LeBron James & Serena Williams Named in YSL RICO trial

It’s almost Savage season, and 21 Savage is still dropping baby pics of his featured artists like Infinity Stones. In other news today:

• Song streams & revenue 💰️ 

• LeBron James & Serena Williams named in YSL RICO trial 🐍 

• 21 Savage reveals American Dream featured artists 👶 

• Kodak Black wasn’t lying about his arrest ❌ 

• New Music Friday releases 💿️ 

• Industry Insights 📈 

Song Streams & Revenue

It’s a new Thursday 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 Dec 29 to Jan 4.

Jack Harlow’s “Lovin On Me” is back at #1 and earned $104K from 22.7M streams last week. Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 success continues, with “FTCU” earning $59K from 12.9M streams and “Everybody” earning $45K from 9.8M.

LeBron James & Serena Williams Named in YSL RICO LeTrial

“Lifestyle” by Rich Gang ft. Young Thug was blasting in the YSL courtroom today as Thug’s lawyer, Brian Steel, continued his cross-examination of YSL’s co-founder Slug. LeBron James’ slime handshake, Serena Williams’ crip walk, and a fan screaming “FREE YOUNG THUG” from the courtroom Zoom mark the memorable moments from this week’s LeTrial.

Steel has spent the last few days casting reasonable doubt on Slug’s testimony and Thug’s alleged gang associations. Steel asked Slug if he was familiar with Lebron and his slime handshake, which he had posted on social media. He then asked Slug if he was familiar with Serena Williams and the crip walk she did at Wimbledon.

Slug didn’t overtly address the slime handshake or crip walk, but Steel’s line of questioning was to establish for the jury that a lot of celebrities use gang symbols because it’s part of entertainment culture, but it doesn’t make them a criminal.

In doing so, Steel is trying to delegitimize the evidence of Thug allegedly throwing gang signs in photos and videos.

He also questioned Slug about Thug’s fashion choices, referring to images from photoshoots and the JEFFREY album cover, wearing the color blue. This was to oppose the narrative that Thug wore the color red to show his allegiance to the Blood gang because blue is the color of their rivals, the Crips.

Lastly, Steel asked Slug about circumstances outside of being guilty that may have influenced him to take a plea deal, including

• Having 3 children with 3 different mothers that he was unable to support while incarcerated 

• His first lawyer, who was prepared to go to trial, dropping the case due to health issues

• He had no lawyer for trial and no way out of jail without the plea deal

The insinuation of the questions and responses is that Slug never wanted to take the stand or plead guilty, and he’s one of the prosecution’s key witnesses. The trial is adjourned until Jan 22 and will open with the rest of Slug’s cross-examination.

21 Savage Reveals ‘American Dream’ Features

21 Savage announced his American Dream album only a week before its scheduled release. The trailer for his coinciding feature film of the same name was soundtracked by new music from the rapper.

Taking an Illmatic approach to the cover art, 21 used his baby photo plastered with immigration document-like text. Keeping the baby pic theme, 21 began teasing his collaborators by dropping childhood pics of the featured artists, including:

• Young Thug

• Brent Faiyaz

• Summer Walker

• Lil Durk

• Travis Scott

• Mariah the Scientist 

• Burna Boy

• Metro Boomin

• Doja Cat

What else is known about the album?

Metro Boomin contributed to production, but it’s unclear how much of the album was produced by Metro. The duo has three collab projects together (Savage Mode, Savage Mode II, Without Warning) and a shared affinity for murder rap over dark and ominous beats. 

The inclusion of Summer Walker and Mariah the Scientist suggests that 21 might be in his R&B bag for a few songs, which would double as a good soundtrack for tragic parts of the film. It’s no secret that 21 loves R&B music, hopping on IG live earlier this week to serenade viewers with some off-key karaoke.

Kodak Black Wasn’t Lying About His Arrest

When Kodak Black was arrested last month for drug possession, tampering with evidence, and probation violation, fans weren’t surprised. Kodak’s lawyer, Bradford Cohen, insisted the arrest was an abuse of power for filing the wrong charges, but the news and Kodak’s mugshot had already gone viral.

Turns out, Kodak was wrongfully accused of cocaine possession. The initial police report said he was found sleeping in his car outside his house, and he was caught trying to discard a white powder. The same powder was found in his mouth and field-tested positive for cocaine.

A new lab report proves Kodak’s white powder was Oxycodone, which he allegedly has a prescription for. As a prescribed drug, it’s not illegal or a probation violation to be in possession of it.

The results align with the original claims made by Kodak’s lawyer. In a statement on IG announcing the results, Cohen said, “We will be seeking a new bond hearing and addressing these unethical practices by the police department.”

Kodak remains behind bars at the Miami Federal Detention Center until his charges are figured out.

New Music Friday

This feels like the first real NMF of 2024. Starting with 21 Savage’s first solo album since 2018. Here’s all the music you can look forward to—categorized by 💿️ for albums and 🎶 for singles:

• 💿️ American Dream by 21 Savage

• 💿️ INSANO by Kid Cudi

• 💿️ The Book of Clarence (soundtrack) by Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, D’Angelo, Kodak Black & more

• 💿️ How Do You Sleep At Night? (deluxe) by Teezo Touchdown

• 💿️ Rolling Stone by D-Block Europe

•  💿️ Growth & Development by 22gz

• 🎶 “Fallout” by Lil Yachty, Joey Bada$$, Gud Dapperton, Lyrical Lemonade

• 🎶 “I Want You Forever” by Jay-Z, D’Angelo

• 🎶 “Baby Boi” by Playboi Carti (rumored)

• 🎶 “Told Ya” by Lil Tjay

• 🎶 “Bron” by Benny The Butcher

• 🎶 “Birds Calling” by Kevin Gates

• 🎶 “Yung Joc” by Luh Tyler, TiaCorine

• SoundCloud is reportedly looking to sell for $1B. The platform’s majority owners are said to be in talks with investment banks.

• Jay-Z, Lil Wayne & Kodak Black lead the star-studded ‘Book of Clarence’ soundtrack. The film and soundtrack, co-produced by Jay-Z, arrives on January 12.

• Playboi Carti bumps Biggie in a new Smack DVD-inspired video. Posted on IG, Carti emulates the up-and-coming rappers who would appear on the nostalgic 2000s tapes.

Like sports? 🏀 🏈 Get up-to-date analysis and unique insight that’s actually interesting to read with the Playmaker Newsletter.