NEWS
Lil Xan has revealed that he was charged more than $200,000 for a feature from a Playboi Carti doppelgänger and warned his fans to be aware of thieving copycats in rap.
Xan aired his grievances on his Instagram Story, writing: “These new rappers tryna charge 200k that’s crazy! My guy yall copying playboi please stop yall worth at the most 20k fr fr.”
The claim comes as Xan attempts to get back to work after his Born Dead Tour fell apart last summer. The Xanarchy rapper contentiously dropped out of the tour, accusing opening acts Dropout Kings of “taking advantage” of him by failing to provide him with proper travel arrangements for the 17-date run. The Dropout Kings told HipHopDX Xan’s claims had no merit, and that he left them high and dry on the tour’s opening date.
“The narrative Lil Xan is spinning simply isn’t true,” Dropout Kings tell DX. “He dropped off of the tour at the last second and tried to place the blame on our team instead of holding himself accountable. We don’t share management with Lil Xan, so no idea why he brought our management into this. How could our management take advantage of him when they don’t represent him?
“In what world is the supporting act supposed to handle travel accommodations for the headlining act? We spent a lot of time and money preparing for this tour and for him to blame us is wild. He even hit us up a week before the tour saying he was excited to meet us on tour.”
Lil Xan further made his case and continued to insist the Dropout Kings were just using his name to help sell the tour.
“Dam man I can never get a break,” he wrote at the time. “It’s always a L for Xan when I say this had nothing to do with bad ticket sales, I was even surprised how good they were selling for only having one album out ever but everyone doesn’t know how fucked of a deal it was for me? They were tryna use my name to increase their agency’s artist career.
“I’ve been taken advantage of before and learned from my mistakes. Like if this was my tour or had more control of it wouldn’t you think I’d have my brother @stevecannon on it like every other tour I’ve done? C’mon man.”
Lil Xan’s last-minute cancellation cost all the opening acts thousands of dollars in van and crew rentals, as well as merchandise that was printed in advance of tour.
KATSEYE have officially begun a fresh chapter with the announcement of their forthcoming single, Pinky Up.
The K-pop girl group sparked curiosity online after sharing a string of mysterious posts that quickly had fans trying to piece together the clues.
The first teaser, posted on March 30, featured the Mona Lisa gently raising a hot cup of tea with her pinky finger lifted. The next video, uploaded the next day, showed an arcade claw machine labeled with the group’s name pulling a sword from a mix of sparkling plush toys and a single teacup. Making things even more intriguing, the caption stated: “We’re screaming from cloud nine!!”
Their third update finally revealed the song title along with its cover art. The image showed a figure kneeling on a rug next to a teacup and a toy cat, while the title appeared in bright hot pink text across the visual. The group also confirmed the release date as April 9.
Pinky Up will arrive just one day before KATSEYE appear at Coachella on April 10, which will mark their first time performing at the famous festival.
The single also marks their first comeback since HYBE and Geffen confirmed that member Manon Bannerman would be stepping away for a period of time to prioritize her “health and well being.”
In a message posted on Weverse, they shared: "Hello. After open and thoughtful conversations together, we are sharing that Manon will be taking a temporary hiatus from group activities to focus on her health and wellbeing."
The group expressed that they “fully support this decision,” and added: “KATSEYE remains committed to showing up for one another and for the fans who mean everything to us. We look forward to being together again when the time is right.”
While she is away, the group will continue promotions with Daniela Avanzini, Lara Raj, Megan Skiendiel, Sophia Laforteza and Yoonchae Jeung.
They closed their message by saying: “Thank you to our EYEKONS for your continued love, patience, and understanding.”
