State Champ Radio Hip-Hop
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Kanye West is sharing some new artwork for his upcoming Vultures 2 album with Ty Dolla $ign. The rapper and fashion mogul, who now goes by Ye, took to social media early Saturday (March 9) to share a photo of himself wearing all black and holding a portrait of what appears to be Ty’s incarcerated […]
Drake making songs with up-and-coming artists is a story as old as time. The “Drake Effect” is a real thing and has been studied by music scholars across the globe. Usually it works in the artist’s favor, like when he linked up with the Migos on the “Versace (Remix).” The song went crazy on the charts and their careers took off. But then there are times when the song performs well, yet it doesn’t translate to longevity like with BlocBoy JB and “Look Alive.” Now it’s newcomer 4Batz’s turn.
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Earlier this week, social media went abuzz when the Canadian superstar teased a remix of 4Batz’s “date @ 8” on his Instagram Story. Then the mysterious R&B singer with an affinity for shiesties posted this video on his X account:
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Not gonna lie, this video had me hype. I couldn’t really make out what the song actually sounded like, but they all seemed pretty excited, so I was expecting a certified banger that Flex could drop bombs on. When the Dallas-based singer appeared out of thin air with “act i: stickerz ’99′” back in the fall of 2023 (the first upload of “act i” on YouTube was on Sept. 16, 2023), a Drake collaboration felt like a no-brainer. Some have compared 4Batz to a thugged out Brent Faiyaz or Weeknd. I’ve seen others say he makes R&B music for stick up kids. And I, too, think he makes love songs for the thugs. You know, the ones that also happen to be real lovers. The thugs with big hearts, kind of like Method Man on “All I Need”.
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That’s why everyone saw the Drake stimmy coming from a mile away. He is the Certified Lover Boy, after all. Ultimately, though? I was a bit disappointed. Other than some fans on X complaining that the song wasn’t available in the U.S., this didn’t take over my timeline. Usually when Drake remixes a newcomer’s popular song, everything stops for a moment. However, last night most of X was still high on the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets game because on Thursday nights, my sports and music worlds collide on social media. The “act ii: date @ 8 (remix)” didn’t stop all of us in our tracks. I actually didn’t even think to listen to it until 12:30am. My timeline usually explodes around midnight when some heat drops. That was a telling sign for me. So once I finally checked it out, I was let down.
The remix as we know it has changed. There was once a time when a remix meant a different beat and new verses. Nowadays, we get a verse tacked on to the original song. The aforementioned Method Man and Mary J. Blige song is actually the remix to the original album version in which MJB doesn’t make a appearance. No one remembers the OG version. The same can be said about Craig Mack’s “Flava In Ya Ear (Remix)” where the beat was the same, but Craig Mack added a new verse to go alongside verses from Biggie, Rampage, LL Cool J, and Busta Rhymes.
This track has some of those features, but they aren’t significant enough to make a big deal about. Drake’s contribution, while good in terms of sound and bars, feels stitched on like bad patchwork. We don’t even get a new verse from 4Batz. This feels like two different songs and is essentially a home game for the Canadian rapper in that it doesn’t challenge him. It’s almost too on the nose. Drake does go into his real yearner bag, though, and delivers a good verse. “A thousand on your f—kin’ hair/Two hunnid on your f—kin’ nails,” he croons, essentially reminding 4Batz that he’s dealing with cats in different tax brackets now. It would’ve been cool if 4Batz added a verse to 40’s breakdown. These two collaborating on, say, “act iv” would’ve hit much harder, hopefully they’ll work together in the near future. I must admit, though, Drake’s addition sounds great on some good speakers, streets just needed 4Batz to go in too. That would’ve knocked this remix out of the park because these two are a match made in Thug Matrimony.
Shouts to the real lovers, the real yearners, the real tricksters, though. I’m calling it now, Thug Love is making a comeback this summer. Somebody get Ja Rule and Bobby Brown on the phone.
Cardi B dropped a new burner on Thursday night (March 7), teasing what appears to be her next single in TikTok video from the recording studio. Barefoot and dressed down in sweats, a white tank top, round eyeglasses, no makeup and her hair straightened, Cardi ripped off her typically acerbic lines over a spare, g-funk style beat, once again making it clear that haters need not apply.
“Me vs. you and you know who they pickin’,” she rhymes to set up the unnamed track. “I can survive in the coldest conditions… B–ches is washed, soapin’ the dishes/ I apply pressure like boa constrictors/ One b–ch, two b–ch, old b–ch, new b–ch, none of y’all not gonna do s–t/ I’m in Miami I pull up on cruise ships.”
Dancing along to her own track, Cardi gives the ultimate ultimatum, rapping, “I see my opps linking up, I’m like, ‘What the f–k?/ If you scared, then just say that hoe/ Enough is enough.” The post got a few comment from famous friends, including SZA, who wrote “the hair is giving” and Camila Cabello, who added, “sheeeeesh.”
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At press time Cardi hadn’t provided any additional information on the track, though the caption of her TikTok post, “15” and a winking emoji, appeared to suggest it was due out on March 15. If the song comes out next week, it would mark the follow-up to last week’s “Like What (Freestyle).” She also dropped a sexy video for the freestyle in which pays tribute to Missy Elliot and tries on a wide variety of eclectic outfits in the clip directed by estranged husband rapper Offset; last month, Offset told his ex to “stop being scary” and drop her sophomore album already.
“Like What” is Cardi’s first solo record since 2021’s “Up,” which earned the rapper her first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit and a 2022 Grammy nomination for best rap performance. Since then she’s dropped “Tomorrow 2” with GloRilla, “Jealously” with Offset and the Megan Thee Stallion collab “Bongos.”
Cardi has been teasing new music for months, including an in Insta Story last week in which she told fans that her long-awaited sophomore album could be released this year. She told the Bardi Gang that she was “not letting my anxiety, I’m not letting what haters say, I’m not letting what fans say” prevent her from releasing new songs, adding that “I’ve got no choice because I’m dropping my album this year, so stay tuned for the announcement.”
The follow-up to the MC’s breakthrough 2018 debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy,
Check out a snipped of Cardi’s new track below.
Nelly, the St. Louis rap vet, raised a few eyebrows when a clip with him from SpringHill’s The Shop circulated on social media yesterday. In the clip, the diamond-selling superstar claimed that it was much harder to sell records as a rapper back when he was first coming out than at any other time in the genre’s history.
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“My era of music was the toughest era of hip-hop, ever. Ever,” he says on the episode that drops March 7. “When I put out songs, I had to go against DMX, JAY-Z, Eminem, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Luda. All of us are fighting for one spot!”
Every artist believes their generation has it the toughest. Drake, for example, on his first Rock Ross collab “Lord Knows,” laments having to deal with a climate in which a celebrity’s private life is incessantly mined for content by publications and people on social media, alike. Going as far as to wonder if the greats he’s compared to would “ever survive in this era. In a time where it’s recreation to pull all your skeletons out the closet like Halloween decorations.” Who knows how rappers from the 90s would fare if they had to contend with X, Instagram, and TikTok.
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But Nelly’s mostly right. It’s tough to believe that it was harder to be a top-selling rapper in the early 2000s than it was in the, say, late 80s, but it’s not hard to believe that it’s a bit easier today.
Real quick, some numbers to consider.
When Nelly dropped his debut album, Country Grammar, in June of 2000, he managed to sell 235,000 copies the first week. Not bad for a kid most people had not heard of who was riding the success of a single everyone found super catchy if a bit puerile. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. The top spot was taken by Eminem who, a month earlier released his highly anticipated sophomore effort, The Marshall Mathers LP. Yes, you read that right.
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TMMLP sold 1.78 million copies its first week. The second week it sold 800,000. Third week? Another 600,000. And then the fourth week it sold a comical 520,000 copies. That’s more than double Nelly’s first week. And, for those keeping a running tally, that’s 3.7 million copies in one month. Nelly would eventually claim the top spot and he and Em would duke it out for the rest of the summer before both albums would go diamond.
So far in 2024, no rap album has even gone gold in its first week. And, sure, numbers aren’t everything. These days there are more rappers than ever who are making a great living. Depending on their deal a rapper doesn’t have to sell a million records or have a top 10 album in order to live well. Artists today have found new and novel monetization methods that just weren’t available when Nelly was first coming out. That’s all fine and well. However, it’s undebatable that we have less rap stars than before.
The era Nelly is referring to is one in which DMX dropped two multiplatinum albums in one year, both of which went number one on the Billboard 200. It’s the era when Outkast capped off an incredible five-album run by going diamond. It’s the era when Ludacris was still a rapper. It’s when JAY-Z dropped an album every fourth quarter that topped the charts and went multiplatinum. If you wanted to be a rap star, you had to do battle with all of them and more.
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Ask a rap fan why no albums have managed to sell crazy so far this year and they’ll likely point out the fact that Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole—the venerable “Big 3”—haven’t dropped anything. Even if you add Future, Nicki Minaj and Ye, to that group, it still wouldn’t match up to the sheer number of heavy hitters who were moving units back then.
It was, as the saying goes, just different.
A British advertising standards authority has partially reversed a controversial decision banning a Calvin Klein advertisement featuring singer/dancer FKA Twigs. According to the BBC, after the performer criticized the Advertising Standards Authority for “double standards” in claiming the image of the partially nude artist presented her as a “stereotypical sexual object,” the agency announced that […]
The LA rapper’s long-awaited sixth solo album rarely misses.
Ahead of her 2024 Billboard Women in Music Hitmaker ceremony on Wednesday (March 6), “Munch” hitmaker Ice Spice talked about some of her biggest musical inspirations, one of which might surprise you. In a recent chat with Billboard, Spice was asked to name some of her favorite hit-makers of all time. After shouting out past […]
From Cardi B‘s Missy Elliott-nodding “Like What” freestyle to RAYE‘s Brit Awards sweep and the kickoff of Nicki Minaj‘s highly anticipated Pink Friday 2: Gag City World Tour, it was a very eventful week for hip-hop and R&B. As usual, New Music Friday (Mar. 1), unleashed a tidal wave of new music, including a terrific new LP from ScHoolboy Q, a feisty new single from Chlöe Bailey and blistering EP from Meek Mill, which landed at the tail end of a social media spiral following the latest lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from 4batz‘s latest low-key anthem to Samara Joy’s impressive entry into the 2025 Oscar race. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
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4batz, “act iii: on god? (she like)”
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Any baseball player would tell you hitting a home run in each of their first three at-bats is nearly an impossible feat, but 4batz has accomplished the musical version of that. With “Act III: on god? (she like),” the atmospheric R&b singer-songwriter delivers more sweet vocals that rain from the clouds and aerate through his Black Shiesty ski mask. The Texas native heavenly croons about a toxic love, creating a paradox with the menacing visual featuring 4batz mobbing in the streets with his homies, only adding to the artist’s mystique. To quote the great hip-hop life coach Fat Joe, yesterday’s price is not today’s price, as record labels continue to wave lucrative checks looking to entice the rising talent to sign on the dotted line.
ScHoolboy Q feat. Rico Nasty, “Pop”
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It hasn’t even been a week but Blue Lips is already a career highlight for ScHoolboy Q — quite possibly a career-best effort. On “Pop,” a shape-shifting, rock-infused collaboration with Rico Nasty, Q plays straight offense, using the grimy boom-bap beat to soundtrack his and Rico’s snarling declarations of dominance over everyone in their way, inside and outside of the rap game. “Put fifty in that, n—a, a hunnid in this, I never could miss/ N—a, we jump out that b—h, yeah, check off the list/ You rappin’ this, n—a, we really do this,” he ruthlessly spits.
That Mexican OT & Moneybagg Yo, “Twisting Fingers”
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Texas Technician, the new album from That Mexican OT, is a loving tribute to his hometown and Southern hip-hop at large, and the Moneybagg Yo-assisted “Twisting Fingers” is an instant standout. The Bay City, TX & Memphis, TN link-up takes place across a laid-back beat — crafted by Bankroll Got It, Ben10k & Danes Blood — that’s reminiscent of old-school Texas rap. That Mexican OT and Moneybagg trade bars about staying true to their gangbanging roots, regardless of how famous they might become. “This s–t get gangster, ain’t no prankin’, outstandin’ member, high rankin’ / If you’re standin’ on what you rep, then twist your fingers like sign language,” Moneybagg closes his verse. Equal parts menacing and funny, “Twisting Fingers” is a stellar balancing act.
Skepta & Portable, “Tony Montana”
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The intersection of grime and Afrobeats has long been a fruitful one, and “Tony Montana” is another strong addition to that legacy. The latest single from Skepta’s forthcoming Knife and Fork LP, “Tony Montana” finds the Brits-nominated rapper joining forces with rising Nigerian rapper Portable for an anthem celebrating their respective impact and influence. With a title that directly alludes to the iconic Scarface character, the relatively jaunty production — courtesy of Jae5 — makes for a welcome sonic contrast that also provides a multilayered soundscape that pairs well with both Skepta’s cocksure flow and Portable’s slinky hook.
Samara Joy, “Why I’m Here”
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An original song for Netflix’s forthcoming Shirley — a biopic of Shirley Chisholm (the first Black woman to be elected to Congress) starring Oscar-winner Regina King in the titular role — “Why I’m Here” continues Samara Joy’s flawless streak of truly spellbinding vocal performances. Produced and co-written by Grammy-winner PJ Morton, the new song finds the jazz star taking a break from her home genre and briefly transitioning into a sweeping, cinematic sound that seamlessly carries her soulful pipes into a more straightforward pop realm. “An easy road was never promised/ And so much has been from taken from us/ But I won’t stop no matter how much I have to go through/ I won’t shed one tear, I know why I’m here,” she croons.
Asha Imuno, “Oozin…”
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22-year-old Moreno Valley, CA native Asha Imuno is on the rise, and “Oozin…” — a cut from his sophomore effort, Pins & Needles — is proof of why. In the contemporary R&B space, the word “oozin” has a sexual connotation more often than not. Here, however, Asha flips the phrase to refer to the anxiety and depression that pour out of him in moments of silence and aloneness. “Oozing/ The anxiety subsides in the moment the dream becomes lucid / & Bruises/ That I can’t hide in this light/ Quantify all the times I felt useless,” he coos in the heartbreaking chorus.
When “Munch,” an unbothered slice of New York drill by rapper Ice Spice, exploded on social media and into the pop culture lexicon in late summer 2022, few listeners had heard of the talent behind it. But over the next year, the Bronx MC with the trademark ginger Annie ’fro (which she sometimes also wears in a buss down) leveled up — and raised her profile — with each single she released, all powered by her quippy, unfussy lyrics and the Jersey club-inflected beats of her longtime collaborator, RIOTUSA.
Her early singles, even if they missed the Billboard Hot 100, still resonated culturally, laying the groundwork for commercial wins. In February 2023, Ice earned her first solo Hot 100 entry with “In Ha Mood,” which has collected over 166 million official U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate. By the close of 2023, she had scored four Hot 100 top 10s, an achievement that tied Nicki Minaj (2012) and Cardi B (2018) for the most by a female rapper in a calendar year.
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Ice has earned over 1.7 billion official U.S. on-demand streams. Her Like…? EP, which yielded the Hot 100 No. 4 hit “Princess Diana” with Minaj, peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200. In 2023, Ice also collected two top 10s on the Radio Songs chart — “Barbie World” (with Minaj and AQUA, No. 5) and “Boy’s a liar, Pt. 2” (with PinkPantheress, No. 8) — as well as her highest-peaking Hot 100 entry yet, for her appearance on Taylor Swift’s “Karma” remix (No. 2). With that momentum, she scored four Grammy nominations (including best new artist), an opening slot on Doja Cat’s Scarlet tour and prominent billing at Coachella this spring.
Now Ice — who was recently all over social media after accompanying Swift to the Super Bowl — is focused on prepping her forthcoming debut studio album, Y2K. “I think this is some of my best work,” she says, hinting that “it’s not going to be too long — it’s going to be sweet and to the point.” In the meantime, Billboard’s 2024 Women in Music Hitmaker honoree can’t stop putting out smashes: Her latest single, the new jazz-tinged “Think U the Sh-t (Fart),” has already garnered 11.8 million official U.S. on-demand streams in less than a month.
What defines a hit for you?
There’s so many different types of hits. But my favorite is the one that’s just, like, culturally important. Fans know the lyrics and care about it. They just love the song. Growing up, so many songs that I thought were hits and statistically weren’t really, like numberswise, if you care about that. But in my heart, it’s a hit and I know all the lyrics.
You scored four Billboard Hot 100 top 10s in 2023. Which is your favorite?
“Princess Diana” with Nicki [Minaj] because I felt like “Princess Diana” was already my best song on [Like…?], but then it didn’t chart or anything until Nicki got on it. I was just so happy to have both of those worlds where I felt like it was culturally a great song, but also it charted. And then I had my dream collab fulfilled at the same time.
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Did Nicki or Taylor give you any songwriting advice?
When I was in the studio with Taylor, like, I’ll never forget that. She told me, “No matter what, just keep making music and everything’s going to be fine.”
As you craft your debut album, what are you listening for?
First, a really hard beat. If the beat doesn’t instantly move me — like if I don’t physically feel the beat of the speakers — then I’m just going to keep moving on to the next one. But as soon as I know, I know I have that beat. It’s up from there.
Some past winners of this award include Charli XCX and Dolly Parton. Who are some of your favorite hit-makers of all time?
Well, first, shout out to them; they’re iconic, each in their own way. I would say Lana Del Rey — I’m obsessed with her, and I feel like all of her songs are hits, even the ones that aren’t as big as the others. Rihanna, too. I have both [her and Del Rey’s] vinyls. Taylor Swift. Of course, Nicki Minaj. Drake. The list is long!
Is there a hit of yours that you were surprised people latched on to — or one you thought would be bigger?
I thought that “Actin a Smoochie” would be a bigger song. Every time I hear it, I’m just gagged that it’s not bigger. [But] “Boy’s a liar, Pt. 2,” I never thought that song would be as big as it is. I knew it would be a big moment, but I didn’t think it would be triple-platinum.
For what it’s worth, when I was in college, the streets was definitely running up “Smoochie.”
Oh, see! Thank you! That’s what I care about.
This story originally appeared in the March 2, 2024, issue of Billboard.
André 3000 knew he was taking a big swing when he released his rap-free, flute-forward album New Blue Sun earlier this year. So naturally he wanted to get some feedback from his longtime former partner in rhyme in OutKast, Big Boi.
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In a new cover story for High Snobiety, Three Stacks reveals that he played “some” of the instrumental jazz album for Big, whose reaction was just about perfect. “He was smiling… He was like, ‘Man…,’” André said of Big Boi’s response to the album with mouthful song titles such as the opening track, “I Swear, I Really Wanted To Make A ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally The Way The Wind Blew Me This Time.”
‘Dre said he also cued it up for a “lot of buddies,” as well as his son, who told him, “‘It’s the real thing. It’s not a mimic. You really did this.’” The listening sessions included an early preview for Tyler, the Creator as well.
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“I was in Tyler’s living room listening to it, and then Frank [Ocean] just shows up. And so we’re all sitting there listening to it,” he said. “I’m wondering what the young people’s opinions would be. And I’m so happy that what I’m hearing is really good feedback.”
The interview also pulled back the curtain on the early confluence of jazz and hip-hop that André found in the music of A Tribe Called Quest — including the news that he originally used the nom de rap “Jahz” in homage to Tribe’s Q-Tip.
“My first rap name was Jahz because of Q-Tip,” he explained. “We were huge A Tribe Called Quest fans. In high school, they were the pinnacle — them, Grand Puba, Souls of Mischief. I don’t think Q-Tip gets enough credit for introducing a generation of kids to a forgotten music.” Specifically, 3000 said he was super inspired by how Tribe wove jazz samples into their psychedelic hip-hop stew.
“As a kid, jazz music meant some old-people shit that’s in elevators,” André said. “Q-Tip found a way to make it actually cool. The jazz guys were actually the rap guys of that time. They were doing heroin, they were in clubs. Years from now, people are going to listen to trap music and think, ‘Oh, that’s nice.’ It happens. It happens.”
New Blue Sun hit hard when it dropped in November, with “I Swear” — which clocked in at a robust 12 minutes and 20 seconds — entering the Hot 100 at No. 90 on the Dec. 2-dated chart. That made it the longest-running song ever to have hit the chart, surpassing Tool’s “Fear Inoculum,” at 10:21 in length. André’s track – an instrumental, which is also unusual for a modern Hot 100 hit – also bested the August 2019 No. 93 peak of Tool’s track.
