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02 Aug 2023

Beyoncé Honors Dancer Who Was Fatally Stabbed While Vogueing to ‘Renaissance’

Black queer dancer O’Shae Sibley was fatally stabbed outside of a New York City gas station on July 29 while vogueing to Beyoncé’s Renaissance album, according to The New York Times. Now, Queen Bey is paying tribute to the late dancer on her website.

“Rest in power, O’Shae Sibley,” she wrote in all caps.

Sibley, a professional dancer, was also allegedly subjected to a barrage of homophobic slurs before he was murdered, police told CNN. NYPD is currently investigating his death as a possible hate crime. CNN also reports that law enforcement is searching for a 17-year-old whom they believe to be the one who stabbed the dancer.

Renaissance, Beyoncé’s blockbuster Billboard 200-topping seventh solo studio album, is largely informed by Black queer culture, the ballroom scene and dance music, a genre which owes much of its foundation to the toil of Black LGBTQIA+ artists and creatives. The record won four Grammys and spawned the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits “Break My Soul” (No. 1) and “Cuff It” (No. 6). The album featured a number of queer collaborators ranging from Big Freedia and Syd to Ts Madison and Honey Dijon.

Sibley’s death has garnered much attention. “Heartbroken and enraged to learn about O’Shae Sibley’s death this weekend in New York. Despite homophobes’ best efforts, gay joy is not crime,” wrote New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Signal on Twitter (July 31). “Hate-fueled attacks are.”

Both GLAAD and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation’s Ailey Extension, of which Sibley was a student, released statements. GLAAD stressed that Sibley’s death is part of a “disturbing rise in violence and harassment” that “cannot continue,” and Ailey Extension fondly remembered Sibley as “a cherished and devoted student [that] had incredible energy in the studio and was loved by instructors and fellow classmates.”

02 Aug 2023

Lil Wayne On Inspiring the Next Generation of Rappers, Young Money, ‘Carter VI’ & More | Billboard Cover

Lil Wayne talks about inspiring the next generation of rappers, how he discovers new talent with Young Money records, how he feels about AI, how he maintains the longevity of his legendary career, teases what his fans can expect from the ‘Carter VI” and more.

Lil Wayne
I am naturally, organically, amazing. I’m one of a kind. So actually, I would love to see that thing try to duplicate this motherf–ker.

Gail Mitchell
You had a great vantage point starting at 7, signed at 11, 12 you’re professional or you’ve seen a lot of changes so I was gonna ask you what’s been the biggest changes you’ve seen in the genre since you’ve been in it?

Lil Wayne
There was no such thing as social media when I was doing this, everything’s changed because of social media. So with that said, our genre of music is no different than everything.

Gail Mitchell.
One lesson learned that you still carry with you since you started?

Lil Wayne
That answer is always the same it’s never stop. Never stopping learning. Humble yourself. Humility goes a long way. And it will keep you learning and I try to get better and better and better and better and better and better and better. That’s always my hope. That’s my whatever rule something I’ve learned or lesson whatever as far as unforgettable moments, probably my first time grabbing the mic at a block party and breaking my fear in rapping the stuff that I had wrapped in the mirror for like thousands of hours that night before.

Gail Mitchell
Did you ever subscribe to the notion but hip hop is was only a young man’s game. That’s what they used to say back in the day.

Lil Wayne
No, because when I was growing up all the rappers Whoa, let me I guess I’m just not from that narrative was around because when I started people was way older than me. Everybody was older than me. So it was never a young man’s game I’ve always felt when I was a young man, I had to fight my way in.

Watch the full video above.

02 Aug 2023

Director Sophia Nahli Allison Claims She Quit Lizzo’s Documentary After Witnessing ‘Unkind’ Behavior

Filmmaker Sophia Nahli Allison is speaking out after three tour dancers filed a lawsuit against Lizzo Tuesday (Aug. 1) that alleged the star subjected them to sexual harassment and a hostile work environment.

Allison claims in a message shared on her Instagram Stories and Twitter account that she had been attached to the singer’s documentary Love, Lizzo in 2019, but quickly left the project. “I usually do not comment on anything pop culture related,” she wrote over an image of herself at work. “But, In 2019, I traveled a bit with Lizzo to be the director of her documentary. I walked away after about 2 weeks. I was treated with such disrespect by her.”

She continued, “I witnessed how arrogant, self-centered, and unkind she is. I was not protected and was thrown into a sh-tty situation with little support.” Allison then noted that her gut told her to leave the project, and is “grateful” that she did, adding that she “felt gaslit and was deeply hurt.”

“Reading these reports made me realize how dangerous of a situation it was,” the filmmaker concluded before sending her support to the dancers. “This kind of abuse of power happens far too often.”

Billboard has reached out to Lizzo’s reps for comment regarding Allison’s claims.

On Twitter, the filmmaker — who is known for the Oscar-nominated Netflix documentary A Love Song for Latasha, about the 1992 shooting death of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins in Los Angeles — shared why she wanted to speak out. “Validating other Black women’s experiences is deeply important to me,” she explained.

The Love, Lizzo documentary for HBO Max was announced in May 2022, and released in November 2022. Doug Pray, who previously produced HBO documentary The Defiant Ones, about Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s partnership, directed the project.

In the complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles, dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez allege that Lizzo pressured them to go to an Amsterdam sex show and engage with the performers, and that she “called attention” to one dancer’s weight gain. The “Special” singer has been an outspoken proponent of body positivity, and often slammed internet trolls for body-shaming women.

The pop star also launched her own reality show, Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, for Amazon’s Prime Video in March 2022. The program followed her search for backup dancers to join her on tour. “Y’all know how hard it’s been finding dancers that look like me,” she wrote on Instagram when the trailer dropped in February 2022. “But if I gotta get a TV show to get the world to see the value in us big grrrls B—H IMMA DO IT.”

Representatives for Lizzo have not yet returned Billboard‘s request for comment about the lawsuit.

02 Aug 2023

Radio Stocks Soar on Advertising Forecasts, Cumulus Earnings

Radio companies, suffering from sluggish radio advertising and underwhelming stock prices, might be starting to see the light. B Riley Securities analyst Daniel Day expects national advertising to pick up in the second half of 2023. That hint of optimism, along with Cumulus Media’s better-than-expected second-quarter earnings released Friday, sent radio stock prices soaring over the last few days.

Cumulus’s net revenue of $210.1 million was down 11% year over year and 25% below the same quarter in pre-pandemic 2019, the company announced Friday. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $30.7 million was down 32.6% from the prior-year period, but was helped by wringing out $12 million of cost reductions. Revenue was in line with the company’s expectations while EBITDA exceeded expectations. Adjusted EBTIDA of $28.7 million was 32% above the estimate of Noble Capital Markets analysts.

That was good news for some investors. Shares of Cumulus climbed 14.5% to $5.54 on Friday and rose another 14.4% to $6.34 on Monday. Even after Cumulus gave back some of those gains on Tuesday (Aug. 1) and dropped 11.7% to $5.60, its share price was more than 2.5 times above the 52-week low of $2.57 from May 9. On Monday, B Riley upped its Cumulus price target from $10 to $11 — implying 96% upside from Tuesday’s closing price — and maintained its “buy” rating.

The trends could portend good news for other radio companies. On Monday, shares of iHeartMedia rose 12.4% to $4.73. Even after dropping 3.2% to $4.58 on Tuesday, iHeartMedia’s stock stood at more than double its 52-week low of $2.21 set on May 26. iHeartMedia will report second-quarter earnings on Aug. 8.

For Cumulus, the quarter was all about optimizing what it can control while mitigating the downside of what it cannot control, said president and CEO Mary Lerner during Friday’s earnings call. “This proven skill set is serving us well as we make the best of the current tough ad environment,” said Lerner.

Cumulus cut $5 million of fixed costs, repurchased $5.7 million of its common stock in the second quarter, bringing the total repurchases to $39 million, and retired about $32 million of bonds at an average discount of 26%. It also announced the sale of WDRQ-FM for $10 million that is expected to close this quarter. Digital revenue of $37.5 million was down just 0.7% from the prior-year period. Cumulus’ digital marketing services businesses were up 21% year over year while its podcast audience was up 19%.

What Cumulus cannot control is the willingness of brands to buy advertising. A weak national advertising environment since late 2022 “remained the main factor driving a decline in total revenue,” said Frank Lopez-Balboa, Cumulus executive vp, treasurer and chief financial officer. Local spot advertising revenue — which accounts for 80% of Cumulus’s total stock revenue — was down 7% while soft national advertising caused total broadcast radio revenue to fall 16.5%.

02 Aug 2023

Vince Gill & Paul Franklin Reunite to Honor the Music of Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys: ‘Ray’s Legacy Will Be How Much He Changed Music’

A decade after 22-time Grammy winner Vince Gill and steel guitar virtuoso Paul Franklin (who has more than 30 CMA Awards nominations to his credit) crafted Bakersfield, which paid homage to the central California country sounds made famous by Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, the two musicians have reunited to shine a light on the music of Country Music Hall of Famer Ray Price on Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price & The Cherokee Cowboys, out Aug. 4.

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Seated in Gill’s home recording studio in Nashville — a space with shelves lined with many of the Grammys, CMA Awards and ACM Awards Gill has amassed during his nearly five-decade career, but also a room filled with dozens of guitars, including a white guitar he’s played since 1978, another guitar his parents gifted him for Christmas and one he bought when he was 18, living in Kentucky and “dead broke,” Gill says — longtime tourmates and studio collaborators Gill and Franklin discuss an album that chronicles Price’s life and career, pairing Gill’s illustrious tenor and fleet guitar fretwork and Franklin’s nimble steel playing.

“I’ve told everybody that in the making of these records, it’s more about the musician in both of us than it is about me as the singer,” Gill says. “We chose the songs we chose because it gave us more freedom to play than maybe we would have had on some of those big ballads.”

Between 1952 and 1989, Perryville, Texas native Price entered more than 100 songs on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, earning 46 top 10 hits and eight No. 1s, including “Crazy Arms,” the Bill Anderson-penned “City Lights” and the Kris Kristofferson-penned “For the Good Times.” Price also recorded more than 50 albums during his career.

Gill and Franklin eschewed recording many of Price’s biggest hits; instead, Sweet Memories largely favors more obscure Price recordings.

“I gotta be honest, there were several songs that I didn’t know who wrote them. I didn’t know ‘Kissing Your Picture’ was a Mel Tillis song, and I didn’t know Bobby Bare had a part in writing ‘Walking Slow and Thinkin’ About Her.’ I knew Willie Nelson wrote ‘Healing Hands of Time,’” Gill says with a soft laugh.

Longtime on-air personality and music scholar Eddie Stubbs, who retired from his roles as WSM Radio personality and Grand Ole Opry announcer in 2020, played a key role, pointing Gill and Franklin to more arcane songs.

“He’s the greatest disciple of loving Ray Price,” Gill says, recalling a time when he listened to Stubbs’ radio show while on tour with the Eagles. “He played a song I had never heard before and I called him from Australia and said, ‘What’s that?’ He said, ‘I’ll play it again for you again.’ And I’d just call him up out of the blue and say, ‘Play me something,’ and I would take notes and write down some of the songs he would play. He was a big part of pointing me toward some stuff that was not the obvious choices.”

“I remember we were trying to find five or six songs. I came over and Vince broke out this legal pad and I’m expecting it to be one page — but Vince had like a hundred songs,” Franklin recalls. “I didn’t know a lot of these. We’d listen to songs and compare them — it wasn’t like, ‘We gotta pick a shuffle.’ We listened to a lot of shuffles.”

During his career, Price helped usher in two major sonic innovations in country music, beginning in the 1950s with his signature “Crazy Arms,” written by Ralph Mooney and Charles Seals. That song introduced what would become the signature “Ray Price Beat,” a 4/4 shuffle, spearheaded by Buddy Killen’s bass line, bringing a ferocity to his brand of honkytonk that would influence country music for decades. The song cemented itself atop Billboard’s Country Songs chart for 20 weeks, toppling Carl Perkins’s “Blue Suede Shoes” from the chart’s pinnacle during a time when rockabilly artists such as Perkins and Elvis Presley were regularly making inroads on the country charts.

A decade later, Price was again prominent as country music recalibrated into the pop-aimed, string-laden sounds of the 1960s. Sweet Memories includes a rendition of the classic folk song “Danny Boy,” written by Frederic Weatherly, which became a top 10 country hit for Price in 1967, representing a shift from hard-charging honky-tonk singer to countrypolitan crooner.

“He was probably the first successful country singer to do the full orchestra with ‘For the Good Times,’ and all that,” Franklin says.

Unlike Price’s version, the Gill/Franklin rendering of “Danny Boy” features steel guitar front and center. “This song allowed Vince [to do] voice leading, when the voice gets up to the change and it’s like he’s pulling the band along. You can’t hardly do that in modern music, but these old songs had a lot of space. It’s a unique cut,” Franklin says.

Two songs on the album — “Healing Hands of Time” and the Hank Williams Sr.-written “Weary Blues From Waitin’ — nod to two of Price’s essential musical connections.

In the early 1950s, Price joined Williams on tour and recorded “Weary.” At one point, the two musicians were roommates and Price used Williams’ backing band, The Drifting Cowboys, as his own backing band. After Williams’ death on New Year’s Day in 1953, Price continued touring with members of the Drifting Cowboys, which later morphed into Price’s the Cherokee Cowboys.

Price’s musical acuity bore out not only in his ability to encompass an array of styles, but also in the caliber of talent that passed through the Cherokee Cowboys over the years: Johnny Bush, Buddy Emmons, Buddy Spicher, Nelson, Roger Miller, and Johnny Paycheck, among them. Meanwhile, Nelson, Harlan Howard and Hank Cochran wrote for Pamper Music, which Price co-owned (two Cochran tracks, “I’d Fight the World” and “You Wouldn’t Know Love,” appear on the album).

“That speaks to his talent,” Franklin says. “You can see it happening in any period of country music, where there’s somebody out there that everybody’s going ‘Wow, this guy,’ and everyone wants to be around them. Ray was that guy and he schooled a lot of other great artists.”

While Nelson was playing bass as part of the Cherokee Cowboys, Price recorded his song “Night Life,” making it the title track for his 1963 album. The two would go on to record together several times, including the 1980 album San Antonio Rose, the 2003 project Run That by Me One More Time, and their 2007 album with Merle Haggard, Last of the Breed. Nelson and Price earned a Grammy for their duet “Lost Highway” in 2008.

“Their friendship played a part in this,” Gill says. “All this stuff has a deep, personal meaning. He and Willie were best buds, and these are just crazy great songs.”

Adding to the musical ties, Franklin and Gill worked with Price on his last album, Beauty Is…The Final Sessions, which released in 2014, just four months after Price’s death in December 2013, at the age of 87. Gill lent vocals to two tracks on the album. Franklin and Gill, as part of The Time Jumpers, also played an indelible role in another Price tribute project: Nelson’s 2016 album For the Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price.

“The Time Jumpers were on about half of those songs and we cut a bunch of great shuffles and triple fiddles. Gill recalls, adding, “It was a great experience until [producer] Fred [Foster] called me and said, ‘I need you to sing harmony on about half of this record.’ I said, ‘That’s hard to do,’ and he said, ‘You’re the only man I know that can do it,’ so I gave it a whirl. I was doing like three words at a time. It was painstaking, but it was cool,” Gill says of the process of singing harmony to Nelson’s famously fluid vocal phrasing.

Franklin and Gill hope Sweet Memories will bring listeners deeper into Price’s works.

“I think that Ray’s legacy will be how much he changed music,” Franklin says. “Everybody was following him because he was a singer. When he put strings on, you had Faron Young, you had everybody else doing the same thing. I think there are new artists now, like Ernest, who want to know about the past, and have a deep respect for older artists. Hopefully this record will say, ‘Hey, it’s worth looking at these songs.’ And there are a lot of great singers out there, but the songs they sing are really wordy. It’d be nice every now and then, maybe they’ll slip a song in there and get influenced by Ray.”

Gill notes that Bakersfield and Sweet Memories are just the beginning of salutes by Franklin and him.

“We always intended on doing a series and we still have several in our back pocket that we’d love to do — George Jones, Conway [Twitty], Little Jimmy Dickens, are still kind of in the works of possibilities.”

02 Aug 2023

Lil Wayne: Photos From the Billboard Cover Shoot

Five years ago, Lil Wayne sat down in his Miami recording studio and spoke in depth with Billboard for the first time in almost a decade. The trailblazing rapper and entrepreneur stood at a crossroads: On the verge of releasing what he had declared would be his final album, Tha Carter V, he had finally settled the three-year lawsuit against his former label Cash Money that had delayed the project’s release and just been awarded sole ownership of the Young Money imprint he had launched in 2003.

So as Aug. 11 — the 50th anniversary of hip-hop — fast approaches alongside Young Money’s own 20th birthday, it’s fitting to be sitting down with Lil Wayne once again. One of the genre’s most innovative and still influential artists, the 40-year-old Louisianian occupies a unique vantage point, forged during a now nearly 30-year journey that began in 1997 with the New Orleans group Hot Boys and soon grew into a multimillion-selling solo career. And that’s not counting the still-growing list of hit collaborations he’s had with a diverse array of fellow hip-hop and R&B artists — including Drake, Nicki Minaj, Future, 2 Chainz, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige and Lil Baby — as well as other intrepid pairings with artists up and down the genre aisles: Madonna, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Imagine Dragons, Fall Out Boy, Romeo Santos and Shakira, among others. In the course of hip-hop’s own evolution, Wayne’s career is a bridge between then and now, between the genre’s storied, hard-won past and its next-gen, global future.

Read the full Lil Wayne cover story here.

02 Aug 2023

Hip-Hop 50: Why Innovation Still Rules Lil Wayne’s World

Five years ago, Lil Wayne sat down in his Miami recording studio and spoke in depth with Billboard for the first time in almost a decade. The trailblazing rapper and entrepreneur stood at a crossroads: On the verge of releasing what he had declared would be his final album, Tha Carter V, he had finally settled the three-year lawsuit against his former label Cash Money that had delayed the project’s release and just been awarded sole ownership of the Young Money imprint he had launched in 2003.

So as Aug. 11 — the 50th anniversary of hip-hop — fast approaches alongside Young Money’s own 20th birthday, it’s fitting to be sitting down with Lil Wayne once again. One of the genre’s most innovative and still influential artists, the 40-year-old Louisianian occupies a unique vantage point, forged during a now nearly 30-year journey that began in 1997 with the New Orleans group Hot Boys and soon grew into a multimillion-selling solo career. And that’s not counting the still-growing list of hit collaborations he’s had with a diverse array of fellow hip-hop and R&B artists — including Drake, Nicki Minaj, Future, 2 Chainz, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige and Lil Baby — as well as other intrepid pairings with artists up and down the genre aisles: Madonna, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Imagine Dragons, Fall Out Boy, Romeo Santos and Shakira, among others. In the course of hip-hop’s own evolution, Wayne’s career is a bridge between then and now, between the genre’s storied, hard-won past and its next-gen, global future.

Young Money Records executive vp/GM Karen Civil, who began running Wayne’s label and several additional portfolios — including his rum brand, Bumbu, and his underwear line, Ethika — in March, says that she also looks at him “as a tree, a foundation. Through the years, we’ve seen different branches blossom, from Nicki and Drake to his businesses, including Young Money, and his relationship with [label president] Mack Maine. A lot of people know Drake and Wayne. But he’s set up so many other people — Tyga is one — who have given him his flowers, like, ‘You’re the reason I rap.’ Those moments mean a lot because he loves to see people around him win.”

Producer-rapper Swizz Beatz has personally witnessed Wayne’s evolution from the time when, as he recalls, they were both “the youngest ones” on the Cash Money and Ruff Ryders tour in 2000. “I knew he was special then, and he’s definitely special now,” continues Swizz, who has collaborated with Wayne for more than 20 years. “It takes a special eye and ear to see a Drake before he’s Drake or a Nicki before she’s Nicki … or the many other artists he’s been involved with who are some of the biggest artists alongside himself to date. That comes from his investment of time, his eye, energy and business sense. He’s responsible for this generation of music.”

Before he could provide a foundation for others, Wayne had to build his own. Over his career, he’s notched five No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and 12 top 10s. Tha Carter III, released in 2008, spent three weeks at No. 1 — making it the Wayne album with the most weeks at that perch — and has racked up 221 weeks total on the chart, the most of any of his releases; in September 2022, the RIAA recertified it at eight times platinum.

On the Billboard Hot 100, the five-time Grammy winner has claimed a total of 25 top 10s — including gems “A Milli”; “She Will,” featuring Drake; and “6 Foot 7 Foot,” featuring Cory Gunz — and three No. 1s: “Lollipop,” featuring Static Major (Wayne’s first RIAA diamond track, certified in December); Jay Sean’s “Down,” featuring Wayne; and DJ Khaled’s star-studded “I’m the One,” which, along with Wayne’s guest spot, also features Justin Bieber, Quavo and Chance the Rapper. With 185 total Hot 100 entries — up from 138 just five years ago — Wayne has the fourth-most songs on the chart ever behind Drake, Taylor Swift and the Glee cast.

“Wayne is definitely somebody who continues to create his own blueprint from rap to rock,” says Civil. “I just love the fact that he doesn’t put himself in one category. He continues to reinvent himself and do new things — like becoming a professional skateboarder at 40. He doesn’t put an age limit on things. He doesn’t allow a title, a job or one career set to define him. Seeing the plethora of different people, from [Lil Uzi Vert] to YoungBoy [Never Broke Again] to others who are creating their own genres and sounds, is a testament to Wayne creating that lane.”

Lil Wayne

Balenciaga T-shirt and jacket, Peter Marco jewelry, Louis Vuitton eyewear.

Ramona Rosales

And it certainly no longer looks like the ever-busy multihyphenate — who has released an album and two mixtapes since Tha Carter V — will stop recording any time soon; “retirement be damned” seems to now be his motto. According to Civil, Wayne has “quite a few singles” in the pipeline as both lead and featured artist. He and 2 Chainz are currently collaborating on ColleGrove II, the sequel to their 2016 collaboration. Though no release date has been set, Tha Carter VI is also in the works. Wayne recently wrapped 30 dates on his Welcome to Tha Carter Tour, where Drake, Chance the Rapper, Cam’ron and 2 Chainz made special appearances.

And he was in his element opening the ESPY Awards in July with an apropos performance of his 2008 hit “A Milli.” “He was being a true artist, rearranging the words to the song to make sure that it was curated to the event,” Swizz Beatz notes. “I thought that was genius.”

Meanwhile, Wayne continues to develop hip-hop’s next generation of talent, working with Civil and Maine to build his Young Money roster, which includes Allan Cubas, Drizzy P, Euro, Jay Jones, Lil Twist, Mellow Rackz and Yaj Kader.

“Wayne is the ultimate outlier. There was nobody in the history of the genre who sounded like him, looked like him, or released music like him. Everybody caught his wave and just tried to hang on for dear life,” says Republic Records founder and COO Avery Lipman (Young Money is distributed through Republic/Universal Music Group.) “It goes without saying he’s one of the greatest artists of all time, but he’s also one of the most visionary businessmen this industry has ever seen.”

It’s a humble, humorous, polite (“thank you, Miss Gail”), self-deprecating and brief, to-the-point Lil Wayne who sits down once again today with Billboard — this time in West Hollywood — to reflect on his legacy and hip-hop’s future against the backdrop of the genre’s 50th anniversary. With a disarming and sly, diamond-studded grin, Wayne underscores his deep-rooted love of hip-hop. “In my mind, every single time I say the word ‘work,’ I ask God to forgive me,” he says. “Cuz I know this has never been a job. It’s just a dream come true.”

Looking back on your career thus far, what does this momentous anniversary mean to you — and to hip-hop itself — since naysayers initially dismissed the fledgling genre as a fad?

I think it probably means more to me than I even know, because I am still in it, a deep part of it, and I’m still learning every day. Hip-hop will never be over. But I also think that maybe down the line, I’ll be able to answer that question better because I don’t think I know how much it means to me yet — because it means that much.

You signed with Cash Money before you were even a teen. Did you know that early that you could build a career as a rap artist?

I’ve been rapping since I was 7, actually. And I signed my deal when I was 11. I didn’t think about nothing else other than “We about to be the biggest everything.” (Laughs.) Like, I’m about to be this … I’m about to date her. I’m about to do … (Laughs again.) I was a kid, you know? It was like, what are you going [to want] for Christmas? As far as unforgettable moments go [back then], I would say that was probably my first time grabbing a mic as a kid at a block party, breaking my fear and rapping stuff that I had rapped in the mirror for, like, thousands of hours the night before.

Lil Wayne

Ethika T-shirt; Balenciaga jacket, pants and shoes; Peter Marco jewelry; Emotionally Unavailable hat.

Ramona Rosales

So given your early vantage point, what are the biggest changes you’ve seen happen in hip-hop?

Right now is the time where I see the most change in our genre, because back then, I think it was just progress more than change; progression from what was already set before us and also us honoring what was set before us. But now it’s not that no one’s honoring what was before them — it’s just that the world has changed thanks to social media. There was no such thing as social media when I started doing this. But social media has changed the genre and opened doors. That’s definitely what helped contribute to its going global. [Social media] is good and bad.

Want to give examples of the good and the bad?

No. (Laughs.)

What has been the hardest part of your journey?

The hardest part for me is not being able to do [my music], for whatever reason. Not being able to record. Not being able to tour or do a show. That’s always the hardest part.

What one career lesson have you carried along since the beginning?

Never, never stop learning. That’s how you humble yourself. Humility goes a long way and it’ll keep you learning. I just try to get better and better and better.

Did you ever subscribe to the notion that hip-hop is only a young man’s game?

No, never. Because when I was growing up, all the rappers were way older than me. So I don’t know what that notion or narrative was, because it was never a young man’s game to me. I’ve always felt I had to fight my way in when I was a young man.

You’ve mapped a blueprint in terms of musical innovation and entrepreneurial pursuits like your Trukfit fashion line, the Young Money APAA Sports agency, the cannabis brand GKUA Ultra Premium and other business ventures. How do you perceive the role you’ve played in that aspect of rap’s evolution?

Expanding yourself and becoming a brand, getting involved in other businesses … the small part that I’ve played is probably just setting an example for those watching me and those coming after me. And with that said, I got that from watching Jay-Z, Reverend Run and Russ [Simmons] move. How they never stopped and just evolved, [especially] the way Jay has evolved. (Laughs.) I’m trying to follow stuff like that. And hopefully those coming up under me will follow my footsteps.

Do you have a wish list of other business opportunities you’d like to pursue?

Oh, no. I don’t have a list. You limit yourself when you put a list together. (Laughs.) But I can guarantee there has to be a feeling that makes me go forward with any [business] decision that I make. So therefore I know that it is organic.

You underscored your electric stage presence with 2010’s Rebirth, your creative leap into rock after ventures into blending rap with pop and singing. What influence has that had on next-gen artists with similar vibes, like Lil Uzi Vert, Travis Scott, Young Thug and Trippie Redd?

Sometimes people ask me how I feel about everybody looking like me, everybody getting tattoos, etc. That’s like seeing your kid come out of the room and looking just like you; it feels amazing. So the visible influence is kind of obvious because I know for a fact I didn’t get this look from anyone. There was no one that inspired this look. I just ran into looking like this. (Laughs.) But other than that, I hope that my work ethic [is influential as well].

How would you describe your work ethic? You seem like a 24/7 studio guy.

Exactly. So when other artists get around me, you know, they can smell that. It is impossible for them not to. And whenever they leave, they leave with something, as they remember that smell. And hopefully it does something for them.

So is your phone ringing off the hook with people asking you for advice?

No, not advice, not at all. That’s because they don’t have my number. (Laughs.) I have three sons and a beautiful daughter who get the advice.

On Billboard’s recent GOAT list of hip-hop’s top 50 artists, you landed at No. 7, between The Notorious B.I.G. at No. 6 and Drake at No. 8. What did you think of your placement?

That’s awesome. You would be happy to be anywhere on that list.

So which rappers would be in the top five of your own GOAT list?

There’s no specific order, but it’s simple. For me, it’s always been Missy Elliott, Jay-Z, UGK, Goodie Mob and Biggie.

Why those five? What’s the throughline for you in terms of their place in the genre’s evolution?

It’s because I organically grew up on [them]. You know, when you’re asked, “How’d you start listening?,” there’s a story for everybody … like, someone I know told me to start listening or whatever. But like I said, every decision I make is organic.

What does it take to break new hip-hop artists today?

Today, you have to know social media. If you don’t, you have to have a team that does. That said, the main thing today is what it has been yesterday and the day before yesterday: You just have to have real talent. Real, everlasting and undeniable talent. That’s how you still break an artist. Once you find that in an artist, then use and highlight that as much as you can, because it’s hard. There are lots of artists that want to be exactly what they see [and hear] on social media. They just want to be that instead of being what they actually can be. So get them to believe in what they are and what they truly can be. And even if it is a challenge, that challenge has always been one of the most fun things ever for me. I love it.

What exactly do you say or do when working with and developing new artists, since, as you just said, it’s so difficult to rise above everything that’s out there?

That you have to be at least good in whatever genre that you’re attacking, whether it’s hip-hop or not. And then you have to be willing to work as hard as you can to turn that good around into great. So come high at me, and you’ll be talking about the greatest. It’s that plain and simple. There are no keys. You just need to believe in what you’ve got and what you’re attacking, if you believe in it. Show me. Think harder, you know? Challenge yourself.

Lil Wayne

Ramona Rosales

What’s been your own secret to longevity?

I don’t have a secret. I just work. I just keep going. I never stop. It’s just the work ethic, plain and simple. No more, no less; I don’t do nothing but my music. And also, in my mind, every single time I say the word “work,” I ask God to forgive me. Cuz I know this has never been a job. It’s just a dream come true. So that’s why I’ve never stopped.

Is it difficult for you to say that to someone who’s not there yet?

Not at all. I can’t tell any other artists that. But if you’re my artist, oh hell, yeah. I’ll let them know. You better go do that sh-t again. (Laughs.)

What are your thoughts on the growing ranks of women rappers? Why has it taken so long for this to happen?

My answer would be, honestly, that it just wasn’t as interesting to women, I don’t think, in the way that Nicki [Minaj], Meg [Megan Thee Stallion] and others are. It’s awesome. I don’t think they looked at or viewed it as something that they wanted to do and actually make a living from it. That’s another part of it. They probably didn’t look at this as something that they could make a living out of.

And perhaps the industry has become a bit more open-minded, too?

Oh, yeah. Definitely. We’re here for everything now.

Where is the future of hip-hop headed — any trends that you’re noticing?

Obviously, always up and bigger and better. Also, what I’m seeing now is the art and the ultimate artist being able to do anything. It’s like when you and I were talking about basketball. Back then, we were looking for a Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar]; if you were tall, we wanted you in the paint. Not even knowing how to shoot a three-pointer; we didn’t even want to see that. Now we’ve got these seven-footers coming in, and we need you [to] know how to dribble like Allen Iverson, how to shoot like Steph Curry. You need to know how to defend like GP [Gary Payton]. And that’s the ultimate artist. I believe that that’s where the genre is headed: artists able to do everything — from singing to tapping into different emotions.

What’s your opinion on artificial intelligence and its potential effect on creativity?

Someone asked me about that recently. And they were trying to tell me that AI could make a voice that sounds just like me. But it’s not me, because I’m amazing. I’m like, is this AI thing going to be amazing too? Because I am naturally, organically amazing. I’m one of a kind. So actually, I would love to see that thing try to duplicate this motherf–ker.

In the wake of AI and other emerging technology, have mixtapes lost their relevance?

The terminology or definition has changed, that’s all. Mixtapes can mean an album mix or anything now. But when it comes to Lil Wayne, everybody knows how I approach mixtapes. So my mixtapes won’t ever change.

Any hints as to what fans can expect when you perform Aug. 11 at the hip-hop 50th anniversary concert at Yankee Stadium?

Do not set expectations for me, because I will always exceed them. So just go there with a clear mind, expect the best — and I’ll be better than that.

Cover, Lil Wayne

This story will appear in the Aug. 5, 2023, issue of Billboard.

02 Aug 2023

Iconic Artists Group Has Got Cher, Babe

She’s already one of the most famous mononymous celebrities in the world, and now Academy Award, Emmy and Grammy winner Cher has partnered with Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group to expose new generations to her prolific, six-decade-long music career.

IAG has acquired Cher’s full interest in her past sound recordings and compositions for a sum that the company declined to reveal.

The 77-year-old singer-actress, who is now recording her first holiday album, has landed a No. 1 single on one of Billboard’s charts in each decade from the 1960s through the 2010s, beginning with her work as half of the duo Sonny & Cher, whose pop hits led to the hit CBS prime-time variety show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, which ran from 1971 to 1974. But she got her start when she was 17, singing background vocals for late producer Phil Spector, whom she refers to as “Phillip.”

Like many acts on IAG’s growing roster, Cher has a relationship with Azoff that goes back to the ’70s, when they were introduced by Cher’s sister, Georganne LaPiere, who was a close friend of Azoff’s. “I’ve never worked with her professionally,” he says, “but obviously have been a fan.”

Cher says her decision to make a deal with IAG came down to the respect Azoff shows artists. “I trust Irving,” she says in an exclusive interview with Billboard. “If he has a great idea, I respect him. And if I have a great idea, I know he will listen attentively. My voice will be heard.”

IAG’s first project with Cher will celebrate the 25th anniversary of “Believe,” her electro-pop hit that arrived in October 1998 and was Billboard’s No. 1 song of 1999.

Although she has yet to talk strategy with IAG, Cher says she and Mark Taylor, who co-produced the song, discussed building a box set around “Believe” and her album of the same name — a conversation in which Taylor proposed an ambitious agenda for her. “I said I’d like to do a concert with my favorite songs, and he said, ‘Why don’t you do an album?’ I said, ‘OK.’ And he said, ‘Why don’t you do a concert for the Christmas album?’ And I went, ‘Wait, dude. C’mon,’ ” she recalls with a laugh.

Cher, who is managed by Roger Davies and Lindsey Scott, concluded her last major tour in 2005 and a Las Vegas residency in 2011. Asked if she plans to tour again, she replies: “I don’t know,” although she says there will not be live performances tied to the anniversary of “Believe”: “I’m not going to be ready that soon.”

She would also like to explore releasing a box set of her lesser-known songs, including some of her more recent recordings. “Some of my favorite, favorite songs weren’t hits,” she says. “I wasn’t a very good singer until, oh, my God, I was 40. I met my teacher [Adrienne Angel]. She made me a real singer.”

Her wish list for such a compilation would include tracks that fared well on the dance charts but weren’t necessarily mainstream pop hits, including 2001’s “Song for the Lonely”; 2010’s “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me,” which won composer Diane Warren a Golden Globe; and 1991’s “Save Up All Your Tears.”

There are also plans to license her vast catalog of hits for film/TV synchs. “I think that’s great because they’re good songs,” Cher says. “Not all of them, but a lot of them are really good. I’m surprised sometimes that people know me or know my songs.”

IAG’s acquisition includes the international share in her late ex-husband Sonny Bono’s publishing catalog, which she received in their 1975 divorce — a collection that Azoff says is “vastly underappreciated” and includes such Sonny & Cher hits as “The Beat Goes On” and “I Got You Babe.” Cher says she would love for those songs to find new ears, but adds, “It never actually occurred to me that kids would want to hear those old songs.” (IAG does not have a stake in her Los Angeles-based CHERlato pop-up gelato truck, which serves flavors like Snap Out of It! and kefir and cardamom.)

IAG president Jimmy Edwards says the company plans to mine all decades of Cher’s career. “She’s the symbol of empowerment,” he says. “She’s successful in everything she does — music, film, TV, fashion, you name it. There’s so much story to tell. That’s our goal, always: to make sure we’re working with our partners to help curate that story.”

02 Aug 2023

Watch the Villainous, Twisted Take on ‘Toxic’ In Broadway’s Britney Musical ‘Once Upon a One More Time’

Fans of Broadway’s Britney Spears musical Once Upon a One More Time demanding “gimme more” just got lucky — or, more specifically, “Toxic.” The team behind the show – which finds fairy tale princesses singing Spears’ pop classics while discovering their own agency beyond “happily ever after” – is offering up a new cast performance clip from the production. This OUAOMT video shows the play’s antagonists, Stepmother (Jennifer Simard) and Narrator (Adam Godley), singing a twisted update on “Toxic,” Spears’ Grammy-winning top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

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In case you haven’t seen the Britney-approved Broadway musical yet, brace yourself for this take on “Toxic.” Yes, the unforgettable strings are present, but the song’s delirious dance-pop energy has been subverted into an unsettling, disorienting electronic abyss, making this a villainous vocal showcase for Simard and Godley, both two-time Tony Award nominees.

If you think this version brings to mind the moody music of a Grammy-sweeping “Bad Guy,” you’re not wrong. “We love ‘Toxic’ as it was originally created, but tonally, it was too inherently playful for a musical narrative that needed to darken and take a turn,” Keone & Mari Madrid, the directors and choreographers of OUAOMT, tell Billboard. “So, we decided to take inspiration from some of our old work with Billie Eilish. Basically asking ourselves, ‘If Billie covered “Toxic,” what might that sound like?’ Our cast and creative team all leaned in to that dark, monochromatic tone.”

“It’s an honor and responsibility to try and do justice to Ms. Spears, and the song for which she won her first Grammy. There is only one Britney, and I think it would be a mistake to try and do an impression,” Simard tells Billboard. She adds that a total re-imagining of the song was a necessity for the storytelling arc of the musical. “It is a real turning point in the show where we illustrate that fairytales are, in fact, dark. If that moment doesn’t work, the entire show doesn’t work. No pressure! But I think we did it,” she says. (You can watch the video above for proof of that.)

“We all realized early on that it was vitally important that ‘Toxic’ shows these two characters, Stepmother and Narrator, undergoing a complete transformation. Story-wise, it is a crucial turning point, as the Stepmother takes matters into her own hands and transforms Narrator into something – that by the end of the number – even she can’t control,” says Godley, who joins Simard during the mind-bending “Toxic” performance. “At the heart of it, of course, is Jennifer’s unmatched ability to sing the number in such an incredibly powerful, extraordinary, and unexpected way. “

“This is undeniably a huge hinge moment for the show. Narrative-wise. Energy-wise. It’s the ‘dark night of the soul’ and if we’re not delivering here, the rest of the story truly suffers,” Keone & Mari Madrid tell Billboard. “Jennifer and Adam helped us find such a delicate yet sensual dance of power that happens between their characters. They bring so much to the table – and are incredible humans, as much as they are artists. One example is Jennifer’s wild-siren-song-note at the end of the number. It was something she was keeping in her pocket, that we didn’t know she had, and when she brought it forward that moment really brought the number to a crescendo. That vocal absolutely nails everything home.”

You can check out Simard’s eyebrow-raising note beginning at the 3:15 time stamp. Be sure to catch Liv Battista’s eerie back bend at the 1:40 mark — keep in mind she’s doing that move eight times a week.

“All our company and our departments came through for this moment,” the directing-choreography duo tell Billboard. “And when all the elements are firing together, it’s really something.”

Once Upon a One More Time is currently running at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway in New York City.

02 Aug 2023

Nike SNKRS Day 2023 Is On The Horizon, But Will It Live Up To The Hype?

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Sneakerheads across the globe have been cursing the Nike SNKRS app for a while now due to the impossibility of hitting on a coveted pair of grails in recent years. But best believe we’ll all be checking in when SNKRS Day 2023 goes down come next month.

According to Highsnobiety, SNKRS Day 2023 is set take place on September 9 and though information is scarce, we do expect some high profile sneakers such as the Air Jordan 1 “Lost and Found” and Air Jordan 4 “SB”‘s to restock on that special day. At the same time, Nike has a habit of restocking kicks that no one asked for such as the Air Jordan 1 “Brotherhood” and Air Jordan 13 “Playoffs,” so there’s a good chance that SNKRS Day will be offering enough bricks to build an outhouse on your property.

Highsnobiety reports:

Fans are already predicting the return of a coveted drop like the Chicago 1s, Nike SB Jordan 4 “Pine Green,” Tiffany AF1s, or Jarritos Dunks for 2023 SNKRS Day.

Last year, Nike dropped the Taxi Jordan 1s, Canyon Purple 4s, Air Max 1 “Tour Yellow,” and Air Force 1 “SNKRS Day.” And judging by screenshots shared across social media, quite a few Nike fans got lucky that day — some glimmer of hope for those over their endless SNKRS Ls.

We honestly doubt Nike will restock that kind of heat this year, but even if they do chances are they’ll raffle them off, hence, leading to all kinds of rage and disappointment that tends to follow after having to wait 10 to 30 minutes to be told “Hold this L, b.” Should it actually be a FCFS scenario, then expect the app to crash ridiculously and have a problem submitting your payment if you’re not getting booted out the app entirely.

Yes, SNKRS day will be struggle one way or another, but best believe we’ll be trying our best to pick up a pair of any highly coveted grails that we missed out on throughout this year.

What do y’all think will happen come SNKRS Day 2023? Is Nike going to bless us with a second chance to get some heat or are they just going to unload all the remaining bricks they have left in their warehouses? Sound off in the comment section below.

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