Lil Wayne‘s Tha Carter V season has officially begun. After using a couple of the world’s biggest athletes to help tease his upcoming LP, Weezy partners with Drake to release “Believe Me,” the first single off of Tunechi’s much-anticpated album.

The slow-rolling and pulsating track, which was produced by Boi-1da and Vinylz, hit the Internet early Saturday morning (May 3).

With a number of notable collaborations already under their belt, the two Young Money spitters once again putting their impeccable rap skills on display. But don’t take our word for it, listen for yourself.

Rob Markman

Troy Ave has made quite the name for himself. With his independent hustle the Brooklyn rap rookie has turned heads and earned props from some serious hip-hop heavyweights.

50 Cent, for one, says he’s betting on Troy Ave to win.

“Troy Ave is going to be one of those guys that i hope goes to the top,” Fif said during an interview with NYC DJ Funkmaster Flex on Wednesday.

Ave loves the encouragement. “I think it’s dope. He was on Funk Master Flex the other night and he was talking about how he wants Troy Ave to win and things of that nature,” Troy told MTV News on Thursday when we visited the set of his upcoming “Your Style” video in New Jersey.

“I think it’s ill when you got somebody like 50, speaking about you in a dope manner, as far as, ‘Yo, I like what he’s doing’,” he continued.

Ave’s 2013 breakout single “Show Me Love” borrowed elements from 50 Cent’s 2003 classic “In da Club” and features G-Unit’s Tony Yayo, while his current single, “Your Style,” features Lloyd Banks. Now, he has New York’s top rap representatives rooting for him.

“I met Nas the other night and he said, ‘Yo, you ill, I love what you’re doing for the city,’” Ave shared. “Jay Z hitting my phone, texting me, like ‘Son, you keep doing your thing, you’re representing for the town.’”

With all of the recent co-signs, the BK spitter says that 50′s stamp means the most to him.

“I think ...

Things got real heated when T.I. and Game hit a Los Angeles club on Wednesday morning. The two rappers confronted police and club security after members of their entourage were beaten by security guards after being denied entry. But on Thursday, the venue released a statement disassociating the rappers and the club from the drama.

“Although T.I. and The Game were in the parking lot during this time, they were not directly involved with this incident,” read a statement issued by a club rep to MTV News.

The fight and subsequent reaction was caught on two separate video clips and released by TMZ. In the first clip, security can be seen beating up two men; in the second vid, Game and T.I. emerge to confront police and security about their bloodied friends.

“Ya’ll got a lot of people to beat up. We got good lawyers,” T.I. said to police.

After figuring out that it was club security and not the cops who were responsible for the beating, the two rappers and their respective entourages turned their attentions toward the guards.

“An unfortunate escalation between an angry on-looker who was denied entry to Supperclub, and a rogue security officer who took matters too far, led to an untenable altercation which represented the worst in all of us,” the club’s statement read. “The third party security company that was hired for this outside promotional event, is not a part of Supperclub Los Angeles, and will never be booked by Supperclub, or the venue’s outside promotional ...

Young Thug marches to the beat of his own drum, and in his latest video with producer Metro Boomin, Atlanta’s newest star is as offbeat as ever.

On Wednesday, the duo dropped their (not-quite-safe-for-the-kids) video for “The Blanguage” on WorldStarHipHop.com. It’s the first look from the pair’s upcoming Metro Thuggin collaboration mixtape and we’re actually looking forward to it.

The clip, which was directed by Cam Kirk, has a pretty simple set-up: Thugga and MB rapping in the kitchen. We came for the music, but stayed for the dance moves, which were so ill we had to make a few GIFs. Cue the music.

Rob Markman

Meek Mill is gearing up to release his sophomore album, but fans still can’t seem to get enough of his 2012 debut, Dreams and Nightmares — and by “fans” we mean Drake.

On Wednesday morning (April 30), Drizzy took to Twitter to praise his buddy Meek for his energetic and inspirational album intro. “Dreams and Nightmares Intro really one of the best rap moments of our generation,” the OVO spitter proclaimed.

We can’t blame Drake, there’s just something about the way the Beat Bully-produced banger goes from a reflective piano-laced track to a full-on club banger.

Rob Markman

When Jay Z raps people listen, and when it came to Hov’s verse on DJ Khaled’s “They Don’t Love You No More,” Major League Lacrosse heard Jigga loud and clear.

In a line where we’re questioning if Jay Z subliminally tapped Drake, it’s clear that he took a swipe at lacrosse players everywhere. “Haters wanna ball, let me tighten up my drawstring/ Wrong sport, boy, you know you soft as a lacrosse team,” Jigga spit over the Mike Zombie-produced track.

Now, MLL has a message of their own for the superstar rapper. “Lacrosse is often called the fastest sport on two feet. Players are on the field dodging and shooting balls at over 100 miles per hour,” a MLL spokesperson told MTV News in a written statement issued on Tuesday (April 29).

“With that said we don’t think Jay-Z knows what he’s talking about when he calls Lacrosse ‘soft’ I can guarantee you it is anything but a ‘soft’ sport,” the statement continued.

To top it all off, MLL issues a challenge to the battle-tested MC. “Mr. Carter would not last one minute on a lacrosse field during a match and he is more than welcome to come to any of our games and try,” the statement read in closing.

Quite frankly, neither would we.

Rob Markman

Sure Drake can get a little emotional with his music, but does that make the YMCMB hitmaker soft? Well, Katy Perry thinks so.

While promoting her new video for “Birthday,” KP phoned into New York’s Power 105 “The Breakfast Club” show this past week and made a little jokey joke about Drizzy. Katy started out praising her “Dark Horse” co-star Juicy J, before jabbing at the Young Money star. “Awwww he’s so sweet. He’s such a sweet, genuine guy and an amazing, hard worker,” she gushed about Juice.

“I’ve worked with a lot of people that have done little pieces on songs and not that they have egos, but Juicy’s the kindest,” she continued, before stopping herself. “He’s like the most kindest, empathetic, sweet — I don’t want to make him out to be softer than Drake.”

The comment drew excitement and laughter from the show’s hosts, before Perry tried to clean things up a bit. “I love Drake; he’s like my secret diary,” she backpedaled (or, depending on how you heard it, threw another shot).

“I really love Drake, so get off my D,” she later said.

Rob Markman

On Saturday an audio recording believed to be of Los Angeles Clippers basketball owner Donald Sterling was released onto the Internet and began a whirlwind of controversy in the sport’s world and beyond.

On the recording, which was published on TMZ, Sterling can be heard arguing with girlfriend V. Stiviano over a picture, which she posed with NBA hall of famer Magic Johnson and posted onto Instagram. During the taped phone call, Sterling tells his girlfriend that he is upset because she wants to “broadcast” that she is “associating with black people” and later instructs her not to “bring any of them” to Clippers basketball games.

The NBA and Clippers organization are still trying to determine if the shocking audio is legitimate, but the comments have already drawn outrage from basketball fans every where.

President Obama messaged that Sterling’s comments are an example of how “the United States continues to wrestle with the legacy of race and slavery and segregation,” while a number of celebrities including rappers Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Game and Meek Mill continue to speak out against Sterling and the Clippers organization.

Weezy, and many others suggest, that the players on the L.A. Clippers quit. “F– you. That simple, that easy,” he began his statement which was captured on video. “If I were a Clippers fan, I wouldn’t be one any more, it’s that simple. But if I was a current Clippers player you wouldn’t see me on the court any more in that uniform.”

Team coach Doc Rivers confirmed that the team will play their ...