State Champ Radio Blog
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Trending on Billboard Kehlani, Kali Uchis and EJAE are the latest trailblazers to be honored by ASCAP’s Women Behind the Music. Newly minted 2026 Grammy nominees Kehlani and EJAE (part of the HUNTR/X trio behind the KPop Demon Hunters breakout hit “Golden”) along with Grammy winning-artist Uchis were recognized for their artistry, cultural impact and […]
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Lil Durk says his lawyers have been unfairly “kept in the dark” about death threats that were called in to a judge and the lead prosecutor in his murder-for-hire case.
Attorneys for the Chicago drill star argue in a Thursday (Nov. 13) court filing that they just learned about a seven-month-long FBI investigation into these threats, and that this concealment has severely prejudiced the rapper (Durk Banks) as the clock ticks towards a January trial date. Durk is accused of ordering members of his Only the Family (OTF) crew to shoot his rival, Quando Rondo, in 2022.
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The case is being prosecuted in Los Angeles federal court and chiefly overseen by U.S. District Judge Michael Fitzgerald, though Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue handled Durk’s failed attempt to be released on bail this spring. According to Thursday’s filing, a Durk supporter left four voicemails for Judge Donahue in February with “explicit death threats” related to the charges against him and other OTF members.
The caller allegedly mimicked the sound of gunfire in his messages and said in one message, “If they get life, I’m going to burn this [expletive] down. I’m talking ’bout the world, and I’m going to burn it, burn it to the ground.”
Durk’s lawyers say that in April, a separate caller phoned the case’s lead prosecutor, Ian Yanniello, with more death threats. This person also allegedly threatened courthouse staff and other prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
According to Thursday’s filing, prosecutors and court staff conferred about these death threats, and the FBI investigated the matter extensively. But the defense lawyers say they weren’t clued in until just last month, which they claim is a huge problem.
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“This prolonged nondisclosure — compounded by undisclosed ex parte communications between the prosecution team and the bench about these threats — has irreparably compromised the structural integrity of these proceedings,” reads the filing.
Durk’s lawyers say these death threats could have improperly influenced prosecutors’ decision-making, as well as Judge Donahue’s May ruling that Durk would be a danger to the community if released from jail.
“To state the obvious, Judge Donahue was in no position to consider whether Mr. Banks was too dangerous to be released while having been both personally threatened by someone purporting to act on Mr. Banks’ behalf, and having had her entire workplace physically and violently threatened by the same,” write the rapper’s attorneys.
Durk’s team says the situation has “fatally compromised” his right to a fair trial, which is just two months out. They’re asking that the entire case be dismissed, or at the very least, that the trial be pushed back and reassigned to both a different court and a separate branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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A spokesperson for the prosecution declined to comment on the matter. Reps for the Los Angeles federal courthouse did not immediately return a request for comment.
Durk was arrested last year for allegedly putting a bounty on Rondo’s head. A 2022 shooting at a Los Angeles gas station left Rondo (Tyquian Bowman) unscathed, but Rondo’s friend Lul Pab (Saviay’a Robinson) was killed in the crossfire.
The Chicago rapper denies ordering the hit and says there’s no real evidence against him. The case’s first indictment included lyrics from Durk’s song “Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy,” but those were later removed after defense lawyers noted that the song was written months before the Rondo attack.
Trending on Billboard Latin music stars dripped elegance on the red carpet of the Latin Grammy Awards 2025 on Thursday (Nov. 13), which took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Chilean singer-songwriter Mon Laferte was among the early arrivals, dressed from head to toe in a glamorous femme-fatale look, a nod […]
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The Country Music Association has revealed six individuals it is celebrating as the 2025 CMA International Awards winners, honoring their significant contributions to the global growth of country music.
The honorees will be celebrated during a special reception on Nov. 19 in downtown Nashville and will be recognized onstage that same evening during the pre-telecast ceremony for the 2025 CMA Awards.
Morgan Wallen is the recipient of the International Artist Achievement Award, which recognizes a U.S. artist who has made the most significant creative growth, development and promotion of the country music industry outside of the United States during the eligibility period. His fourth album, I’m the Problem, debuted at No. 1 in seven countries, while he continues to elevate country music on a global stage with sold-out stadium shows and a growing international fanbase.
Canadian artist Cameron Whitcomb is the recipient of the Jeff Walker Global Country Artist Award, for international artists. Whitcomb recently won breakthrough artist of the year and fans’ choice award honors at the CCMAs, while his Hundred Mile High Tour has spanned Canada, Australia and Europe.
Lynette Garbonola, vp of International at BBR Music Group/BMG Nashville, will be honored with the Jo Walker Meador International Award for leadership in expanding country music in areas including Europe, Australia, and Asia. The honor recognizes achievements in supporting country music’s marketing development in territories beyond the United States.
Shannon Saunders, agent and head of Nashville International at WME, will be honored with the Rob Potts International Live Music Advancement Award for impact on international touring. Saunders has spearheaded expanding the reach and revenue of WME’s global touring division, driving record-breaking tours for Luke Combs, Zach Bryan, Lainey Wilson, and Jordan Davis.
Justin Thomson, national content director for iHeartCountry Australia, is being celebrated with the Wesley Rose International Media Achievement Award for his role in promoting country music through global media. With over twenty years in media, Thomson produces original programming and travels more than 100,000 miles annually to broadcast from international events including CMA Fest, Canadian Country Music Association Awards (CCMAs), C2C and CMC Rocks.
Mattias Hansson of P4 Country on Sveriges Radio will be honored with the international country broadcaster award. As host and producer of P4 Country, Hansson has played a key role in growing country music’s audience in Scandinavia, hosting the region’s largest weekly country program.
“This year’s honorees embody the extraordinary ways Country Music continues to transcend borders,” Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement. “Whether through radio, touring, media, or artist development, each has helped share the genre with audiences around the world. Their work not only broadens Country Music’s reach, it deepens its impact, reminding us that this community truly is global.”
The 59th annual CMA Awards broadcasts live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 19, from 8 to 11 p.m. ET on ABC and next day on Hulu.
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ABKCO, a music company that owns The Rolling Stones‘ early catalog, has brought a lawsuit against Behr Paint over an Instagram advertisement that allegedly used an unlicensed version of the band’s “Paint It, Black,” which ABKCO calls “one of the most valuable copyrights in the history of popular music.”
The copyright infringement case, filed on Wednesday (Nov. 12) in federal court, centers on a 2022 Instagram ad for Behr that showed a person spray-painting furniture while “Paint It, Black” played in the background. ABKCO claims Behr didn’t pay for the track.
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While individual social media users can soundtrack their videos for free with songs covered by blanket licenses, companies are required to buy so-called sync licenses for music in commercial advertisements. ABKCO’s lawsuit says it regularly sells sync licenses for “Paint It, Black” — and collects fees ranging from the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars for the song, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966.
“Behr’s commercial use of the ABKCO recording has forced a business association upon ABKCO that has harmed its ability to license the ABKCO recording to Behr’s competitors that would pay for the use of the ABKCO recording,” writes lawyer Benjamin Akley of Pryor Cashman. “Clearly, the ABKCO recording is not only iconic, it has unique and particular value to a paint company seeking to promote its paint products.”
According to the lawsuit, ABKCO didn’t learn about the 2022 ad until this past summer. ABKCO’s attorneys allegedly notified Behr, leading the paint company to take down the video, though the company “was unwilling to engage in further dialogue concerning its unauthorized use,” the lawsuit claims.
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ABKCO claims Behr is a “sophisticated, multi-billion-dollar corporation” that knows the rules around sync licenses, yet it “inexplicably” chose not to follow those rules here. Now, the lawsuit is seeking financial penalties for Behr’s alleged copyright infringement.
“As a result of the aforementioned acts of infringement, ABKCO has suffered significant damages,” reads the complaint.
Reps for Behr did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawsuit on Thursday (Nov. 13).
Source: Hindustan Times / Getty
Akon had a little run-in with the law recently that landed him in jail for a hot second.
Konvict Music’s own reportedly had a warrant out for his arrest due to a suspended license, according to TMZ. Back in September, Akon was cruising around Atlanta in his Cybertruck when police found his whip sitting in the middle of the road. He claimed the battery died, which is why it was left there.
Police stated that they called for a tow truck to get the Soul Survivor artist’s car out of the road, and during that process discovered his license was suspended. That left Akon with a citation for driving around Georgia with a suspended license. Officers on the scene also reported they found “an illegal vape in the center console, which was seized during the inventory and submitted for destruction.”
The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office confirmed he was arrested last Thursday and released six hours later. Akon was taken into custody by the Chamblee Police Department on an out-of-county warrant. Neither Akon nor his team has made any official statements regarding the arrest. Shortly after, a mugshot surfaced online, and the internet began trolling him.
Before this arrest, Akon had been staying low-key and moving in silence. Recently, he denied the rumors about putting a pause on Akon City, saying, “The project is still moving forward.”
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Ray J is bringing a bombshell countersuit against Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner, accusing them of intentionally releasing the infamous sex tape with him that launched Kim’s career — and then “peddling the false story” that it was leaked.
A month after the mother and daughter pair sued the singer for defamation over his allegation that they were facing a criminal racketeering investigation, Ray J hit back hard — claiming to reveal the true backstory behind his and Kardashian’s legendary sex tape.
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“Mother and daughter have spent two decades peddling the false story that the sex tape that Kardashian filmed [Ray J] was leaked against her will,” writes Ray J’s attorney, Howard King, in a countersuit submitted in Los Angeles court Thursday (Nov. 13) and obtained by Billboard. “They are furious that Norwood no longer wants to play along with their tall tale.”
The reality, Ray J claims, is that Kardashian and Jenner arranged the entire thing, doing so after seeing how the non-consensual release of Paris Hilton’s sextape had led to “meteoric international attention” for her. “Kardashian aspired to even greater fame,” Ray J says.
In a statement to Billboard, Kardashian and Jenner’s attorney, Alex Spiro, fired back at Ray J’s claims: “After realizing he is losing the case and losing his way, this disjointed rambling distraction is not intimidating anyone. Ray J will lose this frivolous case too.”
According to the lawsuit, after signing a deal with the porn company Vivid Entertainment, Jenner and Kardashian agreed with the studio that they would file “a bogus lawsuit” against Vivid claiming the leak was non-consensual “to create buzz ahead of the tape’s release.” The case was actually filed and later settled, but he says it was all a ruse.
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“These were lies,” Ray J’s lawyers write. “Vivid and Kardashian ‘leaked’ to TMZ that they ‘settled’ for $5 million. There was no such settlement.”
Such allegations have been made in the past, including by journalist Ian Halperin in his 2016 book Kardashian Dynasty, in which he claimed that the family had been involved in the leak. But Jenner and Kardashian have steadfastly denied the allegation ever since.
Ray J’s case comes in the form of a breach of contract lawsuit — claiming that Jenner and Kardashian violated a settlement deal they struck with him in 2021 over statements about the sex tape.
During a 2021 episode of The Kardashians, the mother and daughter “falsely accused” him of “sexually assaulting Kardashian while she was asleep, releasing revenge porn, and extortion,” the lawsuit says. After Ray J “initiated legal proceedings” over those statements, the Kardashians allegedly agreed to a settlement that would pay him $6 million and ban any further mention of the tape on the show.
But then the Kardashians violated the deal “almost immediately,” repeatedly discussing the tape during the following season of The Kardashians, the lawsuit reads. When Ray J’s lawyers raised the issue, he says they told him that the settlement only covered the earlier season of the show.
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With the two sides headed for a dispute in private arbitration, Ray J says Kardashian and Jenner instead chose to file their “meritless lawsuit” to “exact retribution” on him. “Norwood will not allow Kardashian and Jenner to weaponize the judicial system, shirk their contractual obligations, and sacrifice him on the altar of fame,” the lawsuit reads.
The original lawsuit, filed last month, came a week after Ray J claimed on a social media livestream that federal authorities were investigating the Kardashian clan under the Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act — the same charges filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs. “The feds is coming,” he said at one point, before adding: “It’s worse than Diddy.”
“Ray J’s public statements are blatantly false,” Spiro wrote in the Oct. 1 lawsuit. “No such federal investigation exists; no law enforcement agency has initiated any criminal proceedings or investigations related to racketeering charges against Ms. Kardashian or Ms. Jenner; and no credible evidence whatsoever supports these inflammatory allegations.”
The lawsuit claimed that Ray J’s comments were just “the latest salvo in a deliberate and malicious campaign of harassment and defamation intended to defame plaintiffs while reviving his own fading notoriety.”
“I’m very aware of mysterious forces at play that I will never have any control of,” she says in the trailer.
11/13/2025
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The Weeknd has donated $350,000 from his XO Humanitarian Fund to relief efforts in Jamaica following the devastation of Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean.
The music titan’s donation will benefit the World Food Programme — The Weeknd is a WFP ambassador — as the WFP looks to scale its operation and assist in helping a target of 200,000 Jamaicans who were impacted by the Category 5 storm.
“We are grateful to The Weeknd for his generous support for WFP’s urgent relief efforts. His compassion will provide much-needed comfort and resilience to Jamaicans as they navigate this crisis,” said Barron Segar, World Food Program USA President and CEO, in a statement. “When it comes to humanitarian disasters, WFP is among the world’s first responders. But our work is only possible through the generosity of our private sector donors and global partners.”
The WFP has been working alongside the Jamaican government to bring aide to citizens and they’ve helped more than 9,000 people by sending in food kits. Between Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba, the WFP has assisted about 254,000 people with emergency food distribution as of press time.
Hurricane Melissa made landfall in late October and the strongest tropical storm of 2025 so far has impacted nearly six million Caribbean citizens.
The Weeknd is no stranger to humanitarian efforts as he’s donated more than $10 million to various causes since 2020. He pledged $1 million to relief efforts following the L.A. wildfires in January.
Jamaican legend Shaggy has also been a major part of relief efforts for his home country. He mobilized private flights for citizens in danger and sent food aid to those starving due to the storm earlier in November.
“People are homeless,” Shaggy told Rolling Stone of the precarious living situation. “There’s no running water, there’s no electricity, there’s no shelter. They were sleeping on the streets. We came in last night, we gave out water, we gave out food. There are actually bodies trapped in homes that people haven’t been able to clear.”
Announced Wednesday and led by Sean Paul, Shaggy and Kes, a Jamaica Strong benefit concert will take place Dec. 12 at UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York. Additional confirmed performers include Chronic Law, T.O.K, Tessane Chin, Aidonia, Inner Circle, Ky-Mani Marley, Teejay, Richie Stephens, Gramps Morgan, and Mikey Spice, with more artists yet to be announced.
