Las Vegas Home Raid Supports This Tupac Murder Theory

YNW Melly’s life is officially in the hands of the jury as they’re now in deliberation. On a lighter note, tonight’s new music releases are stacked 🔥 In other news today:

• Song streams & revenue 💰️ 

• Travis Scott drops first Utopia single as pyramid troubles continue 🍭 

• Las Vegas home raid supports this Tupac murder theory 🔍️ 

• Everything we know about A$AP Rocky’s new album ❗️ 

• New Music Friday releases 💿️ 

• 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 July 7th to 13th.

As seen with the Hot 100 this week, not many rap songs are pulling enough streams or radio play to chart, and it’s showing in revenue too. Gunna had a great week earning over 100K from 22M streams of “fukumean” likely assisted by the song’s popularity on TikTok. “Flooded The Face” continues to be Lil Uzi Vert’s most popular song from Pink Tape, generating 44K in revenue from just under 10M streams.

Travis Scott Drops First ‘Utopia’ Single as Pyramid Battle Continues

PSA, the first single from Travis Scott’s Utopia, is almost here 😤 Taking to socials, Travis shared the lollipop-themed cover art and the song’s features—The Weeknd and Bad Bunny. Both artists have been rumored to be on the album for weeks and were spotted with the Utopia briefcase.

Titled “KPOP,” the single features production from Boi-1da and BNYX, and if you remember—there was speculation about a lollipop-titled song on the album last week. Travis fans love to jump to conclusions, but this time they were right.

Up until now, not much is known about the album’s sound, but Travis seems to be tapping back into the early days of his career, producing beats and listening to his old mixtapes. “KPOP” will be the first taste of what Travis is coming with on Utopia, and considering the features—it’s gonna be a blend of genres cooked up by La Flame.

Travis was also spotted leaving iHeart Radio studios today with the briefcase for something that’s definitely related to the “KPOP” release tonight.

‘Utopia’ performance at the pyramids allegedly stalled

Earlier this week, controversy emerged when Egyptian media reported that the Utopia performance at the pyramids scheduled for July 28th was canceled. The event's organizer, Live Nation, issued an official statement that the news was fake but unverified sources have leaked a letter from Travis suggesting otherwise.

Allow me to preface this by saying that no source directly links back to the letter, and it’s not hard to fake Cactus Jack stationary. Allegedly written by Travis himself, he addresses the Egyptian Musicians Syndicate’s concerns based on false assumptions that led to permits being paused for the Utopia performance.

According to the letter, the Utopia performance won’t be ready for July 28th unless Live Nation is permitted to access the site by 5 pm Cairo time on July 20th—a deadline that has already passed. If any of this is true, then an announcement will likely be made in the coming days.

Context for those of you out touching grass

Rumors started circulating about The Weeknd and Bad Bunny appearing on Utopia when they were spotted with the briefcase earlier this summer. BNYX added fuel to the fire when he retweeted a fan who said Bad Bunny might be on the album. Billboards popped up with a combination lock to the Utopia briefcase that read “072111,” and we now know it was teasing the July 21st release date of “KPOP,” not the album.

Why this matters

The first single from Utopia would be hyped regardless of what it was, but the careful curation of features and promo leading up to the announcement proves Travis should do a TED talk on marketing. He tapped a Canadian R&B singer and a Latin superstar to debut a single titled “KPOP,” another dominant genre right now. He’s hitting every demographic outside of rap despite already having one of the most passionate fan bases.

When someone searches “KPOP” on Twitter or Google, Travis’ single is mixed in with those results exposing Utopia to a wider audience that wouldn’t normally seek out his music. Case in point, Playboi Carti’s Spotify monthly listeners grew by 14M after his feature on The Weeknd’s “Popular” song.

Las Vegas Home Raid Supports This Tupac Murder Theory

Earlier this week, news broke of cops raiding a home in Henderson, Nevada, less than 20 miles from the Las Vegas strip where Tupac Shakur was murdered almost 30 years ago. The home is owned by a woman named Paula Clemons, who is married to Keefe D, and this isn’t the first time Keefe’s name has been brought up in connection with Tupac.

Armored SWAT vehicles surrounded the home in what was described as a chaotic scene, with police using bullhorns to command anyone inside to come out with their hands up.

No information was released about the evidence found, but the raid suggests the police showed a judge something persuasive enough to grant a search warrant. Not just a search warrant but a SWAT team and a hostile search rather than a friendly knock on the door.

How is this home connected to Tupac’s murder?

Keefe D, the husband of the homeowner, is a former Crip who claims to be the uncle of Orlando Anderson—the prime suspect in Tupac’s murder case. Anderson was also a Crip, and the Compton gang had an ongoing rivalry with Death Row in the ‘90s.

Rumor has it that the feud intensified when Anderson and his entourage jumped a Death Row member and stole his medallion. The Crips allegedly had a bounty on their chains, and the news left Death Row members raging.

The night of the shooting, Tupac and Death Row founder Suge Knight were involved in a brawl inside the MGM Grand casino. Anderson and Keefe were among the individuals they fought, and the story goes that Tupac, Suge, and Death Row affiliates jumped Anderson—likely in retaliation for the chain snatching.

There are theories that Anderson orchestrated the drive-by shooting after the fight to get revenge, although he denied any involvement and was never arrested by the police. Tupac’s mom even planned to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Anderson, but he was killed in a gunfight outside a Compton car wash in 1998.

Who could be arrested?

A former detective, Greg Kading, worked on the murder of Biggie, which overlapped with Tupac. Speaking to TMZ, Kading shared his POV on the news. First, by stating that Keefe has openly spoken about his nephew, Anderson, being the trigger man in Tupac’s murder for years.

Keefe originally gave this confession to Kading in 2009 because they struck a deal that they couldn’t use the info he provided to prosecute him. But the deal became null and void when Keefe started speaking about the murder publicly, and Kading believes the raid is a sign that the Vegas police are close to a breakthrough.

Context for those of you out touching grass

On the night of September 7th, 1996, Tupac was killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He was in a black BMW driven by Suge Knight, head of Death Row Records. When the car stopped at a red light near the Vegas strip, a white Cadillac pulled up next to them and opened fire on the passenger side, shooting Tupac 4 times. He died a week later from his injuries in the hospital. No arrests have ever been made, but Nevada has no statute of limitations for prosecuting homicide cases.

Why this matters

Tupac and Biggie’s deaths were tragic and a monumental loss for hip-hop. The lack of conclusive evidence about Tupac’s murder has led to numerous conspiracy theories. Some believe his death was faked, while others think it was a result of corruption in the music industry or gang rivalry. It would be historical if his murder were ever solved and potentially shed light on what happened to Biggie.

A$AP Rocky Leads NMF with “Riot” & Reveals Album Collaborators

A$AP Rocky released a new single on July 20th, a day before the usual Friday drop. The Pharrell-produced song, “RIOT (Rowdy Pipe’n),” coincided with A$AP’s commercial directorial debut for a new Beats by Dre campaign.

The visuals are fast-paced, reflecting the energy of the song, and feature a familiar white T-shirt, and Timbs fit that A$AP was spotted wearing while running down the streets of Paris earlier this year. Listen to “Riot” on Apple Music & Spotify.

His fourth studio album, Don’t Be Dumb, had been teased for over a year, but in a new interview with Complex, A$AP revealed more details.

Here’s everything we know about the album:

• Confirmed songs include “Same Problems,” “RIOT,” “Shittin’ Me,” and “D.M.B.”

• Production from Tyler, the Creator, Madlib, Mike Dean, Metro Boomin, The Alchemist, Swedish House Mafia, Hit-Boy, Boi-1da & more

• Peso Pluma is confirmed as a feature

• “Our Destiny” ft. Playboi Carti and Taylor Swift will not be on the album, and A$AP won’t include any other leaked songs

• Potential Rihanna feature, hinted at by A$AP and the lyrics “collab with my baby mom” in “RIOT”

J. Cole and Bas also started New Music Friday early, dropping the single “Passport Bros” today (Listen on Apple Music & Spotify). Here’s all the other new music dropping tonight, categorized by 💿️ for album and 🎶 for single:

• 💿️ Magic 2 by Nas

• 💿️ Summer’s Mine by Babyface Ray

• 💿️ Like..? Deluxe by Ice Spice

• 💿️ Virtuoso by Valee & Harry Fraud

•  🎶 MMM HMM by Lancey Foux & Sexyy Red

• 🎶 It’s Over by Ken Carson

• 🎶 500LBS by Lil Tecca

•  🎶 13LOOD ON MY NIKEZ by Denzel Curry

•  🎶 Too Fast (Pull Over) by Jay Rock, Anderson .Paak & Latto

• 🎶 Likka Sto by Lil Blessin, Travis Scott, BIA & G Herbo

• 🎶 Heartbroken by Polo G & Diplo

• 🎶 Married With Millions by Gucci Mane

• 🎶 The Weekend by Stormzy & Raye

• 🎶 Roc-A-Fella Y’all by Lupe Fiasco

• Ice Spice says her friendship with Drake is “coach vibes” and they “talk all the time.” Speaking to Zane Lowe, she shared details about how the Her Loss rapper gives great career advice.

• Lil Uzi Vert and Metro Boomin announced as headliners for first-ever IYKYK festival in Phoenix. The lineup includes Denzel Curry, JELEEL!, and a surprise guest.

• Akademiks calls Lil Baby’s friends “liars” for letting him release the song “Heyy.” The comments come after a video surfaced of Lil Baby previewing the song in the studio to a bunch of friends.

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