Top Hip-Hop Headlines Of The Week, 6/24 – 6/28

The frenzy of June 18 is over. The week after the biggest day in hip-hop was still packed with news worth mentioning. For one, Jay-Z’s Roc Nations Sports continues to expand with the signing of Kevin Durant. For another, West manages to stay in the headlines with another revealing interview with W Magazine. And Chris Brown just can’t escape getting hated on by the public.

Meanwhile, Asher Roth pens us an open letter about his label situation and T.I. confirms the signing of Yo Gotti. That’s just a few highlights in this week’s top headlines in hip-hop.

1. Rick Rubin Says Kanye West “Might” Have A Sequel To ‘Yeezus’
“Initially, [Kanye] thought there were going to be 16 songs on the album,” Rubin said. “But that first day, before he even asked me to work on it, I said, ‘Maybe you should make it more concise. Maybe this is two albums. Maybe this is just the first half.’ That was one of the first breakthroughs. Kanye was like, ‘That’s what I came here today to hear! It could be 10 songs!’”

2. Kanye West Explains “I Am A God” Inspiration, ‘Yeezus’ And Compares Himself To More People In W Magazine
In the story that was conducted through a series of interviews in March and April, West shares his reasons behind comparisons to Tiger Woods, The Beatles, among others, how “I Am A God” was inspired by a diss, and his future plans.

3. Kanye West’s ‘Yeezus’ Officially Debuts At No. 1 On Billboard 200
West’s Yeezus officially debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, marking his sixth No. 1 album in his career.

4. RZA: “To See De La Soul Sampling One Of My Productions, It Gets No Cooler Than That”
The Ruler Zig-Zag-Zig Allah said that he immediately cleared the sample after Posdnuos initially showed him the song. In addition, he said that his love for the song and De La in general goes back to his pre-Wu-Tang career, when De La’s then-primary producer Prince Paul supported his earliest hip-hop aspirations.

5. Kevin Durant Signs With Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports
Earlier this week, KD posted a photo on Instagram of himself and Hov inking the deal, which has been rumored to be in the works for several weeks. “Grateful for this opportunity with Roc Nation Sports. It’s go time” reads the caption.

6. Exclusive: An Open Letter From Asher Roth
Asher sat down with XXL over tacos to discuss his new outlook and how he came full circle to revisit Greenhouse Effect. In the middle of the interview, though, Asher mentioned that he wrote an open letter—to us, to his fans, to himself—that details his experience in the music industry so far and what he wants his post-Universal Records (he recently got out of his five-year contract) life to look like.

7. T.I. Confirms Yo Gotti Has Joined Hustle Gang
“Gotti has officially joined the gang,” T.I. said. Tip also teased that he’s looking to scoop up L.E.P. Bogus Boys, Maino, Uncle Murda, and Pittsburgh newcomer Hardo as well.

8. Swizz Beatz Discusses The Making Of Jay-Z’s ‘Magna Carta Holy Grail’
In the interview, Swizz discusses the album’s ingenuity, explaining, “Jay is just ahead of the times… The album represents Jay. It’s like… how do you give somebody something authentic that they can go back and pull from and give them something that’s ahead of its time? I think he summed that up very well. When you hear someone’s album, you always want to go back to the classics. It’s always going to be that. For the first time in a long time, I think someone solved that problem and I think he did that with this album.”

9. Chris Brown Charged With Hit-And-Run
The Los Angeles Attorney’s Office filed two misdemeanor charges against Brown earlier this week in connection with a minor traffic crash. Since the report surfaced online, Brown has taken to his Twitter account to express his opinion on the charges, denying he was involved in a hit-and-run.

10. Kendrick Lamar Accepts ASCAP Vanguard Award From Dr. Dre
Kendrick Lamar received the Vanguard Award at ASCAP’s Rhythm and Soul Music Awards in Los Angeles last night (June 27), and was honored by mentor and collaborator Dr. Dre. The Compton MCs worked together extensively on tracks such as “The Recipe” and “Compton” preceding Lamar’s major label debut with Aftermath/Interscope, good kid, m.A.A.d city last year.