NBA YoungBoy, Russ, Soulja Boy and More – New Hip-Hop Projects

The competition in the rap game is heavy this week when it comes to new music. This round of drops brings forth a unique set of circumstances. A newly-married rhymer releases his third project this year, a very successful independent artist drops an EP and an influential rapper comes through with his eleventh studio album.

NBA YoungBoy has been the hot topic this week since he rekindled his beef with Lil Durk after Akademiks initially claimed that they settled their differences. The Baton Rouge, La. rapper has been sending subliminal shots at the Chicago rapper while preparing to drop his Richest Opp mixtape. The collection, which boasts 17 songs and no guest features, follows his two previous efforts, Don’t Try This at Home and I Rest My Case.

Not only does YoungBoy have beef with Durk, it looks like he has issues with a few other rappers as well. On Friday (May 12), the 23-year-old rapper released “F**k the Industry, Pt. 2” where he dissed Drake, J. Cole and Lil Yachty. You can listen to the track below.

For J. Cole, he rapped: “J a ho, that n***a played it cold like he was gon’ do a feature/So I texted his line a muscle sign, I swear it’s gon be nice to meet you.”

YoungBoy may be referencing his studio session with J. Cole in 2021 where he allegedly made him wait eight hours in the studio to record a song, but nothing materialized.

To hold fans over until he releases another full-length album, Russ gives fans something extra with his Chomp 2.5 EP. The project is the follow-up to his 2021 project, Chomp 2. The EP contains six songs with no features. However, the Atlanta-bred artist tapped some stellar producers for production assists: Havoc (of Mobb Deep fame), The Alchemist, 9th Wonder and Statik Selectah.

Some of the standout tracks on the collection include “Buckle Up Freestyle.” Earlier this week, Russ hopped on his Instagram page and explained how he produced the soulful hip-hop track. Check it out below.

Another is the orchestral banger “Wicked Race.” Again, on his IG page, Russ invited his fans into his creative process with finding the sample and producing the great song. See below.

As always, Russ is on his independent grind and is not resting on his rap lurals.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Soulja Boy was pissed off at NBA YoungBoy and Lil Durk after it it was reported they were dropping their albums on the same day he’s releasing his new project, Soulja Season. On Friday, Durk didn’t release his album but YB delivered as promised.

On Tuesday (May 9), Big Draco lashed out at YB and Durkio for stirring up their rap feud to promote their respective albums.

“Y’all ain’t gon’ do s**t. Y’all woulda been scrapped. Y’all woulda been fought. Cut it out,” Soulja said in the video below. “P***y-a*s n***a, you seen me announce my muthaf***in album and the next day you announced your album. So, guess what? You lame, n***a. F**k you talking ’bout? Scary-a*s n***a.”

“Y’all do that s**t on your own time,” he continued. “When you see a real gangsta dropping, get the f**k out the way. Durk, you scary as f**k. If you gone fight YoungBoy, gon’ and fight him.”

Soulja then made a bold claim that he will have the biggest sales week between YoungBoy and Durk. “I’m finna outsell Lil Durk and YoungBoy at the same time,” he predicted. “This my date.”

We’ll have to see about that.

Check out other new projects this week from Chinx, DD Osama and more below.