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22 Nov 2024

Kendrick Lamar Addresses Lil Wayne & Super Bowl, Snoop Dogg Reposting Drake’s ‘Taylor Made’ on ‘GNX’

Kendrick Lamar still has a couple axes to grind.

The Compton rapper surprised everyone by dropping his sixth studio album, GNX, and he addressed a bunch of things. A couple of the most notable topics he broached were that of Lil Wayne and his friends being upset that Lamar was chosen by Jay-Z and the NFL to headline the upcoming Super Bowl Halftime Show, and Snoop Dogg reposting Drake’s diss song “Taylor Made Freestyle” even thought he was confused by the Toronto rapper using an A.I. version of his voice.

On “wacced out murals’” second verse, he raps, “Used to bump Tha Carter III, I held my Rollie chain proud/ Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down,” referring to the New Orleans rapper posting a video about how hurt he was about not being chosen to headline the Super Bowl in his hometown.

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He then addressed his OG, rapping, “Snoop posted ‘Taylor Made,’ I prayed it was the edibles/ I couldn’t believe it, it was only right for me to let it go.” And he also mentioned another legend, revealing that he was the only one to show him love after he announced that he was headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show, saying, “Won the Super Bowl and Nas the only one congratulate me.”

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For what it’s worth, Snoop recently credited Kendrick while on Drink Champs for unifying West and he tweeted out today that it was indeed the edibles that made him post “Taylor Made” and referred to Kenny as “West West King.”

Go stream GNX now if you haven’t and check out the best lines for a crash course.

22 Nov 2024

Diplo & Switch on the 15-Year Anniversary of Major Lazer’s Debut Album: ‘It Became Bigger Than Either of Us Had Expected’

Back in 2007, Diplo and Switch were ready to launch the music they’d been working on together; they just needed to figure out what to call themselves. They each chose a bunch of words at random, wrote them on pieces of paper and threw them in a hat. They pulled two out, first was “major” and the second was “lazer.”

With that, one of the most influential dance music projects of the late 00s and 2010s was christened.

Billboard News recently spoke with Diplo and Switch for a rare joint interview, with the duo discussing the origins of Major Lazer and the 15-year anniversary of the group’s debut album, Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do.

The pair first met at Fabric London, realizing, Switch says, that “we both had a soft spot for Jamaican music at the time, and we were both doing our individual sounds, so it was a good excuse for us to come together and do stuff.”

Both producers had been working with M.I.A. on her albums Arular and Kala, with Diplo calling her “the catalyst for our music.” Shortly thereafter, the guys were making monthly trips to Jamaica to make music, falling into the local music community and having Jamaican artists including Vybz Cartel and TKTK record music that would ultimately end up on the Major Lazer debut.

They knew they were doing something right when they heard their track “Pon de Floor at a gas station in Kingston, realizing that their music was, Switch says, “penetrating this market that we felt was very special.” From Jamaica, they took the sound to the U.K., where the pair played one of their first big shows at London’s Notting Hill Carnival. Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do was released on June 16, 2009, hitting No. 169 on the Billboard 200 the next month.

The catalog of the group — which included Diplo, Walshy Fire and Jillionaire after Switch’s departure and now features Walshy Fire and Diplo alongside Ape Drums — has since aggregated 4.8 billion streams, according to Luminate.

“With our videos and everything we did, [Major Lazer] would be cancelled [nowadays] before we even started,” says Diplo. “Because people wouldn’t have given us a chance. They would have been like ‘We don’t really understand this and this isn’t correct.’ But back then, nobody really gave a shit. They were like, ‘I like the way this sounds.’ Today there’s too many tastemakers and rules.”

The group continued having breakthrough moments, with Beyoncé sampling “Pon de Floor on her 2011 smash “Run the World (Girls)” and Major Lazer and DJ Snake’s “Lean On” becoming what was, at the time, Spotify’s most streamed song of all time.

“We had really invented something with the Major Lazer language,” Diplo continues, “but by the second project we were able to make records that were actually hits. It was awesome to see our trajectory, something so chaotic and then to build something that made sense for people.”

Watch the full interview above to hear the pair talk about why Switch left the group, why Diplo thinks “Get Free” is Major Lazer’s best song and what it’s like working with Beyoncé in the studio.

22 Nov 2024

DaBaby “PHAT,” Fivio Foreign “Jason’s Plan” & More | Daily Visuals 11.22.24

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It’s been almost two decades since Eddie Murphy released his classic film The Nutty Professor and while many of today’s Hip-Hoppers aren’t familiar with the comedy film, DaBaby seems to be a fan and incorporates it’s storyline into his latest music video.

In his new visuals to “PHAT,” DaBaby finds himself as an overweight scientist who struggles with his social life but instead of slimming down via a scientific formula (a la The Nutty Professor), he goes about his day and turns up every chance he gets while munching on donuts and burgers. DaBaby really do love making some cinematic clips.

Back in Brooklyn Fivio Foreign is still going hard with the drill rap and in his clip to “Jason’s Plan,” double F rolls through his borough while puffing on some magic dragon to spit his bars and before landing in the projects where in interesting story unfolds revolving around his wifey.

Check out the rest of today’s drops including work from Cordae, Zaybang, and more.

DABABY – “PHAT”

FIVIO FOREIGN – “JASON’S PLAN”

CORDAE – “MAD AS F*CK”

ZAYBANG – “MAD”

JAY CRITCH – “I [LOVE] SL*TS”

JESSIE REYEZ FT. ARI LENNOX – “JUST LIKE THAT”

TEMS – “TURN ME UP”

EST GEE – “GO”

22 Nov 2024

Major Lazer Celebrates 15 Years of ‘Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do’ | Billboard News

Diplo & Switch of Major Lazer sit down and share everything you need to know about the group. From first meeting to picking out their name, to creating ‘Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do,’ the duo share stories about their time together, their journey over the last 15 years and more!

Katie Bain:

I’m here with Diplo and Switch. We’re here to talk about the 15 year anniversary of the seminal major laser album, ‘Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do.’ To start, how are you guys feeling about it being 15 years ago now, what does that bring up for you? 

Diplo:

Well, we’re old now. We’ve been doing it- 

Switch:

We’re slower. 

Diplo:

It’s crazy that we actually have been still having our careers 15 years and still like loving music, and we’re still the same kind of creative people. I think me and Dave have known each other for so long, and it’s cool to still be friends and come together and be able to work and share ideas and to come from that world. So it’s it’s cool that we can keep doing it. 

Switch:

Yeah? It’s true. Actually, Jamaica, out of anywhere in the world, is kind of like, every time you go there, there’s something new to pick up on or buy. Do you know what I mean? It feels brand new every time you go there. 

Do you guys remember the first time that you met? 

Diplo:

It was at Fabric wasn’t it? 

Switch 

Yeah, London, yeah. London. 

Diplo:

I think I told the story recently, but Dave could correct me if I was wrong. We both played Fabric. It was like, he was a resident there, and he was like in a house room.

Keep watching for more!

22 Nov 2024

Watch Rosé & Bruno Mars Perform ‘APT.’ at the 2024 MAMA Awards

Rosé and Bruno Mars brought the MAMA Awards over to their “APT.” on Thursday night (Nov. 21), performing their new collaboration live for the first time at the Los Angeles ceremony.

The duo rocked matching oversized grey suits as they sang the high-energy track, backed by a band and supporting singers. The duo later accepted the global sensation award at the ceremony, with Rosé telling the crowd, “I wrote a song based on my favorite drinking game and I had no idea that it would be loved this much. Thank you so much for all our love,” before Mars then sweetly thanked fans in Korean.

“APT.,” which serves as the lead single off Rosé’s upcoming solo album, Rosie, has been making its way up the Billboard charts since its release last month. The song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, becoming the first song by a Western act to rule the Japan song chart in more than 11 years. The song also spends a fourth week atop both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts.

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Rosie, which also features the single “Number One Girl,” is set to arrive on Dec. 6. When sharing the news of her first-ever solo LP, Rosé wrote: “I have poured my blood and tears into this album. I cannot wait for you to listen to this little journal of mine … With this album, I hope you all feel that much closer to me. And yes, it’s a full length album.”

Watch Bruno Mars and Rosé perform “APT.” at the 2024 MAMA Awards below.

22 Nov 2024

Here Are All the Outfits Taylor Swift Has Worn to Kansas City Chiefs Games

Ever since Taylor Swift began dating Travis Kelce, the multi-Grammy winner has become a mainstay at Kansas City Chiefs games, often seen supporting her Super Bowl champion boyfriend from a suite in Arrowhead Stadium.

Beyond her reactions to the intensity of the games, Swift has become known for the Chiefs-themed outfits she wears to the events. From Chiefs sweatshirts and bomber jackets to sleek matching sets and over-the-knee boots, the superstar is always dressed to the nines — complete with her signature red lipstick.

Swift has become so immersed in the football life, that she’s even begun suggesting plays to Kelce. During an episode of The Rich Eisen Show in September, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end revealed, “She had just been so open to learning the game. She didn’t know much about the rules and everything,” before adding, “I think what makes her so good in her profession is that she’s so detailed in every aspect of it, from the words to her music and even the releases and the music videos and everything. She’s just so detailed and apart of it, that I think she was just curious about the profession. I know none of the plays have gotten to Coach [Andy] Reid yet. If they ever do, I’ll let everyone know it was her creation.”

To honor Taylor Swift’s jaw-dropping sporty chic looks at the Kansas City Chiefs games, we’ve compiled a gallery of photos featuring all her looks over the past two seasons. Check it out below.

22 Nov 2024

Beyonce, Dolly Parton & More: Billboard’s Best 2024 Gift Guide for Music Lovers | Billboard News

The season of gifting is finally here and we’re taking you through the best gift ideas for music lovers in your life!

Tetris Kelly:

From a bottle of B to The Notorious B.I.G., we got some of Apple’s best and a country queen with a necklace. If you’re wondering what to get that music lover in your life this season, we have a peek at our Billboard holiday gift guide. Beyoncé’s highly awarded whiskey brand, Sir Davis, will have any Beyhive member super excited to open their stocking. We tasted some cocktails and they were delightful. Dolly Parton was a fan of ‘Cowboy Carter’ herself, and this season she’s paired up with Kendra Scott for a jewelry collection that won’t break the bank but will have its recipient fluttering like a butterfly. And you can never go wrong with Apple. What music lover doesn’t need AirPods? The new AirPod 4 are super comfy, fast charging, and have theater-quality sound that you can use while blasting…

That’s right, Timberland is celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Notorious B.I.G.’s ‘Ready to Die’ album. This new collaboration has me like, “Somebody please get me these ASAP.”

Find more music gift ideas at Billboard.com.

22 Nov 2024

All 12 Songs From Kendrick Lamar’s ‘GNX’ Album Ranked

K. Dot surprised the rap world with his latest offering on Friday (Nov. 22).

Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar

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Kendrick Lamar — rap’s undoubted MVP of 2024 — surprised fans on Friday (Nov. 22) with the release of his GNX album.

The project seemingly dropped out of the sky without warning around 12 p.m. ET. Filled with 12 tracks, GNX boasts a pair of assists from former TDE running mate SZA, Sam Dew as well as emerging artists such as Deyra Barrera, Ink, Dody 6, AzChike and more.

Kendrick was rumored to be cooking up an album in the wake of battling Drake, and the Compton native came through. GNX follows Lamar’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers in 2022, which topped the Billboard 200 with 295,000 total units earned in the first week.

Sounwave notches co-production credits across the project while Jack Antonoff and Kamasi Washington also make appearances.

Lamar dropped off a teaser before the album hit streaming services with the clip featuring what appears to be a 1987 Buick Grand National Regal GNX, which inspired the album title.

With the Super Bowl on the horizon, K. Dot will have new music with him when he heads to New Orleans to take the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show stage in February.

Even prior to the album’s arrival, Lamar notched seven Grammy Award nominations earlier this month — five of which came tied to his “Not Like Us” Drake diss. Check out the album and all of the 12 tracks ranked from worst to best below.

22 Nov 2024

Why Did The Misfits’ Famous Font Appear on the Coachella Lineup Poster? 

Few documents are more carefully studied than the annual Coachella lineup poster announcing the dozens of artists booked to play the Indio, California festival each April. So this year, it didn’t take eagle-eyed fans long to notice a rare typographical change to the typically standardized playbill: A band name printed in something other than the poster’s classic Eurostile LT font.

Instead, the name of that band — legendary punk rock outfit The Misfits — was printed in the timeless “fancy horror” font it’s become known for, with oversized M’s, F’s and T’s dominating the other letters.

It’s a subtle yet substantial change to one of the most recognizable lineup posters in music, made to honor Goldenvoice’s long ties to The Misfits — listed as “The Original Misfits” to underline that the version of the band that’s set to appear at Coachella will be composed of the classic lineup of original singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig, original bassist Jerry Only and longtime guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. The font change is a nod to The Misfits’ profound influence on live music, Goldenvoice officials say, as well as a celebration of the long history between the band and Goldenvoice, whose roots with the goth-punk outfit predate Coachella itself.

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“The Misfits are one of the first bands we promoted,” says Paul Tollett, president of Goldenvoice, which has been producing the annual music festival since 1999 and whose roots in L.A.’s punk rock scene go back to the early 1980s. Back then, Goldenvoice was a small concert promotion company run by Gary Tovar, a street-savvy supporter of LA’s growing punk movement who was known for promoting underground bands like Black Flag and T.S.O.L. that most venues wouldn’t touch.

In 1983, Tovar managed to secure The Misfits a Jan. 21. headlining gig with the Circle Jerks at a community center in Goleta, Calif. — a small beach town 100 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. The band’s energetic and blitzing performance, supporting their recently released record Earth A.D., was captured by multiple video cameras and a half-dozen 35mm toting photographers — with its most memorable line coming from a young Danzig at the end of “All Hell Breaks Loose” when he matter-of-factly declared, “We f—ed that one up.”

Bootleg recordings from the gig would solidify its cult status among fans, and Goldenvoice would promote at least one Misfits show by having the band open for Black Flag at the Santa Monica Civic Center on June 11, 1983. But by year’s end The Misfits had broken up, and eventually, Tovar’s run would come to an end as well: In 1991, he was arrested on federal drug trafficking charges and later sentenced to prison, handing the company off to Tollett and others to manage.

Fast forward four decades to early 2024, when the partners at Goldenvoice found themselves with the rare opportunity to work with The Misfits once more by staging a one-of-a-kind classic punk festival at the LA Fairplex with a supporting lineup that included Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, Bad Religion and The Vandals. The festival, dubbed No Values, sold out more than 40,000 tickets immediately after going on sale.

The Misfits are scheduled to headline Coachella’s Outdoor Stage on both weekends (April 12 and April 19), marking their first appearance at the festival. Tickets are now on sale at coachella.com.

22 Nov 2024

Ariana Grande Is a Revelation In ‘Wicked’

When director Jon M. Chu shared that Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo had been cast as Galinda and Elphaba, respectively, in the long-awaited movie adaptation of Broadway’s smash musical Wicked back in Nov. 2021, reactions were mixed. No one doubted Erivo’s thespian credentials: She’d won a Tony (lead actress, musical) for The Color Purple in 2016 and been nominated for a best actress Oscar in 2019 for playing abolitionist Harriet Tubman in Harriet. But Grande? Well, Ari’s pop career was unimpugnable – she’d released the acclaimed, Billboard 200-topping Positions a year prior to the announcement and topped the Billboard Hot 100 just months earlier on a remix of The Weeknd’s “Save Your Tears” – but her acting credits were a different matter entirely.

It wasn’t that her résumé was slim. Between Victorious and Sam & Cat, Grande had been a consistent presence on Nickelodeon in the first half of the ‘10s. During the second half of that decade, Grande – who by then had earned her spot on pop music’s A-list – continued to flex her acting chops in small parts, getting killed in 2015’s Scream Queens, co-starring in Hairspray Live!, hosting Saturday Night Live and making a cameo in Zoolander 2 (all 2016).

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So it wasn’t that audiences hadn’t seen her act – it was that we hadn’t seen her act too far afield of the bubbly, ditzy Cat Valentine of her Nickelodeon days. A month after the Wicked casting was revealed, Grande showed a bit more range in the love-it-or-hate-it Netflix comedy Don’t Look Up, but considering that she was playing a pop star, it didn’t exactly assuage Wicked fan fears that Grande wasn’t qualified for one of the most beloved, sought-after roles in modern musical history.

Yes, Galinda/Glinda (the “Ga” is silent by the end of the musical) is both giddy and scatterbrained – two traits Grande excels at portraying – but Kristin Chenoweth’s iconic, Tony-nominated work in Wicked established that to play the role, you needed depth, layers and razor-sharp comedic timing. No one with ears could question Grande’s pipes, but based on her acting credits, we simply didn’t know if she was capable of filling Chenoweth’s small but mighty heels.

Well, having seen Wicked: Part 1 in theaters, I can say without exaggeration that Grande isn’t just a good witch – she’s sinceriously astonishing. From her first scene – when she descends from the sky to tell the overjoyed Munchkins that the Wicked Witch of the West is dead – it’s abundantly clear that Grande has figured out how to make the role her own.

This isn’t Grande the impressionist recreating Chenoweth’s Glinda for the big screen; this is a fresh interpretation delivered with nuance and pathos. As a traditionally beautiful pop star, it’s no surprise that Grande captures Glinda’s more-perfect-than-perfection aura; and as a Nickelodeon veteran, Grande can milk the humor of the Ozian mispronunciations (“confusifying,” etc.) without batting an eyelash. But when a Munchkin confrontationally inquiries about Glinda’s past friendship with the Wicked Witch, forcing the Good Witch to literally burst her own pink bubble, Grande is a revelation.

Caught off guard by the question, Grande’s Glinda falters, struggling to deliver a PR-acceptable reply without betraying a deeply felt kinship with the so-called Wicked Witch. Forcing a smile to cover up the pain and haunted loneliness in her eyes, Grande demonstrates from the go that she knows exactly what makes the Glinda character work: It’s not just about satirizing her superficiality — it’s conveying the sense that the experience of knowing Elphaba has fundamentally changed Glinda’s unthinking faith in institutions, public opinion and people in power. Glinda is a gently tragic figure in many ways, ultimately getting exactly what she wants while simultaneously realizing how hollow it all is.

As with the stage musical, the Wicked film plays out primarily as one lengthy flashback, which takes us back to a pre-epiphany Galinda: narcissistic, ambitious, a bit cruel, self-promoting and unhindered by one iota of self-awareness. Wicked touches on weighty themes, yes, but it’s not a Shakespearean tragedy, so all of that is naturally played for laughs, and Grande eats up every syllable, hair flip and vapid smile. She soars in the vocal showcase “Popular” – nailing some hair-raising high notes toward the end while putting her own stamp on Chenoweth’s best-known song – but more importantly, she delivers the laughs. Like a Golden Era Hollywood pro, Grande is luminous onscreen while balancing choreography and comedy, alternately subtle and silly in her performance of this winking celebration of conformity. When Wicked hits streamers, expect viewers to hit rewind more than once on this scene.

Any successful staging of Wicked needs a push-pull chemistry between the two leads, and Erivo’s Elphaba exudes a potent mixture of warmth, longing and self-loathing in the role. (It goes without saying that Erivo sings the absolute hell out of every song.) From bristling irritation to empathy and affection, her feelings toward Galinda evolve in a way that feels real and relatable — even in a musical with talking goats and Winkie princes.

When it’s time for Elphaba’s signature song, “Defying Gravity,” Erivo is stunning, overcoming disillusionment to find her self-confidence and purpose while giving the film it’s pounding, wounded heart. Grande provides deft, subtle support; these characters are on the same page morally but wired too differently to follow the same path, and that tension is magnificently acted. (Grande obviously knows “Yes, And?” as more than just a song title.)

Skeptics of Grande’s acting abilities might insist that while she soars in this role, it’s more a case of perfect casting than impressive acting. But from the opening scene to the climatic finale, Grande goes so much deeper than just playing a shallow, popular girl for laughs – she takes us on a journey that reveals the hopes, disappointments, compromises and realizations of a surprisingly three-dimensional character. Some pop stars turned actors acquit themselves competently on the big screen, but like Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born, this performance signals the arrival of a formidable cinematic talent with a lot more to show us.