Results for Round 5 of Rap Madness

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In other news today:

• Round 5 results

• Vote for the championship now

• Childish Gambino announces new album & takes shots at BET Awards

• Did Drake get Rick Ross jumped in Canada?

• Industry insights

Final Four / Round 5 Results

Below are the results with exact vote counts for round 5 of Rap Madness.

The Championship Begins

Only two artists are left in Rap Madness, and voting for the Championship is live. Click the button to vote for your favorites on our IG stories, and see the updated bracket below.

64 artists began, but only two remain…

Kendrick Lamar has won each of his match-ups by over 76% and is 1st most likely to win based on your completed brackets.

Travis Scott has won each of his match-ups by over 65% and is 3rd most likely to win based on your completed brackets.

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Childish Gambino Fires Shots at The BET Awards

At this year’s BET Awards on June 30th, Childish Gambino (AKA Donald Glover) did more than present the Album of the Year award. He called out the network for not recognizing his music. While people laughed in the audience, one thing was for sure—he was dead serious. 

Wait, what did he say? 

Glover went all gas, no brakes on how he truly felt. 

“This isn’t personal, but I just feel like I should have more BET Awards. I’m serious. It’s the 'Black Entertainment Television Awards.' How much more entertaining do I have to do? Because it’s just the math of the fact,” he said. 

He then explained that he has more Grammys than Will Smith (five awards total) but the same number of BET Awards as Sam Smith (two awards total).

“Does that make sense to you guys? Me and Sam Smith are neck and neck at the Black Entertainment Television [Awards]...If I have to do Baby Boy or something, just let me know. I’ll have Jonathan Majors put me in a headlock, shave my head, I’ll do it.”

Is his music BET-worthy?

Many social media users agreed with Childish Gambino, confused as to why he wasn’t getting his flowers, putting others on to some of his best records.

However, others online said that his lack of BET Awards is because his music isn’t for Black people. This argument was immediately shut down. 

“Saying Childish Gambino & Tyler the creator don’t make music for Black people who like rap is crazy, like n****, you are just choosing not to listen to them & that’s okay it’s your preference but saying they don’t make music for Black ppl whom are fans of rap is false,” X user ROZtheCreator said in a July 1 tweet.

Is he the only one to call BET out?

Glover isn’t the first person to call out the BET Awards for not putting a spotlight on them despite the work they do. Lil Nas X in 2022 called out the awards show for letting him perform on the show but not giving him any accolades despite his blatant musical success (just like Childish Gambino, who eventually did perform during the Usher tribute on Sunday night). 

In a since-deleted 2022 tweet, Lil Nas X said, “Thank you bet awards. an outstanding zero nominations again. black excellence!”

Are we getting some new Childish Gambino?

Not only is new music on the way but Gambino/Glover has a whole movie coming soon. His new song “Lithonia” dropped on July 2, and he will be performing at Little Island in NYC on July 6. He confirmed that his album Bando Stone & the New World will drop on July 19. The trailer for the movie of the same name dropped earlier this week and will feature music from the album.

If you want to see him live, His New World Tour starts in August and will take him all around the world, with Willow and Amaarae serving as openers on select dates. 

Did Drake Get His Lick Back From Ricky Rozay?

The “Biggest Boss” might have the biggest lump on his head after getting involved in a massive brawl in Vancouver over the weekend.

“Knuck If You Buck,” Canada style 

 Ricky Rozay performed at the Ignite Music Festival in the city on Sunday. It wasn’t until the end of his set, however, that people began to feel some type of way. He closed out his performance by playing “Not Like Us” by K. Dot (AKA the final nail in the Kendrick/Drake beef coffin). 

Now off the stage, a man (allegedly a Drake fan) approached Ross and his crew and let them know he had an issue with the song choice.

Heated words were exchanged (including Ross allegedly calling Drake “white boy”) until finally, the man threw a jab straight at Ross’ head. People from both sides now jumped into the fight and a WWE match for the ages had begun.

How did Ross and the public respond?

Despite “taking it to the head,” Ross seemed all good in an Instagram story post the next day. “Vancouver it was fun, till next time,” he said while standing in front of a jet. 

Social media began to share their thoughts on what went down in Vancouver, with X user K_Beezy7 saying that “Rick Ross was just calling Drake a white boy then gets him and his security beat up by a bunch of white boys lmao funny how the world works.”

Forever internet troll 50 Cent joined in on the mess and weighed in on the altercation. 

Referring to one of the people in Ross’ crew who got knocked out, he said that his bad moves “do not reflect him. That reflects his camp. He might need to go get the Dreamchasers or the 305 Killers.”

Drake also addressed the situation (not directly, as usual) by wishing Canadians a Happy Canada Day via his Instagram story, liking a tweet about the fight, and posting more flicks around his ranch.

The beef might be over between Drake and K. Dot, but it looks like it’s just getting started between Champagne Papi and Teflon Da Don.

• Spotify and Acne Studios are joining forces. Their first “fashion meets music” experiences will launch in the fall/winter of this year.

• K. Dot made a big donation. Himself, pgLang, Tim Hinshaw’s Free Lunch, and other artists who performed at “The Pop Out” gave $200,000 to 20 L.A. community initiatives and charities.

• An iconic Nike sneaker is making a comeback. The “Wu-Tang” Dunk Highs, originally released in 1999, will be dropping again this fall.