Rich Gang dropped their self-titled debut album last year, and now Birdman and his crew have returned with their first single of 2014. “Lifestyle” includes features from Atlanta rappers Rich Homie Quan and Young Thug, with production from London On Da Track.

“I done did a lot of sh– just to live this here lifestyle,” Young Thug raps on the hook of the bass-heavy track. “Came from the bottom to the top in this lifestyle.”

With new additions like Thugga in the YMCMB family, Birdman continues to maintain his “flashy lifestyle” with ease, but he actually dedicates this one to his mama.

On Thursday (May 29) he Instagrammed a photo of himself on set with DJ Khaled, captioned “gone be a HOT SUMMER STAY RICH,” which leads us to believe that another album might be on the way. Stay tuned.

Nadeska Alexis

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

Because any great R&B singer should be able to spit a few bars when necessary, right? This week Jhené Aiko debuted an alternate version of her Sail Out track “Stay Ready (What a Life),” which finds her showing off some of her rhyming skills.

Her alter ego J Henny, or J Hennessy, replaces Kendrick Lamar‘s verse on the original track, adding some fire. The 26-year-old singer recently told Rap-Up that J Henny had a bit of Sasha Fierce in her.

“She still sings, but she’s more aggressive,” Aiko explained. “She likes to really talk a lot of sh– and talk about things that a lot of R&B singers don’t talk about.”

Nadeska Alexis

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

Last week Lil Wayne previewed a tongue twister of a track called “Tina Turn Up Needs A Tune Up,” which might end up on his upcoming album Tha Carter V. And for this week’s installation of “Weezy Wednesdays” we get a sneak peek of “Side Bitch.”

Wayne only played a very brief snippet of the track, but it’s the lesson he teaches us in this episode that’s really important. The YMCMB rapper explained that the track was inspired by a conversation with his friends about “side bitches” — that’s just brunch talk — which lead him to explain exactly how “side bitches be winning.”

“N—-s always end up hating what they loved, or hating what they thought they loved,” he begins, adding that a side bitch is the only one who would do things like “rubbing your crotch in front of everybody.” The rest of it, you really need to hear for yourself.

He truly is an older, and wiser Weezy.

Nadeska Alexis

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

Dame Dash and Jay Z recently patched up their relationship, but there seems to be no hope for the Roc-A-Fella co-founder and Hov’s longtime business partner, Steve Stoute. After siding with 50 Cent and sharing his less-than-flattering thoughts about Stoute on Instagram in April, Dame took it even further in a recent interview where he called him a “culture robber.”

In an interview with Hip Hop Motivation, a video production company, Dame spoke on what he feels are the dysfunctions of black-owned companies.

Part of his reasoning was that “black people never help each other” and eventually he went on to point a finger directly at Steve Stoute.

“You know how many black people I tried to put together to make movies? There always be that one group – or because of Steve Stoute, or somebody that’s a “culture robber,” or doesn’t care about his culture – [that] would break that up,” Dame said.

“A guy like Steve Stoute would always take the people that are protecting the creative [and] eliminate them, so he could rob the creative,” he continued. “Just so he could get his money. Even if he kills that black man or that person’s brand.”

Stoute is the founder and CEO of the marketing firm Translation and the author of the “The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy.” He’s managed several a-list artists and help build brands around stars like Nas, Jay Z ...

June will mark almost 10 years since Dave Chappelle threw his massive Brooklyn Block Party, and maybe that’s the reason why he’s going all out for his upcoming shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

After selling out five nights, the comedian has continued to add new dates to his June schedule, and the most recent additions will include some of his musical friends.

Apparently Dave has decided to make this a real party, recruiting The Roots, Busta Rhymes, Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, DJ Premier and a full orchestra to perform across three shows.

See the schedule below and visit Radio City Music Hall for tickets

June 24: Dave Chappelle and The Roots
June 25: Dave Chappelle, Busta Rhymes, DJ Premier, and Janelle Monáe
June 26: Dave Chappelle and Erykah Badu

Nadeska Alexis

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

Chance the Rapper has been very outspoken about his disgust with the state of Chicago’s bloody, bullet-ridden streets and if you listen closely to the lyrics on Acid Rap, you can also hear his fear. “It just got warm out, this the sh– I’ve been warned ’bout / I hope that it storm in the morning, I hope that it’s pourin’ out,” he raps on “Pusha Man/Paranoia.”

In those lines, he’s referring to warmer summer months in the city when violence skyrockets, especially since students are out of school for the season. So, with the encouragement of his dad, the 21-year-old joined hundreds of others in campaigning for a cease-fire over Memorial Day Weekend — which is usually considered to be the start of the summer season.

“when i was in LA My pops asked me to help with a project. He was tryin to get Community Org’s in CHI to prevent every murder on Memorial Day,” Chance explained via Twitter on Tuesday (May 27). He had talked to “Churches, Schools, Outreach Prog’s and Business’s, trying to get them to commit to saving every life possible yesterday.”

“The plan was to get these mass numbers of people out on street corners Friday night with posters and banners with the plea “#SAVECHICAGO,” he continued. “His plan was to get radio stations like @WGCI and @Power92Chicago to say “PUT YOUR GUNS DOWN CHICAGO” every hour on the hour the wk before. ll he asked of me was to say something ...

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are back in the studio working on a follow up to their Grammy-winning album The Heist, but don’t be surprised if it takes a minute.

“We’re working on a follow up, and we take forever, so I can’t say how long it will take but we are in the studio daily, trying out new stuff,” Ryan Lewis told MTV News, laughing, this week.

He had another joke when asked how recording their sophomore album was different than the first time around. “The mic is way nicer,” he replied.

“Of course, a lot of it is different, [because] the context of working and your team, your whole environment and your life has completely changed,” he continued. “But then there’s also aspects which are completely the same.”

“If everything goes out of the window [and] it’s just you in the studio, can you make something that’s good art, or can not you not? I think the game is the same, the art the same, the process is the same. So for me, it’s really exciting.”

“I love DJing and traveling, but after playing well over 300 shows in a year and a half, it’s nice to be back, trying to make songs.”

Nadeska Alexis

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

Ab-Soul has been very vocal with his displeasure over his album delay, but we’re inching closer to that June release date for These Days. Before the album finally drops, however, the TDE rapper has unleashed a new single called “Stigmata,” featuring Action Bronson and Philly rapper Asaad.

The song’s hook pulls some inspiration from Nas’ track “The Cross,” which was featured on his 2002 album, God’s Son.

Last month Ab-Soul took to Twitter and threatened that he might leak his own album if the label wouldn’t drop it soon. TDE Ceo Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith heard him loud and clear, eventually giving fans the opportunity to choose a release date for the project by voting.

Nadeska Alexis

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

Kanye West has rapped about a million ladies in his songs — he definitely tried to name every model on “Christian Dior Denim Flow” — but that’s all about to change. The rapper/super producer is getting ready to marry Kim Kardashian, and put his player days behind him. The wedding is approaching quickly, so that means that ‘Ye also needs to throw his blowout bachelor party. There were rumors that he was planning a low-key celebration in Ireland, but we’d like to think that it will go more like this…

Jay Z Will Make The Best Host Ever
Kanye’s big bro has been hitched for five years, and ‘Ye has made it clear in his songs (and in a few recent interviews) that he admires him. Who better to host a wild, yet classy bachelor party than Jay? We’re thinking unlimited bottles of D’usse and the finest Cuban cigars that money can buy.

A Ton Of Athletes Will Be There
Kanye still can’t seem to believe that he won Kim’s hand in marriage over an athlete, to the point that he needed to rap about it on Future’s “I Won.” Since he did win, however, he might as will hit up every frenemy he has in the NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL to come out and mourn Kim’s last night as a single woman.

They’ll All Be Wearing Masks
Because Yeezus was all about the avant-garde masks on his most recent tour, and he has to find a ...

Macklemore caught some serious heat this week, after sporting a costume that fans regarded as anti-Semitic, during a Seattle show, but Ryan Lewis maintains that it was a “pretty massive misunderstanding.”

Lewis was in New York City on Wednesday (May 20) to co-host a beat battle contest with designer David Bitton, and he addressed the outfit that Macklemore wore during the secret weekend show.

“Anybody who knows Ben knows the human being that he is,” Lewis told MTV News. “I think one of the key things, reading his statement, that I think is true, is that our music speaks for itself and the organizations that we’ve gotten behind throughout the last three to four years speak for themselves.

“I think the entire thing was a pretty massive misunderstanding.”

Macklemore himself issued a statement of apology, explaining to fans that he never meant to offend anyone with the outfit, which he put together randomly before the show.

Nadeska Alexis

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