Last week, French Montana released his new album Mac & Cheese 5. The project sports an impressive feature list. It netted appearances from Kanye West, Rick Ross, Lil Baby, Lil Wayne, JID, Lil Durk, Meek Mill, and many more. The project followed his Coke Boys 6 mixtape with DJ Drama which dropped last year and his most recent studio album They Got Amnesia which dropped in 2021. Now the first week sales projections for the album are in. Fans are extra interested in how the project performs because Montana went to extreme lengths in an attempt to get the sales as high as possible.
In addition to the original version of his album, French Montana also dropped numerous other versions of Mac & Cheese 5. Digital streaming platforms got an acapella version, an instrumental version, a slowed-down version, and a sped-up version in addition to the regular album. There’s also a “Versions” edition of the album which brings all of the versions together. It presents an astounding 126-song tracklist featuring numerous different versions of the same songs in a row. The album also got a deluxe edition released on the exact same day as the original which added just one additional track. See what they did to his sales numbers below.
One of the reasons his sales numbers look so impressive is the 44k pure sales. That part doesn’t come from streaming but rather purchases of the album itself. But fans think they’ve figured out why it’s so high. Earlier this year, Montana surprised fans by selling pre-ordered vinyl copies of the album for just $5.
The stunt seems like it’s paid off as he generated more in pure sales for Mac & Cheese 5 than most rap albums, even by major artists have done in the past few years. What do you think of French Montana selling over 50k in his first week and potentially debuting as high as #3? Let us know in the comment section below.
Lil Yachty’s imagination and creativity continues to run wild. Everyone knows the fascinating and explorative streak he has been since dropping Let’s Start Here. a little over a year ago. Sure, he has went back to his introductory trap rap style here and there. In fact, some of those reroutes have been fantastic releases. But, what has been really interesting is seeing him try out different instrumentals and genres. Today, Lil Yachty, Fred again.. and Overmono are working together on “Stayinit.”
Fred again.. is a hip-hop adjacent producer that we have covered quite a bit. He also likes to drop sick tracks with tech house and EDM instrumentals. That is where “Stayinit” lives in. The usual structure of a track like this shows up, with fragments of verses and ultra repetitive choruses.
Listen To “Stayinit” By Lil Yachty, Fred Again.., & Overmono
One of Fred’s recent efforts we covered included the increasingly popular “leavemealone” with Baby Keem. This may be another favorite of many as the beat is quite good and perfect for ragers at the club. According to Stereogum, this song was previewed days after Fred again won a GRAMMY. He popped out to a New York show hosted by Overmono, the other producer for this song to preview it. Now, streaming fans can enjoy this song at the leisure.
What are your thoughts on this brand-new single, “Stayinit,” by Fred again.., Lil Yachty, and Overmono? Is Yachty the best genre-bending rapping rapper out right now, why or why not? What was your favorite element of the song and why? We would like to hear what you have to say, so be sure to leave your takes in the comments section. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding Fred again.. and Lil Yachty. Finally, stay with us for the most informative song posts throughout the week.
Quotable Lyrics:
I know you Down with the pain, see my rain in [?] Realize everybody won’t be perfect But I do Try hard to fix the mistakes that I made with you With you, you do, you do, you do
Hitmaka says Diddy has tried to sabotage his career at multiple points over the years and labeled the Bad Boy mogul “diabolical.” He spoke about his working relationship with Diddy during a recent appearance on The Joe Budden Podcast. He began by explaining that Diddy initially asked him to contribute to The Love Album: Off the Grid.
“Puff hit me, he like, ‘Yo, I’m doing an R&B album, I need you, you the guy. It’s gonna be London on Da Track, you and me and I think we should do everything together. Send me some joints,’” he recalled. “I send him a 10 clip, crazy sh*t. He hit me back like, ‘I want that [Yung] Berg sh*t, stop trying to be me. It sound like you trying to do what I do, n***a. Send me some different sh*t.’ So I didn’t send him nothing. I was like, ‘F*ck it.’ Next thing I know, the n***a deciphered my records and reached out to everybody I collaborated with and dissected me from the situation. So he called Cardiak to his house like, ‘You need to be one of The Hitmen.’ Next thing, Eric Bellinger is in the Bahamas with muthaf*ckin’ Puff and they’re singing songs together.”
Hitmaka Poses With French Montana At The BET Hip Hop Awards
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – SEPTEMBER 30: Hitmaka and French Montana onstage during the BET Hip Hop Awards 2022 at The Cobb Theater on September 30, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for BET)
Hitmaka further accused Diddy of getting his producer tag wiped from French Montana’s album, They Got Amnesia. “I was like, ‘Damn, this n***a is really diabolical,’” he added. “So I wasn’t f*cking with him.” He also accused Diddy of turning his production partner Rob Holladay against him in the 2000s. Check out Hitmaka’s appearance on The Joe Budden Podcast below.
The comments on Diddy come as he is embroiled in a number of sexual misconduct allegations. Most recently, Rodney Jones filed a lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault. Be on the lookout for further updates on Hitmaka and Diddy on HotNewHipHop.
The lawsuit involving Diddy has captured global attention but the subsequent fallout has seen several high-profile names attached to the case, including UK rapper Giggs. Most recently, Akademiks uncovered redacted names in the suit. The suit described two superstars, a “Philadelphia rapper who dated Nicki Minaj” and an R&B singer who “performed at the Super Bowl,” as two individuals who engaged in sexual intercourse with the music mogul. However, TikTok sleuths attempted to make the connection between Giggs and Diddy.
One particular social media personality revealed that Giggs helped Diddy procure straight men for sex whenever the mogul was in London. And while the two formed a tight bond over the past few years, collaborating on songs like “Mandem,” there hasn’t been any direct mention of the UK MC in the court documents, at least none that have been verified. Still, social media took the speculation and ran with it, spreading the allegations across Twitter, Instagram, and Twitter like wildfire.
As the allegations spread, and one particular influencer claimed that Giggs supplied Diddy with men overseas, the Landlord rapper took to social media to seemingly dispel the claims. In a post shared on X, formerly Twitter, he demanded that fans “cut the crap” and quit entertaining the rumors. “No one cant ever bring no funny shit around BADMAN,lets not forget who we are dealing with here,” he wrote.
After the lawsuit came to light, Diddy’s attorney issued a statement denying the claims made by Lil Rod in the lawsuit. “Lil Rod is nothing more than a liar who filed a $30 billion lawsuit shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday,” Shawn Holley said. “His reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines. We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies. Our attempts to share this proof with Mr. Jones’ attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, have been ignored, as Mr. Blackburn refuses to return our calls. We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them.”
Exploring the murky waters of the music industry, allegations of fake streams have cast a shadow over the credibility of some prominent rappers. In an era where streaming numbers can make or break careers, allegations of artificial inflation raise questions about authenticity. Moreover, fake streams cost hundreds of millions of dollars for artists and labels. Therefore, its no surprise that these claims stir up controversy and call artists’ integrity into question.
Over the years, many rappers have come under fire for allegedly manipulating their streams. Surprisingly, even the likes of Kanye West and Cardi B have been hit with allegations of faking their numbers. Evidently, not even the biggest rappers are above being named for allegedly toying with the system. Here’s a list of five rappers who have faced the same allegations.
Cactus Jack signee Don Toliver released his single “Do it Right” on November 18, 2022. Four days later, he dropped a music video for the song, which garnered an impressive number of views over the next couple of days. However, some viewers noticed discrepancies in the views’ ratio to likes and comments. After only four days of release, the music video had earned eight million views on YouTube.
While that could be excused, it was the number of likes and comments on the rapper’s video that made listeners accuse Toliver of garnering fake streams and engagements. With 24 thousand comments in four days, some fans just could not believe that the engagement was authentic. Subsequently, some viewers went through the comments and discovered that there were many questionable comments that seemed to have been made by bots.
G-Eazy
On January 24, 2022, Vice TV dropped the third episode of Black Market Season 2. In it, the late Michael K. Williams went undercover to expose the truth about streaming farms in the music industry. While speaking to Williams, a masked man reveals that many popular rappers allegedly fake their streams. During the episode, one of the rappers mentioned is G-Eazy, whose management was exposed in 2021 for trying to generate fake streams. An audio recording obtained by Rolling Stone revealed G-Eazy’s management exploring options for boosting an upcoming release.
After Roddy Ricch released “Twin” featuring Lil Durk on November 14, 2022, he followed up with a music video a week later. Five days after its release, the video had racked up almost six million views. However, it’s the significant jump in views within the span of a day that made viewers suspicious. Subsequently, he was called out for generating fake streams, especially when it was also discovered that there were a ton of bots that dropped comments on the rappers’ video.
Since Travis Scott is such a huge star, fans do not expect him to be named among rappers who have generated fake streams. However, if what his former manager said in 2021 is to be believed, then indeed, Scott has had some tailored assistance. On November 8, 2021, Shane Morris, Scott’s former manager, spilled some tea on his TikTok account about alleged fake streams.
“For Travis, what we did was fake his popularity,” Morris said. “I programmed a fleet of SoundCloud bots to artificially inflate his play counts on SoundCloud. This told record label executives that he was much more popular than he actually was,” he continued. Morris went on to share that the same was done for Travis Scott’s Twitter account with technology early on in his career.
Kanye West
Ye is another one of the most prominent rappers to be hit with claims of fake streams. On February 14, 2016, his seventh album, The Life of Pablo, was exclusively released on Tidal. It remained a Tidal exclusive until April 1, 2016, when it was finally made available on other platforms. While it was a Tidal exclusive, the platform disclosed the album’s streaming numbers after a while.
According to Tidal, The Life of Pablo earned over 250 million streams within its first ten days of release. Although Ye is widely regarded as a global superstar, these numbers raised many eyebrows. However, nothing was said until 2018, when Tidal was accused of generating millions of fake streams for the album. Following their investigation in January 2017, the Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv exposed Tidal and Ye for allegedly faking streams.
Last year, Diddy faced a series of damning lawsuits alleging a wide range of sexual misconduct. While it began with accusations leveled by Cassie, that suit was settled very quickly and in following proceedings very few other notable names were implicated alongside Diddy. That hasn’t been true of the most recent series of allegations which has already roped in names like Stevie J, Yung Miami, and Nicki Minaj. But the newest lawsuit features some more direct allegations. While Meek Mill and Usher aren’t mentioned by name, it didn’t take fans long to find out that they were being discussed.
Investigations into the accusations made in the newest suit feature some descriptions that don’t do a great job of hiding who they’re talking about. It alleges that Diddy spoke on having sexual relations with two other notable figures in addition to Stevie J. The lawsuit mentions “Philadelphia rapper who dated Nicki Minaj” and “who performed at the Super Bowl and had a successful Vegas residency.” Fans pretty easily deciphered that it was talking about Meek Mill and Usher. In the wake of the revelation, some have brought up a Kanye West interview from back in 2022. In this particular clip he mentions them both. Check out what he has to say below.
Fans might remember the clip from when it went viral just a few years ago. West goes from angry shouting to hysterical laughing across just a few minutes. He begins by calling out various rap figures that he believes were sent after him as part of some kind of contract. The rant connects to a conversation about his daughter allegedly being hidden from him. The situation wasn’t resolved until Travis Scott gave him the address she was at.
But by the end of the recording West is laughing hysterically. He’s seemingly very amused by the idea that Meek Mill was “sent after him” by someone. What do you think of the old audio of Kanye West talking about Meek Mill and Diddy? Do you think he was trying to tell fans that something was going on behind the scenes? Let us know in the comment section below.
You know Tyler Perry stays busy, and after the release of his newest film, Mea Culpa, he gave an update on one film fans from across the spectrum want to see: Sister Act 3.
Perry was interviewed by Entertainment Tonight and explained why the second sequel and third installment of the franchise are taking so long to come together. “I’m a little annoyed with how long this has taken me. It’s taking so long, like I’ve done four movies since we started talking about this,”
Perry also said, “When I’m outside producing with — you know, Disney’s a huge, wonderful company, but I really want to get this movie, and Whoopi really wants to get this movie.”
Perry is producing the film, and the good news is that Whoopi Goldberg is reprising her memorable leading role as Dolores Van Cartier/Sister Mary Clarence. Get this: Goldberg has been vocal about wanting Keke Palmer, Lizzo, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and more to be involved with the new Sister Act, but there have been no other significant cast confirmations.
“It’s coming. We gotta shoot it, but it’s happening,” Said Goldberg in her own conversation with Entertainment Tonight a couple years back in 2022. “You’re never fully happy with a script because one of the things you find is you wanna have the space to make an adjustment if you need to. Sometimes what looks right on paper doesn’t come out of your mouth the right way. You have to move it around a little bit but I’m very hopeful people will be happy.”
Going back even further, the original announcement came out in 2020 as it was set to be released on Disney+. What we do know is Sister Act 3 is most certainly the next film in the successful franchise 30 plus years in the making following 1993’s Sister Act 2: Bad In The Habit. Okay, Tyler, let’s get going … kidding (prayer hands emoji).
Easy Mo Bee has claimed that he was blackballed after he confronted Diddy for taking producer credit on a remix of Craig Mack’s hit single ‘Flava in Ya Ear.’
