takes a skill. Hey, we know narrative. Ah, I know what you’re feeling. I know how to put those in words where you can understand yourself better. You got some young kid, like 13, thinking, ‘Oh, I gotta make bravado rap…’ No, you don’t. You could flex about the shit that you truly hold here and make it seem like the most important st. When I’m flexing on these songs, [it’s] just about the shit that I really like.”
Kansas City teen Ralph Yarl is currently recovering after being shot in the head by Andrew Lester. Yarl was shot after ringing the wrong doorbell, which is a scary reality for Black delivery workers. Kansas City Chaos On April 13, 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot in the head by 84-year-old Andrew Lester. In an attempt […]
Young Money artists are considered some of the most significant contributors to Hip Hop. Since the late ’90s and even until now, the New Orleans-centered label has been a force in Hip Hop. First, it was Birdman, Slim, Curren$y, Lil Wayne & Sqad Up, and Juvenile with the Hot Boyz. As time went on, Wayne eventually put the label on his back, dropping hits, mixtapes, and albums that are still essential to Hip Hop.
Eventually, Tunechi was ready to sign prominent artists. He got exactly what he was looking for in Drake and Minaj. The big three took over Hip Hop and continue to stop the world whenever they drop. However, there have been plenty of artists who have been signed to Young Money that helped make the collective the respected brand it is today. Let’s take a look at what some of these artists are doing now. Of course, we excluded Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Tyga, Curren$y, and DJ Khaled. It wasn’t because they should be excluded, but with their success, we’re pretty sure you’re slightly familiar with where they currently stand in their careers.
Christina Milian
In 2012, Lil Wayne signed singer and actress Christina Milian. After having deals with The-Dream and MySpace Records, the 30-year-old, at the time, signed with Young Money. Wayne and the “Dip It Low” singer dated for a while but called it quits in 2015. Still, she remained with the label. Nowadays, she doesn’t make much music but instead focuses on her acting career. She was also featured in the TV series Step Up: High Water.
Cory Gunz caught Lil Wayne’s eye in 2010. He ultimately signed with the label later that year. The New York artist appeared on the original version of Wayne’s hit “A Milli.” Cory Gunz also was on another of Tunechi’s biggest songs, “6 Foot 7 Foot.” At the end of last year, on the Flip Da Script podcast, the 35-year-old discussed his current deal with Young Money and new music coming.
To be honest, Gudda Gudda has been with Wayne from the start. Since the Sqad Up days, when they were dropping one mixtape after another. Gudda still appears on Lil Wayne’s Dedication series to lend a verse. He also doesn’t miss the chance to hit the stage with the Young Money boss as he joined Wayne during his Rolling Loud performance last month. Though he is not one of the biggest stars of Young Money, Gudda has his own material. His Guddaville mixtape series reportedly has a fourth installment on the way.
Lil Twist
After opening up for Lil Wayne at 12 years old, Lil Twist’s life changed forever. Since then, he has been down with Young Money and still is today. He was recently on WEtv’s Growing Up Hip Hop, becoming a fan favorite. On the show, he performs and gives aspiring artists advice. He had his run-in with the law, but Twist has managed to come out of the other side with a good head on his shoulders.
Just like Gudda Gudda, Mack Maine has watched Young Money develop from the start. He grew up with Wayne, and they attended the same school. Mack is one of the founders of Young Money alongside Wayne. He doesn’t make much music, but he is an executive for the label and has been since 2009. Besides music, Mack Maine is a businessman who just last year invested in emoji and NFT startup Yat.
Reginae Carter
Of course, Lil Wayne’s daughter was signed to his label. She hasn’t made music in a while. You can see her on social media with her boyfriend Armon Warren. Last year, she was in one of the cyphers at the BET Hip Hop Awards, and she was praised for her addition. Besides being Wayne’s daughter, she was also in a high-profile relationship with rapper YFN Lucci.
Shanell
You probably remember Shanell from Lil Wayne’s hit song “Prom Queen.” The Atlanta singer has been signed to Young Money since 2009. Though she hasn’t released music since 2015, the 42-year-old reportedly still has a contract with the label. Last year, Level 77 Music won Pop Track of the Year for “Be Mine” at The Production Music Association’s Mark Awards. Shanell also wrote and produced the hit single. “Be Mine” is on the album G.I.R.L. (Girls in Real Life).
T-Streets
T-Streets is more like a family than an artist to Lil Wayne. Growing up in New Orleans, T-Streets was an up-and-coming rapper as well. He eventually joined Lil Wayne in the Sqad Up group. His last mixtape was in 2011, but he still reportedly remains with the label.
Austin Mahone
In 2013, Young Money decided to take a different route. They found pop artist Austin Mahone, who was projected to be the next Justin Bieber. After signing with Wayne, Mahone released an EP, The Secret, the following year. Due to low sales numbers, Young Money decided to drop the young artist. Today, Mahone still releases music as he was just at the Country Music Awards. Unfortunately, he is in some legal trouble as he is one of eight celebrities charged with promoting cryptos without disclosing that they are receiving compensation.
Chanel West Coast
Chanel West Coast started her rapping career in 2009. Three years later, Lil Wayne signed her to Young Money. After releasing a mixtape shortly thereafter, that seemed to end her run with the label. Then, Chanel released her debut album in 2020 independently. While promoting her album, she finally discussed her Young Money deal. She claims that she never had problems with Wayne, but other people on the label were tearing her down. Some speculate she was talking about Nicki Minaj, as it has been known that these two did not see eye to eye.
Although he is from the North, he signed with the most prominent label in the South. Jae Millz was a notorious battle rapper in Harlem before signing with Wayne. Today, he continues to drop music, but under his own imprint, Potent Dept. His last project came last year, titled Potent Vibes Only 4. Millz was spotted at the Young Money Reunion last year in Toronto as he hit the stage alongside Wayne, Minaj, and Drake.
Kidd Kidd
Just like T-Streets and Gudda Gudda, Kidd Kidd was also a part of Sqad Up. After issues with the group, he went to sign with Young Money on his own. After appearing on the hit song “Mrs. Officer,” Kidd Kidd left Young Money because he wasn’t in the music video. =A few years later, he signed with 50-Cent and G-Unit. =Kidd Kidd would be a part of three G-Unit compilation albums. In 2018, he started his own label, RLLNR Entertainment. Last year, he dropped his LP, Street Fame.
Omarion has a short time at Young Money. n 2009, Wayne announced he had signed the former B2K artist. After not receiving his advance in the scheduled time, Omarion became frustrated, and Wayne was nowhere to be found. The two even released a song titled “I Get It In,” but that same night Mack Maine took to Twitter to let the public know Omarion was no longer with the label.
Spears has become something of an Instagram iconic ever since gaining access to social media. She has posted dropped nudes while vacationing in Mexico but her latest thing is dance videos. Since the start of April, Spears has uploaded numerous videos of her dancing in her house and at hotels. However, the videos are allegedly starting to elicit some debate amongst her fans.
Spears’ last five Instagram posts are all videos of Britney dancing to various songs in various outfits. The earliest video was posted four days ago. A report fromthe Daily Mail suggests that fans are becoming concerned with the content, quoting tweets that read “Okay, Britney Spears genuinely needs help” and “I’m genuinely concerned about Britney Spears”. The tweets in question have a combined six likes and appear cherry-picked by the Daily Mail as the two accounts have a combined ~800 followers. Neither tweet immediately appears in searches for “Britney Spears” or “Britney Spears Dancing”.
However, an alternate point of view comes from a report from Marca. While the Daily Mail does note that Spears said on Monday she had “filmed eight dancing videos today”, the Mail leaves out the rest of the quote. “I did 8 videos yesterday!!! I was excited because I haven’t danced in forever!!!” Spears’ full quote reads. So what’s the story here – does Britney need help? Or is this an excitable woman making some dance videos? It’s easy to speculate given Spears’ past and the rest reports about a family intervention. Furthermore, it would be fair to let the woman live a little given she has been the subject of media scrutiny for most of her life. If there is a bigger story beyond dancing videos, HotNewHipHop will be here to break it down for you.
Drake is one of the most entertaining people around. As one of the biggest acts in music, it’s inevitable that people, whether fans or not, want to know his every move. He gives people what they want whenever he drops new music. He’s not the most active person on social media platforms except for Instagram. There, he provides fans with a glimpse into his otherwise private life, oftentimes with a bit of humor, too.
As of mid-April, Drake has 135 million Instagram followers. His posts continue to rack up millions of likes with his famous peers hitting the comments along the hundreds of other fans. Champagne Papi, as he’s known on the ‘Gram, launched his page around the Take Care era. Below, we’ve dived into some of his best posts.
In one of his first posts on Instagram, Drake shares a photo of his grandma. He has his laptop to her ear as she is listening to the song she is featured on, “Look What You’ve Done” off of his sophomore album, Take Care. In the song, Drake includes a voicemail he left for him. “Hearing Look What You’ve Done for the 1st time,” Champagne Papi captioned the post. Similar to his music, the Young Money artist doesn’t shy away from sharing moments from his personal life on social media. In this post, you can see that Drake is playing the song for her on YouTube.
The 2016 NBA All-Star weekend was special for a few reasons. This was the first time the All-Star game was held in Toronto. It was also the final All-Star game for NBA legend Kobe Bryant. With Drake being the ambassador for the Toronto Raptors and the self-proclaimed “6 God,” it was only right for him to be the coach of the NBA Celebrity All-Star game. At the All-Star game, Drizzy was front row to see Kobe’s 18th and final All-Star game. Before the game, he introduced the starters from both conferences. This is where we see his custom All-Star jacket with a photo of Kobe on the back. In this post, Drake is watching two greats go at it, Kobe and LeBron.
On the opening night of All-Star weekend, he led Team Canada to a victory over Coach Kevin Hart and Team USA. On Saturday night, Drake was front row to witness one of the greatest Slam Dunk contests of all time. He sat next to legendary Director Spike Lee as they watched Zach Lavine and Aaron Gordon battle for the trophy. Zach Lavine even came out to Drake’s hit song, “Back to Back”.
We can all say that we’ve seen Drake’s growth since he emerged as a promising star under Lil Wayne’s wing. Within a decade, he rose to the top of the game and has accomplished even more outside of Hip Hop. In this Instagram post, Drake posts a meme of himself regarding his progress as the 2020s were approaching.
In the four-photo collage, you can see Drake on the left posing in front of a Virgin Atlantic plane. The small plane boats his debut album cover on it as Drizzy is smiling. On the right side, ten years later, he is looking at his own plane. It’s not small, either and is not used for promoting his music. No more Virgin Atlantic planes, it’s Air Drake. The boy is the man now!
What Drake and 21 Savage did with Her Loss is still being talked about. They still haven’t even gone on tour yet. The album received positive reception, but the promo run was just as entertaining as the music.
Honestly, they had all of us fooled as people hit the internet to search for the duo’s Tiny Desk concert, Howard Stern interview, Saturday Night Live performance, and COLORS performance. Unfortunately, this was just a brilliant marketing tool as none of these were real. Once again, Drake’s creativity flourished in one of the most exciting rollouts of the year.
In the fake Howard Stern interview, Drake dishes on the porn he is watching and his views on marriage. He even gets Michael B. Jordan to introduce him and 21 Savage on the fake SNL performance. As each of the promo videos racked up millions of views, it’s safe to say that people really wish these were authentic. A Drake and 21 Savage Tiny Desk concert might actually need to happen.
Many people wanted Drake and Rihanna to work out, Drake included. He has never been shy to show his love to the Barbados singer anywhere. Prior to this post, Drake presented Rihanna with the 2016 Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. Before giving her the award, the “Work” rapper praised her in a heartfelt speech that certainly hasn’t aged as well as he hoped. After accepting the award, Rihanna and Drizzy left the stage and hit the afterparty together. To caption this post, Drake continues to uplift the “Umbrella” singer in celebration of the VMA honor. The photo was taken in Toronto at night as the CN Tower is lit in the background.
Lately, there have been a debate surrounding where Scorpion stands in Drake’s discography. The Shots Taken Podcast named Scorpion his least impressive album. Shortly after, Champagne Papi stepped into the comments to debunk that statement. “Gods Plan, In My Feelings, Nice For What, Nonstop, Jaded, Is There More, Sandra’s Rose, That’s How You Feel, Emotionless….slapppppps on [Scorpio emoji].” He isn’t wrong and he even backed this up in a post in 2018. Drake shared the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 upon the release of Scorpion and he claimed seven out of the ten spots. There’s no way you can say that Scorpion is his worst album.
Drake never fails to show love to the people dear to his heart. Whether it be his grandma, his Toronto friends, his industry friends, or his dad, the 6 God makes a concerted effort to celebrate those that he loves. One person that you can see on his Instagram is his mother, Sandra Graham. In this photo, Drizzy is throwing up the 6 with his mother draped around him throwing up the Houston sign.
Trick Daddy, the Miami rap icon has recently made headlines ending a 30-year era by replacing his gold grillz with shiny veneers. While Trick might be waving goodbye to his grills, he’ll be saying hello to better oral health. Daniel Noguera, CEO of 5-star Smiles, shared with TMZ Hip Hop that the rap legend finally had a realization about his oral health after 15 years of neglect. After over a decade of refusing to go to the dentist, Trick is met with a multitude of complications.
Trick Daddy’s gold grills were first set in 1994 and were center stage as he continued to make platinum records. However, the permanent caps began to cause significant damage and decay to his teeth, resulting in bone loss surgery and temporary fillings. Meanwhile, as his gums heal, Trick Daddy spent over 60k for the first treatment and will have the bottom teeth removed next week. Albeit this is just the beginning of Trick Daddy’s dental health journey. He still has his final treatment in two months, which will result in beautiful porcelain veneers for his teeth. Love & Hip Hop Miami will be getting full coverage of his journey
Trick Daddy’s Pearly Whites
Trick Daddy gets new $60,000 veneers & his gold grills replaced after 30 years, he had not been to dentist in 15 years pic.twitter.com/FIB2bhvpzf
Trick Daddy’s era-ending decision is not to be taken lightly. While Florida is known for its gold slugs, prolonged use comes with consequences. Neglecting dental health can lead to a multitude of health problems from heart disease, and diabetes, to some forms of cancer. It’s essential to visit the dentist regularly, practice good oral hygiene, and prioritize dental care.
Overall, Trick Daddy’s decision to switch from grills to veneers marks the end of a historic era. Although he put Florida on the map for its gold-plated culture, it’s great to see him prioritizing his health. His story serves as a reminder to always take care of your teeth and neglecting them can come with dire repercussions. We wish Trick Daddy all the best on his journey to a healthier smile. Do you like gold grills or shiny veneers? Check out Trick Daddy’s journey on the new season of Love & Hip Hop Miami to see the final results.
