NEWS
Even StubHub wants to get in on the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef. StubHub revealed that ticket spiked on Thursday afternoon (June 12) for Kendrick Lamar's Grand National Tour at Toronto's Rogers Centre. In a X post, the company announced that Kendrick's tour has made Toronto one of the top five best-selling cities. The new record was based on total ticket sold.
The Toronto stop was always an anticipated show because of Kendrick Lamar's 2024 rap battle with hometown hero Drake. The two exchanged chart-topping diss tracks towards each other, including "Euphoria," "Family Matters," and "Not Like Us." Lamar would release the GNX album at the end of the year.
Kendrick's Toronto stop on the tour includes a two-night event co-headlined by SZA. The new Toronto record follows Wednesday's announcement of the Grand National Tour headed to Australia this summer. Kendrick Lamar has broken concert attendance records cities across the nation, including Dallas, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
Kendrick Lamar’s Grand National Tour has shattered several historic records, solidifying his status as a dominant force in hip-hop and live music. The tour’s Minneapolis opener set a new benchmark as the highest-grossing hip-hop concert of all time, pulling in over $9 million from more than 47,000 fans. In Atlanta, he and SZA drew a massive 45,000 attendees at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, setting a single-night hip-hop stadium attendance record, even as Pearl Jam played across town.
Streaming numbers mirrored the tour’s explosive impact. Lamar became the first rapper in history to surpass 100 million monthly Spotify listeners, joining the elite ranks of global pop icons. His album GNX also broke records, debuting with over 44 million first-day streams on Spotify and notching the largest opening streaming week for a hip-hop or R&B release in 2024.
Spanning 21 stadiums across North America between April and June 2025, the tour added extra shows in Los Angeles and Toronto due to overwhelming demand. The Grand National Tour isn’t just a concert series—it’s a cultural moment. With unmatched scale and reach, it redefines what's possible for hip-hop artists on a global stage.
NEWS
Oliver Tree’s team has provided a new update following the singer’s death in a helicopter crash on June 14, confirming that a new artist grant will soon be established in his memory to help creatives secure funding, a plan he had detailed in his will before his passing.
Accompanying a collection of photos highlighting Tree’s performances, travels and creative work through the years, a post shared Sunday (June 21) on his Instagram account revealed that the musician’s remains have been brought back to California, the state he called home and where he will be laid to rest. “His legacy will live on through his foundation/endowment named ‘Dr. Oliver Tree’s Extremely Epic Grant For Baby Geniuses’ coming soon,” the caption reads. “This is something that Oliver had put together before his passing.”
“We will make sure his wish comes to fruition so that more joy, love and art can be spread into the world, that was his final wish,” the statement continued, adding that “the constant love, support and positivity” shown by fans throughout the past week has helped his “family, friends and collaborators make it through these extremely difficult times.”
Tree was among six people who lost their lives in a helicopter collision in Rio de Janeiro. The musician was in Brazil for his The World’s First Tour run and had performed what would ultimately be his final concert on June 6 in São Paulo. The other victims of the crash were identified as passengers Lucas Vignale, Gaspar Prim and Lucas Brito Chaves, along with pilots Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac.
Just months before his death, Tree discussed his plans to direct his fortune and future earnings from his music toward a grant program for artists during an appearance on the Zach Sang Show. “I take no credit for anything I’ve ever done,” he said during the April interview. “Furthermore, I don’t believe that any of the wealth or things that get made from it is mine. So when I die … my will is set up so that when I pass, my family, nobody is going to get a penny.”
“If I have a wife or kids or anything, they’re not getting a penny,” he added at the time, explaining that the initiative would focus on helping artists create work rather than funding education. “I’ll get my kids through college, that’s the agreement, but there’s not gonna be a silver spoon. All the money is going to go back to artists.”
