LONDON NEWS: Drake to Open OVO Store in London

Drake to Open OVO Store in London

Looking to take his OVO clothing brand worldwide, hip-hop superstar Drake announces his plans to open up an OVO store oversees later this year. With flagship stores already built in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto, the city of London will be the next town to get a an OVO store destination.

Located in the West End of London, the European shop will be the very first OVO store to open outside of North America. Set to carry all things OVO and Drizzy related, the London shop will certainly be a place to visit for all Drake fans and streetwear enthusiasts.

While an opening date for the store has yet to be announced, an exact location for the London OVO shop was unveiled, which will be located at 30 Berwick Street. Stay tuned with XXL for more updates and info on the grand opening of OVO’s London flagship store.

In related Drake news, the Canadian rap star recently guest featured on the newest single of international sensation, WizKid, on the song titled “Come Closer.

Top 5 Sneakers Coming Out This Weekend Including Air Jordan 1 Retro High Royal, Kaws x Air Jordan 4 and More

NEWS: Ahead Of "More Life," Drake Hits Record 10 Billion Streams On Spotify

Ahead Of "More Life," Drake Hits Record 10 Billion Streams On Spotify

IT'S A CANADIAN TING EH!

Drake is going into his new release with a strong lead on the competition.

Drake has become the very first artist to earn 10 billion streams on Spotify. Much of that figure can be attributed to the Toronto rapper's 4th studio album VIEWS, which has achieved over 2 billion streams on its own, according to Forbes. "One Dance," which became Drizzy's very first Hot 100 no. 1 last year, has over 1 billion plays to its name.

The Forbes article predicts that another artist will hit the 10 billion milestone in a matter of time, though Drake is expected to be in the 15 or even 20 billion-stream range by then.

This news comes shortly before Drake will release his new project (which he has billed as a "playlist") More Life. The project is expected to be released on all major streaming services simultaneously, rather than exclusively on Apple Music, as the rapper has done in the past. In other words, Drizzy should be putting some big numbers up on Spotify as early as this evening.

https://open.spotify.com/embed/album/1lXY618HWkwYKJWBRYR4MK

Earlier today, Drake revealed a new flower tattoo inspired by More Life. Revisit the many events that led to the release of the highly anticipated project with our More Life story tag.

Drake recently became the first artist to reach 10 billion streams on Spotify. Rather than shared as an Apple Music exclusive as Drake has done in the past, More Life will be available across all major streaming services.

NEWS: Daylyt Threatens Tyga Over Drake Twitter Diss

Daylyt Threatens Tyga Over Drake Twitter Diss

Daylyt issues a warning to Tyga about dissing Drake and threatens to take his chain.

Daylyt is mad and he is mad at Tyga.

The California lyricist recently decided to put out his own video warning Tyga to never negatively communicate about Drake or his camp again.

"Don't say anything about Drake," Daylyt said in an angered tone in a video obtained by Vlad TV. "Not one tweet, not nothing or we are going to come touch you bro. We came and took that chain the first time and we can do it again."

He begins the video talking about his allegiance to Toronto rapper and his OVO movement.

"I just want to make some shit known and make some shit loud and clear and niggas better get my message," he said. "Tyga, all that shit, just let it go... I don't wanna see no more tweets, none of that shit my nigga. Like I told ya'll I'm fucking with Drake. I fuck with the OVO movement. It's official my nigga so it's ride or die and I'm riding or dying with OVO. I don't give a fuck about you from Cali. That shit don't mean nothing to me bro."

Tyga recently called Drake a "bitch" on Twitter after he heard an alleged subliminal diss on his If You're Reading This It's Too Late album. The tweet was quickly deleted soon after. Late last year Tyga said that Drake was "fake" to him.

Watch the full video segment below:

NEWS: Pat Stay on defending title at Blackout 5; connecting with Drake

Pat Stay on defending title at Blackout 5; connecting with Drake 

East coast hip-hop journalist and enthusiast Jacob Smith linked up with KOTD Title Match winner, Dartmouth’s own Pay Stay, to discuss his recent victory at Blackout 5 this past weekend and the impact Drake had on the event. Check it out below.

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Toronto, ON – A Dartmouth battle rapper has just claimed another victory in his fourth North American title match.

Over the weekend, in a pay-per-view battle at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto, Pat Stay defended his title in King of the Dot’s Blackout 5 against rapper Charron.

This was Stay’s third time defending the title and easily his biggest battle to date.

In addition to the pressure of performing in front of a crowd of roughly 1,500 fans, Blackout 5 was co-presented by Grammy-Award winning rapper Drake and his label, October’s Very Own Sound.

“I’d like to say [having Drake there] didn’t put pressure on me, but of course it did,” Stay told CBC News on Monday.

“I had to come correct and that’s what I did.”

Drake opted not to go to Sunday’s Grammy Awards — for which he was nominated for three awards — in lieu of hosting, participating in and judging Stay’s battle against Charron.

Stay has a lot of respect for Drake.

“He likes me a lot and I like him a lot and we just have a respect for each other. We’re friends and I don’t try and capitalize off of that,” said Stay.

At a press conference the day before the match began, Drake upped the ante by offering an additional $10,000 to the winner of the battle.

“He didn’t hit me with it yet, but it felt great because now I can pay off my bad credit,” Stay said jokingly.

What started as a hobby for Stay has now become a career.

Stay to appear in reality TV show

Later this year, Stay will become a member of rapper Eminem’s reality TV show, Road to Total Slaughter, which will see eight emerging battle rappers compete to co-headline a main event match-up in Eminem’s Total Slaughter Battle Rap League.

Even with the recent endorsements by some of music’s biggest stars, Stay said the support from his fans has been the most rewarding.

“It means so much to me, more than anybody could ever imagine, knowing that my people support me. It touches my heart,” he said.

An on-demand version of Blackout 5 is available for purchase at KOTDTV.com until Feb. 28. All the battles, including the finals, will be available to the public though the KOTD YouTube channel after Feb. 28.

NEWS: GLOVO: Is There A Drake & Chief Keef Collaboration Coming?

GLOVO: Is There A Drake & Chief Keef Collaboration Coming?

Drake and Chief Keef seem to be hinting at a possible collaboration on Instagram.

GLOVO; it certainly has a nice ring to it, but is it the makings of a new bond between Drake and Chief Keef? Sosa just yesterday posted a photo to Instagram with a logo for the mysterious acronym, captioning the pic with "Thou Not Ready".

While Keef could just be up to his naturally zany ways, further investigation reveals a lot of joking back and forth between Keef and Drizzy, which makes us think there could actually be something on its way. A good 4 months back, Drake's resident tastemaker, Oliver Khetib Instagrammed a clip of Keef's "Fool Ya" with the caption "GLOVO", and since then there's been back-and-forth acknowledgement between the two crews, with one post confirming that Keef has Drizzy's number.

Who knows if anything will come of it, but hopefully we'll hear Drake and Sosa on the same record, and hey, if Keef made his way onto Yeezus, anything is possible.

Check out the posts below.

GLOVO

A video posted by Oliver El-Khatib (@oliverelkhatib) on Sep 26, 2014 at 10:13pm PDT

GLOVO

A video posted by Oliver El-Khatib (@oliverelkhatib) on Sep 26, 2014 at 10:13pm PDT

@champagnepapi preach 🙌

A photo posted by AlmightySo (@chieffkeeffsossa) on Jan 5, 2015 at 9:58pm PST

Aye @champagnepapi I jus texted this to yo phone!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 These fans are hell

A photo posted by AlmightySo (@chieffkeeffsossa) on Jan 6, 2015 at 12:57pm PST

Thou not Ready!

A photo posted by AlmightySo (@chieffkeeffsossa) on Jan 15, 2015 at 12:19pm PST

[via KTT] 

NEWS: Drake & OVO Team With King Of The Dot For "Blackout 5" Battle Rap Event

Drake & OVO Team With King Of The Dot For "Blackout 5" Battle Rap Event

Drake and OVO will present the upcoming King Of The Dot rap battle event, "Blackout 5".

We've already seen Eminem dip into the battle rap world recently, and now it appears Drake will be following suit. The successful Toronto rap battle organization, King Of The Dot has joined forces with Drake and OVO for the most recent event in their "Blackout" series.

The concept behind this particular event is that while the names of the competitors are announced beforehand, the match-ups are will be a surprise to viewers. Hitman Holla, Dumbfounded, and former Swollen Member Mad Child will be among those participating. The headlining matchup will be the only previously announced battle, with Pat Stay and Corey Charron facing off.

This will all be going down Saturday February 7th and February 8th, 2015. You can purchase tickets and order the pay-per-view event here.

Watch the trailer below.

FASHION NEWS: Check Out OVO x Canada Goose for Fall/Winter 2014

Check Out OVO x Canada Goose for Fall/Winter 2014

Fit for extreme Canadian weather comes OVO’s latest collab with Canada Goose.

Octobers Very Own reveal their latest collaboration piece for the Fall/Winter season. This time they team up with Canada’s leading Jacket brand Canada Goose for two outerwear pieces, “Chilliwack” jacket and “Freestyle” vest dipped in urban cadpat camo with a contrast of bright orange interior. The two pieces also come with appropriate branding posted up on both jacket and the vest.

The collection will be available for the masses to cop starting December 13th at OVO’s Toronto Flagship store and at December 18th at OVO’s online store and Canada Goose’s online store.

Haleema is too busy cross-country skiing through these Toronto streets, either way follow her on twitter – @LVLPLATINUM

NBA NEWS: Toronto Raptors Unveil New Logo

Toronto Raptors Unveil New Logo

The Toronto Raptors are celebrating their 25th anniversay this year, and in doing so they have been wearing the classic throwbacks featuring the dribbling raptor. Unfortunately, the days are numbered for the dribbling dino, as Toronto has officially unveiled their simple new logo which features a shredded basketball with the team name surrounding it.

Toronto hasn't announced all of the details, but by the looks of it they could be featuring an 'OVO' inspired black/gold logo.

In a short video called 'This Is Our Shield,' the Raptors debuted the new look, which is part of their 'We The North Campaign.' Their global ambassador and Toronto native, Drake, who recently hosted 'Drake Night' at the Air Canada Centre, also played a part in the re-designed logo.

Now that we've got your attention... pic.twitter.com/kJ8peohItE

— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) December 19, 2014

NEWS: OVO KOTD’s Blackout 5 marks Bishop Brigante’s return to battling, Feb. 2015

OVO KOTD’s Blackout 5 marks Bishop Brigante’s return to battling, Feb. 2015

Some big news coming out of Toronto today that will have hip-hop battle heads excited for the year ahead. With a newly released promo video, it’s been revealed that Toronto vet (and King of the Dot co-host) Bishop Brigante will make his official return to the battle ring February 2015 as part of OVO KOTD’s Blackout 5 event. And yup, you caught that correctly, going forward KOTD is officially re-branded as OVO KOTD – a move expected to do huge things for the company’s continued growth. Also a great example of unity between two prominent Canadian hip-hop organizations and something we don’t see often enough.

With rumours floating around about Brigante’s return for well over a year now, this video – dubbed “The Return” – is the first time anything has been set in stone. And yet even then, we have no idea who he will be battling. Expect it to be someone substantial and not a no name MC trying to get on. Why? Well you might be familiar with Bishop Brigante the rapper, actor or KOTD co-host, but did you know Brigante is considered by many to be one of the top MCs out of Toronto to ever battle?

Previously, Brigante established himself as one of Toronto’s (and Canada’s) top contenders with several high profile battles and championship titles including DJ X’s infamous Eat The Beat competition where he was eventually given Hall of Fame status after winning for a gang of consecutive weeks. He made waves by being the first Canadian on 106 & Park’sFreestyle Friday and could have had much more success than he saw had it not been for a questionable swear word that he was accused of using. Cussing was a violation of the show’s rules and Brigante was disqualified as a result. He famously battled MC Jin 3 times and was arguably one of the battle rappers’s biggest nemesis’ during the storied Ruff Ryders’ brief but eventful career. Brigante took part in countless other organized battles, street battles, radio competitions such as a the tourney held on The Masterplan Show and also JumpOff’s popular World Rap Championships.

Needless to say, Brigante has a long resume of work that he’s put in and expectations are high for his performance at Blackout 5. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

You will all appreciate my opponent..

— KING BRIGANT-EH (@BishopBrigante) December 15, 2014

INTERVIEWS: ILoveMakonnen Speaks On His Sexuality, Doing Hair, Being Signed To OVO, Does He Think Troy Ave Set Him Up & More (Hot 97 Interview)

ILoveMakonnen Speaks On His Sexuality, Doing Hair, Being Signed To OVO, Does He Think Troy Ave Set Him Up & More (Hot 97 Interview)

TRAILER: KOTD - BLACKOUT5 - FEB 2015

KOTD - #BLACKOUT5 - FEB 2015

The Mystery event returns. Blackout 5 will happen in Feb 2015.

More announcements coming soon.

#OVOKOTD

TOURS: PartyNextDoor Announces World Tour

PartyNextDoor Announces World Tour

PartyNextDoor announces tour dates for the U.S. and Europe/UK for 2015.

PartyNextDoor took over the song list late last night when he dropped four new records. Travi$ Scott is featured on "Jus Know," and he's got Ca$h Out on "Don't Worry." He also let go "Girl From Oakland  and "Let's Get Married."

In addition to blessing fans with these four (free) records, PND announced a new world tour, with dates across the U.S. and overseas. He posted the tour flyer on his Instagram, so you can view all the cities he's hitting in the gallery above.

The tour kicks off on January 29th in Seattle, and he'll be touring the U.S. until March 14th, wrapping things up in Minneapolis. He'll then head to Europe/the UK for his first show in Oslo on March 24th.

Are you planning to catch him perform live?

NEWS: Drake's Opening An OVO Store In Toronto Soon

Drake's and his team are working on an OVO store.

Drake's OVO imprint has become a brand in and of itself, as most crew/labels are warrant to do these days. OVO has done several capsule collections in the past, most recently, OVO teamed up with Campcom for a street fighter inspired line of clothing. He's also done pop-up shops for OVO-branded clothing in the past, but soon he'll be making OVO a permanent fixture in Toronto with a flagship store.

The Toronto rapper teased the store on his Instagram over the weekend, revealing a photo of the outside of the shop. The OVO owl is the store's only sign, while the interior is covered by OVO owl-themed paper, as it's still a work in progress. Drake's right-hand man and creative director Oliver El-Khatib is in charge of the endeavor, he also posted an image of store front on his Instagram account.

Drake says that the store is opening soon, so stay tuned for more details.