genre rap
Legendary rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. might have been rivals in life, but they’re now united in copyright litigation.
A pair of photographers who snapped separate photos of the late hip-hop stars are teaming up to sue Univision for copyright infringement, accusing the broadcaster of using the images without permission in a web article about “Unsolved” murders.
“Plaintiffs sent a letter to Univision, demanding that it cease and desist all publication and display of the Subject Photographs,” write lawyers for the photographers in their Wednesday suit. “Univision has failed to meaningfully respond, necessitating this action.”
The case was filed by the estate of Chi Modu, a well-known hip hop photographer, over a black and white picture of Biggie looking into the camera in his trademark Coogi sweater and sunglasses; and by Dana Lixenberg, another acclaimed photog who has snapped pictures of Iggy Pop and Steely Dan, over an image of Pac in a bandana and sports jersey.
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Attorneys for Modu’s estate and Lixenberg say Univision stitched the images together and used them as art for a 2018 article reporting that a trailer had been released for a USA Network documentary series called Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G.
Though Biggie and Tupac have both been gone for nearly 30 years, Wednesday’s lawsuit is just one of many recent intellectual property battles over the two iconic rappers.
Modu’s estate filed one of them, suing Universal Music Group in 2022 for allegedly using a Tupac photo in a blog post. Then last year, Shakur’s own estate threatened to sue Drake for using an AI-generated version of the later rapper’s voice. And in February, Biggie’s estate filed a lawsuit against Target, Home Depot and other retailers over allegations that they sold unauthorized canvas prints of the famed “King of New York” photo. Coogi even got in on the action in 2018, suing the Brooklyn Nets after they released a multi-colored jersey that were “inspired by Biggie” and paid homage to the Brooklyn-born rapper.
In one case, Biggie’s estate sued Modu himself, claiming the photographer had illegally authorized the use of his photos on commercial products like skateboards and shower curtains. In 2022, a year after the famed photographer passed away, a judge ruled that such merch likely violated the rapper’s likeness rights. The case ended in a settlement last year.
Reps for Univision did not immediately return a request for comment on the new lawsuit on Friday.
Rico Nasty is done waiting for permission. The rage-rap innovator, known for bending genre and unapologetically redefining feminine rage, has just dropped her new album LETHAL via Fueled By Ramen (May 16).
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And true to its name, LETHAL is explosive, expansive and razor-sharp, a sonic evolution that fuses her iconic “sugar trap” roots with searing rap-rock chaos and surprising softness.
“It’s like we did the experimentation, and it kind of mixed up the potions of everything that came before,” Rico tells Billboard. “And now we’ve built this bionic titanium steel brick house of a b***h. Yeah. She’s just standing there like — please, want it”.
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The project comes after a transformative year for Rico. She cleared out her emotional closet, cut ties with her previous team, and — in the middle of a solo phase — got the call to perform with Paramore, leading to her new management. The clarity that followed is embedded in every layer of LETHAL, which was executive produced by GRAMMY-nominated Imad Royal.
“I had that pit in my stomach and I was like, I should just do it — what’s the worst that could happen?” she says about leaning harder into rock. “Once you start making music for other people, it takes the fun out of it. I had to grow up and evolve and realize I don’t really care about people’s approval anymore”.
From the shoulder-shrug defiance of lead single “TEETHSUCKER (YEA3X)” to the raw emotional core of tracks like “Smile,” Rico balances rage with vulnerability.
“It’s about my kid. I could be going through so much, and he always makes me laugh… In parenting him, I lowkey learned how to parent myself,” she says of “Smile,” a track inspired by her son. “Even though I’m talking about my kid, I’m also talking about seeing my kid and realizing, wow, he’s so much like me. And I’m still a child, like within my own right. In parenting him, I lowkey feel like I’ve learned how to parent myself too”.
But don’t get it twisted — LETHAL isn’t about playing nice. “Some people just don’t have the same morals as you, and that’s OK. That don’t make them a bad person,” she explains. “But when you stick your arm out for people and they don’t reciprocate, it can create resentment. I’m not going to let that harden me, though. I’m still going to be me”.
And that’s exactly what LETHAL captures: a fully-realized Rico, unfiltered and unbothered. She’s not looking to be copied — she’s looking to connect.
“I definitely did trailblaze this, and I’m not taking any other answer… From the fashion to the hair, the makeup—I definitely own it,” Rico declares.
“I want people to listen and feel free. Like, I’m not the only one who feels like this. I’m not the only person who sees this s–t. I’m not the only person who feels like the whole world revolves around me”.
Marking his first solo release in two years, Stormzy has returned with a new freestyle entitled “Sorry Rach!” – listen to the track below.
The Croydon rapper has not released an album since the soulful This Is What I Mean sailed straight to the top of the U.K.’s Official Album Charts in November 2022. In the interim period, he has worked on collaborations with a series of major artists, including Chase & Status (“Backbone”) RAYE (“The Weekend”) and Shawn Mendes and Jacob Collier (“Witness Me”), among others.
In March, Stormzy – born Michael Ebenazer Owuo Junior – picked up a BRIT Award in the fan-voted hip hop/grime/rap act category, beating the likes of Central Cee and Little Simz to the prize. The win followed the criticism he received online for teaming up with McDonald’s earlier this year on a promotional Stormzy meal, a controversy which he addresses on “Sorry Rach!” “I heard they wanna hang me out to dry for a nugget meal,” he raps. “The world might never love your way again but my mother will.”
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The McDonald’s backlash began to spread after some of the 31-year-old’s social media followers pointed out that the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) movement had previously initiated a global boycott of the fast food chain for their support of Israeli forces in the Israel-Gaza conflict.
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Prior to the collaboration, Stormzy had been vocal in his support for Palestine. In January 2024, he performed alongside acts such as Clairo and Mustafa at an event called Artists For Aid in New Jersey to help raise funds for the ongoing crisis in Gaza. In recent months, meanwhile, the rapper appeared to remove an Instagram post from October 2023 that called for a “Free Palestine.”
Speaking on the latter incident in February this year, Stormzy clarified: “I didn’t archive the post where I came out in support of Palestine for any reason outside of me archiving loads of IG posts last year. In that post, I spoke about #FreePalestine, oppression and injustice and my stance on this has not changed.”
In the same statement, he continued to speak on the reaction to his McDonald’s partnership, adding: “The brands I work with can’t tell me what to do and don’t tell me what to do otherwise I wouldn’t work with them. I do my own research on all brands I work with, gather my own information, form my own opinion and come to my own conclusion before doing business.”
“Sorry Rach!” was followed by a second track, “Hold Me Down,” Wednesday evening (May 7). A poignant ballad that reflects on life in the public eye, the latter arrived with a live performance video.
Elsewhere, Stormzy will be performing a short run of European festival shows this summer, with appearances booked for Norway’s Palmesus, Roskilde in Denmark, and Dour Festival in Belgium. Further information and tickets can be found on his official website.
On Saturday (April 19), Kendrick Lamar and SZA will kick off their co-headlining Grand National Tour at Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium, playing the first of 39 scheduled shows in North America and Europe. It’s not just the only all-stadium hip-hop world tour to launch in 2025 – it’s the first such trek this decade.
In the post-pandemic era, the definition of “stadium artist” has expanded to include younger and more diverse artists, across genre. Not only have contemporary pop and rock acts graduated beyond arenas, but artists from country (Zach Bryan, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen), Latin (Bad Bunny, Karol G, Shakira) and K-pop (BLACKPINK, SEVENTEEN, TWICE) have staged sold-out stadium runs in several continents.
But while R&B/hip-Hop’s reign as America’s most popular genre continued into the 2020s, rappers have yet to scale their tours in the same way. Lamar’s upcoming run will mark the first all-stadium tour for a rap act since JAY-Z joined Beyoncé on 2018’s On the Run II Tour.
Notably, rap acts have historically leveled up to stadiums alongside a pop or R&B co-headliner: Lamar with SZA, JAY-Z with Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake (separately), and Eminem with Rihanna.
Rappers have played stadiums on their own (or together, as in the case of Eminem & JAY-Z’s four-show The Home & Home Tour in 2010), but only in brief runs or isolated dates. Eminem reported 16 such shows across three separate outings during the 2010s and 50 Cent played one in 2004. Drake and Kanye West co-headlined the Free Larry Hoover benefit show in 2021, but it was a free gig.
The pairing of Lamar and SZA echoes the makeup of past successful stadium runs, but it’s also uncommon for R&B acts to tackle the biggest venues. Beyoncé has mastered the art, having broken records with 2023’s Renaissance World Tour, and is weeks away from kicking off Cowboy Carter Tour. But it’s worth noting that both treks are in support of albums that detour into other genres, having won Grammys for best dance/electronic album and best country album, respectively.
Similarly, Bruno Mars continues to sprinkle stadium shows amid his theater residency in Vegas, but his two latest top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits – “Die With A Smile,” with Lady Gaga, and “APT,” with Rosé – eschew contemporary R&B for different strains of pop.
Still, the Grand National Tour’s double-billing is simply a no-brainer, not a hedged bet. SZA’s SOS was released in December 2022, landed nine Grammy nominations in 2023, won three of them in 2024, and added a 12th week atop the Billboard 200 to kick off 2025 following its SOS Deluxe: LANA expanded reissue. Lamar himself has had a whirlwind last 12 months, amassing four No. 1s on the Hot 100 – two inspired by his infamous beef with Drake and two from GNX. He won five Grammys in February for “Not Like Us” and headlined the Super Bowl halftime show a week later. As a cherry on top, the pair’s “Luther” will be enjoying its eighth consecutive week atop the Hot 100 when the tour kicks off this weekend.
Hip-hop has not taken up much space on stadium calendars, but Lamar and SZA are part of a rising tide of momentum for rap and R&B. An established arena headliner, Chris Brown will mount his first stadium tour this summer. Breezy Bowl XX kicks off on June 8 with a packed lineup, featuring Jhene Aiko, Bryson Tiller, and Summer Walker as special guests. And after touring arenas on 2018’s Astroworld: Wish You Were Here Tour and for the first leg of the Utopia Circus Maximus Tour, Travis Scott began to mix stadium dates in 2024. This fall, he will continue the multi-year trek with a handful-plus of grand scale shows in Asia and South Africa.
Scroll below for a recap of the rap acts who have played — or are scheduled to play — stadium shows, according to reports to Billboard Boxscore.
Kendrick Lamar
Image Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images
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