Billboard Cover

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

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.

13 Jul 2023

Peso Pluma: Photos From the Billboard Cover Shoot

Peso Pluma arrives slightly early to his own birthday party. He’s dressed in Dior from head to toe, but still looks casual in a long-sleeve button-down overshirt stamped with the designer’s oblique logo, dark jeans and black sneakers with white shoelaces. The famously punctual birthday boy, who’s turning 24 today (June 15), tours the venue — a gorgeous hidden garden just south of Guadalajara in Jalisco, Mexico, that’s overflowing with trees and sparkly chandeliers — to ensure his vision for the party has been executed. Amid the greenery is a makeshift club with a stage, a dancefloor surrounded by tables and couches, and a huge light-up bar that’s impossible to miss. Pretty much what one would expect a 20-something’s birthday party vibe to be like.

But his childhood dreams have also come to life here. Branching off the club area, there’s a sweets room with all sorts of Mexican candy and, separately, another room for all things savory, with countless bags of chips — from Takis to Ruffles to Tostitos — and an array of toppings like melted cheddar cheese, chile piquín, lime and corn. Piñatas, including one of Peso himself and another of Spider-Man (a childhood favorite), hang from the ceilings, and Peso flashes a pearly white, almost mischievous ear-to-ear smile when he sees them. “It’s exactly how I envisioned it,” he says with satisfaction.

He could say the same of his now globe-spanning career. The artist born Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija is at the forefront of Mexican music, leading the genre’s seismic growth in the United States and beyond with his signature corridos tumbados — a variety of the corrido (storytelling ballad) that often flaunts a chill yet lavish, weed-centric lifestyle. Raw, nasally and raspy, Peso’s distinctive vocals punctuate a sound powered by a requinto acoustic guitar, tololoche (a stringed bass instrument), charcheta (an alto horn) and trombone. And he remains a creative chameleon: Outside of corridos, he has recorded heartbreak and ultra-romantic songs, too.

12 Jul 2023

Peso Pluma on His Rise to No. 1, Working With Bizarrap & More | The Power of No. 1 | Billboard Cover

Peso Pluma opens up about reaching No. 1 with his tracks “Ella Baila Sola” with Eslabon Armado and “BZRP: Music Sessions Vol. 55” with Bizarrap, how his life has changed since his recent success, achieving his dream and more.

Peso Pluma:
It was a dream to me. I’m very happy to be up there, but I think the most important thing is to stay and be consistent.

I’m Peso Pluma, and this is The Power of No. 1.

The first few times I stood up in front of a lot of people, in auditoriums and arenas, obviously I was nervous, it’s always there. My heart beats faster, I’ve always been like that. But once I hear people singing they push me to carry on. I wanted to become an artist and share what I feel, what I write from my soul, and what I am. I’m really grateful for this wave. It’s a new era, just as my new album is a GENESIS. It’s just the beginning of what we can do.

George Prajin:
I first met Peso at my studio in Anaheim. I had been pitched Peso three years prior, I thought that there was immense talent at that time. I just wasn’t at a point in my career, that I was going to be able to give a developing act the kind of attention that was needed. Fast forward three years later, when I saw him in person, I saw him play the guitar and I heard him sing everything just clicked and I knew that I had to take this opportunity.

Watch the full video above.

30 Jun 2023

Eureka O’Hara on Learning About Drag, Her Love for Jessie J and Tim McGraw, & More | Billboard Cover

RuPaul’s Drag Race star Eureka O’Hara opens up about learning about drag for the first time, her love for Jessie J and Tim McGraw, and more for our Billboard Pride Cover with Maren Morris.

Eureka O’Hara:
I’ll never forget at my sister’s graduation: My dad saw my mom and was like, “Holy cow, you look like a drag queen.” I was like, “What’s a drag queen?” And then literally like that’s how I learned what a drag queen was. I was like, “Oh, I love this!”

Eureka O’Hara on she got into drag:
You know, honestly, like, I I feel like I always was doing some kind of drag as a young child. When I was really young, I started playing with my mom’s clothes and I would duct tape towels to my head and, like, dance around to music. So without me even knowing what drag was, I think I was getting into drag really early. I would love doing my mom’s makeup, but I would always make it really dramatic.

Eureka O’Hara on the first song she ever performed in drag:
It’s actually a song no one knows, I don’t even remember the words to it, but that was called “Pedestal” by Fergie. Literally can’t tell you the words, and I will never forget I walked out on stage with my purse on, and was so scared I didn’t even move. I was, like, barely lip-syncing, looking at the ground. But the whole crowd cheered for me anyway, you know, and it was, like, that weird support and love that, like, gave me this natural adrenaline and happiness that made me just want to keep doing it. I got addicted.

Watch the full video above to see what she says about her love for Jessie J and Tim McGraw, and more!

27 Jun 2023

Fuerza Regida Talks How Regional Mexican Music Took Over the Charts & More | Billboard Cover

Fuerza Regida talks about how regional Mexican music has exploded and taken over the Billboard charts, collaborating with other big regional Mexican acts like Grupo Frontera, Peso Pluma, Natanael Cano, their tour and more.

Jesús “JOP” Oritz Paz:
¿Quién es Fuerza Regida? ¿Cómo describirías a Fuerza Regida? We would describe Fuerza Regida as unique, crazy, spontaneous. Fuerza Regida.

I used to cut hair, one of my clients say “hey, I got this band right there looking for bass player.” So I was just going to be the bass player in the band. Came in, I played the bass all practice, and then they asked me, “Do you sing? Sing a little bit.”

I sing a song, and they’re like, “Hey, you want to be the singer?” I’m like, “Yeah, we’re a group.” That’s how we met. Then later on, we had met him but he was like 14, we just be like, “Hey, what’s up little guy.”

Just cashing out. We had a hit song in San Bernardino, “Uno Personal.” It was a cover. It was not a hit but it was like a hit because they were like, “Who the hell are these Fat Boys?” You know, just singing, you know? But from there is history.

Doing some type of music that my culture did and like being famous for it was like one of my dreams. Cuando llegó la música mexicana a Los Angeles ya estaba ahí, todos con el mismo flow. Todos con la tejana, todos con un pintado, todos con boots, para nosotros en solo música. For us is just music, so we love it … My dad listens to this, we come on home you listen to and it’s just that’s what’s special about it. Nothing else. Nothing so special. Like, where’s difference just a certain music we grew up with and we love it.

Watch the full cover profile above.

26 Jun 2023

Landon Cider on Finding Drag, Being Inspired by David Bowie & More | Billboard Cover

The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula season three winner Landon Cider talks to Billboard about finding drag, being inspired by David Bowie and Stephen Sondheim, and more!

Landon Cider:
Because I’m an overachiever, the first song that I performed was a full on mix, where I came out as my feminine persona and transformed into drag on stage within, like, a six-minute mix, ending with “Freebird,” and I was jumping up and down to celebrate my freedom and my t–s fell out. Talk about freedom.

Landon Cider on he got into drag:
I found drag because it was a perfect combination of all my loves throughout my life, visual art, performance art and just theater. I was going to the clubs for many years, loving the queens, and then I got sick and I decided, “What am I going to do with the rest of my life once I feel better?” And I wanted to get back into theater, but I didn’t want traditional theater, and I remembered drag and I figured, “Let me give it a shot,” and I was hooked.

Landon Cider on his signature drag number:
Today, it is She Wants Revenge’s “Tear You Apart.” I can perform that song every night of my life and be completely happy.

Landon Cider on musicians who have inspired him:
All different kinds of music and musicians, everything from Broadway, like Stephen Sondheim to that “I want to f–k you” kind of energy like She Wants Revenge, androgyny like David Bowie — a little bit of everything.

Watch the full video above!

22 Jun 2023

Portugal. The Man On the Success of ‘Feel It Still’, Their Upcoming Music & More

Portugal. The Man frontman John Gourley talks about the crazy whirlwind success of the band’s hit single “Feel It Still” (a Billboard Hot 100 top 10), why their upcoming music is their most personal yet and more.

John Gourley:

The stakes have changed. The motivation has changed. The reason I’m doing this piece all changed

I mean, it’s so wild looking back at that stuff 

This is where we used to skip school and snowboard. We’d hike up, this is like my happy place. Right when I come home, I listen to music and just walk along the top. Just silence that’s the thing I miss most about Alaska is just silence. We’re here in Knik, Alaska. I grew up out here. We come out for the dog sled races for the Knik 200, we shot a ton of our music videos

These two trees the way they were bent. It just it looked like a soundstage. I sent it to a buddy and he was like, where did you shoot this? It’s like literally my dad’s backyard. Last time I came down from the tree, she didn’t have video. It was all adrenaline. I was sitting up there. I was like, wow, like I have no strength left and I was at the top. I was like, please make it to the bottom please.

Watch the full video above. Read the full Billboard cover story, written by Lyndsey Havens, here. Check out the photo shoot taken in John Gourley’s home state of Alaska here.

22 Jun 2023

Portugal. The Man: Photos From the Billboard Cover Shoot

John Gourley in his home state of Alaska.

Portugal. The Man frontman John Gourley

Portugal. The Man frontman John Gourley photographed on May 21, 2023 in Alaska.

Brian Adams

Center, a 5,000-capacity arena in Anchorage. It marked the end of a globe-spanning two-year trek promoting Woodstock, the band’s 2017 album that yielded its Grammy Award-winning crossover hit, “Feel It Still.” But as soon as the celebratory finale ended, frontman John Gourley was crying in a bathroom.

21 Jun 2023

Symone on Being Inspired by ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ Her First Drag Performance & More | Billboard Cover

RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 winner Symone talks about her start in drag, performing for the first time and more for our Billboard Pride cover with Maren Morris.

Symone:
At 18, I went to an amateur night at the club back home in Arkansas. I stepped on that stage, honey — the lights, the cameras hit me. And it was over from there.

Symone on how she got into drag:
I was watching RuPaul’s Drag Race and I was about 15, 16 years old, and I had a job at the time. And I would save up my money, and I just started putting on makeup because, you know, I wanted to look good. You know, I was like, “If I’m doing it, I’m gonna look good in the face.” So I did that for a while. Then I went to my prom — went to my senior prom in drag. That was the first time I stepped out in drag in full regalia. And then at 18, I went to an amateur night at the club back home in Arkansas. And I stepped on that stage honey, the lights, the cameras hit me. And it was over from there.

Symone on the first song she performed in drag:
“Domino” by Jessie J. And there’s no specific reason why — it was just because at the time I loved it. And it was just what got me going, and I wore that song out.

Symone on her signature drag number:
It’s either Tina Turner’s “Disco Inferno,” or it’s my Whitney medley, my 11-minute Whitney medley I do. I shut it down.

Symone on musicians who have inspired her:
Whitney Houston, of course. Tina Turner, Rihanna, Lil Kim and Diana Ross.

Watch the full video above!