This was not an ordinary week. We won't pretend as though it was. There is a revolution happening outside and, although we would love to solely focus on music and the regular hip-hop news, that's not entirely appropriate right now.

We have made an effort across our editorial staff to bring you news from the protests in addition to some hip-hop news. This week, labels and artists decided to push back their releases and, although there was still some new music released today, it was to a much lesser degree than what was expected.

Every week, we update our TIDAL-exclusive TIDAL Wave playlist with the songs that our staff has been feeling the hardest. If you've been turning to music for a temporary distraction from the world that surrounds us, check out the updates we've made this week.

We start off with one of the stand-outs from Lil Wayne's brand new Funeral deluxe edition before bringing you the fire "T.D." freestyle from Lil Yachty's new album with Tierra Whack, A$AP Rocky, and Tyler, The Creator. Next up on the docket is Conway's "Front Lines" effort before Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist take over.

We've also got new cuts from G Herbo, Kevin Gates, SAINt JHN and Future, RMR, ROSALÍA and Travis Scott, 6LACK, Aminé, and more. Check out our individual contributions below and sign up for a TIDAL trial here.

Alex Zidel (Editorial)

Lil Yachty - Whew' Chile
Lil Yachty & Tierra Whack - T.D. (feat. A$AP Rocky & Tyler, The Creator)
Slimelife Shawty - Street N**** Dream (feat. Rylo Rodriguez & DT)
Gunna - DOLLAZ ON MY HEAD (feat. Young Thug)
Juice WRLD & Trippie Redd - Tell Me U Luv Me

Alex Cole (Editorial)

Lil Yachty & Lil Keed - Range Rover Sports Truck
RMR - I'm Not Over You
G Herbo - Trenches
Ace Hood - Facts
GASHI - Paranoid

Mitch Findlay (Editorial)

Lil Yachty & Tierra Whack - T.D. (feat. A$AP Rocky & Tyler, The Creator)
Lil Wayne - Russian Roulette (feat. Benny The Butcher & Conway)
Conway - Front Lines
Joell Ortiz & KXNG Crooked - Get Ya Money
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Frank Lucas (feat. Benny The Butcher)

Erika Marie (Editorial)

Lil Wayne - Russian Roulette (feat. Benny The Butcher & Conway)
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Frank Lucas (feat. Benny The Butcher)
Lil Wayne - Help (feat. Tory Lanez)
Kamaiyah - Extravagant
The LOX - Gave It To ‘Em

Cole Blake (Editorial)

JPEGMAFIA - CUTIE PIE!
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Something to Rap About (feat. Tyler, The Creator)
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Frank Lucas (feat. Benny The Butcher)
Lucki - Nigo
Conway - Front Lines

Lynn S (Editorial)

ROSALÍA & Travis Scott - TKN
6LACK - ATL Freestyle
Lucky Daye - Shoulda (feat. Babyface)
Aminé - Riri

Paul Pirotta (Sales)

Lil Wayne - Russian Roulette (feat. Benny The Butcher & Conway)
SAINt JHN - Roses Remix (feat. Future)
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Scottie Beam (feat. Rick Ross)

Aron A (Editorial)

Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - God Is Perfect
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Scottie Beam (feat. Rick Ross)
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist - Skinny Suge
Kevin Gates - Grandmotha Grave

Rose Lilah (Editorial)

SAINt JHN - Roses Remix (feat. Future)
Gunna - DO BETTER
Gunna - I’M ON SOME
Lucky Daye - Shoulda (feat. Babyface)

Lady Gaga has a clear path to debut at the top spot on next week’s Billboard 200. 

The pop superstar has been leading the field in terms of first-week sales projections and, in a batch of updated figures, it looks like she’s still charging forward as the leader of the pack. With a total of approximately 285,000 equivalent album units moved, she’s looking guaranteed for an easy route to the #1 spot. On top of all that, the majority of her numbers account for pure album sales.

As for hip-hop, we’re still represented well in the top-moving albums of the week. Several of the genre’s most popular characters, including Lil Baby, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Gunna, Post Malone, Drake, and DaBaby, are within or just outside of the Top 10 for this week’s biggest albums.

Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images

Lil Yachty and Freddie Gibbs (with The Alchemist) came through with some booming new albums this week too, but neither of which is expected to debut within the Top 10 of the Billboard 200. 

Lil Yachty’s Lil Boat 3 is currently anticipated to move up to 37,000 equivalent album units, making it good for a debut around #12. 

Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist are two spots down at #14, looking at up to 32,000 equivalent album units with the majority of them accounting for pure sales.

Mike Windle/Getty Images

Are you surprised by any of these numbers?

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Lil Yachty and G Herbo both came through with projects on Friday and it's safe to say that fans were both excited and satisfied. Yachty came through with his highly-anticipated Lil Boat 3 tape while Herbo dropped the deluxe version of PTSD. There is plenty of music here to dissect and over the last couple of days, fans have been adding their favorite tracks to their respective playlists.

Regardless of how good the music is, sales are always something that is highly debated in the industry. Your first week numbers can give people a glimpse of how well you're doing although there are many factors that go into how many units are sold. Having said that, according to DJ Akademiks, Lil Boat 3 is on track to sell 45K units in the first week while PTSD Deluxe is on pace for 27K units.

Tekashi 6ix9ine officially returned with his new single “GOOBA” two weeks ago, breaking records on Instagram Live and YouTube with the release. As expected, it only took him a couple of weeks for the track to be certified Gold and, now that he’s earned another hit in his books, he’s trolling all of the rappers that doubted him.

Upon his return, 6ix9ine took aim at Meek Mill, Rich The Kid, and others. Now, he’s seemingly going for G Herbo after the Chicago star pointed out that Tekashi didn’t technically beat his case. All it took was a Gold record for 6ix9ine to load up another clip, firing rounds on the ‘gram at his new sparring partner.

Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

“@nolimitherbo imagine tranna be platinum in the streets,” wrote the rapper. The irony behind his post is too blatant to not point out as, before he got nabbed for racketeering, 6ix9ine was trying to do just that: go platinum in the streets.

G Herbo is releasing the deluxe edition of his album PTSD at the end of this week, hoping to go platinum with it. As for Tekashi, he’s releasing a new single on Friday with a secret featured artist. 

Who are you siding with?

Lil Durk and G Herbo proved just how much of a true fan they are of each other during their hit battle over Instagram live on Saturday (May 23rd), when they stayed true to their word and actually played their favourite hits from one another’s catalogue. On Friday (May 22nd), it was announced that the two friends and past collaborators would be going head-to-head over IG live courtesy of Chicago radio station, 107.5 WGCI. While the premise of a battle is to compete against one another by using your own vast catalogue of hits, Durk and Herbo both claimed they were going to use the opportunity to show their love for each other by playing their opponents’ biggest hits.

It looks like they actually kept their promise. In a clip from the battle, Durkio’s “Can’t Go Like That” off his 2013 mixtape Signed to the Streets plays as Herbo bops along with his son, Yosohn. Because they didn’t exactly stick to the rules, there was no clear winner, but when two artists love each other’s music as much as they do, everybody wins.

Prince Williams/Wireimage/Getty Images

Prior to the battle taking place, Herbo got tangled up in some of 6ix9ine’s antics, after he left a comment on a post about the “GOOBA” rapper. When 6ix9ine reminded the world that Charlamagne promised he’d “suck his dick” if 6ix9ine beat his case, Herbo pointed out that technically, since he copped a plea deal and snitched, it didn’t count. The two of them proceeded to exchange jabs before Herbo got the final word in.

This just in: 6ix9ine has started beef with yet another person. Shocking, we know. The recently incarcerated rapper is far from beloved in the rap game right now, and ever since he made his comeback with “GOOBA” he’s made even more enemies by relentlessly running his mouth. On Saturday (May 23rd), 6ix9ine reignited an old feud with G Herbo, after the latter commented on a post about the well-known snitch.

Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Power 105.1

6ix9ine appears to have posted-and-deleted an old clip of Charlamagne Tha God making a promise about him on The Breakfast Club. “If Tekashi 6ix9ine beats this case, I’ll suck his dick,” the host vowed. 6ix9ine tagged Charlamagne and wrote, “I’ll let you explain this.”

After DJ Akademiks reposted the clip, Herbo took it upon himself to clarify some important details. “Lol but he didn’t beat it,” Herbo pointed out. “He told. He plead guilty too.” Since 6ix9ine is aggressively online these days, he came across the comment, and replied, “You have herpes is that correct?” He then proceeded to make a facetious deal with Herbo. “Let’s name a gherbo song that’s platinum Akademiks post it I’ll delete my gram.”

However, Herbo proved that he is not preoccupied with numbers, instead reminding 6ix9ine that respect from your peers is more important than record sales. “I went platinum in the streets somewhere you really wanna be but [will] never be able to go,” he replied. “and I got rich on my own, nobody never me cool & stole from me lol you basically paid to be cool you @nickcannon…be safe.”

It looks like 6ix9ine has yet to respond to Herbo’s latest dig, but we’ll keep you posted if anything else goes down between these two.

Although Lil Durk and G Herbo are set to go head-to-head in a hit battle as part of the Verzuz series tonight (May 23rd), both Chicago rappers joked about taking the opportunity to just praise each other’s catalogue instead. The battle, which will take place over the Chicago radio station, WGCI, was announced on Friday (May 22nd), much to the excitement of Herbo and Durkio fans alike.

Prince Williams/WireImage/Getty Images

The pair seem more or less like worthy opponents, and considering they’re not only frequent past collaborators but also good friends, the chemistry will definitely be on point. However, it looks like the two of them are a little too fond of each other’s music, as they both joked that they’re planning on just playing their favourite joints from one another.

After DJ Akademiks informed his Instagram followers that the battle would be taking place, Lil Durk left a comment saying, “Battle ? I’m playing my fav herbo songs.” Herbo seconded this sentiment, writing, “Lol I’m finna get in super fan mode wit my top 15 Lil Durk hits.”

Although the premise of a Verzuz battle is to compete by strategically using one’s own catalogue of hits against each other to determine a “winner,” many past participants have also used the opportunity to praise their opponent’s work in the same way that Durk and Herbo plan to do. In particular, viewers noted that Erykah Badu and Jill Scott’s recent battle felt more like a celebration of both artists’ phenomenal catalogues, and considering Durk and Herbo are so tight, it’ll come as no surprise when they both go straight into fan mode over each other.

The Verzuz battles may be the dominating force in these split-screen music moments between artists on Instagram Live, but they’re not the only ones who have used the platform to have artists face-off with each other. The Verzuz series is a friendly “battle” of sorts where artists are able to highlight their greatest hits alongside another artist of a similar lane, and so far, fans have swarmed by the tens of millions to check out these iconic, live moments. Swizz Beatz and Timbaland are responsible for this idea that made waves during the COVID-19 quarantine, but Verzuz plans on dominating long after business reopen and people are once again enjoying the outdoors. Chicago’s WGCI radio station is getting in on the hype and hosting a battle of their own, this time between the city’s natives Lil Durk and G Herbo.

The two artists are friends and collaborators in the same generation of the rap game, so this one should be a good time for fans. Herbo was featured on Durkio’s “Chiraq Demons,” while Durk appeared on G Herbo‘s “Party in Heaven.” There are plenty of songs that feature both of these artists together, so it will be interesting to see how these two divvy up their tracks.

The battle is set to go down on Saturday (May 23) in an effort to encourage people to stay “Safer At Home” this Memorial Day Weekend. Check out the flyer below and let us know if you’re looking forward to this one.

The collaboration tape may be one of hip-hop’s most divisive formats. On paper, it sounds spectacular — the pairing of two, often talented artists, capable of combining their resources and in-house producers. Unfortunately, reality seldom lives up to the hype. While many collaborative albums are indeed stacked affairs, they’re generally spontaneous and seldom have much second thought put into them. That’s not to say they’re bad, but they rarely tend to measure up to the contributing artist’s solo work. Despite that, they remain an exciting prospect all the same.

 Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

Now, G Herbo has unveiled plans to fire off a collaboration project of his own — this time with none other than Lil Uzi Vert. “Me and Vert got some shit,” he teased, during an IG Live stream. “That’s probably going to be my next compilation mixtape, me and Uzi’s shit.” While he doesn’t give much more than that, it stands to reason that the pair had a few productive studio sessions that ultimately yielded enough tracks for a tape.   

By now, the pair have amassed a few collaborations under their belt. “Who Run It Remix,” stands out as a highlight, while the title track of his PTSD album saw him linking up with Uzi once again. Should this tape indeed come to pass, it’s possible we’ll see a more lyrically focused side of Uzi, encouraged by his counterpart’s intensity. Either way, are you excited to hear this one if it actually ends up dropping?