genre hiphop
Page: 37
Kehlani got on camera to give a statement regarding the cancellation of their upcoming performance at Cornell after the university’s president said the singer “has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments.”
Cornell had booked Kehlani to headline the school’s Slope Day, an annual celebration following the last day of classes, set for May 7 this year. Earlier this week, the invite was rescinded.
Kehlani’s performance was officially canceled on Wednesday, per an email Cornell president Michael I. Kotlikoff sent to students and faculty. According to a New York Times report, Kotlikoff wrote in the email that “the selection of Kehlani as this year’s headliner has injected division and discord … In the days since Kehlani was announced, I have heard grave concerns from our community that many are angry, hurt and confused that Slope Day would feature a performer who has espoused antisemitic, anti-Israel sentiments in performances, videos and on social media.”
“I am being asked and called to clarify and make a statement yet again, for the millionth time, that I am not antisemitic nor anti-Jew,” Kehlani said on Saturday (April 26) in a video uploaded on Instagram.
“I am anti-genocide, I am anti the actions of the Israeli government, I am anti an extermination of an entire people, I am anti the bombing of innocent children, men, women — that’s what I’m anti,” they spelled out.
Kehlani continued: “In fact, the very first Live that I did in the beginning of this genocide was with a really beautiful Jewish organization called Jewish Voices for Peace, and I still continue to learn from and work alongside really impactful Jewish organizers against this genocide.”
“I want to be very clear in stating that I do believe God has plans for me and that’s not gonna stop nothing that I have going on, but I’m asked to clarify because this keeps coming up as a means to silence me, as a means to stop things that happen in my career, as a means to change the course of my life, and I just don’t believe that,” said Kehlani, who also noted they were in the studio working on new music. “So here’s the clarification that you needed. I hope this is everything you needed. Straight from my mouth, not a written statement with a white background from my notes.”
“Back to my album,” they concluded. Kehlani’s next full-length release will be the follow-up to 2024’s Crash.
Kehlani has been transparent about their support for Palestine and criticism of Israel in the Israel-Hamas war. In the singer’s 2024 “Next 2 U” video, they wore kaffiyehs, had dancers waving Palestinian flags, and featured the phrase “Long Live the Intifada.” In 2023, the musician joined a coalition of musicians to sign the Artists Against Apartheid letter, which called for a ceasefire.
Watch Kehlani’s Instagram reel from this weekend below.
SZA’s SOS scores a 13th nonconsecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated May 3), as the set rises 3-1 with 52,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending April 24 (down 1%), according to Luminate. The album continues to profit from its expansive deluxe reissue on Dec. 20, 2024 (dubbed SOS Deluxe: LANA), with 15 additional tracks, in addition to a Feb. 9 reissue with four more bonus cuts.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
SOS was originally released on Dec. 9, 2022, as a 23-track album and spent 10 weeks at No. 1 in late 2022 and early 2023. It then returned to No. 1 for two more weeks, following the LANA expansion — on the Jan. 4 and 11, 2025-dated charts, and now on the latest tally. All versions of the album, old and new, are combined for tracking and charting under the title SOS.
Trending on Billboard
With SOS earning 52,000 units in the latest tracking week, that marks the smallest weekly sum for a No. 1 album in over three years, since the April 23, 2022-dated chart, when Lil Durk’s 7220 returned to No. 1, for a second week at the top, with just a little more than 47,000 units.
For the first time in a little over two months, no albums debut in the top 10 on the Billboard 200. We last had a top 10 absent of a debut on the Feb. 22-dated list, when the highest arrival was outside the top 40 (Dream Theater’s Parasomnia at No. 41).
While there are no debuts in the top 10 on the latest chart, there is a title reaching the region for the first time, as Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal flies 24-10 following its wider availability on vinyl, as well as its first release on CD.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new May 3, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on April 29. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of SOS’ 52,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending April 24, SEA units comprise 49,500 (down 1%, equaling 68.29 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it rises 2-1 on the Top Streaming Albums chart, for a third nonconsecutive week on top of the year-and-a-half old ranking), traditional album sales comprise 2,500 (down 5%) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum (up 2%).
With a 13th total week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, SOS has the most weeks atop the chart for an R&B/hip-hop album by a woman, or an R&B album by a woman, since Whitney Houston’s self-titled set tallied 14 weeks at No. 1 in 1986. (Honorable mention to the Houston-led soundtrack to The Bodyguard, which logged 20 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 1992-93. The 12-track album has six songs by Houston and six songs by other artists.)
The last R&B/hip-hop album with at least 13 weeks atop the Billboard 200 was Drake’s Views, which notched 13 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 in 2016 (May 21-Oct. 8). The last R&B album with at least 13 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 was The Bodyguard, with its 20-week reign. (R&B/hip-hop and R&B albums are defined as those that have hit or are eligible for Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and Top R&B Albums charts, respectively.)
SZA launched her co-headlining Grand National Tour on April 19 in Minneapolis at U.S. Bank Stadium with Kendrick Lamar, who sees his chart-topping GNX hold steady at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with nearly 51,000 equivalent album units earned (down 7%).
The titles at Nos. 3-9 are all former No. 1s. Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at a Time climbs 6-3 (48,000 equivalent album units earned, up 4%); Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet is steady at No. 4 (47,000; down 9%); PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U is a non-mover at No. 5 (46,000; down 11%); Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos falls 6-8 (39,000; down 7%); Playboi Carti’s MUSIC is stationary at No. 7 (38,000; down 15%); Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM is up 10-8 (37,000; down 6%); and Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album jumps 14-9 (34,500; up 6%).
Doechii earns her first top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 albums chart as the 2025 Billboard Woman of the Year’s Grammy Award-winning Alligator Bites Never Heal flies 24-10 following a wider availability on vinyl and its first release on CD. The set earned 33,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week (up 43%). Of that figure, SEA units comprise 18,500 (down 3%, equaling 25.9 million on-demand official streams of the songs on the streaming edition of the set, it moves 28-27 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 14,000 (up 325% — the best sales week for both the album and the artist; it reenters at No. 1 on Top Album Sales, the set’s first week atop the list) and TEA units comprise 500 (down 12%).
Alligator Bites Never Heal was released in 2024 as a 19-song album. It was reissued in March with one bonus track — the gone-viral breakout hit “Anxiety” — on “extended” digital download and streaming editions. All physical versions contain the original 19-song tracklist. Until April 18, the set was only available to purchase as a download and in two vinyl variants. On April 19, it garnered a wider availability on vinyl, including two new vinyl editions (both color variants) exclusively available via Target and Urban Oufitters, along with a widely available CD.
“Anxiety” reached the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart dated March 29 (rising 13-10), marking Doechii’s first top 10. The album yielded an earlier top 40-charting hit with “Denial Is a River” (hitting No. 21 in February).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
T-Pain is ready to take on his third straight weekend in Indio, California, this time at Stagecoach. The beloved musician shares his journey of performing on the main stage at Coachella, discusses the new ideas he’s bringing to Stagecoach, reflects on Beyoncé, Shaboozey and other Black musicians breaking through in country music, talks about how Wiscansin Fest came to life and how he got GloRilla to join, and opens up about his resurgence and more!
Are you excited to see T-Pain at Stagecoach? Let us know in the comments below!
Tetris Kelly:
Out here in Indio, hanging out with my boy T-Pain, this is what? Weekend three of this for you?
T-Pain:
Weekend three!
Most people say Oh, weekend one, weekend two… weekend three. This is three for T-Pain, this is wild, man, I’m so proud of you, but you’ve been streaming the whole time, like, keeping people involved. So how’s that been to, like, have people along for this journey?
It’s OK, man, you know what I’m saying? It’s, it’s, it’s more frustrating than anything. Can’t get in the pool as much as I want to. That’s why I’m so ashy right now. Just got out the pool. So, you know, everything, I’m just ash. I’m just made of all ash.
Living the life. And I mean, how is it to, like, kind of have people in your personal space? Because, like, some people, I don’t know how many hours you do in sets, but like, when you got a shower, use the bathroom, you need some private time. Like, how was it to be doing that?
I don’t really have, like, personal time, you know what I mean? Like, I’ve grown up, like I got signed when I was 18. So I don’t, I don’t even know what personal life is like, you know what I’m saying? So it’s always been public. You know, going to the bathroom is pretty easy, set the camera just right above, right above the nipple, but no man, people know. You know people understand. Like, when you’re letting them into your life, you can leave them in places.
Keep watching for more!
JaQuel Knight came up with the choreography for Megan Thee Stallion’s iconic 2025 Coachella set, and we’re taking you behind the scenes of how it came to life.
What did you think of Megan Thee Stallion’s Coachella set? Let us know in the comments!
JaQuel Knight
It gets crazy. It gets really wild, and I’m happy we made it here today. It’s all feeling surreal. You know, I’m very numb in this moment because, you know, we’ve been birthing this thing. So we’ll see.
Tetris Kelly:
You said it’s been months and months and months of prep. So tell me, like, when is the first concept? What’s the first meeting like? What are you establishing there?
The first meeting is, like, what the hell are we doing? What do you say? What do you want to say? How can we say it? You know? Boom. She tells me everything. I take a beat, and then we come back, we look at photos, and we start to go from there, once we have a point of reference.
I’ve seen Megan at Coachella before, so when she’s already kind of been at the surroundings, how does she say, “I want to make this different.”
It’s her just being in a different space right now. She’s been through so much in the two years of like her last performance, so for me, it’s about just making sure she has a voice and something to say and something to bring to the table. And how does that voice feel elevated, feel like she’s grown, feel like she’s learned a lot in those two years.
You, as a choreographer, have a very specific style. How do you mix those two styles where you’re like, I gotta be me and I also gotta be Megan at the same time?
Keep watching for more!
Ye (formerly Kanye West) had four children with Kim Kardashian while they were married, but this week, he said he wishes he had kids with another celebrity instead.
While ranting on Digital Nas’ Twitch stream earlier this week, West said that in an alternate universe, he wishes he had children with Paris Hilton instead of Kardashian. Once upon a time, in the mid-2000s, Kardashian served as Hilton’s personal assistant before becoming a reality superstar in her own right.
“Kim was Paris Hilton’s assistant,” he said. “I should’ve had babies with Paris Hilton over Kim Kardashian. Could you imagine if I had kids with Paris Hilton? How many hotels I’d have now. Think about that — the Hilton. I think y’all staying at the Hilton right now. The Edition Hotels is a Hilton.”
Trending on Billboard
Ye went on to compare Kardashian learning from Hilton to the relationship he had with the late Virgil Abloh. “Paris Hilton had the vision, and that’s what happened,” he added. “Kim was like the Virgil [Abloh]. Kim was like Paris Hilton’s Virgil.”
West also brought up how Arnold Schwarzenegger cheated on his wife, Maria Shriver, and had a kid with his nanny, Mildred Baena, when his partner was out of town in the 1990s.
“If you’re like Arnold Schwarzenegger and you have a kid with a nanny, the nanny’s only power is to take your kids,” Ye continued. “So Kim’s only power is to take my kids. I had a baby with a f—ing assistant, bro.”
West and Kardashian began dating in the early 2010s and tied the knot in May 2014. They have four kids together: 11-year-old North, 9-year-old Saint, 7-year-old Chicago and 5-year-old Psalm. The former couple finalized their divorce in November 2022 after filing in early 2021.
Ye, who is currently in Spain, began dating Bianca Censori in late 2022 and got married shortly after.
As for Hilton, who is the great-granddaughter of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton, she married businessman Carter Reum in 2021, and the couple has two children together.
West has been under fire for his antisemitic rants and targeting peers like Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, the Creator, J. Cole and more in recent months. He’s been teasing a new album, which will be titled Cuck or WW3, and is written entirely by rapper Dave Blunts.
Young Thug is officially back. Today, he dropped a new song and video, “Money on Money,” featuring one of his favorite collaborators in fellow Atlanta native Future. The two superstars channeled Watch the Throne‘s classic “Otis” music video where Jay-Z and Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) dismantled a very expensive car and welded it […]
Young Thug was behind bars for the duration of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle last year, but was kept in the loop thanks to his girlfriend Mariah The Scientist.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Thugger was asked about the K. Dot and Drizzy battle dominating conversation in hip-hop last year during his interview with GQ on Friday (April 25), as well as how he was name-dropped by Lamar during his “Not Like Us” diss.
“Yeah, [Kendrick] just spoke on people’s name in Atlanta. I don’t know what that was about,” he said before making his allegiance to Drake known. “I’m a Drake fan.”
Trending on Billboard
Kendrick attacked Drake’s ties to Atlanta in the third verse of “Not Like Us” by naming artists he’s worked with extensively in the past. “21 gave you false street cred/ Thug made you feel like you a slime in your head/ Quavo said you can be from Northside,” he raps.
While he didn’t address Kendrick directly, Thug hopped on X when he was in jail last year and called for Drake, Metro Boomin and Future to stop feuding. “@Drake @1future @MetroBoomin we all bruddas. Music aint the same without us collabin,” he wrote.
Speaking to Billboard in 2024, Mariah The Scientist explained that she kept Thug up to date on cultural events like the Drake and Kendrick battle when she would talk to him while he was locked up.
“I tell him everything. I might tell him too much,” she said. “I play him the [diss] songs over the phone and shit. He’s a lover of music in general. He fucks with everybody. I don’t think he would ever be able to – let me not speak for him.”
She continued: “He love music though. He thinks it’s interesting, for sure. We were listening to some of the songs. Not all of them, because now I’ve gotten lost. In the beginning, I was like, ‘Hey, there’s a tizzy going on.’ I played him some of it. I feel like those two people are both great rappers. With all of the rappers with the guy and the girl rappers, granted it’s cool for the craft, and to be able to keep up with that — because let me not lie and say there’s no competitive energy in the music industry. Because there is.”
In the past, Thug and Drake have joined forces on a plethora of hits including “Way 2 Sexy,” “Ice Melts,” “Sacrifices,” “It’s Up,” “Solid,” “Oh U Went” and more.
After regaining his freedom in October, Thugger is getting back to music in his own right as he delivered his first single of 2025 on Friday while teaming up with Future for “Money on Money.” Look for Thug’s UY SCUTI album to arrive in May.
Watch the full interview with Young Thug below.
Summer Walker said both of her birthing experiences were life-threatening, and that her first birth lasted over two days. In an interview with Mariah The Scientist for Summer Walker’s Over It Radio show on Apple Music 1, the latter spoke a bit about what it was like giving birth, and said both times were incredibly […]
Erica Banks is clearing the air about allegations she sounds like other rappers, including the most recent comparisons to GloRilla. The “Buss It” rapper hopped on X on Thursday (April 23) to push back against assumptions she’s trying to sound like other female rappers. “I don’t sound like anyone,” she wrote in her post. “I […]
Young Thug has a lot to say. After being released from prison in October following a two-year-plus bid as part of the YSL RICO trial, Thugger has remained quiet. That is, until Friday (April 25), when his first all-encompassing interview since regaining his freedom dropped via GQ .
In addition to his case, jail and his relationship with Gunna, Thug gave his unfiltered thoughts on the state of the rap game today.
Trending on Billboard
“I think the numbers could be better, but yes,” he said when asked if the rap game’s in a good place. “I think a lot of people rapping about the same thing. Ain’t nobody bringing something that you could actually watch. You can enjoy the music and enjoy the things they do, but we used to make movies. Now it’s just quick. We gotta get back to movies to where like people respect it.”
Thug expanded on the dominance of simplicity. “It was just a big wave of nothingness running the game,” he said. “Super-simple videos, not really high-priced videos. That wave came in really strong. Even the people that was doing high-priced videos, they started doing regular videos because that’s what was popping. We did it so long where we’re comfortable with that. We don’t want to do stuff like this that takes time.”
The YSL boss also spoke on his friendship with the late Rich Homie Quan. Thug explained that Quan wanted to do his own thing and pursue a solo career, which led to them not releasing more music together.
“I think we just grew and became our own bosses and men,” he said. “We were getting bigger, so I wanted to do my own thing. I think he did. I love music, but I don’t care about songs. I’ll have a No. 1 hit record song and I’ll put you on it. Whoever go to the top with you, go to the top. I don’t care. I would’ve been OK with keep doing it.”
Even after spending more than two years away, Thug hears his melodic influence across today’s hip-hop. “Absolutely, you hear some s–t and you’re like, ‘Me, for sure.’ You never rapped like that.”
Thug returned with his first single of 2025 on Friday as well, which finds him alongside a familiar face in Future as the Super Slimey duo teamed up for “Money on Money.” Thugger is headed toward releasing his UY SCUTI album, which is rumored to arrive in May.
Watch the full interview below.