Billboard Unfiltered

In this episode of ‘Billboard Unfiltered,’ Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Trevor Anderson, Kyle Denis and Damien Scott go in-depth about the controversy surrounding Diddy’s charges, arrest and how the world has reacted to it. The trio also discuss why Tyla & Tems aren’t categorized as Afrobeats artists, Lil Wayne’s comment about his Super Bowl snub and more.

Trevor Anderson:

I mean, this is a federal raid y’all. The FBI raided two of his houses. This is something that has been set up for so long. This had to be planned for months, if not years.

Damien Scott:

You can’t be mad at an artist for wanting their art to be received. You can never be upset at that.

Kyle Denis:

I can’t remember another performer in recent memory like actually going and putting up a video and being like, “Oh I’m heartbroken I wasn’t chosen.” What is that?

Carl Lamarre:

Hey, what’s going on, guys. Welcome to a fresh episode of ‘Billboard Unfiltered.’ Gentlemen.

Damien Scott:

Welcome back.

Trevor Anderson:

What’s up.

Kyle Denis:

What’s good.

Trevor Anderson:

It feels like the season premiere or something. Like now everybody’s back, everyone’s off of vacation.

Carl Lamarre:

Kind of like season 2, right? Well I wish we were going to start the show off very light, you know. But we’re going to get into the trenches of mud.

Damien Scott:

You brought the negativity back with you.

Carl Lamarre:

Sadly, man. I was on an island when I heard about this news right here, so Mr. Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs charged with sex trafficking and racketeering. Per Billboard.com, “Federal prosecutors on Tuesday unsealed a criminal indictment against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs over sweeping allegations of sexual abuse, accusing the once-powerful rapper, producer and music executive of running a racketeering conspiracy that included sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson and bribery.”

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In this episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Kyle Denis and Damien Scott discuss A$AP Rocky’s cover story, his one-on-one conversation with Damien and the industry’s expectations for the rapper’s new album. They also dive into Complex’s Best Atlanta Rappers of All Time, debate, who should have taken the No. 1 spot, explore Billboard’s greatest pop stars of the 21st century and more.

Damien Scott:He sticks with his own vision, he sticks with his own ideas. I’m really excited to hear the rest of the album. What I heard sounds great. 

Carl Lamarre:André 3000 No. 1 without a solo rap album. 

Kyle Denis:If you can spit, you can spit. 

Damien Scott:Can you rap? Or can you not rap?

Carl Lamarre:50 Cent, Alicia Keys, Kendrick Lamar, Megan Thee Stallion, J. Lo, Missy Elliott, Nelly, Cardi B, Doja Cat, Future, Post Malone, SZA, Sean Paul, Chris Brown. These are the names that did not make the top 25.

Well, shout-out to this brother right here. 

Yes, sir.

Big-time Dame, big-time cover story. If you guys haven’t already, make sure you check it out right now on billboard.com with A$AP Rocky. Yes sir. Had a fire profile piece. Man, the album was supposed to come out this Friday, which is pushed and coming out this fall. But, bro, talk about your experience kicking it with Rocky and how that was.

Damien Scott:It was great. You know, I’ve known Rocky — well not know him — but I’ve watched and had the pleasure of watching his career grow from the moment he released “Purple Swag” to now. I’ve worked at publications who’ve covered him. We’ve had him on the cover for various albums and I’ve been fortunate enough to be close enough to see a different match throughout his career, and I’ve always been a fan.

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In this episode of ‘Billboard Unfiltered,’ Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Trevor Anderson and Damien Scott react to Latto’s new album ‘Sugar Honey Iced Tea,’ break down the new Killer Mike & Travis Scott feud, debate whether Snoop Dogg is the most beloved rapper of all time and more!

Damien Scott:

He thought when he went to go listen to it that it was the strongest female rap album of the year so far. I tend to agree. I think it edges out Megan.

Carl Lamarre:

Looks like we may have a new feud between, uh, Killer Mike and Travis Scott. I did not have that- 

Trevor Anderson:

On the cards? Nah. 

Damien Scott:

He’s the most beloved living rapper right now.

Trevor Anderson:

And who was, who was before him? I mean, d*mn, it got quiet. 

Damien Scott:

Yeah.

Carl Lamarre:

And gentlemen…

Damien Scott:

Looks good.

Carl Lamarre:

What it do?

Damien Scott:

What up? What up? What up? 

Carl Lamarre: 

Miss Latto, who put out her new album ‘Sugar Honey Iced Tea’ on Friday.

Damien Scott:

Amazing. 

Carl Lamarre:

Fire features. Megan Thee Stallion, Teezo Touchdown. Um, freaking, what’s like 21’s cousin’s name? Bugging.

Trevor Anderson: 

22. 

Damien Scott:

Young Nudy. 

Carl Lamarre:

No. 

Trevor Anderson:

That’s his cousin? 

Damien Scott:

Yeah. 

Trevor Anderson:

Oh yeah, it is.

Damien Scott:

Yeah. Is he also British?

Carl Lamarre:

I don’t know. I thought  21 was born there. Wait, you think Nudy was born there too? 

Damien Scott:

I’m just asking. 

Trevor Anderson:

No, I think he’s American. OK, so I’m a-

Carl Lammare:

American?

Trevor Anderson:

Right? I’m showing my Olympic spirit, you know, apparently, like we go, we claiming it. 

Carl Lamarre

Album dropped, Coco Jones, also, Ciara, um, very Atlanta, pretty stacked, yeah, um, let’s talk about the album. Because a lot of anticipation for it, I feel like she delivered, you know, we’ll get y’all thoughts first, and then I’ll dive in. Mr. Dame? 

Damien Scott:

I think it is great.

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In this episode of ‘Billboard Unfiltered,’ Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Trevor Anderson, Kyle Denis and Damien Scott break down Drake’s 100GB footage and his joint album with PartyNextDoor. They also talk about Ye dropping ‘Vultures 2,’ the best songs on the album, and whether or not Ty Dolla $ign is the right collaborator for him. They give you insight on Latto’s listening party, how the women in hip-hop are doing statistically, their current favorite music and more!

Trevor Anderson:

Every stream counts, right? 

Damien Scott:

But it doesn’t. He’s giving it away for free. 

Carl Lamarre:

And how generous. 

Kyle Denis:

Because you don’t believe in it. 

Carl Lamarre:

Oh, wow. 

Damien Scott:

We’re expecting something more. There’s verses on here that aren’t finished. There’s songs that feel incomplete. There’s, you know, I saw people talking about the artwork not being high res. It just feels, it feels like Kanye doesn’t care. 

Kyle Dennis:

Her pen is undeniable, like she’s doing some of the best rapping of her career on this album, but also she’s really honing in on her hometown of Atlanta. 

Carl Lamarre:

Hey, hey, what’s going on, guys? And welcome to a fresh episode of Billboard Unfiltered. Hey, we got a lot of topics to talk about, but the first one, we’re gonna dive into the 6 God himself, 

Drake has-

Damien Scott:

I can’t believe you’re wearing that.

Carl Lamarre:

Come on man, we got to embrace it 

I just can’t believe he’s like the guy. He’s like, the meme of the guy on the plane wearing the f*cking Trump shirt

Trevor Anderson:

And everybody’s walking past him. 

Carl Lamarre:

We are not going to do a Trump, Drake that’s crazy. 

Trevor Anderson:

But the reason, the reason why I’m so hyped is because we finally got new original music from Drake, but it came with a plot twist, pun intended. So pretty much Drake did an untraditional rollout where he released unreleased music on 100 gigs.com, but-

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In this episode of ‘Billboard Unfiltered,’ Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Trevor Anderson, and Damien Scott discuss whether Ice Spice’s debut album is worth the hype. They also discuss Charlamagne and Elliott Wilson’s feud over the Complex Hip-Hop Media Power Ranking List, Will Smith’s future in music and more!

Trevor Anderson:

If you think Ice Spice is going to jump out and switch on a lyricism in a way that’s going to be a lot more introspective or a lot more you know, more than what it is? It’s not, it’s not going to be for you.

Damien Scott:

Now we’re at this point where we’re just sh*tting on people directly instead of being like let’s focus on the work, let’s make sure the work is better, let’s make sure we’re all doing good work.

Trevor Anderson:

Whether it’s gonna be about the slap, the entanglements and all that sh*t like yeah, there was a lot of material.

Carl Lamarre:

Hey guys, what’s going on? Welcome to a fresh episode of Billboard Unfiltered. What it do, what it do, what it do we are back again gentlemen. How are y’all feeling? 

Damien Scott

I feel great 

Trevor Anderson:

Doing alright, you know.

Carl Lamarre:

Shout out to our good brother Kyle, couldn’t be here. 

Damien Scott:

He’s off listening to Big Mama’s album.

Trevor Anderson:

That’s right.

Carl Lamarre:

Big Mama.

Trevor Anderson:

‘Sugar Honey Iced Tea.’ 

Carl Lamarre:

My baby mama. 

Trevor Anderson:

Hopefully it’s not that.

Damien Scott:

Don’t let 21 hear you say that.

Trevor Anderson:

How many- one day we’re going to do a ranking of all these, not a ranking, just even a list all these baby mamas because you… You got a couple on deck. Yeah, a good seven.

Carl Lamarre:

Saweetie, H.E.R. who else? Big Mama. Nah, I think that’s the three right now. I think I’m happy with it.

Trevor Anderson:

The three right now. Wow okay. 

Carl Lamarre:

That’s a good three right?

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In this episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Trevor Anderson, Damien Scott and Kyle Denis determine whether Drake’s leaked track with Lil Yachty will help his comeback. They also dive into the rappers who are supporting Trump’s bid for president, new music releases in the world of hip-hop including Childish Gambino, JT, BLXST and more!

Damien Scott:Why are you leaking tracks through Yachty to Kai Cenat?

Carl Lamarre:But I mean, you know he’s playing, he likes playing the strings in the background.

Kyle Dennis:Is it disappointing seeing some of my favorite artists throw their support behind Donald Trump? Absolutely.

Carl Lamarre:Caresha was holding it backm, baby, that’s all I got. I was like, Caresha was the one holding it back.

Hey, guys, and welcome back to a fresh episode of Billboard Unfiltered. So in case you guys missed it, Kai Cenat, he was on a stream. Lil Yachty sent him an unreleased record from Drake and Yachty that’s called “Supersoak.” Previewed it last night, you know, got some mixed reactions to it, so curious to hear y’alls thoughts. Could this be the spark to Drake’s comeback? 

Damien Scott:Wait, so he sent it to him saying it’s unreleased?

Carl Lamarre:Unreleased.

Damien Scott:That’s it, there’s no other plans for it. Yeah, it sounds like an unreleased Drake song. Yeah, it’s not, doesn’t sound that special, sounds like pretty run-of-the-mill unreleased Drake song. Which is good because Drake makes good music. 

Carl Lamarre:That song could be a B-plus. 

Damien Scott:Sure.

Carl Lamarre: OK, I can live with a B-plus.

Damien Scott:It’s fine, I mean I would love to hear the whole thing, CDQ, but you know. Yea sure.

Carl Lamarre:I’m curious to hear y’alls excitement as well.

Keep watching for more!

In the 10th episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Trevor Anderson, Damien Scott and Kyle Denis rate and review Eminem’s The Death of Slim Shady, discuss how older rappers stay fresh versus newer ones, Big Sean’s career and more!Carl Lamarre:  The album came out on Friday.  

Damien Scott:   Slim Shady. 

Carl Lamarre: Slim Shady.  

Trevor Anderson:   The Death of Slim Shady.

Carl Lamarre:   The Death of Slim Shady.

Kyle Denis: Certainly, a death. 

Carl Lamarre: It was …

Damien Scott: All right. 

Trevor Anderson:   I think that’s crazy for someone who spent their whole life, you know, all these kids have been doing it since they were teenagers maybe even before that to say when you hit a certain age, stop. 

Damien Scott:   If you just wrote on a piece of paper, what Big Sean’s career is, all of that equals superstar. 

Carl Lamarre: Let’s get into it because we got a lot to talk about. Eminem! Album came out on Friday.  

Damien Scott:   Slim Shady. 

Carl Lamarre: Slim Shady.  

Trevor Anderson:  The Death of Slim Shady.

Carl Lamarre:  The Death of Slim Shady.

Kyle Denis: Certainly, a death. 

Carl Lamarre: It was …

Damien Scott:   All right. I see how this is going to go now! All right. All right.  

Carl Lamarre: In case you guys missed the memo, The Death of Slim Shady, previously released singles “Houdini,” “Tobey” featuring BabyTron, Big Sean. Album loaded with features: Jelly Roll, Skylar Grey — familiar face, you know, known for cooking up big records with Em.  

Damien Scott:   Came back. 

Carl Lamarre: Yup.  

Kyle Denis: It was a welcomed voice.  

Carl Lamarre: A lot of Dr. Dre production. I think freakin Ex Mil, that’s the artists signed to Shady, he was on the record as well. First impressions of this album … thoughts?  

Damien Scott: I like it. We’re talking about this in the office. My favorite, I guess, later stage Eminem album is Kamikaze. It’s 12 tracks, it’s very focused. He’s talking about his detractors, some personal things in his life, like the breakup of D12. And he’s like, putting the final thoughts on his relationship with I believe his baby mother. Great, amazing rapping, good features. Watch the full video above!

In the ninth episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Trevor Anderson, Damien Scott and Kyle Denis break down the top 10 best rap albums of all time and elaborate on why and how they earned their ranking. They also analyze Kendrick Lamar’s music video for “Not Like Us,” how Shaboozey was able to get his first No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and more!

Damien Scott:All these callbacks that for someone who is reportedly so offline, he seems to know a lot about what people are doing online.

Kyle Denis:It’s just a fantastic freaking moment, a Nigerian-American country star with a No. 1 single.

Carl Lamarre:We went through 100-11 the last few weeks … the top 10!

There was some fireworks on the Fourth of July, seven o’clock Eastern time, courtesy of Mr. Kendrick Lamar officially dropping the “Not Like Us” video. It has 41 million views in five days on YouTube.

Trevor Anderson:That was only five days ago?

Carl Lamarre:Yep. Yeah.

Kyle Denis:Those numbers are nuts for, like, 2022.

Carl Lamarre:Yeah.

Trevor Anderson:I was trying to … I literally was try to think …

Kyle Denis:2024?

Trevor Anderson:Even better! 2024!

Kyle Denis:These videos don’t get played on YouTube like that anymore.

Carl Lamarre:Yeah. I think the only …

Trevor Anderson:I was trying to think of the last music video that really …

Carl Lamarre:I think “Houdini” because “Houdini” had like 20 (million) in a day.

Trevor Anderson:But I’m trying to think, I guess, like made an impact in a you know …

Carl Lamarre:A cultural …?

Trevor Anderson:I mean, even just ,like, though we’re waiting for this video to drop kind of moment.

Carl Lamarre:Yeah.

Damien Scott:Like, when the stills dropped, people were excited.

Carl Lamarre:Yeah.

Damien Scott:And I’ve never seen … I haven’t seen people that excited over music, video stills in I don’t know how long and that was crazy. Just seeing people being like, “Oh, man!” They were dissecting images of a video that they have no idea about.Watch the full video above!

In the eighth episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Trevor Anderson & Damien Scott run through Megan Thee Stallion’s new album, Camila Cabello’s C,XOXO and what they thought of Drake’s features. Additionally, the trio breaks down the highlights from the 2024 BET Awards, including Usher’s tribute and Will Smith’s first performance, along with other standout moments.Damien Scott:If this was just a 10-track album, it would have been like a…

Trevor Anderson:It would have been a 10/10? Album of the year?

Damien Scott:Classic record.

Carl Lamarre:It killed me knowing that you got two Drake records and they kind of were somewhat of a dud and then you come with a heater.

Trevor Anderson:I’m hoping we can take this and can continue going forward, build off this year and keep it going back.

Carl Lamarre:It’s been quite some time.

Damien Scott:Hey, hey!

Carl Lamarre:Just a little bit, everybody was doing their thing. Little vacays.

Trevor Anderson:Yeah. It’s that time of year.

Carl Lamarre:Yeah, BET.

Damien Scott:Skin tan, hair long. Smell like a vacation.

Carl Lamarre:I love that. You got a little tan on you, pop.

Damien Scott:A little bit.

Carl Lamarre:Alright!

Trevor Anderson:Oh, yeah. I forgot! Yeah! Well I know you were out in L.A. last week, obviously.

Carl Lamarre:Yeah I was in L.A. for BET.

Trevor Anderson:You can see…. I’m thinking of that Sexyy Red video with the…

Carl Lamarre:Oh she made it rain on me.

Trevor Anderson:Go check this out, if you haven’t seen Carl on the Billboard hip-hop social because what’s was the line?Watch the full video above!