This is Why Kanye's Finishing His Album in Saudi Arabia

Happy day after Spotify Wrapped! We learned that some of you need to touch grass based on your listening minutes, everyone has Drake in their Top Artists, and editing your 2023 Wrapped can be done anywhere. In other news today:

• Song streams & revenue 💰️ 

• Why Kanye’s finishing his album in Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦 

• This just got banned in Young Thug’s RICO trial 🐍 

• New Music Friday releases 💿️ 

• Industry Insights 📈 

Song Streams & Revenue

It’s a new Thursday and a new song revenue chart. As reported by Hits Daily Double, which tracks streaming revenue week over week, the above chart reflects the streaming period from November 17 to 23.

Jack Harlow’s No. 1 song got over 20M streams, generating $98K in revenue. Drake’s “You Broke My Heart” opened with 17M streams and $81K in revenue while he continues to dominate streaming with the deluxe version of For All The Dogs.

Why Kanye May Have Chosen Saudi Arabi to Finish His Album

Since rumors started swirling in September that Kanye was working on a new album, he’s been country-hopping overseas like that one annoying friend who spent their summer on a #EuroTrip. He’s been in pursuit of diplomatic relations with other countries. He had a brief fling with Italy, resulting in a failed concert, before committing to Saudi Arabia to finish recording his album.

Aside from the free-flowing comfort of the country’s traditional clothing and the picturesque scenery of the desert, there’s a more significant reason why Kanye and Saudi Arabia would benefit from forming diplomatic ties with each other. Much of this has gone under the radar to those who don’t keep up with international economies.

Saudi’s investment in music

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund (PIF) has been making money moves for years in tech, sports, gaming, and entertainment to improve the nation’s global standing and make it a “destination” for travel. In April 2020, PIF bought a 5% stake in Live Nation, which monopolizes live entertainment in the U.S.

Saudi’s fund is willing to invest heavily in music, and live entertainment is the area of the industry with the most opportunity for disruption. Now that COVID is done and live music's popularity has risen, it’s a good time to invest.

The fund took a similar approach to golf and successfully made LIV Golf a threat to the longstanding PGA Tour, which led to the recent LIV-PGA merger in June 2023.

What does this mean for Kanye?

There are many hypotheticals, none of which can be confirmed, but it doesn’t seem coincidental that Kanye choose that location to finish the album. The media coverage of his makeshift studio in Riyadh, shown below, is enough to merit his hotel stay being comped.

As Drake says, “Realize that everything premeditated,” concerning Kanye. Nothing is ever random, and the enemy of your enemy is your friend. Saudi’s fund and Kanye have a mutual interest in disrupting the U.S. music industry. Live entertainment has the most opportunity for interference, and we already know Kanye’s been cooking up plans for a stadium event.

This Just Got Banned in Young Thug’s RICO Trial

Week one of Young Thug’s RICO trial is almost done, and it’s going to be a long year of Truly Humbled Under God acronyms and pushing positivity in the hopes of freeing Big Slime out the cage. But, there’s already been a speed bump that led to rumors of a mistrial, which didn’t happen but camera crews were forced to stop recording the first witness’s testimony. Find out why below.

Jurors’ exposed

On Wednesday, Mark Belknap of the Atlanta Police Department testified as a gang expert. He reviewed much of what was seen in YNW Melly’s trial, including symbols, clothing, and other gang associations. During the live stream of his testimony, the camera panned to the witness stand and accidentally showed the faces of four jurors.

Screenshots of the jurors began going viral and were shared on social media, causing Judge Glanville to take a lengthy break, and that’s when whispers of a mistrial began. Judge Glanville decided to keep the trial moving but prohibited the media from filming the rest of Belknap’s testimony.

The jurors’ identity being known isn’t an issue until a third party contacts them, and they cannot remain impartial. Six alternate jurors are available, and this incident will likely be brought up again.

Day 4 of trial

In slightly better news for Thug, today’s testimony saw his lawyer, Brian Steel, challenge act 4 of the RICO charge, which alleges Thug had a stolen gun on him, belonging to a YSL associate, that was discovered during a traffic stop in 2013.

Steel’s cross-examination got the witness to confirm that two months passed between when the gun was stolen and the traffic stop occurred and there’s no evidence Thug placed the gun under the passenger seat or was involved in the burglary of the gun.

New Music Friday

SkeeYee fans are eating tonight with new Sexyy Red ft. Chief Keef, Summer Walker, and more. Here’s all the music you can look forward to—categorized by 💿️ for albums and 🎶 for singles:

• 💿️ Hood Hottest Princess (Deluxe) by Sexyy Red

• 💿️ Decisions by Wiz Khalifa

• 💿️ The Ceremony by Kevin Gates

• 💿️ In Loving Memory by Sean Leon (ft. Kanye)

• 💿️ 30 For 30 by Dave East, Cruch Calhoun

• 💿️ Conductor Machine by Conway The Machine, Conductor Williams

• 🎶 “Loner At Sunset” by Tory Lanez

• 🎶 “Calm” by Dro Kenji

• 🎶 “179 Deli” by Bas, AJ Tracey

• 🎶 “Lover / Friend” and “Stuntin’” by Kaytranada

• 🎶 “Paper Soldier” and “Circles by Brent Faiyaz

• 🎶 “Shook Up” by Joey Bada$$, Erick the Architect, FARR

• Christie’s and Roc Nation join forces for “The Book of HOV” auction. The online auction features a leather case signed by Jay-Z, with 13 one-of-a-kind cards showcasing his studio albums from the exhibit.

• Andre 3000 breaks the record for longest song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The opening song to his new flute album clocks in at 12 minutes and 20 seconds.

• First look at Travis Scott’s Air Jordan 1 collab, despite reports that the partnership is moving away from AJ1 silhouettes. The Black Olive colorway is rumored for a fall 2024 release.

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