Common was one of Drake’s earliest big rap beefs, and it happened so long ago that many current OVO Stans probably don’t know that much about it. Either way, things eventually cleared up and all seems relatively well between both rappers, at least from the Chicago MC’s statements on the Toronto superstar. Moreover, the spitter and actor recently appeared on Drink Champs along with Pete Rock to talk about a whole slew of topics, including some more assessments of Drizzy’s beef with Kendrick Lamar. He ended up revealing some more details about their encounter at the 2012 Grammy Awards that squashed their feud, something that Aubrey Graham’s father apparently was instrumental in achieving.
“I eventually saw Drake face to face,” Common began his recollection of that night. “It was at a point where I was like, ‘Wassup?’ And we had [some] little words. And then his father was there and was like, ‘Y’all need to squash this.’ And I was like, ‘Man, this an elder talking to me. This this man’s father. Let me chill out.’ And then Drake just was like, ‘I ain’t on this.’ So we just squashed it.
The conversation around Drake’s father squashing their beef begins at around the 34-minute and 15-second mark of the video above.
“I was like, ‘Listen, if we face to face, then alright, I’m done with it,’” Common continued. “‘Even if it was some subliminal disses, I said what I had to say. Right now, we saying we squashing it. We good.’ I felt like Drake was sending me a couple of shots, subliminals. I don’t know what motivated him to send me some shots. But I think what for sure had me, if I’m just being real, like, you know, we mess with one of the same girls.
“You know wars happen over women. That’s just what it is,” Common concluded. “I ain’t going to get at you if you with somebody I was with. But if you start throwing me a couple little, you know, you trying to throw some jabs then I’m like, ‘Come on, man, okay.’”
CJ Stroud checked Gillie Da King over his support for Drake and alleged bias against Kendrick Lamar during an appearance on the latest episode of Million Dollaz Worth Of Game. The star Houston Texans quarterback appeared on the show alongside his teammate Tank Dell. When the topic of Drake and Lamar’s feud came up, Stroud didn’t let Gillie’s past takes slide.
“When Kendrick beat Drake, you said that last diss wasn’t better. You!” Stroud said. “I’m gonna check you right now, Unc. You’re tripping. We know you want the [Drake] interview.” Gillie fired back: “This is a misconception. Bro, whether we interview somebody or not, our checks still the same.” From there, he recalled praising Lamar’s “Not Like Us” but Stroud clarified, “But after it came out, you said [Drake] won.”
CJ Stroud & Tank Dell Celebrate Beating The Steelers
HOUSTON, TEXAS – OCTOBER 01: C.J. Stroud #7 celebrates with Tank Dell #3 of the Houston Texans after defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers at NRG Stadium on October 01, 2023, in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)
Kendrick Lamar kicked off the viral feud with Drake by dissing him on Metro Boomin and Future’s song, “Like That,” earlier this year. In the following months, each dropped several diss tracks aimed at the other. The situation reached a climax during the weekend of May 4, when Lamar dropped “Meet The Grahams” and “Not Like Us” within 24 hours. Conversely, Drake dropped “Family Matters” and “The Heart Part 6.”
CJ Stroud & Tank Dell Appear On “Million Dollaz Worth Of Game”
Elsewhere in Stroud’s conversation with on the Million Dollaz Worth Of Game podcast, he named his top 5 QBs from last season. He went with Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hurts, himself, and controversially to the hosts, Dak Prescott. “Dak’s that boy,” Stroud said. “Ya’ll not gonna say that because he ain’t won the big one yet.” Be on the lookout for further updates on CJ Stroud as well as Kendrick Lamar on HotNewHipHop.
The beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar has been a massive commercial pull. The back and forth spawned multiple top 10 hits, numerous 20 hits, and even a few number ones. The two songs that kicked things off, “First Person Shooter” last year and “Like That” earlier this year both debuted at the top spot on the Hot 100. The former spent multiple weeks at the top spot and is still just outside the top 10 on this week’s edition. “Euphoria,” “meet the grahams,” “Family Matters,” and “Push-Ups” are all also still included on this weeks Hot 100.
It’s that final track “Push-Ups” that has reached a new milestone this week. The song peaked at number 17 on the Hot 100 and currently sits at number 74 in its 5th week. In the meantime, it’s also racked up tons of streams on Spotify. The song just became Drake’s most recent to hit 100 million streams. While the incredible achievement is rare for most artists, Drizzy has an astonishingly large collection of them. “Push-Ups” is his 248th song to reach 100 million streams, which is more than double any other rapper has on the platform. Unsurprisingly, Drizzy currently sits as the #7 most-streamed artist on Spotify this month.
The achievements of nearly every other song in the beef are dwarfed by Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” It became yet another song to debut at the top spot on the Hot 100 last month. It’s stuck around in the top 5 ever since and is expected to remain there for at least the next two weeks. It also broke multiple records, even ones held by Drake, for its Spotify streams in the first 24 hours.
What do you think of “Push-Ups” hitting 100 million streams on Spotify in the wake of Drake’s beef with Kendrick Lamar? Do you think it’s impressive that he has more than twice as many songs hitting that milestone as any of his contemporaries? Let us know in the comment section below.
Benzino still feels a type of way after his daughter Coi Leray expressed disappointment in him over his defense of R. Kelly, effectively disowning him and their familial bond. Moreover, he recently appeared on the Famous & Wealthy podcast and spoke about her reaction to his take on the disgraced R&B singer. Speficially, the Source co-founder brought up an interview that Coi did with Math Hoffa on his My Expert Opinion podcast some time ago, in which she revealed that she lost her virginity at the age of 14. This rubs her father the wrong way given her outright condemnation of his R. Kelly comments and wants her to expand upon this.
“She made a comment about the R. Kelly situation and said that she doesn’t want to have anything to do with me,” Benzino’s thoughts began. “Because of the R. Kelly thing. And I’m saying -– but then, right? Four months ago, she’s on the Math Hoffa show. And Math Hoffa -– which I thought, you know, was a kind of crazy question. But hey… Like she said, she’s grown, you know what I’m saying? She’s of age, I don’t think they’re grown sometimes. But anyways, alright, alright. But he asked her, ‘Hey, when did you lose your virginity?’ She said at 14.
“Now first, right, I didn’t know, you know what I’m saying?” Benzino continued. “Right, so I’m like… So here you are condemning me for saying what I’m saying, which is a grown folks’ conversation. Which I never mentioned you. Which, really, you shouldn’t have even really involved yourself because this was a conversation that I’m having. But since you did involve yourself, which is what you do, alright? How can you say that when you just said that you lost your virginity at 14? So is the guy that you lost your virginity at 14 [to], is he a pedophile?“
At this point, it’s very unclear whether Benzino and Coi Leray will ever truly make up and avoid conflicts like this in the future. They have always been at odds, but also found common ground to forgive each other over and move forward. With this in mind, arguably the most serious situation and clash the two have had so far, the future looks a bit more bleak. But there’s always a chance for folks to grow as long as they accept accountability and due consequence for their mistakes.
Monáe headlined the 2024 OUTLOUD Music Festival on Saturday, June 1, in West Hollywood Park as part of WeHo Pride 2024. During their set, Monáe brought out Gabrielle Union and Queen Latifah. “I want my sisters out here,” Monáe said. “We gonna walk this runway together. Legends. Legends. Period.” Latifah and Union flanked Monáe down the runway, and then all three danced it out for the cheering crowd. “I love you,” Monáe said twice, pointing at Latifah and Union. “We love you. Say y’all love ’em!”
(((( I love us and this so damn much )))),” Monáe later wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in response to a fan-taken video of the moment. “Happy PRIDE!!! [rainbow emoji, smiling face with hearts emoji, heart on fire emoji, silver heart emoji, lipstick emoji] @itsgabrielleu @IAMQUEENLATIFAH.”
Although summertime is often associated with festival season, there are also plenty of artists doing their own tours. Those artists may have some festival appearances scattered throughout their itineraries, but the sunny weather is a solid incentive to open up the outdoor amphitheaters and arenas for some memorable live music, fest or not. From Missy Elliott’s first-ever headlining tour to the indie-rock fan’s dream combo of The National and The War On Drugs, check out the most anticipated summer concert tours of 2024.
21 Savage
The London-born, Atlanta-bred rapper 21 Savage has been touring North America since May 1, but he has several arena and amphitheater dates left on the American Dream Tour. That includes stops in Southern cities like Tampa, West Palm Beach, Birmingham, and, of course, Atlanta. He’ll be joined by J.I.D, Nardo Wick, and 21 Lil Harold.
Over the years, Big Thief has become one of the most known names in contemporary indie rock. Frontwoman Adrianne Lenker, as her tour agenda showcases, has become wildly popular in her own right. Following her recent solo album, the sparse, somber Bright Future, Lenker brings opening act Twain along for a slew of dates, many of which are sold out, starting June 9 in Austin.
Bryson Tiller
Louisville vocalist and songwriter Bryson Tiller recently released his self-titled album back in April. He is currently touring behind it, and it continues through nearly all of June. Along the way, Tiller will make stops in cities like Nashville, Minneapolis, New York, Atlanta, and more.
Since her 2022 debut album, the dark, sprawling Preacher’s Daughter, Ethel Cain has steadily ascended through the ranks to become a pillar of indie-pop. Cain has hinted at new music here and there, but for now, she’s going to keep touring. That resumes with a North American tour this month following a slate of European dates. Her new schedule includes appearances at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Summerfest, Hinterland, and others.
Future / Metro Boomin
We Still Don’t Trust You unwittingly became the catalyst for the most fruitful hip-hop beef in recent memory when Kendrick Lamar dissed Drake and J. Cole during his guest verse on “Like That.” Future and Metro Boomin themselves have mostly stayed out of it — relatively, at least. After all, they do have a massive tour to focus on. The duo kicks things off in Kansas City on July 30 and wraps it up in Vancouver on Sept. 9.
Green Day
The Saviors Tour will travel across the globe, in which Bay Area pop-punk trio Green Day will perform their most iconic albums, 1994’s Dookie and 2004’s American Idiot, in full to respectively celebrate their 30th and 20th anniversaries. For select dates, they’ll bring along Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, and The Linda Lindas.
Gunna
Gunna is a fixture of Atlanta rap, and he’s taking that idiosyncratic ATL style all over North America plus a small handful of European dates for The Bittersweet Tour. With opener Flo Milli, the YSL affiliate will visit cities like Miami, Orlando, and, obviously, Atlanta.
Janet Jackson
The queen of new jack swing, Janet Jackson, will embark on a large North American tour starting June 4 in Palm Desert, California. For last year’s tour, she brought Ludacris along as her opener, and this year, she’s bringing St. Louis rapper Nelly. The Together Again Tour will make stops in Anaheim, Salt Lake City, Denver, St. Paul, and plenty more cities.
Jhené Aiko
Jhené Aiko announces tour dates for ‘The Magic Hour Tour.’
From the middle of June to the end of August, Los Angeles R&B mainstay Jhené Aiko will tour North American arenas with openers Coi Leray, Tink, and Umi in tow. It kicks off at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena on June 19 and wraps up at Columbus’ Nationwide Arena on Aug. 22.
Justin Timberlake
Earlier this year, Justin Timberlake released Everything I Thought It Was, his first studio album since 2018’s folk-tinged Man Of The Woods. To promote the new record, he’s currently on The Forget Tomorrow World Tour. It includes stops in cities like Tulsa, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, and many more.
Khruangbin
The Houston instrumental trio Khruangbin recently released A LA SALA, an album that leans into the group’s psych-pop proclivities. They’re touring behind it all summer in both Europe and North America, and joining them will be openers Arooj Aftab, Men I Trust, John Carroll Kirby, and Peter Cat Recording Co.
Lizzy McAlpine
Back in April, singer and songwriter Lizzy McAlpine released her third studio album, Older. She’s celebrating its release with a summer tour that takes her all the way from Washington, D.C. to Sydney, Australia and back to the States. McAlpine has a busy summer ahead of her, but that gives you plenty of chances to catch her show.
Megan Thee Stallion
Houston rapper Megan Thee Stallion is bringing the Hot Girl Summer Tour all over the globe. It’s currently underway, having stopped at cities like Minneapolis and Baltimore and will soon head to places like New Orleans, Dallas, and Meg’s very own Houston. Joining her will be Memphis rapper GloRilla.
It’s hard to believe that someone as influential as Missy Elliott has never done her own headlining tour before. That is, until now. Alongside friends like Busta Rhymes, Timbaland, and Ciara, The Out Of This World Tour will start on July 4 in Vancouver and conclude on Aug. 22 in Rosemont, Illinois, right near the Chicago O’Hare International Airport. This is certainly a show you won’t want to miss.
Mitski
Having wrapped up a slew of European dates, Mitski is headed back to the States in August to tour behind last year’s excellent The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We. She’ll usually be doing multiple nights at sizable theaters, such as three nights at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre and two nights at Detroit’s Masonic Temple Theatre. Joining her will be openers Arlo Parks, Lamp, Laufey, Alvvays, Wyatt Flores, Sharon Van Etten, and Sierra Ferrell, depending on the date.
Odesza
Odesza is a go-to festival headliner for many booking agents, and it’s easy to understand why. Their seismic strain of EDM is perfect for big fields and arenas alike. They embark on The Last Goodbye Finale Tour with openers Big Boi, Bob Moses, and more in tow, performing multiple nights at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium, Berkeley’s Greek Theatre, and NYC’s Madison Square Garden along the way, as well as a hometown-adjacent run at The Gorge.
Olivia Rodrigo
If you managed to secure tickets to Olivia Rodrigo’s highly anticipated arena tour for her sophomore album, Guts, then count yourself lucky, as it’s completely sold out. She’ll spend June touring Europe before she returns to the U.S. with drum and bass/indie pop enthusiast PinkPantheress in July.
Pearl Jam
Eddie Vedder and co. have just released Dark Matter, their first album since 2020’s ill-timed Gigaton. To support the new record, they’ll perform all across the globe; the tour has currently taken them to Europe, and they’ll head back to the U.S. toward the end of August with opener Glen Hansard.
Mexican star Peso Pluma is headed to the United States later this month for a string of arena shows and festival appearances. The Exodo Tour will take him to Governors Ball in New York as well as his own shows in cities like Tampa, Oklahoma City, Houston, Kansas City, Omaha, and plenty more.
St. Vincent
In late April, Annie Clark released her latest album as St. Vincent, the entirely self-produced All Born Screaming. After a brief stint in Europe with Heartworms, she’ll tour all over the States with openers Yves Tumor, Dorian Electra, Spoon, and Eartheater for select dates.
Tate McRae
Canadian pop artist Tate McRae will take the world tour for her most recent album, Think Later, to North America starting this July. She’ll be performing in various amphitheaters with opening act Presley Regier. Her latest string of dates kicks off in her hometown of Calgary on July 5 and wraps up in New York on Aug. 22.
Taylor Swift
Cultural behemoth Taylor Swift is ready to stimulate some more local economies. The Eras Tour continues through Europe with openers Paramore all the way through late August. Fresh off the release of the messy, sprawling The Tortured Poets Department, 2024’s iteration of the tour now merges the Folklore and Evermore eras into one. But it also features a new set solely dedicated to TTPD.
The National / The War On Drugs
Indie dads rejoice! The National and The War On Drugs, as you’d expect, have a lot of overlap in terms of fandom. They’re both massive, beloved indie rock groups that always put on a spectacular show. Their co-headlining tour, dubbed the Zen Diagram Tour, will take them all over North American amphitheaters this September. Joining them is opener Lucius. Ahead of that, The National have a ton of dates this summer as they weave across Europe.
The Rolling Stones
Last year, The Rolling Stones put out their first studio album in seven years, Hackney Diamonds. Although it won’t be the same without core drummer Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger and the gang still put on an excellent show. They’ll tour all over stadiums, including stops in Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, and more.
Tomorrow X Together
K-pop boy band Tomorrow X Together have a few more tour dates left to play this summer. Whereas May took them primarily to cities on the West Coast, such as Los Angeles, Tacoma, and Oakland, this month’s stops include Rosemont, Washington D.C., and New York City.
Usher
As this year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show demonstrated, Usher is a one-of-a-kind performer. Now that he has finished his Las Vegas residency, he’ll kick off a run of sold-out arena dates starting with three nights in his hometown, Atlanta, on Aug. 14. It’ll run all the way through the end of November, with the three final U.S. dates in Houston.
Vampire Weekend
Following a few festival sets in May, indie-rock outfit Vampire Weekend will play North American arenas and outdoor theaters all summer long. Touring their latest album, Only God Was Above Us, Vampire Weekend will take Ra Ra Riot, Cults, Mike Gordon, La Lom, and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram on the road before heading to Europe in December.
Zach Bryan
Zach Bryan has quickly risen to fame as one of the most popular new left-of-center country artists. To capitalize on that quick ascendance, the Okalahoman alt-country songwriter will tour North American arenas for the rest of 2024. The Quittin Time Tour includes openers Sheryl Crow, Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit, Turnpike Troubadours, Sierra Ferrell, The Middle East, Levi Turner, and Matt Maeson.
The latest acts to join the fracas are Cardi B and BIA, who spent the weekend trading shots in what appears to be the latest iteration of 2024’s Rap Beef-ocalypse. Here’s a timeline of their beef, so you can get caught up and explain to your friends, family, and co-workers just what the heck is going on.
July 2023: BIA Releases “Fallback”
Like most feuds in hip-hop, this one started off seemingly innocently enough. “Fallback” wouldn’t be considered a diss track by most — in fact, in the second verse, BIA specifically says, “I’m havin’ no beef, these bitches won’t say my name” — but in hindsight, it’s the song fans point to as the lit fuse for everything that came after.
Here’s where things begin to get spicy. Fans noticed that Cardi’s first single of 2024 interpolated Missy Elliott’s 1999 hit “She’s A Bitch” — the same song that BIA sampled on “Fallback.” Now, this wouldn’t normally be notable — lots of hip-hop songs sample the same classics (for instance, Bob James’ “Nautilus” is one of, if not the most-sampled song in hip-hop) — but for Twitter stans, this was tantamount to a declaration of war. Cardi’s combative rhymes on the track certainly helped the perception along for fans who look for hidden meaning in well-established hip-hop tropes.
However, where once upon a time, those conspiracy theories were confined to the insides of superfans’ heads, these days, those fans have direct access to the artists themselves. Alerted to the similarities between their songs, BIA subtweeted Cardi with a string of woozy face emojis. Cardi herself appeared to respond with a tweet of her own, writing, “Bitches make a fool of themselves every single time.”
May 2024: Cardi B Appears To Directly Diss BIA On GloRilla And Megan Thee Stallion’s “Wanna Be” Remix
Cardi seemingly delivered on her promise to “show ya something when I release this song” on the remix of her frequent collaborators GloRilla and Megan Thee Stallion’s new single “Wanna Be.”
“Guess I’m a teacher since you wanna sub me / She did what? Had no idea / Thought she was on the shelf, Ikea / Hope she talk like that when I see her / B*tch, please, don’t nobody wanna be ya,” Cardi rhymes in her verse, with the final two words strong resembling the pronunciation of BIA’s name. Meanwhile, her reference to being “on the shelf” seemingly takes a dig at BIA’s relative lack of chart success since her breakout 2020 single “Whole Lotta Money,” which was a viral hit on TikTok and climbed to the No. 16 on the Hot 100. Since then, only “London” with J. Cole has reached the Hot 100, peaking at No. 62.
June 2024: BIA Claps Back With “Sue Meee”
Absolutely no ambiguity here. BIA goes in on Cardi in her new track released on Sunday. In the song, BIA accuses Cardi of the usual shortcomings (seriously, can y’all find some new stuff to talk about? YAWN.), including the rumors that she and her husband Offset spent the duration of their marriage cheating on each other and that she uses ghostwriters. “Do I beef with you or do I beef with Pardi?” she taunts on the song-ending bridge. “You been scrapping projects since 2019.”
The song’s title, meanwhile, came from an Instagram Live stream in which Cardi threatened legal action against BIA for insinuating she’d ripped off “Fallback” for “Like What.” In the caption of an Instagram post teasing the track, though, BIA wrote, “Sue me? That’s not hip hop .”
We’ll see if Cardi responds either way; she noted after her confrontation with Nicki Minaj in 2019 that beef is “bad for business.” But if it inspires her to finally get around to dropping that long-awaited follow-up to Invasion Of Privacy, I can’t say it’d be completely bad.
Bandman Kevo previously drew the Internet’s attention for his leg tattoos of various controversial celebrities, but these new ones take the cake. Moreover, they were so bizarre that fans mostly ignored one of an arm seemingly choking a girl, which is saying something if that’s the overlooked part of it. Specifically, he got tattoos of various billionaires’ faces, namely of Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Mark Cuban, and Jeff Bezos. A lot of folks in the replies threads of the Twitter post down below questioned why the rapper would want a bunch of rich white guys plastered on one of his legs, along with some other criticisms and wild reactions.
Furthermore, Bandman Kevo is unfortunately dealing with a lot in his life right now apart from the social media antics that folks are reacting to. Back in April of this year, he revealed that his 15-year-old son Kevian was shot and killed in Michigan, a tragedy that no father or son should have to grapple with. This took many fans by surprise, who quickly outpoured their support and condolences online. Since then, the Chicago MC has continued to keep his career going and honor Kevian’s memory, and we send him our best wishes on his path of grief.
This comes as a heavy contrast to a lot of Bandman Kevo’s other behaviors and headlines in recent years, including some rap beef. Last year, he got into it with Jackboy, as they both accused each other of getting plastic surgery procedures in both trolling and serious manners. As for Kevo, he’s been quite open with his experiences with this matter, so the jabs didn’t seem to affect him as much. It was a bit of a wild back-and-forth, and one that is not as rare in the current rap world as you might think.
Meanwhile, Bandman Kevo also took aim at Gunna last year, piling snitching accusations on top of his claim that Wunna scammed him over a collab. That situation never really cleared up, so it remains in the rumor mill as of writing this article. Maybe Kevo will get some more tattoos of famous figures in the near future, whether it’s within hip-hop or outside of it. All we can hope for in terms of the reception is that he chooses his tributes a little more wisely.
Drake is one of the best in the rap game at attaching himself to emerging talent. Just last year he became one of the first major allies of Sexyy Red taking the breakout star on tour and working with her on the hit song “Rich Baby Daddy.” He and Red teamed up again just last month for the song “U My Everything” from her new mixtape In Sexyy We Trust. Occasionally this has gotten Drizzy in hot water though. During his beef with Kendrick Lamar, his collaborations with emerging artists became a point of contention. Lamar declares him a “colonizer” for working with artists like Future, Lil Bay, Young Thug, and 2 Chainz.
Drake has also made anally of various streamers, though his choice in associates was recently called into question. That came from BruceDropEmOff, who is no stranger to orbiting around rappers. He recently shared positive news for Playboi Carti fans with the rapper teasing his comeback in Bruce’s DMs. But in a new conversation discussing fans who defend Drake, Bruce took issue with some of his die-hard. He also called out the rapper directly for some of the people he follows. “N*gga ain’t ever followed me but you follow all these lil racist n*ggas” he said during a recent livestream. In the comments, fans debate whether or not he has a point or is just upset that he hasn’t been followed yet. Check out the clip where Bruce makes the comments below.
What do you think of BruceDropEmOff’s comments about Drake following racist streamers? Do you agree with him about the rapper following the wrong streamers, or do you think he’s just upset over not being followed himself? Let us know in the comment section below.
(@JanelleMonae) 
(@concertleaks) 
”OUT OF THIS WORLD”TOUR 
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(@SaycheeseDGTL)