State Champ Radio Author: djfrosty
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Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz
Nicki Minaj is showing serious love for Donald Trump — again. She recently showed even more love for Donald Trump after he used one of her songs on a White House TikTok.
As per TMZ, Nicki Minaj was pretty geeked that Donald Trump’s Cabinet is leaning into her discography for a social media play. This week, the official White House account shared a video of Donald Trump and Melania Trump doing their signature offbeat jig to a tune that incorporates a mashup of Onika’s “Beez In The Trap.” The caption simply reads “The best to ever do it 🇺🇸.” As expected, the news of this administration tapping into this track specifically, with curses included, quickly went viral and landed on Nicki’s radar. She promptly commented on the post saying, “This is pretty incredible. Thank you.”
The “Super Freaky Girl” MC later took to X, formerly Twitter, to further thank Trump and Melania. “The President & First Lady of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Barbz, idk which one of you uploaded this to the white house TikTok but just know unlimited backstage GAG CITY FOR LIFE Idk what timeline we’re on right now, I’m just goin w|the flow,” she wrote.
This is the second time in the last couple of weeks Nicki Minaj has shown gratitude to Donald Trump. On Oct. 31, she personally praised the POTUS on social media for his stance on Nigeria and deeming the country to be a concern due to violence against Christian believers. Unsurprisingly, this led to many questioning if Nicki Minaj is now siding with one of the most polarizing figures ever to hold the United States presidential seat. “@NICKIMINAJ is a MAGA y’all I’m in shock,” one user wrote. While another added, “MAGA Nicki is not on my bingo card.”
Donald Trump nor the White House have yet to respond Nicki Minaj directly.
Trending on Billboard
Few artists have had as big a year as Sombr. The 20 year old New York native broke out in a big way in 2025, with two top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hits — “Back To Friends,” which peaked this week at No. 12, and “Undressed,” which reached No. 16 in October — and the release of his debut album, I Barely Know Her, which reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200 in September.
This week, things are getting even better: the singer/songwriter is set to make his debut on Saturday Night Live this weekend, and just today (Nov. 7) received a Grammy nomination in the coveted best new artist category. To add on to that, last night he finished the sold out North American leg of his first-ever headlining tour in his hometown, across 31 dates in which every single venue had to be upgraded to accommodate demand, with several cities adding dates as well. All told, according to UTA data, Sombr has sold more than 100,000 tickets across two dozen countries, including his first-ever sold-out arena show at the 3Arena in Dublin, with more shows in Australia and Europe to come later this year into next. And that victory earns UTA agent John “JT” Taylor the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
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Taylor, who is Sombr’s co-agent alongside UTA partner Matt Meyer, also has a long relationship with the Jonas Brothers, for whom he played guitar and served as musical director in their early days, before joining their management team at Philymack from 2014 to 2022. He is now their agent as well, as the group is in the midst of a tour that has sold 442,000 tickets and grossed $42.4 million from shows between Aug. 10 and Sept. 29, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. Here, Taylor discusses Sombr’s remarkable rise, the logistics of having to upgrade so many venues on a tour while an artist is blowing up and more. “I haven’t ever seen it this quickly, personally,” Taylor says of Sombr’s rise. “It’s indicative of the way artists are able to effectively engage and reach audiences far and wide through smart digital strategy and great partnership with DSPs and social media platforms.”
Sombr broke out in a big way this year with two top 10 Hot 100 hits, and this week, he wrapped the North American leg of his Late Nights & Young Romance Tour, having sold out the entire run, according to UTA figures. How did you approach the booking and routing for someone who was actively making a name for themselves at the time, and what key decisions did you make to help make that happen?
To begin with, we are so fortunate to be working with a very special artist who is particularly attuned to his fan base. Shane’s fans are the most important thing in the world to him, so he has been incredibly focused on the fan experience throughout every step of this incredibly rapid growth trajectory. As for the strategy, we have an incredible IQ department at UTA that helped us as we determined our strongest markets and how to best estimate demand as we determined venue size. We worked with individual local promoters, who we are proud to have great relationships with, to ensure we could keep ticket prices accessible, the venues open to all ages, and to make sure we had Shane playing in iconic places that his fans would be excited about.
As things continued to explode for Shane online, on the airwaves and beyond, it became evident that the rooms we had initially booked, which were the right rooms at the time, were simply too small. With the awareness we might leave too many fans unable to see a show, we pivoted quickly in real time to upgrade wherever we could.
sombr in his home studio.
Bryce Glenn
Each venue on the North American tour was upgraded, and multiple dates were added in several cities. How do you make the call to do that and how difficult is it, logistically to pull off the switch, and overall to assess the correct venue size for an artist without much touring history?
Throughout this process, Shane has prioritized the fans and their experience. That mandate definitely brought with it some challenges, but was ultimately rewarding in the end. Shane wanted to upgrade wherever possible, but with the caveat that he didn’t want to change dates, didn’t want to refund tickets or cancel any of the shows. He was admirably adamant that we honor all of the original tickets sold at face value. This meant that our team — Matt Meyer, Jess Braunstein and myself — had to work with the promoters to find what larger rooms were available and able to accommodate those who already purchased tickets in the same seating configuration. We had to navigate this while renegotiating our current deals, all while considering the additional expenses associated with the larger rooms, and continuing to keep ticket prices fair and accessible throughout. We are very proud to say we were able to accomplish this in almost every market, which felt almost like a miracle once we had pulled it off.
He’s also performed in Europe and is about to go to Australia, with more European dates planned for next year, and has sold over 100,000 tickets across more than a dozen countries. How rare is that for an artist so relatively new, and how did you approach each territory?
Some markets still really depend on the artist showing up and doing the leg work to build the audience, such as Japan, but even there Shane played Summer Sonic in August as his first-ever festival appearances and first time in the country, and already has amassed strong offers to return to a rapidly growing base. In Europe, we played a few headline shows in key markets, where the data was overwhelmingly convincing to test the waters. Shane was quick to alert us to the incredible numbers he was seeing in Ireland, for example. Again, we moved quickly and did everything we could to stay ahead of the explosive growth as we plotted out our 2026 headline run, which sold out clean on the on-sale, including highlights of three nights at Brixton in London and capping off with a show at the legendary 3Arena in Dublin.
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How do you continue to grow an artist over the years into a real touring heavyweight?
By always prioritizing and supporting the artist’s vision and always putting the fan experience first. We are so fortunate to have an incredible team to support that vision with care and expert level strategy. We work closely across all departments at UTA to ensure we are not leaving any opportunity overlooked. Beyond the walls of our buildings, we have amazing partners at Warner Records, High Rise PR and of course with Shane’s team at The System — Andy Boose and Ann Perkins.
What’s next for Sombr?
SNL! His first ever Australian shows, the aforementioned headline European/U.K. run and some amazing festival looks in 2026.
Trending on Billboard Five years after Cody Johnson first recorded his version of The Chicks’ hit “Travelin’ Soldier” during a livestream performance session, and three years after he released an acoustic performance rendition of the song, he has finally released his official version of the track. Explore See latest videos, charts and news In a […]
Trending on Billboard Daft Punk is making contact. As part of the new collaboration with Fortnite, the French duo has released a new video for track “Contact,” the epic closer of its 2013 Grammy-winning album, Random Access Memories. The new animated clip finds the robots careening through space and borrows imagery from Interstella 5555: The 5tory […]
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After winning his first Grammy this year for best R&B song with SZA’s “Snooze,” Leon Thomas could sweep almost every R&B category at the 68th annual Grammy Awards, as the nominations were announced Friday morning (Nov. 7).
While the continued success of his Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “Mutt” has proven Thomas is no underdog anymore, its “Live From NPR’s Tiny Desk” version is up for best R&B performance. (The original version was commercially released on Aug. 8, 2024, during the eligibility period for the 2025 Grammy Awards, and it was submitted for consideration then. Thomas released the 5-song Mutt (Live From NPR’s Tiny Desk) EP on Aug. 15, 2025, which qualifies for next year’s ceremony.) Its parent album, which shares the same title, is nominated for best R&B album, while its tracks “Vibes Don’t Lie” and “Yes It Is” are up for best traditional R&B performance and best R&B song, respectively.
Following Thomas, Durand Bernarr has the second most nominations in the R&B field with three: best traditional R&B performance (“Here We Are”), best R&B song (“Overqualified”) and best progressive R&B album (Bloom). He only scored his first Grammy nod ever this year in the best progressive R&B album category. “Folded,” arguably the biggest song of Kehlani’s career to date, has earned her her first Hot 100 top 10 hit and No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot R&B Songs (charts dated Nov. 8), and now two Grammy nods for best R&B performance and best R&B song. While Kehlani has yet to win a Grammy, they’re poised to take home the gold for the first time next year.
“I’m not big [on letting] any award validate how great your art is. But it’s nice when the system in place or the hierarchy of what you’re doing in art recognizes that what you’re doing is great,” Kehlani told Billboard earlier this year while reflecting on her debut commercial mixtape You Should Be Here, which earned the star her first Grammy nod 10 years ago for best urban contemporary album.
Ledisi could snag her first best traditional R&B performance win in five years with “Love You Too,” the lead single from her 12th studio album The Crown, which is up for best R&B album. After the deluxe edition of 11:11 won best R&B album this year, Chris Brown returns to the best R&B performance field one year later with “It Depends,” featuring Bryson Tiller, which is also up for best R&B song. This week, “It Depends” rose to the No. 1 spot on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and spends a fifth week atop Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay. And one week before Summer Walker’s third studio album Finally Over It drops, its lead single “Heart of a Woman” earns two nomination for best R&B performance and best R&B song.
Five years ago, Teyana Taylor called out the Recording Academy for the male-dominated best R&B album category after she dropped her third studio album The Album. “Y’all was better off just saying best MALE R&B ALBUM cause all I see is d–k in this category,” she wrote on X. Now, she’s up for her first Grammy ever in this female-dominated category, with Escape Room coming alongside Ledisi with The Crown and Coco Jones with her debut album Why Not More? Bilal’s first album in nine years, Adjust Brightness, earns the dynamic singer/songwriter/musician his first Grammy in 10 years for best progressive R&B album. After their “Peaches” collaboration with Daniel Caesar scored Justin Bieber and Giveon a hefty sum of nominations at the 2022 Grammy Awards, where both lost in every category they were up in, both could avenge themselves in the R&B field, as Bieber is up for best R&B performance (with “Yukon”) for the first time since “Peaches” and Giveon is up for best R&B album (for Beloved) for the first time since Take Time scored a nod in 2021.
U.K. R&B acts like kwn and Odeal have made a lot of noise from across the pond this year, but FLO is the only one nominated for a Grammy next year, as the girl group earns its first nod for best progressive R&B album with its debut album Access All Areas. And after five songs from SZA’s blockbuster 2022 album SOS earned Grammy nods at the 2024 awards ceremony, where SZA was the most-nominated artist with nine total nods, one more is added to her collection: “Crybaby,” from the deluxe Lana edition of SOS, is up for best traditional R&B performance.
While Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. welcomed The Weeknd back with open arms during the ceremony earlier this year, where he performed “Cry for Me” and “Timeless” with Playboi Carti, Grammy voters did not. His repeat shut out includes “Baptized in Fear” from his sixth studio album Hurry Up Tomorrow not being included in the best R&B song slate. Ravyn Lenae also surprisingly received zero nominations despite her R&B/pop crossover hit “Love Me Not” reaching No. 5 on the Hot 100 and, as Billboard’s awards editor Paul Grein put it, being “played on every pop radio station in America every hour on the hour during the voting period.” While “Love Me Not” competed in the pop field, “Love Is Blind” from the same Bird’s Eye album was submitted for best R&B song, and received no love.
Drake and PartyNextDoor’s “Somebody Loves Me” is nominated for best melodic rap performance, but its parent album $ome $exy $ongs 4 U isn’t up for best progressive R&B album as some might’ve expected. Mariah the Scientist’s breakthrough year isn’t captured by the 2026 nominations either, as “Burning Blue,” her first Hot 100 top 40 hit and first Rhythmic Airplay chart-topper, is looked over for both best R&B performance and best R&B song, and its parent album Hearts Sold Separately, her highest-charting Billboard 200 album (No. 11), isn’t up for best R&B album.
The 2026 Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, Feb. 1 at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, airing live on CBS and Paramount+ Premium at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
Source: YouTube screen cap / Youtube
The wave is coming home soon, and he seems to be in great spirits.
As we wait for Max B’s release, one of his final jail calls with OkayPlayer shows the energy he’s bringing when he comes home. Behind bars in Northern State Prison in Newark, NJ, for sixteen years, and he’s still standing tall. Max makes it clear on the call he’s counting down those last few days left, “I got 16 days left. I’m about to hit the town.”
Max also gets in-depth on his relationship with his family, “I feel blessed to still be a father figure and lead by example. I get to spend time with my kids on an older, teenage level. My daughters, my sons, they into music. It’s gonna be fun. I can’t wait for the challenge and I’m just grateful. I get all of this restored.”
During his talk with OkayPlayer, he also gives his thoughts on New York’s Sexy Drill music, “With the new sound, we all feed off each other. That’s how this generation is. My music’s like wave culture. It all runs together.”
Also tipping his hat to some of the young artists in NY like A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Cash Cobain.
A lot has changed in the world and in Hip-Hop since Max B got arrested. He started his sentencing back in 2009 when he an alleged robbery went left and he was facing 75 years in prison. Fast forward to 2016 Biggaveli took a plea deal for aggravated manslaughter which reduced his sentence to only 20 years. In short, 2025 is the year the Wave finally comes home.
Check out OkayPlayer’s full conversation with Max B here
Trending on Billboard There’s a reason we love all those stories about iconic rock and pop hits that were dashed off in five minutes, or nearly tossed on the trash heap before being rescued and surging to the top of the charts. People‘s 2025 Sexiest Man Alive Jonathan Bailey clearly knows this, and on Thursday […]
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Not much rocked the Caribbean in October like Hurricane Melissa.
The historic storm made landfall in Jamaica (Oct. 28) and Cuba (Oct. 29), wrecked parts of Haiti, and caused heavy rain that resulted in fatal flooding across New York City. With a death toll of 75, as of Tuesday (Nov. 4), the devastation of Hurricane Melissa has spurred immediate action and support from some of Jamrock’s biggest stars. Shenseea, Beenie Man, Sean Paul and Spice have all documented their respective relief efforts via their respective social media channels, and, on Monday, Shaggy spoke with Billboard about what he saw on the ground in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
“We got [to Jamaica] early enough to reach the people, because it took me around six hours to get from Kingston to St. Elizabeth in Black River, which is normally a two-and-a-half-hour drive at most,” the reggae icon told Billboard. “We had to chop [tree] limbs down, move things out the way, and drive through high puddles of [runoff], so we got there in the middle of the night. At that point, all we could do was pass water out, so we had to regroup and drive six hours back to Kingston. The next day, we went to the Junction side of St. Elizabeth, which took us four hours. The square itself was shut down. It was ground zero because it wasn’t livable anymore. Nobody could stay there.”
In addition to Shaggy’s efforts alongside the Global Empowerment Mission, verified aid channels include World Food Programme, Project HOPE, GiveDirectly, American Friends of Jamaica, Food for the Poor and Friends of Caritas Cuba.
In lighter news, Trinidadian soca star Mical Teja made headlines after he shared a picture with his locs cut off, A$AP Rocky once again stoked marriage rumors by referring to himself as Rihanna’s “loving husband,” and Chronixx returned with Exile, his first new album in eight years.
Naturally, Billboard’s monthly Reggae/Dancehall Fresh Picks column will not cover every last track, but our Spotify playlist — which is linked below — will expand on the 10 highlighted songs. So, without any further ado:
Trilla-G & V’ghn, “Take Me as I Am”
The genre proves to be very much alive and well with The Recording Academy unveiling the 2026 Grammy nominations on Friday (Nov. 7).
11/7/2025
Trending on Billboard Another day, another flood of music industry deals. How does one keep track? In an effort to provide an overview of the latest acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures, licensing agreements and more, Billboard publishes a list of all of the latest pacts that have hit our radar every other Thursday. Intellectual property rights […]
