Meek Mill is starting this week off with a smile after winning a Billboard Music Award for Dreams Worth More than Money for Top Rap Album of the Year award, beating out Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, Dr. Dre’s Compton, Drake and Future’s What a Time to Be Alive and Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late.

The awards, which are based on key fan interactions with music, including album and digital songs sales, radio airplay, streaming, touring and social interactions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify and other popular online destinations for music for the year, are the ultimate measure of a musician’s success.

To celebrate the victory, Meek dropped a new single and video for  “Love Foreal” with Hardo, off Hardo’s upcoming 92 OG album, and it’s produced by The MeKanics.  “Love Foreal” which focuses on what it takes to come from nothing and realize one’s dreams, poses a lot of rhetorical questions about being real and truly down.

Answering the call, Nicki Minaj posted a picture on her IG page showing just how real and proud she was. Posing in a lacy bra, Nicki posted a picture with the caption “Congratulations,” two hours after Meek released his new single.

In addition to dropping the audio single on his Soundcloud, Meek also released a visual for the single on his Dreamchasers Youtube page. Meek also announced that Dreamchasers 4 is coming soon.

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“I came back to Atlanta and cut that ‘Blasphemy’ in Big Face Banks studio by myself and called 21 up because I felt like he was a perfect fit on the record,” Hardo told Complex magazine. “He came through and he fucked with it and jumped on it and another record.” He went on to explain “I’m looking to prove that my music is undeniable. Nothing can stop my growth, no matter how many times I went to jail. Now I’m off parole and going to prove that I’ve changed and matured and I won’t be going back to prison. The music I’m putting out now is better than my previous releases because I’m learning and perfecting my craft, styles, flows, and all. I also have more experiences to talk about now, which I know the real will relate too.”

Hardo’s plans to take his music career seriously now is very apparent through the type of power moves he is attempting to make. Word on the street is that his upcoming project will feature appearances from Pittsburgh’s super star Wiz Khalifa and Sosamann. As we wait for the tracklisting for his porject, you can stream “Blasphemy” below.

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“Fast Life” serves as a cut from Hardo‘s Trapnati mixtape . The track clocks in at almost three minutes with Njomza providing vocals and Mac Miller contributing a verse. Hardo compliments the smooth beat with his intricate bars, that have the Pittsburgh rapper peeling back layers and making realizations.  Fellow Pittsburg rapper Mac Miller then let’s listeners in on his fast life with bars. Peep the collab below.

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The artwork says it all, but the music says it better: Vince Staples had to grow up fast. Produced entirely by Mac Miller‘s production alter-ego, Larry Fisherman, Stolen Youth is a wavering account of building an adulthood from the debris of a cruel youth. If that sounds depressing, maybe even nihilistic, that’s not quite the case. Staples is actually reminiscent of a young Jay-Z. He’s not regretting his past, praying for forgiveness or redemption. He’s too calm, nearly indifferent, for that. Instead, he’s exploring his past, using it to understand and explain his present; he’s meditating through rhymes, in a sense.

Vince isn’t the only one having thought experiments. Via Larry Fisherman, Mac Miller explores a universe of sound that differs from the introspective, playful atmosphere of the well-crafted Watching Movies With The Sound Off (which we reviewed). Less interested in the grandiose, Miller goes for the humble, weaving familiar sounds into something down-to-earth, yet still engaging. Listen to the pair below. Ab-Soul, Schoolboy Q and Miller guest star.

Also, read his interview with The Fader.

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