50 Cent Gives Donald Trump “Many Men” Treatment After His Attempted Assassination

We had technical issues that delayed this morning's newsletter, but we’re back ❗️ The judge for Young Thug’s RICO case, Ural Glanville, just got the boot due to a shady meeting he allegedly held during the trial. No word on when the trial will restart. In other news: 

• Billboard Hot 100 📈

• Does Donald Trump finally have hip-hop street cred? 👀

• Wiz Khalifa arrested for smoking during show 🥦

• 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,” after its July 4 music video drop, has claimed the top spot on the list once again. It’s the only hip-hop song to increase in rank this week. “Million Dollar Baby” fell one spot from #4 to #5, and other songs had even bigger drops like “Wanna Be” falling from #22 down to #26.

50 Cent Gives Trump “Many Men” Support After Attempted Assassination 

On July 13, former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt while at a rally in Pennsylvania. One of the bullets fired towards him allegedly grazed his ear, leaving blood dripping down his face as proof of his brush with death. Despite the severity of the situation, social media did what it does best— not take a single thing seriously.

50 Cent joins in on the chaos 

People online began immediately giving the incident theme music, choosing apt songs like internet troll 50 Cent’s “Many Men (Wish Death).” The song was inspired by the rapper surviving after being shot nine times in 2000.  

Obviously, there’s a major difference in injuries sustained between the two. Regardless, 50 Cent wanted to join in on the fun and performed the song with a picture of Trump’s head photoshopped onto his Get Rich or Die Tryin album cover.

“Trump gets shot, and now I’m trending,” he said in a since-deleted Instagram post. 

Trump’s post-assassination pic becomes a meme

After the bullet allegedly grazed Trump, he lifted his bloody head and put a fist in the air with the American flag perfectly situated behind him as the crowd burst into applause. There couldn’t be a more patriotic photo opp if you planned it 🇺🇸

The picture began to inspire those online to create potential album covers and even compare the photo to some of the most iconic paintings of revolution, like Eugène Delacroix’s “Liberty Leading the People.”

Social media, instead of looking at the video of the attack and its aftermath, focused on how they thought the photo of Trump was cool. Users left comments responding to the picture like “the amount of Aura he’s radiating rn is off the charts” and “those photos are going down in the history books.”

Does Trump really have street cred now?

Donald Trump has tried time and time again to tap into hip-hop culture. He’s been a constant reference in rap lyrics, and some praise him for pardoning Kodak Black and Lil Wayne during his last presidency.

Others retain animosity for his politics, which they view as harmful to the black community that hip-hop is inextricably linked to.

Recently, rappers like Sexxy Red and Waka Flocka Flame have been open about their support for the former President and his policies (as much as it has disgusted many of their fans). Adding to the factthat he survived an assassination attempt and was found guilty in May for a hush-money case, some people think that Trump now has the street cred he always wanted. 

Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the rap world reacts and treats Trump for the rest of the presidential race. 

Wiz Khalifa Arrested in Romania For Smoking During Show 

Wiz Khalifa got a little too young, wild, and free during his set at the Beach Please! Festival last weekend. Taking place in Romania, Khalifa lit up a joint in the middle of his set before continuing. However, the Romanian police were not happy and promptly arrested the rapper after his performance.

DIICOT, the Romanian anti-organized crime and terrorism agency, issued an official press release announcing his charges.

“During a recital held during a music festival held in the Costinești resort, Constanța county, [Khalifa] possessed over 18 grams of cannabis (risk drug) and consumed (onstage) another amount of cannabis under the shape of a craft cigarette. We make it clear that, during the entire criminal process, the investigated persons benefit from the procedural rights and guarantees provided by the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as the presumption of innocence,” the release said. 

The weed enthusiast has since been released and addressed the situation on Twitter. 

He got plenty of support from those online, stating that “weed should be legal worldwide” as well as calls to action to be more careful when traveling abroad. 

Wiz Khalifa: Weed’s biggest fan 

It’s very public knowledge that Wiz Khalifa loves bud. He has his own line of greenery available for purchase called “Khalifa Kush.” If you get the munchies, you can order one of his “Packed Bowls” to put your cravings to bed. He also has multiple projects like Rolling Papers that are inspired by—you guessed it—smoking weed. 

Thankfully, he is back out and about despite the serious charges to do what he wants—like finally trying the Popeyes chicken sandwich.

• Fans are getting an inside look at the life of Skepta. A new documentary from the H.Wood Group and Skepta’s own production company, 1PLUS1 Production, is officially in the works.

• Don Toliver is taking HARDSTONE PSYCHO on the road. The PSYCHO TOUR starts this October, with Teezo Touchdown and Monaleo also joining him. 

• Discovering your new favorite song just got much easier. Youtube Music has officially rolled out a feature that allows users to sing, hum, or play a song into the app to find its name. 

Like sports? 🏀🏈 Get up-to-date analysis and unique insight that’s actually interesting to read with the Playmaker Newsletter.