A week that closed a 30-year chapter and rewrote a box-office record at the same time. From a Las Vegas courtroom to Yankee Stadium math to a stack of Friday drops, this was hip-hop and R&B moving on every front - here is the week in ten lines.
The Big Five
Keffe D sentenced - Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, got 40 years to life in Las Vegas on October 13 for orchestrating Tupac Shakur's 1996 murder, the only person ever charged and convicted in the case, per USA Today and Reuters reporting in the Wire log.
Jay-Z's $42.3 million Yankee Stadium record - three JAŸ-Z30 shows grossed $42,290,766 on 136,934 tickets, the largest box-office total ever for a rapper's concert engagement, per Touring Data via AllHipHop.
Drake's chart leap - HABIBTI (FOMO) vaulted from No. 116 to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 71,000 units, up 506 percent per Luminate via The Source and Hypebeast, while Mac Miller's The Divine Feminine re-entered at No. 10.
Gucci Mane's Against All Odds - the Atlanta veteran dropped a 17-track album on October 16 with Summer Walker, OJ Da Juiceman and Ice Davis, per HotNewHipHop and Apple Music via CashIn Ent.
Doechii's "Bombs" - the Swamp Princess revived her Swamp Sessions on October 12 with a self-directed video and journal pages on her debut album, per Hypebeast and Clash.
The Next Five
Bruno Mars ties the record - "I Just Might" logged a 31st week at No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, tying Kendrick Lamar and SZA's "Luther," per Billboard via MusicTimes and KJWL.
A$AP Rocky's "Shroom Clouds" - the vault record hit streaming on October 16 as the lead single for Don't Be Dumb (Disc 2), per Billboard via KJWL and HotNewHipHop.
Tyla opens in Paris - the A*POP World Tour launched October 12 at Zenith Paris, opening a 34-date run with Royal MusiQ as a guest, per InMusic Blog and SlikourOnLife.
K. Michelle goes country - Jesus & Whiskey, her first country album, arrived October 16 with nine tracks produced by Kristian Bush, per The Tennessean and HitsCulture.
Serato DJ 5.0 learns live drummers - the public beta's Lucid Beatgrids rebuild follows fluctuating tempos on funk, disco and soul crates, per SonicState and Notebookcheck - test the beta, keep the stable build for gigs.
Filed under The Wire, MixShow Prime's music industry news desk.
