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23 Sep 2024

Chingy Catches Heat For Performing With Donald Trump Jr. At GOP Bash, Drops Out

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Chingy has dropped out of the lineup of performers at a Republican fundraiser featuring Donald Trump Jr. after public pressure.

The rapper Chingy found himself the subject of some controversy for being part of a concert event supporting LGBTQ Republicans, and he’s now dropped out of it while still defending his initial decision. The “Red, White & Rock” event is set to take place in Nashville, Tennessee, as announced by the organizers, the Log Cabin Republicans. Chingy jumped in the comments of another publication that posted the flyer last Saturday (Sept. 21), writing: “I’m a say this one time. MY JOB IS TO PERFORM AND I GET PAID TO PERFORM, NOT [CARE] ABOUT POLITICS. NOW YALL FIND SUMIN ELSE TO DO WITH YURR TIME.”

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The “Red, White & Rock” event was also scheduled to have Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, in attendance along with a collection of mid-level artists. Ticket prices range from $1,000 to $50,000 for VIP access. The “Right Thurr” rapper would go on to duke it out in the comments with other people, responding to one who called him broke by writing: “You can’t be down bad when you just bought a 500k house pimp,” adding: ”Those people don’t hate me because they love my music. Music isn’t racist and that’s how I play it.” 

“All this nonsense y’all creating bothers me none. I’m a performer, whether these people are political, homosexual, or whatever—they all love music… I have classic records they all love, and I will perform them for them. So I hope that helps you understand that my job as an artist is to perform and make timeless music. That I did.” he wrote, also expressing anger at media outlets not covering his being honored by the city of St. Louis, Missouri, with “Chingy Day” on Sept. 14. He’d eventually bow out of performing at the event.

“YOU KNO WHAT JUS CAUSE I DONT WANT [TO] BE IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS MESS. I HAVE DECLINED PERFORMING AND NO IM [NOT] A TRUMP SUPPORTER NOR SUPPORTER OF ANYONE ELSE BUT CHINGY. THURR YOU HAVE IT,”

Chingy’s involvement in the event is the latest effort by Republicans to draw more rappers and rap personalities into supporting former President Donald Trump. It follows Brooklyn artist Fivio Foreign’s social media posts attending a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, which also saw him roundly roasted online.

23 Sep 2024

Father of PnB Rock’s Alleged Murderer Sentenced to 31 Years to Life in Prison: Report

A Los Angeles man who was convicted of sending his then-17-year-old son to shoot and murder PnB Rock in 2022 has been sentenced to 31 years to life in prison, per ABC7.

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Freddie Lee Trone, 42, was found guilty of one count of murder, two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery in August before he was sentenced in court on Monday (Sept. 23).

PnB Rock — born Rakim Allen — was dining with his girlfriend in Sept. 2022 at a South Central Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles in L.A. when he was approached by Trone’s son in an armed robbery attempt of his jewelry, which turned fatal after he struck Rock with gunfire. The rapper was transported to a local hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.

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The prosecution ruled that Trone’s son wasn’t fit to stand trial and believe he was fulfilling his father’s orders, which led to him being charged in the case. Video footage caught Trone inside the parking lot 30 minutes before the murder. 

A second defendant, Tremont Jones, was also sentenced to 12 years behind bars for his role in the murder on multiple robbery charges.

PnB Rock’s mother, Deannea Allen, made the trip to the hearing where she delivered a poignant victim impact statement addressing Trone, per Rolling Stone.

“I want to address you Mr. Trone, even though you’re talking [to your lawyer]. As a parent, I do not understand – and I’ve been trying these two whole years – I do not understand how a parent could directly put their child in danger,” she said. “I just can’t comprehend it. That one action had a ripple effect, and it has ruined many lives.”

Allen continued: “I hope that you can feel my pain, as a parent. I’ve watched your son’s life unfold. He has had a horrible life. I shouldn’t feel sorry for this young man, but I do. He has two parents, but he was in foster care. He had a rough go of it. And I shouldn’t feel bad for him, but I do. Just as a parent. I just want you to put yourself in my shoes and our family’s shoes.”

Rock’s mom also added that his 10-year-old daughter wanted to be in attendance, but couldn’t get on the plane to make the trip due to suffering an anxiety attack.

PnB Rock was just 30 years old. The Philly native meshed his melodic raps with a star-studded cast of collaborators including Nicki Minaj, the late Pop Smoke and XXXTENTACION, Lil Durk Quavo, Trippie Redd, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and more.

Rock broke through with his “Selfish” hit in 2017, which peaked at No. 51 on the Billboard Hot 100. He made other top 40 Hot 100 appearances the rest of the decade on YFN Lucci’s “Everyday We Lit” (No. 33), Ed Sheeran’s “Cross Me” (No. 25 and Meek Mill’s “Dangerous” (No. 31).

23 Sep 2024

John Mellencamp, Margo Price & More Attend Farm Aid 2024 | All Access | Billboard News

Some of musics biggest stars went out to perform at Farm Aid 2024 in support of family-centered farms. Keep watching for the details!

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From Nelson to Young, Matthews to Mellencamp, some of music’s biggest legends teamed up for Farm Aid to help family-centered farms and Billboard was there to bring you all the access. Willie Nelson brought out the whole family for his set while Dave Matthews kept it sweet and simple. They, along with fellow Farm Aid board members, Neil Young and John Mellencamp, did some major work for family-centered farms, hosting the third year of the festival in Saratoga Springs, New York. Governor Kathy Hochul was on site to welcome the 21,000 attendees. It was a night to remember. Full of great food and amazing music with performances from acts like Margo Price and American Icon Mavis Staples. Who doesn’t love epic performances with your locally grown produce.

23 Sep 2024

Dame Dash Addresses Resurfaced Viral Photos of Himself & Aaliyah Partying With Diddy

Over the weekend, Dame Dash addressed Diddy‘s arrest and old pictures of himself out partying with the fallen mogul that have gone viral.

Late last week, Drake fan X account @keep6ixsolid, resurfaced photos of a bunch of celebs hanging out — which included the likes of Diddy, Jennifer Lopez, Dame, Jay-Z, and Aaliyah — with a caption that read: “Bro, this is getting DARK! Dame Dash, Aaliyah, Jennifer Lopez, Jay-Z and Diddy all sharing a giant bed.”

The pictures in question are from an annual Fourth of July party Diddy used to throw in the Hamptons. According to one of the photos on Getty Images, the date of the party was July 2, 2000.

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Dame Dash seemed to confirm the location when he was asked about partying with Diddy on Instagram Live on Saturday (Sept. 21.) “Nah, I didn’t go to those parties…I went to one about 20 years ago in the Hamptons with Aaliyah but that’s about it,” he said. “A lot of people were at those, you know what I mean?”

Later in the video he was asked again about the photos and revealed that specific party was one of the first times he and the late singer hung out. “Ain’t sh—t happen in the Hamptons. That’s the day I met…that me and Aaliyah…we hung out there and then we left and that’s what happened,” he said. “That was 20 years ago, that was not in LA or Miami. I know they gonna play games with those pictures. It’s all good, I don’t really care.”

He was then later asked about Diddy getting arrested and said the situation is “sad,” “crazy,” and “shocking.”

Diddy was taken into custody after a grand jury indicted him on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He has been denied bail as he awaits trial.

23 Sep 2024

Camila Cabello, Dua Lipa, Keith Urban, New Kids on the Block & More Photos From 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival

The 2024 iHeartRadio Music Festival brought the biggest voices on radio to the stage for two music-packed nights on Friday and Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and Billboard was backstage and in the pit for all the action.

Night 1 saw Dua Lipa and Camila Cabello hit the stage, and Billboard‘s camera caught the pop powerhouses backstage for a sweet embrace, as well as Cabello’s meet-up with fellow Friday performer Gwen Stefani. We also captured Shaboozey walking the halls backstage after performing his now-11-week Billboard Hot 100-topping breakout hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”

Night 2 kicked off with New Kids on the Block, who just announced last week that they’ll launch their first-ever Las Vegas residency on June 20 at Dolby Live at Park MGM. So was the iHeart set a good preview of what fans can expect? “A really small preview, because this was 20 minutes,” Donnie Wahlberg told Billboard backstage. “We’re going to do a very long, very intricate, hopefully very exciting and fun and energetic set with a lot of songs, a lot of hits, a lot of feels. But it was also a sample for us of the audience. Because it’s a real good example of what it might be like. A lot of New Kids fans showed up, and a lot of fans who were experiencing us for the first time. We pride ourselves on the fun and the energy that we bring to a show, and this was a great opportunity for us to share that with this crowd.” We also caught up with Donnie’s wife, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, backstage who is ready to house-hunt in Sin City: “Now I just get to come to Vegas and find a place to live, because we’re absolutely going to be finding houses to station ourselves here for a few months — or a few years, maybe.” The New Kids also invited Flavor Flav out onstage for their “Hangin’ Tough” finale, and we caught the Public Enemy hype man backstage with Wahlberg and bandmate Danny Wood.

Keith Urban also played on Saturday night, making the most of a brisk 20-minute set by playing three songs from his just-released High album: “Messed Up as Me,” “Wildside” and “Straight Line.” “We just packed ’em in as quick as possible,” Urban laughed backstage, adding that fans have been quick to embrace the new material. “It’s been immediate, which i haven’t seen that in a long time. It is what it is with songwriting — you write songs and some connect immediately and some take awhile — but when we did ‘Messed Up as Me’ from this record, it was immediate, because we were playing festivals, and it was immediate. ‘Wildside’ was immediate, the first night we did that. ‘Straight Line’ — it’s a different record.”

Before night 2 kicked off, Billboard caught up with OBB Media CEO Michael D. Ratner, whose team produced the festival livestream, which broadcast both nights on Hulu in real time. After teaming up with iHeart for livestreams of the New York and Los Angeles stops of Jingle Ball late last year, Ratner said his team was able to jump in seamlessly to take the reins of the iHeartRadio Music Festival for the first time in the fest’s 14 years. “The reason we work so well together is iHeart knows music,” he said on Saturday. “They have amazing talent relationships, as do we, but the idea that we’re able to storytell and make these shows more layered … it’s not just watching performance after performance after performance.” One key to that was adding some Vegas-specific touches, like teaming up mentalist Max Major with Cabello or enlisting the Blue Man Group for an intro. “You get these fun moments, and it’s embedded in the history of Vegas. … You mix that with what Vegas is today, which is residencies and EDM and lights and day parties and the Sphere, I think making it new and fresh while having a nod to old Vegas is cool. It’s a really good balance and team that makes the show very unique.”

If you weren’t in Vegas or just want to relive the two days of hits over again, find Billboard‘s best photos from backstage and onstage below.

23 Sep 2024

Usher Explains X Account Wipeout Was Actually a Hack | Billboard News

After Usher’s X account was cleared over the weekend, the singer explained his account got hacked. Keep watching for the full story.

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Did Usher let it burn on his social media? Well, he’s saying not so fast, as fans were speculating about the reason his X page went away. Here’s the story: Billboard chart-topper Usher was caught up in conversation Sunday as his X account was cleared and the good ol’ social media conspiracy theorists debated why, ranging from his connections with Diddy to maybe releasing new music. Usher cleared the air, posting, “Account got hacked and d*mn y’all ran with it! See you tonight at Intuit Dome.” The prolific artist is in the middle of his highly successful ‘Past Present Future’ tour and has several dates at LA’s new Intuit Dome this week.

23 Sep 2024

Juan Gabriel Concert Screening at Mexico City’s Zócalo Attracts 70,000 People

The excitement over the music of iconic Mexican singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel overflowed on Sunday (Sept. 22) in Mexico City’s Zócalo. More than 70,000 people gathered at the country’s main public square, according to figures from the capital’s government, for the screening of Mis 40 en Bellas Artes.

Although what they witnessed was a recording of his 2013 concert at Mexico’s most important cultural venue, the audience seemed to be in front of the “Divo de Juárez” himself, chanting and dancing to the songs of that special performance, with which the late artist celebrated his four decades of artistic career.

“Querida,” “Caray,” “Siempre En Mi Mente,” “¿Por Qué Me Haces Llorar?” and, the hit that launched him to international fame, “El Noa Noa” were played at the Zócalo, where young people arrived, many of who perhaps never went to a Juan Gabriel concert, but who keep his artistic legacy very much alive.

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According to Mexico City’s Ministry of Culture, the screening of the concert celebrates a decade since the release of this material recorded in Bellas Artes with the International Orchestra of the Arts, as well as the 20th anniversary of the concert given by Juan Gabriel in Mexico City’s Zócalo in March 2004, as part of the Noche de Primavera Festival.

In front of a giant screen, fans of all ages, people in wheelchairs and several impersonators arrived hours before at the Zócalo to look for the best spot. The fan club Las Viudas de Juan Gabriel placed a banner of the late artist and a dozen members dressed in pink t-shirts and hats were enthusiastic about the recognition of the singer.

On social media, users also expressed happiness about being part of this massive event. “I love you Juan Gabriel, we all forgot it was a video [we were watching],” wrote on X a user identified as @MelanieMishell_. “He is a genius. An artist who transcends time and generations. Juan Gabriel is immortal,” added @diosdadoooooooooooo on the same platform.

The screening of Mis 40 en Bellas Artes at the Zócalo took place after hundreds of people were locked out of the Cineteca Nacional on Sept. 13 during a screening there, forcing the organizers to cancel another screening scheduled for the following day (Sept. 14).

Organizers estimated that some 6,000 people had arrived at the Cineteca Nacional to participate in the event. Videos on social media showed a large number of attendees who remained outside the venue, dancing and singing at the top of their lungs to the songs included in the concert — published by Virgin Music — regardless of the rain that covered much of the city that afternoon.

23 Sep 2024

Journey Singer Arnel Pineda Invites Fans to Vote Him Out of the Band After Rock in Rio Criticism

Arnel Pineda is letting the fans decide his fate.

The Journey singer took to Facebook on Sunday (Sept. 22) to respond to criticism surrounding his performance at Rock in Rio earlier this month, sharing a video in which the vocalist appeared to be struggling with his ear monitors, which led to his inability to hit a few of the notes in “Don’t Stop Believin’.”

“No one more than me in this world feels so devastated about this,” he wrote. it’s really amazing how 1 thousand right things you have done will be forgotten just cause of THIS..and of all the place, its in Rock In Rio… mentally and emotionally, I’ve suffered already, and I’m still suffering ..but I’ll be OK….”

Pineda then offered to leave the band if fans want him out, requesting them to comment “Stay” or “Go” on the post as a vote. “If GO reaches 1million…I’m stepping out for good..are you game folks?” he said.

See the post here.

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The vast majority of the comments voice support for Pineda, who joined Journey in 2007. The band’s guitarist Neal Schon also uplifted Pineda in a Facebook comment about the criticism. “Arnel dont listen to these blogs. They are all bought. You’ve kicked a–!” he wrote, according to Ultimate Classic Rock.

23 Sep 2024

Ice Spice Reaches Settlement To End Copyright Lawsuit Over Hit Song ‘In Ha Mood’

Ice Spice has reached an agreement to end a copyright lawsuit over allegations that her recent hit “In Ha Mood” was copied from a Brooklyn rapper’s earlier track.

The case, filed earlier this year by a rapper named D.Chamberz (Duval Chamberlain), claimed that Ice Spice’s song – which spent 16 weeks on the Hot 100 in 2023 – was “strikingly similar” to his own 2021 track “In That Mood.”

But in a motion filed in federal court Friday, attorneys for both sides said they had agreed to resolve the lawsuit. Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed in court filings, and neither side immediately returned requests for comment.

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Released early last year following Ice Spice’s 2022 breakout, “In Ha Mood” reached No. 58 on the Hot 100 and No. 18 on the US Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart. It was later included on her debut EP Like..?, and she performed the song during her October appearance as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live.

In a lawsuit filed in January, D.Chamberz claimed that the two songs share so many similarities that the overlaps “cannot be purely coincidental.” He said the similar elements “go [to] the core of each work,” and are so obvious that they’ve already been spotted by listeners.

“By every method of analysis, ‘In Ha Mood’ is a forgery,” D.Chamberz’s attorneys wrote at the time. “Any proper comparative analysis of the beat, lyrics, hook, rhythmic structure, metrical placement, and narrative context will demonstrate that ‘In Ha Mood’ was copied.”

The lawsuit claimed the earlier song received “significant airplay” on New York City radio stations, including Hot 97 and Power 105.1, giving Ice Spice and others behind her track a chance to hear it.

In addition to naming Ice Spice (Isis Naija Gaston) as a defendant, the lawsuit also names her frequent producer, RiotUSA (Ephrem Lopez, Jr.), as well as Universal Music Group, Capitol Records and 10K Projects.

In April, the defendants formally denied the lawsuit’s allegations, but the case remained in the earliest stages when Friday’s agreement was reached.

23 Sep 2024

Blake Shelton Signs With BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville

Blake Shelton has a new label home, signing with BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville.

Oklahoma native Shelton, who has earned 28 No. 1 Billboard Country Airplay hits during his career, is currently in the top 10 on the Country Airplay chart with his Post Malone collaboration “Pour Me a Drink.” During the course of his career, Shelton has not only earned accolades including five CMA Awards wins for male vocalist of the year, as well as a win for CMA entertainer of the year, but he’s also known as a multi-media personality, thanks to his 23 seasons serving as a coach on NBC’s Emmy-winning talent competition The Voice.

Currently his concerts for 2025 include his Live in Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, as well as his Friends and Heroes Tour, which launches Feb. 27 in Lexington, Ky. The tour will also feature Craig Morgan, Deana Carter, Trace Adkins and Emily Ann Roberts. 

“Blake is one of the biggest personalities and presences in media,” Jon Loba, president of Frontline Recordings, Americas, BMG, said in a release. “America first got to know him through incredible, timeless songs and live shows and then fell in love with him and his sense of humor through TV. We are so excited he’s joining the BMG Global family and cannot wait to share his incredible new music with the world. He’s been laser-focused on delivering some of the best of his career and it shows. We have been dancing through the office, literally not just figuratively, since we heard the first couple songs he played for us!”

“A huge thanks to Jon, Peter, JoJamie, Katie, and the BMG family for being as excited as me about this new chapter we will write together,” Shelton added. “I felt their passion and love for music when I met with them, and I knew I was home. I am READY TO GO!”

Shelton joins BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville following over two decades at Warner Music Nashville. BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville is home to artists including Jelly Roll, Jason Aldean and reigning CMA entertainer of the year Lainey Wilson.

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