Kendrick Lamar hasn't released a new album since 2017's DAMN, but there's something he has that many of his peers lack -- longevity. When K Dot drops an album, said album can sustain its presence for years on end; such is the benefit of writing songs packed with meaning, a testament to his Pulitizer Prize-winning pen-game. Now, with the world standing up against police brutality and systemic racism following the death of George Floyd, many have once again turned to the wisdom of Kendrick Lamar for inspiration.

While it goes without saying that To Pimp A Butterfly is an appropriate protest record, so much so that it recently re-entered the Apple Music Charts, Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, maad City and DAMN have also seen renewed signs of life. As of last week, both of those projects re-entered the Billboard Top 200, with Good Kid climbing to 97 and DAMN sitting pretty at 106. 

According to Chartdata, To Pimp A Butterfly has also experienced a massive boost in numbers, with Chartdata pointing to a one-hundred-and-twenty percent increase in sales -- look for that to appear in the updated Top 200, unsurprising given that songs like "Alright" and "The Blacker The Berry" have regained life as protest anthems. Clearly, the world is hungry for some new music from Kendrick Lamar, and given everything that has transpired in the world since his last release, we can only assume that he's about to come out swinging.

Have you been revisiting some K Dot classics?

The Billboard 200 matter to some (i.e. major label artists) but most independent artists could care less about it. Over the past few days, we were blessed with the early release of Run The Jewels highly anticipated fourth studio album, RTJ4. The album arrived in the wake of protests across the country in support of Black Lives Matter, so it was either bound to get overshadowed by the headlines or bring solace to fans who are participating in the protests.

None of this actually matters to Killer Mike and El-P who both decided to give the album away for free with an option to purchase. Per Billboard, even with two tracking days, RTJ4 is by far Run The Jewels' most commercially successful to date. In a few days, it moved 38K album-equivalent units, propelling it to number 10 on the Billboard 200. This is now their first album to ever enter the top 10 on the chart.

The album benefitted from merch bundles with 30K of the 38K units coming from pure sales. Though it was available for free, they did encourage listeners to donate. After two days, they generated $160K in charitable donations for National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Program and several other organizations. 

Surely, this album couldn't have come at a better time. What's your favorite track off of the project? Sound off below. 

While Doja Cat is embroiled in her very first controversy since her career started to take off, her song “Say So,” which recently became an even bigger force in streaming thanks to a Nicki Minaj remix, has been living high on the charts. The song became both artists’ first #1 single right after it dropped.

It did get knocked down a peg, finally, with Megan Thee Stallion‘s equally big “Savage” remix featuring Beyonce finally claiming the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, giving the Texas Hottie her first #1 in the process. Meanwhile, Doja Cat‘s “Say So” slips to #2 on the same chart. With the latest Billboard stats debuted today, Billboard also took the time to explain what happened to Nicki Minaj‘s credit on the chart– while she did appear alongside Doja Cat at first, her name soon disappeared from the chart, sparking controversy, especially for the ever-aggressive Barbz fanbase. The fans speculated that with the removal of her credit, she also lost her first #1 single.

Billboard explained today, that the removal of Nicki’s name is simply due to the fact that it is actually the original version of “Say So” which is driving the majority of its success and streaming numbers. This does not mean Nicki lost her #1– she still has that credit, but now, it’s the OG “Say So” taking the cake.

Read the explanation below.

“After two weeks of Minaj showing as a featured artist on ‘Say So’ on the Hot 100 and other charts that utilize the same methodology, only Doja Cat is now listed, as the original version, without Minaj, is now driving the majority of overall activity for the song; the change does not affect any of Minaj’s achievements on those charts the past two weeks, and she continues not to be credited on the song on any airplay charts, as the vast majority of the song’s airplay is still for the original version.”

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Gunna‘s new album, Wunna, is reportedly likely to debut at No. 1 on next week’s Billboard 200 chart, according to HITS Daily Double. This would be Gunna’s first project to debut this high.

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Wunna is projected to reach between 110,000 to 130,000 equivalent album units. The full-length project features Travis Scott, Lil Baby, Young Thug, and Roddy Ricch as collaborators.

The ranking is no surprise to the rapper, who expected the project would land as high, in an interview with Complex before its release. “Album going No. 1, of course, and I’m going to have a few hits on here—a few, few,” he said. “This album right is going to set a tone.”

Gunna’s previous effort, 2019’s Drip Or Drown 2, debuted at No. 2 with 90,000 equivalent album units.

“Wunna is the other side of me that I don’t really be showing,” Gunna told High Snobiety regarding Wunna. “I want people to know that I really took my time and I really put heart into this album. I made more than an album, I made a series with it. Even with the cover, the videos, with the merch and everything, it goes together. I want people to understand that I’m a real artist.”

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This past week, one of the dominant narratives — for better or worse — has been Tekashi 6ix9ine’s crusade against Billboard. As he sees it, he earned the number one song with “GOOBA,” and made a point to put Billboard on blast with some heavy accusations. Unfortunately, few people appear to be siding with the rapper, who found himself the topic of discussion on today’s Everyday Struggle. 

Unsurprisingly, Wayno was far from impressed. “Last week he was like ‘men lie, women lie, numbers don’t,” he begins, turning in a proper impression of 6ix9ine’s intense cadence. “Now a week later the numbers is lying. N***a, make up your mind. The thing about 6ix9ine is that even if people were doing some funny shit so he doesn’t get to a certain spot, like he doesn’t know why. You know why people ain’t fucking with you. Now he wants everybody to be fair. People just don’t like him,” reasons Wayno, laying out a harsh truth. “He just has to deal with that. He has to deal with what he is now.”

Bennett Raglin/Getty Images

“He came to the harsh realization that he’ll never be a victim like how he used to be again,” says Ak. “I think everyone was looking at him like, we don’t care. A lot of sympathy plays worked in the past, but this time around people saw him as more of a cry baby.” Wayno concurs, reasoning that “he can’t play this rainbow-headed kid. This n***a older than Zion Williamson, I don’t want to hear he’s a kid no more. He’s a grown-ass man that made decisions. And it’s going to affect his music, promotion, views. People just not really into his music like that.” 

Ak also claims that 6ix9ine underwent a “stern realization,” one that might actually send the rapper back down to Earth for a spell. “Despite all the fans you have, despite all they do for you streaming-wise, being the industry black sheep — Billboard don’t fuck with you. You don’t get a single editorial playlist on Spotify. The labels have Spotify by the balls. Apple don’t fuck with you – they ain’t give you a single playlist…They don’t fuck with you. When you have all these entities that don’t fuck with you, you might exist, but if you think you’ll remain this top artist, you’ll be delusional.” 

Tekashi 6ix9ine warned his followers midway through the week that he believed Billboard would attempt to screw him out of a #1 debut for “GOOBA” and, lo and behold, it looks like that happened after the colorful rapper nabbed the #3 spot behind Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber. After launching a so-called investigation into the matter, 6ix9ine called out Billboard for allegedly allowing Grande and Bieber to purchase 60,000 copies of their single at the last minute using six credit cards. 

While there is definitely something fishy about that, both of the pop stars have refuted those claims. 

Apparently, this latest move has people empathizing with the rainbow snitch though, whether they acknowledge it or not.

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Hip-hop icon Juicy J chimed in on the matter on Twitter, deleting his message shortly afterward. He spit some bars, claiming that Billboard hits can now be purchased if you politic correctly.

“You can buy P—y you can buy weed You can buy streams you can buy billboard what else can we buy,” asked the Three 6 Mafia legend. “I wanna invest,” he joked.

He doesn’t necessarily voice that he’s siding with Tekashi 6ix9ine on this matter since, you know, that would probably be incredibly damaging to his brand. However, this is enough validation for 6ix9ine’s point to make sense to us all.

Do you think Ariana and Justin bought their #1 spot from 6ix9ine?

It’s been a little over a week since 6ix9ine made his major return and it feels like the judge might be regretting not placing restrictions on his use of social media. He’s caused a stir already. He’s been trying to take on every single naysayer from his baby mama to the Billboard charts. As “GOOBA” debuts at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, the rapper’s challenged Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande with allegations that they manipulated the chart.

Ariana Grande fired back. “My fans bought the song. JUSTIN’S fans bought the song. OUR fans bought this song (never more than four copies each, AS THE RULES STATE). they are ride or die motherfuckers and i thank god every day that i have them in my life,” she said in retaliation. However, 6ix9ine combated that by claiming that he’s made it out of poverty and she’s essentially had a silver spoon handed to her. Needless to say, his rebuttal had little to do with his initial allegations and everything to do with their upbringings.

While 6ix9ine’s taken aim at Ariana Grande, it’s actually a Justin Bieber song that she features on. Both Justin Bieber and Scooter Braun didn’t attack 6ix9ine necessarily but they did give him a little lesson on how the Billboard charts work. 

He says his streams don’t count. Yeus they do but he is counting his global streams and this is a domestic chart so only domestic streams count. 

60,000 units came because we don’t disclose out numbers until the end of the week. That’s called strategy.

He said 30k was bought with 6 credit cards but that is a lie. The rules are clear one credit card can buy max 4 copies. Anything over that the entire amount gets thrown out. Nielsen company checks this and found all sales were legit becuase our fans are amazing and bought them. Don’t discredit out fan base with false info.

This is my song with Ariana Grande and I’m honored to work with her to help raise money for a great cause. If you gonna say her name make sure you say mine because it’s our song.

Of course, it didn’t take too long for 6ix9ine to catch wind of the comments, though he simply trolled Biebs for essentially wanting credit for his song. Check out his comment and the post below. 

Tekashi 6ix9ine had the whole music industry upset over the last couple of days thanks to his countless rants about Billboard and how artists were supposedly manipulating their numbers so they could get better placements on the charts. 6ix9ine singled out Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber specifically as their collaborative track "Stuck With U" was starting to catch momentum at the right time.

After achieving her number one record, Grande took to Instagram where she addressed the manipulation accusations and also sent some subliminal shade at 6ix9ine, telling him and artists like him to stay humble. Recently, 6ix9ine hopped on Instagram to clap back at Grande, noting that she doesn't understand his struggle.

Per 6ix9ine:

"@arianagrande All I’m saying is I worked super hard to make it out of Brooklyn NY. I speak for the millions of kids who aren’t as fortunate as you. The millions who weren’t fortunate to be on T.V.. LIFE is REAL when you’re on welfare LIFE is REAL when you grow up with out a father. You don’t know what that is like. You say for me to be humble .... I don’t think you know what humble is.......... YOU ARE VERY TALENTED AND BEAUTIFUL GOD BLESS YOU. But you will NEVER UNDERSTAND MY PAIN ?"

Tekashi 6ix9ine hasn’t stopped yelling since his release. When he speaks, there’s an intensity to his cadence that suggests a perpetually frantic state — one that has yet to fade, even after Judge Englemeyer strongly advised the young rapper to cool his jets and think before speaking. Yet since his release, 6ix9ine has already engaged in a variety of wars, including an increasingly tense feud with Billboard over their charting practices. 

MICHAEL CAMPANELLA/Redferns/Getty Images

By now, it’s no secret that he’s been voicing his concerns about Billboard, including a recent rant that pointed to Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber‘s teams purchasing streams on six different credit cards. As he tells it, there’s something afoot — and lord knows, he’s become quite the elaborate sleuth since his big return. Unfortunately for him and his “GOOBA” aspirations, Billboard appeared ready with the counterstrike — as of now, 6ix9ine’s chart history has been conveniently removed from the Billboard archives. 

In response, 6ix9ine continues to break his self-avowed week-long social media break to intensify the battle. Taking to his Instagram story, the rapper tagged Billboard and invoked the words of both Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj to further his point. “YOU CHEATED,” he writes. “Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj were right, people buy their number ones. Nothing is real. You guys are frauds.” Who’d have thought this man would be so passionate about his chart placement? One has to wonder how Jay-Z and Nicki feel about being pulled, albeit very tenuously, into this madness…

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Tekashi 6ix9ine has been taking swipes at pretty well everyone as of late and the entire hip-hop world is watching with a rightfully judgmental eye. At this point, it feels as though no one is off-limits for 6ix9ine, even the popstars. For instance, 6ix9ine recently released a brand new single called “GOOBA” and his main goal was to get the song to number one on the Billboard charts. Throughout the last week, Tekashi has been keeping fans up to date on his progress and at one point, he took some shots at Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber as he claimed that they were manipulating the charts.

In fact, 6ix9ine was back to his old tricks today, as he had even more harsh words for Billboard. None of his tactics worked, as eventually, the song landed at number 3 and Grand and Bieber took the top spot with “Stuck With U.” Following her big win, Grande took to Instagram with what could only be described as subliminal shots for 6ix9ine.

Per Grande:

“I would like to address a few things which i don’t usually do (i don’t give my energy to drama or strange accusations normally but this has gone a little too far)…my fans bought the song. JUSTIN’S fans bought the song. OUR fans bought this song (never more than four copies each, AS THE RULES STATE). they are ride or die motherfuckers and i thank god every day that i have them in my life. not just when they fight for us to win (even when i ask them not to as i did this week) but because they’re some of the greatest people i know. sales count for more than streams. u can not discredit this as hard as u try. to anybody that is displeased with their placement on the chart this week or who is spending their time racking their brain thinking of as many ways as they can to discredit hardworking women (and only the women for some reason…..), i ask u to take a moment to humble yourself.”

Considering Tekashi was the only one talking about his numbers this week, it’s pretty clear that Grande was talking about him. Not to mention, 6ix9ine had also mentioned the likes of Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj, which just furthers Grande’s claims that the person in question only had something to say about women.

At this point, it really feels like Tekashi has upset the entire music industry, and not just hip-hop.