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Meek Mill took to X to address claims made by recently incarcerated Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crip rapper Luce Cannon in a resurfaced clip. After Cannon was swept up in the Eugene ‘Big U’ Henley Jr. RICO case, Akademiks TV posted a three-minute video of the rapper making the claim on DJ Akademiks’ podcast Off the […]
Playboi Carti debuted atop the Billboard 200 with Music, earning just under 300,000 total album units in its first week on the chart.
Billboard Unfiltered returned with a brand-new episode on Wednesday (March 26) featuring The Breakfast Club‘s Nyla Symone as a special guest, and the crew debates Carti’s massive debut numbers, Ye’s Bully leak and more.
“I wasn’t surprised at this level of commercial success from Carti,” staff writer Kyle Denis said. “It was really more confirmation of his past five years of how he’s positioned himself as the leader of the new gen. The kids love this man.”
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“Rather Lie” featuring The Weeknd debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been serviced to radio, which could position itself as the longest-lasting hit from Music.
Deputy editor Carl Lamarre compared “Rather Lie” to feeling inspired by Drake and SZA’s No. 1 hit “Slime You Out.” “Weeknd’s verse was very ‘Slime You Out.’ I’m just saying he was inspired,” Lamarre alleged.
The conversation moved to finding the “big three” in rap behind Drake, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole. The crew seemed to agree that behind them it’s looking like Playboi Carti, Travis Scott and Tyler, The Creator have solidified themselves as the next superstars.
“Numbers don’t lie,” senior charts & data analyst Trevor Anderson said.
Denis added: “The kids really f— with those two [Playboi Carti and Travis Scott]. We see it in the streams go crazy, the hard sales go crazy when they put up stuff for you to buy, the ticket sales be going crazy, the festival crowds go crazy and they got the cultural pull. Carti wasn’t necessarily getting chart hits the past five years, but was still a bigger cultural presence than a lot of rappers that were getting hits.”
With people complaining about the lack of new stars in rap, Anderson wonders if he’ll receive a true mainstream push in the form of radio play, award show performances and commercial accolades. “Clearly you have evidence millions of people f–k with this dude so why not open the door,” he said.
Ye (Kanye West) returned with the leaked release of his Bully album last week, which drew positive reviews from fans even in the midst of his hateful tirades on X.
“From what I heard, I do like it,” Symone said. “I never doubted Ye couldn’t come back, but as far as being excellent at his craft, he’s never swayed from that.”
Denis believes the “curatorial” and “sequencing” skills have “disappeared” for Ye following 2016’s The Life of Pablo. “I haven’t had a favorable listening experience top-to-bottom in quite some time,” he said.
Lamarre thinks fans are still hanging onto the hope of Ye being able to put everything together once again and have it pay off in the music. “In the last decade, we have seen so many flashes of the old Ye,” Lamarre said before citing Ye’s performance at the Larry Hoover benefit concert and tracks like “530.”
The rest of the episode also finds the crew diving into the hopeful album releases from Cardi B and Saweetie as well as GloRilla versus Doechii. Watch it below.
Ye (formerly Kanye West) is facing a lawsuit claiming he sampled a song by German singer-songwriter Alice Merton despite her refusal to license it — a move she says “shocked and humiliated” her because she’s the descendant of Holocaust survivors.
In a copyright case filed Monday (March 26) in federal court, attorneys for Merton say Ye prominently used clips from her 2022 track “Blindside” in his 2024 song “Gun to My Head” with Ty Dolla $ign and Kid Cudi, even after she had expressly refused to clear the sample.
When contacted by Ye’s reps last year, Merton says she and her publisher told them that they were denying him a license because “the artist’s values are contrary to our values” — a reference to the star’s antisemitic statements over the years.
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“Although defendants’ use of plaintiffs’ song could potentially bring in significant revenue, [she] was unwilling to compromise her personal beliefs and wanted not to be associated with Ye in any Manner,” her lawyers write. “Merton is a German resident who has close ties to the Holocaust through Jewish family members who survived its horrors, and as such feels closely connected to it.”
Merton’s new lawsuit is one of more than a dozen such cases filed against Ye during his career over claims of unlicensed sampling or interpolating. The controversial rapper has faced nine such infringement cases since 2019 alone, including a high-profile battle with the estate of Donna Summer that settled last year.
In Monday’s complaint, Merton says she is the “direct descendant of Holocaust survivors” — and that she was thus “understandably shocked and humiliated” when the song was released featuring his music: “Merton’s name was suddenly appearing everywhere, with claims that the song was a collaboration between YE, Cudi, and Merton.”
Making matters worse, Merton says that when the song was not included on Ye’s Vultures 2 album, fans blamed her and began harassing her to approve the sample.
“Plaintiff Merton began receiving death threats and abuse from Defendants’ fan base,” he lawyers write. “Defendant did nothing to stop the abuse, allowing his fans to intimidate and harass Plaintiff Merton.”
A spokesperson for Ye could not immediately be located for comment on Wednesday (March 26).
Shaboozey has a dream collaborator at the top of his list. The “Bar Song (Tipsy)” superstar sat down with Holler recently, where he revealed that he wants to work with Future. “That would be awesome,” he said. “I really think a lot of the Atlanta artists grew up in the same neighborhoods, the same towns, […]
Billboard Women In Music 2025’s lineup keeps on growing, with Tina Knowles, Becky G, Suki Waterhouse and more joining as presenters and honorees. Keep watching to see who else will be at Women in Music! Watch the live event on March 29 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on the Billboard Women in Music 2025 […]
Playboi Carti tops Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart for the third time, debuting atop the tally dated March 29 with “Evil J0rdan.” The new track, off Carti’s latest album Music, bows with 30.8 million official U.S. streams earned in the week ending March 20, according to Luminate. It’s the rapper’s first fully solo No. 1 hit […]
Who knew Playboi Carti did his own stunts? After releasing a deluxe version of his No. 1 album Music — which included four new songs in “Different Day,” “2024,” “Backr00ms” and “FOMDJ” — Carti dropped the video for the latter and channeled Tom Cruise by not needing a stuntman. After the video went up on […]
GloRilla is currently trekking across North America while headlining her Glorious Tour, but ended up having to cut a St. Louis show short earlier this week after several fights broke out among the audience. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Per local affiliate FOX 2 Now, brawls […]
Drake has set the release date for his anticipated “Nokia” video, which will arrive on March 31. The 6 God posted a teaser for the clip on Tuesday (March 25), revealing that the Theo Skudra-directed visual was shot for IMAX. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “NOKIA […]
Keyshia Cole, Monica and SWV are the performing stars enlisted to headline Femme It Forward’s first-ever cruise, Billboard can exclusively reveal. Presented in association with Sixthman and Vibee, Femmeland at Sea will sail from Miami to Nassau, Bahamas between Feb. 20-23, 2026.
Femme It Forward’s voyage aboard the Norwegian Pearl also marks the female-led music and entertainment firm’s transition into a 100% woman- and Black-owned company after a five-year partnership with Live Nation.
Femme It Forward president/CEO Heather Lowery, who founded the firm in 2019, tells Billboard, “I’ve always fought to have more equity in a company I’ve worked so hard to build. Now Femme It Forward is 100% woman-owned and Black- owned. I’m so excited! It feels like the beginning again, but this time I’m starting from a different place.
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“Live Nation was a great partner that allowed for a lot of business as well as personal growth,” continues Lowery, a Billboard Women in Music 2025 honoree. “They’ve provided me with a lot of resources for me to continue building Femme It Forward independent of the partnership. I’m super grateful for it all. We’re celebrating our five-year anniversary and there’s a lot of symbolism in the number five representing freedom, change, adventure and adaptability. I’m stepping into this next phase with open arms.”
In addition to the aforementioned live performances, Femmeland at Sea will also offer uniquely curated activities, live podcast recordings, parties, workshops/panels, mentorship labs, wine tastings and karaoke. The popular podcasts being featured include Keep It Positive Sweetie, hosted by Crystal Renee Hayslett, and Let’s Try This Again with B. Simone. Among the cruise’s additional activities will be wellness sessions helmed by WalkGood LA, Pretty Vee, Pretty Girls Sweat and Morning Mindset with Tai. Femme It Forward will also present its own branded activities such as Femme Salon and Femme Mentorship, with the latter hosted by mentors from the company’s Next Gem Femme and MUSE initiatives. Also on the schedule: Kirk Franklin’s Sunday School and #MusicSermon LIVE.
In the press release announcing the inaugural sailing, Lowery states in part that the cruise is “a vision I’ve had since our launch in 2020. I have always been bold about what Femme It Forward stands for and the experiences we create with women at the center. And despite the current optics and everything around us demanding we shrink, we will continue to do more — create more opportunities, make space for more representation and curate more experiences that amplify the voices of women everywhere.”
In turn, Femme It Forward will continue to present its various other events inaugurated over the last five years such as the annual Give Her FlowHERS Gala, the Femme It Forward High Tea and the My Sister’s Keeper Summit honoring artists and executives in music and entertainment. Future plans for its mentorship program include launching global chapters in South Africa and Europe.
Femmeland at Sea’s first round pre-sale sign-ups are available now through April 1 at 11:59 pm (ET). Final round pre-sale sign-ups will conclude on April 9 at 11:59 pm (ET). Public on-sales begin April 11 at 2:00 pm (ET), exclusively here.
