Tory Lanez's 'Daystar' Album Used as Evidence for Harsher Sentencing

Tory Lanez’s sentencing date is only 5 days away 😳 and the prosecution filed a memo this week persuading the judge to hand him a 13-year sentence. More on that below. In other news today:

• Song streams & revenue 📈 

• Tory Lanez’s lyrics used as evidence for harsher sentencing 🧑‍⚖️ 

• Why Kanye almost removed Jay-Z from Donda 🎙️ 

• Tyler, the Creator spills the tea on Rap Radar ☕️ 

• 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 26th to June 1st.

Lil Durk has 4 out of 7 song entries on the chart this week. “All My Life” remains the most popular, with 23M streams, and profitable, with $111K in revenue. The country x rap collab with Morgan Wallen proves to be successful racking up 13M streams and 64K. Overall, Durkio made 287K from all 4 songs last week.

Tory Lanez’s Daystar Album Used as Evidence for Harsher Sentencing

As Tory Lanez’s sentencing date of June 13th quickly approaches, his defense lawyers and the prosecution are making final plays for their desired outcome. On Lanez’s side, his team filed a motion to disqualify Judge Herriford, accusing the judge of showing favoritism to the prosecution. On the prosecution side, they’d like the judge to hand Lanez 13 years on the 13th.

Tory Lanez calls discrimination

After Judge Herriford denied a motion for a new trial during a hearing in May, Lanez’s lawyers filed the disqualification motion citing examples of Herriford’s preferential treatment in court. They claim that they were interrupted or cut off during arguments, denied witness testimony, and were forced to follow the judge’s preferred order of arguments.

Meanwhile, the prosecution was given a fair and full opportunity to present their arguments without interruption. The judge anticipated this happening and provided a verified statement in writing, on the second day of trial, that swore all of his rulings have been unbiased.

The prosecution demands a 13-year sentence

In a sentencing memo, the prosecution recommends the judge sentence Lanez to 13 years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion.

Before diving into the memo, let’s get some legal context clarified. California law requires judges to impose no higher than the middle range of a maximum sentence—unless aggravating factors are present. The 13 years is slightly higher than half of the maximum 22 years and eight months that applies to Lanez’s case.

The prosecution cited Lanez’s use of a gun and the bodily harm he caused as legal aggravating factors that make him ineligible for probation. Overall, the memo argues that Lanez’s “campaign of misinformation” via his music and social media has re-traumatized and humiliated Megan for 3 years.

Lanez’s 2020 album Daytona is accused of having several songs with selective disclosure about the shooting, allowing Lanez to profit from his crimes. His large reach on socials and derogatory posts about the incident has encouraged others to harass and threaten Megan.

Lastly, the prosecution referenced his violation of a protective order at Rolling Loud Miami in July 2021 where he was within 100 yards of Megan, his jailing in April 2022 for posting DNA evidence online, and his “unprovoked attack” on August Alsina in September 2022. The incidents were cited as examples of his lack of remorse and likelihood to repeat harmful behavior.

Context for those of you out touching grass

Lanez has been in jail since December 23, 2022, when a jury found him guilty of first-degree assault with a firearm, discharge of a firearm with gross negligence, and having a loaded and unregistered firearm concealed in a vehicle. The incident with Megan happened in July 2020 while leaving Kylie Jenner’s home.

Why this matters

The 3-year-long saga of this incident may be finally coming to an end but as with all high-profile cases, news coverage doesn’t explain the nuances of the law. The information included in the prosecution’s memo was great for clickbait headlines but more importantly, it paints a picture of 5 legal aggravating factors under California law that would merit a harsher sentence.

1. Prior criminal history—every violation of the law Lanez made since his arrest was mentioned.

2. Seriousness of the offense—the great bodily harm caused to Megan and the disregard for others was mentioned.

3. Use of a weapon—all of Lanez’s charges involve a firearm and were mentioned.

4. Vulnerability of the victim—”vulnerable victim” is a direct quote from the memo describing the 5 rounds Lanez unloaded at Megan.

5. Pecuniary gain—Lanez didn’t commit a crime for money but he did profit from his music which is why his Daytona album and lyrics were mentioned.

Kanye Almost Removed Jay-Z From “Jail” and This Is Why

The Donda era was one to remember and one of the best album rollouts in recent years—although Travis Scott’s Utopia might come close. When news broke of Jay-Z’s feature on “jail”, Watch the Throne fans were hysterical.

Throughout the 2 listening parties in Atlanta, and the final in Chicago, different versions of the album were played and no one knew which songs would make it on the final album. In a newly leaked documentary clip capturing BTS footage of the making of Donda, Kanye says he’s cutting Jay-Z’s verse.

Jay-Z was noticeably absent from the Chicago listening party and that’s what prompted Kanye to be cutthroat will all his collaborators. “Everybody that’s not here, I’m taking their verses off. So, I’m taking Jay-Z verse off. I’m taking—if there’s anybody not here on this porch with me, they’re not on this version,” he said backstage.

Jay-Z’s verse was replaced by DaBaby and Marilyn Manson, who were both on the porch with Kanye but caused more controversy and delivered a lesser version of the song. Kanye changed his mind and ended up releasing Donda with both, Jay-Z on “jail” and DaBaby and Marilyn Manson on “jail pt. 2”.

The 5 min clip also has appearances from Pusha T, Playboi Carti, Rick Rubin, and Mike Dean, and gives a glimpse into Kanye’s creative process.

Context for those of you out touching grass

The storied history between Kanye and Jay-Z goes back decades to the ‘90s when Kanye was producing tracks for Roc-A-Fella Records. Their 2011 collab album Watch the Throne was a heritage moment for rap. Things took a turn in 2014 when Jay-Z and Beyoncé did not attend Kanye’s wedding to Kim Kardashian and only worsened from there. The only Hov x Yeezus collab in the last decade, other than “jail”, was Drake’s “Pop Star” in 2016.

Why this matters

Although brief, the documentary clip sheds light on Kanye’s mental state and behavior during the making of Donda. Diagnosed as bipolar in 2016, the mental health condition is characterized by episodes of mania and depression.

Kanye’s increased energy, inflated sense of self-esteem, belief that he possesses special powers, rapid speech, and impulsivity are all consistent with a manic episode and can be seen in the clip. The decision to cut Jay-Z’s verse and include DaBaby and Marilyn Manson instead can be attributed to his impulsiveness at the time.

Tyler, the Creator Spills the Tea on ‘Rap Radar’ Podcast

Tyler, the Creator holds no punches when it comes to sharing his opinion on well…literally anything but this week it’s the quintessential G.O.A.T, rap Mount Rushmore, and Top 5 lists that get shared online. His reasoning? Music is subjective and most of those lists are performative. Touché Tyler. On a kinder note, he had nothing but praise for NBA YoungBoy and talked about working together.

Appearing on the Rap Radar podcast, he said, “You know what annoys me is when people are like, ‘This is my Top 5…’ and you got 17-year-olds like, ‘Yeah fucking Ready To Die and Enter The Wu-Tang is my Top 10 album ever,’ like, bro, you just got hair on your dick.”

He continued, “I don’t care about no objective top. The kids be doing it with me. They do a tier list of A,B,C,D of the albums they like of me and then ask people's thoughts. You’re asking people their thoughts on what you hold to your heart? What kind of stupid shit is that. That’s why I fucking hate rap Twitter. Everything is performative, everyone is making these lists just to have people engage. Who gives a fuck who the Top 3 is?”

NBA YoungBoy is a “sweetheart”

When asked about working with YB on the song “WUSYANAME”, Tyler shed light on a different side of the Baton Rouge rapper than what’s portrayed in his raps or online beefs.

“He’s really a sweetheart. People think he’s like…dude, we got ice cream, he wanted to go vintage car shopping. He sent me that verse within a day,” said Tyler. “Not only did he deliver it for me and sounded great, he asked me, ‘Is this okay? Is this good?’ I’m like ‘Yeah!’ and he stayed on topic.

Safe to say Tyler will not be dissed on the next “Fuck The Industry” song by YB. Watch the full interview clip below.

Context for those of you out touching grass

In February, Billboard and Vibe published a “50 Greatest Rappers Of All Time” list that ignited controversy and emotionally charged debates among rappers and news personalities. Podcasts weighed in with opinions, ‘80s rapper Melle Mel dissed Kendrick Lamar and Eminem’s placement, and it was a domino effect of one disagreement after another.

NBA YoungBoy’s known for his murder raps and anyone can get it attitude. In his recent song, “Fuck The Industry Pt. 2” he took shots at Drake, J. Cole, Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, and J. Prince which is why terms of endearment aren’t commonly used to describe him.

Why this matters

You can always count on Tyler to give brutally honest opinions and he’s usually making a valid point. Music is a highly subjective form of art and preferences are personal to your lived experiences, memories, generation, and cultural influences. Lists that involve ranking rappers are competitive by nature and divisive.

Tyler suggested “favorite” lists instead which accounts for subjectivity. Sharing favorites would be more informative and insightful allowing people to learn from each other's taste rather than debate whose opinion is more authoritative.

The comments about YB are a great example of how Tyler doesn’t conform to group dynamics or censor himself. He’s self-assured in his opinions and cares more about the quality of music than the politics of rap.

• Drake & GloRilla lead 2023 BET Awards with 7 and 6 nominations respectively. Following them are 21 Savage, Beyoncé, Ice Spice, and Chris Brown.

• Ice Spice has more Top 5 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart than any other artist this year. Her guest features have earned her 3 spots in the Top 5.

• Lil Tjay gets arrested during his Instagram live. While filming a music video in New York City, the rapper was handcuffed for reckless endangerment.

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