Metro Boomin Reveals 2024 Projects

Starting 2024 with new Playboi Carti x Travis Scott music sets the tone for January. If only rappers’ New Year’s resolution was to stop lying about releases (looking at you, Kanye). In other news today:

• Most streamed rappers on Spotify in 2023 👑 

• Playboi Carti shoots at Ice Spice in new single 👀 

• Metro Boomin addresses Drake beef & 2024 albums 💿️ 

• 55 lyrics entered as evidence in YNW Melly retrial 👨‍⚖️ 

• Industry Insights 📈 

Spotify’s Most Streamed Rap Artists of 2023

Billboard’s Hot 100 chart is delayed due to the holiday on Monday, but the end-of-year recaps continue with Spotify’s most streamed rappers. Drake unsurprisingly took the top spot, beating out Travis Scott by just under 10B streams. Check out the full list of the top 20 here and #21 through #43 here.

Playboi Carti Shoots at Ice Spice in “BACKR00MS” single with Travis Scott

Playboi Carti started 2024 by dropping a surprise single ft. Travis Scott titled “BACKR00MS.” He’s 4/4 with releasing music when he says he will, and a music video has accompanied each new song.

“Ur The Moon” restored our faith in his ability to drop music, “2024” was the new year anthem we didn’t know we needed, “H00DBYAIR” revealed he had a daughter, and “BACKR00MS” proved in Carti and Travis we trust.

Carti’s also not immune to the Ice Spice hype, shouting her out in the new single with the lyrics, “I think I need me a Ice Spice, yea I want me a munch.” The flirt slash promo continued in his IG stories, reposting her birthday pic and sharing a snippet of their DMs.

In less than 12 hours, “BACKR00MS” hit 3M plays on YouTube, and Carti told fans, “Keep streaming, I’ll drop another.” In a now-deleted IG story, he shared texts from Travis, teasing more new music from them.

Carti and Travis’ relationship dates back to 2017 when Travis brought Carti out at Terminal 5. They dropped their first song together, “Green & Purple,” on May 15, 2017, arguably one of their most underrated collabs.

Metro Boomin Speaks on Drake Beef & Albums Dropping in 2024

Metro Boomin stays active on X, formerly Twitter, and addressed the unspoken alleged beef between himself and Drake, telling a fan it’s “not deep at all lmao.”

The producer also revealed he’s dropping three albums in 2024 and has his next five projects planned out, so time will tell if they’re cool enough to work together again.

If Metro follows through on the below claims, his 2024 projects could be with Future, 21 Savage, Zaytoven, or J.I.D. based on the music he’s been teasing. He’s not facing the liar allegations that Playboi Carti is currently beating, but “coming soon” is a term rappers should leave in 2023.

Despite the stream measuring contest that sparked rumors of beef between Metro and Drake, they closed out 2023 with accolades on Spotify.

Drake took the title of the most streamed rapper of the year, and Metro’s Heroes & Villains was the most streamed rap album of the year. With over 3.3B streams on Spotify, Heroes & Villains was the only rap album to surpass 3B streams in 2023.

55 Songs Entered as Evidence in YNW Melly Murder Retrial

YNW Melly’s double murder retrial has been postponed until March 5, 2024. This isn’t the first delay, with fans commenting, “his sentence is him being re-trialed every time,” and at 24 years old, Melly has spent one-quarter of his life in jail.

Retrial opening statements were initially scheduled for January, but the rapper’s team requested more time to prepare as they pushed back against the inclusion of lyrics as evidence.

The prosecution intends to use lyrics from 55 of Melly’s songs, including his infamous hit “Murder on My Mind,” along with four album covers and 18 audio files. Melly’s lawyers are attempting to block his music from being included as evidence, but the judge hasn’t ruled on it yet.

Melly’s lawyers say the state attorney’s office had given them assurance three years ago that lyrics wouldn’t be used against him. The first trial didn’t include lyrics, but the original prosecutor, Kristine Bradley, has been excused from the case, and her replacement, Alixandra Buckelew, wants to use them.

“Murder on My Mind” lyrics as evidence

Despite the clear description of murder in “Murder on My Mind,” the song refers to a shooting in 2016 and is unrelated to the murders of YNW Juvy and YNW Sakchaser in 2018, in which Melly is facing charges in the retrial.

This would be the second high-profile trial to use rap lyrics as evidence, following Young Thug’s YSL RICO, which is currently underway. Young Thug’s team pushed back against the assumed meaning of his lyrics by providing positive acronyms and affirmations as an alternate explanation.

How will Melly’s team oppose “Murder On My Mind”? “Murder” stands for Manifesting Unconditional Redemption Delivered Everywhere Religiously, and that’s what was on his mind. It’s unlikely they’ll take the same approach as the illustrative nature of Melly’s lyrics isn’t ambiguous.

• SZA clarifies what she actually said in her verse on Drake’s “Rich Baby Daddy.” Saying she was sick while recording and told Drake no one would understand her.

• Skepta cancels rap retirement and announces new album, Knife and Fork. With its lead single, “Gas Me Up (Diligent),” releasing later this month.

• Obama shares his favorite songs of 2023 ft. Dave, Central Cee, Brent Faiyaz, and 21 Savage. The former president’s EOY playlist includes 28 songs across a variety of genres.

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