Billboard Unfiltered
Billboard reacts to A$AP Rocky’s not guilty verdict, Drake and PARTYNEXTDOOR’s ‘$ome $exy $ongs 4 U’ album, Kendrick Lamar makes Hip-Hop history following his Super Bowl Halftime performance and more! Carl Lamarre: Yo, yo. What’s going on, y’all and welcome to a fresh episode of Billboard Unfiltered,gentlemen, we are live, and in fact happy to […]
In today’s episode of ‘Billboard Unfiltered,’ Billboard staffers Kyle Denis, Damien Scott, and Angel Diaz react to Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show, highlighting the best and controversial moments, discussing Ye’s X rants and more. What did you think of Kendrick’s performance? What do you think of Ye’s X rants? Let us know in the […]
In this episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Trevor Anderson and Kyle Denis are joined by Vibe’s Regina Cho to recap hip-hop and R&B’s big night at the 2025 Grammys, review The Weeknd’s new album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, and more! Trevor Anderson: I mean, who wins five Grammys off of just one song? I mean that […]
In today’s episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Trevor Anderson, Kyle Denis, Carl Lamarre and Damien Scott predict who will win big at the 2025 Grammys, discuss Snoop Dogg and Nelly performing during Donald Trump’s inauguration and more. Trevor Anderson: I don’t think Snoop needs a bag that bad. He was just getting paid a […]
In today’s episode of ‘Billboard Unfiltered,’ Billboard staffers Trevor Anderson, Kyle Denis and Damien Scott react to LiAngelo Ball signing a deal with UMG & Def Jam after “Tweaker” became a viral sensation, Drake’s defamation lawsuit against UMG over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” and more! Kyle Denis: Like give to people who actually do […]
In this episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Trevor Anderson, Kyle Denis, Damien Scott, Carl Lamarre discuss LiAngelo Ball’s rapid rise in the hip-hop world leading with his “Tweaker” track. They also break down Drake’s “Fighting Irish Freestyle,” his alleged fake DMs with UMG, Lil Baby’s new album WHAM, and his career, and more.
Trevor Anderson:
So if you don’t drop that by like Valentine’s Day, you’ve got to save it. I can’t see Drake waiting that long to drop something that’s going to be bad.
Damien Scott:
All you hear from every spot is the BBL. That’s all you hear. The Young Thug track is here, the GloRilla song is over here.
Carl Lamarre:
Numbers, freakin’ “Tweakers” is at 3 million on YouTube and it was surpassing some tracks on Lil Baby’s album
Damien Scott:
Alright, let’s relax.
Carl Lamarre:
I mean on YouTube that’s the way it’s going.
Damien Scott:
That’s a lie.
Carl Lamarre:
Yo, yo, yo what’s going on welcome to a fresh episode of Billboard Unfiltered. Gentlemen.
Kyle Denis:
Happy New Year.
Carl Lamarre:
Happy f*cking New Year.
Trevor Anderson:
2025 folks.
Carl Lamarre:
Somebody decided to bring in the chaos of 2024 into 2025, Mr. Aubrey Graham.
Kyle Denis:
Surprise, surprise.
Carl Lamarre:
Drizzy Drake Rogers kicked off 2025 with a conductive freestyle, “Fighting Irish Freestyle.” Three minutes long, some bars in there I would like to say. “Social media went into a tizzy. Had some choice words. A lot of people pointed a finger thinking he may be going after LeBron James.”
Damien Scott:
Clearly going after LeBron James.
Carl Lamarre:
I mean, we don’t know.
Damien Scott:
Who else played for the Fighting Irish?
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In this episode Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Trevor Anderson, Kyle Denis, Damien Scott and Carl Lamarre rank the best rap and R&B albums of 2024, go through the biggest scandals of the year, share their predictions for 2025 and more!
Damien Scott:You’re out here talking, you know, making the 2024 song about dating and getting into arguments and s–t.
Kyle Denis:In 2024 specifically.
Damien Scott:This is all Kat Williams’ fault.
Trevor Anderson:That’s really where it started.
Carl Lamarre:In case y’all missed last week’s episode, there were talks about y’all potentially being gone because Amber and Regina killed it.
Trevor Anderson:Oh, was that the conversations in the back?
Carl Lamarre:Yeah, but the OG squad is here!
Trevor Anderson:I see those conversations got squashed quickly.
Carl Lamarre:We got Charles and Kenny back, you know what I’m saying?
Damien Scott:We’re what’s best for the show.
Trevor Anderson:Shout-out to Kenny, man.
Carl Lamarre:No, I was happy to have the gang back especially for this last episode of 2024. We unveiled two fire lists this week, which include the Best Rap Albums of 2024 and the Best R&B Albums of 2024, so what we’ll do, I’m going to give a quick breakdown of the top 10. The full list is on billboard.com, so here’s the top 10.
For the Best Rap Album of 2024: No. 10 Freddie Gibbs’ You Only Die 1nce; nine: Future, Mixtape Pluto; eight: Latto, Sugar Honey Iced Tea; seven: Megan Thee Stallion, Megan: Act I and Megan: Act II; six: Schoolboy Q, Blue Lips; five: GloRilla, Glorious; four: Tyler, the Creator, Chromakopia; three: Doechii, Alligator Bites Never Heal; three: Future and Metro, We Don’t Trust You …
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In today’s the 25th episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Kyle Denis and Carl Lamarre are joined by Vibe‘s Regina Cho and Amber Corinne. Together, they dissect Billboard’s 10 Hottest Female Rappers of 2024, discuss who fell off the list, share their personal favorites and explain why each rapper earned her ranking. They also react to Jay-Z’s assault allegations, his response and more.
Carl Lamarre:I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes from 10 to one.
Kyle Denis:Oh, you’re predicting it?
Regina Cho:I personally feel like the girlies were kind of just like, “OK the boys are fighting. I want to have fun. Like pack it up, like, please. Where’s Latto? Where’s Glo? Let’s go on tour, let’s wear our cheetah prints.”
Amber Corinne:I do think that Jay-Z might have known that this was coming and that’s why the response was so quick. I do believe it might’ve been prepared already.
Carl Lamarre:Yo , yo, yo. What’s going on, y’all? Welcome to a fresh episode of Billboard Unfiltered, No. 25! What it do? What it do? It may look a little different because we fired some cads, but we got some fresh superstars. Brother Kyle is still in the building.
Kyle Denis:I try to stay in the building.
Regina Cho:You kept the job.
Carl Lamarre:I’m still here. But no, we have two amazing superstars representing Vibe magazine. To my left, Ms. Amber Corrine, news staff writer, a beast all across. Make sure y’all see her interviews with the Rhythm + Flow cast.
Amber Corinne:Go watch that.
Carl Lamarre:Ms. Latto, Luda, DJ Khaled. We have … can I say an award winning? Can I do that?
Regina Cho:Oh my goodness, I was not prepared for this.
Carl Lamarre:An award winning podcast. She is also the associate news editor for Vibe magazine, Ms. Regina Cho.
Regina Cho:Hello Carl, look at us podding together!
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It’s Kendrick Lamar Week for Billboard Unfiltered following the Thanksgiving break. Lamar unleashed his GNX album without any sort of warning on Nov. 22, and the LP debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 319,000 equivalent units earned.
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Dot also took up a ton of real estate on this week’s Billboard Hot 100, with seven out of the top 10 and the entire top five. He even announced an accompanying 2025 North American stadium trek called the Grand National Tour, on which his “Luther” collaborator and former Top Dawg Entertainment running mate SZA will be joining him.
There was a clean sweep of approval from the quartet of co-hosts, with GNX launching Lamar into the album of the year conversation and stamping his banner year of rap domination.
Deputy Director of R&B/Hip-Hop Carl Lamarre believes K. Dot’s ’24 rivals some of the great years rap’s seen in the last 25 years. “Him being able to land three No. 1s this year on the Hot 100 … Him announcing this tour, him having a No. 1 album,” he said. “I think his run this year is probably comparable to what we’ve seen from an ’08 [Lil] Wayne, an ’03 50 [Cent], a 2018 Drake with what he’s been able to do.”
Editorial Director Damien Scott credited Lamar with “blanketing the culture” and compared GNX to Jay-Z’s The Blueprint with how direct and to the point the project is while releasing digestible hit records. “To me, this album feels like a Jay-Z album. It feels like The Blueprint. It’s very direct, it’s very to the point. Here’s Jay at the height of his powers being like, ‘I run this s–t. F–k all of you.’ Just like Kendrick is on the opening track,” Scott opined. “First it was f–k this one guy, now it’s f–k all of you … It’s an amazing rap record.”
The Debbie Deb-sampling “Squabble Up” launched at No. 1 on the Hot 100, and Senior Charts Analyst Trevor Anderson didn’t expect to hear a hit record like that. “Coming off ‘Squabble Up,’ I was up there looking like Jonathan Majors in my apartment doing the little civil rights dance,” he joked. “One thing we missed with Mr. Morale was a clean Kendrick hit.”
Elsewhere during Billboard Unfiltered, the staff discussed Drake making a pair of legal filings against Universal Music Group in November, alleging that his record label artificially inflated the popularity of Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
Staff Writer Kyle Denis was confused initially by the 6 God’s legal actions, but believes the first pre-filing has a chance to be a landmark case if it indeed heads to trial and there’s a ruling in Drake’s favor that shakes up streaming’s landscape. “If this does end up going to trial and we get a decision that actually impacts the very model of streaming, this would be an important case,” he stated. “All of that is still colored by the timing of it all, and this arriving during GNX week. It’s a little bit pathetic … It just feels a little bit ‘Let me do what I can to muddy up this guy’s release week any way that I can.’”
Watch the full episode above.
In this episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Kyle Denis, Trevor Anderson, Carl Lamarre and Damien Scott discuss Kendrick Lamar’s GNX chart takeover, along with their initial reactions to the surprise drop, Drake’s legal battle with UMG over “Not Like Us,” J. Cole’s Inevitable podcast series and his 10-year anniversary show at MSG for Forest Hill Drive.
Carl Lamarre:I think his run this year is probably comparable to what we see maybe from like an ‘08 Wayne, an ‘03 50, a 2018 Drake.
Kyle Denis:I don’t like this arriving during, you know, GNX week, it’s like … it’s a little bit pathetic.
Trevor Anderson:Oh I already know I love this. I just haven’t had access to it and you mean to tell me it’s right here, you know, on the app that I already use. Like, let’s go, let’s download it, let’s play it.
Carl Lamarre: Before the break, Compton superstar Kendrick Lamar did a surprise drop. Now I’m here to talk about it with you guys. GNX, his sixth studio album, 12 tracks, featuring SZA, a slew of up-and-coming L.A. rappers. The project came No. 1 on the 200, 319 album equivalent units, seven records in the top 10 of the Hot 100. He’s occupying the top five, No. 1 with “Squabble Up.” Mr. Lamar is back in full force, gentlemen. How do we feel about this album?
Damien Scott:Fire, in a word.
Carl Lamarre:Fire?
Damien Scott: Fire. Also, just straightforward rap. You know, just like … I know that PG, Dave and Kendrick love to be subversive, they love to just do what everyone is not expecting them to do, and I think this album is a great example of that. Every Kendrick album is like a grand affair. It has this big, huge meaning that has to get worked through.
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