VIEWS GOES PLATINUM IN A WEEK
In its first week Drake’s ‘Views’ went certified platinum and with the kind of units it’s moved so far, the album figures to go multiplatinum soon.
According to Drizzy’s label, Republic Records, ‘Views’ sold over a million units and was streamed over 250-million times on Apple Music in ironically, 6ix days.
The success of this album has Drake sitting on a pedestal in the hip-hop game, with numbers that only big Pop stars like Taylor Swift and Adele are able to conquer.
Mainstream songs on the album “One Dance,” “Hotline Bling,” and “Controlla” really helped propel sales and streams for the album.
‘Views’ is officially the most successful urban album of the year thus far. The album tops sales of Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’, Kanye West’s ‘The Life of Pablo’ and Rihanna’s ‘Anti’.
Drizzy will go on to host Saturday Night Live on May 14th. The second time the rapper will do so.
Watch these hilarious skits from the last time he hosted:
FORBES HIP-HOP FIVE LIST
Forbes released their annual “Forbes Five: Hip-Hop’s Wealthiest Artists” list with some familiar names and a new one.
Diddy topped the list with an estimated net worth of $750-million for his stakes in Ciroc vodka, Revolt TV network, Aquahydrate alkaline water and SeanJohn clothing.
Dr. Dre came in at No. 2 with $710-millon much of which came with the sale of his Beats by Dre headphones brand to Apple. Last year’s N.W.A. biopic also reeled in a nice amount of revenue. In addition he also has stocks in Apple and a plethora of real estate in Southern California.
Jay-Z cruised in at No. 3 with $610-millon for his TIDAL streaming service that has over 3-million subscribers and also a slew of other business ventures including D’usse and Ace of Spades champagne.
At No. 4 was Bryan “Birdman” Williams with $110-million for the success of multiplatinum selling artists: Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicki Minaj. Put some “respeck” on that.
The final and newest member of the list at No. 5 is OVO head-honcho, Drake with $60-million. The music sales definitely helped, but Drizzy owes most of it to touring and partnerships with Jordan, Apple and Sprite.
The combination of the moguls totaled over $2-billion combined.
50 Cent’s recent bankruptcy struggles kept him off the list this year.
See the full breakdown HERE.
KANYE GOING ON ‘TLOP’ TOUR
Kanye West already has one of the most successful albums of the year with ‘The Life Of Pablo,’ and he is looking to follow the success with a tour.
He teased ‘The Life Of Pablo’ tour on Steve Harvey’s show Tuesday saying he could be hitting the road in September.
“My tour game is unprecedented,” he bragged to Harvey. “So we’re going to go out in September I believe, and we’re just working on some of the ideas right now.”
I’m excited to see the kind of creativity he will exude for the tour, from the merch to the stage design.
The tour is only in the planning stages, so there are no dates out or opening acts on the bill as of now. Although, it is safe to assume he will probably take his artist Desiigner on tour with him after the success “Panda” has had.
FRENCH MONTANA SIGNS TO EPIC RECORDS
Epic Records has been busy adding to their roster lately with the recent signings of DJ Khaled, Rick Ross and Puff Daddy. The label announced this week that French Montana was the newest signee.
The partnership of Puffy’s Bad Boy Records with Epic had a lot of influence in the signing of Montana, being he is also signed to Bad Boy. Take that, take that, take that.
It’s been three year’s since Montana dropped a studio album, in the meantime he’s been supplying the streets with anthems like, “All The Way Up,” and mixtapes.
His next album will have the Epic Records stamp on it.
Excited to announce my new partnership with @badboyrecords x @epic_records! Thank you @iamdiddy & @la_reid pic.twitter.com/QsyLo9mulY
— French Montana (@FrencHMonTanA) May 5, 2016
SPACE JAM 2 TO STARR LeBRON JAMES?
Several sources have confirmed that Space Jam 2 will be starring LeBron James, but according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst “no deal is in place,” although a deal is expected to be done soon.
The director of Fast & Furious, Justin Lin, was announced Monday as the director for the upcoming sequel.
Space Jam came out in 1996 and raked in $230.4-million worldwide and starred Michael Jordan in a box office monster that has since became a classic.
LBJ looks to be MJ’s successor in the series. Let’s see if James can come close to the success Jordan brought to the film, because he hasn’t been able to match it on the court.
@IamBNyce