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The FCI Fort Dix era began for Sean “Diddy” Combs late last week with the Bad Boy Records founder getting transferred to the New Jersey correctional facility after a stint in Brooklyn, N.Y. With the move of such a major figure, all eyes were on Fort Dix, and the first images of Diddy have emerged, showing the mogul in relatively good spirits.
TMZ shared a report of Diddy’s appearance at FCI Fort Dix on Saturday (November 1), showcasing his interaction with fellow inmates. While the images were taken from what appears to be a great distance, Combs, dressed in a grey skullcap, dark blue jacket, and grey sweats, is seen smiling and chatting up a group of men.
One notable thing about the image, aside from Combs’ smile, was his beard being fully grey. Not much else could be determined from the images. There was also another shot of Combs in the same getup, save for a different colored skullcap.
In another report from TMZ, it was learned that Combs’ job behind bars was working in the laundry room. The outlet made it a point to highlight that during his trial, which led to his conviction on prostitution charges, Combs would rarely perform menial tasks.
Combs was given a 50-month sentence at the low-security FCI Fort Dix facility, reportedly a far cry from the infamous conditions at MDC Brooklyn.
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Photo: Getty
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As the beginning of the 2025-26 NBA season continues to deliver nonstop action, Playboi Carti and Mitchell & Ness have teamed up for a throwback NBA League collection. The limited-edition collaboration celebrates Carti’s love for basketball while reimagining classic NBA jerseys through his lens.
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Known for wearing basketball jerseys backwards, similar to hip hop group Kris Kross back in the ’90s, the collection offers a fresh take on basketball culture with a design sensibility rooted in authenticity, originality and individuality. The collection showcases exclusive designs from the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks, New Jersey Nets, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and two Toronto Raptors styles.
Mitchell & Ness
Marked with “YVL”, each piece pays homage to Carti’s Young Vamp Life—a record label, collective, and clothing company built on his pure unfiltered individuality. Through his avant-garde, punk-inspired approach to style, Playboi Carti has redefined the boundaries between streetwear and high fashion for this generation of hip hop heads. Often seen pairing vintage sportswear with edgy, oversized silhouettes, Carti is known globally for his bold statement pieces and unexpected textures that mirror his disruptive musical energy. This brings that similar DNA to the sports world merging basketball nostalgia with his raw, genre-defying vision.
The Playboi Carti x Mitchell & Ness NBA League Collection will be available exclusively on Fanatics.com, Complex Shop and MitchellandNess.com, beginning November 6th. Make sure to check back here as we will update this story with our favorite NBA jerseys from the collection below. Spoiler alert, it’s the Philadelphia 76ers jersey.
As we patiently wait for the collection to drop, Billie Eilish also released a multi-piece headwear NBA collaboration with Mitchell & Ness. Shop the playful and nostalgic snapbacks below.
Mitchell & Ness x Billie Eilish Los Angeles Lakers Snapback
A Los Angeles Lakers snapback.
Mitchell & Ness x Billie Eilish Milwaukee Bucks Snapback
A Milwaukee Bucks snapback.
Mitchell & Ness x Billie Eilish Chicago Bulls Snapback
A Chicago Bulls snapback.
Mitchell & Ness x Billie Eilish Boston Celtics Snapback
A Boston Celtics snapback.
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Drake is almost definitely in his feelings following the conclusion of the 2025 World Series, which resulted in his home team losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who gladly took the opportunity to troll the rapper after their victory by using some Kendrick Lamar lyrics.
After triumphing over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 on Sunday (Nov. 2), the Cali team shared a group photo of the players and staff wearing “World Series Champions” shirts. “THEY STILL NOT LIKE US,” the Dodgers wrote in the caption, quoting Dot’s famous Billboard Hot 100-topping diss track against Drizzy.
The ribbing comes after Drake spent much of the World Series trolling the L.A. team’s star player, Shohei Ohtani, on social media. Following Game 5, the Toronto native had shared a picture on his Instagram Story of the pitcher wearing a sweater vest and wrote, “ONE MORE!!!!!!!,” after which he posted a photo the Jays’ Trey Yesavage striking out Ohtani and gloating: “Savage already [on the way] to the dugout boss lol.”
Drake was then in attendance at Game 6 on Friday (Oct. 31), which ended with a Dodgers win. After the team won again two days later, securing the World Series trophy, Champagne Papi shared a diplomatic post on Instagram, writing, “Congrats to the Jays for a dream season and a legendary World Series fight!!!”
The Dodgers, however, weren’t the only ones eager to tease Drake after their big victory. Nike also trolled the rapper post-game by sharing a cinematic montage of the L.A. team set to “Not Like Us,” while Fox Sports posted an edited photo of Lamar driving off with the World Series trophy, leaving a disappointed-looking Drake in the dust.
The repeated use of “Not Like Us” to drag Drake definitely adds insult to injury, as the musician’s headline-grabbing defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over the song’s lyrics was recently dismissed by a judge. At the end of October, however, Drizzy filed an appeal to revive the case.
The track has been haunting Drake since a certain Compton icon dropped it in May 2024, quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon. This past February, Lamar won both song and record of the year at the Grammys for “Not Like Us,” which he performed on the world’s biggest stage just one week later at the 2025 Super Bowl.
Trending on Billboard CoComelon‘s new song “I Love My Bed” might be a bedtime anthem, but it’s no lullaby. Billboard Family is exclusively premiering the animated music video for “I Love My Bed,” and “animated” is also a good adjective to describe the song, which is more upbeat than most bedtime music, aiming to make […]
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In his memoir, Heart Life Music, Kenny Chesney takes the reader on the journey of how he developed from a sports-loving young boy growing up in a tiny East Tennessee town raised by a single mom to one of the biggest country stars of all time.
The engrossing tale, co-written with award-winning journalist Holly Gleason, is a love story to the music that inspired him and, ultimately, to Chesney’s fans who make up the No Shoes Nation and who have helped the recent Country Music Hall of Fame inductee realize success beyond his wildest dreams.
Below, Chesney, who will return to Las Vegas’ Sphere in June, highlights more than 30 songs of the dozens mentioned in the book, which is available starting Tuesday (Nov. 4). He’s exclusively sharing with Billboard what the songs mean to him, including ones that influenced him, such as Conway Twitty’s “Hello Darlin’,” which he heard at the first concert he attended.
“Someone asked me if there was a soundtrack for the book. It’s easy to say, ‘Just listen to [SiriusXM’s] No Shoes Radio,’ but someone else asked, and I thought, “Well, why not? I just looked at my life, so lets look at the music,” Chesney says. “This isn’t the definitive list, nor is it the only list,” he continues, “But it’s one collection of songs that you could listen to and enjoy while you’re reading. To me, that was the fun of this playlist: make a playlist that would be fun to listen to while reading. Though now I hear getting the audio book and listening to that while you read is the thing. Anyways… Enjoy the book. Enjoy the music. But especially, enjoy your life.”
Find his explanations behind the songs chosen below, and check out the full playlist on Spotify here.
“The Tin Man”
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AC/DC will continue their globe-hopping Power Up tour into 2026 with Monday morning’s (Nov. 3) announcement of a run of 21 more shows in South America and North America next year. The new dates for the nearly two-year-old tour by the legendary Australian hard rockers will kick off on Feb. 24 at Estádio do MorumBIS in São Paulo, Brazil and include stops in Santiago, Chile on March 11 and Buenos Aires, Argentina on March 23 before winding down on April 7 in Mexico City at Estadio GNP Seguros.
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The band will then take the spring off and be back on the road beginning July 11 in Charlotte, N.C., followed by shows in Columbus, Ohio, Madison, Wi., San Antonio, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Edmonton, Alberta, Vancouver, Atlanta, Houston, South Bend, Ind., St. Louis, Montreal, Toronto and East Rutherford, N.J. before winding down on Sept. 29 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Tickets for the upcoming run of 2026 shows will be on sale at 10 a.m. ET on Friday (Nov. 7); click here for details.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame act — singer Brian Johnson, guitarist Angus Young, rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, drummer Matt Laug and bassist Chris Chaney — kicked off the tour named for their 17th studio album in May 2024. The band’s next scheduled date is on Nov. 12 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia.
Check out the 2026 dates for AC/DC’s Power Up tour below.
Feb. 24: São Paulo, BR @ Estádio do MorumBIS
March 11: Santiago, CL @ Parque Estadio Nacional
March 23: Buenos Aires, AR @ Estadio River Plate
Apr. 7: Mexico City, MX @ Estadio GNP Seguros
July 11: Charlotte, N.C. @ Bank of America Stadium
July 15: Columbus, Ohio @ Ohio Stadium
July 19: Madison, Wis. @ Camp Randall Stadium
July 24: San Antonio, Texas @ Alamodome
July 28: Denver, Colo. @ Empower Field at Mile High *
Aug. 1: Las Vegas, Nev. @ Allegiant Stadium *
Aug. 5: San Francisco, Calif. @ Levi’s Stadium
Aug. 9: Edmonton, AB @ Commonwealth Stadium
Aug. 13: Vancouver, BC @ BC Place
Aug. 27: Atlanta, Ga. @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Aug. 31: Houston, Texas @ NRG Stadium
Sept. 4: South Bend, Ind. @ Notre Dame Stadium
Sept. 8: St. Louis, Mo. @ The Dome at America’s Center
Sept. 12: Montreal, QC @ Parc Jean-Drapeau
Sept. 16: Toronto, ON @ Rogers Stadium
Sept. 25: East Rutherford, N.J. @ MetLife Stadium
Sept. 29: Philadelphia, PA @ Lincoln Financial Field *
*Denver, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia on sale at 12pm local time
Billboard’s Live Music Summit will be held in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. For tickets and more information, click here.
Nicki Minaj is standing with Donald Trump on the issue of alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria.
In response to the president’s recent threat to deploy military action in the West African country in the name of religious freedom, the rapper wrote in a Saturday (Nov. 1) post on X that she felt a “deep sense of gratitude” to be able to “freely worship God” in the United States and thanked Trump for “taking this seriously.”
“No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion,” Minaj continued, sharing a screenshot of one of the twice-impeached politician’s Truth Social posts about intervening in Nigeria. “We don’t have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other.”
“Numerous countries all around the world are being affected by this horror & it’s dangerous to pretend we don’t notice,” she added. “God bless every persecuted Christian. Let’s remember to lift them up in prayer.”
Minaj’s post comes as the Trump administration has re-added Nigeria to its “Countries of Particular Concern” list, which also includes China, North Korea, Russia, Pakistan and several other nations that the White House has classified as having violated religious freedom. In another post on Truth Social, the president called Nigeria a “disgraced country” and promised that America’s military intervention would “be fast, vicious and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!”
But despite Trump’s claim that “radical Islamists” were murdering “thousands of Christians” in the region, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has rebuked the claims. “The characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” he said in a recent statement, according to Reuters.
Regardless of whether or not there’s truth to Trump’s remarks about Nigeria, some of Minaj’s fans have expressed disappointment in the hip-hop star for aligning herself with the polarizing politician in any capacity. One person, for instance, told Minaj on X that MAGA Republicans have been attempting to “weaponize religion so YOUR GAY FANS can be pushed into a corner and silenced,” to which the hitmaker reportedly had a biting reply.
“Imagine hearing that Christians are being MURDERED & making it about you being gay,” Minaj wrote in a since-deleted post, per The Independent.
Billboard has reached out to Minaj’s reps for comment.
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The Recording Academy announced that more than 3,800 music creators and professionals have joined the academy as part of its 2025 New Member Class. This includes approximately 2,900 new voting members (who are eligible to vote in the upcoming 68th annual Grammy Awards) and approximately 900 new professional members.
Of those in the new class, 50% are age 39 and under, 58% are people of color and 35% identify as women. Looking only at voting members, 49% are age 39 and under, 60% are people of color and 30% identify as women.
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For the first time, invitations to join the Recording Academy were also extended to all voting members of the Latin Recording Academy. That explains why Latin leads all genres when new voting members were asked which genre they were most aligned with. Thirteen percent of new voting members said Latin, compared to pop and “other” (8% each); alternative, global music and rock (3% each); jazz, R&B and classical (2% each); dance/electronic, visual media, gospel/Christian, rap, contemporary instrumental, reggae, country, American roots and new age/ambient/chant (1% each); and musical theatre, children’s, spoken word and comedy (less than 1% each).
The influx of new members from the Latin Recording Academy voting body also explains why 28% of all new members (not just voting members) identify as Hispanic or Latin, second only to (and close behind) the percentage who identify as white or Caucasian (31%). These two groups were followed by Black or African American (20%), “I prefer not to disclose” (11%), Asian or Pacific Islander (5%), “I prefer to self-describe” (3%), Middle Eastern or Northern African and South Asian (1% each) and Indigenous or Alaska native (less than 1%).
“This year’s class reflects the vibrancy of today’s diverse music landscape,” Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “The addition of many Latin Recording Academy voting members underscores that music has no borders and that our mission to serve music people, regardless of where they are from, is stronger than ever.”
The addition of many Latin Academy voting members could help Bad Bunny land his second album of the year nomination. He is a top contender in that category with Debí Tirar Más Fotos, having been nominated three years ago for Un Verano Sin Ti.
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Of the total new member class (voting and non-voting members combined), 59% are men, 35% are men, 4% responded “I prefer not to disclose”; 1% identify as “non-binary or gender non-conforming; and less than 1% say “I prefer to self-describe.”
In terms of age, 50% of all new members (voting and non-voting combined) are 39 and under; 43% are (gasp) over 40; and 7% responded “I prefer not to disclose” or their age is unknown.
Looking just at new voting members, songwriters and composers are the top creative disciplines. Thirty-six percent of all new voting members classify themselves that way, followed by producers (20%), engineers (13%), vocalists (10%), instrumentalists (8%), arrangers (5%), music video pros (2%), album packaging, album notes writers and “other” (1% each); and conductors, spoken word (poets, narrators, comedians) and music supervisors (less than 1% each).
There are two types of Recording Academy membership – voting membership for recording creators and professional membership for music business professionals. Both types of members may participate in the organization’s year-round initiatives, but only voting members — comprised of artists, songwriters, producers, engineers and others active in the music industry — are eligible to vote.
The nominations for the 2026 Grammy Awards will be unveiled at 11:00 a.m. ET / 8:00 a.m. PT on Friday, Nov. 7, during a livestream on live.Grammy.com and YouTube. The full list of nominees will be published on Grammy.com immediately following the presentation.
Source: Julia Beverly / Getty
Offset’s surprise Halloween album isn’t the only surprise, as the rapper has been hit with more than $2 million in tax liens.
In the midst of his divorce from Cardi B, the ATL rapper has run into some more trouble with Uncle Sam. According to Complex, the IRS filed a federal lien against Set for $486,426.35 in 2023 and $1,575,266.73 for taxes from previous years. To add insult to injury, the Georgia Department of Revenue filed a claim against him last year as well.
Claiming that the rapper did not pay his 2021 state income taxes. Gwinnett County hit him with a hefty balance of $266,702.21, which they reduced from what it was before ($294,712.02). This brings the former Migos rapper’s total to $2.3 million. The timing of all this couldn’t be any worse, as Offset and Cardi have been going through a divorce. The two have not been able to come to legal terms. As reported by Billboard, Offset was asking Cardi for spousal support.
Bardi remained unothered and dropped her sophomore album, “AM I THE DRAMA?” Where she turned her pain into a hit on “Outside”. Addressing the disloyalty in the relationship, “When I tell you these n*ggas ain’t sh*t, please believe me. They gon’ f*ck on anything, these n*ggas way too easy.”
Since then, Bardi has been enjoying her pregnancy with her new boo, Steffon Diggs. Now for Offset, he’s been in grind mode and dropped a surprise album, “HAUNTED BY FAME,” on Halloween. Where it looked like the two were starting to hit a positive turn in their divorce, we spoke too soon. Set allegedly threw some shade at his ex’s way on the track, “NO SWEAT.” Where he called her new man a downgrade, “On the way to the money, no stoppin’. How the f*ck you leave Jordan for Rodman? You a fool if you think that I’m not hurt. You ain’t happy, I know how it work.”
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Drake’s music has received “billions of fraudulent streams” on Spotify, according to a new class action lawsuit that says the streaming giant turned a “blind eye” to bots and thus deprived fair pay to thousands of other artists.
In a case filed Sunday in Los Angeles federal court, attorneys for a rapper named RBX (Eric Dwayne Collins) say Spotify is “all too happy” to ignore billions of fake streams per month that falsely inflate some artist stats – and that Champagne Papi was one of the most-boosted artists.
“Billions of fraudulent streams have been generated with respect to songs of ‘the most streamed artist of all time,’ Aubrey Drake Graham, professionally known as Drake,” the rapper’s lawyers write. “But while the streaming fraud with respect to Drake’s songs may be one example, it does not stand alone.”
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The lawsuit claims that Spotify’s policies against fake streams are “nothing more than window dressing” and that the company would prefer to do nothing because bots help the company’s bottom line.
“The more users (including fake users) Spotify has, the more advertisements it can sell, the more profits the company can report, all of which serves to increase the purported value delivered to shareholders,” RBX’s attorneys say.
And such “cheating” has real victims, the lawsuit says: “This mass-scale fraudulent streaming causes massive financial harm to legitimate artists, songwriters, producers and other rightsholders whose proportional share is decreased as a result of fraudulent stream inflation on Spotify’s platform.”
A spokesman for Spotify did not immediately return a request for comment. Drake was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit nor accused of any wrongdoing; a rep for the star did not return a request for comment.
Streaming fraud on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music is a longstanding problem, made all the more challenging in recent years by advances in artificial intelligence and other sophisticated spoofing technologies. By some estimates, several percentage points of all streams are inauthentic – meaning billions of monthly plays. Since royalties on digital services are divvied up among rightsholders from a finite pie, such phony numbers siphon off revenue from legitimate streams.
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In one extreme example, a North Carolina man was indicted last year on federal charges that he used AI to help create “hundreds of thousands” of songs and used thousands of bots to stream them millions of times. The feds say the scheme diverted over $1 million per year from real artists.
In his lawsuit on Sunday, RBX says he wants to force Spotify to take more aggressive action against such behavior on its platform, calling its current anti-fraud policies “inadequate at best.”
“Plaintiff brings this case to bring justice for his brother and sister creators and entertainers,” his lawyers write. “In doing so, Plaintiff gives a voice to more than one hundred thousand rightsholders who, among other things, may be unable or too afraid to challenge Spotify, a powerful force in the music business whose failure to act has caused significant problems and great financial harm.”
In technical terms, the lawsuit accuses Spotify of legal negligence, meaning the company caused harm to him and others by failing to take steps it should have taken. He also claims the company violated California state law against unfair competition.
The case is filed as a proposed class action, meaning RBX wants to represent thousands of other artists who have allegedly faced the same harm he did. But such other artists will only be drawn into the case if a judge grants approval – a difficult threshold to clear in any class action litigation.
