You can't be a nerdy was good.
You know what i'm saying.
I'm a nerd, i'm a square too.
Okay, the barbs, the ovos, they forming like voltron on you, jack gear up.
And just for context, everybody been talking about gene simmons.
Hip-hop's already in the rock and roll hall of fame.
It's too late, my guy.
It appears that lil wayne said my life matter, especially to my.
Yeah, but all right, so it's a boring convo.
We're gonna forget about this freestyle in a week.
No, but it got us through a week.
It didn't get me through shit.
No, it is, because you here.
If we didn't bring it up, I would... You're yelling at me.
I don't even know where that came from.
I'm not even... It wasn't even that deep.
I wasn't even disagreeing with you.
You're yelling at me.
You're yelling at me, and I was really trying to figure out what was happening.
All right, and I'm countering you.
I don't even know why, though.
Because there's nothing there, is what I'm saying.
It's called the Iceman Freestyle.
Aside from the obvious, yeah, you can latch on to that if you want.
But that's where I was going with the obvious.
Man, start recording, man.
Don't have me defending this thing.
Please don't have me defending.
Yo, why are we arguing at the time of the episode?
You're not ready.
You're arguing.
You got to be ready.
I'm not arguing.
No, you are.
You said something, though.
You said something that didn't have any weight to it.
All right, it's rap life review.
That's low.
And i'm ebro and you got eddie and nick and nadeska.
Is he yelling at me?
I didn't even put my airpods away yet and y'all are yelling at each other yo.
Was he just yelling at me or no?
I wasn't yelling, he was a little bit.
Your tone was elevated.
All i said was central c has an iceman freestyle.
Okay, is this a part of the marketing matrix for the rollout for drake's iceman?
And i said no, i don't think it is.
But you got very passionate about that now.
And I was like, but why would he call it the Iceman Freestyle if it's not?
And they have a history of being compadres and cohorts in the hustle.
Yeah, I don't know.
I'm not latching onto that argument.
Sorry.
OK.
I'm not yelling at you.
It seems pretty apparent to me.
I see why you made those ties.
Like, it's literally called the Iceman Freestyle.
And I just said, I don't think there's any, like, aside from him naming that.
I would love to finish my sentence.
That'd be great.
Yo, your man is passionate about this Iceman.
We're on edge today.
Everybody on edge today.
But go ahead.
Go ahead.
My fault.
My fault, Eddie.
I'm chilling.
I'm at a very even tone.
Yeah, OK.
Low key, are you a part of the Iceman marketing plan?
Are you?
Not at all.
These are real questions that need to be asked.
The Iceman files, but go ahead.
Man, it's an easy tie to make.
There's clearly a relationship between Drake and Central Street that goes back years.
Drake has a very high profile album named Iceman, still a terrible name.
And then Central Sea releases an Iceman.
Like, come on, like, why is that hard to connect?
I just said I don't think.
All right, if that's the case, if that's what they're trying to apply.
Well, I think it's just, I think it's, um, there's nothing controversial about it.
I'm not saying it is.
I'm not saying you are.
Calm down, man.
I'm not even saying you are.
I'm literally saying it's not even, for me, it's not even, uh... like a heated debate.
It's kind of like Drake jumped on the radar freestyle, which was a big moment for Central C, right?
Drake was on when Central C bubbled up and dropped his album.
Drake and him, you know, collabed on a Drake single right.
And then now return to alley-oop Central.
C's like yo, the album's coming.
Let's keep the convo going around, Iceman.
It's another.
I look at it like a marketing matrix, if that's the best way to put it, where you have all of these different touch points in a rollout, because I think Doing just a singular thing in a marketing rollout for an album is hard now.
That's all I was, I didn't want to, you know.
No, great, great points.
You didn't want to offend Lowkey.
I didn't want to offend Lowkey.
No, I just said I disagree.
No, I just said I disagree.
And, you know, when you disagree with Ebro, he gets a little defensive.
No, no, no.
You kind of got to, like, softball your points.
He's like, no, I'm not disagreeing with you.
Now I'm the one that's getting defensive?
I wasn't even disagreeing with you, bro.
Yeah, but no one was yelling at you, fam.
The episode, everybody saw you.
Well, no, yeah, you let it in.
That was good marketing.
Well, only because I knew you were trying to change the story later on.
I'm not.
I'm lying with you right now.
Now?
But you was yelling at me.
Listen.
Yeah, no, you set me up for the wet up.
Welcome to Rap Life.
Listen, shout to A Boogie Man sold out.
Radio City Music Hall dropped a new EP.
Came by the program to celebrate 10 years of his debut mixtape.
The Night featured surprise pop-outs.
Mary J popped out at the A Boogie.
Max B popped out at the A Boogie.
Fetty Wap.
Back Outside popped out.
A Boogie, a lot of people talk about him in New York City like he's the real king of New York.
The last time he had a concert at Madison Square Garden, 50 Cent pops out.
Man, the whole city damn near popped out.
No, that's what I was going to ask you, because a few months ago, when the whole Ray Vaughn beef started with Joey Badass and the Ice Spice is the king of New York, the A Boogie conversation was like yo, he's the king of New York.
Do you still feel like that's the case?
Is he the king of New York?
I mean, when you look at his discography and who he brings out to his concerts and selling out shows, I think if you put it through the lens of entertainment value and who's got the biggest songs?
A Boogie's discography is crazy in the city and on streaming services.
If you're just talking about him as a lyricist or the best MC out of the city, I don't think people are putting him in that box.
The accolades and the attributes and the relationships.
Yeah, it's not the same as where you would crown like the King MC.
The value is different.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
I don't think it's through that lens.
I just think it's as a popular artist.
Got you.
Rough for New York.
Rough?
Probably the most popular in New York.
You said it's rough?
Rough.
Why?
Why is that rough?
If that's the King of New York, it's rough out there.
Well, because of his popularity, that's the king.
Just interesting.
Well, i just think.
Once again, i think it's popularity based.
Um, he makes, he makes crossover pop records.
I think is is we don't have a king of new york.
Just, i mean, we just put that on the table but we're like a unanimous yeah.
If there was a close second, then i guess, based on what you just said yeah hey, boogie would be in the running for it.
Who else is in the running?
Who's in the who's?
The king of new york, who's in the who's?
That's the closest.
I think that's what Lowe's saying.
He's saying somebody that literally has collaborated with everybody in the city, done hooks for everybody in the city, has had hit songs.
Everybody comes out to his show.
I think that's what he's saying.
Yeah, that's pretty much the measuring stick.
Because he's really a songwriter artist.
It's not like he's trying to be... the most hardcore hip hop MC.
I don't even think he's on that path.
I was talking shit, but I actually do like the album.
It's a good Valentine's Day album.
I'm just here for the jokes.
I didn't fall for the trope.
I didn't fall for the trope for that reason.
I caught up with A Boogie matter of fact speaking of him being the king of New York and how he collabs with people and how he's connected with the new wave.
I remember before it was hard for me to find people out of New York to actually like collaborate with and the fans liked it, you know, because it's people that I rock with.
It's like you know, it's a difference between sometimes like just having friends that you do music with and somebody that's in the game doing music with you and it's like people fuck with it.
So it's like finding people like that is all like, it's always fire cash called bing um, even bass swag, like zeddy will kyle rich 41 and, like you know, like that's a nice roster.
I got different type of shit going on with his music too, like he don't only make drill music, he make, like You know, like real artist music too.
So it's like tapping in with shit like that and learning shit like that is fire.
You know, creating new sounds with the whole, with the whole, like the whole youth that's getting in into the, into the different sounds, making it New York.
You know what I'm saying?
That's right.
That's right.
It's not just me no more.
That's fire.
When you think, just hearing you talk about it, it's exciting.
Hell yeah.
Like when you think about the roster of people that got motion in the city right now, think about all them names you just ran through that got real motion.
Facts.
It gave me more to even come outside for when I'm in the city.
You know what I'm saying?
Like I used to be bored in this shit.
Like just me by myself.
You know what I'm saying?
New Nipsey out with Be No Rideau.
That dropped on Friday.
The Marathon Clothing Store announced Be No Rideau released Prolific this summer, a project he created with Hustle before the passing.
Did you know about this before the single?
Had you heard about this collab album?
Nah, Karen Simmel just sent me the record, I think, Thursday night and told me what was going on.
That was my first awareness to us got it, so it came out.
Then they already.
They already had a collaboration project before, so this isn't like unheard of, so i would think there would be some stuff in the tub.
Yeah yeah um, and it's just beautiful anytime you can hear nipsey, because nipsey's one of those like When other artists pass, we get like all these albums after work and these what's the term they use when someone posts a posthumous.
You know Mac Miller and you know Pop Smoke.
We get like projects after the fact.
Nipsey passed, we didn't get no music, man.
And I'm not selfishly, yes, I want more music from Nipsey.
But if it's not done right, if it's not done with care, I don't want it.
Because some of those albums, I'm not going to say which ones, they seem like missteps.
And we have to protect the legacy of Nipsey Hussle.
But if anybody is going to make sure that the music that comes out has the heart and the purity of all that Nipsey has done musically and creatively, I would expect Bein' Over a Door to be one of those people.
Did we get any verses after?
He passed?
Yeah, that was the one with the whole thing.
That was the one with what it feels like.
That was the Black Messiah soundtrack.
All right, all right.
Also, the joint on the DJ Khaled.
Yes.
Yeah, we got that.
OK, all right, all right.
Yeah, that was, OK.
But not a lot of, like, usually we get projects or multiple, and yet again, do what we care.
I don't need it.
But if it's done right, I would love to hear more Nipsey Hussle.
It feels like the family and Black Sam and everyone has a clear path on how they want to do things, versus just trying to race to put things out.
Everything feels very purposefully done and not rushed, which is what you want to see.
You know what I mean?
You want to handle his legacy with care to the best of your ability.
Yeah, and you want to pace yourself and do it your way and make sure your business is in order and things are sorted and you can maximize the opportunity.
And done with the right people.
There you go.
Yo, shout to Larry June, Currency and Alchemist dropped another single.
I was playing that all weekend for sure.
Lady London and Money Long, want to shout them out.
Lefty Gunplay, that's Grammy award winning Lefty Gunplay to you and me.
You know what I'm saying? to everybody.
Nah, let's just make sure you get it right.
And yo, we are on the precipice of a Mike Will Made It album.
You know, this weekend he dropped a joint with NBA young boy Chief Keef.
Y'all know this album's on the way out.
Mike Will Made It did his thing at the Versus.
Great timing.
I can't wait to hear what this.
Listen, being prepared after a Versus is key.
I mean, but the way he was prepared for that verse is will make us think that he probably is prepared for what's coming after.
If he's prepared for that, we know he's prepared for this.
I'm hoping he has like... I think it's J. Cole in there.
On the project?
Yeah, on the album.
Oh, that's dope.
Yeah, it says Pharrell Cole, Andre 3000, Lil Uzi, Vert Future.
Yeah, so michael is one of those people we've been talking a lot about community the last couple episodes.
People like uh bat bunny and j cole and uh, right before i went on leave, i went to atlanta for a couple days and like stopped by his studio.
Um, just kind of popped up on them and it was crazy to see what he's been building down there, like acquiring real estate and trying to build out like a big space where people can come work.
And of course, they showed me footage of all these artists just like would pop up and like do a session.
So um, he also played some music that like blew my mind.
I feel like he still has more of himself to reveal, if that makes sense.
Although he's already had so many great hits.
So I'm excited.
I hope he has like a crazier like Mustard had when Kendrick was dropping like a couple of years ago.
I'm really looking forward to this album.
Did he mention anything about the album when he was playing music?
Maybe.
But I mean, I'm not trying to talk too much and not ever get invited back to the compound, you know, but just saying things to look forward to.
And there's a documentary coming.
Mustard had a Nipsey song too.
Since you said Mustard, I forgot about that one.
I've had about three records since the passing.
But yeah, shout out to Mike Will.
J. Cole, seventh number one album.
290,000 sold.
290.
This says 280.
I mean, you know what I mean?
It's like 290, 291, I think.
289,000.
290.
Let's round up.
Why not?
Seventh number one album.
I love it.
I love it.
It's a lot.
Long lasting.
It says here J Cole now joins an exclusive list of rappers who have released seven consecutive number one studio albums.
Jay-Z, J. Cole, Kanye, Eminem, Future, and Drake.
I just love the YouTube videos.
Keep making more documentaries, like just going around the South.
Oh, the Trunk Tour?
Listen, bro, that is that is some of the best marketing slash content I've seen.
And I don't know these people.
We have like these weird parasocial relationships with celebrities where it feels like and J Cole does a really good job of coming across like that's his thing.
I'm a normal guy.
Look at me, J. Cole.
I'm riding around in a Honda Civic or a Ford or whatever it is.
And I'm just pulling up with people.
But it feels genuine, man.
It feels cool.
Like every time I see one of those the most recent one I watched as of recording this he pulled up in the DMV and he's just like playing basketball with people and pulling up on people like yo.
And my favorite one was the first one because I think people didn't know what was happening.
So he's just pulling up on people like, yo, you like rap music?
And, to folks' credit man, he's coming across as a personal guy and you're seeing right there the effects of J Cole's music on people and how you know, for a lot of people he's like their spokesperson.
Well, I think that's always been the appeal of somebody like Cole.
I think because when he started dropping early, it was at a time where everyone was talking about all the money they had and, you know, being in the streets.
And he was like the complete opposite of that, as Ebro likes to make fun of.
You know, going to school and all of that.
A lot of people could relate to it.
So him being that regular, relatable dude was always the appeal.
And yeah, him going out for the first mixtapes, like selling the.
That's how Dollar in a Dream started selling his first projects for a dollar, getting the first fan.
So that's like really him bringing this all full circle.
Wait, so what do I make fun of?
What are you talking about?
Him, college and being, I don't know, college and being educated.
You always have college jokes.
No, that's not what I'm making fun of.
I'm making fun of y'all being nerdy and sensitive.
That's cool.
I love being nerdy and sensitive.
We're going back to this.
That's all.
And the only reason I troll y'all is because y'all nerdy and sensitive.
And y'all react to it.
Listen, I went to college the same thing.
I was broke the same way.
I love J. Cole.
He appeals very much to my underground college radio.
Early beginning sensibility.
Yeah, low key, you're just like a super Cole fan.
So you singling out Quick Stop as like the most, would you say the most musically Cole fan thing on the album.
I'm not going to put anybody's name on it because I don't know if she was.
But the person who said it, that that made her, what'd she say?
I shed a thug tear was what the quote was about the song Quick Stop.
She is a super J. Cole fan.
That is after...
No, I was responding to her comment.
Wait, what I was trying to say is.
I on purpose said I'm not going to say her name because I didn't know if she wanted to.
We were talking about it last week.
We already told people it was Trudy.
Oh, we did?
Yeah, we did.
Oh, okay.
I forgot.
We shouted her out.
She's one of our producers here.
But anyway, she's a super Cole fan, which I didn't know.
She was a Cole fan until a Cole album came out.
And that's when the Mets thing came out.
Then I was like, oh, y'all like Mets fans.
Y'all only show up when y'all in the playoffs or the championship.
All I was going to say, this was a positive thought.
Quick Stop actually came up in one of his earliest earliest records or freestyles, like 10, 15 years ago.
So, like, that's been a long thread.
So, secretly, you're a super Cole fan.
That's what I realized.
I didn't know that part, but I do like Cole.
Yeah, I love Cole.
I don't think he ever said he wasn't.
Yeah, I've never said that.
I just like trolling you because you're the president of the fan club.
See what I mean?
That's where it should stop because, like, that's not nice.
What, that she's the president of the fan club?
Yeah.
What?
What?
Why would you be a fan of something and then somebody says you're the president of the fan club and you have a problem with that?
That goes to your point about the president of the fan club.
Like the nerdy sensitive, I love being nerdy and sensitive.
Those are my favorite qualities about myself.
I feel you.
I'm just trying to be a journalist.
And then you come with those jokes and just make it up like I'm being some kind of crazy fan or something you know.
I see you, Nadeska.
I'm with you.
Wow, man.
And Nick, Nick had to leave way too early last week.
I wish you were here with me for the rest of the episode, you know?
You'd have been with me.
Now, he nerdy and sensitive, too.
I can tell.
The name calling is not nice.
Nerdy and sensitive.
No, these are qualities that you should embrace.
I thought being sensitive was good.
You was in touch with your emotions.
Well, you can't laugh at everybody every time you say it.
I thought being nerdy was good.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm a nerd.
I'm a square, too.
No?
I can't be down with y'all nerdy, sensitive crew?
Yo, man, that's messed up.
I can't even hang with y'all.
This is messed up, man.
This is what we're saying.
You keep going.
Nah, man, why y'all?
Are y'all elitist, nerdy, and sensitive?
Who's yours?
Well, you a nerd, bro.
I am, yes.
Don't even try to act like you not a nerd.
You a super nerd.
I'm a what?
Super nerd.
I'm an elitist.
Yeah.
You didn't like super.
I didn't like that one.
You could have just had me at nerve.
You was going super, super far?
No, man.
Yo, man.
Now, are we dealing with this J. Cole, Cameron lawsuit at all?
You can deal with it.
Yeah, you can deal with it.
Hop in.
What do you mean?
Well, I'm just reading the thing here.
Cameron is taking half a million dollars in damages and Cole's team is basically like throw this out because there's no merit.
Yeah.
And throw it out with prejudice, meaning, like, it's ridiculous.
The documents claim that Cam is not a joint author or co-owner of the song and consented to its release.
So I guess he ain't have his business correct, and the lawyers found that.
Wait, wait, wait.
Legally, what's that mean, though?
Because Cam Rock clearly is rapping on the song, so I don't understand how this even works legally.
I guess maybe not being like a full, an outright owner doesn't give you legality issues or allowing you to do certain things.
Maybe that's what it means.
But pay me.
This is my job.
I rapped on the song.
Pay me now.
Give me the money you owe.
I guess the discrepancy is I thought they agreed for Cole to do something with Cam.
And Cameron said, and he never did it.
And he never delivered on it for two years.
Get on this project.
You wouldn't understand.
All right, you didn't man up to the deal we made, according to Cameron.
So now since you didn't give me anything in return, give me money.
Like, I understand he's not a, like, yet again, I'm not a lawyer.
I have no idea how this works.
But if you say, well, there's no merit to it because he's not an owner of the song.
That motherfucker's rapping on the song.
We heard it.
Well, was there any contract signed, any deals negotiated?
We don't know.
I'm just asking.
So that's the thing.
It sounds like maybe Cam expecting that verse was just on his word.
But maybe the lawsuit is really about the amount he is asking.
And not necessarily the test.
Not necessarily that they're throwing this lawsuit out, claiming that you're owed half a million dollars.
Right.
Maybe that's what J. Cole and the team is.
I guess we'll see when Cam responds to it.
We probably already missed it.
It probably came out by now.
He talked about it on his talk with Flea.
No, he said, quote, me and Cole, this was after.
Me and Cole are cool or was cool.
This is exactly what happened.
Being a man is keeping your word, Cam said.
And I know everybody's busy.
Everybody has things to do.
But if I give you my word four or five times, I got to do it.
So on this project, he did.
I did an intro for him.
I told him I may need a verse whenever a project gets done.
He said, cool.
Then camera call.
He said I can't do it now because I don't feel like talking about it right now.
According to what Cole was saying at the time,
I said, look, I'll do an interview.
I won't even bring that up.
He says, no, I can't do no interview and not talk about it.
All right, well, when can I get the interview?
Yo, February, definite.
February, I'm dead ass on February.
Oh, yeah, this is what he talked about.
He talked about this.
He talked about this weeks ago.
There's going to be a new version, though, that we're going to miss.
He hasn't talked about this, the response to the lawsuit.
That's him addressing everything leading up to right now.
Yeah, leading up to the lawsuit.
So maybe one day he'll get the first and the lawsuit will get thrown out and it'll be all good, because this is how it goes.
And get the interview.
Well, I guess the thing that I find peculiar is how did it jump all the way to lawsuit?
Because I guess the time or the duration of- Pay me.
That's why.
Because he ain't pay him.
He ain't give him nothing.
Well, no meaning.
Like was Cole trying to get this album out and there was a breakdown in communication and Cole was like look, I'm trying to get this album out.
Just based off of Cam's experience.
You know what I'm saying?
And Cam was like, nah, I need this right now, or I need it tied to, you know, he has his own show.
He has his own things going on.
He said, according to Cam, though, it's been three different things.
It wasn't like...
And he kept pushing it back.
And eventually, you're like, bro.
Well, I don't remember the first couple of times you pushed it back Eddie, if you remember the examples you gave, like what excuse Cole gave
But at the point that the beef was happening, It made sense.
Yeah, yeah.
I can't sit down and I can't give you this verse right now, and I can't sit down and do an interview and not talk about this huge beef that's happening.
That part at least seems very legit.
That's valid.
Timing is off.
Does this happen often?
Like people get into conflict over like repaying debts on verses?
And this is for anybody out there that's new to doing podcasts, and for those of you rappers that are now hosting platforms and doing this media thing.
You know how many times y'all have pawned us off when we've wanted or done favors for y'all, because you wanted us to play a song that we really didn't like, and so we played it for you in exchange for you showing up to a show or asking you to come do an interview, and you never came through.
Ever?
You know how many times that's happened?
A lot, apparently.
All the time.
But I think, you know, for Cam, he's like, well, I'm suing now.
Because I think Cam, as a rapper also, he was on an album, right?
Did work in exchange for something else, didn't get the exchange.
I wonder what that would look like if we start suing rappers for not keeping in their work.
Keeping their word ain't gonna hold you.
I'm loving watching rappers turning the media.
Uh, uh people yeah, like how do you having them and watching them go through the same things that we've gone through for so long?
Like even rappers i know that's like yo y'all be chatting and now they have a podcast and all they're doing is chatting.
Yeah, there's a lot of chatty patties out there chatting and gossiping, Arguing about shit from 30 years ago.
Yeah, NBA players doing that now too.
NBA players all mad at the media.
Now they all media guys.
And now NBA players mad at the media.
Or they're covering their boys playing basketball.
Now they boys is mad at it.
Gotta take these podcast mics away.
I love it.
I'm into it.
Kevin Durant with his burner.
Damn, KD.
They was flaming him yesterday.
Yeah, KD.
He was flaming people in his group chat.
But god damn, I ain't never seen no shit like that.
This is a cool story.
Y'all watching this, Lil Russell, Lil Wayne.
That shit had the internet going crazy.
Talk to us, Lil.
What'd you see?
I guess Lil Russell did this interview, and I guess the conversation came up about him.
The Truth Hurts podcast.
Yeah, about him loving Lil Wayne growing up, but then when he decided, when he got mature enough to understand that Lil Wayne really wasn't saying anything,
And I guess the internet didn't like his choice of words.
I think they probably were triggered by the word... Disdain.
Disdain.
Disdain.
And he has no substance.
So that sparked a big, big... Stop.
But he did... I was just gonna focus on disdain.
I know we not walking around acting like Lil Wayne was kicking knowledge and dropping gems.
That's not what we're doing, right?
We're not doing that?
No, we're not doing that.
Okay.
Before you guys get into it, I just feel like we should mention what LaRussell said.
So yes, he didn't say disdain.
He basically said, look, I'm a diehard Wayne fan.
I can rap his music bar for bar.
Don't act like I don't know what I'm talking about.
He said.
But at some point, especially seeing people who grew up and wanted to be in gangs et cetera, because of whatever Wayne rapped about, he said I've seen the negative, that he contributed to the community.
And he feel like for a long time, he wasn't really talking about anything deep.
He did take a minute.
He explained himself.
It's not like he just jumped out the window and was trying to disrespect Wayne.
I guess the way the clip was represented, it just jumped out at us like he was just talking.
You mean the internet is doing what the fucking internet does?
That's what I'm trying to say.
So I'm trying to say that there is some cut.
Sorry, carry on.
The clip looked nasty in the way it was presented.
Then he took time out to explain the whole clip and give us the full context of the clip, which makes more sense in hindsight.
I don't believe he meant any malice to it, but yes, he does have some points.
In regards to Wayne's content lack thereof
If that makes sense.
If that makes sense.
So then I saw LaRussell tweet something about like you know, if Axe fans are attacking you or this one's fans are attacking you?
If academics are saying this, the Say Cheese TV saying that and a bunch of rap pages, they have the same narrative.
Then there was a paid campaign of some sort.
A smear campaign.
A smear campaign.
Well, because now, but by the way, he's not LaRussell.
You're not wrong, sir.
You're not far off.
It's definitely a concerted action now that you are on Roc Nation.
That's a concerted activity on social media that will now come after you, right?
Especially now that you've talked about anything tangentially close to the Barbz and the ovos, which is wayne.
So that you've activated all of that.
So you've activated the anti-rock nation, the barbs, the ovos, they forming like voltron on you.
Jack gear up and you will learn that people don't like the truth about their favorites.
There's little.
Wayne said some real things about his experiences.
But generally speaking, Lil Wayne, and this is not shade.
That's just not who he was.
He wasn't talking about society's ills and the pitfalls of being involved in this and that.
It just wasn't what his rapping was about, man.
That's not shade.
At some point, it was just a lot of pussy rap.
That's what you want to say.
No, I wasn't even saying that either.
I was really.
Do you want to say that?
She wanted to say that.
Did you want to say that?
At some point, and I love Wayne too.
I do love him, but there was a point where it was a lot of that.
Yeah, I mean, he was definitely bragging about what he loved and what he loved to do.
But it wasn't nothing new.
We've heard that from the jump from his career that he's always been very recreational in what he raps about.
How he raps about what he- Recreational is a great word.
What he's experienced, and he really zoned in and honed in on a bunch of that shit.
A lot of bars, a lot of punchlines.
Yeah, like the storytelling was there, but it was never, yeah.
Yeah, but he wasn't, we wasn't.
But who was tuning in to Lil Wayne for gyms?
All that Russell was saying is as I matured as a man.
He was talking about a bunch of nothing.
I realized that A, he wasn't talking about nothing, fine.
And then was probably like he said.
I grew up in these communities where I knew individuals that wanted to join gangs, because that's what Wayne was putting off.
Right?
There's a whole conversation we was having even back then about Wayne being high on songs and being high and rapping like this and being all that and the cups and the foam cups and the lean and the weed that a whole generation of artists thought that that's what they needed to do to be popular like.
That's been a conversation for a long time.
So to wake up one day as you mature and go yo, i really like something.
That really wasn't that positive and I want to be more positive as I go into my adulthood.
And I love this hip hop thing because of this individual.
But now I would like to maybe put forth something that's a little bit more positive and uplifting.
I don't see why this is controversial.
I think I look there's there's there is another layer to this, too.
And the Russell didn't articulate this, but because the Russell so active is in his community.
Yeah.
OK, so two things can be true.
Wayne can rap his ass off.
I'm not here to discredit anything Wayne does.
And I also don't go to Lil Wayne for anything socially.
But on the other end of it, I don't think somebody has been a bigger disappointment for me when it comes to specifically black issues for a black man, more than Lil Wayne in the last 15 or so years, because before we get into the era that we're in now, there were issues with Mike Brown and they would talk to Lil Wayne and be like hey, how do you feel about this young man that was murdered in Missouri?
And Lil Wayne's quote was, as long as my bitches love me.
And because Lil Wayne was saved by a police officer famous story because he was shot when he was a kid.
He's been very pro-police when there's been issues with police and brutality towards Black people.
With our current regime, Lil Wayne has been actively loud about who he supports.
So, even though Lil Russell hasn't said it, maybe there is an underlying issue where Lil Wayne stands when every time someone tries to get him to and unfairly, maybe him to comment about issues, about what's going on to black people in our community, he's historically been on the other side of where we stand.
But even with that Eddie, even when people do try to get clarity or get understanding of where he's at politically or socially or whatever the case is, and that person has repeatedly explained to us who he is, where he signs and what he really cares about, at what point do we really continue that conversation or that push to him to get that answer or to get him to understand, like there are things outside of your bubble and that, that things, that that your fans care about in a societal or a social justice manner?
Like how many times do we keep going to him and asking well, what do you think?
No no, you're playing yourself by going to ask lil wayne.
That's right, playing yourself by going to ask lil wayne about his, his perspective on society.
Like he's already established A.
If your answer to someone dying in the street, whether they're black or whatever they are, is as long as my bitches love me.
If that's your response, maybe we shouldn't come to you for commentary anymore.
That's what I'm saying.
You know what I'm saying?
And really, the shame is on the individual who comes to Lil Wayne for commentary.
Why would you think that Wayne speaks on behalf of an entire community of individuals?
Just because of his complexion and his race?
That's already, you've already failed when you did that.
So I was more, it's not about Wayne.
Wayne is who Wayne is and he's always been the same.
We knew who he was.
This is about the people who are attacking Lil Russell and about Lil Russell, who spoke his truth about his fandom and love for somebody who influenced him and where he's at today.
I just wanted to confirm for Lil Russell that they coming for you, Jack.
So what should he do next?
Keep going, keep telling your truth, lean in my dude.
Maybe this will inspire a whole album.
Let's get active.
This is my type of carrying on.
This is this is a great.
This is a good way to almost reintroduce yourself to you know the game or to to a new fan base, because the new deal he's signed with rock nation, now he's becoming more vocal.
Now he's like you say, he's saying his truth.
He's got an album coming out, that little jumper, this is all good.
This is all good.
My guy.
And hip-hop hip-hop's always gonna come for artists like le russell too, because he's quote on comes across as corny.
You know i'm saying anybody that's happy and having a good time and wants to put a positive message in a rap space and this isn't new like ibro can attest to this from, like mc hammer and pm dawn, and we can name a million rap artists like even de la soul had like their issues, like this.
This isn't new.
So now More people, more eyes are on the Russell.
More people get to look at him with the hats that he wears and his North faces and him smiling.
And he's going to be corny to a million people.
It's going to be the Chance the Rapper thing.
And also, I think this is the other piece too.
You're.
You know you're a fan favorite and everybody's rooting for you when you're at a certain level.
When they see you grinding and really trying to get it together.
Now, oh, you're at the Super Bowl.
Oh, you had a dinner with Jay-Z.
There's a certain faction of people that ain't going to love you no more once you begin to grow beyond where they deem they can relate to you.
You went corporate.
That's suitable for you.
Now you're corporate.
You're aligned with your Illuminati now.
Now you're this, now you're that.
By the way, this isn't new in hip hop.
Anytime an underground artist ... I remember when the Fugees was underground.
You know what I'm saying?
And then all of a sudden, now the score is getting all these awards and going platinum and hip hop heads was like nah, they sold out.
I was like, no, the music just got popular.
Yeah, once that Rock Nation deal hit, this was... Yeah, you know what I'm saying?
I remember when Kanye did Common's album, people had the nerve to be upset about it.
That was a thing.
Really?
Where they was like, yo, Common, come on, man.
You supposed to be underground.
It was like, yo...
We from the same city.
Not only that, but Common's crew put Kanye on.
Like, they was bringing Kanye in the kitchen to work on the drum machine when he was a kid.
But I'm just saying, that's not the...
It's not lost on us that that happens.
What people who don't know see is.
Oh, you went from being of the people per se and now you're all of a sudden tied to this big behemoth entity, whatever it is.
But then creating a kerfuffle because he still is of the people.
That's the whole point of this.
He's the community guy.
I think you're right.
It's the perfect time.
With the album coming, plant your flag, dig in.
This is what I stand for.
He was talking about wanting to be president one day, about seriously considering running for office.
He's like that kind of guy.
He didn't mean it jokingly, you know what i mean, he wasn't being silly.
That's like the kind of person who is well, he's also la russell's very uh much a guy who, who has been an engineer, he has been a producer, he does his own, did his own marketing to this point in his career.
He's writing his records, he's a workforce, collaborating with different people.
He's created his own revenue streams and these different things that he's been doing for years and years, and You know I'm rooting for the guy.
I want him to go as far as possible.
This is the type of carrying on I like.
God forbid somebody has an opinion and wants to make some money.
Yeah, but once again it goes back to he spoke on someone who is highly regarded and revered by a very passionate fan base, right?
Who doesn't want to necessarily, who could possibly A not evolve themselves in many ways and not be prepared for this type of conversation and truth about- A truth that they've probably been wanting to face.
No, maybe not.
When you have your favorite artists.
You know some truths are there.
You know some truths are layered that you don't want to have a discussion about or you don't want the discussion to be so loud.
We should all at this moment I think this is a great moment understand that there is a large vocal population of individuals that claim they love hip-hop and do not want it to be about anything other than materialism, sexuality and violence.
Violence well, i was going to use the words you use recreation.
They do not want it to be rooted in anything that is uplifting for black families, black communities, black and brown activism.
They do not want it.
And when it gets that way, they immediately be like man.
They say, cause that's not why they came to hip hop.
They didn't come here for that.
They showed up thinking it was just gun talk.
Black men hurting each other, hurting themselves, hurting their community, hurting their families.
And that's what they're here for.
And that's what they're entertained by.
The minute it pivots and it's like, er, time out.
We off that for a second.
We need to talk about some real shit.
Ah, boo.
Fuck all that.
You trying to kick knowledge?
So just it's a good time to remember that, especially right now, while we got some real rappers outside rapping that can really get at this and get active, when you got somebody like Cole who's been spitting that shit and talks that real shit.
For years.
For this whole entire career.
You know what I mean?
And it's even in this album.
You know what I mean?
So I think it's a great time for hip hop.
Hip hop is back on the charts on that note.
Are they?
Yeah, last year, remember the whole Billboard reported that hip hop's market share dropped from 30 to 24, which sparked debates.
A$AP Rocky earned his third number one album.
NBA Youngboy dropped his 17th album.
Don Toliver released Octane, his first number one album.
Cole's number one.
This is shaping up to be a huge year.
So I know we're expecting Iceman.
We don't have a date.
That's obviously going to be a big drop.
Baby Keem is coming.
Baby Keem.
Casino's coming.
Yo, Keem, what up?
Yes.
Oh.
I think Cardo.
Cardo got wings.
Got a couple of wings on there.
Y'all been watching them Keem documentaries?
Yeah.
Shout out, yo, God bless the aunties, man, for helping raise these kids.
They helped raise me.
Melodic Blue Window that come out 2021, 2022.
By the way, that was a double disc.
I forgot how long that project was, right?
But I don't know.
It seems like we're getting kind of grown and mature Keem here.
Diving deeper into the family story.
He's probably going to reflect on his experiences over the past few years.
I feel like this is going to be one to...
A big one for the year.
Yeah.
Looking forward to this one.
Listen, I can't wait.
Man, I'm happy for Keem.
I'm happy for the whole P.G.
Lang.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's great.
It goes back to what I was saying.
Some shit rooted in purpose.
When last time you listened to Melodic Blue?
Me, myself?
There's a couple of records I always listen to.
I kind of deconstructed and put it on my playlist.
I haven't gone back to the full album in a while to listen top to bottom.
I'm going to give you guys here to my own personal prejudice, right?
So when Melodic Blue dropped and I know Nick is going to tell us the actual year dropped in a second.
I think I...
I lumped him in with a certain amount of rappers.
And then two just to give you some internal knowledge.
So many people were hyping him up without really knowing anything about it because it was the Kendrick relation.
Like, oh man, do you know about Baby Keem?
Baby Keem.
And I'm like, yo, I don't like when people are like, where's the music at?
Don't hype him up.
So the first time I listened to him like Blue Black back then You know he's got that high-pitched voice.
A lot of rappers do that.
There's like a lot of, you know, auto-tune in some of the songs because he does the singing thing.
And I was almost dismissive of it.
And as I've gotten ready for this new album, I was like, let me, let me, I have a respect for Baby Keem.
Let me actually go listen to this with like some different ears now.
And you listen to it now, you're like, oh yeah, I think I missed the point back then.
Like I was so upset by the narratives that were being created around him and the hype and everything else.
And then also lumping in with a lot of artists that were sounding very similar at the time.
Like I think he's the perfect bridge of current rap with also the context of people that are MCs too.
And he's not being an MC on every song.
He's giving you that what it sounds like surface level music that's popular now and then.
But he also will give you some bars too.
And I think that's what I was missing back then when I was listening to Melodic Blues.
So now, with this new album and seeing the documentaries, and doing the thing that him and Kendrick and PG Lang do, where they create stories around these projects,
It's not just like, here's the music.
Like, here's this world I'm building.
Like him being from Las Vegas, having an album called Casino with the dollar signs.
You're like, oh man, giving you this like, yo, his family grew up in Long Beach.
Like I'm seeing the lines to understand the person behind the music and the story that it's going to create.
So this is like Now.
For me, as someone who wasn't a super fan, this is one of my most highly anticipated albums.
It comes out this week.
It's here.
Highly?
This is one of the year?
That's great.
For me, yeah.
I love to hear that.
I like that.
Do you think he's going to drop any music?
Huh?
Like a single or... Like an album, yeah.
I'm about to get the whole thing, right?
I was just asking.
So that's intentional, I think.
Famously.
I think it goes to the documentaries tying to the album, which is like I want you guys to get the full picture.
Before you listen to the full album.
Right.
I wanted the full picture, who I am, where I'm from, who raised me.
And then here's the full body of work.
And then let's.
And that's why I love.
I love When an artist, especially somebody like Keem, with a rabid fan base, drops an album and then goes on tour.
Because now you got these visuals, you got this audio.
There's going to be more visuals that tie to the audio, and now I can show up to an experience that now will help me feel this in its totality.
Um, and, and then that also stretches the life of an album, I think, right?
Because now you're coming to see people, people are coming to see you.
They're listening to the album while they're going to the show.
They want to make sure they know the lyrics when they show up to the show.
So they're trying to live with it so they can participate.
I think that's how you really build.
And then even after they attend the show, they probably going to have a higher appreciation for the project.
They're going to take a lot more stuff from the project and even have better singles that they liked before they even went to the show.
So it's a lot of... different entry points when you go to the concert and after and why and why not do all that right we see somebody like we was just talking earlier and everybody's been talking for the last week of change cole pulling up in the honda and people jumping out around the honda and that whole thing which is it still going is the honda so he's um he just i think he just left new york he was in new york this weekend this st john's yeah he was at st john's he also went to an event I want to shout out to my homegirl, Sinead Curry.
She passed away due to cancer early this week and he pulled up to an event that DJ Miss Milan and Sinead's best friend put on.
Sinead was a big, big Cole fan.
He pulled up to show love and respect.
I think he's still here, but that was just big for him to do that.
It goes back to his point about him being a real relatable down-to-earth.
He's trying to be rooted in something purposeful, you know.
So, yeah, I don't know where they at this week, but the last stop was New York, Queens.
And then, you know, I'm wondering how they doing crowd control, because I've seen a few videos.
I was like, ooh, I don't know if this is going to last, man.
Nah, it ain't good, bro, because every time he's like, look, I don't want y'all to freak out.
Let's try to go to that field over there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He's the one doing the crowd control.
I'm like, Cole, you need security, man.
There need to be like seven, eight more Honda Civics behind you to help.
Right.
But I don't know if that's a good idea either, because that makes it even more of a spectacle.
Right.
And then I'm really talking about I'm talking about not the crowd control for his safety.
I'm talking about the crowd control where the places he's pulling up, now they telling him he can't pull up, or they're trying to give him tickets, or you know, you know how it gets when you're blocking traffic and et cetera, et cetera.
That kind of thing.
So, but now, hopefully this keeps going because I love it.
Did we miss anything?
What did we miss?
Nick.
A little bit of disrespect if we want to get on it.
Or Nick, we can just jump into your fact checking.
Wait, we missed some disrespect.
What?
Gene Simmons sang hip hop.
Oh, yeah.
Skipped over that on purpose.
Skipped over that on purpose.
All right, Nick, let's get it.
And just for context, everybody been talking about Gene Simmons.
Hip hop's already in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
It's too late, my guy.
My guy.
And so is other genres of music is in the rock and roll.
Like, what are we even talking about?
Why is this a thing, my bro?
Let's skip over it.
Let's skip over it.
We don't need to because we'll be here for another hour because I am.
Who cares what Gene Simmons has to say?
Yo, Kiss ain't even that fire, bro.
Like, we've been on it.
Kiss is good.
They're good.
They're good, bro.
They're good.
But let's not act... Come on, bro.
Let's not do this, man.
Y'all acting like, bruh.
Kiss ain't that John Blaze.
Let's be honest.
All right, what are we missing, Nick?
Just stand on the Gene Simmons subject for a second.
He said...
It's not my music referring to hip hop.
Rock and roll's not his music either.
It's ours, motherfucker.
Let's just start there.
You fucking.
So maybe Gene Simmons missed that.
Yeah.
Let's go to.
And he's old enough where he know when he stole it.
Like, nigga, you old.
Like, you know you was there when they stole it.
Chuck Berry was right there, you dumb motherfucker.
You know you stole it.
Tina Turner was right there with some nigga from Roman Stones.
Mick Jagger was like, oh, I want to be like Tina Turner.
Motherfucker, he was there, you old son of a bitch.
That's why Chuck D said, when the roll kind of got out of the rock, you lost a soul.
Right?
And so it became rock instead of rock and roll.
Because they lost the soul.
They lost the elements of it that were really soulful.
And then they clearly lost... Dusty motherfucker.
Okay.
Okay, Eddie.
All right.
You don't even have to yell.
Just using... But I wasn't as triggered as everyone else.
Like, I really... I skid right over that shit.
It's because he just decided to be stupid and say things.
I don't come from the ghetto.
As soon as I heard him say that, that's when I'm like, I'm turning this shit off.
I'm like, bro, you know how many kids listen to hip hop that don't come from the ghetto?
Shut up.
Bro, you wore heels and fucking makeup, you fucking herb.
Herb is so disrespectful and I love it.
I love herbs.
Eddie brought one of them words back.
I love that, Eddie.
In the conversation for renting of King of New York, the only person that anybody bothered to bring up was A Boogie.
Yeah, they don't bring up nobody.
Because nobody wanted to really jump into that conversation.
Well, yeah, Cardi B would be a great comp, you know, for King of New York, for sure.
Cash Cobain.
Cash Cobain is early.
He don't have the discography.
He's nowhere near that.
He got love out of it.
No, no, he got love, but he's nowhere near that title yet, like, at all.
Okay.
I just thought people who could potentially be in the running.
No, it's a great check.
Great list, great list.
Thank you.
Nipsey Hussle posthumous releases.
Eddie, I think you said that the Black Panther soundtrack came out after his passing.
It came out just shortly before his passing.
The song Feel Like with Jay-Z.
Since his passing, we've gotten a couple songs like Low Key Mention.
One of those was Higher with John Legend and DJ Khaled.
Deep Reverence with Big Sean is a song we didn't mention.
And Ray's different with Blast and Jeezy off the DJ Drama.
I really like that tape.
And now with Reckless, we've gotten four songs.
So just a note on what we've gotten from Nipsey.
I think it was around three.
On the J Cole lawsuit.
J Cole's lawyers say that the plaintiff encouraged and blessed defendant's use of his performance.
Talking about Cameron,
So not that there were any stipulations put onto the feature before he got it.
And J Cole's lawyer also goes on to say that Cameron actually featured on Ready 24 voluntarily and without condition.
Oh, that's it.
That's different.
Legally, that's different.
So it's not like there was an agreement put in place.
That's what i wanted to know, like were there any contracts, anything signed?
And then that if he's doing that, just off the love.
I'm like hey buddy, this is business at the end of the day.
But i will, i will.
And it should be said man, if you say you're gonna do something yes, they didn't say what he was going to do, said he was going to do something.
I think establishing what that something is is vital, is it's just, you know, being a person of your word.
Now i'ma reiterate it for all you rappers out there that inflaked on me, done no show.
Uh, you know, i begged me to play your song when nobody cared nothing about your.
We support you.
And then you ain't got.
You can't return a text.
It hurts, doesn't it.
This is real shit.
It happens all the time.
Moving forward on the hip hop sales in 2026, we talked about Don Toliver, Rocky, J. Cole, Youngboy.
I want to get into some of the numbers, though.
Don Toliver had his first biggest week of his career with 162,000 units.
Came back the second week and did another 94,000 units.
So I think that's really huge.
We talked just a number for ASAP Rocky 123 first week.
Youngboy did 70K, but he also did 70K without the new YouTube tracking, right?
And we know that's where Youngboy thrives most.
So maybe if we would have added that YouTube tracking in more.
I didn't know that was where Youngboy thrived the most was on YouTube.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
That's a thing.
Yeah, he does more performance over there better than, you know, any other platforms.
Wasn't he, like, one year, like, YouTube's highest streamer?
Yeah, my boy told me that.
When he was always trying to put me on Young— Yeah, when he was always trying to put me in Youngboy's space, he'd be like yo.
He's the highest stream rapper on YouTube da-da-da-da-da.
I'm like, all right, well, I didn't know that, but yeah.
Yeah, that's a metric.
No, yeah, no, it's a big metric.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And going back to the Lil Wayne conversation about having substance and not saying anything.
I think Eddie said that around the Mike Brown shooting.
You said Lil Wayne said as long as his bitches love him.
I think that might've been hearsay and not a real quote that ever existed anywhere.
Not seen it.
I looked online for, maybe he got his scrubs.
It's a video, hold on, dawg.
Maybe he got his scrubs.
Nick said you lying.
I've looked online for minutes trying to find that quote because that's a pretty heavy thing to say.
He's danced around that kind of narrative and that jargon when asked about social injustice.
Listen, I know for sure he said racism doesn't exist or nobody's ever been racist to him.
On the subject of what seems to be Black Lives Matter, It appears that Lil Wayne said my life matter, especially to my bitches.
I love how you fact-checked me, but he got three other worse things he done said.
Hold on.
He was in the ballpark, Eddie.
I might be more in line with what he said.
All right, that's cool.
You can have that one.
Are we ready to wrap?
Yeah, I think so.
Yeah.
You feel good?
Everybody feel good?
Everybody feel good?
I don't know.
I don't know if we talked about anything that was real.
Because Nick just said everything we talked about was a lie.
Basically.
Good times.
Good times.
All right.
For Eddie and Nick and Lo and the Desk, I'm Ebro.
That's Rap Life Review.
We'll see y'all next week.
Subscribe.
And they say, yo, to get this really popping in the algorithm, y'all got to like and share.
You know what I'm saying?
That's how, you know what I mean?
That's how you like it.
You got to.
What's up?
Appreciate you checking out an episode of the Rap Life Review.
We're here every week.
If you want to subscribe on Apple Music YouTube, you'll never miss an episode.
Get in the conversation.
Hit us in the comments.
Hit that like button.
We'll see you next week.
