Hip-hop is the operating system of culture in 2026. We cover the music — releases, scenes, the records that move the culture — and the production side: who's making the beats, why a sound takes off, what's next. Plus we drop our own beats. 100 mastered tracks live in the Beat Store right now.
Three days before Halfway 2 Jesus drops, Kid Rock says Eminem is off '7 Sins' and onto 'Heal My Faith.' Lil Wayne takes the original slot.
The lead single from Disc 2 drops Friday. The deluxe gathers the alter-ego records from his eight-year gap, rebuilt with new verses.
BULLY (Deluxe) is reportedly entered for Album of the Year, with "FATHER" up for Record and Song of the Year. Nominations land Nov. 16.
The judge who presided over the case says she was interviewed for it. Kurrco says it's 90 minutes and directed by Shianne Brown. Netflix hasn't confirmed.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live, 50 Cent told the story of a flower arrangement from Diddy and his own reply. Plus what is and isn't confirmed about Combs's reported hospital visit.
Five years after the backstage stabbing at Once Upon a Time in L.A., the estate has reportedly ended its wrongful death suit against Live Nation and the festival's security and promoters. Terms are undisclosed.
On Power 106 he said another album is coming right after QROMELIFE, and the Migos and Takeoff projects are in the works.
50 Cent says Eminem passed on the Street Fighter soundtrack because of other plans, and reportedly let an album announcement slip. Details are thin.
She directed the 'Bombs' visual and posted a diary entry about a two-year build toward her debut album. No title, no date yet.
Judge Paige Whitaker says it's for Netflix and Passion Pictures, aimed at 2027. Here's what's confirmed and what's still chatter.
A clip from Oct. 9 has Boosie arguing his catalog beats anyone's. It follows his back-and-forth with Turk, and Wayne's name came up next.
Ferg posted that he finished a new album and asked who wants to distribute it. Rocky offered AWGE: 'U know where home is.'
All The Machines is giving away UN/T-01, an 808-style drum machine plugin. Drumforge's Kickforge is free for a limited time, too.
The battle rapper reportedly released a diss track targeting Papoose and boxer Claressa Shields. Context from the Remy Ma feud.
Reported for Friday, Oct. 16, ahead of DON'T BE DUMB (Disc 2). Here's what's actually been said.
Master P's tank ran on volume and a distribution deal that kept the masters. Cash Money's 1998 Universal agreement did the same thing with better lawyers. Both changed what a Southern label could demand.
Her "Bombs" video dropped Oct. 12 as part of Swap Sessions. The debut album has no title and no date yet.
Ferg posted that his new album is done and asked who wants to distribute it. A$AP Rocky answered in six words.
After 30 years, Duane 'Keffe D' Davis — the first person ever convicted for the 1996 shooting that killed Tupac — was sentenced to 40 years to life in Clark County. What actually happened, and what we still cannot confirm.
Wu-Tang Clan's The Disciple: A Wu-Tang Fable — a third in a line of Netflix documentaries — premieres Oct. 16, 2026, with the trailer dropping today. What's confirmed.
KenTheMan's I Love 304s landed Oct. 13, 2026 — a 5-track EP with the Houston area code in the title. What it is, what's unverified, and why it matters.
JPEGMAFIA's Experimental Rap Tour closes at The Tabernacle in Atlanta on Oct. 24, 2026 — the label's own finale. What's confirmed, what's not.
Beanie Sigel, Freeway, Memphis Bleek and the Young Gunz built the Roc's second wave. Two decades on, the stories they tell about that era are more valuable than the deals were.
Roc-A-Fella to Def Jam to Roc Nation, and the Reasonable Doubt fight that turned a friendship into a corporate-governance question.
Twenty-seven years on, the Brooklyn solo debut still sounds like a musician's record. The label that released it was funded by money from a very different world.
Lil Wayne sued Cash Money in 2015 over an unpaid advance and a shelved album. The paperwork exposed how an imprint deal really distributes money.
HotNewHipHop says the unreleased Watch the Throne-era cut is out there. What's reported, what isn't, and why it probably isn't dropping.
Dizaster vs. Rum Nitty, Calicoe vs. T-Top and Tay Roc vs. Illmac are set for NOME 16. What URL has confirmed so far.
Westbrook Studios and The Malar Group are developing '215,' set in late-1980s West Philadelphia. What's known so far.
Våld Labs' Ravik is in free public beta: eight channels, 47 engines, generative sequencing. AU, VST3 and iOS.
A Spotify listing, an Instagram Story hoodie, and no word from Rockstar. What's reported, what isn't confirmed.
Complex and HotNewHipHop now both report Ye performed three songs in Carti's ComplexCon set. What we know, what we don't, and the week ahead.
In a new i-D cover story, NBA YoungBoy says he'd quit right now, but his kids and his influence are keeping him in. What's said, and what isn't.
URL added Dizaster vs. Rum Nitty to the Oct. 25 Night of Main Events card in London, the same night as Tay Roc vs. Illmac.
On a Sept. 29 episode of Quiet Part Out Loud, Dame Dash described a final meeting with Jay-Z and claimed Reasonable Doubt rights were the ask. These are Dame's allegations.
Offset and Don Toliver's 'Every Night' is out and sits on the GMFU rollout. The album date is Oct. 23. Here's what we know.
An Oct. 6 filing says Chad Hugo's complaint can't say which songs he's owed on. Hugo's side says Pharrell held back Neptunes and N.E.R.D. money. No ruling yet.
MotorCity Casino sued over a $100,000 debt. Michigan's bad-check law could double it. The casino has until Oct. 23 to seek a default.
In an i-D cover story, NBA YoungBoy says the situation is bigger than him and that his legacy is his kids.
UVI Prisma, a $149 instrument, is free at Loot Audio while codes last. Våld Labs' Ravik drum synth is in free public beta.
Stones Throw released Donuts on Dilla's 32nd birthday and he died three days later. The story of how it was made is more complicated than a sampler on a bed tray.
GloVerse connects clients with hairstylists and makeup artists. Beta is live in Atlanta, full app targeted for December.
Thirteen years after Nipsey Hussle sold 1,000 copies at $100 apiece in a day, Proud2Pay still reads as the clearest argument any rapper has made about pricing.
Aaliyah in August 1996, Ginuwine in October 1996, Missy in July 1997. Three albums, one producer from Norfolk, and a rhythm nobody on radio had heard before.
Kanye and Just Blaze sped up Bobby Bland, the Jackson 5 and Bobby Byrd and built Roc-A-Fella's sound in two weeks. Every one of those records had an owner.
Fan footage shows Ye, Bianca Censori and Carti crossing the convention floor on day two. What's confirmed, what isn't, and Ye's court week.
Offset named the album GMFU and gave a date in an Instagram post. What he said, what's missing, and how it lands after Quavo's QRÖMELIFE.
Fans on RapVerdict gave Tay Roc the win 2-1, but Rum Nitty took Round 1 big. What the numbers say, what they don't, and the clips URL keeps posting.
The Pharrell-produced album lands Oct. 23 on Republic, with Clipse on 'Bodies on the Floor' and a Paris studio origin story.
A free envelope-based ducker with 16 curves, MIDI trigger and lookahead, plus Apogee's Soft Limit going free again. What each does and where to get them.
Digital Nas announced his retirement over royalties on Donda and Vultures, then said it's being handled. What he said, the paper trail, and what it means for every beatmaker.
URL posted Tay Roc's name flips on Rum Nitty from Summer Madness XVI. Here's what a name flip is, why the clip travels, and who owns the footage.
Polarity MEQ matches your mix to a reference. Soundins PhaXer fixes low-end that disappears in mono. Both are free, with formats and platforms.
At ComplexCon, Barker went West Coast on the album and named Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar and Lil Wayne as his GOAT rappers.
Roger Linn designed the MPC60 for Akai in 1988. J Dilla's MPC3000 sits in a Smithsonian case. Between them is the machine that standardized how hip-hop is built.
Four people were injured outside ComplexCon, Lucki took a neck laceration, and Complex has now issued a statement. Carti's camp is silent and no arrests have been announced.
A viral clip shows Lucki with an apparent neck injury after an alleged clash with Playboi Carti's entourage. No police, hospital or artist statement yet.
The $390.7 million run with SZA makes Kendrick the highest-grossing touring rapper in history.
Physical CDs reportedly circulated at the Sp5der booth. A fan clip shows a trap cut with Thug on vocals, but nothing is official and there is no stream yet.
On Raven-Symoné's Tea Time podcast, Chance said he's thinking about dropping 'Chance' from his name. Here's what he said, why, and what's still unconfirmed.
HotNewHipHop reports that fans are replaying Eminem's 2017 ultimatum after his feature on a Kid Rock track surfaced. What's known, and what isn't.
Applied Acoustics Systems rebuilt its free Player with a new browser, parameter editing and a starter library built on its physical-modeling engines.
A judge cut the award in the Chris Brown dog-attack case, and Maria Avila took the lower number instead of a third trial.
Thirty-two years after Common Sense and No I.D. made Resurrection, the album reads as the founding document of a Chicago production lineage that still prints money.
Kurrco posted the date Oct. 2. No title, no cover, no tracklist yet, and the Dominique question is wide open.
The producer joins Kodak Black, Denzel Curry and NLE Choppa in Republic's rap fighting game. The world premiere is Oct. 8 at NYCC.
The promoter confirmed it after a month of mixed messages. Refunds start Oct. 12, the same day as his civil trial.
Fourteen songs, Pharrell steering, and a feature list that runs from Future to Justin Timberlake.
On the Tea Time podcast he said he's weighing dropping "Chance" and letting the craft carry the name. Here's what he actually said.
Mass Appeal's stage adaptation of the 1984 hip-hop film has a director, a book writer, and a music supervisor.
URL is posting individual battles from the card, including Twork vs Ave and Chess vs Ill Will.
Nas and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani sat down for a short documentary on the Bronx School of Hip-Hop in Claremont.
Proud2Pay, a $100 mixtape, a smart store on Slauson and a stake in the plaza around it. The model was never about music revenue.
Compressors, EQs and two tape machines, free on Gumroad. Drum-bus people, this one's for you.
Ross surrendered Thursday on a felony battery-by-strangulation charge tied to an Aug. 28 incident at his Star Island home. He says the allegations are fabricated. A judge set bond at $5,000 and told his lawyer she had no idea who he was.
With QRÖMELIFE out, HotNewHipHop reports Quavo told Complex that a final Migos album built on Takeoff's recorded vocals, a posthumous Takeoff record and a Quavo-Takeoff joint project all land next year. Tyler says his 'Baby Breath' verse is top 25 ever. The first reviews are in.
After Reggie made allegations involving RaKai on a Sept. 30 IG Live, Kai Cenat went live, told him to take any evidence to police, and said he's filing a lawsuit. RaKai has denied the claims. Ray has left Clover.
Ken Carson closes his tour Saturday, Carti headlines Sunday, and Carti is co-artistic director with Hiroshi Fujiwara. Exclusive drops include Carti x I.AM.GIA and Carti x Mitchell & Ness NBA jerseys.
The first release since his bipolar diagnosis, rehab and his mother's death in August is a six-minute Phillip Youmans video shot in Atlanta. It ends on her voicemail.
Complex confirmed through Eminem's camp that '7 Sins' is an official track on Kid Rock's Christian rock album. The foreword frames it as two Detroit friends who disagree politically. Fans are split. Separately, Eminem has an NYCC capsule coming and an arcade game that's already playable.
TMZ reports FCI Fort Dix moved Sean Combs to the Special Housing Unit after an NBC News report alleged a contraband phone, massages and Hennessy. His release date is now Jan. 21, 2028.
Judge Fitzgerald signed the continuance Sept. 30, calling the case 'so unusual and so complex' that the Speedy Trial Act clock can't hold. The Nov. 4 bond review is now the date that matters.
The comedian fronts TIME's 2026 TIME100 Next list, with Mark Wahlberg writing the tribute. Ye congratulated him, and Druski answered with a clip from Ye's unaired 2007 HBO pilot. His movie with Kai Cenat and Kevin Hart is on Prime Video.
QRÖMELIFE is the headliner. Mac Miller's The Divine Feminine gets a 10-year deluxe, Victoria Monét drops 22 songs with SZA, and NoCap, Russ, Armani Caesar, Ari Lennox and WondaGurl fill out a thin fourth-quarter Friday.
Two years after City Girls, the solo debut has a date and a feature list: Quavo, G Herbo, Lil Baby, Kodak Black, Shenseea and Vybz Kartel. Two singles, '2008' and 'F U,' dropped at midnight.
On Instagram Live he said he was done with a business 'full of weirdos and snitches' and would open a restaurant. The follow-up reel: 'I AINT NEVER QUIT @ NOTHING!'
The 1984 film gets a musical with The Wiz director Schele Williams and Hell's Kitchen playwright Kristoffer Diaz, backed by Mass Appeal and the movie's original producers. Same week, Nas sat with Mayor Mamdani at the city's first public hip-hop high school.
Episode one of 'Exploring the Unexplored' finally aired Sept. 26 after the wind delay. He reportedly became the first streamer to go live from inside Þríhnúkagígur's magma chamber, lost a tug-of-war to a Viking, and announced in-person Streamer University auditions in Europe.
100 Entertainment says Virgin promised $500,000 to market the 2022 album and spent about $179,000, with nothing on radio. The suit, filed Sept. 30, says Game fronted costs that were then recouped from his own royalties.
Two Harlem legends who never battled for real met at Rone's 'The Nicest' in July, in a format where the bars are praise. The footage hit YouTube Oct. 1 and cleared 110,000 views in a day.
Thursday at Little Caesars Arena was night one of the North American leg of Tour Ma Vie. Latto, who opens the run, came out for their Big Mama duet, reportedly the first time they've done it live together. Chicago is Saturday.
Quavo and French Montana open the month on Oct. 2. Then everything worth clearing your schedule for lands on one Friday.
URL booked Tay Roc's next battle four weeks after Atlanta. Summer Madness XVI is out now on the URLTV app.
Developer Shnolk's Monomodule runs the original Elektron Monomachine DSP code inside an emulated chip. It's free, open source, and works on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Saturday, Oct. 31 is a stadium show in Houston, and the production is built around a spherical stage wrapped in Earth and moon visuals. The calendar leading up to it is crowded.
One post, no dates, no venues. Rod Wave says he already talked to YoungBoy about a stadium run, and the internet took it from there.
A free project from developer sd88me brings native VST2 plugins to the first-generation MPC Live, One, X, Key and Akai Force, with a Discogs browser in the mix.
Chief Keef and King Louie turned a South Side subgenre into an export. London remade it, Brooklyn imported it back, and the city that invented it got policed for it.
Charlamagne Tha God watched HBO's Jay-Z In 8 and came away angry — not at Hov, but at the man across the table. His problem: Rick Rubin's questions never pulled the real stuff out.
Quavo revealed his baby daughter at the end of Monday's QRÖMELIFE short film, then told Complex's Idea Generation that fatherhood gave him 'a new fire.' The album drops Friday, Oct. 2.
Two Meek Mill songs leaked over the weekend, so he posted both himself on YouTube. 'Philly Heathens' is getting love. His drill take on Nico & Vinz's 'Am I Wrong' is not.
On the STILL400 podcast, B.G. pitched a Hot Boys film in the Straight Outta Compton lane and Juvenile called out Warner Bros., Lionsgate and Universal by name. It's a pitch, not a deal, but the story is there.
Ultimate Rap League says Summer Madness XVI lands on the URLTV app Tuesday, Sept. 29. It's the sold-out Atlanta card with Tay Roc vs Rum Nitty 2 on top.
A developer got native VST2 plugins running on first-generation Akai MPC and Force units. It's free, open source, and it runs on the hardware itself.
DAWception is a free, open-source mini-DAW that loads as a VST3 plugin inside whatever you're already running — built to route around track-count limits like Live Lite's eight.
Twenty-eight years after the Bosstown sessions, the album that made Atlanta the center of rap is also a case study in what creative control costs.
An Instagram clip of "Ugly" tripled his usual reach in 48 hours, and the internet mostly wanted to talk about his looks.
Rich Homie Nard publicly asked Young Thug to forgive Rich Homie Quan. Thug answered in the comments: Quan is his brother forever, he never spoke on him, and players make mistakes too.
Offset walked into Quavo's surprise QRÖMELIFE listening session Sunday night and stood beside him as 'Away,' their first collab since Culture III, played. The album drops Oct. 2, and Quavo says a final Migos album is coming.
PoohMan, a 26-year-old tied to BloodHound and DrillCity, was chased and shot on Chicago's South Side hours after BloodHound Q50's funeral. No arrests, no motive named.
BigXthaPlug's fourth solo album, 'Better Over Time,' lands Oct. 30 via 600 Entertainment/UnitedMasters: 18 tracks, led by 'LITE' with Belly Gang Kushington, announced with a football-themed trailer.
The R&B singer was arrested Sunday night in Hollywood, Florida, on DUI, battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting charges — held for a hearing with no bond set and no official account of what happened.
In one week Lil Uzi Vert posted gym progress, called the next album 'one of my best,' and showed up in JT's date-night photo looking like somebody fans didn't recognize.
BLK Prime Boxing and promoter Skyy Myles say Blueface and Wack 100 streamed Chrisean Rock's pro boxing debut free on Kick instead of the $29.99 pay-per-view — and want him to pay for what it cost them.
YBK Audio's Instrument Player strips a DAW down to just the plugin — VST3 hosting, a searchable library and a five-minute MIDI buffer — free on Windows through October 19, then $10.
The Gang Starr method was a chop, a scratched hook and one studio in the Garment District. Premier bought that room in 2003 and lost it to condos in 2014.
In a Sept. 26 Instagram breakdown, Trippie Redd said labels are marketing developing rappers like the next Uzi or Juice WRLD — and admitted his own sound helped build the problem.
XXL's Freshman-issue "Doin' Lines" Q&A has Cash Cobain crediting 50 Cent as his entry point, naming Kanye West his favorite producer, and admitting spending money is the habit he can't shake.
Two weeks after Papoose's 'Jezebel' diss, Remy Ma surprise-dropped the six-track 'Alimony' EP, name-checked Nicki Minaj on the opener, then showed up to her release night wearing his song title on her back.
"Safe" beat Megan, Travis, Tyler and Don Toliver for Best Hip-Hop. Snoop hosted, Gunna debuted "High Noon" in a burning saloon, and "Chains & Whips" lost Best Collab to Madonna.
Ross's on-and-off girlfriend posted injury photos on her IG Story and wrote "he saw a punching bag." Ross hasn't responded. 50 Cent skipped the jokes: "domestic violence is not a joke."
Quavo posted the 14-song tracklist for the Pharrell-executive-produced 'QRÖMELIFE,' out Friday, Oct. 2: Future, Offset, Lil Baby, Yung Miami, Justin Timberlake, and Pharrell with Tyler, The Creator and A$AP Rocky on one song.
In episode 6 of HBO's 'JAŸ-Z In 8,' Rick Rubin plays 'Jail' from 'Donda' and Jay-Z talks through his verse, calling Ye 'one of the most brilliant creatives we're ever going to see.'
Rocky said in August that Ferg dropping the A$AP name hurt him. On Complex's 'In Motion,' Ferg answered: it's personal for Rocky, the tattoo is still on him, and the name change is about growing up.
URL turned street battles into a pay-per-view business with a global audience. The writers carrying it — Loaded Lux, Murda Mook, Tay Roc — are still negotiating one purse at a time.
Benjamin Provo's team wants Ye's mental-health defense kept out of the October 12 discrimination trial, and they're using Ye's own deposition to do it.
DDG got the key to Pontiac, Michigan in April, live on tour. Kendrick got Compton's a decade earlier, with a proclamation attached. Both are on record now.
ILIO and producer LifeStyleDidIt dropped a free ten-preset demo pack for Spectrasonics Omnisphere 3, built for modern R&B and trap soul.
QueenzFlip walked into Girls Love Karaoke with a Kick stream running. He walked out having been checked by Rory over a 'suckers' comment and cursed out by Remy Ma over his take on Papoose's 'Jezebel.'
Cardi and Jeffrey Azoff's Full Stop have split amicably, per TMZ. The four-year run covered the long road to a No. 1 second album. Her next team hasn't been named.
Kai's 'Exploring the Unexplored' series was set to go live Sept. 25. Reports say high winds pushed the launch to Saturday, Sept. 26, at 7 a.m. ET. It's his first international trip stream since Nigeria.
A masked, unannounced four-song set at SoFi Stadium on Friday night: 'Runaway,' 'All of the Lights,' 'Flashing Lights,' 'Can't Tell Me Nothing.' It's his first stage since the Soldier Field homecoming.
Primal is Young Thug's new creative holding company, built to create, buy and scale businesses with artists, athletes and creators, and to make sure the talent keeps equity. First ventures land in the coming months.
Two Fox News clips in two days: a direct-to-camera midterm ask that ends on 'vote red,' then a Lara Trump teaser calling Democrats 'petty and childish.' The Barbz are split.
OTF Jam, who testified for the prosecution in Lil Durk's murder-for-hire trial, threatened Memo600 in an IG Story. Memo fired back: you snitched and got life instead of doing three years.
At Variety's Power of Women summit, Latifah said an open casting call is on the way and the role might be split across different eras of her life. 'My life is exhausting.'
Dungeon Family to So So Def to snap and trap to the streaming era — four distinct sounds, one city, and a set of studios, clubs and radio relationships that made each handoff possible.
SoniX Audio's DRUMFLX is a free hip-hop, trap and drill sampler built by producer KXVI, who's worked with Future, SZA, 21 Savage and Lil Tjay.
In a sworn 12-page declaration filed in Manhattan federal court, the Jane Doe who sued Shawn Carter in 2024 says she never met him. Hov has dropped her from his malicious-prosecution suit, and the case now runs only against Tony Buzbee.
Kristina Khorram spent more than a decade running Sean Combs' world and was named by prosecutors as an alleged co-conspirator. Now she's reportedly on Usher's R&B Tour team, and two more ex-Combs staffers came with her.
DDG turned Hit-A-Thon 2 into an album. It came out September 25 with Lil Yachty, Real Boston Richey and 42 Dugg on it, days after a Slim Jxmmi security clip took over the timeline.
Updated Grand National Tour totals, now including Australia and Latin America, come to $390.7M from 2.037M tickets across 47 shows, the highest-grossing touring year by a rapper. TDE's Punch: "390 is nuts."
Ye's lawyers want the Oct. 12 Donda Academy trial moved to May 2027, citing St. Petersburg concerts that lost their venue and a key witness who was deported.
4Block Lil Mari was shot and killed on a Chicago bike path. Reports tie his death to a video mocking BloodHound Q50, who was killed September 13. Police haven't confirmed any link, and no one has been arrested in either case.
A nor'easter wipes out Ed Sheeran's two Foxboro shows at Robert Kraft's Gillette Stadium, the dates Macklemore was barred from. Ticket prices were already sliding, and every opener had already walked.
The VMAs air Sunday, September 27 from the Peacock Theater in LA. Snoop Dogg hosts. Cardi B & Kehlani, Megan Thee Stallion, Travis Scott, Tyler, The Creator and Don Toliver are up for Best Hip-Hop Video.
Two very different Friday albums: Tee Grizzley's 16-track They Forgot on 300, and Apollo Brown and Skyzoo's Luxury Tax, ten years after The Easy Truth.
50 Cent partnered with TCSJOHNHUXLEY on '50 Cent Headcrack,' a dealer-run casino version of Cee-Lo. It debuts at G2E in Las Vegas September 29 to October 1.
On a new VladTV segment, Vlad points to documents from Boosie's federal gun case and says they show him shifting blame to his security guard. It comes while Boosie is trying to get $300K back from the lobbyists he paid for a pardon push.
Native Instruments pushed a free Maschine 3.7 update with a Euclidean sequencer, note probability and a random note generator, plus a rage expansion built with Snipe Young.
Home Team, a Luke Records group, filed a federal suit September 21 saying Jermaine Dupri and Jacquees copied their 1992 'Pick It Up' on a 2023 song with the same name. Mass Appeal is named too.
High Schoolers LLC, OutKast's trademark company, filed a federal suit against Oakland's Ovrkast. on September 16 — he says he never signed the name-change deal they claim he broke.
No vibes-based ranking. Every placement here is attached to a specific record and a specific reason the record changed what came after it.
Tyrese Haliburton told Boardroom one big-name artist quoted him $750,000 for 30 minutes at his wedding. Fif showed up as a guest, heard about it, and ran the reception himself. No invoice.
An AI face-swap trend is dropping presidents, Breaking Bad and cats into Quavo and Takeoff's 2022 A COLORS SHOW. Quavo reposted the original Wednesday, and it went bigger.
The Shade Room says the couple married in a traditional Muslim ceremony. It looks like it happened around his 35th birthday in Vegas. Neither has said it on the record yet.
Three arena dates in late October, all proceeds to Palestinian aid groups. He says guest artists and U.S. dates are coming.
Turk says Boosie took his Cash Money/No Limit tour spot, his style and even his fade. Boosie laughed, then said Turk doesn't have a catalog. Turk answered with plaques.
Kewon White, serving life for Mo3's murder, told Cam Capone News he fired on Boosie in Dallas in 2020. Two days earlier, he filed notice of appeal.
Sky has commissioned a feature documentary built on the Keefe D prosecution, with Mopreme Shakur and family archive footage. Cameras stay on through the October 13 sentencing.
Thug spent the weekend at Next Level Boys Academy talking to young men already in the system, then worked the grill at a cookout for their families. His case was the lesson.
A spot on the Cash Money/No Limit Tour turned into a catalog argument, and the jabs landed both ways.
8Dio's free sampler plugin got its biggest update yet: a built-in sample editor called Brush, a 2,000-step arpeggiator, round robin and new effects. The one catch is a $69 looper.
At Atlanta's Next Level Boys Academy, Thug talked courtrooms, guns and faith, then served the food himself.
Thirty-five years on, Tribe's second album is remembered as a jazz-rap milestone. It was really a fight over management, bass frequencies and who gets believed.
Orie Lynn Hickson launched More to Life around mental health, economic opportunity and creative expression — an idea her son had first.
Five years after his PUMA run ended, J. Cole's first independent sneaker, the Dreamer Indie 5000, launches September 23 in his hometown. Made in Italy, no sportswear giant, no price announced.
Retronyms put out version 3.0 of Akai's iMPC Pro 2, free for owners. It now loads as an AUv3 plugin, splits songs into four stems, and plays nicer with the Files app. The catch: stems cost extra, and the Mac plugin crashes.
Thirty-four years after Whut? Thee Album, the Newark debut that Erick Sermon built still explains how apprenticeship worked before A&Rs replaced it.
On Baller Alert, Quavo said he and Offset are close to finishing a new Migos album, that it won't be another Culture, that a tour is coming, and that the group's January anniversary is the target. His solo QRÖMELIFE, produced by Pharrell, lands October 2.
Chicago's 7th Ward renamed 78th and South Shore for the Chicago State English chair and Gwendolyn Brooks Center founder. Ye unveiled it himself. Rhymefest, GLC and Don C were beside him.
A new nine-second clip of the unreleased Watch the Throne cut, with Ye rapping over the lavish European loop, leaked Monday via Kurrco. The song first hit the internet in 2019. The full record still hasn't.
High Schoolers LLC filed a federal complaint in Georgia on Sept. 16. It says the Oakland producer agreed to become OVERKXST and never did. His response: "I thought it was love."
Fourteen of fifteen counts are gone with prejudice. The ruling says nothing about what happened in 2012, only that the lawsuit came more than two years too late.
Seven years after a Swedish jail cell, the Don't Be Dumb World Tour landed at the Avicii Arena, the venue once called the Ericsson Globe, on Sept. 21. Rihanna was in the crowd.
Police showed up mid-livestream on September 19 while Nevaeh Akira and their infant son were in the house. Blueface's response: it 'comes with the game.'
The North London MC who won Best Hip-Hop Act at the 2005 MOBOs with no label, built Dcypha Productions, and put Ed Sheeran and KSI on before anyone else, passed on September 17.
'Holy Hands' Malone beat Ku'Shiyah Williams by second-round TKO in Baltimore on September 19. She turned down celebrity boxing to do it under a real license, with Gervonta Davis' trainer.
September 21 was a bumper day for free hardware emulators: an open-source Yamaha FS1R, a Nord Modular G1 running its real OS, and Joe Landers' Korg Prophecy, all alpha, all free. What a producer should actually download.
Two nights at Soldier Field, Sept 3–4. Night two ran three hours with Chief Keef, Common, Lupe, Travis Scott, Young Thug and a G.O.O.D. Music reunion — and the Bully run added Houston, Dallas and Phoenix.
Sept 21 in London. Loaded Lux vs Nu Jerzey Twork headlines, and Geechi Gotti vs Shotty Horroh just filled in the card. The biggest Black-owned league in battle rap is taking its flagship overseas.
Elektron's Outbox 8 is shipping — eight 1/4-inch audio/CV outputs over USB for Digitakt, Syntakt, Analog Rytm and any class-compliant box. If you sell beats, this is the trackout problem solved in hardware.
The murder-for-hire trial opened Aug 20. Closings are done. Jurors asked for the digital evidence. Durk faces life if convicted — and prosecutors have already said they'll fight to keep him held even if he's acquitted.
M.I.A. sued for $2.8M after Cudi cut her from the Rebel Ragers tour in May. On Sept 8 his lawyer told the court the case 'fails on its face' — a headliner picking who performs with him is protected speech.
'Westside Whimsy' opens atop the Billboard 200 dated Sept. 26 with 74,000 units, the first R&B album by a woman to lead the chart in 2026 and the first since SZA's 'SOS' left the top in May 2025.
Backstage at the iHeartRadio Music Festival, Cardi told The Breakfast Club she's stepping away after her November birthday to record, has two songs she likes, and plans to drop in 2027. Charlamagne asked if fans would wait eight years again. 'Nope.'
Ski Mask The Slump God was booked into Broward County Main Jail on Sept. 17 after a Florida Highway Patrol stop. He answered from his couch Saturday night with the fights on: 'I barely tapped one person.' The record lists four damage counts on each side.
On Forbes' 'The Enterprise Zone' Sept. 17, Gunna named his next album 'Splurge,' floated an October release, and dodged the question everyone asked after 'The Last Wun': what label is putting it out?
Benjamin Provo, the security guard who says he was fired in 2024 for refusing to shave his dreadlocks, has told the court his discrimination case is worth roughly $23 million in damages. Ye denies it. A jury hears it in October. Jakarta is 33 days out.
Three months after the Memphis producer was found in his Nashville apartment, the medical examiner's report lists a mix of kratom-derived compounds and ketamine. The manner of death is accidental.
A weekend of posts from Future stamped with one hashtag, the same one he used on an August tribute to his cousin, has the timeline convinced a follow-up to July's The Real Me is loading. Nothing is announced. Here's what he actually wrote.
'NEED FM' went live Sept. 15 with a real phone number and Set on the other end. 'Something I Need,' produced by Southside, Smatt Sertified and Jester Beats, followed Friday, Sept. 18 through Motown, his first solo record since 'Kiari.'
Announced Monday, Sept. 21: the fest returns to NOS Events Center for a 10-year anniversary weekend, Dec. 10-12, 2027, after skipping California entirely in 2026. Presale is Thursday at 11 a.m. PT, $10 holds a pass. Why it left Inglewood.
Jay-Z's company confirmed the management deal Monday, Sept. 21. Jackson answered with 'Thank You,' a black-and-white video shot on the iPhone 18 Pro with 30 fans picked from 80-plus countries. What Roc gets, and what he gets.
Four years after Arturia added a sampler and granular engine you couldn't feed, firmware 5.0 opens the door: drag in your own WAV, AIFF or FLAC (12-bit/32kHz, up to six seconds) and your own 512-point wavetables. Hardware and plugin, free.
Rehab in December, a gospel single in July, a baptism in August. On Sept. 17 the Brooklyn drill pioneer posted the part of the journey he says is the hardest, and the timeline lit up.
Eugene 'Big U' Henley Jr. allegedly refused to leave his cell for a Sept. 17 hearing on his lawyers' emergency bid to quit the case. U.S. District Judge Fernando Aenlle-Rocha signed an order allowing 'all reasonable force and restraints necessary.'
Mark Buol, who managed the Chicago rapper from 2021, filed in New York on Sept. 8 alleging diverted commissions, unreimbursed tour money, and hotel damage bills he says he ate. XXL obtained the 19-page complaint Sept. 17.
Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album lands Nov. 19 with the game. Six singles are out now, led by Travis Scott's 'RHYNO,' produced by Guy-Manuel of Daft Punk, plus Yung Lean with Future and Metro Boomin.
JAŸ-Z in 8 premiered on HBO Sept. 18. The clip that took over the weekend is Jay walking Rick Rubin through how a friendship became a coastal war, and the 'Brooklyn's Finest' line he asked Big to cut.
Six days after the acquittal, Judge Fitzgerald pushed the Oct. 5 VICAR trial and set a Nov. 4 bond hearing at the request of counsel. It's the first real opening toward release since October 2024.
Saturday night at Lincoln Financial Field, with every opener and his own band gone in solidarity with Macklemore, Sheeran apologized, called Gaza 'catastrophic, unjustifiable, and disproportionate,' and said venues pre-approving shows 'should never happen in the free world.'
On Sept. 18 Nicki sat with Laura Ingraham, called Trump 'very grounded,' and said she won't make excuses for supporting him. The same day she judged the SBA's $1M pitch finale in D.C.
A Daily Mail source says Roc Nation is 'having a hard time locking anyone down' for February's show at SoFi, with Jay-Z himself floated as a fallback. Read the sourcing before you believe the panic.
Rakim, Kurupt and Masta Killa's 15-track Godbody LP landed Sept. 18. The 'God Speak' interlude is the first Jay-Z and Eminem appearance on the same record since 'Renegade,' with one asterisk you need to read.
A dinner-table conversation ended up on Hot 97, and Kid Cudi spent two days cleaning it up. The apology is accepted. The version of what he said about Ye is not.
On a Sept. 18 stream, DJ Akademiks asked Adin Ross to book Akademiks vs. Meek Mill and Doodie Lo vs. 6ix9ine for Brand Risk. The Durk-verdict feud now has a proposed venue.
No Rest For The Wicked is out with Tyler, The Creator and no Kendrick verse. On Bootleg Kev, Chike explained why: Kendrick and Sounwave built the album's shape, moved 'God's Favorite' to track three, and cut what didn't serve it.
The $550 tracker that lo-fi and drill producers have been carrying in a hoodie pocket is now an app. Same eight tracks, same five synth engines, same sampler, and songs move between phone and hardware.
CEO Grip, a business partner in Collective Music Group and a longtime figure beside Yo Gotti, died this week. Boosie, Moneybagg Yo, 42 Dugg and YFN Lucci led the tributes. No cause has been announced.
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