AI-Powered Kanye Covers Travis Scott and Yeat

AI Kanye is back at it again, this time he (does AI have pronouns?) replaces Travis Scott in “90210” and Yeat in “Out thë way”. The Travis Scott cover sounds more realistic but it might not be long before artists are replaced by the AI version of themselves. In other news today:

• 2 months of song streams & revenue 📈 

• Lil Wayne & NBA YoungBoy want to collab with LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson 🏀 

• Donald Glover to release short film with Malia Obama 🎬️ 

• Young Thug’s never-ending jury selection 🐍 

• A$AP Rocky beats J.I.D in Rap Madness 🤯 

• Up Your Aux: Tyler, the Creator & DJ Drama

• Industry Insights

Song Streams & Revenue

It’s Thursday and that means new numbers for song streams and revenue. Hits Double Daily’s latest song revenue chart only shows data for the previous streaming week but the chart above reflects data compiled from the last 2 months from Feb 3rd to March 30th.

Ice Spice and PinkPantheress near the $1 million mark with “Boys a liar Pt. 2”. Last week’s chart predicted it would take about 209 million streams to do so and if correct, that gives you an idea of how many streams it takes for a popular artist to make $1M from a song.

Lil Uzi Vert’s “Just Wanna Rock” approaches the $500K mark and it’ll likely take 5 million more streams to get there.

Lil Wayne & NBA YoungBoy Want to Collab With LSU Star Flau’jae Johnson

Lil Wayne had nothing but kind words for NCAA National Champion Flau’jae Johnson about her basketball and rap game. Speaking to ESPN last weekend, Weezy said he’s already spoken to Johnson about getting in the studio together.

“First of all, Flau’jae, shout out her pops. Flau’jae’s flow game is bananas—crazy. Actually, me and Flau’jae, we’ve spoken. We’re about to connect musically soon, so look out for that,” Wayne says in the clip below.

Johnson is already signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation as an athlete and artist and released her debut album, On My Own, in 2019. As Wayne mentioned, music is in her blood thanks to her father, the late Jason “Camoflauge” Johnson, who was an up-and-coming rapper in the early 2000s.

NBA YoungBoy and Johnson’s LSU teammate, Angel Reese, heard about Wayne’s comments and decided they want in. Reese appointed herself the quintessential video girl and YoungBoy offered to do the humming.

Donald Glover to Release Short Film by Malia Obama

Turns out Swarm isn’t the only cinematic collaboration between Donald Glover and Malia Obama. In an interview with GQ, Glover discussed his new production company, Gilga, and revealed that one of the company’s first projects will be a short film created by Obama.

“The first thing we did was talk about the fact that she will only get to do this once. You’re Obama’s daughter. So if you make a bad film, it will follow you around,” said Glover.

Elsewhere, he revealed that The Weeknd once asked him and his friends if they were “real n***as” at Drake’s house, with no further context, and that “This Is America” originally started out as a Drake diss but ended up becoming “we are the world for trap”.

The backlash from season 3 of Atlanta (longtime fans were not pleased) also made him very sad (he cried), despite season 4 being highly praised.

Glover’s interview took place on a farm in Ojai, California, the headquarters of Gilga, which includes orange trees, a recording studio, housing for creatives to spend the night, editing suites, writers' rooms, and a restaurant that specializes in artisanal sandwiches—because what recession?—you can expect more creative collaborations from him in the near future.

Young Thug’s Never-Ending Jury Selection

Young Thug was allowed to leave jail last weekend to attend the viewing of his late sister, Angela Grier, who passed away in March. The loss happened amid jury selection for the YSL RICO case, which started on January 4th and is entering its 4th month.

What’s the latest update?

This week, a female juror was sentenced to 3 days in jail for filming the court proceedings. Last month, two jurors were dismissed with lesser consequences. The first received 10 hours of community service and a mandatory 5-day attendance of the trial for messaging a reporter about the case. The second, who missed a day of jury duty, was ordered to write a 30-page essay on the importance of jury duty.

Why is jury selection taking so long?

According to AJC, about 1,200 potential jurors have been summoned but not one has been seated. More groups of jurors are being brought in on April 28 and May 19.

Aside from the difficulty of finding people impartial to the high-profile case (the juror questionnaire contains 250+ questions), the length of the trial is a concern to those who do qualify. It could reportedly last 6 to 9 months, taking up most of a juror’s year.

You can check out some of the leaked juror questions below. Would you be eligible? My answers would have me dismissed by the prosecution faster than I could recite the lyrics to “Metro Spider” 🐍 

Presented by

The Biggest Upsets From Rap Madness Round 1

This year’s Rap Madness is presented by Morgan & Morgan, America’s largest injury law firm. For the people, they try more cases than any other law firm in the country—not afraid to take it to trial for your rights and compensation.

If you follow us on socials, then you’ll know our annual Rap Madness bracket has begun. Round 1 comes to a close this week, with the winners of the right side being revealed today. Every round has upsets over results deemed unfair or rappers being robbed of a win.

A$AP Rocky versus J.I.D and Denzel Curry versus Don Toliver are 2 of the biggest upsets from the right side of round one. Check out the results below and a breakdown of the controversy, including why one artist might have won over the other.

The premise of Rap Madness is to vote for each match-up based on which artist had a better 2022 but it ends up becoming a popularity contest when people vote for which artist they like more overall.

Should A$AP Rocky have won over J.I.D?

Simply put, no, if you’re basing merit on what each artist accomplished and released in 2022. J.I.D released his 3rd studio album, The Forever Story, an amazing follow-up to 2017’s The Never Story. He examines his success and the realities that Black America faces as a whole over crisp production showing off his talent as one of the better lyricists in rap.

The album debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 chart and included the platinum-certified single “Surround Sound” ft. 21 Savage and Baby Tate. He also appeared on the Dreamville compilation album, D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape. 2022 was J.I.D’s best year yet.

Meanwhile, A$AP Rocky had little to no music released in 2022. He appeared on Nigo’s I Know NIGO! Album for 2 songs, “Lost and Found Freestyle 2019” with Tyler, the Creator, and “Arya”. He was featured on “Feel The Fiyaaaah” alongside Takeoff from Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains album and released 2 of his own songs, “DMB” and “Shittin’ Me”.

As usual, it boils down to popularity, A$AP Rocky has been a staple in hip-hop since 2011 and has a much wider reach than J.I.D. (and about 14.7 million more followers on IG). Not to mention the internet is obsessed with his and Rihanna’s relationship. Apologies to J.I.D, you were robbed.

Should Don Toliver have won over Denzel Curry?

Again, no based on what each artist did in 2022. Denzel Curry released his 5th studio album, Melt My Eyez See Your Future, a reflective work leaning away from the metal and scream-influenced delivery he’s known for. It showed versatility and had a handful of standout songs like “Walkin”, “X-Wing”, and “Zatoichi” ft. British rapper slowthai.

2022 is the only year Don Toliver hasn’t released an album since his Heaven or Hell debut and instead, he appeared as a feature on songs for Justin Bieber, Nav, Trippie Redd, and Pusha T. Most of which weren’t memorable except Pusha T’s “Scrap It Off” with Lil Uzi Vert.

Voters may have had Don Toliver’s recently released Lovesick album in mind but that shouldn’t count for Rap Madness. Both artists have a similar size following on social media but Don Toliver’s music has wider mainstream appeal and that’s likely what made up for the 27,602 extra votes he received.

Tyler, the Creator & DJ Drama

Last week’s New Music Friday delivered Tyler, the Creator’s deluxe album, Call Me If You Get Lost: The Estate Sale, and DJ Drama’s feature-packed album, I’m Really Like That. Up your aux with the top song picks from each below.

Tyler, the Creator CMIYGL: The Estate Sale

1. “STUNTMAN” ft. Vince Staples. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

2. “WHARF TALK” ft. A$AP Rocky. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

3. “BOYFRIEND, GIRLFRIEND” Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

4. “HEAVEN TO ME” Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

DJ Drama I’m Really Like That

1. “HO4ME” ft. Lil Baby, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

2. “Iron Right” ft. Boosie Badazz, OMB Peezy, Trouble. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

3. “FMFU” ft. Lil Wayne, Roddy Ricch, Gucci Mane. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

4. “Forever” ft. Fabolous, Benny The Butcher, Jim Jones, Capella Grey. Listen on Spotify & Apple Music

• Coachella 2023 to live stream all stages on YouTube. Yes, that includes Frank Ocean’s performance and both weekends.

• AI music app Moises reaches 30M registered users milestone. The stem-separation app can detect chords, shift tempo or pitch, and master audio.

• Apple patents new AirPods case with a built-in interactive display, suggesting AirPods could become a standalone product similar to the discontinued iPod nano.

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