RMR (pronounced Rumor) has been getting praise left and right for his fresh take on the rap genre. It’s hard to get noticed if you’re not bringing anything new to the table. That’s all that RMR can do, blending genres in a way that we haven’t seen in years.

The masked rapper is hiding his identity but he’s not shy to tell the world about all the stars appearing on his debut project DRUG DEALING IS A LOST ART. 

The project was pushed back because of the protests last week, as RMR deemed it irresponsible to release new music as the world focused on much more important things. The drop is now set for June 12 and there will be a lot of attention on the project.

Screenshot YouTube

Sharing the official trailer for the seven-track display, RMR announced that DRUG DEALING IS A LOST ART will feature appearances from Future and Lil Baby on the “Dealer” remix, as well as a spot for Westside Gunn on the opening cut. A new version of “Rascal,” the song that broke RMR into stardom, will now contain a verse from Young Thug, marking an exciting collaboration that people will jump to.

Take a look at the trailer below and peep the tracklist above. Are you excited about this?

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Griselda's having one hell of a year after an incredibly productive 2019 that included the release of WWCD. With Westside Gunn's Pray For Paris holding it down as one of the best rap projects of 2020, Conway looks like he's readying to release his own project in the near future. During a recent Instagram Livestream, Conway The Machine revealed the tentative tracklist for From King To A God which has some major features that people have been waiting on for a hot minute.

The Griselda hometeam will be scattered throughout the project. Westside Gunn and Benny The Butcher join forces on "Spurs 3" while from Beat Butcha, Daringer, and Rick Hyde make up a portion of the production credits. However, the features and production outside the Griselda camp is what's more exciting. The long-awaited collaboration with Drake, produced by Murda Beatz titled, "50c Razors," will appear on the project. 2 Chainz, Freddie Gibbs, Dej Loaf, Flee Lord, and Havoc also serve as guest features. On the production side, Roc Marciano, CozmoBeats, Trizzy Williams, and Hit-Boy also hold it down.

Peep the tracklist below.

1. From King To God (Intro)
2. Tear Gas (prod. by CozmoBeats)
3. Tik Tik ft. Havoc and Flee Lord (prod. by Havoc)
4. Lemon (Prod. By Beat Butcha & Daringer)
5. Tru Bethel ft. 2 Chainz (prod. by Trizzy Williams)
6. 5500 (Prod. by Rick Hyde)
7. God (Skit)
8. Stay Solid ft. Freddie Gibbs (prod. by Beat Butcha)
9. 50c Razors ft. Drake
10. G Bundles ft. Dej Loaf
11. Spurs 3 ft. Benny The Butcher & Westside Gunn
12. Crack In The 90s (prod. Roc Marciano)

Getting a co-sign from Jay-Z probably feels surreal for an artist that has been hustling to make it for years. Known globally as one of the best rappers of all time, the Roc Nation head honcho is respected as one of the premier faces in the music industry. His ideas surpass music though, heading over into all aspects of sports and entertainment.

As we near the midway point of the year (already!?). Jay-Z gathered together a list of his personal favorite songs of 2020 so far, showing love to some of the usual characters, and also taking notice of some younger talents.

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

The list starts off with Lil Baby and "Emotionally Scarred," before the Atlanta rapper appears again with "Sum 2 Prove" and "Grace" with 42 Dugg. Jay-Z is also clearly a big fan of what Polo G has been bringing to the table, shouting out the rising star for "Heartless" with Mustard. At #3, his wife makes an appearance on the remix of Megan Thee Stallion's "Savage." Elsewhere on the 20-song gathering, Jay Electronica makes several appearances, which makes total sense given Hov's involvement in the release of his debut album.

Jay-Z was also busy listening to some of the newer releases, including Future's High Off Life, of which he included "Hard To Choose One." Drake and The Weeknd earn their spots before Westside Gunn, Boldy James, Benny The Butcher, and Conway of Griselda impress the legend.

Check out the full playlist below.

While there are millions of people who have their conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic, people who have survived a bout with the virus are here to tell you that it’s the real deal. We previously reported that Griselda emcee Westside Gunn battled coronavirus, and he talked about his experience, saying, “I’m feeling good now, these short breaths, this sh*t was like a tornado through my chest.” His Griselda mate Benny The Butcher recently sat down with VladTV to talk about his friend’s recent struggles, admitting that he didn’t speak with Gunn much while he was sick to give him space to recover.

“I remember speaking to him and he was telling me he was sick and I was thinking, yo, you probably f*cked up,” Benny said. “He had it… That sh*t is nothing to play with. Rest in peace Fred The Godson. I got asthma. I got bad asthma, and me and Fred, we shared that. So, seeing him go, it’s just a f*cked up wake-up call. A wake-up call that I didn’t want and it’s sad that he left us so early from this unexpected virus that just came out of nowhere. A tragedy. Real sh*t.”

Benny went on to sing Fred’s praises as he spoke fondly about the times he worked with the late rapper. “It’s a lot of people in Buffalo[, New York] who died from that sh*t. It’s a lot of people,” he continued. Benny said his girl has her own wig and hair extensions company, and she sold a woman some items one day and not long after, saw on social media that the customer passed away from COVID-19. “People are really here today and gone tomorrow off of that sh*t so, I just want everybody to be careful. And I’m not going anywhere near Buffalo right now.” Watch Benny The Butcher below.

Weeks ago, Westside Gunn shared the surprising news that he had a frightening battle with COVID-19. “I’m feeling good now, these short breaths, this sh*t was like a tornado through my chest,” he said. “I smoke a lot so I’m trying to build my lungs back up. I was going to go out for a walk, but even when I went outside to do that, I was like, nah let me wait another week. Next week, I’ll probably try to walk for 30 minutes.”

Westside Gunn recently released his acclaimed album Pray for Paris, a project he completed while visiting the City of Love. Prior to dropping his latest record, the rapper had planned out a fantastical roll out, but his COVID-19 diagnosis put all of that work on pause. “It was so bad I had to be rushed to the hospital,” Gunn, who has asthma, told HipHopDX. “I thought I was out of here and had already made calls to have everything in order, just in case… I thought I was going to die.”

During his recovery from COVID-19 and prior to the release of Pray for Paris, Gunn said that his famous friends like Kanye West, DJ Premier, and Virgil Abloh motivated him to push through. “I was having conversations with people like ‘Ye who showed me all these designs he was working on that inspired me to design even more too,” Westside Gunn said. “That’s what built this project, my connection to Paris and the people that spoke to me when I was sick.”

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Fred The Godson passed away on Thursday (April 23) after a battle with the coronavirus. As a member of the 2011 XXL Freshman class with Mac Miller, Kendrick Lamar, Meek Mill, and more, he was viewed as one of the premier bar-spitters in the country. The Bronx rapper was only 35 at the time of his death.

Navigating through such strange times, Westside Gunn attempted to lift the rapper’s spirits weeks prior to his passing, having also contracted COVID-19. The Griselda rapper shared his final text messages with Fred The Godson on Instagram.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

“I don’t like showing messages but damn I FUCKIN HATE THIS CORONA shit,” wrote Westside Gunn this week. “My Aunt Michelle who raised me my whole life who introduced me to Hip Hop is in the hospital right now on the machine, shit almost took me out, I promise u they killing alot of us, today a bad day for me just say a prayer for my aunt.”

The messages with Fred The Godson look toward the future, with Westside Gunn confident that he would make it back out.

“Sending my love G, I had it too so I already know what u feel like I didn’t tell anybody but shit I thought I was a goner I finally got to hold my son last night again for the first time in weeks ur gonna shake that shit,” he wrote.

We’re sending our love and prayers to the family of Fred The Godson. Rest in peace.

Westside Gunn’s vision as a curator has been widely regarded as second-to-none. It’s part of the reason why Griselda has somehow managed to blur the lines between midnight street violence and high-fashion luxury. Few have built such an impeccable brand. Simply put, it’s become increasingly easy for a wide variety of demographics to like the idea of Westside Gunn. An underdog story manifested with tangible results, the most recent milestone being an inspirational front-row seat at Paris Fashion Week.

Even though his brand of rap has become relatively niche in the contemporary soundscape, Gunn has managed to make it feel particularly wavy — though it often seems like the music itself is seldom thoroughly analyzed, given how appealing he is as an orchestrator. While it doesn’t ultimately matter why one might gravitate toward Westside Gunn, examining Pray For Paris on the basis of its musical merit alone reveals an artist at the height of his craft, exuding confidence, character, and creativity. And that’s not even shining a spotlight on the ad-libs, arguably Gunn’s most recognizable vocalistic component.

Pray For Paris features Westside Gunn’s most inspired rhyming to date. He’s previously suggested that Conway and Benny’s pedigree outweighs his own, though it would be unwise to underestimate Westside’s ability on the mic. His biggest strength lies in his ability to bring his world to life through use of slang and strategic non-sequiturs. His lyrics often rattle off in stream-of-consciousness fashion, tethering the layman to his reality through one or two recognizable images. “Rest in peace Vino, rest in peace Kino, the Spiegel, the seagulls, April fresh ego,” he raps on the DJ Muggs-produced “No Vacancy.” “Slam you on your neck like Bruno Sammartino.” The themes of luxurious violence unfold like red wine slowly seeping through a white carpet. “Welcome home Tito, you proud and sippin’ pinot,” he concludes. “My shooter shot five n****s in a row, we yell ‘bingo.’”

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Though he laments the idea of being pigeonholed as a rapper, it would be a shame to overlook Gunn’s effortless dominance as an emcee. Moreso than ever before he’s taking stylistic risks, exhibiting a newfound dexterity in his delivery. On “George Bondo,” produced by the in-house tandem of Beat Butcha and Daringer, Westside rhymes ably alongside Conway The Machine and Benny The Butcher, two rappers who easily tower over the average modern-day lyricist. Even amidst such company Gunn never falters, as he effortlessly weaves violent short stories into his stanzas. “You ever sold a hundred then spent it all in the same weekend?” he asks, firing off syllables in one of the album’s quicker schemes. “Razors leave your face leakin’ / Chill, let the Wraith creep, and the brick broke in eight pieces.” A writer with less imagination might have pulled back on the specificity; we can almost hear the skull cracking as the clay scatters atop the pavement. 

At this point, it almost feels redundant to praise Gunn’s curatorial abilities. He’s been murderous in that department for years — only now, following a slew of widely-publicized co-signs from Eminem, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Virgil Abloh (signer of bricks), the volume of curious eyes has multiplied. But Pray For Paris would not be the success that it is on the strength of vision alone. Only a gifted emcee possesses the potential to maximize the masterful production from Alchemist, Daringer, DJ Premier, Beat Butcha, and DJ Muggs. If the instrumentals are the paint itself, Gunn’s is the practiced hand guiding the paintbrush. His ability to go bar for bar with elite emcees is all too often treated as an afterthought. Yet he does so time and time again, whether alongside his own Griselda compatriots on two standout cuts, the Freddie Gibbs and Roc Marciano assisted “$500 Ounces,” and the smooth posse cut “327” with Tyler, The Creator and Joey Bada$$.

Stylistically cut from the same cloth as Ghostface Killah and Raekwon The Chef, Gunn’s approach to cocaine rap and violent retribution is seldom pretty, a stark juxtaposition against his affinity for haute couture and high-priced memorabilia. His ability to simultaneously — and credibly — operate within two seemingly disparate planes of existence makes him a unique sort of narrator. One that enjoys the nature of the opulent flex but never allows it to tarnish his dedication to crafting raw hip-hop. Pray For Paris is very much a love letter to the craft, penned and signed entirely on a brick. The rare sort of art that a sincere knowledge of history can only enhance. 

Westside Gunn is having an interesting year to say the least. On one hand, the Griselda rapper recently dropped off the critically acclaimed Pray For Paris, an album many have already deemed his best yet. On the other, Gunn found himself sidelined by the coronavirus for weeks before ultimately emerging as a fully recovered survivor. During a call with Ebro Darden, Gunn detailed his experience battling COVID-19, a fight he claims “almost took him out.”

“I’m feeling good now, these short breaths, this shit was like a tornado through my chest,” he muses. “I smoke a lot so I’m trying to build my lungs back up. I was going to go out for a walk, but even when I went outside to do that, I was like nah let me wait another week. Next week, I’ll probably try to walk for 30 minutes.” When Ebro inquires how serious things got, Westside turns the camera on a small machine he uses five times a day to help with his breathing.

Prince Williams/Wireimage/Getty Images 

“At first I was in LA, we went out for dinner, I had signed a new artist Armani Ceaser,” he reflects. “It was my daughter’s birthday. The next day, I woke up and it’s cold in the house. But I woke up sweating. Something not right, and everybody talking about corona. And I won’t front, I was one of those dudes joking about it. Man, this the government! [laughs] We just making jokes all day about this shit.” He soon realized that the sickness was serious, and he planned on making his way back to his Atlanta home. “First I stayed in bed for two days, let them enjoy LA, they were on vacation. But that plane damn near took me out. When I made it back, I went to urgent care — I know some ladies up in there.”

After getting an inhaler and a prescription for Zipac, Westside admits he did start feeling better. “But then I started smoking,” he says. “Benny came over, he wanted to chill. We smoking back to back. The next morning, I hit my wake and bake, bro I couldn’t even get off the couch. Something just hit me. I FaceTimed my family, they didn’t pick up. I could breathe but the whole room was spinning. I couldn’t even lift my head off the couch or nothing. I got enough legs to open up the door, basically damn near collapsed. Security had to get me, carry me to the wheelchair. I was like ‘I can’t breathe!'”

For more from Westside Gunn, be sure to check out his full conversation with Ebro Darden below. Have you been enjoying Pray For Paris? 

Westside Gunn is not being modest about how good his new album, Pray For Paris, is, even in comparison to other rappers' recently released work. This week saw some exciting album drops in hip hop world, but arguably two of the most anticipated (and most talked about after the fact) were Westside Gunn's Pray for Paris and DaBaby's Blame It On Baby. While Gunn drew a very positive response to PFP, some fans were unimpressed with DaBaby's offering. Despite garnering 25 million streams on Spotify in the first half hour of its release, Blame It On Baby proved underwhelming for some, who were hoping he'd switch things up a bit rather than deliver the same old, same old. It looks like Gunn agreed, as the Griselda man took to social media on Saturday to share a meme made at Baby's expense that positions PFP as "greater than" BIOB, and asked fans to "change my mind."

It was a good week for new music, my friends, and we’re continuing to keep you updated on all the hottest new releases with our “Fire Emoji” playlist on Spotify. Our HNHH team has compiled the latest bangers, including cuts from DaBaby‘s new album, Blame It On Baby and Westside Gunn’s latest project, Pray For Paris, as well as a highlight off The-Dream‘s freshly dropped SXTP4.

DaBaby’s latest body of work blew up this week, garnering 25 million streams on Spotify in the first 30 minutes of its release. Although it wasn’t received terribly well by some fans, there are definitely some winners on Blame It On Baby, such as the Roddy Ricch-assisted “ROCKSTAR” and the A Boogie wit da Hoodie-featured “DROP.” Both of these bops can be found on our “Fire Emoji” roundup, along with two of Baby’s solo tracks. We’ve also gathered some joints off Westside Gunn’s Pray For Paris: “327” with Joey Bada$$, Tyler, the Creator, and Billie Essco, and “LE Djoliba” with Cartier William. Who could forget Playboi Cartier’s long-awaited drop, “@ MEH,” that’s been at the centre of some beef between himself and Lil Uzi Vert and has found its way onto our “Fire Emoji” playlist. We’ve also got The-Dream’s Jhené Aiko-assisted track, “Wee Hours,” off SXTP4, the new 21 Savage and Summer Walker collabo, and one of our favourites off Future‘s Purple Reign in honour of the 2016 mixtape finally making its way onto streaming services this week. Check out our full roundup below and make sure to follow all of our other specially-curated playlists.

Follow HNHH on Spotify.

Follow FIRE EMOJI on Spotify.

Follow R&B SEASON on Spotify.

Follow our freshly-updated Wake & Bake playlist here.

Follow our G.O.O.D. Music playlist (for a GOOD ASS FRIDAY) here.