A3C Festival and Conference has just announced the lineup for its 12th year. Headlining acts include Rick Ross, 21 Savage, Bone Thugs N' Harmony, YFN Lucci, Bun B, Cam'ron, Young Dolph, Royce 5’9”, Redman, Too Short, Mystikal, Zaytoven, Bun B. 1000+ artists and 75+ shows. God damn! But wait, there's more: the festival will host "dozens of panels, workshops, meetups, mentor sessions, podcasts, interviews and screenings" with everyone from Master P to distinguished hip hop photographer Jonathan Mannion.

Summer '16 seemed to come and go without a good, entertaining beef, but in the week before the official Fall equinox, one has emerged. You could definitely deem the new Meek Mill Vs. The Game beef as a spinoff of Meek and Drake's last summer, but when it comes to bars, this beef's picking up the long-dormant one's slack. We've already got a diss apiece from both parities involved, and although Meek's came in too late on Sunday night to be counted in Top Tracks this week, Game's is in here, and you can be sure Meek's will be next week. 

We finally got to breathe a sigh of relief last week after the absolute onslaught of must-listen projects that arrived in the month prior. This calm will be short-lived, though, as we get Mac Miller's The Divine Feminine on Friday, Ty Dolla $ign's Campaign and Mick Jenkins' The Healing Component just a week later, Danny Brown's Atrocity Exhibition on the 30, and The Game's 1992 to kick off October.

Summer technically ends this month, but not for DJ Mustard. Some time during the month of September, Mustard will release a new project entitled Cold Summer. He announced the project and shared the cover art a week ago, and today, the chart-flooding producer has shared the Cold Summer tracklist. 

The week before Labor Day brought us some nice late summer treats in the form of Travis Scott's Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight, Isaiah Rashad's The Sun's Tirade, and Fabolous' Summertime Shootout 2. Of those, Scott's album was definitely the most feverishly anticipated, thanks to some delays as well as his substantial fanbase, and that popularity shows in this week's edition of Top Tracks. Scott leads the pack with three appearances, but oddly enough, none as a lead artist.

Earlier today, the rap world awoke to some potentially devastating news, as everyone got word of Lil Wayne venting his excruciating frustrations on Twitter and suggesting his retirement. "I AM NOW DEFENSELESS and mentally DEFEATED," he wrote at around 4 AM this morning, seemingly in response to his futile attempts to escape his contract with Cash Money Records.

Lil Wayne has been struggling with his Cash Money contract for years now. With still no release date in site for his long-awaited Carter V album, and "Fuck Cash Money" declarations at his recent concert, it seems that the New Orleans rapper is losing hope, so much so, that his recent tweets suggest he has considered quitting music."I AM NOW DEFENSELESS AND mentally DEFEATED & I leave gracefully and thankful I luh my fanz but I'm dun," Weezy wrote Friday night, adding, "ain't lookin for sympathy, just serenity."

Rick Ross has filed a lawsuit against the clothing company DGK claiming that they owe him over $80,000 in unpaid sponsorship money. According to TMZ, Ross signed a 2-year brand ambassadorship deal with DGK that allegedly promised him over $10,000 a month plus 7% of profits in return for wearing the company's clothes. His representation claims that DGK stopped paying him last November.

Can we finally breathe a sign of relief after what's proven to be a crazy August?

Rick Ross has been busy this past week, celebrating the 10-year anniversary of his debut album Port of Miami.

Last week was a funny one for album delays. On one hand, Frank Ocean delivered not only his first, but also his second album since 2012's Channel Orange, but on the other, we didn't get the projects that we'd been expecting from French Montana, Young Thug, and Travis Scott.

In terms of the calendar, summer is winding down, but someone forgot to tell that to the rap game. We've only seen things heat up in the past week, with SremmLife 2 providing more than enough turn up fuel for the next few weeks, and P3 reminding us to squeeze every last bit of fun out of summer flings before cuffing season arrives.

It took 10 years, but Rick Ross' debut album Port of Miami has finally been certified platinum by the RIAA.

The next two weeks will see new albums from two guys vying to be the third most popular rap/R&B artist out of Toronto, PartyNextDoor and Tory Lanez (Drake and The Weeknd are one and two, respectively). Only time will tell how P3 and I Told You will stack up against each other, but over the last few weeks, we've gotten a few previews in the form of singles and other assorted loosies. Both Party and Tory pop up in our Top Ten, although here it's obvious which one is dominant. 

Today is the 10th anniversary of the release of Rick Ross' 2006 debut album Port of Miami. In true Renzel fashion, the occasion demands a celebration. Ross will perform a concert to commemorate the album at the end of August that will stream exclusively on TIDAL.

It's officially August, which means there's pretty much only one month of summer left. It's been a busy season for hip hop, as usual, with big projects from top-tier talents like Chance The Rapper, YG, ScHoolboy Q, and Gucci Mane dropping left and right, and plenty of additional tracks hitting the web as well. That being said, August is poised to be huge.

A video of Inglewood rapper Isa Muhammad went viral when he stopped Rick Ross on the street to give him a sample of his rap skills. In the clip, which is approaching 2 million views on YouTube, Ross is visibly impressed, apparently enough to sign the Cali rapper, who announced his deal with MMG on Instagram Tuesday. Isa has been building a regional buzz over the summer, but was homeless only a few years back. He shared some plans based on this new opportunity on Instagram, stressing that his message is to "uplift the people."

J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League was formed in 2003 when Rook and Colione, two established producers in their mid-twenties, teamed up with Kenny Barto, a young Full Sail University student in Tampa, Florida. Their discography hides the years of hard work each put in perfecting their craft. You won’t find obscure local artists or years of mixtape instrumentals among their early production credits. The first 3 entries in their discography on Wikipedia are Young Jeezy, Mary J. Blige, and Juelz Santana.

One fateful day in June 2015, Rick Ross allegedly learned that Leo Caceres and Jonathan Zamudio, two of his groundskeepers, were hosting unsanctioned cocaine parties on his Atlanta property. They claim that Ross ushered them into a guesthouse at gunpoint and beat them up and pistol-whipped them with his 9mm Glock.

Let's face it, as far as high-profile tracks go, there's no way this week (or any week really) could have lived up to the seven days that preceded it. Drake, Kanye, Jay Z, Justin Bieber, Gucci Mane, Travi$ Scott, and Pusha T all joined forces with some combination of one another to make for the craziest batch of tracks we've seen in such a short span this year.