The Rap Madness Champion Is...
And $7 tickets to Travis Scott's tour/
Thank you for participating in RapTV’s Rap Madness: GOAT Edition bracket! By providing your email, you’ll receive results with total vote counts and highlights of the biggest upsets from each round.
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Championship Results
Kanye has been crowned the winner of Rap Madness: GOAT Edition, as determined by your votes. He beat Tupac in the championship round by 143K votes, and you can review his round-for-round stats below.
190,820 votes in the Round of 32, eliminating A$AP Rocky
141,763 votes in the Sweet Sixteen, eliminating Kendrick Lamar
178,082 votes in the Elite Eight round, eliminating Future
158,803 votes in the Final Four round, eliminating Drake
143,322 votes in the Championship round, eliminating Tupac
There’s no denying Kanye’s influence on music and culture, from critically acclaimed albums that pushed the boundaries of hip-hop to his artistic vision that has redefined aspects of entertainment, he’s always been a visionary. His influence has not been without controversy, though, and it’s essential to be mindful of the impact his past remarks and views have had on others.
The perfect bracket exists
6,225 brackets predicted Kanye as the winner, but only two brackets correctly predicted how every round would go. The winner will be chosen randomly from the two perfect brackets and announced on RapTV’s social media this weekend.
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$7 Tickets to Travis Scott’s Circus Maximus Tour
Travis Scott has embarked on his first tour since Astroworld, but even with the success of Utopia, he’s facing low ticket demand like many other rappers this year. The initially sold-out tour has resale tickets for as low as $7 USD. Why? Find out below.
For the tour’s first night in North Carolina, ticket retailer StubHub had a pair of tickets available for $7 each, and rates didn’t improve much for the second stop in Raleigh, NC, with the cheapest ticket being $18.
According to 404 Media, the low prices are a result of scalpers overbuying thousands of tickets based on a false prediction that they’d score big on the resale market.
What is a human ticket-buying botnet?
PSF Buyers Club is a ticket-buying scheme that leverages real individuals who want to maximize their credit card points. These members create a human botnet that can bypass Ticketmaster’s buying limits and hoard tickets for resale, collecting points as they go.
PSF told its members to buy as many tickets for Travis Scott as possible and promised they’d be reimbursed for the price and make a $25 commission on each ticket. PSF is now facing a $1M loss as tickets are being resold for under-face value—maybe Circus Maximus will become their new Roman Empire.
What to expect at Circus Maximus
Night one of the tour revealed the setlist, intricate stage set-up, and merch selection—the three things you want to know about a concert. Travis performed all the fan favorites, including “Aye” from Lil Uzi Vert's album, “Mamacita,” “90210,” “goosebumps,” and more. Certain cities with opener Teezo Touchdown can expect to see the duo perform “Modern Jam.”
Kanye Reportedly Planning Secret Concert in Italy
Kanye’s love affair with Italy continues as the rapper is allegedly planning a concert for 80-100K people in Reggio Emilia. First, Travis Scott’s Circus Maximus performance in Rome, which Kanye performed at, and now this. Has Italy become the unofficial place for rappers to rebirth after being canceled in America? Here’s everything we know about the concert below.
Italian newspaper ReggiOnline first reported that workers had been tasked to construct a stage for an event on October 13, this Friday. They clarified that permits and authorizations from Italian officials had not been granted yet, and preparations didn’t mean the event was confirmed.
Then, the reputable Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that the concert had been authorized for October 20 at the RCF Arena. All that’s left is for tickets to go on sale, which they expect will happen soon.
The more striking similarity between Travis and Kanye’s concerts is their virality based on a “will it or won’t it happen” anxiety. They’re both masters of less information breeds more speculation, which ultimately builds hype.
The 10 Best Songs From Drake’s For All The Dogs Ranked
Instead of the usual song revenue chart, which didn’t have any new entries this week, we ranked the ten standout songs from Drake’s For All The Dogs. There are the obvious favorites with highly anticipated collaborators (J. Cole carried “FPS"), but many of the album’s best songs were the low-key ones you didn’t expect at first glance.
A-list features like Travis Scott and Future were noticeably absent, but Drake opted for the curation role, sharing the spotlight with new friends like Teezo Touchdown, Yeat, and Sexy Redd.
FTC submits a proposal to ban concert ticket junk fees. The goal is to eliminate hidden fees that only appear at checkout and bogus fees that don’t clearly state what a customer is paying for.
YNW Melly prosecutors want juror names hidden in double-murder retrial. The motion comes after police discovered a notebook with information on jurors in the home of Melly’s co-defendant, YNW Bortlen.
A$AP Rocky & A$AP Relli in “early discussions” of possible lawsuit settlement. This would resolve the civil lawsuit Relli brought against Rocky, but the criminal case is still ongoing.