With the release of his latest single, “Temperature Rising,”Tory Lanez officially became an independent artist, and he couldn’t be more thrilled. For nearly five years, Tory was signed to Interscope Records, after locking down a deal with the label in July of 2015. However, following the release of his last mixtape,  The New Toronto 3, Tory had officially fulfilled all of his contractual obligations with Interscope, and was finally able to release music solely under his own imprint, One Umbrella Records. Once May hit, Tory announced that his first independent single would be arriving on May 15th, and now that that day is here, he can finally celebrate being a free agent.

“I waited and calculated for 4 years TO BE MY OWN BOSS,” he wrote on a screenshot of the “Temperature Rising” single on Apple Music, with the “One Umbrella Records” credit circled in red. “I OWN all my masters / publishing / royalties etc … This may not mean nothing to y’all . BUT SEEING MY RECORD LABEL AT THE BOTTOM UNATTACHED to a Major label is what we have worked this hard for … #TemperatureRising ON EVERY MAJOR PLATFORM OUT NOW !!!” He also mentions that “the video for this should have been a porno,” so keep an eye out for that.

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Last month, Tory revealed that he’d received “life-changing offers” from a ton of different labels since parting ways with Interscope, but that he has no interest in signing with anyone new. “I don’t care,” he said. “I already own my masters and publishing and everything. So I don’t see any reason to give that to somebody else.” Congrats on being a free agent Mr. Lanez.

Smokepurpp‘s debut studio album, Deadstar 2 (2019), dropped in Dec. of last year featuring appearances from the likes of Ty Dolla Sign, Denzel Curry, Lil Skies, Lil Pump, Moneybagg Yo, and Trippie Redd. During the process of creating the album, leaks caused Purpp and his production team to scrap the album multiple times, costing him and record labels millions just to record. 

One of his leaked records entitled “No Problem” featuring Kanye West was removed from all platforms in request of the Jesus is King curator after he denounced cursing and secular music due to his religious reawakening. In an interview with Complex, Smokepurpp, Mike Dean, and Apex Martin revealed how the creative process behind Purpp’s debut album went about. Purpp stated how the three linked stating:

“I had an A&R named Chad, who knew Apex. Eventually, they brought me to Mike’s house. That one day at Mike’s house, we fucking made that one song and it was crazy hard. Then we started working on Deadstar. Apex was like, ‘Yo, let’s all get on this.’ And that’s what we did.”

The “What I Please” rapper also spoke on his approach to Deadstar 2 saying:

“I was trying to elevate from where I am and throw people off with shit they haven’t heard from me. Back in like 2016 or ’17, I met Apex, who brought me to Mike Dean’s crib. I got on one beat that Apex and Mike Dean made and it was crazy. It was a fire song, and it got leaked. After that, I saw Mike more often, but I didn’t really see him a lot until I started working on Deadstar 2.”

Later in the interview, the Chicago-bred emcee dropped a bombshell revealing that he had made approximately 800 songs for the album due to leaks and creative direction, stating: 

“I had to remake songs. But the thing is, we were so locked in that it was like, ‘It doesn’t matter, put on another beat. Let’s make another one.’ We were in the matrix, just working,” Purpp continued, My manager just told me (we made) 800 (songs). Apex can vouch for me, I don’t do anything but go to the studio. My label be getting mad at me. I wasted $2 million recording Deadstar 2.”

Smokepurpp is currently in the process of making an album entirely produced by Ronny J. Hopefully, the 22-year-old musician won’t stretch beyond his means in order to get his next musical offering off the ground. 

Florida native Smokepurpp is seen by some as the driving force behind the "SoundCloud rap" phase a few years ago. Buzzing next to his best friend Lil Pump, Purpp blew up from his Deadstar mixtape, releasing the sequel several weeks ago. The 22-year-old is not necessarily very well respected by parts of the hip-hop community, especially the group that prefers lyrics and delivery over vibes. Purpp isn't for everybody and his initial signing to Travis Scott's Cactus Jack Records seemed like an odd pairing to some. When the JACKBOYS project was released last week, a number of fans were expecting Smokepurpp to be featured alongside Sheck Wes, Don Toliver, and La Flame himself. When he was nowhere to be found, he had some explaining to do on social media.