According to Hot 97, a Missouri court dismissed an assault charge against the rapper this week after a nine-month process. The April 29 ruling emerged after prosecutors reportedly agreed to drop the misdemeanor charge in exchange for accountability from him over the minor violation and a $750 fine.

The alleged incident reportedly went down in July of last year, and started when a security guard at Ameristar Casino allegedly asked to check Nelly’s player card. Reportedly, the guard was managing access to the casino’s restricted area. The St. Louis MC’s representatives claimed the guard’s behavior escalated rapidly, physically blocking him and, in their view, unrightfully violating his personal space.

They claimed the artist moved the guard aside briefly without causing injury. But police who responded to the situation reportedly claimed the guard alleged Nelly shoved him during the incident. His team pushed back on September 2025’s misdemeanor assault charge, and both sides continued negotiations and resolution talks outside of court.

Read More: Trap Dickey Talks Upcoming Album “The Ville,” Teases TDE Compilation Project & Lil Wayne Vs. Jay-Z

Is Nelly Dropping A New Album?

Now that this legal battle is behind him, Nelly can look forward to his musical moves. He reportedly has an album on the way with his St. Lunatics group, which Metro Boomin will executive produce. We still don’t have a solid timeline for this release or more details about it. But it could be a gratifying throwback.

Elsewhere, Nelly fans are still angry with him for his political affiliations. Those who disagree with his alignment with United States President Donald Trump have consistently criticized his double-downs on the matter. We’ll see if anything changes in the near future regarding this.

At least this assault case is behind the 51-year-old, even if these other controversies continue to follow him. We will see if he responds to the plea agreement or has anything else to comment on concerning this complex, murky case.

Read More: Ranking Every Drake Album From Worst To Best

The post Nelly Off The Hook After Plea Agreement In Casino Assault Case appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: May 1, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop

Tracklist for Once Upon A Time: The Soundtrack

1. Intro ft. Yellowdawg
2. Checkmate ft. Mozzy
3. I Wish ft. LNDN DRGS
4. The Big ft. LE$ & Premo Rice
5. I Can’t Relate ft. 9th Wonder
6. 2night
7. Visions ft. Method Man
8. Same Song ft. Shyheim
9. The 4 Tops ft. T.F, Sha Hef, & Vicasso
10. Mail Order Bride ft. A$AP Twelvyy & Isa P Anchorman
11. Rosie Perez ft. Boldy James & TAS
12. Kalifornication ft. YG Hoodie
13. Ghetto Smile Interlude ft. Gwen Bunn
14. No Price ft. Novelist
15. If I ft. Rome Streetz & Evidence
16. Outro ft. Yellowdawg

The post Once Upon A Time: The Soundtrack – Album by Jay Worthy appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

As caught by Kurrco on Twitter, they debated about the pick, especially in comparison to other artists. Marc Lamont Hill expressed confusion and surprise at Thug’s placement, whereas Parks lamented the snub of Max Martin. “Okay, then it’s an egregiously bad list,” he said.

“I don’t understand that one,” Hill expressed. “I thought y’all were joking when you said that. And no disrespect to Young Thug. I think he’s a great artist. But one of the 30 greatest songwriters ever? With that list? Yeah, it’s tough.”

“With that list? I’m sorry,” Ice chimed in. “Yeah, respectfully, I’m not putting him and Dolly Parton on the same list. But I love Young Thug,” Parks expressed. “That’s what I’m saying. I love Young Thug, too,” Hill added.

Read More: Trap Dickey Talks Upcoming Album “The Ville,” Teases TDE Compilation Project & Lil Wayne Vs. Jay-Z

Joe Budden’s Young Thug Criticisms

Joe Budden has been critical of Young Thug before, but in a very different context, as he didn’t have anything to say about the songwriters list. He and his podcast cohosts previously argued Thug’s “stock has plummeted” since his release from prison over the YSL RICO trial. “He is putting on a masterclass in how to take a good brand and totally f**k it up,” Budden expressed last year.

That followed more criticisms from Joe Budden about Young Thug’s beef moves, arguing back in 2024 that he was trying to play both sides of the Gunna tension upon his release from jail. But as far as musical takes, Joe and the rest of the pod are fans of Thugger… Just not enough to place him on a list of the 30 best living American songwriters.

But many fans continue to defend his influence, and many artists continue to embody it. So no matter what you think of the accolade, it’s an understandable one.

Read More: Ranking Every Drake Album From Worst To Best

The post “Joe Budden Podcast” Can’t Believe Young Thug Is On Best Songwriters List appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

As caught by Kurrco, he updated his profile picture to a new photo of a younger Weezy F. Baby. If we had to guess, it looks like this is a shot of the Louisiana great from the late 90s to early 2000s.

This is not the first time Drake has honored his mentor in this way of course. At one point, the OVO boss used another older picture of Wayne where he was with his daughter. This one is just of Tha Carter creator giving the camera the middle finger while simultaneously throwing up a love-you gesture.

In the end, this probably won’t mean too much. His other IG profile of picture him didn’t really lead to anything specifically. But with this update occurring just two weeks out from ICEMAN, it could be something to look back on and say, “Maybe Drake was hinting at something.”

The most obvious thing this could mean is that Lil Wayne will be on the album.

Read More: Ranking Every Drake Album From Worst To Best

What Should Fans Expect With ICEMAN?

That would be a welcome sight as the last time they were on the same track was in 2021. That year, Nicki Minaj put out a single for the re-release of Beam Me Up Scotty called “Seeing Green.”

We are just going to wait and see if this happens though as Drake has been hush hush about the album’s innerworkings. Features, the number of songs, and even the album cover has yet to be unveiled. The only concrete detail we have is the release date which is May 15.

Drake’s collaborators and insiders have been giving fans some interesting things to chew on ahead of its release though. For instance, INSIDER HUB on X claims that the format for ICEMAN will be something totally new for The Boy. What that means yet, we don’t know. It could just be a different method of track sequencing that he’s never used before, but that’s just a guess.

Producer Gordo, formerly DJ Carnage, said something similar. “What he’s [Drake] about to do is completely unheard of in music… like nothing we’ve ever seen before. The world isn’t ready for this…”

Read More: Trap Dickey Talks “The Ville,” TDE Compilation & More

The post Drake Honors Lil Wayne Ahead Of “ICEMAN” appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: May 1, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop

Tracklist for A Time To Hurt, A Time To Heal (ATH2)

1. A Momma’s Prayer ft. Lihtz
2. Miss You Tn
3. Tour Life
4. Ion Feel Em
5. Say Dat Then
6. Worth My While
7. Put It On Somebody
8. Rollin With Me
9. Still Having Problems ft. NoCap
10. New Edition ft. Luh Tyler, 1Up Tee, & Babyfxce E
11. Dead Wrong
12. Last Long
13. Way It Goes
14. Gimme A Sing
15. Nobody Dere
16. College Girl
17. Get There
18. For The Love Of Money
19. Finding It
20. Unwashable Scars
21. Till Den

The post A Time To Hurt, A Time To Heal (ATH2) – Album by Luhh Dyl appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

It all started with Peggy speaking to Pigeons & Planes about his upcoming album Experimental Rap, for which he recently released the “Babygirl” single. Some fans felt the Baltimore-based artist’s comments took aim at the former Odd Future lyricist. He recently released the cloudy POMPEII // UTILITY collab LP with MIKE and Surf Gang.

“I’m already the best in this space of experimental rap,” JPEG expressed. “There’s no one who competes with me. People cannot do what I do. So me naming it ‘Experimental Rap’ is just me laying claim to something I already had. Other people in this genre, they want to pretend and try to be cool and be like, ‘I don’t want to be experimental rap. I want to be something else, I want to f***ing rap like Lucki, I want to make songs that the young people make.’ I’m not having a midlife crisis, musically. So I don’t really need to do that. I can just be myself, and I let other people try to figure out who they are at 40 or whatever.”

It seems like Earl felt the same way some fans did, especially considering JPEGMAFIA’s previous disses to Earl Sweatshirt. “lmao leave me alone pls i make music with my Friends that i have (derogatory),” he responded via Instagram comments, as caught by Kurrco on Twitter. “nobody copies cuh because his music is gnarled rough and ugly (derogatory).”

Read More: Trap Dickey Talks Upcoming Album “The Ville,” Teases TDE Compilation Project & Lil Wayne Vs. Jay-Z

JPEGMAFIA’s Earl Sweatshirt Beef

“1st off N****a your career is gnarled and rough. you the first n***a since joe budden to go back underground literally,” JPEG allegedly clapped back on IG. “2nd stop saying ‘cuh’ your 32 and you went to boarding school. 3rd neither you nor your friends would Ever say none of this to my face. But Thank you for the promo little guy.”

As caught by flexxico on Twitter, they traded some more blows under Pigeons & Planes‘ IG coverage of their Peggy interview. “you know what bro my fault i misspoke,” Earl wrote. “bro is the king of making crunchy a** music and wearing muay thai shorts. super excited for the album brother (positive) seems like its gonna be really experimental. i fw the new leather vibe 2 twin s**t hard.”

“Thank you cuh,” JPEG replied. “And tell jasper thanks for letting me borrow his h*es (derogatory).”

Read More: Ranking Every Drake Album From Worst To Best

The post Earl Sweatshirt & JPEGMAFIA Trade Blows Online appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: May 1, 2026

Genre: R&B

Tracklist for BERNARR.

1. RIVER
2. HELLO!
3. Undivided
4. sleep
5. AM I OKAY?!
6. Homesick ft. Vic Mensa
7. Sugar Family
8. AYO! BJ The Chicago Kid
9. SHARP!
10. EFFORT.
11. Waiting ft. Big Seasn
12. Wild Ride ft. James Fauntleroy
13. BLOOM
14. soft. ft. Khalid
15. My Life
16. I Found Myself
17. 10,000 Lifetimes ft. Sevyn Streeter

The post BERNARR. – Album by Durand Bernarr appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

The context here is a debate around Jay and Kanye West’s catalog, with Dame arguing Ye easily takes the crown. Eventually, the Roc-A-Fella cofounder gave his critique of Hov’s debut album when the interviewer pushed back.

“Reasonable Doubt doesn’t sell s**t. Why you think I gave it away?” Dame Dash said of Jay-Z. “Nobody made no money off that. That s**t barely went gold. Nobody gives a f**k about Reasonable Doubt other than people that were there… Ask some kid about Reasonable Doubt. They’ll be like, ‘Nobody cares about Jay-Z as a rapper.’ No kid gives a f**k about Jay-Z. At all… No one’s f***ing with Jay-Z. No one’s listening to them f***ing raps, none of that s**t… When’s the last time this n***a made a record? He’s an old man. Why the f**k should he be making records? But ain’t nobody jacking Jay-Z.”

Dame criticized Jay’s fashion sense, and went on to flex his style. “I’m the flyest broke n***a you ever saw,” he remarked.

Read More: Trap Dickey Talks Upcoming Album “The Ville,” Teases TDE Compilation Project & Lil Wayne Vs. Jay-Z

Dame Dash’s Jay-Z Beef

For those unaware, Jay-Z and Dame Dash have clashed over Reasonable Doubt before, but in a much different context. They fought over the rights to the album amid Dame trying to sell off his one-third stake in it and Roc-A-Fella Records due to his financial strain. Hov argued the rights to the LP will return to him next decade, and he’s trying to maintain his control of the album.

Dame Dash’s subsequent Reasonable Doubt moves concerning Jay-Z did not provide much of a change, and neither did the other side. While the situation remains quite unclear at press time, it seems like there is still a battle over this that a court might have to resolve.

Still, the beef between Dame and Jay has been so rooted in animosity that we doubt this take about the classic album will make things any smoother… Even if they settle their ownership differences.

Read More: Ranking Every Drake Album From Worst To Best

The post Dame Dash Claims Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt” Is Irrelevant: “Nobody Cares” appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

But there have been some who feel that Klay didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. People in this camp have argued that if he did cheat, then it’s not too big of a deal since they weren’t engaged or married.

Additionally, they say that stuff like this happens all the time. But because it’s Megan Thee Stallion, they feel her defenders are making this a bigger deal than it needs to be. Well, don’t tell this one content creator that.

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A man, who goes by wyomattt online, went nuclear on Klay Thompson and those giving him some grace amid these allegations. Making his blood boil was Stephen A. Smith calling out Megan for addressing the matter publicly. The sports commentator shared the same opinion as those in Camp Klay, arguing that it would be different if they were more serious.

User wyomattt slammed Stephen A. for his take and accused both him and Klay that they “hate women.”

Read More: Ranking Every Drake Album From Worst To Best

Lexie Brown Calls Out Klay Thompson & Megan Thee Stallion

This got over to the Dallas Mavericks star, and he had a simple response for the content creator. “Please go touch grass,” he clapped back per Live Bitez. That led wyomattt to respond with, “stop touching other women gang. Take some accountability.”

After getting into it with him, wyomattt posted Klay’s response on his Instagram Story to label him as his “D**khead of the day.” He added, “It ain’t have to be like this man [face palm emoji]… We as men have to take accountability.”

Speaking of coming forward and being decent, Lexie Brown has also called out Klay and Megan Thee Stallion in fact. The WNBA star told Fox News Digital that she’s been facing a large amount of death threats since this cheating claim has come to light.

Many of Meg’s fans have pointed the finger at Brown for causing Klay to allegedly cheat, which she says is totally untrue. Additionally, while in this interview, she called for the ex-couple to come to her defense and say that she had no involvement. As of yet, that hasn’t happened.

Read More: Trap Dickey Talks “The Ville,” TDE Compilation & More

The post Klay Thompson Barks Back At A Megan Thee Stallion Defender Over Cheating Claim appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: May 1, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop

Tracklist for Bidness Is Boomin

1. Planet of the Apes
2. We Like To Party
3. Take U Home
4. Wood Wire Buffs
5. Out My Mind
6. Rockin
7. Fine Shyt
8. Play Ball

The post Bidness Is Boomin – EP by Shoreline Mafia appeared first on HotNewHipHop.