(Lil Wayne on his upcoming tour with Drake)

We’re ready for the showdown. The Drake vs. Lil Wayne tour kicks off in on August 8 and although the YMCMB team hasn’t finalized production for the jaunt just yet, we do know that there will be a battle royale on stage.

Lil Wayne told MTV News that his manager Cortez Bryant actually came up with the idea for Drake vs. Lil Wayne, and he definitely plans to have some fun with it.

“Since, thank god we’ve been so successful, [we'll just be] going back and forth with our hits and getting the crowd to go crazy, then just finally hit the stage together,” Weezy told MTV News on his “Krazy” video set. “It’s a battle type thing.”

And who does Wayne think is favored to win this battle? “I give the good guy the edge,” he joked.

Tune also confirmed that we can expect more Drake features on Tha Carter V (in addition to “Believe Me”) and, of course, an appearance by Nicki Minaj. Don’t just ask when the album will actually drop, because Wayne has no idea.

We were wondering if that Jay Z shout out on “D’Usse” meant a Hov feature might be coming too — and he didn’t rule it out.

(Wayne on D’usse and Jay Z)

Nadeska Alexis

A native of Grenada, a product of Brooklyn, a student of hip-hop.

@neweryork

We had to queue up Meek Mill’s verse on “They Don’t Love You No More” for this one. Apparently the MMG rapper has been having problems with his labelmate, Wale, for some time — but now those issues are all very public.

On Tuesday (July 8), Meek hit Twitter for an unfiltered tongue lashing that was directed at his frequent collaborator. Yesterday the Philly rapper announced the release date for his sophomore album Dream Worth More Than Money, but he wasn’t happy that Wale wouldn’t show some love.

“Wale just ain’t gone tweet a thing about my album…. He’s been hating on me long time now …don’t even text me cornball! #UNOTMMG,” Meek tweeted. “Everybody can see it! None of y’all dudes don’t call me text me nothing it is what it is!”

“I don’t really want no suckas in arm reach of me…. My hands might lose control! That’s how I’m rocking,” he continued. “I ain’t doing nomore acting for no rap sh–! I got real family at home and all my day 1′s on the road wit me….. I just wanna make it known who is who!”

“I don’t need no support…It’s about a lot of these dudes really b hating behind closed doors..All these guys that’s on the rap scene kno.”

Last month Meek had it out with his Dreamchasers signee Louie V Gutta on Twitter, but Rozay can’t be happy that his Maybach signees are going public with their internal ...

Common is getting ready to roll out Nobody’s Smiling on July 22, and the album’s latest single, “Diamonds,” includes a feature from his homey Big Sean.

Sean handles the hook and contributes a final verse — with an interesting flow — over the No I.D. beat, after Common opens up.

Last month Common unveiled several different versions of the cover art for his Chicago-themed album. The covers featured profiles of up-and-coming Chi-Town artists, including Lil Herb, King Louie, Dreezy.

“Why I was super geeked about it, is because you got Lil Herb up against the background, you got King Louie up against the background,” Common explained. “I’m on one cover but then for them to be on another cover…Lil Herb, Dreezy, Lil Bibby…I got a lot of artists from Chicago and I feel like it’s my time to do that.”

Nadeska Alexis

A native of Grenada, a product of Brooklyn, a student of hip-hop.

@neweryork

Nicki Minaj just wants Lil Wayne to feel at home when they record for The Pink Print — even if it means buying him an LED lit neon sign that reads “Tune.” CUTE.

Actually, Nicki has a neon pink sign of her own, and apparently Weezy thought it was so silly that she decided to get him one also.

“Got this for my baby cuz he was making fun of the nicki minaj sign in my studio,” she wrote on Instagram. Ha! He know he like it #Tune #weezyFBaby #DaFizForABunchaSh–.”

Wayne recently confirmed to MTV News that he would appear on The Pink Print, and we should also expect to hear Nicki Minaj on his upcoming album Tha Carter V as well. Because they wouldn’t be a family otherwise.

Nicki hasn’t shared a release date for her album yet, but she’s pretty sure that it’ll be a guide for female rappers in the future.

“Jay has had his Blueprint albums and that’s what I feel like this album’s gonna be,” she said in an BBC interview recently. “I really feel like this album will be like a Blueprint for female rappers to come.” It’s going to be a big year for YMCMB.

(Weezy on his Carter V album release date)

Nadeska Alexis

A native of Grenada, a product of Brooklyn, a student of hip-hop.

@neweryork

Sometimes musical talent just runs in the family. Take Chance the Rapper and his younger brother, Taylor Bennett, for example — both are very skilled MCs, and Taylor is on the up and up.

The Chicago rapper’s sophomore project, Mainstream Music, was released in May, led by the single “New Chevy,” and MTV News has an exclusive video premiere to accompany the track.

The video for “New Chevy” was directed by Thelonious Stokes and includes an appearance from King Louie, who is featured on the track. Naturally, there’s some eye candy involved, because if you were a teenager with a new Chevy, you’d probably be using it to hit on girls too.

Did you catch the subtle references to Kanye’s “Flashing Lights” video, though? Check it out above.

This summer, Bennett will be performing at the official Lollapalooza after party with Nas and Vic Mensa in Chicago, and you can also catch him at the Austin’s ACL festival in October.

Nadeska Alexis

A native of Grenada, a product of Brooklyn, a student of hip-hop.

@neweryork

Meek Mill has been making cameos all over Diddy records recently — but now we’re closer to getting what we really want from him: that sophomore album.

On Monday (July 7), Meek shared a release date for his upcoming release, titled Dreams Worth More Than Money. The project is scheduled to drop on September 9, and of course there’s a trailer to accompany the album announcement (because he probably learned that from the Bawse).

The 7-minute clip includes highlights from Meek’s year, and ends with his video for “I Don’t Know,” which is the album’s first official single.

With the project just about two months away, it’s safe to say that we’ll be seeing a lot more from the Philly rapper in the coming weeks.

Nadeska Alexis

A native of Grenada, a product of Brooklyn, a student of hip-hop.

It’s been over a month since footage leaked of Solange and Jay Z’s elevator altercation, and the younger Knowles sister has been mum about that night’s events since then.

But when she sat down for her new Lucky magazine cover interview, in late May, she had to address it very briefly.

Solange brushed off the much-publicized incident quickly, only referring to it as “that thing,” and adding, “What’s important is that my family and I are all good. What we had to say collectively was in the statement that we put out, and we all feel at peace with that.”

The statement she’s referring to was released on behalf of the Carter-Knowles family, and asked that everyone move on and respect their privacy.

Now, let’s get back to the music! Solange is working on her upcoming album, due this fall via Saint Records. It will follow her True EP, which was released last year.

Nadeska Alexis

A native of Grenada, a product of Brooklyn, a student of hip-hop.

@neweryork

There’s no doubt that Ariana Grande is talented and beautiful, with a few big hits under her belt already, but is the 21-year-old destined for a career that can rival Mariah Carey’s? A$AP Ferg, for one, definitely thinks so.

The Harlem rapper, who released his debut album Trap Lord last year, is featured on Ariana’s upcoming second LP, My Everything, on the song “Hands On Me,” and he has big predictions for her future.

“She’s the next Mariah Carey. She’s dope,” Ferg told MTV News on the BET Awards red carpet last weekend. “And that’s not an understatement, or an overstatement — I just see her as that next big voice that’s gonna pop.”

In regards to their collaboration on “Hands On Me,” he would only say that “it’s a dope song,” and he can’t wait for us to hear it.

We haven’t heard Ferg on many pop collaborations yet, he says that it’s all coming together organically.

“It’s not really strange because I do a lot of festivals, like Coachella, Bonnaroo [and] people don’t see what happens behind stage,” he explained. “I’m a rapper, but Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas comes to my trailer, I’m hanging out with Selena Gomez… and all of these people that love my music.”

“So it’s just about that time we put the art together.”

Last week Ariana Grande brought back MTV’s “TRL” for a day as “Total Ariana Live,” and one of our favorite moments was her Broadway-inspired rendition of A$AP Rocky’s “F—in’ Problems.”

Read More →

YG isn’t big on self censorship, so when he paid a visit to TimWestwoodTV in the UK this week, he shared a few things that were on his mind, in a freestyle over Drake’s “0 to 100″ beat.

One of those things was his feelings about any DJ Mustard copycats out there, spitting, “And DJ Mustard, that n—a producers they jocking/ “Fancy,” don’t it sound like he produced that sh–?” He was referring to Iggy Azalea’s smash hit.

Mustard and YG had their issues with Mister F.A.B. recently, over a similar topic.

The Compton rapper also had a quick note for anyone who doubted him before he dropped My Krazy Life. “They thought I was a one hit wonder, now I got three hits and a classic album up under my muthaf—-n’ belt.”

Nadeska Alexis

A native of Grenada, a product of Brooklyn, a student of hip-hop. Hi, i'm

Nope, Sia still doesn’t want you to see her face. The singer hit “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Thursday night to perform three tracks, and true to form, she managed to deliver all of them without showing her mug.

She performed “Chandelier” and “Big Girls Cry” off her forthcoming album 1000 Forms Of Fear which is out this Tuesday July 8, and “Elastic Heart,” her contribution to the “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” soundtrack, that will also be on the new album.

Throughout her performance, Sia sang with her back to the camera, while the audience took in her colorful, acrobatic dancers instead. And there was definitely no shortage of face paint.

If you haven’t already, it’s also worth checking out her very unexpected video for “Chandelier.” She performed the song live with the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus during Logo TV’s “Trailblazers” television special last month.

Nadeska Alexis

A native of Grenada, a product of Brooklyn, a student of hip-hop. Hi, i'm