However, this all came with some controversy as hip-hop purists were upset at Drizzy for barking at the goth content creator. Some also felt the whole thing was contrived and that Pinkchyu was faking her personality to gain internet clout.

Despite all of this, Drake and Pinkchyu have remained in contact. For instance, she was featured in the visual for “Princess,” which was part of the larger FOMO short film. There was even behind-the-scenes content posted online in which the creator calls Drizzy a “good boy.”

Some are trying to run with a narrative that the two are dating, and Pinkchyu doesn’t seem to mind feeding into the speculation. When approached by TMZ this week, the content creator refused to say if she was truly dating the artist.

Read More: Is Kendrick Lamar’s Feature Run Hurting Or Helping Him?

Are Drake And Pinkchyu Dating?

However, she was giggly the whole time and played into the mystery with her friends, who also carry the same goth aesthetic. Some might argue this is just a cynical ploy for more fame and attention. After all, Pinkchyu’s profile has grown considerably since the 20v1.

Drake has mostly remained private about who he is dating, and it seems like the Pinkchyu stuff is just one big elaborate troll. That said, Drizzy is an artist who commands attention, regardless of what he is doing.

Let us know how you feel about this saga, in the comments below.

Read More: Artists Who Left Hip Hop Behind For Other Genres

The post Pinkchyu Refuses To Reveal Her Relationship Status With Drake appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

This all started when Sauce Walka revealed that the mother of his child used to have a relationship with Drake. He claims that Drake was actually giving her money for this relationship, and that it had nothing to do with love or emotional attachment. Subsequently, Sauce Walka’s ex was accused of selling her body for sex, with Drizzy as an alleged buyer.

In a recent rant on social media, Sauce went off on people making those claims about his ex. As you will hear in the clip below, Sauce Walka alleges that there are plenty of women rappers who are doing the same thing. He mentions Latto, Sexyy Red, and Saweetie as the offenders.

Read More: Artists Who Left Hip Hop Behind For Other Genres

Sauce Walka On Latto, Sexyy Red, and Saweetie

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These claims have been made about Saweetie in the past, although they are unsubstantiated. As for Latto and Sexyy Red, these claims are also unsubstantiated, and there is no evidence that Sauce Walka’s claims are true.

Ultimately, his rant came across as though he was upset and just wanted to drive a point home. However, claims like this can go viral quickly, and it can damage reputations if mindlessly believed by the masses.

As for Sauce Walka’s beef with Drake, it doesn’t appear as though Drizzy has any interest in responding. The feud has mostly remained one-sided, and we haven’t seen anything that suggests a change.

Read More: Is Kendrick Lamar’s Feature Run Hurting Or Helping Him?

The post Sauce Walka Claims Latto & Sexyy Red Are Selling Their Bodies For Sex appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Financially, this has actually been a huge step up for Blueface. The music world can be punishing, and popularity comes and goes. While that is especially true of livestreaming, the artist has found a way to keep himself in the news cycle and amass tens of thousands of viewers in the process.

When Blue first started streaming, he revealed that he was making $25K per week. This then doubled to $50K, which amounts to $2.6 million per year. On Tuesday night, Blueface revealed his updated earnings, and they are absolutely staggering.

As you can see from the artist’s Kick dashboard, he is making upwards of $136K per week. Averaged out over an entire year, that is just over $7 million in revenue. This comes from ad plays, subscriptions, and donations.

Read More: Artists Who Left Hip Hop Behind For Other Genres

Blueface Is Making A Fortune

Blueface has managed to bring in these numbers thanks to his antics, which involve the mothers of his children, Nevaeh and Chrisean Rock. The Chrisean Rock saga, in particular, helped Blueface’s streams reach new heights, and now he is raking in the dough because of it.

Ultimately, there is no telling whether or not this business model is sustainable. However, he has managed to create a mini empire for himself, and the audience appears to be engaged.

Of course, this does come with some drawbacks. For instance, the artist has been dealing with swatting incidents on a near-weekly basis. That said, he appears used to it, with the paycheck serving as his motivation to keep going.

Read More: Is Kendrick Lamar’s Feature Run Hurting Or Helping Him?

The post Blueface’s Weekly Kick Earnings Hit Ridiculous New Heights appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

According to similar reports, Lil Mari had been disrespectful towards BloodHound Q50 in the days following his death. He allegedly went to the spot of BloodHound Q50’s murder and mocked him. These actions could be seen in a video which was reposted by No Jumper.

At this time, it is unknown whether or not this video had anything to do with his murder. A police investigation is reportedly underway, and no arrests have been made.

Read More: Is Kendrick Lamar’s Feature Run Hurting Or Helping Him?

Lil Mari Killed

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The Chicago artist had been building his rap career over the past few years and was amassing millions of views with his music videos. He even did an On The Radar freestyle, which has close to two million views.

When it comes to the death of BloodHound Q50, there is an active investigation in that case as well. A couple of weekends ago, the artist was gunned down while in his Tesla at a gas station in Chicago. No arrests were made at the time, although there is security footage of the incident.

Both of these stories are incredibly unfortunate, and the reactions on social media have been quite strong. In the aftermath of Q50’s death, many of his rivals took to Instagram and other platforms mockingly. Meanwhile, his girlfriend took to Instagram to claim that a Tesla safety feature led to his demise.

These are both developing stories, and we will continue to provide updates as soon as they become available.

Read More: Lil Durk’s Racketeering Charges, Explained

The post Lil Mari Reportedly Killed Just Days After Mocking BloodHound Q50’s Death appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

Release Date: September 23, 2026

Genre: Hip-Hop

Album: N/A

Quotable Lyrics from Last Time

I pray to god that the last time we touched ain’t the last time
I wasn’t even mad, you just caught me at a bad time
If I die to young think about me in your past time
And i’ll do it all again, i’m the one who said it the last time

The post Last Time – Song by Lelo appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

The relationship gets more complicated when Hip Hop turns out to be temporary. There are the artists who spent years rapping before realizing another genre suited them better. Some entered Hip Hop after they were already famous, borrowed heavily from its sound and aesthetics, then moved on once the experiment had run its course. A few built their first substantial audience within Rap while insisting they never really belonged there in the first place.

None of those paths are automatically an indictment. Artists change. Tastes change. Someone who made mixtapes at 20 is allowed to discover Country music at 30 without filing paperwork with the culture first. Everlast, Mod Sun, Shaboozey, and plenty of other genre wanderers make the boundaries even harder to police because Rap never disappeared completely from what they became.

The more interesting question is what happens when Hip Hop appears to function as a temporary home until something else becomes available.

Miley Cyrus used it to dismantle her Disney image before later criticizing parts of the music she had so enthusiastically embraced. Post Malone became famous through records the industry and audience largely understood as Hip Hop while repeatedly resisting the rapper label. Jelly Roll spent years grinding through Southern Rap before country gave him the career he had been chasing. Machine Gun Kelly made his name battling and rapping before Pop Punk became his biggest commercial reinvention. Kid Rock and Uncle Kracker offer earlier versions of the same migration, while Chanel West Coast is making her own turn toward country in real time.

Their stories are not interchangeable. That is exactly what makes them worth putting side by side. This isn’t simply about who “left Rap.” It is what Hip Hop represented to each of them while they were there, and what their departure revealed once they decided they would rather be somewhere else.

Miley Cyrus: Hip Hop As Reinvention

Although Miley Cyrus did not need Hip Hop to become famous, she used it to become someone else. During the Bangerz era, she worked closely with Mike WiLL Made-It, leaned into Trap production, collaborated with Future and Big Sean, and built an adult image around twerking, grills, and Black dancers. The shift helped tear down what remained of Hannah Montana, but it also sparked criticism that Cyrus was using pieces of Black culture as props for a reinvention she could eventually leave behind.

That criticism followed her into 2017, when Cyrus told Billboard that lyrics about sex and luxury lifestyles had “pushed me out of the Hip Hop scene a little.” The complaint landed awkwardly from an artist whose Bangerz era had thrived on sexual provocation and excess. Two years later, Cyrus acknowledged that contradiction after watching YouTuber Kenya Wilson criticize the racial implications of her comments. As USA Today reported, Cyrus apologized in the comments and admitted that “it is a privilege to have the ability to dip in and out of ‘the scene.’”

That admission gets closer to why her Hip Hop period remains so contentious. Cyrus didn’t just try Rap-influenced music and decide she preferred something else. She entered the culture when its sound and imagery helped her manufacture distance from her Disney past, then criticized parts of that culture once she was ready to move on. To her credit, she later recognized the privilege embedded in being able to make that choice at all.

Post Malone: Rap Opened The Door, But He Never Loved The Label

“White Iverson” made Post Malone famous inside a Hip Hop ecosystem he soon seemed reluctant to claim. The 2015 breakout was followed by Stoney, where melodic Rap and Trap production helped establish him as one of the genre’s biggest new artists. Still, he repeatedly resisted being called a rapper. A 2017 GQ profile even headlined the tension: “Don’t Call Post Malone a Rapper.”

His comments about Hip Hop only complicated that relationship. During a 2017 interview with NewOnce, The Fader reported that Post told listeners, “If you’re looking for lyrics, if you’re looking to cry, if you’re looking to think about life, don’t listen to Hip Hop.” He later clarified that he loved Hip Hop and felt his remarks had been taken out of context, but his music was already widening outside the genre.

Hollywood’s Bleeding made that expansion obvious. “Take What You Want” paired him with Ozzy Osbourne and Travis Scott over a track that veered toward Heavy Metal, while “Circles” became one of his biggest Pop-Rock records. Austin pushed even further into Rock and Pop before F-1 Trillion completed his move into Country. Rap opened the door, but Post spent much of his career making it clear he never intended to stay confined there.

Read More: What Post Malone’s Hip-Hop Commentary Says About The Artist Himself

Jelly Roll: Rap Was The Grind, Country Was The Breakthrough

Selling mixtapes out of a car came long before CMA stages and country radio. Jelly Roll spent years working as a Southern rapper, building an audience well outside the mainstream before singing became a serious part of his music. He told GRAMMY.com that he had always loved country, but simply did not know he could sing. That changed after a karaoke performance convinced a producer to push him toward vocals.

“Save Me” became the bridge. Released in 2020, the stripped-down record opened a path that Rap alone had not, and 2021’s Ballads of the Broken pushed him further into country without completely erasing where he came from. Whitsitt Chapel made the transition official in 2023 as his first full-length country album. GRAMMY.com later noted that the success of “Son of a Sinner” helped accelerate that pivot, even as Jelly continued performing older Rap material and openly crediting Hip Hop for teaching him how to tell his story.

His place in this feature is less cynical than Miley Cyrus or Post Malone. Jelly Roll never seemed embarrassed by being a rapper, and he has continued to acknowledge what Hip Hop gave him. Country simply became the format that fit his voice and widened his audience. In his own words, “I learned every trick I had from hip-hop.” That makes his move away from Rap feel less like rejection than a career finally landing in the genre he had wanted to explore all along.

Read More: Joyner Lucas & Jelly Roll Pen A Poignant Message About Addiction On “Best For Me”

Kid Rock: Hip Hop Came First

A high-top fade, turntables, and a Beastie Boys-influenced flow came years before the cowboy hats. As a teenager in Michigan, Kid Rock immersed himself in Hip Hop, DJing parties and rapping with Detroit-area artists before opening for Boogie Down Productions. That exposure helped land him a deal with Jive Records, which released his 1990 debut Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast. The project was squarely Rap, not the Rock-Country hybrid that would later define him.

The transition happened gradually. Devil Without a Cause blew up in 1998 by welding Rap to Hard Rock, giving him hits like “Bawitdaba” and “Cowboy” without abandoning rhymes altogether. Cocky pushed farther outside Hip Hop, especially after “Picture,” his duet with Sheryl Crow, found success at country radio. His 2003 self-titled album completed much of that transformation, with Kid Rock increasingly modeling himself after Country and Southern Rock figures rather than the Rap influences that shaped his early records.

The version of Kid Rock most familiar today can make his beginnings seem like trivia, but Hip Hop wasn’t a quick detour. He spent close to a decade trying to make it as a rapper before Rap-Rock finally broke him nationally. Country and Heartland Rock eventually became his stronger identity, leaving his Rap career as the foundation of a public persona that moved farther and farther from where it started.

Read More: Kid Rock Labels Jay-Z A “DEI Hire” For The NFL

Machine Gun Kelly: The Pop-Punk Pivot Became Bigger Than The Rap Career

Four Rap albums came before the pink guitars. The popular internet version says Eminem embarrassed Machine Gun Kelly so badly in 2018 that he fled Hip Hop, but the timeline is messier. MGK followed their feud with 2019’s Hotel Diablo, still largely a Rap album, while “I Think I’m Okay” with Yungblud and Travis Barker hinted at where he was headed. A year later, Barker produced Tickets to My Downfall, and the full Pop-Punk turn gave MGK his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. Rolling Stone described the record as a wholesale move into the late-’90s and early-2000s Pop-Punk sound he was a fan of before the fame.

Meanwhile, MGK rejected the idea that he had abandoned Rap at all. “I didn’t ‘switch genres’; I’m versatile,” he told Kerrang!, according to NME, arguing that four Rap albums should not prevent him from making a fifth in another genre. He doubled down with Mainstream Sellout in 2022, another guitar-heavy No. 1. The success made his Rock persona so dominant that casual listeners could be forgiven for forgetting how aggressively he once fought to establish himself as a rapper.

Unlike some artists here, though, MGK never completely shut the door behind him. His case is less about disowning Hip Hop than discovering that another sound could make him substantially bigger. Rap built the first version of Machine Gun Kelly. Pop-Punk turned the reinvention into the version most of the mainstream came to recognize.

Chanel West Coast: Country Feels More Like Home

Years of trying to prove herself as a rapper never gave Chanel West Coast the musical breakthrough she wanted. She released her first mixtape in 2010, signed with Lil Wayne’s Young Money in 2012, and continued pursuing Rap while her television career on Love & Hip Hop Hollywood and Ridiculousness made her far more recognizable than her records. Now, she is preparing a Country album after hearing herself in the genre and having a surprisingly blunt realization. “Okay, this is what I should have been doing all along,” she told People.

The change is also tied to how she sees herself. Chanel West Coast was created as a tougher alter ego for Chelsea Chanel Dudley, while she describes “Chelsea” as more relaxed and personal. Country, she says, gives her room to write about motherhood and tell stories she did not explore during her Rap years. Her first country single, “Down to the Filter,” still carries some of the attitude associated with her previous music, and she has said she intends to keep “a little bit of the Hip Hop flavor” rather than erase it completely.

Read More: Chanel West Coast Met Lil Wayne After Lying Her Way Into His Green Room

Hip Hop Was Never The Same Thing To All Of Them

Changing genres is not inherently suspicious. Musicians are supposed to experiment, and spending years making Rap does not create a lifetime obligation to keep doing it. Hip Hop has always made room for outsiders and artists still figuring out what they want to sound like. Leaving Hip Hop does not mean the relationship was insincere. The distinction is in whether the culture remained part of the artist’s identity once its sound was no longer useful to their career. The difference usually becomes clearest in how they talk about the culture once they no longer need it.

The post Artists Who Left Hip Hop Behind For Other Genres appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

High Schoolers LLC filed the complaint against Ovrkast, whose real name is Silas Wilson, on Sept. 16 in the Northern District of Georgia. The federal docket confirms the trademark case and identifies the company as the plaintiff. According to AllHipHop, Outkast’s attorneys initially sent Wilson a cease-and-desist in June 2025 before the two sides reached an agreement that would have him retire OVRKAST and begin using OVERKXST instead.

The complaint claims that switch was supposed to happen by July 15, 2026. Outkast alleges Wilson missed the deadline and continued releasing music under his original name. A Sept. 10 single, “Knock,” still appeared under Ovrkast, according to KQED.

The filing also points to Wilson’s own comments about confusion between the two names. In a 2025 Rolling Stone interview cited in the lawsuit, he acknowledged that people sometimes mix up their names. “They read Ovrkast [as] Outkast,” he said. “They’re like, oh my God, I thought they said Outkast.” Outkast’s attorneys are using that admission to support their argument that the similarity can mislead listeners.

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Ovrkast Says He Thought It Was Love

Wilson didn’t sound thrilled when news of the lawsuit hit social media. He reacted with “Ouch” on X before posting about the case on Instagram. “I thought it was love @andre3000 @bigboi (yes this is real),” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Outkast is asking the court to stop Wilson from using OVRKAST or another confusingly similar name. The lawsuit also seeks damages tied to the alleged infringement. According to the complaint, Wilson received a breach notice in August after failing to complete the agreed transition.

The dispute is not Outkast’s first recent fight over its intellectual property. The duo sued electronic act ATLiens in 2024 over a name taken from Outkast’s 1996 album ATLiens. That case was settled in February 2026. The new lawsuit remains pending before U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross in Georgia, with Outkast requesting a jury trial.

Read More: The 10 Best Outkast Songs

The post Outkast Takes Ovrkast To Court Over Rap Name Dispute appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

A representative confirmed the procedure to People, saying Richie underwent an ablation and that “everything went perfectly.” The rep added that he is “doing great” but will take some time away from performing before returning to the stage. The cancellations affect the Sept. 26 stop in San Francisco and the Sept. 30 show in Chicago. An Oct. 2 performance in Columbus is also off the schedule. TMZ first reported the hospitalization and described it as Richie’s third hospital stay in as many months.

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Read More: Lionel Richie Hospitalized Again After Health Scare During Tour

Richie’s Tour Is Interrupted

Concerns about his health surfaced again in late August, when Richie checked himself into a St. Louis hospital after performing at The Muny. He spent three days there while doctors conducted cardiac tests before returning home. People reported that he was back in Los Angeles by Sept. 2 and doing well.

A separate incident in June forced Richie to stop a St. Paul concert after becoming dizzy onstage. He later postponed two performances on doctors’ advice before resuming the tour. His next scheduled appearance is currently Oct. 14 at the Encore Theater in Las Vegas. Wynn Las Vegas still lists that performance, along with additional October dates, while Richie’s representative says he plans to return once he has had time to recover.

Read More: Lionel Richie Had Some Harsh Words For Chris Brown & Usher

The post Lionel Richie Cancels Upcoming Dates After Cardiac Procedure appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

In her new Lifetime documentary, Kimora Lee: On Her Own, Lee recalls Simmons repeatedly showing up at her fashion shows before sending flowers and calling her. She told People that Banks once kept her at her apartment for an entire weekend so she could not go home and check her voicemail. At the time, Lee interpreted that interference as jealousy. “I thought she was a little bit hating,” she said. “She was trying to protect me.”

Lee says she was 16 when she met Simmons and that he was 18 years older. She now views their relationship much more critically, telling People that she did not fully recognize what she describes as abusive behavior until later. Simmons has denied allegations of abuse against him.

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Read More: Russell Simmons Takes Credit For Making Kimora Lee Famous

Russell Simmons Disputes Kimora Lee’s Timeline

A spokesperson for Simmons challenged Lee’s account in a statement. According to the representative, the two first met at a Mary McFadden fashion show in February 1993. Because Lee was born May 4, 1975, the spokesperson argues she would have been 17 years and nine months old then, not 16.

The statement also points to older profiles about their relationship. A 2004 Observer profile described Lee as 17 when Simmons first noticed her on the runway. His representative also cited a 2005 Vanity Fair interview in which Lee said, “We didn’t do anything until I was 18.” Simmons’ spokesperson added, “I hope this clears up any misunderstanding.”

That response does not challenge Lee’s account of Banks trying to keep her away from him. It also does not address her newer claims about the marriage itself. Instead, Simmons is disputing whether she was 16 or nearly 18 when the pursuit began. Lee and Simmons later married in 1998, separated in 2006, and finalized their divorce in 2009.

Read More: Russell Simmons & Kimora Lee: A Complicated Relationship Timeline

The post Kimora Lee Says Tyra Banks Tried To Protect Her From Russell Simmons appeared first on HotNewHipHop.

The woman, identified as Jane Doe, sued Williamson in May 2025 and accused him of rape, sexual battery, and a broader pattern of abuse between 2020 and 2023. According to the original complaint, which was also reviewed by ESPN, she alleged that Williamson raped her twice in Beverly Hills in 2020 and later subjected her to physical violence and controlling behavior. Williamson has denied those claims from the beginning, calling them “categorically false and reckless.”

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Williamson Challenges Several Claims On Legal Grounds

His latest response does more than reject the allegations. TMZ reports that Williamson argues several of Doe’s claims are barred by statutes of limitations and contends that California laws covering sexual battery, domestic violence, and stalking cannot be applied to alleged conduct she says occurred in North Carolina, Texas, and Louisiana.

Williamson also disputes Doe’s characterization of their relationship as domestic. He calls that claim “nonsensical,” arguing that they neither lived together nor interacted frequently enough to meet that definition. He maintains that no misconduct occurred in California or anywhere else.

Doe’s lawsuit seeks monetary and punitive damages. Her attorney previously told TMZ that she looks forward to presenting her case in court. Williamson’s attorneys, meanwhile, have accused her of attempting to extort him and previously said the matter had been reported to law enforcement. Williamson is now asking the court to dismiss the civil case in its entirety.

Read More: Chris Brown Tells Zion Williamson To Be “The Best Man You Can Be”

The post Zion Williamson Seeks Dismissal Of Rape & Abuse Lawsuit appeared first on HotNewHipHop.