ScHoolboy Q Almost Blocked Travis Scott From Making This 2016 Song

When asked by a fan account if Vultures 2 would be released today, Kanye replied, “We in the lab”—if can’t confirm or deny was a person. In other news today:

• Song streams & revenue 💰️ 

• The hit song ScHoolboy Q almost blocked Travis Scott from making ❌ 

• Were the 2000s the toughest era of hip-hop? Nelly thinks so 🤔 

• New Music Friday releases 💿️ 

• Industry Insights 📈 

Song Streams & Revenue

It’s a new week 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 Feb 23 to 29.

Kanye & Ty Dolla $ign’s “Carnival” earns its highest single-week income, generating almost $145K from 31.8M streams. Bryson Tiller’s “Whatever She Wants” climbed higher on the Hot 100 and earned $63K from 13M streams.

ScHoolboy Q Almost Blocked Travis Scott From Making This 2016 Song

Appearing on the Back On Figg podcast, ScHoolboy Q revealed that he was originally given the beat for what would end up being one of Travis Scott’s biggest singles from his 2016 album Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight. 

“Every Cardo beat you heard, I done had it,” Q said, flexing his close relationship with the hip-hop producer behind hits like Drake’s “God’s Plan,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Family Ties,” and Playboi Carti’s “H00DBYAIR.”

When asked if there were any Cardo beats he regretted turning down, he named, without hesitation, the beat for Travis Scott’s “Goosebumps.” He also revealed that Cardo had named the original beat “Goosebumps,” and Travis kept the name for the final song.

“Every time me and Travis see each other we always laugh about it ’cause it’s like, ‘Bruh you just took the name of the beat and made that joint. I blew it!,” he added. Travis not only took the name but let it inspire the eerie earworm hook, “I get those goosebumps every time, yeah.”

Remember when Travis made headlines last year for performing “FE!N” 10 times in a row? Goosebumps walked so “FE!N” could run. He performed it 15 times in 2017 and broke the Guinness World Record for the most consecutive performances of a song during a show.

Were the 2000s the Toughest Era of Hip-Hop? Nelly Thinks So

“When I put out songs, I had to go against DMX, Jay-Z, Eminem, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, [Ludacris]. All of us are fighting for one spot!” Nelly adamantly said on a new episode of LeBron James’ The Shop before claiming that 1999 to 2008-2010 was the hardest era competitively in hip-hop.

Is Nelly speaking facts? While it’s hard to make a generalization about which era of hip-hop was the hardest, no topic worth debating ever has a clear answer. If a rapper makes a controversial statement—run, don’t walk to the comments section.

So, throwing away digital music consumption, social media, genre popularity, and other ways in which the industry has changed, here’s a stat-by-stat comparison of the hip-hop Class of the ‘00s versus today to support whichever hypothesis you choose.

Hip-Hop’s Class of ‘2000s

2000: Eminem releases The Marshall Mathers LP. It stays #1 on the Billboard 200 for eight consecutive weeks, sells 1.78M copies in its first week, and wins Best Rap Album at the Grammys. 

2000: Nelly releases Country Grammar. It stays #1 for five consecutive weeks and sells over 1.5M units in its first month.

2001: Jay-Z releases The Blueprint. It stays #1 for three consecutive weeks and sells over 427K in its first week. 

2005: 50 Cent releases The Massacre. It stays #1 for six consecutive weeks and sells over 1M copies in its first four days. 

2008: Lil Wayne releases Tha Carter III. It debuts at #1 and sold over 1M copies in its first week, becoming the best-selling album of 2008 in the US.

Hip-Hop’s Class of ‘2018ish

2018: Travis Scott releases Astroworld. It stays #1 for two consecutive weeks and sells 537K album-equivalent units in its first week.

2020: Juice WRLD’s estate releases Legends Never Die. It debuts #1 with 437K album-equivalent units in its first week and became the most successful posthumous release in 20 years.

2021: Kanye releases Donda. It debuts at #1 and sells 309K in its first five days, becoming Kanye’s tenth consecutive #1 album.

2021: Drake releases Certified Lover Boy. It says #1 for five consecutive weeks, selling 613K in its first week. It becomes Drake’s tenth consecutive #1 album.

2022: Kendrick Lamar releases Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers. It debuts #1 with 295K in first-week sales and wins the Best Rap Album at the Grammys.

New Music Friday

Another scheduled Kanye release and another disappointment. Instead of Vultures 2, here’s all the music you can listen to now—categorized by 💿️ for albums and 🎶 for singles:

• 💿️ Compliments of Gravedigger Mountain by NBA YoungBoy

• 💿️ HATE ME by Lil Peep

• 🎶 “act ii: date @ 8 (Remix)” by 4batz, Drake

• 🎶 “GEEKED” by Cochise

• 🎶 “Diamonds In My Face” by Devstacks, OsamaSon

• 🎶 “SEE ME NOW!” by JELEEL!

• 🎶 “Shut Up Your Block” by DDG

• 🎶 “Money On My Mind” by Babyface Ray

• 🎶 “Sexiest Soul” by Danny Towers, Chow Lee, Lonny Love

• Elon Musk’s X must face music publishers’ multi-million dollar lawsuit. A federal judge allowed parts of a $250M copyright lawsuit to proceed against the social platform.

• Nas is making a docuseries on the first Black International Chess Grandmaster. The rapper teamed up with a Power producer to depict the story of Maurice Ashley.

• Live Nation hits back at claims of price-gouging and inflating ticket prices. “Tickets are actually priced by artists and [sports] teams,” the company said in a 2,800-word blog post.

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