Are We Getting a New Playboi Carti Single?

CHROMAKOPIA is officially Tyler, the Creator’s longest-running #1 album on the Billboard 200 chart at three weeks and counting. In other news: 

• Billboard Hot 100 📈

• Playboi Carti shares I AM MUSIC updates 👀

• Thugga isn’t completely in the clear yet 😬

• Industry Insights 🔎

Billboard Hot 100

The above chart shows Billboard’s Hot 100 ranking for this week. The Hot 100 ranks songs based on streaming activity, radio airplay audience impressions, and sales data—all measured by Luminate.

“Not Like Us” and “Timeless” are continuing to make their way back up the charts as songs from Tyler the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA and Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby” lose some steam.

Playboi Carti Says ‘I AM MUSIC’ Won’t Have Any Features 

On November 16, Playboi Carti performed at ComplexCon and stirred up the excitement about his next album. He previewed a new track (reportedly produced by 2Hollis) and continued to tease the album for his ride-or-die (but understandably not trusting) fanbase. Nevertheless, the vampire rapper has continued to deliver more updates over the past couple of days. 

New details revealed about I AM MUSIC

Carti revealed that Ye is involved in the upcoming project while turning up at a nightclub during ComplexCon weekend.  "Shout out to my n**** Kanye, you know what I'm saying… He over here making beats and shit. That album gonna be crazy, I can't wait to show y'all n*****,” he said into the mic.

This isn’t the first time that he teased that Ye was involved with the album, with Carti posting in September via IG Stories “ "@Ye KANT WAIT 2 SHOW THE WORLD WHAT WE BEEN WORKIN ON WIT DIS ALBUM … WE DA REAL 5L NO DOUBT."

However, Ye’s involvement might not be what you think. Despite their collaborative history and success of songs like “Carnival,” Ye could solely be a producer as Carti told fans he’s “tryna do this shit by myself” when asked about the features on the album.

Time will tell if Carti will have a featureless project — and if he will drop a new single this Friday. He revealed text message convos on his Instagram on November 18, not only about fans wanting the album ASAP but allegedly dropping a new track on November 22. 

Of course, the post has now been mysteriously deleted (along with his alternate account being suspended). However, he confirmed before his other account was suspended that music was still coming this week despite the platform taking down his post. With his rollout continuously starting and stopping, who knows if we can trust this new update though. 

 Young Thug is Back in Legal Hot Water

Georgia’s longest-running criminal trial finally ended when Young Thug was released on probation on November 1. However, it seems that the rapper is back in legal hot water — but this time, over his music catalog. 

Young Thug is being sued for $16M 

The music entertainment conglomerate known as AEG is suing Thug for the $16 million he pocketed when he sold off the copyright stakes to over 400 compositions in a 2021 publishing deal. The deal was with the music business company Kobalt Music, who assumed “administration of his publishing for works released after April 2021.”

However, AEG states they are the rightful owners of the copyrights included in the publishing deal because of a loan Thug defaulted on.

AEG claims that in 2017, they entered an agreement with Thug and his YSL label. Allegedly, Thug took a $5.25 million dollar loan to secure the global rights to promote his live shows and agreed to pay off the loan with interest. In typical legal fashion, it wasn’t a handshake deal, and Thug put his copyrights up as collateral for the deal.

Unpaid loan leads to more legal trouble

Thug allegedly defaulted on the loan, and instead of relinquishing his collateral (the copyrights), he proceeded to broker the 2021 publishing deal worth $16 million. Now, AEG wants the original sum (plus interest) along with any earnings that Thug made in selling the copyrights. 

This isn’t the first time AEG has pursued legal action against Thug for the unpaid loan. By defaulting, AEG claims the rights to promote Thug’s live shows were returned to them.

In August 2022, they sued him for breach of contract for almost 6 million dollars and claimed that “even with the rights to Thug’s concerts, he continued booking shows on the side for hundreds of thousands of dollars in performance fees.”

Thug’s May 2022 arrest and YSL RICO trial put AEG’s plans to secure their bag from him on pause. Now that he is free, though, the company is putting the ATL native back in the harsh legal spotlight. The rapper has yet to respond, and it’s still up in the air whether the lawsuit will impact his probation. 

• The New York state government purchased Dame Dash’s one-third share of Roc-A-Fella Records.  The move was an attempt to recover the almost nine million dollars that Dame owes in back taxes.

• Nicki Minaj and Cardi B are now tied. They both are now the two female rappers with the most Diamond singles in RIAA history with three each. 

• Mac Miller fans, rejoice. His unreleased project Balloonerism might finally be getting an official drop. 

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