According to the Tampa Bay Times, the jury deliberated for eight hours and also convicted Gathright and the Murphys of attempted second-degree murder. This is because they allegedly wounded other individuals during the shooting that took the Jacksonville rapper’s life. The jury also reportedly agreed with prosecutors’ accusations about Chance and the Murphys were in a gang, which contextualized the shooting’s relation to gang activity.

This follows the conviction a fifth Foolio murder suspect, Alicia Andrews, on manslaughter charges. Chance and Andrews, his girlfriend, provided his location to the other three perpetrators. Gathright and the Murphys reportedly appeared in a surveillance video that showed them shooting guns at a parked car the Florida MC was sitting in outside of a Holiday Inn. The shooting happened while he was celebrating his birthday.

First Coast News caught the live verdict on YouTube. DJ Akademiks and No Jumper also shared notable occurrences during the moment on Instagram.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DJ Akademiks (@akademiks)

Read More: French Montana’s Confidence Finally Paid Off During “Verzuz”

Foolio’s Killers’ Sentence

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by No Jumper (@nojumper)

Now, prosecutors in the Foolio murder trial are expected to request the jury to recommend the death penalty for all four suspects. We will see if this is actually the sentence or if it’s life in prison instead. The penalty phase of the trial reportedly begins on Monday (May 11). Alicia Andrews also awaits sentencing.

Other developments in the Foolio murder trial concerned some antics, expressions, and updates from the suspects themselves. These include laughing in court, trying to escape an interrogation room, seemingly admitting guilt, having an outburst in court that led to a handcuffed removal from the trial, and more.

After almost two full years, this case is finally starting to wrap up. Its connection to gang conflicts and hip-hop beefs also saw a lot of documentation, especially considering the Yungeen Ace beef. We will see what comes of sentencing and if there are any other updates about this case.

Read More: Chris Brown Can’t Be Canceled, Regardless Of Your Outrage

The post All Four Suspects In Foolio Murder Trial Found Guilty appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Ebro remarked how the Internet will make a big deal about Rick Ross requesting the removal of Drake’s vocals from his “Aston Martin Music” performance at the event. Ross then shared a message for the 6ix God.

“Drake, if you listening to this, homie, listen to me. My n***a, shine,” he expressed, as caught by Ahmed/The Ears on Twitter. “No real n***a want to see you lose. That ain’t what n***as about. This culture, this game, this rap s**t, this ain’t what it’s about… Real n***as just want to see real n***as shine together. Real n***as come up together. When I was the number one n***a in the rap game, I showed n***as love. When French was on fire, he showed n***as love… We hustled our way out of any situation. N***a don’t hate on no n***a…”

“Wherever homie at, Montana still f**k with you on 1,000…” Ross continued. “I’m not on no disrespectful s**t… It’s deeper than rap. This is the first time I said this… Montana like, ‘Call my n***a Drake.’ Cool. Before I knew him… I would love to throw in right now, that’s when you had the big nose. But we ain’t gon’ go there. This is the first time I’ma say this: Shoutout to homie. Montana riding for you… When you got real n***as riding for you, n***as gon’ respect it. I’m not gon’ disrespect it.”

Read More: “Views” Was The Moment Drake Stopped Trying To Be The Greatest Rapper Alive

Drake & Rick Ross Beef

For those unaware, Rick Ross’ Drake beef began back in 2024 amid the Kendrick Lamar battle. He dissed The Boy and claimed he sent a cease and desist to French Montana over a verse, along with other jabs at his background and character.

This even led to The Biggest Boss getting into an altercation with OVO fans at a Canada concert. But now, it seems like there’s not as much bad blood… We’ll see if the Toronto superstar feels the same way.

Read More: French Montana’s Confidence Finally Paid Off During “Verzuz”

The post Rick Ross Sends Drake A Peace Offering: “I Don’t Want To See You Lose” appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

A LinkedIn post from Stacy Devino, a Principal Engineer who worked on SNKRS, framed it bluntly: “The org and the people behind SNKRS were obliterated yesterday.” She went on to describe the scale of what the team had built, handling traffic events where up to 100 million users were competing for as few as 5,000 pairs at once. That’s a hard engineering problem, and by most accounts they solved it well.

This latest move is part of a broader wave of cuts at Nike. The company already laid off 775 employees in January and another 1,400 in April, primarily in technology and operations. The SNKRS layoffs appear to be part of that same tech reorganization under CEO Elliott Hill’s “Win Now” turnaround strategy.

The bigger question now is what happens to SNKRS itself. Speculation is already circulating that Nike could lean on third-party platforms like EQL and Shopify being the names most frequently mentioned to handle future drops. Whether that means SNKRS the app goes away or simply gets rebuilt with fewer people behind it remains unclear.

For sneakerheads, the app has been the center of the launch experience for nearly a decade. A lot could change.

Read More: Tracy Morgan Reveals The Extreme Way He Buys Sneakers

Nike SNKRS Layoff

SNKRS launched in 2015 and became the primary way Nike handled limited sneaker releases at scale. Also te app introduced draw-based raffles, digital queues, and location-based drops that fundamentally changed how sneaker culture interacts with product launches.

At its peak, Saturday morning drops were essentially a DDOS attack on Nike’s servers with millions of users, thousands of pairs, and a countdown clock. Further, the team behind it built infrastructure that no one else in the industry had attempted at that scale.

EQL is a raffle platform that already powers drops for Jordan Brand and other Nike partners globally. Shopify handles e-commerce infrastructure for major brands. Overall either could theoretically absorb parts of what SNKRS currently does.

Read More: Every Air Jordan Ever Worn On “The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air,” Ranked

The post Nike Reportedly Lays Off 90% Of Their SNKRS Team appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: May 8, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop

Album: LOCKED IN

The post GEEKIN – Song by Nemzzz featuring Lil Yachty appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: May 8, 2026

Genre: Pop

Album: N/A

Quotable Lyrics from Changes

Tell me what you’re missing, mama
And tell me all the things you hear (Hee-hee)
Tell me your suspicions, mama (Hee-hee-hee-hee)
Tell me all the things that you fear

The post Changes – Song by Tommy Richman appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: May 8, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop

Album: The Time Of Our Lives

Quotable Lyrics from Body

You know I stay on you like your clothes, I stay on your body
You know, you know, you know when you call, I’ll be on your body
Fuck you, I’ma wait, fuck out the door, fuck your way of standing
You know, when I get you, I’ma make you understand your body

The post Body – Song by Lancey Foux appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: May 8, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop, Experimental

Album: N/A

The post Switch Up – Song by Mike D appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: May 8, 2026

Genre: R&B

Album: K-POPS! Soundtrack

Quotable Lyrics from Aftertaste

I feel the passion in here comin’ alive, strawberry wine
This turnin’ me on more than a fever
It’s more than I need, yeah (Come on)
Every time you leave a trace (Say that)

The post Aftertaste – Song by Anderson .Paak & DEAN appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

This will reportedly be on June 12, when the U.S. men’s national team will face Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. FIFA plans to hold opening ceremonies for each host country’s first game, which also include Canada and Mexico. In addition, they will also host special ceremonies for the United States’ 250th birthday on July 4 at games in Houston and Philadelphia.

These opening ceremonies will reportedly take place 90 minutes prior to each game’s kick-off. The U.S. show will reportedly last around 13 minutes. As for the July 4 celebrations, it’s still unclear exactly how FIFA plans to celebrate, but we’ll probably get more details as we move closer to the date. Finally, FIFA will also host an opening ceremony and halftime show for the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19, but we don’t know the performers yet.

In any case, fans of the “One Of Them” rapper are excited to see what he could bring to such a global stage. Future’s been dealing with relationship drama as of late, but this will definitely help him take a break and grow his career.

Read More: French Montana’s Confidence Finally Paid Off During “Verzuz”

Who Is Performing At The 2026 FIFA World Cup?

What’s more is that 2026 might be a very busy year for the Atlanta artist. In addition to this 2026 FIFA World Cup performance, Future teased a new album coming soon. We don’t know when it will drop, but die-hards can’t wait to hear what’s in store.

Other performers for these 2026 FIFA World Cup opening ceremonies include Michael Bublé, Kary Perry, Alanis Morissette, Sanjoy, Alessia Cara, LISA, Maná, Tyla, Belinda, and more. It’s going to be a star-studded affair.

Elsewhere, Future’s dynamics with hip-hop peers and alleged foes remains under scrutiny. After he was spotted wearing NOCTA in a studio teaser, many Drake fans wondered if they will bury the hatchet, or if they should in the first place.

Read More: Chris Brown Can’t Be Canceled, Regardless Of Your Outrage

The post Future Will Perform At 2026 FIFA World Cup For USA’s Opening Ceremony appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

According to Bryson “Boom” Paul on Twitter, Shiesty pleaded not guilty today (Friday, May 8) to all counts against him in the kidnapping and extortion case. The federal arraignment on five counts also came with an update about potential trial dates.

“We are awaiting a scheduling order from the court,” Pooh’s new lawyer Kent Schaffer reportedly stated via email. “Although we have not seen all of the evidence in the case it is apparent that it’s a highly defensible case and we’re hoping to have [Shiesty] back in the recording studio very soon.”

Schaffer joined the team after the departure of Bradford Cohen and Saam Zangeneh. Now, the new legal team has significant next steps to take not just with scheduling, but also with compiling evidence, preparing their arguments, and addressing new developments and accusations from prosecutors.

Big30 and Pooh Shiesty’s father also pleaded not guilty in this case. Both Big and Shiesty remain behind bars at press time, and they (along with some of the nine codefendants) are attempting to secure bond.

Read More: Did Gucci Mane Snitch? Everything We Know About Pooh Shiesty’s Arrest

How Long Is Pooh Shiesty Facing?

If convicted, Pooh Shiesty and his codefendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison. These are heavy charges, and they also came with a lot of hip-hop debate about snitching, label contracts, and a whole lot more.

However, the codefendants are trying to stand tall amid the scrutiny. Pooh Shiesty’s father dismissed the alleged evidence against him, reportedly claiming that prosecutors’ case against him is “profoundly underwhelming.” He and his legal team believe he should wait for the trial from the comfort of his home, as prosecutors are attempting to revoke his bond.

Elsewhere, hip-hop continues to debate the Gucci Mane and Pooh Shiesty situation. They are even roping in Shiesty’s father, as Wack 100 recently theorized he might snitch on his son. With Pooh’s not guilty plea, though, we will see how legal strategies evolve and what other developments will be key to the trial’s outcome.

Read More: French Montana’s Confidence Finally Paid Off During “Verzuz”

The post Pooh Shiesty Pleads Not Guilty In Gucci Mane Kidnapping Case appeared first on HotNewHipHop.