Did Metro Boomin Shade Drake in AOTY Discussion?

Young Thug may finish his trial before we get GTA 6 sometime in 2025. The only thing more disappointing than Rockstar Games is Playboi Carti. In other news today:

• Drake’s Scary Hours streaming revenue 💰️ 

• Metro Boomin shades Drake in AOTY discussion 🥇 

• Lil Baby disses Gunna onstage 🐀 

• What OVO, OTF, A$AP, and more really mean 🤔 

• Discover new music with The Rap Index 🎵 

• Industry Insights 🔎 

Drake’s ‘Scary Hours’ Streaming Revenue

Christmas songs have taken over Billboard’s Hot 100, so instead of spotlighting Mariah Carey, here’s the streaming revenue for Drake’s Scary Hours songs according to Hits Daily Double. Five of the six additional songs made a combined $265K from over 56M streams in the opening week of the deluxe edition.

Metro Boomin Shades Drake in AOTY Discussion

The forecast heading into the holidays is not so much festive as it is shady, with Metro Boomin and Drake exchanging subliminal shots online instead of gifts. Initiated by Metro, he replied in the shadows of a tweet comparing the streaming success of his album Heroes & Villains to Drake’s Her Loss.

“Her Loss is about 1.3B streams behind. H&V currently getting 10M streams a day, Her Loss 4M. The gap is only going to widen,” tweeted X u/ HipHopAllDayy.

“Yet her loss still keeps winning rap album of the year over H&V. Proof that award shows are just politics and not for me,” Metro replied in a now-deleted tweet, screenshotted below.

The sentiment of Metro’s message was that Heroes & Villains gets snubbed because AOTY is more of a popularity contest, and if it were based on merit, his album has the numbers to prove it was the most successful.

Drake allegedly received and read the message and seemingly posted a response in the form of Jay-Z lyrics. “Damn. little mans, I’m just tryin’ to do me/ If the record’s two mil, I’m just tryin’ to move three,” read Drake’s IG story from Jay-Z’s “Heart of the City (Ain’t No Love).”

If you remember, Metro Boomin revealed in an interview with DJ Drama that he decided to leave Drake’s verse off “Trance” from Heroes and Villains because he felt the song was already complete. He said Drake knew this and wanted to try to add something anyway, but it was okay if it didn’t make the cut.

Both albums are nominated for Best Rap Album at the upcoming 2023 Grammy Awards alongside Travis Scott, Nas, and Killer Mike. If Heroes & Villains or Her Loss wins the Grammy, it could cause a greater divide between the former collaborators or end the debate.

Prayers go out to 21 Savage and Future, may they not become children of divorce, as the rappers who most frequently collab with Drake and Metro Boomin.

Lil Baby Disses Gunna Onstage

“Fuck the rats, turn this shit off,” says Lil Baby as “Drip Too Hard” plays through the speakers while he’s onstage. The video clip began circulating this week, but it’s unclear when the concert occurred. It’s been rumored that the Atlanta rappers had a falling out since Gunna took an Alford plea deal in the YSL RICO case, which led to his snitch allegations.

“Drip Too Hard” was the single from their collaborative 2018 album, Drip Harder, and they gained widespread recognition for their talent, which was best displayed when they worked together.

There’s speculation on X (formerly Twitter) that the video is from the beginning of Lil Baby’s tour, around July. According to Setlist.fm, Lil Baby performed “Close Friends,” also from Drip Harder, at a Dubai gig on Nov 3, but it’s one of his solo songs from the collab album.

Meanwhile, Gunna was spotted celebrating his rumored girlfriend P Litty’s birthday over the weekend. The IG model is the voice behind the “Eyuhh” ablib that had everyone and their mother singing “fukumean” this summer.

The pair are either dating or in a level 10 situationship, wearing matching PJs of each other's faces on IG. She also resembles the woman he was photographed with when he was released from jail.

What Every Rap Acronym Means Inspired by Young Thug’s Trial

Oxford Dictionary named “rizz” 2023’s Word of the Year, but last week, Young Thug’s lawyer dropped a contender for Acronym of the Year during the YSL RICO trial. Thug allegedly means Truly Humbled Under God, a non-menacing explanation for a rapper who was Pushing Positivity before he got locked up.

Similarly, French Montana revealed that his Coke Boys group stands for Creation of Kings Everywhere on RapTV’s new episode of Fame & Flavor. While the acronyms have gone viral for their almost unbelievable explanations compared to rappers’ personas, they shed light on the presumption ingrained in the practice of using rap lyrics as evidence.

Young Thug’s lawyer, Brian Steel, proved he could leverage English to counter-argue the prosecution’s interpretation of what a name or word means. The Saul Goodman lesson in this is that every rap word is up for debate (unless a Genius Verified video exists).

So, in the spirit of being Truly Humbled Under God, here is an alternate meaning for popular rap labels and words.

OTF — Only Trust Faith

A$AP — Always $piritual And Positive

OVO — Outstanding Vibes Only

TDE — Towards Divine Elevation

CMG — Compassion Motivates Greatness

C.R.E.A.M — Champion Righteousness Everyday And Motivate

WAP — Wisdom And Prosperity

The Rap Index ft. 2FeetBino, Flo Milli, Lil Yachty, Big Scarr & More

The Rap Index is a way to follow and discover new music. Divided into 4 categories describing rap subgenres, songs are placed according to their style and sound—giving you a better idea of what songs will appeal to your musical taste. Only releases from the previous New Music Friday are included to help keep you up to date.

RapTV’s Ranking of NMF Songs Featured in the Rap Index

1. “How Far” by 2FeetBino (Listen on Apple Music & Spotify)

2. “I Might” by Sexyy Red, Summer Walker (Listen on Apple Music & Spotify)

3. “Hoe” by Big Scarr, OHGEESY (Listen on Apple Music & Spotify)

4. “ATL Freestyle 1” by Veeze, Luh Tyler, Rob49 (Listen on Apple Music & Spotify)

5. “Life I Chose” by KILLY, Dom Corleo (Listen on Apple Music & Spotify)

6. “Never Lose Me” by Flo Milli, Lil Yachty (Listen on Apple Music & Spotify)

7. “Jacob’s ladder” by FRVRFRIDAY (Listen on Apple Music & Spotify)

8. “Calm” by Dro Kenji (Listen on Apple Music & Spotify)

• The Weeknd to headline new ‘Fortnite Festival’ music experience launching Dec 9. Teaming up with Rock Band developer, Fortnite will offer a game mode where players hit notes in time to the songs.

• Spotify is laying off 17% of its workforce to cut costs among slow economic growth. With a total headcount of just under 10K, the cuts are expected to impact over 1,500 employees.

• Drake drops NOCTA “Love You Forever” campaign to accompany Nike AF1 release. The campaign features Drake and Adonis, Young Nudy and his daughter, and Kehlani and her daughter.

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