Nov 1, 20267 min read

Week 44 in Hip Hop

Week 44 in Hip Hop ran on receipts and rumours in equal measure: deal talk around Drake with no signature in sight, a Top 10 chart debut, a Halloween party with a circus attached, a 42-year-old classic chasing a first No. 1, and a Friday that covered four corners at once.

OMYGOTTI

Toronto hip-hop artist | 730K+ Facebook

No. 1 - The Talk

Drake Deal Talk Heats Up, and Nothing Is Signed Yet

This one is talk, not a deal, and the difference is the whole story. During an appearance on One Night With Steiny, reported on October 30, DJ Akademiks said Drake is at the precipice of being in a new deal, suggesting his previous agreement with Universal Music Group has reached its conclusion. Akademiks went big with the prediction, saying Drake could land probably the biggest record deal in history on the books in terms of what a label would have to pay him as an advance.

Here is what is actually confirmed, and it is a short list. As of October 30, neither Drake nor UMG has publicly announced a new contract, and no confirmed financial figure has been released. UMG did confirm an expansive agreement with Drake back in 2022, but it never published the exact value of that deal either. So the honest headline is not a signing. It is a free-agent conversation starting in public, with the biggest possible number being floated before a single page is signed.

My take: Everybody loves throwing the biggest number in the room around. Until a signature shows up, it is talk. But when the talk alone moves the whole timeline for a week, that tells you exactly how big the actual deal conversation is.

No. 2 - The Debut

Anderson .Paak and Cordae Take Heavy Is the Crown Top 10

The joint album got its receipt this week. Heavy Is the Crown, the first full album from Anderson .Paak and Cordae as a duo, debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 in the Week 44 album sales recap published October 30, with 30,290 units reported in figures sourced from HITS Daily Double. The album itself is lean by design: 11 tracks in just under 32 minutes, released October 23, built on chemistry that goes back to their earlier collaborations.

The pair worked for the debut, too. Their promotional run in the days after release took in BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, On The Radar and Chinatown Sound, putting live performances in front of the chart week instead of just posts. The same sales recap carried a second debut worth noting: John Legend's Muse, produced entirely by Pharrell Williams, entered at No. 49 with 15,464 units reported. Two albums built on long friendships, both now carrying first-week numbers.

My take: Thirty-two minutes, no filler, Top 10. .Paak and Cordae did not beg the algorithm for anything, they just made a tight record and then went outside and performed it. Old recipe, still works.

No. 3 - The Party

Megan Thee Stallion Takes Hottieween to Las Vegas

Megan Thee Stallion took her Halloween tradition on the road. Hottieween 2026 landed on Friday, October 30 at Zouk Nightclub inside Resorts World Las Vegas, running from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. for guests 21 and over. This year's theme was Thee Circus Is Coming, with Megan in the ringleader role and the room built out as a full theatrical circus.

The production had real weight behind it. Cirque du Soleil contributed exclusive theatrical and acrobatic elements, South African Amapiano star Uncle Waffles joined as a special guest, and Megan's Chicas Divertidas tequila was part of the night. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Pete and Thomas Foundation, the nonprofit Megan founded in honour of her late parents to support education, housing, wellness and underserved communities, particularly in Houston. Hottieween started back in 2019, and seven years on it is less a party and more an institution with a dress code.

My take: Anybody can throw a Halloween party. Megan built one with Cirque du Soleil in the building, Uncle Waffles on the bill and charity money coming out of the door. That is not a costume, that is a franchise.

No. 4 - The Haunt

Thriller Turns Halloween Into a Chart Week Again

Michael Jackson's Thriller does this every October, but this year the numbers are louder. In the MJ Charts Weekly update dated October 31, the song climbed to No. 1 on the UK Hip-Hop and R&B Singles chart and No. 17 on the main UK Singles chart. In the United States it reached No. 70 on the Billboard Global 200, No. 13 on Digital Song Sales and re-entered the Streaming Songs chart at No. 37, while the Thriller album sat at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 and No. 4 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

The bigger chase is still ahead, and it is a chase, not a result. Billboard analysis cited on October 28 noted that Thriller peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100 back in 1984 and has never hit No. 1, but its streams are running well ahead of last year: 5.9 million official on-demand U.S. streams for the week ending October 15, up 42 percent on the same week a year earlier. Halloween falling on a Saturday helps, because the Friday and Saturday listening land inside the same tracking week. The Halloween-week numbers land on the Hot 100 in November, so the verdict is still to come.

My take: A song from 1982, peaking at No. 4 in 1984, is out here in 2026 picking fights with the whole Hot 100. Classics do not trend. They wait for their season and then they take it. See you in November for the verdict.

No. 5 - The Drop

BigXthaPlug Leads a Four-Corners New Music Friday

Friday, October 30 belonged to BigXthaPlug first. His new album Better Over Time runs 18 tracks in 42 minutes and is his fourth solo album, and his first rap-focused project since 2024's platinum Take Care, after last year's country-leaning detour on I Hope You're Happy. The feature list mixes the lanes on purpose: GloRilla joins him on FAF, Leon Thomas on NO LIMIT, with Lil Yachty and Ava Max also on the album. Dallas rap, back in its home bag, with the door open to everybody.

The rest of the Friday covered the map. Young Nudy kept Atlanta trap in rotation with Just Doin Me, built with his longtime producer COUPE and carrying a 21 Savage feature on Spinnin. Sampa the Great released Nu Zamrock, her third album and her first since 2022's As Above, So Below, built around Zambia's Zamrock tradition and her family's story in it. And Dominic Fike blurred every line again with How To Quit Smoking, his third studio album following 2023's Sunburn. Four albums, four completely different games, one Friday.

My take: This is the health of the culture in one night. BigX comes home to rap, Nudy guards Atlanta, Sampa turns family history into a whole sound, and Fike refuses every label you hand him. Press play in any order, you win.