Kendrick Lamar Ignites Drake and J. Cole Beef Alongside Future and Metro Boomin

Kendrick Lamar unloading the clip on J. Cole and Drake was on no one’s 2024 bingo card. Future and Metro’s We Don’t Trust You album has started a rap civil war. In other news today:

• Song streams & revenue 💰️ 

• Kendrick Lamar ignites historic beef with Drake and J. Cole 🔥 

• Ye or Drake: who does the 4batz remix better? 🤔 

• James Blake backs platform rival to streaming services 😳 

• New Music Friday releases 💿️ 

• Industry Insights 📈 

Song Streams & Revenue

It’s a new week and a new song revenue chart. As reported by Hits Daily Double, which tracks streaming revenue week over week, the above chart reflects the streaming period from March 8 to 14.

4batz and Drake’s remix gets a boost, jumping from $31K last week to $89K from 19M streams. Kanye & Ty Dolla $ign’s “Carnival” stays in the six-figure revenue range, earning $132K from 28M streams.

Kendrick Lamar Unloads Shots at Drake & J. Cole on ‘We Don’t Trust You’

Kendrick Lamar absolutely smoked Drake and J. Cole in his surprise verse on “Like That” from Future and Metro Boomin’s album. The album has hidden features (The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Young Thug, Playboi Carti), but Kendrick’s is the only thing you’ll see on your timeline for the foreseeable future.

Kendrick said I heard your big 3, and I’m not 2 or 3—hip-hop is ALIVE. Let’s unpack this historic diss.

There are many references to “First Person Shooter,” and while J. Cole didn’t directly diss Kendrick in his verse, the song itself asserts Drake and J. Cole on top—leaving Kendrick where? 

Drake’s “FPS” verse also insinuates that he and J. Cole own the GOAT title. Their audacious boasting, joint tour, and overall “big as the what?” energy lit a vengeful fire under Kendrick’s ass. 

Kdot’s Prince and Michael Jackson reference lets both rappers know their work won’t outlive his. Prince outlived MJ by almost seven years, and they had a well-documented beef—just like the one we’re watching play out before our eyes.

This feels extra spicy coming from Kendrick. He’s typically unproblematic, dropping introspective lyrics about trauma and healing, so when he pops off it hits different. His feature was the lethal sniper no one saw coming.

What do Metro Boomin and Future have to do with this?

There’s been whispers of a Drake and Metro feud for months. Hours before the album dropped, Metro finally unfollowed Drake on IG (in preparation for the chaos he was about to unleash?), and if there were a beat to score the sound of revenge, it would be “Like That.”

Future, has no documented beef with Drake, but he’s day ones with Metro. They both played a pivotal role in shaping each other’s careers and the sound defining the 2010s era of Atlanta rap as legendary. 

You may have noticed the Future x Drake collabs have slowed down since 2022 and they used to appear on each other’s projects regularly. 

The title, We Don’t Trust You, carries more weight with this diss. Future voices the iconic, “If young Metro don’t trust you, I’m gon’ shoot you,” and he seems to be backing his claim. 

21 Savage will have to pick a side soon, is he team Metro x Future x Kendrick or team Drake x J. Cole?

Drake or Ye: Who Does the 4batz Remix Better?

Death, taxes, and Ye beefing with Drake are three things that are certain in life. Almost two weeks after 4batz dropped the “act ii: date @ 8” remix with Drake and announced a newly-signed EP deal with OVO, Ye entered the chat.

A snippet of Ye rapping on 4batz’s “act iii: on god? (she like)” has surfaced on X. If released, 4batz might have the most legendary 5-song debut of any new artist, snagging a Drake AND Ye feature.

Ye recently gave Drake a good ‘ol “fuck Drake” shoutout in an IG caption, confirming the beef is alive and well. You have to wonder if the OVO EP deal had a non-compete clause because it feels like a conflict of interest for these two remixes to be true at the same time.

Ye x 4batz

The snippet is not the first time the two artists have been linked. At the beginning of 2024, clips of 4batz on FaceTime with Ye went viral. Less than a few weeks later, Ye gave 4batz the next-up co-sign while speaking to the paparazzi.

Ye’s short snippet, “You can’t get me mad, you can’t get no better than me bitch, I’m the best you had,” shows promise using his cadence and rhythm to match the slow beat.

Drake x 4batz

Drake only hopped on the 4batz train recently, at least publicly. He began teasing demos of his remix a week before it was officially released on March 8. The remix was an obvious promo leading up to the announcement of the OVO EP deal within days. 

The remix itself was underwhelming. Drake rapping on a slow beat? Groundbreaking. Listen to Drake’s “Act ii” remix here (Apple Music & Spotify), and let us know below which one you think is better.

James Blake Puts His Money Where His Mouth With Rival Streaming App

Shortly after sharing his unfiltered thoughts on how the streaming era devalues music and severely underpays artists, echoed by Kanye and Tyler, the Creator, James Blake has a solution to propose. 

Enter Vault.fm, a platform for artists to share their unreleased music directly with fans. For $5 USD a month, fans can hear music he hasn’t released on any other platform. TLDR Vault is the OnlyFans of music, find out what makes it different below.

How does Vault challenge other streaming platforms?

“It’s music direct from me to you, where no one can gatekeep what I release or delay my releases. For context, I’ve had to wait sometimes six months to be given the green light to release music,” Blake said in a video accompanying the announcement. 

Think of an official music release as a family tree. If you’re a teenager and you need permission from your “if you had fun yesterday, you can’t have fun today” parents to do something, an artist’s label is your parents' permission.

But it’s not just about the rents, a sample clearance is like getting the green light from your second cousin, twice removed, who’s hard to get in contact with.

Then, all your permission slips must be shipped to your grandparents, who only communicate via mail and live in Nebraska—these are the distribution companies and streaming services.

Do artists make more money from Vault?

According to James, yes. Depending on the platform, artists currently make between $0.003 USD and $0.005 USD per stream. One million streams only comes out to about $3K. Our song streams and revenue chart at the top of this newsletter give you a good idea of the discrepancy between the numbers. 

“If you’re signed to a label, then imagine that number is cut at least 50 percent. And after management cut, which is between 15 to 20 percent, and taxes and recording overheads, it’s just not sustainable for an artist to focus just on their art,” Blake said during his Music 101 video. 

TLDR: Vault cuts the middleman fees out and monetizes music at a fairer price than streaming.

New Music Friday

Future and Metro Boomin have hidden features throughout We Don’t Trust You. The Weeknd, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, and more make an appearance. Here’s all the music you can listen to now—categorized by 💿️ for albums and 🎶 for singles:

• 💿️ We Don’t Trust You by Future, Metro Boomin

• 💿️ Heavy by Sir

• 💿️ Not Now, I’m Busy by Joyner Lucas

• 💿️ Memento (Deluxe) by Joony

• 💿️ TYLA by Tyla

• 🎶 “All Love” by LUCKI

• 🎶 “Save Me” by YNW Melly

• 🎶 “Precision” by Big Sean

• 🎶 “I Got You” by Russ

• 🎶 “The Quest” by Mac Miller

• 🎶 “Shy Kid” by Babyface Ray

• Dr. Dre confirms a new Eminem album is releasing later this year. During his first late-night TV appearance in 30 years, he shared details about his work on Eminem’s 12th album.

• Apple sued by US Department of Justice over iPhone monopoly claims. The complaint says Apple maintains a monopoly by making its products more attractive and discouraging competitive innovation.

• Bryson Tiller announces self-titled album and North American tour. To celebrate the news, he also dropped the project’s third single, “Calypso.”

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