Kanye Wasn't Lying About Adidas and This Is Why

It’s almost Friday and you can look forward to Metro Boomin’s Spider-Man soundtrack and potentially new Gunna music releasing at midnight. In other news today:

• Song streams & revenue 📈 

• Proof Kanye wasn’t lying about Adidas amid Yeezy sale 👟 

• What is and is not being said about Gunna’s snitch status 🐀 

• Megan Thee Stallion & footballer Romelu Lukaku 😳 

• Industry Insights

Song Streams & Revenue

It’s a new Thursday and a new song revenue chart. As reported by Hits Double Daily, which tracks streaming revenue week over week, the above chart reflects the streaming period from May 19th to 25th.

There are 2 new song entries this week from Beyoncé ft. Kenrick Lamar and Post Malone. “America Has A Problem” generated $47K in revenue from first-week streams and “Mourning” clocked in slightly lower at $44K.

Toosii remains the only artist whose song, “Favorite Song”, is increasing in streams and revenue week over week earning $78K in revenue last week.

The best Twitter meme for today goes to this reaction of Megan Thee Stallion dating footballer Romelu Lukaku. Sorry to Meg’s ex, Pardison Fontaine, who is hopefully not a football fan and can now join Tory Lanez in the list of people personally victimized by Roc Nation.

Kanye Wasn’t Lying About Adidas and This Is Why

You may have noticed that adidas started rolling out their remaining inventory of Yeezy sneakers this week. “Yeezys” has been trending on Twitter since Wednesday, May 31st, with users posting their secured purchases.

Fan account, u/gunnertierno, posted (unconfirmed) first-day numbers from the Yeezy sale and if correct, it’s a lot of Ms for both parties. On May 11th, adidas announced that they would salvage some of their remaining Yeezy inventory by selling it and donating a portion of the revenue “in support of the fight against discrimination, hate, racism, and antisemitism.”

Kanye previously claimed that adidas had frozen his Yeezy bank accounts after the termination of their partnership. His words didn’t have much credibility at the time but it turns out he was telling the truth. Newly unsealed court records show that a judge granted the freezing of $75 million in Yeezy assets in November.

Adidas believes that Yeezy is contractually obligated to return the $75M but the private dispute over those funds isn’t settled yet. Adidas originally filed the court order for a freeze to ensure the money wasn’t moved elsewhere in the meantime.

As reported by Billboard, a judge denied adidas’ request for an emergency order re-freezing the $75 million which is why the legal dispute went public. Adidas could have still won a more conventional order to re-impose the freeze but hours after the ruling, the sneaker giant moved to drop the federal case and pursue the money through private arbitration instead.

Private arbitration is when a dispute is resolved by an impartial third person, chosen by both parties. A hearing takes place where each side presents its case and the arbitrator makes a decision that both parties are bound to abide by.

Context for those of you out touching grass

The messy divorce between Kanye and adidas began in October. Kanye claimed adidas froze his assets (they did) and sued him for $275 million in advertising fees (unconfirmed). Soon after, adidas cut their 2022 profit forecast in half citing the breakup with Kanye as the culprit.

The split contributed to a $655 million loss in sales for adidas in the last 3 months of 2022. The remaining Yeezy inventory held by adidas is valued at $1.3 billion.

Why this matters

Based on the numbers, it’s clear that adidas needs Yeezy more than Yeezy needs adidas. The freezing of assets may explain why Kanye hasn’t done much with the brand since the split but clearly, there are enough buyers with no moral objections to purchasing a Kanye-associated product. However, as a person, Kanye remains canceled.

Cancel culture is a social phenomenon best explained by group dynamics and the online disinhibition effect. The online environment provides anonymity and distance making it easier to cancel others while remaining a faceless name amongst a large group of people.

In the eyes of the law, the collective opinion of a group of people holds no merit which is why a judge didn’t buy adidas’ claims that Yeezy is at risk of bankruptcy based on online speculation. Canceled doesn’t mean broke and until the multiple ongoing lawsuits Kanye is facing are settled, there’s no telling what the future holds for him and Yeezy.

What Is & Is Not Being Said About Gunna’s Snitch Allegations

Over the weekend, Gunna stepped out for his first public appearance since being released from jail in December 2022. Sitting courtside in Miami for the NBA playoffs, Gunna showed a Gucci Mane transformation appearing noticeably slimmer post-jail.

This week, a snippet of a new Gunna song appeared online and one lyric in particular caught the internet’s attention, “He forgave me for my sins now they mad I got out.” The beat and melodic flow previewed are true to Gunna’s signature style and his assistant hinted that new music may be released tonight.

Fans on Twitter still have love for Gunna, saying his catalog is too good to cancel him but the public discourse amongst fellow rappers continues to be negative and unforgiving due to his snitch allegations. Boddy Shmurda and Boosie Badazz are the latest to weigh in.

Appearing on The Danza Project podcast, Shmurda reacted to Gunna’s courtside appearance saying, “Gunna was out there? While Thugger’s in jail? Imma mind my business…Gunna I’m minding my business. You know what? I don’t even want to talk about other rappers.”

Boosie had harsher words to share on the Big Homie House podcast. “Think Gunna might be done unless he goes to another country. Cus Wheezy said fuck it. Wheezy say he out of here. I saw [that] shit a couple days ago…I don’t want no rat to excel so I hope he never sells another record again,” he said referencing alleged leaked DMs that show the producer Wheezy calling Gunna a rat.

Context for those of you out touching grass

Gunna’s acceptance of an Alford plea deal has prompted snitch call-outs by other rappers, demanding his exile from the industry. Despite legal experts ensuring that nothing in his statement can be used against codefendants in the YSL RICO trial and he does not have to testify. Young Thug’s brother Unfook and rappers Lil Duke and Slimelife Shawty have all taken similar plea deals.

Why this matters

In an industry full of abusers, homophobes, antisemites, and other “cancel-culture-worthy” allegations, being labeled a snitch is a career death sentence. Historically, the unwritten code of silence emerged as a form of self-protection against a system that oppressed the communities rap originated from.

The streets to riches story is quintessential to the genre and the failure to uphold loyalty and solidarity to those illegal beginnings questions if a rapper practices what they preach. The loss of authenticity and credibility is what’s damaging to Gunna’s career.

It doesn’t matter that his music leans more towards raunchy love songs and drip bragging or that there’s no legal proof he snitched. His mentions in the YSL indictment include a traffic stop, rap lyrics, and wearing a YSL chain but still, he was expected to gamble with a 20-year sentence at trial to maintain respect from his peers.

The big picture problem

What’s concerning for the entire rap community, is that it’s becoming easier for prosecutors to pull together indictments leveraging flimsy evidence such as lyrics, music videos, clothing, and social media posts. It’s telling that so much extracurricular evidence was included in the YSL RICO indictment because if the prosecution didn’t need it to fortify their arguments that YSL is a street gang, they wouldn’t include it.

Imagine your entire library of rap music. Now imagine it without any lyrics mentioning crime. Would it still hit the same? Probably not and the outrage towards Gunna could be better served towards finding a solution to the big-picture problem.

Pardi’s Over, Megan Thee Stallion Sparks Rumors with Footballer Romelu Lukaku

In the latest edition of lyrics or manifestation is Megan Thee Stallion’s new romance with Belgian football player Romelu Lukaku. In 2020, Meg rapped, “I got me a European papi out in Italy” and low and behold Lukaku plays for Inter Milan. The two were spotted holding hands at a teammate's wedding in Lake Como (also in Italy).

Seems like the Pardi is over for rapper and songwriter Pardison Fontaine who was dating Meg for 2 years although their split was never confirmed. The news coincides with an InStyle interview where she speaks on the status of new music, “fans can expect new music when I’m in a better place. Right now, I’m focused on healing.”

It’s a Roc Nation romance as Lukaku is signed to the sports division of Jay-Z’s company and Meg is signed to the music label. Thoughts go out to self-proclaimed Roc Nation victim Tory Lanez, hope he wasn’t an Inter Milan fan.

Context for those of you out touching grass

Pardi and Meg celebrated their 2-year anniversary in October and little is known about what led to the alleged breakup. Earlier in May, Pardi penned a heartfelt poem dedicated to a special woman in his life and performed it live in LA. His words seem to suggest the poem was about Meg.

Why this matters

Artists' personal lives have always been of much interest to their fans, sometimes more than their music. Meg’s personal life has been the topic of conversation ever since her highly publicized trial against Tory Lanez. What’s behind the obsession with celebrity relationships?

First, it can provide a backstory to otherwise ambiguous lyrics. A breakup album is always more intriguing if you can guess the subject of melancholic and pointed lyrics.

The culture of celebrity gives rise to parasocial relationships, where fans develop a deep sense of connection and attachment to their favorite artist even though the relationship is by nature, one-sided. Donald Glover just made an entire series, Swarm, that highlights the dangers of parasocial relationships gone horribly wrong.

• Future named “Trapper of the Year” by Trap Music Museum. The award includes an art exhibit dedicated to Future and an iced-out ring presented by museum founder T.I.

• Moneybagg Yo reveals tracklist and features for his ‘Hard to Love’ mixtape. Lil Durk, Future, Fridayy, and GloRilla contributed to the project dropping Friday, June 2nd.

• Universal and Quality Control hit with lawsuit over Migos “Narcos” sample. The 1978 instrumental track, Espoir Composition X, was licensed by the wrong copyright holder.

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