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Why Drake is Involved in the XXXTentacion Murder Trial

And details on the $320 million Quality Control sale

February 09, 2023

If you were looking for footage of Offset and Quavo’s Grammys fight, Twitter’s got you covered. Did this email land in your “promotions” inbox? 📥️ If you’re on mobile, kindly click the 3 dots in the top right-hand corner and hit “move” to your primary inbox. 📨 If you’re on a desktop, kindly drag and drop this email into your main inbox to ensure you receive our future issues. Here’s what we have for you today:

  • Metro Boomin makes almost $250K from 3 weeks of streams

  • Why Quality Control sold for $320 million

  • Cardi B & Wack 100 get involved in Offset & J. Prince feud

  • XXXTentacion murder trial: everything you need to know

  • Kendrick Lamar wore a Rolex, Tupac, & Martine Rose to the Grammys

  • Industry Insights

As reported by Hits Double Daily for Jan 13th to Feb 2nd

Metro Boomin’s “Creepin” has been the highest-charting hip-hop single for a minute and over 48 million streams generated almost $250K in revenue during a three-week period. Taking into account, “Superhero”, his chart domination has amassed $434,471K in combined streaming revenue for the same period.

Why Quality Control Sold for $300+ Million

The Atlanta-based entertainment company, home to the likes of Lil Baby, Migos, Lil Yachty, and City Girls, has agreed to a merger and acquisition with HYBE America, the US unit of South Korean entertainment conglomerate HYBE. The deal was led by HYBE CEO, Scooter Braun, and valued at $320 million in stocks and cash (as reported by Variety).

Why would QC merge with HYBE?

Founded in 2013 by COO Kevin “Coach K” Lee and CEO Pierre “P” Thomas, Quality Control became one of the biggest independent companies in US hip-hop by building the careers of emerging artists like the Migos into household names. In an effort to take QC worldwide, a partnership with HYBE is lucrative, giving the Atlanta label access to key resources and global partners within the multinational company. Do you recognize the name Big Hit Entertainment or the K-pop boy band BTS? That’s HYBE.

Is this part of a larger plan?

No one makes $320 million dollar money moves unless there’s something in it for them. HYBE America is slowly but surely building a strong portfolio of companies, via acquisition, with existing influence and power in the US music and entertainment industry. In simple terms, say this was a monopoly game, HYBE is strategically buying up real estate on the board.

Their first purchase was Ithaca Holdings, founded by Scooter Braun. With Ithaca comes SB Projects, the management home to Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, the Kid Laroi, and Big Machine Label Group which boasts a roster of popular country artists. Braun became the sole CEO of HYBE earlier this year and brokered the deal with QC, leveraging his 20-year-long relationship with Coach K and P. This means HYBE now owns favorable real estate in hip-hop, pop, and country music.

There will likely be more announcements to come, as the timing of Justin Bieber’s $200 million back catalog sale for all his music prior to 2022, also brokered by Braun, could be coincidental or calculated.

Offset & J. Prince’s Unhinged Beef Continues

In case you missed it, J. Prince and Offset have been publicly feuding online via podcasts, Twitter, IG, and basically any public forum available. Offset previously told Prince to keep his family’s name out of his mouth, without the Will Smith slap, and Prince has responded.

In a new 2-minute-long IG video, Prince said a lot of things but the most interesting accusation involved Cardi B. Prince “reminded” Offset of the time he came to him asking for help with Cardi B’s performance in LA. Prince claims Offset was nervous about the LA location because Cardi had received threats from Crips for using the word “flue” in a 2018 social media post.

Naturally, Cardi B fired back on Twitter saying Prince’s claims were “fairy tales” and insisted the only people present for that performance were Wack 100 and Big U. It’s a classic he said, she said until Wack 100 jumped into the convo and backed up Cardi’s story with the below comment.

XXXTentacion Murder Trial: Everything You Need to Know

The trial of three men accused of murdering the late XXXTentacion began Tuesday after jury selection lasted a week longer than expected and more than four years after X was murdered outside a South Florida motorcycle shop on June 18th, 2018.

Who are the defendants?

Michael Boatwright, Dedrick Williams, and Trayvon Newsome are all facing first-degree murder and armed robbery charges. If found guilty, they could receive life sentences. Robert Allen was arrested alongside the defendants in the weeks following X’s murder but pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last year and will testify as part of the trial.

What evidence has been found?

Surveillance video from the motorcycle shop shows an SUV arriving at the store just as X and his step-uncle entered. Williams (defendant) and Allen (pleaded guilty) go inside shortly after, Williams makes a small purchase and they head back to the SUV. Almost 10 minutes later, X and his friend leave the shop and try to drive away but the SUV blocks them.

The prosecution will argue that Boatwright and Newsome were the gunmen that got out of the SUV and confronted X with Boatwright firing the shot that killed him. They believe Williams was the driver and a clerk at the motorcycle shop identified him. Boatwright’s fingerprints were found on the driver's door of the BMW that X was driving. Additionally, they’ve found cell phone data that links the defendants to the crime scene.

Surveillance video footage has been released of X at the bank earlier that day, withdrawing $50,000 in cash. The bag of cash was stolen from the BMW and there are social media posts from the night of June 18th showing some of the defendants flexing with large amounts of cash.

Who has testified so far?

Leonard Kerr, X’s step-uncle, took the stand on Tuesday, giving a detailed account of the shooting from his POV. His testimony lines up with the prosecution’s case, saying two men jumped out of the SUV with guns, and the taller one pointed a gun at him and said not to get out of the car. The other masked gunman was trying to take X’s chain and at that moment Kerr decided to make a run for it.

“If I run, I can get shot, but I can live. If I sit…” Kerr said before trailing off, allowing himself to regain composure from remembering the painful and traumatic experience.

Allen testified on Wednesday, claiming that Boatwright fired his gun at X delivering the fatal shots, and denied being hired by anyone to commit the robbery. He added that Boatwright and Newsome were hesitant to go ahead with the plan but Williams peer-pressured them by calling them soft for being scared.

Why is Drake involved?

The defendant's attorneys are arguing that Drake was a person of interest, due to his public feud with X, and cite negligence on the Broward Sheriff's Office for not further investigating Drizzy.

X once said on social media that if he ended up dead, Drake would be at fault. He later retracted that statement but their feud dates back to 2017 when Drake previewed his song “KMT” and fans began comparing his flow to X’s in “Look At Me!”.

The defense insists the timing of X’s murder, four months after 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, made it unappealing for detectives to investigate a celebrity. The Sheriff’s Office was under extreme political pressure to solve X’s case and make arrests quickly. There is no physical evidence linking Drake to the shooting.

Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy Award-Winning Fit

Kendrick’s highly publicized Grammys outfit, in which he accepted the award for Best Rap Album, keeps getting better as more details about the fit emerge.

  • Full Martine Rose F/W 23 runway look (debuted a month ago during Milan Men’s Fashion Week)

  • Martine Rose x Nike Shox MR4 (not available but previous colorways are on StockX)

  • Custom pgLang fitted cap adorned with Tiffany Paloma Picasso “Scribble” Graffiti Brooch and a Paloma Picasso “Gold” Graffiti Brooch (from the Tiffany archives)

  • Tiffany pendant with diamonds, colored diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires

  • Tiffany Soleste round diamond earrings

  • Rolex Oyster Perpetual Tiffany Blue watch

  • Keychain photo of Tupac Shakur (see pic below)