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In today’s episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Angel Diaz, and special guest, Rapsody, debate who the best rapper/producer duo are. Moderated by Billboard’s Delissa Shannon, each hip-hop expert gives their hot take on Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre, Nas & Hit-Boy and more! Delisa Shannon: What is up y’all, this is Billboard […]
Bun B thinks Pusha T is “a dangerous man.” The Texas rap legend sat down with Shannon Sharpe’s Night Cap and was asked about Pusha T’s recent diss aimed at Travis Scott that has been dominating the rap news cycle. “Pusha’s a dangerous man,” the UGK member told Sharpe. “He’s willing to throw caution to […]
Billboard Unfiltered returned on Wednesday (June 18) with another brand-new episode featuring a special guest: Rapsody was in the building.
This week, senior director of R&B/Hip-Hop Carl Lamarre returned with hip-hop editor Angel Diaz alongside Rapsody to debate who is the greatest rapper/producer combination of all time.
First up, Lamarre made the case for Nas and Hit-Boy, who connected for five projects over the course of 36 months with three installments of the King’s Disease series, which Lamarre holds in the upper echelon of rap album series, and a pair of Magic projects.
“When they came into each other’s lives, I think they changed the dynamic of what hip-hop is today in terms of what we look at from a rapper and producer standpoint,” Lamarre declared. “From 2020 to 2023, we saw the best rapping of Nas’ career.”
He continued: “King’s Disease is probably one of the best series in hip-hop of all-time. Magic one and two, flawless. We introduce Nas in a new era… Some of the best beats in Hit-Boy’s career came from working with Nas and they got a Grammy out of it.”
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Angel Diaz laid out the case for Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, as he believes the duo put the West Coast on the map. “They had The Chronic and Doggystyle back-to-back and then they came back with 2001,” he said. “They put the West Coast on the map.”
Taking things a step further, Diaz explained that there’s still remnants of Dre and Snoop’s G-funk DNA in West Coast rap decades later as seen in Kendrick Lamar’s GNX.
As for Rapsody, she elected to spotlight the Clipse and Pharrell. “From their first project Lord Willin’ to this one — I haven’t heard all of it — but it’s setting up to be a phenomenal classic,” she said. “It’s like they’ve evolved and haven’t missed a step. This ain’t gon’ be a miss, we can feel the energy.”
The North Carolina rapper added: “When you have a producer and a rapper come together and they always create their best work together, it’s undeniable,” “Those two, that’s always their best work.”
There was plenty of back-and-forth, but moderator Delisa Shannon gave the victory to Carl Lamarre and his pick of Nas and Hit-Boy on Wednesday’s show.
Watch the full episode below.
Lil Wayne extends his Carter series’ winning streak on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart as Tha Carter VI launches at No. 1 on the list dated June 21. The project, issued on Young Money/Republic, arrives with 108,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the tracking week of June 6-12, according to Luminate.
Of Tha Carter VI’s starting sum, streaming activity contributes 73,000 units — equaling 97.06 million official on-demand audio and video streams of its songs. Album sales deliver another 34,000 units, while track-equivalent album activity brings in the remaining 1,000 units. (One unit equals the following levels of consumption: one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams for a song on the album.)
Tha Carter VI gives Lil Wayne his 11th No. 1 album on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, a streak that includes the previous five Carter projects. (The first installment, 2004’s Tha Carter debuted at its No. 2 peak on the list.) As Tha Carter VI joins the pack, here’s a review of Lil Wayne’s No. 1s on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums:
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Tha Block Is Hot, No. 1 for two weeks, beginning Nov. 20, 1999
500 Degreez, one, Aug. 10, 2002
Tha Carter II, one, Dec. 24, 2005
Like Father, Like Son (with Birdman), one, Nov. 18, 2006
Tha Carter III, seven, June 28, 2008
Rebirth, one, Feb. 20, 2010
I Am Not a Human Being, four, Oct. 16, 2010
Tha Carter IV, seven, Sept. 17, 2011
Tha Carter V, two, Oct. 13, 2018
Funeral, one, Feb. 15, 2020
Tha Carter VI, one (to date), June 21, 2025
Thanks to the newest champ, the rapper becomes the eighth artist with at least 11 No. 1s since the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart launched in 1965. He follows The Temptations, who hold a record 17 leaders, Drake and Future (16 each), Jay-Z (14), Ye (formerly Kanye West) and R. Kelly (12) and ties Eminem.
Elsewhere, Tha Carter VI begins as Lil Wayne’s 10th No. 1 on the Top Rap Albums chart and starts at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200, behind Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem.
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In addition to the album’s chart-topping entrance, 17 of Tha Carter VI’s tracks jump onto the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. “Hip-Hop,” with BigXthaPlug featuring Jay Jones, is the highest ranking, at No. 8, and secures Lil Wayne’s 53rd top 10 on the chart. With it, he breaks from a tie with Aretha Franklin for the third-most top 10s in the chart’s history, dating to its consolidation as the singular, all-encompassing genre list in 1958. Drake reigns with 138 top 10s, while James Brown stands in second place with 57.
Here’s a complete recap of Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter VI placements on the 50-position Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart this week:
No. 8, “Hip-Hop,” with BigXthaPlug feat. Jay Jones
No. 12, “Sharks,” with Jelly Roll & Big Sean
No. 15, “Banned From NO”
No. 16, “Welcome to Tha Carter”
No. 18, “Bells”
No. 23, “Cotton Candy,” with 2 Chainz
No. 26, “Flex Up”
No. 27, “Island Holiday”
No. 29, “The Days,” with Bono
No. 31, “Loki’s Theme”
No. 34, “Peanuts 2 N Elephant”
No. 35, “Alone in the Studio with My Gun,” with MGK & Kodak Black
No. 36, “If I Played Guitar”
No. 38, “Written History”
No. 39, “Bein Myself,” with Mannie Fresh
No. 46, “Maria,” with Wyclef Jean feat. Andrea Bocelli
No. 47, “Rari,” with Kameron Carter
Zohran Mamdani is a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist looking to become the next mayor of New York City. As voters learn more about potential candidates, curious folks have dug up old rap videos from a previous life for Mamdani, who rhymed under the monikers Young Cardamom and then Mr. Cardamom.
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According to a 2019 story about actress Madhur Jaffrey in The New York Times, Mamdani made his rap debut in the late 2000s while running for vice president at the Bronx High School of Science. He then partnered with his close friend Abdul Bar Hussein to form a rap duo in the mid-2010s.
They would release a six-track EP, titled Sidda Mukyaalo, in 2016, which finds them rapping in six different languages while paying homage to their Ugandan roots.
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Mamdani (Mr. Cardamom) wouldn’t hesitate to touch on politically charged topics in his rhymes and dealt with racism. “When it’s a Black friend or family member, it always takes a bit longer,” he raps on “Askari,” which finds him playing a security guard opening a gate quicker for a white person.
One of the more recent tracks that has gone viral is his 2019 “Nani” video, a tribute to his grandmother, Praveen Nair, who worked for the nonprofit Salaam Baalak Trust. The visual, which stars Jaffrey and even received coverage from The New York Times, has more than 213,000 views on YouTube. It’s the only clip left on his official YouTube account as Mr. Cardamom.
Supporters hopped into the clip’s comments section, saying Mamdani has their vote and they’re convinced he needs to be the next mayor of NYC.
“He’s got my vote, just cause I don’t want smoke with nani,” one person wrote, while a second added, “I don’t even live in NY but please. Please, y’all gotta make him mayor, if only for this banger.”
Another chimed in: “I swear to god Zohran completed every damn sidequest out there lmao.”
The NYC mayoral race continues to heat up in its final days of the primary, with Mamdani closing the gap on former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo among Democrats in the polls. A recent survey from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that 38 percent of voters said they’d rank Cuomo at the top of their ballots, compared to 27 percent for Mamdani.
Independent music platform Create Music Group (CMG) has formed a joint venture with Star Trak Entertainment and its co-founder Rob Walker, Billboard can exclusively report. Under the terms of the new partnership, CMG will provide worldwide distribution, technology and marketing services to Star Trak. As noted in the press release announcing the agreement, the joint […]
Northern Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap remain defiant ahead of a court appearance for member Mo Chara this week, launching a billboard takeover in London in response.
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The series of billboards was announced on the group’s social media on Tuesday (June 17) ahead of Mo Chara’s scheduled appearance at Westminster Crown Court over terror charges on Wednesday.
Mo Chara, born Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, was last month charged with a terrorism offense by London’s Metropolitan Police after being investigated for allegedly showing support for militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah in historic videos. Both are proscribed as terror groups according to U.K. law, and considered an offense under the Terrorism Act 2000.
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In response, Kneecap claimed that the alleged offense is little more than a “carnival of distraction” designed to shift the spotlight away from more pertinent matters. “We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves,” Kneecap wrote in a statement.
The group’s timely billboard campaign follows in the same vein as their initial response, with a social media post seeing the group note the messages were specifically plastered in the lead-up to the impending court appearance, which they labelled a “witch-hunt.”
“British courts have long charged people from the North of Ireland with ‘terrorism’ for crimes never committed,” they wrote. “We will fight them. We will win.”
The billboards – in the Irish flag colors of green, white and orange – feature the phrase “More Blacks, More Dogs, More Irish, Mo Chara,” referencing the “No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs” slogan which gained traction in the 20th century to discriminate against the aforementioned groups.
Currently, Kneecap are also scheduled to perform at the Glastonbury Festival in England later this month, despite politicians throughout the U.K. writing to organizers of festivals which have booked the band to request their removal.
Though the group remain on the final lineup for Glastonbury, they were however recently removed from Scotland’s TRNSMT festival in July following safety concerns from law enforcement.
Suge Knight has continuously shared his opinions about Diddy‘s ongoing trial and recently spoke in more detail about why so many of Puff’s supporters are going silent. On Monday, Suge Knight called in for a lengthy phone call with host Aubrey O’Day, who has been covering the ongoing trial as part of Amy Robach and […]
Cardi B is back “Outside” and she’s ready to supply the soundtrack to your summer block party. The Grammy-winning rapper announced her first solo single of 2025, with “Outside” slated to arrive on Friday (June 20). “We OUTSIDE this Friday,” she wrote on Instagram. The cover art encapsulates a summer turn-up in NYC, featuring a […]
New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs has been known as a sharp route-runner during his NFL career, but he may need to apply that athleticism to his dance moves to impress Cardi B in the future. Diggs provided a life update on his Instagram Monday (June 16), and the carousel featured a photo of […]
