State Champ Radio Hip-Hop
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Cardi B might make it hard for some fans to focus on the punchy lyrics of her new single, “Enough (Miami)” thanks to the eye-popping visual for the track that dropped Friday morning (March 15). In the Patience Harding-directed clip Cardi models a series of increasingly skimpy high-fashion, thong-forward ensembles, from a futuristic black leather […]
Offset celebrated a group of Baltimore high school students with exemplary attendance this week when he dropped by Paul Laurence Dunbar High School to hand out some special gifts. The moment was captured in a Facebook post from the Baltimore Police Department with pics of the Migos rapper walking the halls of the school and […]
“Carnival” is Ye’s (the artist formerly known as Kanye West) first No. 1 single since being featured on Katy Perry’s “E.T.” (his first as a lead artist since 2007) and it seems like he’s back on top. Musically, at least.
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“Rich, Ty, Carti and the supporters that stood by us through everything, this No. 1 is for you. It’s for the people who won’t be manipulated by the system and f*ck adidas and everybody who works there or with them. Anyone who goes to school with anyone whose parents work at adidas, just know they tried to destroy me and here we are with the No. 1 song in the world,” he posted in a since-deleted statement on his Instagram account this week.
If you thought Ye wasn’t going to be cocky after earning his first No. 1 in 13 years, you thought wrong. He clearly feels that him sitting atop the Billboard Hot 100 is a huge deal. And to be fair, it is. At 46 years old he’s the oldest rapper to achieve this feat — and doing so after some of the most tumultuous years of his career makes this achievement even more unbelievable.
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But the question on everyone’s mind right now is: how long will this last?
Kanye West disses Drake, Adidas, Hailey Bieber, Daily Mail and others in an Instagram post promoting his new music video for “Carnival.”“And it’s f**k Drake for taking Durk right at the beginning of the Vultures role out.” pic.twitter.com/FKjViPbvO5— XXL Magazine (@XXL) March 12, 2024
We’ve seen this movie before. Granted, this time it’s been both amplified and accelerated, but the general idea remains the same. Ye does something to infuriate a large group of people which puts his career in peril. When the peril seems all too real, he shows contrition either through an apology or through a piece of art that tries to explain why he did the thing that infuriated all those people in the first place. And eventually, after some passage of time, he winds up back in everyone’s good graces. Most people think of him on stage at the VMAs and the subsequent release of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy as the precedent of this cycle.
That was all a long time ago, though. His legacy has taken a major hit over the years as his erratic and, at times, offensive behavior has overshadowed his art. Back in 2016, things got shaky for Ye when some of his Saint Pablo Tour performances were derailed by rantings and ravings. This was blamed on exhaustion and dehydration and led to him being hospitalized and forced to cancel the remaining legs of the tour. That same year he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and pledged his allegiance to Former President Donald Trump. Ye then became a born-again Christian and started to share some of his religious beliefs, like his pro life view on abortion.
Then came his very public divorce from Kim Kardashian and his run of antisemitic remarks that resulted in adidas dissolving their groundbreaking partnership and other companies like JP Morgan Chase severing ties with the artist. Amid all of this, the music he was releasing wasn’t getting the critical acclaim his earlier work received. Ye, Jesus Is King, Donda 1 & 2, and Kids See Ghosts all got mixed reviews. The combination of his controversial opinions and the stream of mid music resulted in fans starting to completely tune him out. History has proven that hit records can fix a lot. But smashes can only do so much—they ain’t magic wands.
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It’s clear Ye has amassed a new legion of fans who are more tolerant of his antics off the field; ones who are able to excuse his bigotry and abrasiveness. But his older fans (I’m one of them) have been mostly turned off by his shenanigans in recent years and it’s going to take a lot more than a hot song to win us back. When I first ran through Vultures 1, “Carnival” didn’t immediately jump out to me as a song that had the potential of becoming a hit record. I thought “Paid” and “Vultures” were the “ones” off this album, and even then I didn’t believe either of them would hit the top of the charts. However, in hindsight, I underestimated “Carnival’s” anthem potential and the power of a #veryrare Playboi Carti feature.
Now, that said, even with “Carnival” going number one, I have to say that on a scale of 1 to 10, I’m at around a five when it comes to Ye continuing this run of success. I’m just not sure he’s into traditional success anymore. He seems to love the drama more than the music these days.
Just look at what’s happening with this Julieanna Goddard debacle. Instead of people talking about his first No. 1 in over a decade, people are talking about a controversy involving members of his Yeezy team. On Tuesday, Ye publicly distanced himself from the Miami-based marketer better known as YesJulz, posting an Instagram Story that read, “We have decided to no longer have YesJulz involved in the role out of Vultures. All the activity on her page and with our fans in the past few days has been unauthorized.” Then an email floated around—allegedly from Chief of Staff Milo Yiannopoulos, yes the far right commentator who managed Ye’s presidential campaign—saying she had been fired and will be fined $7.7 million for violating her NDA, even though she didn’t sign her contract. I’m no legal expert, but I don’t think you can violate a contract you never signed. YesJulz then went on the offensive and shared several screenshots and emails from Yiannopoulos which contained disparaging remarks about Ye’s fanbase. And, frankly, It’s all a sh*tshow.
Heres what Milo, the Chief of Staff who controls who gets hired + fired & when they get paid, thinks about the very fan base that fought so hard to get Ye his first #1 in over a decade pic.twitter.com/N0FEZTny1k— Yesjulz (@YesJulz) March 14, 2024
We should be talking about Ye’s return to form, instead we’re trying to piece together why Milo Yiannopoulos is back on his team and if the original email is even legit or not. Ye eventually deleted his posts about YesJulz, but the damage has already been done. No one knows what’s really going on over there, but one thing is for sure: Ye is addicted to drama. How long before he makes more disparaging remarks about people he perceives to be against him? If his celebratory Instagram caption is any indication, it won’t be long at all. If he’s not able to get his house in order and focus on the art, his first No. 1 in nearly a decade and a half will mean nothing and he will only have himself to blame.
Initially, BossMan Dlow didn’t think he crafted a breakout hit in “Get In With Me” — after recording the track last year, he quickly discarded it into his dossier of files and got back to working on his next hopeful street anthem. But he’s happy to be wrong: the song become his debut entry on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-February and has since reached a No. 49 high in five weeks on the chart. In the March 1-7 tracking week, “Get In With Me” earned 9.6 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate.
The 25-year-old credits the slick rhymes on the trunk-rattling single to the alcohol flowing through him during a November studio session in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Patrón was talking to me,” he tells Billboard. “That beat came on and I think I had just spent $1250 on some shoes — so that was in my brain, ‘Pair of shoes $1250.’ It just came to me on some drunk s–t to be real.”
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Dlow motivates listeners with his work hard, play hard mentality stacking paper and getting fly to floss on the competition. (“You wanna be a boss, you gotta pay the price,” he raps on “Get In With Me.”) And he isn’t apologizing for his making recent waves in the industry, either, breaking through after pounding on rap’s door seeking entry since 2019 (“I’m trying to step on they throat — ya hear me”).
He signed a record deal with Alamo Records last summer, and he’s the latest integral piece to an already-loaded R&B/hip-hop roster that boasts stars Rod Wave and Lil Durk. And with a label team in tow, life is moving faster than ever for the burgeoning Florida native. He’ll look to stay hot with the release of his gritty Mr. Beat the Road mixtape on Friday (March 15). The 17-track project boasts features from Sexyy Red, Rob49 and more.
Below, Dlow tells Billboard about the success of “Get In With Me,” manifesting a Future collab and his entrepreneurial plans outside of music.
Did you know “Get In With Me” was a hit when you first recorded it?
Hell nah. I had just ran through it. I heard the beat and that probably took me 45 minutes to an hour and then I was like, “You know what? F–k it, next song.” Type of s–t. That’s just another song. [I’m] punching in freestyling. I used to write. Now I don’t be having no time like that. I just go in that b—h and speak my mind, which is a little better.
Where were you eating hibachi on the 50th floor?
That’s boss activity. Get you a bad b—h and take her to the 50th floor and order the most expensive s–t you can. You know, just living life. Doing s–t to talk about doing s–t.
When did you know it was a hit outside your fanbase?
When I first did the freestyle, the s–t went up to like 200,000 likes. I ain’t never had that many likes. Then it was people reposting it. Rod Wave, Moneybagg Yo, even Ciara posted it, DaBaby wanted to get on it. He posted it. A lot of reaction from big rappers too so it’s really crazy.
I saw Quavo using your lyrics in an Instagram caption. What do you think about seeing that?
That s–t crazy. From playing these dudes’ [songs] to now they playing my music. I never talked to him, he just did that.
What was your reaction to making the Hot 100?
The s–t just keep getting crazier and crazier. That’s hard as f–k to do, bro. Especially rap music. It’s unbelievable.
Do you ever have the mentality of “I’m trying to make the Hot 100” when making music?
Nah, I was really in the streets. This is new to me. So my manager telling me, “You at No. 52 on Billboard [Hot 100].” Like damn, Billboard?! I don’t really know what it mean but you know that s–t is hard.
What do you think about “Get In With Me” taking off on TikTok and helping promote it?
Yeah, I seen Lil Baby posted it. It’s crazy. I really didn’t know that song was gonna do all that. That’s what I learned. It be the songs you don’t like. That’s just how it goes. I’m not saying like I thought it was trash, I’m saying more I put it to the [side] like this ain’t one of ‘em. This ain’t my main focus.
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How’d you link up with the producer Dxntemadeit?
Yeah, I f–k with bro. Bro was in the studio with us and we got a couple beats off him. I f–k with his selection and how he make his beats. We started working and we gonna keep it going. We got us some [more] s–t coming for sure.
How did you end up signing with Alamo last year? The label is loaded with you, Lil Durk and Rod Wave to name a few.
Real street. My music started off in Tallahassee and started swinging its way up north and down south in Florida. Couple rappers were reposting my music from the start, and it ended up having me to keep going. [I signed with Alamo during] Last year around August or September. Yeah, we finna crush. We got no time to play.
What was your childhood like growing up? I know you were a hoops fan.
Yeah, Port Salerno. Small hood running around doing kid s–t. Riding dirt bikes and s–t. Couple of streets to ride on, couple of dirt path roads to ride on. Play a little basketball and it’s really just the streets after that. You’ll catch the streets young where I’m from. It’s all around. You end up doing street s–t and then you end up in trouble and then you end up all in now. Just some small city.
Who were some of your early music inspirations?
My people used to play old-school music. I used to play Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa. That was my s–t.
What did you find so appealing about Future’s music?
He’s been going for a long time and he can drop a hit whenever he wants to. It speaks for itself. I want to be long-lasting like that. He’s probably looking at 20 years right now.
We’re gonna get that Dlow and Future collab?
We definitely gon’ get it.
I read you wanted to change your name from BossMan Dlow. What was it gonna be?
Yeah, in 2019 I was BossMan Dlow and I got locked up and had some s–t to deal with. I didn’t want to get back out and rap with the same name I got locked up in. I was gonna just be Big Za. I had a little music, and I had my listeners knowing me as BossMan Dlow. I didn’t wanna throw them off so I just kept it.
What about “Slide” by H.E.R. helped you get through being locked up?
When I heard it, I just had to go by myself and zone out. I picture me just seat laid back, foreign car, I’m on [Interstate] 95 talking to this b—h and good za. I’m just sliding and handling business. That song put me in that mode for real. I used to play a lot of Roddy Ricch too.
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What are some of your 2024 goals? [Is there] Another project on the way?
We’re trying to go on tour, bro. We trying to get this tour right. We trying to get to the arenas and sell out arenas and make better music. We gon’ stay consistent. We gon’ keep it rolling. Another tape and we gon’ have an album this year too.
Bossing up, what other ventures do you have lined up to create avenues for income outside of music?
I want a trucking business. We gon’ rent and sell cars. We gon’ buy property houses. We gon’ build houses. We gon’ own car washes and restaurants. We gonna do it all. I want every store you pass to be Dlow’s establishment. You could come work for Too Slippery Entertainment.
A version of this story originally appeared in the March 9, 2024, issue of Billboard.
Lichelle Laws, better known as the pioneering gangster rapper BO$$, died Monday (March 11) from kidney failure. She was 54.
Despite being born and raised in Detroit, Laws became best known as a part of the burgeoning West Coast gangster rap scene in the early ’90s. With dreams of launching a rap career, she moved to NYC. But after being unable to make anything happen in the birthplace of rap, she decided to head to Los Angeles.
Laws continued to struggle to make ends meet once in LA, but things began to turn around when she met West Coast rap legend DJ Quik. Quik took Laws under his tutelage and connected her with a bevy of rappers with whom she would later collaborate, including AMG, who put her on a song on his debut album.
In 1993, after the success of Queens-based group Onyx, Def Jam Records co-founder Russell Simmons decided that the historic label needed to take full advantage of the growing popularity of gangster rap. He decided to launch LA-based Def Jam West (DJ West) and look for artists from California who brought the same energy as N.W.A and Death Row’s roster of hitmakers. Laws, under the name BO$$, was Simmons’ first signee to DJ West and, in fact, was the first female rapper ever signed to Def Jam.
An acronym for Bi—es On Some Sh–, BO$$ was actually a duo that consisted of Laws and her DJ, Irene “Dee” Moore. Their debut album Born Gangstaz was released in May 1993 and sold close to 400,000 copies. It featured production by some of Def Jam’s heavy-hitters, including Jam Master Jay and Erick Sermon.
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The Barry White-sampling “Deeper” was a standout track on the album and featured BO$$ talking about the stresses of trying to keep money in her pocket without succumbing to the pull of the streets and falling deeper and deeper into a life of crime.
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Despite the relative success of their debut, BO$$ never had a chance to release a sophomore project. After an album full of gangster and street tales, a Wall Street Journal article called into question the reality of Laws’ claims. The fallout resulted in BO$$ being dropped from DJ West.
In 2017, Laws suffered a stroke after being diagnosed with renal disease. A 2021 GoFundMe raised $18,000 to assist with her medical bills.
Upon news of her death, many rappers paid tribute to Laws with posts on social media.
Hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow took to Instagram to pay his respects, writing: “The Hip Hip Alliance is saddened by the passing of our Beloved ‘BO$$.’ First Detroit Female Gangsta rapper signed to Def Jam. She will never be forgotten and will live in our hearts forever. We send our sincere condolences to her family, friends, Detroit, and the entire world. RIP legend.”
Bun B posted a photo of Laws on Instagram and called her “one of the best female MCs and a dear friend.”
DJ Premier also posted on Instagram and revealed that Gang Starr did a remix to “Deeper” that Def Jam never dropped. “Back in 1993 she came to D&D and recut her vocals to my beat. It was so RAW,” he remembers. “We had a good session drinking 40’s, puffin Lah, and vibing.”
Queens native and World’s Fair member Remy Banks just dropped the final installment of his champ hoody music series. His first album in three years, Banks took a break from music in 2021 after releasing the phantom of paradise. “That album was the introduction [of] where I was taking my sound,” he tells Billboard. “I […]
And with Al Pacino‘s hilariously casual announcement of Oppenheimer as the winner of Best Picture at the 96th Academy Awards last night (Mar. 10), awards season has finally come to a close. While there wasn’t much hip-hop at the ceremony, the house orchestra did play a cover of 50 Cent‘s “P.I.M.P” — which is repeatedly referenced in the film — when Justine Triet and Arthur Harari walked up to the stage to accept the best original screenplay Oscar for their French legal drama Anatomy of a Fall.
Outside of the close of awards season, North West announced her debut studio album, Elementary School Dropout, Future and Metro Boomin announced that they have two new albums on the way, and Tyla canceled her upcoming North American tour and Coachella performances due to an injury.
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With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Drake‘s rework of 4batz‘s breakout hit to FLO‘s frothy re-entry into the music scene. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: Mustafa, “Imaan”
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Fresh off the news that he’s signed to Jagjaguwar, Mustafa has dropped off a stunningly tender amalgamation of soul, American folk music, and traditional Sudanese and Egyptian instrumentation titled “Imaan.” Backed by Snoh Aalegra on guest vocals, Mustafa’s malleable voice colors the soundscape as it shifts into a sweeping chorus earmarked by his yearning for “all that we don’t have evidence of.” “You say praying isn’t easy/ And all the ways you need me are from God/ And all the ways you reach him are flawed/ I know our families will never find their way to the same living room/ All of these bloodlines, all of these costumes,” he croons with heartbroken hoarseness.
Sinead Harnett, “The Most”
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For the third taste of her forthcoming new album, Sinead Harnett is doing “The Most.” Across a moody soundscape accented by light trap drums and gentle guitars, she croons of an inconsistent lover who constantly throws their relationship into turmoil. “Why you so aggravated on the phone/ If I’m so hard to be with, be alone/ You’re projecting your insecurities/ Everything’s all about you, don’t put it on me,” she sings. Delivered with remarkable vocal clarity and emotion that’s palpable, but not overwrought, Sinead Harnett is readying a gem of an album if “The Most” is any indication of what’s to come.
FLO, “Walk Like This”
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FLO is back on the road toward their debut studio album. The U.K. R&B trio have returned with the first offering from their forthcoming LP, the MNEK-penned “Walk Like This.” Also crafted in collaboration with Kabba, Relyt, Talay Riley and Ashton Sellars, “Walk Like This” finds the girls — Jorja, Stella and Renée — doubling down on their penchant for 2000s R&B stylings. Oozing with sass and bit of sultriness, their tight harmonies give body to the bubbly tune, declaring, “There’s a reason I walk like this / My baby, he be lovin’ on this / When he do it, he be workin’ that shit / And every night he got me wantin’ more of it.”
Lola Brooke feat. A Boogie wit da Hoodie & Big Freedia, “Bend It Ova”
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Still pushing her formidable debut album, Dennis Daughter — which will have a deluxe edition out on Apr. 5 — “Don’t Play With It” rapper Lola Brooke has linked up with fellow New York rap star A Boogie wit da Hoodie and New Orleans bounce icon Big Freedia for a rambunctious ode to throwing it back. With A Boogie’s twinkling piano keys finding an unlikely-but-rewarding complement in Freedia’s brash NOLA beat, Lola finds the perfect middle ground for everyone’s sounds to converge. Of course, it’s not an A Boogie track if he isn’t adding a caveat of despondent realism: “Hoodie and a mask, yeah, heart black, yeah/ You want me to throw this cash? Better shake that ass, yeah/ I’m a f—ked up n—a, yeah, I admit it, yeah/ And I got it out the mud, still in the hood, yeah, yeah,” he spits in the hook.
4batz feat. Drake, “act ii: date @ 8 (remix)”
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We knew it was only a matter of time until this moment: Mere weeks after 4batz exploded into the mainstream consciousness with “Date @ 8,” The Boy has added his own spin to the moody, dirty mackin’ R&B track. “There’s no way in hell I see you passing me up/ Almost said I loved your ass right after we fucked/ Don’t know why, girl, it was on the tip of my tongue/ Yeah, found someone I’m fallin’ for,” he croons in a familiar rap-sung cadence, which finds him trying to balance keeping up the untrappable gangster image and giving into the feelings that his heart can’t ignore. Perhaps, most importantly, the “Date @ 8” remix serves as further solidification for 4batz as he continues to scale industry heights with a back catalog of just three songs.
Rexx Life Raj, “Couple Months in LA”
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Any aspiring creative can relate to the daunting expectations that come along with moving to Los Angeles in hopes of conquering their dreams. Being in the industry for a decade and growing up about 400 miles north of the City of Angels, Rexx Life Raj gets candid about the exhausting toll Hollywood’s taken on him mentally. “Tired of wasting my breath, retracing my steps/ Unnecessary expectations got me feeling the stress,” the Berkeley native raps in agony. Raj takes a step back and breathes out a delicate croon to practice restraint because what lies ahead will be worth it: “Quiet your mind, you’re too busy worried about time my boy be patient/ You gotta be patient, cause life don’t always come at your speed.”
Billboard‘s newest cover star PartyNextDoor hasn’t just established himself as an alternative R&B auteur over the last decade, but he’s also cemented himself as one of pop music’s most sought-out hitmakers. After becoming the first recording artist signed to Drake‘s OVO label in 2013, Party has made hit after hit with The Boy. He provided […]
Lil Nas X told fans over the weekend that he is sitting on a pile of unreleased material before previewing an eclectic handful of the unnamed tracks in his backlog. “been hoarding music for years smh i hate my relationship with fear of my songs not doing well and perception,” Lil Nas wrote in a […]
Doja Cat deleted her Instagram account and announced to fans that she was taking a break from the service to giver herself time off from what she described as a toxic atmosphere. “hey i’m gonna deactivate because i’m not really feeling this anymore. you guys take care of yourselves,” the rapper/singer wrote according to screengrabs […]
