Billboard

Tyler, the Creator Disses Elon Musk | Billboard News

Tyler, the Creator disses Elon Musk by changing a lyric in his “911/Mr. Lonely” track. Keep watching to hear what the switch-up is.

Tetris Kelly:
Tyler, the Creator takes a shot at Elon Musk. Tyler tweaked a lyric to his “911/Mr. Lonely” track while headlining the 2024 ACL Fest in Texas on Sunday night. 

Tyler, the Creator: 
“Can’t see straight these shades are Celine Dion/ Sucks you can’t gas me up/ Man, f–k Elon.” 

Tetris Kelly:
The Frank Ocean and Steve Lacy-assisted track originally featured a shout-out to Elon Musk. 

“911/Mr. Lonely” originally landed on Tyler’s Grammy-nominated Flower Boy album in 2017. Tyler has shown Elon Musk plenty of love in the past. Back in 2016, he told his followers on X, “I HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY AND ANY IDEAS YOU HAVE AND STUFF GO FOR THEM NO MATTER WHAT ****** SAY SHOUT OUT ELON MUSK” 

Musk thanked Tyler, and the Grammy-winning rapper continued to shower the Tesla CEO with praise. “NO THANK YOU, KEEP PUSHING AND GOING AND TRYING THINGS.” 

But that was 2016 and it’s clear Tyler’s changed his tune in 2024.

Octavio Cuadras Reflects on When He Knew He ‘Made It’ | Billboard

Octavio Cuadras shares how he started in music at 12 years old, when he knew he “made it” and more!

Octavio Cuadras:
Hi, I’m Octavio Cuadras and I’ll be Fishing for Questions. Look me in the eyes. This one.

“Name a time in which you were excited to see an artist.” Wow. I swear it was yesterday. I wanted to meet Arcángel, but I couldn’t. I had work in Los Angeles, so I couldn’t make it. I got here today. But well, I was really excited. I thought, “We’re going to be at the same event.” But it didn’t happen, but I know it will happen soon.

The next one is: “What is the craziest show you have ever had?” Wow, I don’t know. Look, this is true, when I was 12 years old, I started working in music. I started very young. So my cousins played band instruments, trombone and trumpet, and I played the drums with buckets. So we were called from my house, we went right away, and they were cooking, that was the most exotic show. I was playing the buckets, they were with the trumpets, and people would put money in our cap, and that was my first music salary. It was my first show, so that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done at a show. They don’t even move when I do this. Like this.

“When was the first time in your career that you thought, ‘I made it’?” Wow. These are very emotional. Honestly, today is a very special day. It’s my first time performing in Vegas. It’s the first time I’ll perform like this, with my entire group. 

Keep watching for more!

Mariah The Scientist Denied Young Thug Jail Visit | Billboard News

Mariah The Scientist was denied a jail visit to visit Young Thug and celebrate their three year anniversary. Keep watching to see her rant.

Tetris Kelly:

Mariah the Scientist tried to visit her boyfriend Young Thug on their three-year anniversary. Apparently, the visiting system at the Fulton County Jail, where Thugger was, was down. The singer went on Instagram Live to vent a little bit to her followers. 

Mariah The Scientist:

“I done drove all the way to this motherf—ing jail. The jail is like 30 minutes away from the city okay first of all. I done drove all the way to this motherf—ing jail and stopped at the Party City in between, so I could tape up my lil’ happy anniversary sign in the back, ’cause it’s not face-to-face, it’s through a screen, by the way. I done drove all the way to this motherf—ing jail with my little ‘Happy Anniversary’ sh*t and my motherf—ing Scotch tape for me to get inside of the jail and for them to say the system is down. I’m devastated.” 

Tetris Kelly:

Thug has been on trial since November of 2023 as he and his crew YSL are facing RICO charges. He’s been incarcerated since May 2022 and the trial has been the longest in Georgia history.

Venesti Shares 5 Facts You Didn’t Know About Him | Billboard

Venesti shares five personal things about his life, including where he was born, when he started to create music and more!

Venesti:

Hi, I’m Venesti, and these are five things you didn’t know about me. The first thing is that I love TV series. The second is that I don’t like partying at all — socially maybe. I love creating the party for others to enjoy it. So if I’m partying, it’s that I’m performing. The third is that I moved out on my own when I was 14 years old. I went to live on my own at the age of 14 years old to pursue my dream. And the fourth thing you probably don’t know about me is that I’m from a small town of less than 20,000 people. It is called Guapi Cauca, in the Colombian Pacific. Many people think I am from Cali, but in reality I am from Guapi Cauca. The fifth is that I came to a family that welcomed me very well. I met them because I was a composer and they pushed me to be a singer, and that family is AP Global Music, where Pablo welcomed me as a son and gives me the opportunity to make music.  

Billie Eilish Gets Candid About Supporting Kamala Harris | Billboard News

Billie Eilish gets real about her support for Kamala Harris as president in her ‘Vogue’ cover story. Keep watching to see what she had to say.

Tetris Kelly:

Billie Eilish is doubling down on her support of Kamala Harris for president. And she had some kind words to share about the future. The “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” singer is on the cover of ‘Vogue,’ and she has this to say about Kamala and our future. “A lot of my fans are going to be able to vote for the first time. So i’m like, ‘Do you like freedom?’” The nine-time Grammy winner continued, “First female president? Would be really amazing. I would love to feel safe as a woman in my country.”

Eilish first joined the election discourse in September when she and her older brother, Finneas, filmed a video together emphatically endorsing the Democratic ticket. 

Billie Eilish:

We are voting for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom, our planet, and our democracy. 

Hot 100 First-Timers: Odetari Manages to ‘Keep Up’ With His Chart Debut

Odetari first broke through on Billboard’s charts in 2023, and now he’s officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist.

The Houston producer scores his first entry on the Hot 100 (dated Oct. 12) with “Keep Up.” The song debuts at No. 96 almost entirely from its streaming sum: 5.7 million official U.S. streams in the Sept. 27-Oct. 3 tracking week, according to Luminate.

TikTok has been a huge factor in the song’s growing profile, largely due to a viral dance trend. A portion of its audio has been used in nearly 1 million clips on the platform to date. That activity pushed the song 14-4 on the Oct. 5-dated TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart.

“Keep Up” also rises two spots to No. 6 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. It’s Odetari’s 16th career entry on the chart, and sixth top 10. His first hit, “Narcissistic Personality Disorder,” reached No. 10 in May 2023, followed by “Good Loyal Thots” (No. 8); “Look Don’t Touch,” with Cade Clair (No. 9); “GMFU,” with 6arelyhuman (No. 5); and “I Love You Hoe,” with 9lives (No. 3).

Trending on Billboard

Odetari’s music style is fast-paced and hectic EDM, a genre that he calls “ODECORE.” Earlier this year, Billboard reported that Odetari has a unique approach to releasing his songs. While the original versions of his songs are posted on his primary Odetari Spotify profile, various other versions and remixes of his songs are released under a separate Spotify profile called ODECORE. “[He] frequently has two to three different versions of records coming out a month,” explained Corey Calder, svp of marketing and creative services at Artist Partner Group, Odetari’s label. “If we were to have that all sit on his page, it would feel cluttered and make it hard for his fanbase to follow and track it all.”

It’s a growing trend that has also been adopted by Odetari’s collaborator and labelmate 6arelyhuman, who releases music under his own name, plus remixes under the name Sassy Scene.

Before Odetari’s music career took flight last year, Billboard reported that in February he was substitute-teaching at a high school in his native Houston. He said that he would even upload his music during school hours. “The students were, like, hitting their dab pens in class, secretly under their sleeves,” he said. “The teachers walked in and smelled it and were like, ‘You should have been supervising the class better.’”

By the end of 2023, Odetari wrapped at No. 7 on Billboard’s Top Dance/Electronic Artists annual recap. He also landed six songs on the year-end Hot Dance/Electronic Songs ranking, including “Good Loyal Thots” and “Look Don’t Touch” at Nos. 16 and 19, respectively.

GloRilla on ‘Glorious’ Album, ‘Ehhthang Ehhthang’ Success, Damian Lillard Rumors | Billboard News

GloRilla’s debut album Glorious is set to release this Friday, and the rapper sits down to discuss it in detail. She talks about her preparation for the album, the mentorship she received from J. Cole, her friendship with Megan Thee Stallion and possibility of a joint album, her friendship with Damian Lillard and more!

Billboard’s Carl Lamarre:
Today is a glorious day.

GloRilla:
Yeah! 

Because we got big Glo. Miss GloRilla in the building in New York City with us, the way you’ve been wrecking s–t, might as well say that. How you feeling?

I feel great. I feel glorious. 

Your album comes out. 

I’m super excited. Never been so excited in my life. 

I mean, you put out two dope projects, obviously, Ehhthang Ehhthang, talk about how that project specifically had you ready to go for your debut album. 

OK, so actually, last year I was supposed to drop my debut album, but I was just still, you know what I’m saying, getting used to stuff and working a lot and trying to figure out, you know what I’m saying. When the top of the year came, I had the project basically done, and I’m like, “OK, I gotta get ‘em a mixtape before I get ‘em the album, because I went a whole year, really, without dropping anything. That’s why I said I’m gonna give ‘em the mixtape first, get ‘em back used to me, give ‘em a feel of me, and then that’s gonna prep me for the album. Mixtape did good, and it did what it’s supposed to do, which prepped me for my album. 

I mean, listen, we’re talking about three surefire bangers this year: “TGIF,” “Yeah, Glo!,” “Wanna Be” — did you anticipate this kind of success? That’s three top 10s on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop charts.

Keep watching for more!

Get To Know The Rising Producers Making Waves On The Hot 100 And Beyond

Across genres, a new crop of producers has broken out in recent years (some as recently as this past one). Some have quickly established themselves as go-to hit-makers; others are talented newbies who’ve just gotten their first tastes of success. But regardless of experience level, these producers — selected based on their histories on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard’s Hot 100 producers chart, along with placements on other charts — are helping to define music’s future.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news


Young but already established hit-makers, their big Hot 100 breakthroughs occurred within the past five years

Rob Bisel

The primary producer on SZA’s SOS, he’s charted 13 songs on the Hot 100 (12 by SZA, including “Kill Bill”); he’s also engineered big hits by Doja Cat, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, The Creator.

Trending on Billboard


Nik D

Debuted on the Hot 100 in 2019 with Travis Scott’s No. 1 “Highest in the Room”; returned with hits by Drake and Metro Boomin before co-producing Jack Harlow’s No. 1 “Lovin on Me.”


Jacob Durrett

Produced on seven Hot 100-charting songs — six of them by Morgan Wallen, including Durrett’s debut entry, the top 10 hit “Wasted on You” — all since 2021.


Omer Fedi

Has placed 23 songs on the Hot 100 since his chart debut in June 2020, including four No. 1s: 24kGoldn’s “Mood,” Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” and Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy.”

Feature, Rising Producers, The Kid LAROI and Omer Fedi

The Kid LAROI (left) and Omer Fedi

Presley Ann/Getty Images


Charlie Handsome

Of the 54 Hot 100-charting songs he’s produced or co-produced, 23 are by Post Malone and eight are by Morgan Wallen; seven reached the top 10; and two (Jack Harlow’s “First Class” and Post and Wallen’s “I Had Some Help”) reached No. 1.


Jasper Harris

Since 2019, has charted 17 songs on the Hot 100 as a producer, including his first two top 10s in 2022: Jack Harlow’s “First Class” and Post Malone and Doja Cat’s “I Like You (A Happier Song).”

Feature, Rising Producers, Jasper Harris and Lil Nas X

Jasper Harris (left) and Lil Nas X

David Dickenson


Blake Slatkin

Produced on 12 Hot 100-charting songs since 2020, including four No. 1s: “Mood,” “Stay,” “Unholy” and Lizzo’s “About Damn Time.” 2024 credits include Charli XCX, Omar Apollo and Wallows.


Leon Thomas III

Produced on SZA’s “Snooze,” plus Hot 100-charting hits by Drake, Jack Harlow and Ye/Ty Dolla $ign; he’s also worked on songs with Post Malone, Ariana Grande and Giveon.

Ty Dolla $ign and Leon Thomas III attend Affinity Nightlife presents

Ty Dolla $ign (left) and Leon Thomas III attend Affinity Nightlife presents “Music Is Love | Love is Music” Grammys after party at Academy LA on Feb. 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Vivien Killilea/Getty Images


After some time in the production world, they recently broke through to the charts’ top tier

Evan Blair

Cracked the Hot 100 with Nessa Barrett’s “I Hope Ur Miserable Until Ur Dead” (2021), then moved up the chart with Dove Cameron’s No. 16-peaking “Boyfriend” (2022); earlier this year, reached No. 2 with Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things.”


BNYX

Charted 13 songs on the Hot 100 as a producer, all since 2022. Four hit the top 10: Drake’s “Search & Rescue” and “IDGAF” and Travis Scott’s “K-Pop” and “Meltdown”; has also worked with Lil Tecca, Lil Uzi Vert and Yeat.

Feature, Rising Producers, Yeat and BYNX

Yeat and BYNX

Jason Renaud


A.G. Cook

His first Hot 100 production credit was on Beyoncé’s “All Up in Your Mind” in 2022; this year, he returned with four Charli XCX tracks — “360,” “Girl, so confusing,” “Apple” and “Talk talk,” with Troye Sivan — which all hit the top 10 of Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.


Ernesto “Neto” Fernandez

One of the biggest current regional Mexican producers. First charted on the Hot 100 in February 2023 with Peso Pluma & Natanael Cano’s “PRC” and followed that with the No. 4-peaking “Ella Baila Sola” (the highest-charting regional Mexican song ever). He’s charted 19 total songs by Peso Pluma on the Hot 100, plus three by Xavi and one by Junior H.


Teo Halm

Has charted three songs on the Hot 100 as producer, all in 2022: Omar Apollo’s “Evergreen” and SZA’s “Notice Me” and “Open Arms.” Co-wrote Drake’s “Fair Trade,” which reached No. 3.


Sean Momberger

Produced on two recent No. 1s — Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” — after making his first Hot 100 appearance in 2018 with Chris Brown’s “Tempo” and returning with Gunna and Future’s “Too Easy” (2021) and Lil Baby’s “Everything” (2022).

Sean Momberger at the Spotify Best New Artist Party held at Paramount Studios on February 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Sean Momberger at the Spotify Best New Artist Party held at Paramount Studios on February 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Gilbert Flores for Billboard


Nova Wav

The veteran female duo produced on Beyoncé’s “Cuff It,” which spent 35 weeks on the Hot 100 (reaching No. 6) and became her longest-charting song as lead artist, as well as on Bey’s “Jolene” from Cowboy Carter, which reached No. 7 earlier this year.


La Paciencia

The close Bad Bunny collaborator has charted 21 songs on the Hot 100 since June 2023, all by the Puerto Rican superstar, including two top 10s: “Where She Goes” (No. 8) and “Monaco” (No. 5).


RIOTUSA

Ice Spice’s right-hand producer charted six songs with her on the Hot 100, all since February 2023, including her two top 10s, “Princess Diana” (No. 4) and “Barbie World” (No. 7).


Austin Shawn

Produced all seven of Bailey Zimmerman’s Hot 100 entries, including the No. 10-peaking “Rock and a Hard Place” in 2023.


Feature, Rising Producers, Gabe Simon

Gabe Simon

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

Gabe Simon

First charted on the Hot 100 in 2022 with Jessie Murph’s “Pray” (No. 95) — then followed up with seven Noah Kahan hits, including “Stick Season” (No. 9), “Dial Drunk” and “Northern Attitude.” (The latter two made the top 40 and also topped the Triple A radio chart.) Earned two more Hot 100 top 40 entries this year with Koe Wetzel’s “Sweet Dreams” and Wetzel and Jessie Murph’s “High Road.”


They’re brand-new to the charts, but their achievements already make them worth watching

Grant Boutin

Charted for the first time in September 2023 with Tate McRae’s “Greedy” (which went to No. 3 on the Hot 100 and spent eight weeks atop Pop Airplay) and then with her “Run for the Hills.” He’s also worked with Meghan Trainor and Tomorrow X Together.


Sean Cook

Paul Russell’s inescapable “Lil Boo Thang” (No. 14 on the Hot 100) marked his first producer credit on the charts; he made a strong follow-up co-producing Shaboozey’s Hot 100 No. 1 “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”

Feature, Rising Producers, Sean Cook

Sean Cook

Michael Tran/AFP/Getty Images


Dave Hamelin

Charted for the first time on the Hot 100 this year with five songs from Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter: “16 Carriages,” “Just for Fun,” “II Hands II Heaven,” “Tyrant” and “Amen.”


Hoskins

Charted for the first time on the Hot 100 with Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s No. 1 “I Had Some Help” and co-produced Post’s F-1 Trillion single “Guy for That” with Luke Combs (a No. 17 peak); previously had only produced one other charting song, Khalid’s “Present” (which spent a week on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in 2021).


Gerreaux Katana

Broke onto the charts and reached No. 15 with ascendant rapper Flo Milli’s “Never Lose Me.”


Florian Ongonga

Charted for the first time in July 2023 with three Gunna songs, including the No. 4-peaking “fukumean”; also produced Gunna’s “Prada Dem” featuring Offset, which reached No. 15 on Hot Rap Songs.


Tommy Richman’s Crew (Kavi, Mannyvelli, Jonah Roy, Sparkheem and Max Vossberg)

The breakout star’s creative inner circle all charted for the first time with their work on his Hot 100 topper “Million Dollar Baby;” Kavi, Roy and Vossberg followed that up with “Devil Is a Lie,” which peaked at No. 32.


Frank Rio

The go-to producer for Ivan Cornejo, he has produced on 16 Hot Latin Songs entries (including three top 10s) by the young singer-songwriter.

Feature, Rising Producers, Frank Rio

Frank Rio

NEON16


Jack Rochon

Three songs from Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter became his Hot 100 entrée: “II Hands II Heaven,” “Protector” and “Jolene.” He’s also worked with 6LACK, H.E.R. and Kehlani.


Feature, Rising Producers, Nevin Sastry and Shaboozey

Nevin Sastry and Shaboozey

Courtesy of Nevin Sastry

Nevin Sastry

Charted for the first time co-producing Shaboozey’s Hot 100 No. 1 “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”; also worked on the artist’s “My Fault” and “Drink Don’t Need No Mix,” which reached Hot Country Songs’ top 50.

This article appears in the Oct. 5 issue of Billboard.

Mustard: Scoring An ACE With Kendrick’s “Not Like Us” | Billboard Cover

Mustard, the mastermind behind the beat of Kendrick Lamar’s smash hit “Not Like Us,” is riding a wave of success. Hot on the heels of this triumph, he unleashed his own creation, ‘Faith of a Mustard Seed.’ But he’s far from done. We spend a day with Mustard exploring his daily routine, diving into the profound cultural and personal influence of “Not Like Us,” discovering what lies ahead for him, and more!

Mustard:

What up y’all? It’s Mustard, man. Cover of Billboard, man. Who would have thought we’d be here today? But we are. So today, I’m gonna take y’all through my life, my daily life. Talk to y’all about what I got going on, and my music. For right now, we are going to the Thunderdome, aka the red court, where people don’t want to come because they don’t want to play me. We going there, y’all beat me there. See ya. I’m like a person that’s like anything that I do, I’m an extremist. So I play every day, sometimes two times a day. I think that I got so good that nobody wants to play with me no more. I mean, YG comes here, but YG can’t do nothing with me on this tennis court. He’s not a guy that can do anything with me. His daughter comes and practices here. He can’t do a godd**n thing with me here. So let’s just clear that out. 

Shaina Zaidi:

He’s really focused, really dialed in when he’s on the court. And then sometimes, you know, during breaks, he’ll just be taking a FaceTime call. He’ll be talking to Meko, his manager. He’ll talk to artists that he’s working on a song with, and it’s kind of surreal for me, but it’s just it also is like, become so normal.

Keep watching for more!

Taylor Swift Becomes World’s Richest Female Musician | Billboard News

Taylor Swift surpasses Rihanna as the world’s richest female musician, and Sabrina Carpenter heeds Taylor Swift’s advice. Keep watching for more!

Tetris Kelly:

Does Taylor make more money than Rihanna?! Forbes is reporting the billionaire has added even more money to her massive wealth and Sabrina Carpenter is taking her advice. We’re breaking it all down. After reportedly becoming a billionaire last year thanks to her juggernaut Eras Tour, Taylor Swift at 34 years old has surpassed Rihanna to become the world’s richest female musician with a net worth estimated at $1.6 billion. It noted that she’s the first musician to make the billionaire ranking primarily based on her songs and live performances. And when it comes to this level of fame, Sabrina Carpenter told CBS News Sunday Morning’s the non verbal cues she’s learned from the superstar. Will Sabrina join the billionaire girlies club one day? Now that would be sweet.