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Azealia Banks is more known for her fiery social media rants over her high-quality music these days, and she once again put a fellow artist in her crosshairs. This time, Wale took some shots from the Harlem rapper, and in typical Azealia Banks fashion, the alleged cat cooker got to it with a barrage of insults with some advice couched within the mix.
As spotted on X, Azealia Banks, who is currently on tour in Europe, had time between sets to hop online and chop it up with her fans and followers. On April 2, AB quote-tweeted a post from Wale which read, “I’m not sellin my soul . I’m not playin them other games either .. ain’t no “era” I ain’t never stopped…hope this helps wit the nostalgia bait.”
In Banks’ caption, she wrote, “N*gga the only hot song you ever made is “ridin in that black joint,”. It’s no shade . But ur rap swag and delivery and persona got something off in a very generic type of way. It’s highkey cause u African no shade. U shoulda been African T-pain.”
In the thread, Ralph Folarin asked, “Can we further explore the African thing… I find your commentary interesting,” prompting Banks to fire back with the following:
It actually is and was given in good hearted faith but ur just so weird and girly and talking about menstrual blood and doing stupid blipster sh*t and fake hustle music and always trying to stunt and don’t even know how to pull a good one. If you’d just realize that it’s not 2012 and the trend of insulting Azealia Banks for the fuck of it is no longer in style
And that Azealia Banks is very f*cking intelligent
And accept my compliment for riding in that black joint as an indication that I have been following your music since I was 16. I am now 33. And it is on a playlist with Zoey Dollas “Blow a Check”.
Please don’t get it twisted dear.
To his credit, Wale continued to engage and may have held his own depending on who is keeping score. Instead of giving you a direct blow-by-blow account that stretched for days, we’ll just share all the tweets connected to the initial exchange below, along with fan commentary that makes sense.
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50 Cent is welcoming Eminem into life as a grandpa. The G-Unit boss congratulated Em on becoming a grandpa on social media over the weekend after the Detroit legend’s daughter, Hailie Jade, revealed she gave birth to her son in March. “Congratulations This is the best WOW,” 50 wrote to X on April 5 alongside […]
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Ariana Grande‘s 14th signature fragrance dropped during the summer of 2024, and now Sephora is releasing a gift set of her LOVENOTES perfume.
Hot off the heels of Ari’s Billboard 200-topping deluxe edition of Eternal Sunshine, the Pink Woods Perfume Set features the Eau de Parfum and Eau de Parfum Travel Spray bundled together in a premium pink roses box — which is ready for gifting. Priced at $90, the limited-edition LOVENOTES by Ariana Grande Pink Woods Perfume Set is only available for purchase at Sephora.
If you’re not interested in the set, you can still pick up Ariana Grande’s signature fragrance individually. The LOVENOTES Pink Woods Eau de Parfum goes for $80, while the LOVENOTES Eau de Parfum Travel Spray for $32, separately.
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However, it may be worth getting the LOVENOTES Pink Woods Perfume Set because it saves you $22 for both. The fragrance itself has a captivating and airy vibe with sparkling notes of bergamot from Italy and a mixture of tonka bean and cashmere woods with a hint of jasmine petals. It makes for a very entrancing and unexpected scent.
Sephora
Pink Woods Perfume Set
LOVENOTES by Ariana Grande
Sephora
Pink Woods Eau de Parfum
LOVENOTES by Ariana Grande
Sephora
Pink Woods Eau de Parfum Travel Spray
LOVENOTES by Ariana Grande
And since it’s from Sephora, you can get free shipping on orders, if you’re a Sephora Beauty Insider. Not an insider? Sign up for a free membership to get all sorts of perks, such as free shipping on all orders, exclusive deals, Beauty Insider Cash to spend at Sephora and much more. It’s 100% free, so it’s worth a sign up for the free shipping alone. Learn more about the Sephora Beauty Insider rewards program here.
In addition, since Sephora is a retailer with nationwide stores, you can always order online and opt to pick up your goods in-store for free.
Shop the LOVENOTES by Ariana Grande collection at Sephora, below:
Want more? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best powder foundation, press-on nails and refillable lipsticks.
Ed Sheeran‘s been making music long enough to know that not everyone’s going to be a fan of what he puts out — and the same goes for his new song, “Azizam.”
After one reviewer had a particularly harsh assessment of the carefree dance track, which dropped Friday (April 4), the singer-songwriter shared a hilarious, brief response before keeping it moving. The critic — a popular TikToker who shares thoughts on music and pop culture under the name The Swiftologist — had blasted “Azizam” in a recent video, calling the track “the same f–k-ng thing” as many of Sheeran’s past hits.
“‘Shivers,’ ‘Bad Habits’ and ‘Shape of You’ are all the same song [as ‘Azizam’], and they’re all so f—ing annoying,” he’d continued. “There has been no evolution from 2016. I feel like I’m going crazy … I’ll never get these two minutes of my life back.”
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The Swiftologist, whose real name is Zachary, also criticized the four-time Grammy winner’s songwriting style as a whole in the video. “The songs are good in the way that, I don’t know, heroin is good for people,” he’d added. “It’s addictive in a way that is not supposed to be good for the human brain. The way that he writes songs with the specific intention for them to be hits, he is soulless.”
So, how did Sheeran react? “lol,” the musician simply wrote in the comments.
For what it’s worth, Zachary offered in response to Sheeran’s reply: “King I’m so sorry. But we need to come up with something else.”
It’s certainly not the first time someone has critiqued the British superstar’s songwriting, and with Sheeran recently announcing plans to release at least five more albums in the coming years, it won’t be the last. In March, he appeared on The Tonight Show and revealed that his next album, Play — for which “Azizam” serves as the lead single — will be followed by LPs titled Pause, Rewind, Fast-Forward and Stop.
The series mirrors the sequence of Sheeran’s first five albums, which fit a mathematics theme: + (2011), x (2014), ÷ (2017), = (2021) and – (2023). And though critics such as Zachary may not be a fan of the musician’s catalog, a lot of other people are; all five of the aforementioned LPs reached the top 5 of the Billboard 200, while nine songs spread out across those albums have charted in the Billboard Hot 100‘s top 10.
See The Swiftologist’s review of “Azizam” — and look for Sheeran’s comment — below.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura will testify against him under her real name at his looming sex trafficking and racketeering trial, according to new court filings.
Ventura, whose civil rape lawsuit triggered the rapper’s downfall, will not use the pseudonym “Victim-1” when she takes the stand at his May trial and will instead “testify under her own name,” federal prosecutors told a judge in filings on Friday (April 4). But three other alleged victims of Combs should remain anonymous in court filings and at the trial, prosecutors wrote.
“This case has already received an exceptional amount of media coverage, which will presumably only increase as trial proceeds,” the government lawyers wrote. “Permitting these measures will prevent unnecessary public disclosure of the victims’ identities, and the harassment from the media and others, undue embarrassment, and other adverse consequences.”
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Combs, also known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, was once one of the most powerful men in the music industry. But in November 2023, Cassie filed a civil lawsuit claiming he had repeatedly physically abused her over the course of their decade-long relationship, including one instance of rape. That case quickly ended with a settlement, but it sparked a cascade of allegations that has not yet stopped.
In September, Combs was indicted on charges that he misused the “employees, resources, and influence” of his business empire to “fulfill his sexual desires.” The case centers on elaborate “freak off” parties in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex, as well as on alleged acts of violence to keep victims silent.
A trial is currently set to start on May 5. If convicted on all of the charges, Combs faces a potential life prison sentence.
Since filing her civil lawsuit under her real name, Cassie has been known as one of Combs’ accusers, but she has been listed in court documents only as “Victim-1.” The identities of three other women cited in court documents as Victim-2, Victim-3, and Victim-4 remain unknown.
In Friday’s filing, prosecutors said they wanted to keep it that way. They cited recent cases against R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell and others in which judges allowed alleged victims to remain anonymous.
“The practice of allowing alleged victims of sexual abuse to testify under a pseudonym has been widely permitted because requiring alleged victims to publicly provide their names could chill their willingness to testify for fear of having their personal histories publicized and may cause further harassment or embarrassment,” prosecutors wrote. “There is no reason for this Court to deviate from that well-established practice here.”
Lizzo is gearing up to release her next album Love in Real Life, and she’s reflecting on the mental health break and journey she had leading up to the album.
The star joined the On Purpose With Jay Shetty podcast, where she discussed taking a “gap year” in releasing music. “I don’t feel like I’ve expressed myself fully in the last two years, like how I want to. I feel like I’ve been kind of holding my tongue and like staying to myself, but I think that it’s for the best because you know, running your mouth these days,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just unnecessary and sometimes it can get you into some stuff you wasn’t even trying to get into because people will misinterpret it and run with it. I found when I was like, I’m taking a gap year, I’m protecting my peace. But like, people were like, wait, so what’s that supposed to mean?”
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Lizzo has already released two songs from her upcoming album, “Still Bad” and the title track. Aside from “Pink” for Greta Gerwig’s 2023 Barbie soundtrack, the first singles from the project mark the Yitty founder’s first proper releases since 2022’s Special, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and spawned two-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single “About Damn Time.”
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It also marks her first album since the harassment lawsuit brought by three of her former dancers in August 2023.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles by dancers Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez, accuses Lizzo (real name Melissa Jefferson) and her Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc. of a wide range of legal wrongdoing and included dozens of pages of detailed allegations. Lizzo denied the claims in a response shared to Twitter, calling them “false allegations” and “sensationalized stories.”
Lizzo told Shetty of public perception, “I think when it was out of my control and someone else could tell a story about me that wasn’t true and people believed it, it crushed me,” before adding, “I think what I learned about fame is, even if that’s really me, it just becomes kind of like a, a fictional story that you, it’s a character, it’s a brand, it’s a thing that now doesn’t belong to you anymore.”
She continued, “Whoever Lizzo is to the world is not really even me. And that disconnect is depressing. And I think the only remedy to that is continuing to be myself. That’s the time. I just have to continue to be me and people will see me for who I am.”
Ultimately, Lizzo concluded, “I’m never gonna stop… If anything, I’m more careful now. I can’t just let any author into my life who can make me a villain. I can’t do that anymore. ’cause I’m the author and I. Taking back my narrative by continuing to tell my story from me, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to do that.”
Watch the full episode below.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. If you’re looking to improve your damaged strands, you can rest easy — Beyoncé’s beautifying hairline Cécred has officially launched at […]
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. With the surprise box office success of A Minecraft Movie, the video game adaptation is one of the hottest things in […]
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J. Cole closed out this weekend’s fifth annual and final Dreamville Festival in Raleigh, N.C., delivering a crowd-pleasing set while using the moment to address the festival’s end. During his time on stage, J. Cole says that while the Dreamville Festival is no longer, Raleigh will host an annual musical and community-focused celebration, and Cole promised to be a part of that movement going forward.
J. Cole graced the stage Sunday (April 6) at Dorothea Dix Park in Raleigh in front of a sold-out crowd that saw the likes of EarthGang, Ari Lennox, Bas, Omen, Cozz, J.I.D., Tems, Keyshia Cole, BigXThaPlug, Coco Jones, Wale, and more.
Cole invited fellow headliner Erykah Badu onstage for his set, and the pair delivered Cole’s “Too Deep For The Intro” from his 2010 mixtape, Friday Night Lights, which samples Badu’s classic “Didn’t Cha Know” track.
The Fayetteville native paused his set to address the chatter surrounding the conclusion of the Dreamville Festival, but eased concerns by stating fully that the show will go on, but under a new arrangement the city made that will bring shows to town over the next four years.
“We said this is the last Dreamville Festival,” J. Cole said as he asked for the crowd’s full attention.. “I’m just keeping it 100 with y’all, that sh*t be a lot. We want to put on some amazing st for y’all, we want to do it for Carolina, you know what I mean? Because, we love being able to offer that and bring amazing artists, and that sh*t be a lot.”
Cole added, “But as I’m walking around today, 73 people said to me, ‘Cole this can’t be the last one,’ but I’m a just let y’all know our plan. We still gonna bring some sh*t. It will still exist. It might not have the motherf*cking Dreamville Festival name on it, but we will be back with this feel.”
During our time on the ground, people we spoke to off the record told Hip-Hop Wired that the city struck a four-year agreement with Live Nation, although we haven’t seen a confirmed press release stating so.
Check out the footage from the Dreamville Festival by clicking here.
Stay tuned to Hip-Hop Wired to check out our exclusive recap and backstage interviews with some of the talent and celebrities on hand at the festival.
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Photo: Source: Astrida Valigorsky / Getty
Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum expressed her condolences on Monday (April 7) over the deaths of two photographers on Saturday (April 5) during the AXE Ceremonia music festival in Mexico City. The president said her government would review the license granted to the venue at Parque Bicentenario.
“We regret and send our solidarity to the families of those who lost their lives in this accident,” Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference. “Beyond the fact that it was an accident, we need to look into how the equipment that fell was set up. An investigation needs to be carried out. There should be no impunity in this case.”
Photographers Miguel Ángel Rojas Hernández and Citlali Berenice Giles Rivera died over the weekend when a crane carrying a decorative metal object collapsed during the festival. The accident prompted city authorities to cancel the second day of the event on Sunday (April 6). The attorney general’s office of Mexico City announced the start of an investigation..
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Sheinbaum noted that the mayor’s office of Miguel Hidalgo, the borough where Parque Bicentenario is located, is responsible for authorizing such events, regardless of the federal ownership of the property. As a result, she instructed the Secretariat of Agrarian, Territorial, and Urban Development (SEDATU) to review the venue’s license, assess the conditions under which it was granted, and determine whether it is feasible to revoke their license.
Earlier on Monday, the AXE Ceremonia festival released a statement on the fatal accident, extending its condolences to the victims’ loved ones. “From the very first moment, we have been by the families’ side, providing them with all the support and assistance we can,” it reads.
British band Massive Attack, who, along with rapper Tyler, the Creator, headlined the festival on Sunday, joined in expressing their condolences on social media over the deaths of the photographers. “We are shocked and saddened by the tragic and avoidable deaths of Berenice Giles and Miguel Hernández. Our thoughts are with their families and friends during this difficult time,” the band said in their Instagram Stories.
On Sunday (April 6), friends of the two victims, photographers, journalists, content creators, and members of the public held a protest outside Parque Bicentenario to honor them and demand that there be no impunity in the investigation.
“There wasn’t any clarity about what had happened until we left the event. It’s absolutely devastating,” Mexican artist Luisa Almaguer, who performed as part of Saturday’s lineup at AXE Ceremonia, told Billboard Español. “The show definitely should not have continued.”
On Monday, the funerals for Miguel Ángel Rojas and Berenice Giles were held in Mexico City, according to reports from the N+ Foro news channel.