This Week in R&B / Hip-Hop: News Roundup (Oct 2, 2026)

Photo: GabboT / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Friday did most of the talking this week. Drake finally put the songs teased in September's "FOMO" short film on streaming, packaged as a deluxe edition of "HABIBTI." The same day brought Victoria Monét's first album in three years and Quavo's joint project with Pharrell. Elsewhere, Rick Ross was arrested on battery charges involving a former girlfriend, and Ye's planned Russia concerts were officially called off. Here are 11 stories, ranked by our own editorial judgment — reach of coverage, hard numbers, scale, and how central they are to this week.

🎤 This week in hip-hop and R&B

Drake drops his "FOMO" songs as a "HABIBTI" deluxe, and "Janice STFU" sets his Hot Rap Songs record at 19 weeks

Photo: GabboT / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Fans who heard only snippets in September's "FOMO" short film kept asking for a proper release, and Drake delivered. On Oct. 2 (late Oct. 1, U.S. time) the songs arrived on Spotify, Apple Music and other services as a deluxe edition of "HABIBTI." According to reports, the four additions are "Solar Eclipse" with Don Toliver (the track fans had been calling the "Choosin Texas" remix), "Cold Shoulder," "Quebec" and "Classic PT2," with Don Toliver on two of them.

There was a chart milestone too. "Janice STFU" logged its 19th week at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Rap Songs, passing "Hotline Bling" (18 weeks in 2015–16) as Drake's longest-running No. 1 on that chart. The all-time record still belongs to Kendrick Lamar and SZA's "Luther" at 47 weeks.

Source: HotNewHipHop / HotNewHipHop (Friday releases) / Ratings Game Music (chart record)

Rick Ross arrested on battery charges involving a former girlfriend; he has pleaded not guilty

Photo: The 85 South Comedy Show / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

According to TMZ, Rick Ross turned himself in to Miami-Dade police on the morning of Oct. 1 and was arrested on two charges: felony battery by strangulation and misdemeanor battery. Bond was reported at $6,000 in total.

The accuser, a former girlfriend, told police that on Aug. 28 Ross slapped and choked her in a jealous dispute over a photo on social media. Jazzma Kendrick publicly accused Ross of abuse over the weekend, but police have not said whether she is the woman in this case. Ross has pleaded not guilty to both counts, and his legal team is working on his release. These are allegations at this stage and will be tested in court.

Source: HotNewHipHop / TMZ

Victoria Monét returns with "Frequency of Love," her first album in three years, with a tour starting Oct. 27

Photo: HOTSPOTATL / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Victoria Monét, who won Best New Artist and Best R&B Album at the 2024 Grammys, released "Frequency of Love" (22 tracks) on Oct. 2 — her first album since "Jaguar II" about three years ago. Guests include SZA, Bruno Mars, Bryson Tiller, Leon Thomas and Lucky Daye.

Lead single "Let Me" reached No. 1 on Billboard's Adult R&B Airplay chart in June, and "Reach Out" was produced by Kaytranada and D'Mile. Her 27-city North American tour opens Oct. 27 in Raleigh, North Carolina, and wraps Dec. 17 in San Francisco.

Source: Music Times / Yahoo Entertainment (tracklist and guests)

Ye's St. Petersburg concerts are officially canceled after pushback from Russian officials

Photo: David Shankbone / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Promoter Say Agency confirmed on Sept. 30 that Ye's Oct. 10 and 11 concerts in St. Petersburg, Russia, will not go ahead. Ticket refunds begin Oct. 12.

Gazprom Arena, the advertised venue, had already said it never signed a rental agreement. The promoter claimed more than 100,000 tickets were sold, but political opposition kept growing — Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson criticized the booking, citing Ye's past antisemitic statements. Ye's lawyers had cited the Russia dates when asking to delay a discrimination lawsuit brought by a former security guard, so that argument is now gone.

Source: HotNewHipHop

Diddy is back in solitary as his prison investigates alleged special treatment

Photo: Nicolas Richoffer / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

TMZ reports that Sean "Diddy" Combs has been moved back into the Special Housing Unit (SHU, effectively solitary confinement) at FCI Fort Dix in New Jersey. The move follows an NBC News report alleging that other inmates cooked, cleaned and gave him massages, and that he used a contraband phone to browse Instagram. Isolation during an investigation is described as standard procedure.

A representative for Combs pushed back, saying the media is turning "ordinary prison life" into a spectacle. This is his second stint in the SHU, after a fight with another inmate in July. He is serving a 50-month sentence after his 2025 conviction on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution; Bureau of Prisons records list a projected release date of Jan. 21, 2028.

Source: HotNewHipHop

Quavo and Pharrell's "QRÖMELIFE" arrives, and Quavo joins Victoria Monét on the "Hotel Lobby" trend

Photo: Tripsdubs / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Quavo's "QRÖMELIFE" also landed Oct. 2. Pharrell executive-produced the 14-track album, which reunites Quavo with Offset and features A$AP Rocky, Future and Yung Miami, among others. HotNewHipHop called it a possible album-of-the-year contender.

Last issue we covered the viral AI parodies that swap other celebrities into Quavo and Takeoff's "Hotel Lobby" COLORS performance. On Oct. 1, the day before release, Quavo teamed up with Victoria Monét — who shares his release date — for their own take on the trend. "No AI," Monét wrote in the caption, adding that both of them had "real albums" coming out that night.

Source: HotNewHipHop / Yahoo Entertainment / Rolling Stone

Tinashe's "Popstar" now projected at about 27,000 first-week units — on track for a career-high chart peak

Photo: JD Sports / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Projections for Tinashe's "Popstar," which we covered last week, have moved up. The latest estimate from Hits Daily Double puts the album at about 27,000 equivalent units (streams and sales converted into album-sized units) in its first week, enough for a top-15 debut on the Billboard 200.

Her previous best was No. 17 for her 2014 debut "Aquarius." After leaving the major-label system to release music independently, she now looks set for a new personal best more than a decade later. The official position will appear on the Billboard 200 dated Oct. 10.

Source: Ratings Game Music / Complex

Nas and NYC Mayor Mamdani sit down for a short film: "not simply the birthplace" of hip-hop

Photo: All-Pro Reels / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

A new short documentary pairs Nas with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani near the Queensbridge Houses, where Nas grew up. Mamdani told Billboard the city can't be content with being hip-hop's birthplace — "we want it to still be its home" — and argued that young artists shouldn't be priced out of the city that created the culture.

Nas described hip-hop as music that "unveils the truth," showing what a city looks, sounds and feels like. The film also follows the mayor's visit to the new Bronx School of Hip Hop, which opened in September with hip-hop built into its curriculum.

Source: Billboard / HotNewHipHop

Mac Miller's "The Divine Feminine" gets a 10th-anniversary edition with three unreleased songs

Photo: Nicolas Völcker / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A 10th-anniversary edition of Mac Miller's fourth album, "The Divine Feminine" (2016), came out Oct. 2. It pairs the original 10 tracks with three previously unreleased songs from the same sessions, for 13 in total.

One of the additions, "Butterflies," was produced by Taylor Graves and features longtime friend Thundercat on bass. A three-LP vinyl edition is also available. With its warm jazz- and funk-leaning sound and its focus on love and intimacy, the album remains a fan favorite eight years after Mac's death.

Source: Consequence / Ratings Game Music

Meek Mill slams the way streams are converted into album sales

Photo: AlfredGoodach / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Last issue Meek Mill officially released his leaked songs. This week he went after the industry itself on X, writing that the business "do[es] not align with talent at all, just viral moments," and vowing to put out music for free.

His main target was the rule that converts streams into album-equivalent sales. Meek called the idea of "1500 streams a sale" insane and said whoever agreed to it set the ecosystem back ten years for artists and listeners. The actual ratio depends on whether streams come from paid or free accounts, but the complaint that streams count for less than sales is one other artists have raised too.

Source: HotNewHipHop

FBG Goat says Young Thug's next album will be "a masterpiece"

Photo: MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Young Thug is working on a solo follow-up to last year's "UY SCUTI." Close collaborator FBG Goat wrote online that the new album is "bout to be a masterpiece" and will go No. 1.

Thug released the double-disc compilation "Slime Language 3," which spotlighted YSL's newer artists, just a few weeks ago. On a livestream, DJ Akademiks said the next project could be a make-or-break moment for him. No release date has been announced.

Source: HotNewHipHop

Coming up: "JAŸ-Z In 8" wraps, plus late-October releases and court dates

On streaming, episodes 5–6 of Jay-Z and Rick Rubin's "JAŸ-Z In 8" arrived Oct. 2, and the final episodes 7–8 drop Oct. 9 — the same day as Joyce Wrice's "Machiko." Oct. 23 brings John Legend's "Muse" (produced entirely by Pharrell) and Anderson .Paak and Cordae's joint album "Heavy Is the Crown."

In court, sentencing for Keffe D (Duane Davis), convicted in the killing of 2Pac, is set for Oct. 13, and Lil Durk's bond review hearing is scheduled for Nov. 4. On the charts, Tinashe's "Popstar" debut will show up on the Billboard 200 dated Oct. 10.

Source: Variety / Rated R&B / Universal Music Canada / The Source / NBC News / HotNewHipHop (Lil Durk)

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