Adidas CEO Defends Kanye While the Rapper Previews New Music at LFW

Kanye’s recent sidequest at London Fashion Week led to a preview of unreleased music, which you can find below. In other news today:

• Song streams & revenue 💰️ 

• Kanye debuts new music at LFW & Adidas CEO defends him 👟 

• Tory Lanez poses for new mugshot 😬 

• Playboi Carti, Destroy Lonely & more are featured on this album 🤫 

• New Music Friday releases 💿️ 

• 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 September 8th to 14th.

Doja Cat and Gunna hold the #1 and #2 spot, respectively, earning $110K and $80K. Cardi and Megan Thee Stallion’s new song, “Bongos,” debuted with $54K from 11M streams. Travis Scott had a combined $98K revenue from 20M streams of “I Know?” and “Meltdown.”

Adidas CEO Defends Kanye While the Rapper Previews New Music at LFW

“I don’t think he’s a bad person,” said Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden when speaking about Kanye on a recent podcast. Going down memory lane, Gulden reflected on the dissolution of Adidas’ partnership with Kanye and shared his POV on the scandal that caused multiple brands to break up with the rapper.

Calling Kanye “one of the most creative people in the world” and pointing to his success in music and street culture, Gulden gave Kanye his flowers for the creation of Adidas’ Yeezy line. But admittedly, Kanye made some wrong statements (referring to his antisemitic remarks), and Adidas was forced to break the contract and withdraw Yeezy products.

“Very unfortunate because I don’t think [Kanye] meant what he said,” Gulden weighed in from a third-party perspective, as he only became CEO in November 2022, shortly after Adidas’ split from Kanye.

It’s no secret that Adidas is still hurting from the breakup. They would have posted a $764 million loss for the second quarter of 2023, but the sale of their remaining Yeezy inventory boosted the brand by 85% and brought the loss down to $491 million.

Meanwhile, Kanye’s moved on, completing side quests at London Fashion Week with his wife Bianca Censori. Sitting front row at Mowalola, Kanye debuted new music in the show’s soundtrack. The aux contribution is less random than you think—Mowalola Ogunlesi was the former design director of Yeezy x Gap and was handpicked by Kanye for the role.

“Going against corporations one on one,” Kanye thematically rapped on the unreleased song. Find more of the lyrics below.

Tory Lanez Poses for Mugshot & Transfers to Violent New Prison

It’s a rough week for Tory Lanez as he was transferred to North Kern State Prison in California and posed for a new mugshot, which quickly went viral. The rapper, who looks like he’s been broke for a minute, was noticeably disheveled compared to his public appearances in court.

The medium-security prison serves as a reception center for new inmates in the California state prison—meaning it might not be Tory’s permanent home as he begins serving his 10-year sentence for the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion.

He was credited for 305 days already served at his sentencing hearing last month and served another 48 before the transfer, so he’s completed almost a year of his sentence.

According to TMZ, Tory’s new prison has had a series of violent crimes as of late. In February, convicted murderer Ramon Escobar reportedly strangled his cellmate to death. Then, in July, Ricardo Saldivar was found dead in his cell, and his death is being investigated as a homicide. There’s also tension between inmates of the Sureños and Paisas gangs. News of this has sparked concern for his safety amongst fans.

Playboi Carti, Destroy Lonely & More to be Featured on 1017 ALYX Album

Luxury streetwear brand 1017 ALYX 9SM is venturing into music with its Vol. 1 compilation album featuring Playboi Carti, Teezo Touchdown, Destroy Lonely, Lil Peep, and more. The already-released single “Warriors” ft. Lil Yachty gives you an idea of the sonic world ALYX is creating.

Although it’s hard to believe Playboi Carti will release anything, he’s lie for lie with every announcement this year, his existing relationship with the brand might give fans something to hold onto for another 1,000 days.

Described as “the first installment of a series of releases featuring a special collection of musicians from the creative network that surrounds ALYX,” the project doesn’t have an official release date, but four singles are out so far.

According to Hypebeast, the tracklist includes:

• “We Do Not Party” by Lil Yachty

• “Live Forever” by Lil Peep

• “Can You Hear Me” by Destroy Lonely

• “Water Break” by Teezo Touchdown

• “R.I.P” by Playboi Carti

• “M25” by Bakar

New Music Friday

Sadly, Drake’s not dropping his album tonight, but Lil Tecca and Doja Cat are. Here’s all the music you can look forward to—categorized by 💿️ for albums and 🎶 for singles:

• 💿️ Scarlet by Doja Cat

• 💿️ TEC by Lil Tecca

• 💿️ RIP HUMAN ART by Earthgang

• 💿️ Strength To Strength by Headie One & K-Trap

• 💿️ Halo by Bakar

• 💿️ Inglorious Bastard by Logic

• 💿️ Faith Is A Rock by The Alchemist, MIKE & Wiki

• 💿️ FUNERAL (Deluxe) by DC The Don

• 🎶 “Fire At Ya Idle Mind” by Rome Streetz & Joey Bada$$

• 🎶 “Pacer” by Doechii

• 🎶 “NO SZNZ” by Jean Dawson & SZA

• 🎶 “Smack Shit” by Doe Boy & Skilla Baby

• 🎶 “WY@” by Brent Faiyaz

• Nicki Minaj’s husband sentenced to house arrest after threatening Offset. Kenneth Petty’s remarks towards Offset during an IG live violated the terms of his three-year probation.

• YouTube to add AI creator tools to find music for videos and add dubs. The feature will act as a music concierge finding the right song for the right price based on a creator’s description.

• Rod Wave announces Nostalgia tour with Toosii, Ari Lennox, G Herbo, and Eelmatic. The tour kicks off in October, supporting his new album, which is projected to debut at #1.

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