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24 Nov 2024

ATEEZ Achieve Second No. 1 on Billboard 200 With ‘GOLDEN HOUR: Part.2’

ATEEZ add their second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart as GOLDEN HOUR: Part.2 debuts atop the list (dated Nov. 30) with 184,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 21, according to Luminate. With an opening frame driven largely by album sales — 179,000 copies sold — the set marks the best week yet for the pop ensemble by both units earned or traditional album sales.

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The act previously topped the chart with THE WORLD EP.FIN: WILL in 2023. In total, GOLDEN HOUR: Part.2 is the sixth top 10-charting set for the group, all consecutive.

Also in the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200, Linkin Park logs its 12th top 10-charting set with the No. 2 bow of From Zero; Jin’s debut album, Happy, enters at No. 3; Rauw Alejandro achieves his first top 10 with the arrival of Cosa Nuestra at No. 6; and ENHYPEN’s ROMANCE: UNTOLD re-enters the list at No. 7 following its reissue on Nov. 15 (dubbed ROMANCE: UNTOLD -daydream-) with two bonus tracks. The set debuted and peaked at No. 2 in July.

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With K-pop acts ATEEZ, Jin and ENHYPEN at Nos. 1, 4 and 7, respectively, on the Billboard 200, there are three K-pop albums in the top 10 for the first time.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Nov. 30, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Nov. 26). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of GOLDEN HOUR: Part.2’s 184,000 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 179,000 (it’s the top-selling album of the week and debuts at No. 1 on Top Album Sales; it’s also the sixth-largest sales debut week of 2024 for any title), SEA units comprise 5,000 (equaling 6.43 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across 29 physical format variants (23 CDs and six vinyl editions; all containing collectible branded paper ephemera, some randomized) and three digital download variants (a standard edition and two versions containing voice notes from the acts as bonus tracks).

As GOLDEN HOUR: Part.2 is mostly in the Korean language, it is the 26th mostly non-English-language album to hit No. 1, and the third of 2024. Two other mostly-Korean-language sets topped the chart earlier this year: on the Aug. 3-dated list, Stray Kids’ ATE become the group’s fifth leader, and on the March 9 ranking, TWICE’s With YOU-th garnered the act its first leader. Of the 26 mostly non-English-language albums to reach No. 1, 17 are mostly Korean, five mostly (or all) Spanish, one mostly Italian, one entirely French, and two mostly a blend of Spanish, Italian and French. Of the 26 mostly non-English-language albums to reach No. 1, 22 have topped the chart since 2018 (the year that K-pop superstars BTS scored their first of six No. 1s, the chart’s first Korean-language leaders).

Linkin Park returns to the Billboard 200 with its first new studio album in seven years, as From Zero enters at No. 2 with 97,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 72,000 (it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 24,000 (equaling 32.18 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it bows at No. 17 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 1,000. From Zero is the band’s 12th top 10-charting set and the first to feature new members Emily Armstrong (co-lead vocals) and Colin Brittain (drums). The album is the first without vocalist Chester Bennington (who died in 2017) and drummer Rob Bourdon (who departed the group in 2018).

From Zero’s first-week sales were aided by its availability across 11 vinyl editions (multiple color variants, two picture discs and four alternative cover versions), four CD variants (including a deluxe boxed set containing branded merch and a CD, and a Zine/CD package), two cassette editions and two digital download editions. All versions of the album contain the same 11 songs, except for one download album, which boasts three bonus live tracks.

The new album was announced on Sept. 5 during a livestream concert that also announced Armstrong and Brittain joining the band, along with the release of the set’s first single “The Emptiness Machine.” The track debuted and peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking the highest charting cut from the band since 2009’s “New Divide” hit No. 6. “Emptiness” also led the Alternative Airplay chart for five weeks, marking the 13th leader for the band on the ranking. Three more songs previewing the album were released before From Zero dropped on Nov. 15: “Heavy Is the Crown,” “Over Each Other” and “Two Faced.”

Tyler, The Creator’s chart-topping CHROMAKOPIA falls 1-3 in its fourth week on the chart, after spending its first three weeks atop the list. It earned 81,000 equivalent album units in its fourth charting frame (down 22%).

BTS’ Jin sees his solo debut project, Happy, bow at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 with 77,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 66,000 (it debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 8,000 (equaling 10.53 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise 3,000. Happy’s first-week sales were enhanced by its availability across 13 CD variants (containing branded paper ephemera, some editions include randomized items) and seven digital variants (a standard version, two with alternate cover art, and four with assorted bonus tracks ranging from a voice memo to remixes).

Happy is Jin’s first charting album on the Billboard 200, and he becomes the seventh, and final, member of BTS to have achieved a top 10-charting effort. BTS itself has logged seven top 10s, including six No. 1s. BTS is the first K-pop act to see all of its members chart a solo top 10 title on the Billboard 200.

Sabrina Carpenter’s former leader Short n’ Sweet dips 3-5 with 72,000 units (up 6%).

Rauw Alejandro lands his first top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 as Cosa Nuestra debuts at No. 6 with 67,000 equivalent album units earned — the artist’s biggest week by units earned. The album’s opening week was overwhelming driven by streaming activity, as SEA units comprise 66,000 of the album’s first week (equaling 87.66 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 2 on Top Streaming Albums). Album sales comprise 1,000 (from just one digital download edition of the album) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. Cosa Nuestra boasts guests including Bad Bunny, Laura Pausini, Romeo Santos and Pharrell Williams.

ENHYPEN’s ROMANCE: UNTOLD re-enters the Billboard 200 at No. 7 with 54,000 equivalent album units earned in the latest tracking week (up 960%), following it Nov. 15 repackage and reissue with two bonus tracks. The new iteration of the album is dubbed ROMANCE: UNTOLD -daydream-. All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting purposes. The initial release of the project debuted and peaked at No. 2 in July.

Of the album’s 54,000 units earned in the week ending Nov. 21, album sales comprise 51,000 (up 1,473%, it jumps 26-4 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 3,000 (equaling 4.45 million on-demand official streams of the album’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set’s album sales were bolstered by its availability across 12 new CD variants and three new download editions, joining its previously available 17 CD editions, two vinyl variants and a standard download album. All physical editions of the album contain branded paper ephemera, some randomized.

Rounding out the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200: Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us (4-8 with 50,000 equivalent album units; down 5%), Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft (5-9 with 49,000; up 2%) and Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (6-10 with 43,000; down 8%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.

24 Nov 2024

Andrew Schulz Allegedly Responds To Kendrick Lamar’s White Comedians & Black Women Jab

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Andrew Schulz, a popular podcaster and stand-up comic, was caught up in controversy after an episode of his Flagrant podcast featuring the ShxtsNGigs duo where jokes were made at the expense of Black women. Kendrick Lamar mentioned the viral moment on the track “wacced out murals” from his GNX project, prompting Andrew Schulz to allegedly refer to the Compton rapper as “too woke.”

DJ Akademiks hosted a recent live stream to discuss Kendrick Lamar, GNX, and the line from “wacced out murals” that stood out for a lot of listeners. On the track, K-Dot raps, “Don’t let no white comedian talk about no Black women, that’s law,” referring to Andrew Schulz and the ShxtsNGigs duo of James Duncan and Fuhad Dawodu.

During the Flagrant episode in question, Schulz examined the “Black girlfriend effect” trend of men who date Black women but aren’t Black themselves. “They grow their beard because they need a cushion when they get slapped,” Schulz said, garnering big laughs from Duncan and Dawodu.

Ak says he spoke with Schulz on the phone and claims that the comedian responded to Lamar’s verbal jab. “Is this guy too woke to understand a joke?” Schulz allegedly told Akademiks during their conversation.

Gary Owens inserted himself into the conversation via Instagram, sharing an image of Kendrick Lamar and the aforementioned line and writing in the caption, “If that’s the law that makes me a criminal.”

A quick scan of the post revealed that Owens wasn’t on the hook — this time, at least.

On X, formerly Twitter, fans are enjoying the fact that Andrew Schulz caught a stray on a track that largely finds K-Dot firing at all his opps. Check out the reactions below.

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Photo: Getty

24 Nov 2024

‘Wicked’ Opens With $114M at the Box Office, Surpassing ‘Gladiator II’

Wicked is dominating pre-Thanksgiving weekend at the box office.

Universal’s live-action adaptation of the Broadway musical, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, debuted at No. 1 with an estimated $114 million domestically, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

That figure makes it the third-biggest opening of the year, behind Deadpool & Wolverine and Inside Out 2, the Associated Press reports. It also sets a new record for a Broadway musical adaptation and ranks among the biggest opening weekends ever for a big-screen musical.

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Directed by Jon M. Chu, Wicked has grossed $164.2 million globally.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s Gladiator II, the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Oscar-winning 2000 film, is projected to open domestically with $55.5 million, according to THR. Starring Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen and Fred Hechinger, the movie has already earned $165.5 million internationally.

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There was speculation that the two major releases might recreate the Barbenheimer effect, referencing the simultaneous box office success of Barbie and Oppenheimer in 2023. Nicknamed “Glicked” (a blend of Gladiator II and Wicked), the two films didn’t quite reach the domestic openings of Barbie ($162 million) and Oppenheimer ($82.5 million), but still performed strongly.

With Erivo starring as the green-skinned Elphaba and Grande as her pink-loving counterpart, Galinda (aka Glinda the Good), Wicked has already earned praise from critics, particularly for the performances of its lead actresses in these iconic roles. Part two of the adaptation is slated for release in November 2025.

Accompanying the film’s release is Wicked: The Soundtrack, which includes the movie’s 11 songs as well as a new orchestral track. The second half of the musical’s songs will be released with part two in 2025.

24 Nov 2024

Kevin Kaarl’s ‘Esta Noche’ Voted as This Week’s Favorite New Music Latin

Kevin Kaarl‘s new single “Esta Noche” has topped this week’s new music Latin poll.

In a poll published on Friday (Nov. 22) — in support of the weekly New Music Latin roundup and playlist, curated by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors — music fans voted for the Mexican singer-songwriter’s new track as their favorite music release of the week.

The ultra nostalgic “Esta Noche” generated more than 95% of the vote, overwhelmingly beating out other new releases that dropped this week, including Tito Double P’s “Nadie,” Kenia Os’ “Tokome,” Leo Rizzi and Lasso’s “Quebranto,” Quevedo’s BUENAS NOCHES album, and Ricardo Arjona’s “Despacio Que Hay Prisa,” among others.

In “Esta Noche,” Kevin Kaarl sings emotionally and vividly about love and heartbreak. It was produced by his twin brother, Bryan Kaarl, who first joined Kevin for “Te Quiero Tanto.” The new track’s music video is the first installment of a trilogy of visuals that will culminate in a short film. “Esta Noche” is the first single off his forthcoming studio album, ULTRA SODADE.

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“’Esta Noche’ is a song I started writing months ago, telling the story of a couple right when their relationship ends,” Kevin said in a press statement. “This song marks the beginning of the entire album, the start of a complete story. Everything that happens after a breakup, with a more mature perspective on love and relationships. You could say it represents my most mature take on how it feels when a relationship ends.”

See the final results of this week’s new music Latin poll below.

24 Nov 2024

Cody Johnson’s Producer Trent Willmon Explains His ‘Kicking Shaboozey’ Comment at CMA Awards

Cody Johnson‘s producer Trent Willmon is clarifying remarks he made about Shaboozey during the 2024 CMA Awards.

On Saturday (Nov. 23), Willmon took to social media to address the backlash he faced after appearing to throw shade at the “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” hitmaker during Johnson’s album of the year acceptance speech for Leather.

“Ok… what I meant to express in my overly-shocked and excited state was that I am very proud of @codyjohnson,” Willmon wrote on Instagram. “He has worked his BOOTY off the last 15 years putting out and performing great music and it’s not an overnight success. I was so proud he’s finally getting recognized!”

The producer added, “And shout out to Shaboozey for your response to my fumble and having a great sense of humor, congrats on that 17-Week #1 Song!”

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During his CMA Awards speech, Willmon had told the Nashville audience, “It takes an army of people to make a great record, but I gotta tell ya, this is for this cowboy who’s been kicking shaboozey for a lot of years, y’all.”

Following the comment, many country music fans took to social media, expressing confusion and anger over the remark, which some interpreted as disrespecting Shaboozey. However, it was unclear whether Willmon’s comment was an intentional dig at the artist or simply an awkward attempt at humor that fell flat.

Shaboozey — who was nominated for new artist of the year and single of the year for “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” at this year’s CMAs — didn’t seem upset by Willmon’s comment. After the show, he posted a photo on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption, “Ain’t nobody kicking me!”

Though Shaboozey didn’t win any CMA trophies, he has multiple opportunities for recognition ahead. He’s up for five Grammy Awards in 2025, including nominations for “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” in categories such as best country song, best country solo performance, and song of the year. Additionally, he’s nominated for best new Artist, while his collaboration with Beyoncé and Linda Martell, “Spaghettii,” from the album Cowboy Carter, is up for best melodic rap performance.

Shaboozey’s hit song “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has also dominated the Billboard Hot 100 chart, spending 18 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 and is just one week away from setting a new record.

See Willmon’s full post about the Shaboozey comments on Instagram here.

23 Nov 2024

Destiny’s Child on Broadway: Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland Support Michelle Williams at Opening Night of ‘Death Becomes Her’

The opening night of Death Becomes Her on Broadway brought the ladies of Destiny’s Child together for a group reunion. Both Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland showed up at New York City’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Thursday night (Nov. 21) in support of Michelle Williams‘ performance as Viola Van Horn in the musical.

Beyoncé posted on Instagram twice on Saturday. Both posts were full of photos and clips from attending Williams’ show, which also stars Megan Hilty (as Madeline Ashton), Jennifer Simard (Helen Sharp) and Christopher Sieber (Ernest Menville). Death Becomes Her is a musical adaptation of Universal Pictures’ 1992 film of the same name, a dark comedy led by Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis and Isabella Rossellini.

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“My Belle,” Beyoncé captioned a series of pictures from her evening seeing Williams in Death Becomes Her.

In a variety of photos, fans get a glimpse at the Broadway star looking gorgeous on opening night, the ladies posing with Beyoncé’s mom (Tina Knowles) and holding each other’s hands, the Broadway production’s playbill, a look at Bey’s outfit, stage shots from the the theater and more.

Beyoncé’s other post shared similar moments from the special night, set to Cowboy Carter‘s “II Most Wanted,” in which she sings, “I’ll be your shotgun rider ’til the day I, ’til the day I die.”

Williams saw the sentimental post and commented, “I try not to cry too early in the day BUT……. My sisters 4ever!”

Last month, Williams lamented being unable to join Beyoncé and Rowland at Kamala Harris’ rally in Houston ahead of the 2024 election; she was busy in previews of Death Becomes Her in New York.

“I was so happy [for Beyoncé and Kelly],” she said in an appearance on the Sherri show. “It was the first time that I have not been able to be in person for something that I wanted to be at … It’s a sacrifice that we make [being] on Broadway.” Williams said she watched the rally later and loved that her Destiny’s Child bandmates “represented and held me down in their own way.”

The trio released their last studio album together, Destiny Fulfilled, 20 years ago. The set peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in December 2004.

See Beyoncé’s Death Becomes Her video montage from opening night here and her slideshow of photos here.

23 Nov 2024

Taylor Swift’s ‘Cassandra’ Sees Rage-Filled Debut in Mashup With ‘Mad Woman’ & ‘I Did Something Bad’

Taylor Swift‘s “Cassandra” was the only song from The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology that had never been performed live, until Friday night (Nov. 22) in Toronto, where it stole the show in a three-song piano medley brimming with rage.

“Cassandra,” “Mad Woman” and “I Did Something Bad” suddenly existed together in a fine fury, ascending above the concept of ordering the tour’s main setlist by “eras.” (Tortured Poets, Folklore and Reputation were represented here, in one performance.)

Watch a fan-filmed video of Swift’s full performance of the mashup here.

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The live premiere of “Cassandra,” a song titled after the Cassandra of Greek mythology who received the gift of prophecy along with the curse to never be believed, came during the the acoustic section of Swift’s Friday show, the fifth of six dates total in Toronto this month. The Eras Tour acoustic set is known as the part of the concert where what she performs each night is meant to be a surprise to the audience.

“When the first stone’s thrown, there’s screaming/ In the streets, there’s a raging riot/ When it’s ‘burn the b—-,’ they’re shrieking/ When the truth comes out, it’s quiet,” Swift sang from “Cassandra” at Toronto’s Rogers Centre, sitting at her piano painted with flowers.

She continued on with the ballad’s chorus, singing, “So they killed Cassandra first ’cause she feared the worst/ And tried to tell the town/ So they filled my cell with snakes, I regret to say/ Do you believe me now? Do you believe me now?”

Swift surprised everyone further with a sudden shift to “Mad Woman”: “What did you think I’d say to that?/ Does a scorpion sting when fighting back?/ They strike to kill and you know I will/ You know I will.”

In the moving chorus of “Mad Woman,” she sings, “Every time you call me crazy/ I get more crazy/ What about that?/ And when you say I seem angry/ I get more angry/ And there’s nothin’ like a mad woman/ What a shame she went mad/ No one likes a mad woman/ You made her like that.”

While it feels melodramatic to type this out, the moment that Swift took a sharp turn to Reputation — with “I Did Something Bad” — actually elicited gasps heard round the stadium and the internet, where fans who weren’t at the concert searched for streams of Swift’s set.

“What a shame she went mad,” Swift sang from “Mad Woman,” casually calling back to Reputation with “They say I did something bad.”

Toward the end of the performance, that couplet became “Do you believe me now? What a shame she went mad/ Do you believe me now? They say I did something bad” in a clever rewrite that linked “Cassandra” with both “Mad Woman” and “I Did Something Bad” in the same chorus.

The mad mashup went on for a solid seven minutes, as captured on video by concertgoers.

It followed a lighter performance from Swift on acoustic guitar, “Ours” (Speak Now) mixed with “The Last Great American Dynasty” (Folklore).

Swift plays in Toronto once more Saturday night (Nov. 23). The Eras Tour, which launched in March 2023, has a break for the U.S.’s Thanksgiving week before taking its final bow in Vancouver from Dec. 6-8, 2024.

23 Nov 2024

Alice Brock, Who Helped Inspire Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant,’ Dies at 83

Alice Brock, whose Massachusetts-based eatery helped inspire Arlo Guthrie’s deadpan Thanksgiving standard, “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” has died at age 83.

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Her death, just a week before Thanksgiving, was announced Friday (Nov. 22) by Guthrie on the Facebook page of his own Rising Son Records. Guthrie wrote that she died in Provincetown, Massachusetts, her residence for some 40 years, and referred to her being in failing health. Other details were not immediately available.

“This coming Thanksgiving will be the first without her,” Guthrie wrote. “Alice and I spoke by phone a couple of weeks ago, and she sounded like her old self. We joked around and had a couple of good laughs even though we knew we’d never have another chance to talk together.”

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Born Alice May Pelkey in New York City, Brock was a lifelong rebel who was a member of Students for a Democratic Society among other organizations. In the early 1960s, she dropped out of Sarah Lawrence College, moved to Greenwich Village and married Ray Brock, a woodworker who encouraged her to leave New York and resettle in Massachusetts.

Guthrie, son of the celebrated folk musician Woody Guthrie, first met Brock around 1962 when he was attending the Stockbridge School in Massachusetts and she was the librarian. They became friends and stayed in touch after he left school, when he would stay with her and her husband at the converted Stockbridge church that became the Brocks’ main residence.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1965, a simple chore led to Guthrie’s arrest, his eventual avoidance of military service during the Vietnam War and a song that has endured as a protest classic and holiday favorite. Guthrie and his friend, Richard Robbins, were helping the Brocks throw out trash, but ended up tossing it down a hill because they couldn’t find an open dumpster. Police charged them with illegal dumping, briefly jailed them and fined them $50, a seemingly minor offense with major repercussions.

By 1966, Alice Brock was running The Back Room restaurant in Stockbridge, Guthrie was a rising star and his breakout song was an 18-minute talking blues that recounted his arrest and how it made him ineligible for the draft. The chorus was a tribute to Alice — whose restaurant, Guthrie pointed out, was not actually called Alice’s Restaurant — that countless fans have since memorized:

“You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant/ You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant/ Walk right in it’s around the back/ Just a half a mile from the railroad track/ You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant.”

Guthrie assumed his song was too long to catch on commercially, but it soon became a radio perennial and part of the popular culture. Alice’s Restaurant was the title of his million-selling debut album, and the basis of a movie and cookbook of the same name. Alice Brock would write a memoir, My Life as a Restaurant, and collaborate with Guthrie on a children’s book, Mooses Come Walking. At the time of her death, they had been discussing an exhibit dedicated to her at her former Stockton home, now the Guthrie Center, which serves free dinners every Thanksgiving.

Brock ran three different restaurants at various times, although she would later acknowledge she initially didn’t care much for cooking or for business. She would also cite her professional life as a cause of her marriage breaking up, while disputing rumors that she had been unfaithful to her husband. Her honor was immortalized by Guthrie, who late in “Alice’s Restaurant” advised: “You can get anything you want” at Alice’s Restaurant, “excepting Alice.”

23 Nov 2024

Lil Wayne Seemingly Responds to Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Wacced Out Murals’ Mention: ‘I Shall Destroy If Disturbed’

Lil Wayne appears to have some thoughts on Kendrick Lamar‘s new song “wacced out murals.”

On Friday (Nov. 22), Lamar surprised fans with the release of his sixth studio album, GNX. The 12-track project covers a range of intense topics, including Wayne’s frustration over being passed over to headline the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show in his hometown of New Orleans.

“Used to bump Tha Carter III, I held my Rollie chain proud/ Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down,” K. Dot raps on album opener “wacced out murals,” referring to Weezy posting a video about how hurt he was about not being chosen to headline the Super Bowl in his hometown.

Lamar continues on the song, “Won the Super Bowl and Nas the only one congratulate me/ All these n—-s agitated, I’m just glad they showin’ they faces.”

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Wayne, having had some time to digest the lyric, seemingly responded in a post on X (formerly Twitter) early Saturday morning.

“Man wtf I do?!” Weezy began the post. “I just be chillin & dey still kome 4 my head. Let’s not take kindness for weakness. Let this giant sleep. I beg u all. No one really wants destruction,not even me but I shall destroy if disturbed. On me. Love.”

Back in September, Wayne openly admitted that being snubbed for the Super Bowl halftime gig in his own city was deeply painful.

“That hurt. It hurt a lot. You know what I’m talking about. It hurt a whole lot,” he said at the time. “I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown. And for automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position. So I blame myself for that. But I thought that was nothing better than that spot and that stage and that platform in my city, so it hurt. It hurt a whole lot.”

In early November, during his Lil WeezyAna Fest in New Orleans, Wayne reiterated the sentiment, telling the crowd, “I told myself I wanted to be on that stage in front of my mom, and I worked my ass off for that position. It was ripped away from me, but this moment right here… they can’t take this away from me.”

See Wayne’s full reaction to Lamar’s “wacced out murals” on X below.

23 Nov 2024

Alok to Livestream Monumental Amazon Concert, Launching COP30 Countdown: Watch It Here

Brazilian DJ Alok is poised to electrify the Amazon rainforest with a free concert expected to draw a massive crowd of 120,000.

Presented by Banco do Brasil, with sponsorships from the Government of Pará, Estrella Galicia, Vale and Vivo, and as part of the artist’s Áurea Tour, the landmark event will be livestreamed globally on Saturday (Nov. 23), marking the official one-year countdown to the international climate summit, COP30. Hosted at the Mangueirão Olympic Stadium in Belém, Pará, along the fringes of the Amazon jungle, the event is a celebration of resilience and hope for our planet’s future.

“We need to make COP pop,” Alok told Billboard Español days before the concert, expressing the desire to make the Conference of the Parties (COP) — the United Nations Climate Change Conference — more mainstream and accessible to the general public.

“It is [imperative] that the population understands the importance of COP30, which is going to be the most significant one in history,” he said. “We are approaching [what is called] the point of no return. Just this year in Brazil, we’ve lost an area equivalent to 130 cities the size of São Paulo — home to 11.5 million people — to deforestation. The forest cannot recover by itself. People need to realize that Brazil can be a leader in sustainable growth and how we can onboard others. The population must pressure our leaders to make real changes.”

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This approach will aim to bridge the gap between high-level climate negotiations and the general public’s understanding and involvement in these issues.

Local talent Joelma, Gaby Amarantos, Zaynara, Viviane Batidão and Pinduca are among the confirmed acts, as well as indigenous artists Mapu Huni Kuin, Owerá, Brô MC’s, Yawanawás, Célia Xakriabá, Kaingang and Guarani Nhandewa, who are also featured on Alok’s latest album, The Future Is Ancestral.

“We understand that the use of entertainment to engage society is fundamental,” the Governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, told Billboard. “It is an extraordinary opportunity to host the world’s largest climate change event, making Belém’s selection a new paradigm for humanity in valuing the rainforest. Alok has been doing this over time — not just now — defending the forest, valuing ancestral peoples, and connecting the history and challenges of the Amazon with a global dialogue. Through this connection, this allows us to make our voices heard around the globe.”

“What we present is the voice of the forest,” said Mapu Huni Kuin, spiritual leader, chief, and musician of the Huni Kuin people in Brazil. “We pray for the healing of humanity as we perform. This event in Belém is an offering of our prayers and chants, a profound plea for the welfare of all.”

“Participating in the Future Is Ancestral project allows us to bridge the gap between modern platforms and our ancient voices,” added Célia Xakriabá, an indigenous educator and activist of the Xakriabá people of Brazil. “For over five centuries, we’ve remained unheard, but today, our presence on platforms like these, alongside the greenery of forests and the resilience of our cultures, communicates crucial messages. Entertainment plays a unique role in conveying our message even to those reluctant to endorse our causes. If humanity wishes to survive, it must align with the perspectives of indigenous peoples, as our fight is for the survival of everyone’s future.” 

The intersection of worlds at the event will be complemented by a cutting-edge, pyramid-like stage setup, featuring over 100 tons of equipment, a 360-degree rotating platform, and more than 2,000 LED panels to ensure an immersive experience.

The live stream will start at 7 p.m. ET. Watch it below: