YNW Melly’s Defense Blocks More Evidence

Big Slime isn’t free yet but he is releasing an album at midnight tonight 🐍 Drake’s rumored to be one of the features on Young Thug’s first album since 2021. In other news today:

• Song streams & revenue 📈 

• YNW Melly’s defense blocks more evidence ❌ 

• Why Pharrell’s LV debut is relevant to rap & Kanye 💧 

• Gunna denies snitching & Young Thug announces jail album 🐍 

• 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 June 2nd to 15th.

No new song entries but lots of 2-week revenue for recent releases. Lil Durk surpasses the 150K mark with 35M streams of “All My Life”. Latto and Cardi B’s collaboration generated almost 100K from 20M streams in the first two weeks. Metro Boomin stacks almost 200K from the 2 most popular songs off his Spider-Man soundtrack.

YNW Melly’s Defense Blocks More Evidence

It’s the second week of YNW Melly’s trial and the prosecution’s expertise mirrors that of an advanced yoga teacher—stretching evidence with expert testimony.

The warm-up consisted of the logistics of cell phone tracking in an effort to prove a specific phone belonged to Melly, followed by a masked undercover agent with expertise in organized crime weighing in on Melly’s alleged gang affiliations.

The prosecution fumbles evidence

On Tuesday, the prosecution focused on a cell phone tracked to a location in a desolate area that had evidence a shooting had occurred. Their point? That the phone belonged to Melly, therefore, placing him at the crime scene.

The defense rebuked this in cross-examination and clarified that cell phones are tracked to a location radius—the size of a football field—and it doesn’t prove a person’s physical location.

On Wednesday, the prosecution pivoted to Melly’s DNA found on the car’s door handle. Except it was ruled a discovery violation in another L for the prosecution. Here’s why: Melly’s DNA sample was initially negative, results were shared with the defense, it was re-submitted for analysis after the start of the trial and results were positive but not shared with the defense. Violation means the information will be excluded from the trial.

Witness wears a Shiesty mask in court

Today in court (June 22), the prosecution called undercover detective Danny Polo to the stand to testify about his training and experience with gangs. Polo took the stand in a full Shiesty mask to protect his identity claiming there’s a “$50,000 bounty on his head”. A juror was triggered by the appearance of the ski mask bringing back memories of watching a crime committed by someone in a mask years before.

During Polo’s testimony, he reviewed Melly’s alleged messages and identified the language commonly associated with the G-Shine Bloods gang.

Context for those of you out touching grass

You may remember that the prosecution’s opening statement alleged Melly was a member of the G-Shine Bloods set and was learning the gang’s oath of loyalty two days before the murders occurred. They alluded to Melly showing behavior “indicative of blood membership” by stacking gang signs with his hands and avoiding the letter “c” in communications because it’s associated with the rival Crips gang.

Why this matters

The allegations of Melly’s gang membership are crucial to his sentencing. If he’s found guilty, the case will enter the penalty phase where the prosecution presents aggravating factors to support the death penalty and the defense argues against it. Melly allegedly acting as a gang member when he killed his friends is an aggravating factor the prosecution could leverage.

In Flordia, the jury must unanimously agree on a guilty verdict and the existence of one aggravating factor but only 8 out of 12 jurors need to be in agreement to recommend the death sentence. The final sentencing decision is made by the judge but the jury’s recommendation is historically influential.

Why Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton Debut is Relevant to Rap & Kanye

It’s Phasion week in Paris as Skateboard P made his official Louis Vuitton debut taking over the menswear creative director position previously held by the late Virgil Abloh. Even if you’re not fashion-obsessed, the highly publicized event was impossible to ignore, and for good reason—let’s dive in.

Flexing his decades of experience, Pharrell brought the intersection of music and fashion to life, swapping models for rappers, front-row celebrities for artists, and mundane runway soundtracks for Kanye-inspired choirs and unreleased Pusha T disses.

Pharrell’s Phamous Phriends

The show’s guest list had more main characters than the trending topics on Twitter. A$AP Rocky, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Tyler, the Creator, Offset, Swizz Beatz, Skepta, Lewis Hamilton, and LeBron James all showed up to support. Meanwhile, UK Rapper Dave and Clipse duo—Pusha T and Malice—walked the runway.

An unreleased Clipse track boomed through the speakers, the first in over a decade, as Pusha and Malice walked side-by-side, iconically previewing new music at the only fashion show that matters to rap. At the same time, Jay-Z bopped his head in the front row—shown in the clip below.

In true form, Pusha’s verse had a diss aimed at Jim Jones, likely a response to Jones’ comments, earlier this year, that Pusha didn’t deserve his spot on Billboard’s Top 50 Rappers of All-Time list. It remains to be seen if the song, titled “Chains ‘n Whips”, will get an official release this Friday or if it’s part of a forthcoming reunion album from Clipse.

Kanye’s influence endures

A viral moment that emerged from the show was an interaction between Swizz Beatz and Pharrell. Correcting Swizz’s praises, Pharrell said, “The Louis Vuitton Don is the one great Kanye West, period.” It would be an oversight not to acknowledge the show’s Gospel choir as a page taken out of Kanye’s book.

The choir, Voices of Fire, led by Pharrell’s uncle, Bishop Ezekiel Williams, emerged halfway through the show and sang the new Pharrell song “Joy (Unspeakable)”. The live performance, reminiscent of Kanye’s trademark Sunday Services, elevated the show from fashion to luxury entertainment. What rapper, other than Pharrell, is best known for creating culture-shifting experiences by merging fashion and music? Kanye.

Context for those of you out touching grass

Before luxury fashion came streetwear. Pharrell has a credible claim to the popularization of streetwear, launching 2000s brands BAPE and Billionaire Boys Club into the mainstream. Then came collaborations with Adidas, Moncler, G-Star, Chanel, and Tiffany proving his design skills aren’t limited to a category or price point.

Pharrell’s Louis Vuitton debut is a full circle moment because 20 years ago, then-creative director Marc Jacobs tapped Pharrell and Nigo to design a collection of sunglasses for LV. They created the Millionaire shades, released in 2014, which became a part of LV’s history and were recreated by Virgil during his time at the brand.

Why this matters

What Pharrell brings, that a classically trained designer would not, are his connections and ability to impact culture far beyond the fashion verse. It’s been a minute since high fashion has been borrowing from rap for relevancy but the authentic integration of both can only come from a creative like Pharrell—who has a firm foothold in both worlds. Virgil Abloh had a similar background and it’s what made his time at the luxury brand so historic.

Unfortunately for Kanye, his volatile opinions makes him too much of a liability to occupy the same position as Pharrell or Virgil but his influence on the culture is undeniable and will be borrowed from for years to come.

Gunna Denies Snitch Allegations & Young Thug Announces New Album

Merely a week after Gunna dropped his post-jail album a Gift & a Curse, Young Thug surprised Atlanta rap fans by announcing his still-in-jail album Business Is Business drops tonight (June 22). The cover art, depicting Thug in court with his co-defendants on either side, represents the YSL RICO indictment that turned both rappers' lives upside down.

Thug’s announcement, from the cryptic QR code to cover art, has been promoted by Metro Boomin, Drake, 21 Savage, G Herbo, and Gunna. It’s the kind of support Gunna’s album severely lacked, as he continues to be alienated from the industry, but it’s also what fueled his lyrics.

Rather than feeding into online beef, Gunna didn’t respond to the dirt thrown on his name by hopping on a podcast—he put it on wax. On a Gift & a Curse, Gunna is all alone with no features or his usual producers (Wheezy and Southside), proving he can do it on his own.

From “back to the moon” at the beginning and “turned your back” at the end to the 5-track flex between “ca$h $hit” and “p angels”—Gunna delivers his velvet mellowed-out raps with a vengeance. Not to mention, the immaculate transition from “fuckumean” to “rodeo dr”. His return highlights his significance to the last 5 years of rap and the gap no other melodic rapper could fill in his absence.

The album is on pace to hit 78,000 album equivalent units for first-week sales debuting at #2 on the Billboard 200. It’s the best first-week debut for any rap album with no features since NBA YoungBoy’s 2021 album Sincerely, Kentrell.

Context for those of you out touching grass

In December, Gunna accepted an Alford plea and was released from jail. The Alford plea, which allows a defendant to maintain their innocence, doesn’t imply cooperation with the government but it does usually require the defendant to affirm a series of statements.

For Gunna, the statement was, “YSL is a music label and a gang and [I] have personal knowledge that members or associates of YSL have committed crimes in furtherance of the gang.” Many rappers view the admission of YSL as a gang as snitching and Gunna’s statement as a danger to Young Thug and other codefendants when the case goes to trial.

Why this matters

It’s been nothing but silence from Young Thug since Gunna’s release. He hasn’t denied or confirmed the state of his relationship with the rapper he mentored but his word will likely determine Gunna’s fate. Thug’s co-sign would bring Gunna back into the good graces of the industry but his disassociation would make the hill Gunna’s climbing almost impossible.

Thug will have to be careful with his words on Business is Business, given his ongoing incarceration, but he has something to say. If rappers' words are meant to be taken literally, like the prosecution is arguing in the YSL RICO case, then Gunna's album is a reflection of how any victory in the legal system is pyrrhic—won at such a great cost it’s not worth it—and Thug’s album could determine the final price.

• Ice Spice reportedly turned down XXL’s 2023 Freshman class due to a busy schedule. The list includes GloRilla, Central Cee, Pi’erre Bourne, Lola Brooke, and more.

• Spotify to launch more expensive ‘supremium’ tier that includes HiFi audio. The new tier will first roll out in non-US markets later this year.

• André 3000 has a solo debut album on the way, according to Killer Mike. The two recently teamed up for “Scientists & Engineers” on Mike’s new album Michael.

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