As caught by CY Chels on Twitter, Akademiks was reacting to the Mallory Bros’ discussion of Chike and Lamar. He called the Compton artist’s executive production of AZ’s project “hater s**t” and downplayed Chike’s overall success and visibility in the game. “I know n***as in Jersey that’s more lit than AZ Chike,” Ak said. “Why are we acting like AZ Chike’s the one? […] We only going off this idea that Kendrick chose him… Kendrick gave him a pat on the back… All I want to tell y’all is that when Kendrick Lamar stars locking in on some s**t, you not gon’ get great music. Kendrick Lamar’s the reason why we ain’t get this on goddamn I AM MUSIC.“

Then, DJ Akademiks played an alleged unreleased Drizzy and Carti collab that was supposed to be on MUSIC, with him criticizing Kendrick’s more serious approach. “Kendrick’s the mood killer,” he expressed. “He just f**ks up the party… Carti creating the best album ever, he getting a song by Drake, he can’t put it on the album because Kendrick mad… Carti played me this song… ‘I don’t know if Kendrick gon’ approve it.’ […] Kendrick f***ing up everything good.”

Read More: What Do Trippie Redd & Melle Mel Have In Common? When Revolutionaries Become Gatekeepers

DJ Akademiks On Kendrick Lamar

“In my opinion,” Akademiks went on, “Carti only followed this n***a Kendrick ’cause he was trying to win a Grammy… You listen to Kendrick, he don’t give you a feature. All he do is give you bad advice… ‘I’m working with Dot… He like the executive producer, so it’s whatever he choose.’ […] He ain’t gon’ choose the hit… And I only bring this s**t up ’cause if he ain’t want this on Playboi Carti’s album, at least he gave Carti [three] features. How come you didn’t give AZ Chike no features?”

DJ Akademiks’ criticism of Kendrick Lamar should come as no surprise given his Drake fandom and overall thoughts on the hip-hop world. But for what it’s worth, AZ Chike has thanked Kendrick Lamar for the support, so it seems like he’s excited about what may be to come.

Read More: Hip Hop Gave Freddie Jackson’s Songs New Lives

The post DJ Akademiks Calls Kendrick Lamar A “Mood Killer” Due To Drake & Playboi Carti Collab appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

More than that, Drake also came through with a handful of new songs that ultimately became the deluxe version of Habibti. The rapper added four new records to the project, each of which has received some major praise across the board. That will reportedly be reflected on the Billboard Hot 100 next week, as each of the songs is expected to debut in the Top 30. 

However, it doesn’t stop there, either. According to Talk Of The Charts, the project is expected to push its way up the Billboard 200 as well. Habibti (FOMO) will reportedly re-peak at #2 on the chart with 65K units sold. 

Read More: What Do Trippie Redd & Melle Mel Have In Common? When Revolutionaries Become Gatekeepers

Drake’s FOMO Gears Up For A Massive Debut On The Charts

The four songs tacked onto the project include “Quebec,” “Classic Pt. 2,” and the two Don Toliver-assisted songs, “Cold Shoulder” alongside Yebba and “Solar Eclipse,” a remix of Ella Langley’s hit record, “Choosin’ Texas.” 

Evidently, this only helps the momentum that’s building toward what will likely be an incredibly busy 2027. On top of revealing that he will be going on tour next year, there have been rumors indicating that he’s a finalist for Coachella headliners next year alongside SZA. If that’s true, we can only imagine that “Whisper My Name” will hit especially hard when he performs it live. 

Read More: Hip Hop Gave Freddie Jackson’s Songs New Lives

The post Drake’s “FOMO” Songs Set For Impressive Debut On The Billboard Hot 100 appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: October 9, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop

Album: N/A

Quotable Lyrics from Who Dat Is

Pull up in that four-door, hoppin’ out, nothin’ but two hitters,
We don’t do no third party unless a b***h gon’ get ’em,
Tender-a** n***a, fry him like a chicken tender,
Have a n***a spinnin’ all day like a blender

The post Who Dat Is – Song by Young Nudy appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: October 9, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop

Album: N/A

Quotable Lyrics from MADARA

I’d give my left genital to be in the middle of beef considerably,
I get underneath their skin, I’ma keep at least givin’ ’em grief,
Got ’em wishin’ I’d leave so they could just get ’em a little relief,
They want me to leave so bad, I feel like a literal leaf

The post MADARA – Song by EZ MIL & Eminem feat. Neil Kaplan & Hideyoshi appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Kendrick’s triumphant 2024 run, which culminated in a Super Bowl halftime performance and the record-breaking Grand National tour, also prompted Melle Mel to change his tune in August 2026. But his initial attitude carries from generation to generation. We haven’t heard Melle Mel’s analysis of Trippie Redd just yet, but perhaps their views of hip-hop’s transformation share a few parallels. Melle Mel created a foundation for hip-hop that has continued on for over 40 years. 

By the time Trippie Redd’s generation emerged, the critics of Mumble Rap made their case clear: this wasn’t hip-hop. Or, at the very least, it wasn’t rap as we knew it. A few rappers of that ilk proved otherwise, but for the most part, the DIY movement that emerged from SoundCloud changed the fundamentals of rap indefinitely. It’s something that persists today, even if a lot of rappers were unfairly categorized as being part of the problem. It’s not that they didn’t rap–they just chose not to do it in the traditional sense. 

Trippie Redd, however, has proven to be a sonic chameleon of sorts, though not necessarily one that succeeds in every style he pursues. But he is part of a generation whose genre-bending efforts have opened the doors for budding artists to explore sounds outside of the norm.

A recent comment attempted to relitigate his space among the Mount Rushmore of SoundCloud rappers as part of a broader argument surrounding the state of the music industry and the artists getting signed.

“The industry is weird right now. A bunch of wannabes doing the same music. I’m actually sorry for contributing to this fast food hipster music… We might have looked the same, but the music is not the same. You can’t play me a ‘F*ck Love’ or a ‘Taking a Walk’ by any of these new jits. It’s all turn up, drink, pop a pill, no meaning,” he wrote.

The sheer irony is that his generation was accused of doing the exact same thing: doing drugs, partying, and failing to deliver anything of substance. Maybe it’s true for some, but you can’t really act as though artists like XXXTENTACION, Juice WRLD, and Lil Uzi Vert–the three other artists Trippie Redd named–also didn’t wear their hearts on their sleeves. The drugs and partying simply worked as coping mechanism. Hip-hop often reflects the social conditions that the youth exist in. Their generation also came of age amid the opioid epidemic. Name-dropping Xanax, lean, Percocet, and other substances was escapism at work. The SoundCloud generation, and even those that arrived prior, became the antithesis of the message behind a song like “White Lines (Don’t Do It)” but not necessarily a far cry from the cautionary message behind a song like “The Message.”

Each generation becomes a case study in the consequences of the one that came before it. But that also introduces somewhat of a contrary approach that, in a sense, keeps the anti-authoritarian spirit of hip-hop alive. Sometimes, it’s bred through misunderstandings, like when Jeezy seemingly took Nas’s “Hip Hop Is Dead” as a slight toward the South’s dominance. Nas’s issue was rooted in the corporate exploitation of hip-hop and how business people and executives steered the genre in the wrong direction while leaving artists with less and less creative control. Artists like Jeezy likely benefited from it more at the time, even if Nas later clarified he was largely targeting New York, but the reality is that record labels have constantly made artists feel dispensable. 

That’s partially why most rappers can’t escape being defined by an era, and longevity often feels like a rarity in a genre that celebrates commercial dominance. Truly, it’s not exclusive to hip-hop, but it is something that plagues conversations of artistic merit. Artists like NBA YoungBoy and Playboi Carti developed devoted followings by disrupting hip-hop’s conventions, often before their success could be measured by Billboard placements. Drake went from hip-hop’s outlier to its gold standard. This cycle continues forever, and hip-hop needs it to a degree. If it’s going to see its 100th birthday, then its evolution must continue, even if it starts looking unrecognizable. 

That tension hasn’t gone unnoticed, especially as the economy of nostalgia has turned more pervasive in pop culture. The independent rap scene harkens back to the 90s, when the pillars of lyricism reigned supreme over the dusty samples of crate-digging. Even more mainstream releases, like MUSIC by Playboi Carti, were distinctly shaped by the sound and sequencing of 2010s mixtapes. That era also represented a time when artists took control of their careers and circumvented label restrictions. It laid the groundwork for the SoundCloud era, which further lowered the barriers to distribution and paved the way for artists like Playboi Carti to prosper. That influence extended into the creator economy, where a pre-existing fan base can lead to an RIAA certification if a song is catchy—or cringy—enough. There are fewer traditional intermediaries between artists and their audiences.

This framework has also made cultural standards increasingly difficult to establish. A new artist making weird music isn’t necessarily the problem. They may simply be experimenting. Meanwhile, a YouTuber or streamer with studio-quality microphones and a camera can garner millions of views after releasing a song when they never made music to begin with. That doesn’t really help evolve the genre in any way, especially since in most cases, they’re merely replicating whatever’s hot at the moment. It shows what audience portability can get you. Views and pre-existing fame alone don’t demonstrate artistic contribution or cultural investment into said genre. 

Trippie Redd’s commentary echoes a legitimate anxiety about a genre whose boundaries have become increasingly porous. He would be wrong to think that he or his peers are exempt from the same criticism, but he isn’t wrong that things changed. Hip-hop needs people to disrupt its conventions to grow. It evolves by rejecting the conventions of the previous generation. Then, once that new form becomes established, its practitioners can become protective of the very boundaries they once helped break. The next generation breaks those boundaries again.

Maybe its gatekeepers need to be overthrown–the tastemaking torch has gone from DJs at radio stations who broke records to blogs that premiered unreleased music to personalities like Akademiks and other streamers who get their hands on snippets and leaks. And frankly, it’s an ecosystem that’s kept hip-hop alive beyond the lifespan it was assigned by the old guard who always considered it a fad until it wasn’t. However, after 50 years of constantly dismantling its own boundaries, we’re now confronting the strange possibility that the thing preserving the genre’s identity may be the very gatekeeping that each generation has spent decades trying to destroy.

The post What Do Trippie Redd & Melle Mel Have In Common? When Revolutionaries Become Gatekeepers appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: October 8, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop

Album: GTA VI: The Album

Quotable Lyrics from Don’t Chart

I said I never been a dumb b***h, always too clever,
Never seen a n***a leave me and do better,
New hundred dollar bills smell like new leather,
Me and Aquafina argue over who wetter

The post Don’t Chart – Song by Cardi B appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: October 9, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop / Rock

Album: Cry Baby

Quotable Lyrics from Tulsa, OK

All that barking, who gon’ bite?
All that marching, who gon’ fight?
Talking ’bout, “Massa, please,”
If it’s a race war, where they casualties?

The post Tulsa, OK – Song by Vince Staples appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: October 9, 2026
Genre: Pop
Album: PITCOIN

Tracklist For PITCOIN

1. Reach for the Stars (feat. KISS)
2. Damn I Love Miami (feat. Lil Jon)
3. Privacy (feat. Jason Derulo)
4. Me Paraste el Corazón (feat. Enrique Iglesias)
5. Satalanaaa (feat. Lil Jon)
6. Melao (feat. Zion)
7. Tremenda Salsita (feat. Lenier)
8. Tamo Bien (feat. Enrique Iglesias & IAmChino)
9. 123 Back It Up (feat. Akon)
10. Pa’ Los Envidiosos (feat. Lenier)
11. Work
12. Gringa Repartera (feat. Gente de Zona & IAmChino)
13. Yeehaw (feat. Filmore)
14. No Es Mi Problema (feat. Jowell & Randy)
15. Por Tenerte (feat. Lenier & Anthony Ramos)
16. Drink Alone (feat. Filmore)
17. In the Bahamas
18. Qué Calor (Remix) (feat. Akon & Ochok)
19. Soy Así 2 (feat. Wiz Khalifa, IAmChino & Victor Cardenas)
20. No Te Hagas (Remix) (feat. Lil Jon & Sensato)
21. MIA Anthem (feat. DJ Laz)
22. Que Se Encuere
23. Now or Never (feat. Bon Jovi)
24. 2 the Moon (feat. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & DJ Buddha)

The post PITCOIN – Album by Pitbull appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: October 9, 2026
Genre: Hip-Hop / Rap
Album: STRIKING

Tracklist For STRIKING

1. Intro by Ant Bankx
2. WINDO (feat. Michael Sneed)
3. STATIC (feat. Joey Bada$$ & Nali)
4. PANE (feat. Self Proclaimed Narcissist)
5. WASHEDOUT
6. HOME
7. ACTRANSIT/LEMME AT EM (feat. DavidTheTragic)
8. KNOCK (feat. Samara Cyn & MAVI)
9. Heroes & Villains (feat. Marco Plus & Ben Reilly)
10. Wata (feat. Niontay)
11. Hopecore!
12. PHREE (Swing) (feat. Amal Zenab)

The post STRIKING – Album by Ovrkast. appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: October 9, 2026
Genre: Hip-Hop / Rap
Album: N/A

Quotable Lyrics

I hit the block before I ever get a job
We 40 deep thats 40 knives like rob

The post Set It Off – Song by Ray Vaughn appeared first on HotNewHipHop.