State Champ Radio Hip-Hop
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Ja Rule told his British fans that he was “devastated” that his planned U.K. anniversary tour has been scotched after he was denied entry into the country due to his criminal record. “I’m so devastated I can’t believe the UK won’t let me in I’ve spent a half million dollars in production of my own […]
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Dr. Todd Boyd and his professorial career date back to the early 1990s and over the years has lent his research and views towards cultural happenings, most notably Hip-Hop music and culture. In his new book, Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World, Dr. Boyd examines the early beginnings of Hip-Hop and looks at the massive sway it has on fashion, language, and more.
Dr. Todd Boyd was gracious enough to speak with Hip-Hop Wired about Rapper’s Deluxe, which transformed into a discussion about Dr. Boyd’s engagement with Hip-Hop as a young student and into his current position as a college professor. The Detroit native opened up our discussion by explaining the title of the book which sits as a clever nod to Hip-Hop fans, especially on the musical side.
“I thought about ‘Rapper’s Delight,’ obviously because of it being the first commercially available rap song but also thinking about everything that happened after that song was released,” Dr. Boyd began. “Then the word deluxe. When you think of that word, you think of something being more than the average, or more than you expect.”
He added, “As you go through the book, which moves in an arc, so many things happen within the culture that by the time you reach the end. It’s also like when Hip-Hop was primarily released on CDs and the deluxe version of an album would have bonus tracks. You’re getting more for your money, and that’s what the book is aiming for.”
That aim is true of Rapper’s Deluxe. The sheer size of the tome alone seems staggering and yet there could be countless editions to emerge from its solid base.
We then asked Boyd about his early days in Detroit and if he had any prescient visions of what the culture would become considering the evolution it underwent during his formative years. While Boyd confirmed he couldn’t have known we’d be where we are today, he did remark on the music of his youth having power and influence.
“Growing up in the 1970s and just listening to all the great music of that era was like a gift almost,” Boyd explains. “You had Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, The O’Jays, Parliament-Funkadelic, I could go on.”
“That music had so much influence. It was a lifestyle. So when Hip-Hop producers came along and began sampling some of this music, it felt like a way of reliving all of that. At the same time, it helped introduce new listeners who weren’t familiar with that time to that wonderful music,” Boyd said.
We then began to discuss the finer points of the book, which gives a decade-by-decade overview of Hip-Hop’s evolution. In the book’s opening chapter focusing on the 1970s, Boyd goes into grand detail about how the period was packed with several cultural shifts that would later give way to the commercial success of Hip-Hop while still reminding the reader of its funk, soul, jazz, and R&B roots. For history enthusiasts, this backdrop is important to note as it informs that aforementioned arc Boyd mentions.
Having lived through those moments he artfully depicts in the book, he explained that it was easy to find attachment to Hip-Hop music because, at its root, it was steeped in Black culture.
“Just hearing rap music on the radio made so much sense because they were speaking my language,” Boyd says of Hip-Hop’s early days as a commercial art form.
“What I mean by that is if you’re part of this culture, you might run into a dude on the street that had a rhyme for you. Muhammad Ali would have a rhyme before he would kick your behind. The ’70s were full of colorful characters like Nipsey Russell, who the late Nipsey Hustle flipped his name from, he spoke in rhymes. In Detroit, you might see a cat who is pimping and he spoke in that fashion. It was just a natural step for us,” Boyd said.
During his college years, Boyd remembered seeing Hip-Hop’s visual component expand and there was more of the art to consume. And like we contend with now in the streaming era, Boyd says that there were plenty of poorly constructed songs that were cringeworthy at worst and barely tolerable at best. However, the cream would rise to the top with the likes of Run-D.M.C., who he credits with truly presenting an image that matched the hard beats and rhymes.
“I was in college at the time and a lot of my peers were heavy into Michael Jackson. So when Run-D.M.C. raps ‘I’m not Michael Jackson and this is not Thriller,’ that spoke to me,” Boyd says. “Over time, you hear Slick Rick, LL Cool J and then later, Public Enemy, Special Ed, Queen Latifah, N.W.A., and it just started to elevate from there.”
The largest portion of Rapper’s Deluxe is the breakdown of the 1990s and we don’t have enough space to cover everything we discussed during our chat. But what is notable is that Boyd recognizes that this is the era when N.W.A. and 2 Live Crew’s shock and awe moments of the 1980s were just the beginning of provocative music and that’s not pointing to the brash vulgarity of their music but how fast it was starting to spread.
“You might notice that the ’90s portion of the book is the biggest because it had to be,” Boyd said. “By this time, the stars of the 1980s were becoming superstars, music videos were becoming prominent because of ‘Yo! MTV Raps‘ and you had Arsenio Hall’s show that platformed Hip-Hop, and Spike Lee infused his movies with the music.”
“The Los Angeles riot and the Rodney King tragedy happened during this period. You have the Five Percent Nation influence in music that started with Rakim but was pushed further with the likes of Brand Nubian and the Wu-Tang Clan. In a few years, Hip-Hop went from being marginal to being a global thing,” Boyd says.
If one assumes that Boyd is stuck just listening to the music of his era, they would be incorrect. While he comfortably admits that he doesn’t see himself as the target audience for the modern era of music, he named Westside Gunn and the Griselda movement and 21 Savage as acts that pique his interest.
“I like a lot of what I hear these days. It’s not going to hit me the same way it did when I first heard [Big Daddy] Kane or Scarface but I can see the art in it and I’m glad it exists for those it was made for,” Boyd eloquently shared.
“I’ve always said to give me a choice, and the streaming era helps with that somewhat. If you put it in front of me, I can decide if the music and the cultural expression are for me or not. I’m not at that impressionable age anymore but I can still experience this culture for what it is and support it from where I stand even if I’m not 100 percent engaged as I once was,” Boyd concluded.
Dr. Todd Boyd is the Katherine and Frank Price Endowed Chair for the Study of Race & Popular Culture and Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
To purchase Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made The World and to learn more, click here. You can also follow Dr. Boyd on his Instagram page here.
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Photo: Phaidon Books
A controversial line uttered by Megan Thee Stallion in this year’s musical reboot of Mean Girls has reportedly been cut from the video-on-demand version of the movie.Variety reported on Monday (Feb. 26) that it had viewed the updated version of the film on Amazon Prime Video and that the rapper’s reference to “fire crotch” was […]
21 Savage is hitting the road. On the heels of taking over Saturday Night Live last weekend and his American Dream album, the U.K.-born and Atlanta-bred rapper has announced the 2024 American Dream Tour.
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21’s headlining trek will run through 30 cities across North America and begins north of the border at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, B.C. on May 1. JID, Nardo Wick and 21 Lil Harold are slated to provide opening support on the tour.
Tickets will be available for artist pre-sale (password: DREAMTOUR), Citi card members and VIP packages starting on Wednesday (Feb. 28), while the general public will get their chance on Friday (March 1) at 10 a.m. ET on Ticketmaster/Live Nation.
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The tour mixes in an array of arenas and amphitheaters while making stops in Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas, Toronto, Boston, Cleveland, Charlotte, NYC and West Palm Beach before wrapping up in Atlanta on June 15 at the Lakewood Amphitheater.
21 Savage spent a majority of 2023 on the road as support on Drake’s It’s All A Blur Tour and then headed back home to the U.K. for his first-ever performance in his birth country after resolving long-running immigration issues to close out his busy year.
Last month, 21 scored his fourth No. 1 album atop the Billboard 200 with American Dream, which earned 133,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 18, according to Luminate.
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Find all of the Grammy-winning rapper’s 2024 American Dream Tour dates below.
May 1 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
May 3 – Seattle WA @ White River Amphitheatre
May 5 – Ridgefield, WA @ RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater
May 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Kia Forum
May 9 – Concord, CA @ Toyota Pavilion at Concord
May 11 – Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
May 12 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater
May 14 – Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater
May 15 – Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion
May 16 – Houston, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman
May 18 – Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP
May 19 – St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
May 21 – Chicago, IL @ Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
May 22 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center
May 23 – Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center
May 25 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage
May 28 – Detroit, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre
May 29 – Cleveland, OH @ Blossom Music Center
May 31 – Boston, MA @ Xfinity Center
June 1 – Hartford, CT @ Xfinity Theatre
June 2 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
June 4 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach
June 5 – Simpsonville, SC @ CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park
June 6 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion
June 8 – New York, NY @ Governors Ball Music Festival*
June 9 – Camden, NJ @ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
June 11 – Pelham, AL @ Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
June 13 – West Palm Beach, FL @ iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
June 14 – Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre at the FL State Fairgrounds
June 15 – Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheatre
Lil Wayne, Summer Walker, Latto and Gucci Mane are among the talent lineup set for the upcoming TwoGether Land festival. The inaugural Southwest urban music festival — an extension of the ONE Musicfest brand and in partnership with Live Nation — will take place May 25-26 at the historic Fair Park in Dallas.
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The Memorial Day weekend event celebrating R&B and hip-hop will also present established and rising acts such as newly minted Grammy-winner Tyla, Muni Long, Dru Hill, Jeezy, Kenyon Dixon, Key Glock, Mariah the Scientist, Three 6 Mafia and 310babii. Artists from Dallas’ local music scene will also be spotlighted on a curated stage by legendary radio personality Bay Bay, with featured performances from Big Tuck, Erica Banks, Yella Beezy, Chalie Boy, Dorrough and more.
In a press release announcing TwoGether Land’s arrival, ONE Musicfest founder J. Carter says, “We’re thrilled about going to Dallas for the inaugural TwoGether Land Festival. Continuing our motto of unity through music, the festival will be an unforgettable experience for our ever-growing community. We look forward to TwoGether Land becoming a must-attend event, much like ONE Musicfest.”
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ONE Musicfest’s new sister festival will also host a podcast stage that will treat attendees to candid discussions and unfiltered insights from Angela Yee’s Lip Service, Whorible Decisions, Reallyfe Street Starz, Mazi’s World and The Smoothvega Podcast. Among the brands signed on as sponsors are Procter & Gamble, Toyota and Martell.
Now in its 14th year, Atlanta-based ONE Musicfest celebrated hip-hop’s 50th anniversary in Oct. 2023 with a lineup that included Janet Jackson, Kendrick Lamar, Megan Thee Stallion, Brent Faiyaz and others. Over the course of its run thus far, the festival has featured a wide variety of artists including: SZA, Lil Baby, Tank & The Bangas, H.E.R. Usher, Lauryn Hill, A$AP Rocky, OutKast, Janelle Monae, Rick Ross and Damian Marley.
Additional information about TwoGether Land, including schedule, full lineup and presale tickets, is available on the website.
From 126-song mixtapes (looking at you, French Montana) to the media blitz of Tyler Perry’s Mea Culpa starring Kelly Rowland and Trevante Rhodes, the past week has been a characterstically busy one for the worlds of hip-hop and R&B. With awards season firmly in the rearview mirror and the Super Bowl over and done with, we’re in a period of relative calm before festival season kicks off in earnest.
Until then, we’ve spent the last week fawning over Tyler, the Creator‘s campy new collection for Louis Vuitton, where Pharrell Williams currently serves as men’s creative director. Speaking of the legendary artist-producer, Williams has also been teasing a forthcoming new collabortion with Miley Cyrus, who he previously joined forces with on 2013’s Bangerz and 2014’s G I R L.
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Of course, we can’t forget about Jeezy‘s smooth Tiny Desk performance, which saw the veteran flipping his trap anthems into soulful, stripped-back arrangements. And the news cycle hasn’t been entirely positive, with Drake taking to his Instagram story early this morning (Feb. 26) to post what appears to be a call for the release of Tory Lanez — who was sentenced to 10 years for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in the foot (Aug. 8, 2023) — from prison.
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Usher‘s vulnerable new Coming Home track to Rhyan Dougas’ contemplative ode to the cyclical nature of romance. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: Marlon Craft & Method Man, “Muggsy Bogues”
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Whenever Method Man gets on a track, it’s going to be an event. On “Muggsy Bogues,” named after the shortest NBA player in history, Meth and independent New York rapper Marlon Craft spar over a dark, gritty beat crafted by Arbus and Moo Latte. “I pulled up in the Muggsy Bogues with the pennies/ ‘Cause I’m short on time, so don’t be short on a penny/ In our New York, they would envy the flavor/ Now it’s a bunch of white girls callin’ delis bodegas,” Craft opens his verse. There’s a lot about this track — from the chugging drums to the emphasis on dense, almost understated wordplay from both rappers — that’s unmistakably New York. It’s regional in a way that beckons to prime of East Coast rap while still feeling fresh enough to secure a place alongside contemporary iteration’s of the city’s classic sound.
Usher, “Naked”
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So much of Usher’s musical and artistic persona is predicated on his multilayered relationship with sex that when he flips that entire concept on a song as disarming as “Naked,” it’s a particularly stunning moment. “When we strip down, can’t run from real truth/ When we strip down, we gotta face it/ Until I get it right, I’m not gon’ lie/ I’ma need me and you tonight to be naked,” he croons over a lush combination of wailing electric guitar, steady percussion and sultry bass licks. Here, Usher — the man behind such bedroom classics as “Bedtime,” “Hey Daddy” and “Trading Places” — tempers the “sex-a-holic” label with an exploration of his youth, a time where he would try to find his “manhood inside a woman’s body.” It’s heady stuff, sure, but it’s also easily the best song on the new expanded edition of Coming Home.
SiR & Isaiah Rashad, “Karma”
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Just a few weeks after unleashing “No Evil,” SiR has recruited TDE labelmate Isaiah Rashad for “Karma,” a continuation of his emphasis on self-reflection as he ramps up the campaign for his forthcoming fourth studio album, Heavy, due out Mar. 22. “Ooh, I need to stop treating hoes like I need ’em/ I’m too busy making promises when I can’t keep ’em/ It’s time I slow this ‘Llac down to a hunnid/ I keep making the same mistakes when I should be learning from it,” he croons over atmospheric piano and skittering kick drums. Additionally, Rashad delivers a strong verse that nicely complements SiR’s lyrical allusions to a Biblical take on karma.
Ray Vaughn feat. Pusha T, “Problems”
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It may only be February, but TDE is on a mission to own 2024. With their second of three entries on this week’s column, Ray Vaughn links up with Pusha T for the sparse “Problems.” Over a synth-inflected, somewhat mournful beat crafted by Rayo & WizzleGotBeats, the rappers play their respective roles of rookie and elder statesman. Ray Vaughn spends his verse firing off heated shots to those who deride him as a “backpack rapper” (“Let ’em label me a backpack rapper turned to a school shooter/ All they top five get hit, unless they cool tutors”), while Pusha exudes a complementary cool that underscores his words of advice for longevity in the rap game. “Listen, Ray Vaughn, be clear of your peers/ ‘Cause in a couple years it’d be musical chairs/ We done seen n—as panic and show us they tears/ Reminiscin’ over hits but the money ain’t there,” he spits.
SZA, “Saturn”
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After debuting this track during the 2024 Grammys, SZA has finally uploaded “Saturn” to digital streaming platforms. An instant fan favortie, “Saturn” — co-written by SZA, Carter Lang, Rob Bisel, Solomonophonic and Monsune — finds the four-time Grammy winner musing over the possibilities of starting life anew on Saturn, after being faced with little but devastation on Earth. “Stuck in this paradigm/ Don’t believe in paradise/ This must be what Hell is like/ There’s got to be more, got to be more,” she croons over a characteristically ethereal beat bridging R&B, pop and alternative.
Hunxho & Summer Walker, “Your Friends”
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Atlanta rapper Hunxho is getting ready for what could be a major breakout year, and this new Summer Walker-blessed version of “Your Friends” is sure to keep up his momentum. “Your Friends” was arguably the biggest hit from Hunxho’s For Her album, and this new remix with fellow ATL native Summer Walker adds a woman’s perspective to its exploration of the thorny dynamics that emerge when friendships bleed into romance and vice versa. “Y’all n—as no better, no cheese, no cheddar/ Be concerned what your homies tellin’ me, I deserve better/ Be concerned with your homies blowin’ me, writin’ love letters,” she warns Hunxho over Avedon & Diego Ave’s moody trap beat.
Rhyan Douglas, “Spin the Block”
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The phrase “spin the block” has been run into the ground in recent years, so it takes a special artist — like one Rhyan Douglas — to pull something fresh and real out of that trio of words. A love song with two feet placed firmly in the technology-steeped romance waters of the 2020s, Brampton native Rhyan Douglas croons about the wealth of opportunities that could arise should he bite the bullet and spin the block on a former lover. “But you spin the block/ If all I did was fix up, I’m tryin’ hard/ I’m tryin’ not to give up on you/ Forgot we crossed our lines,” he coos over dry acoustic guitars that recall the best of Daniel Caesar’s stripped-down moments.
Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign’s collaborative album Vultures 1 spends a second week atop the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated March 2), earning 75,000 equivalent album units in its second week in the U.S. (down 50%), according to Luminate.
Vultures 1 is Ye’s first album to spend multiple weeks at No. 1 since 2011’s Watch the Throne, with Jay-Z, spent two weeks in charge. In total, of Ye’s 11 No. 1s, three have spent multiple weeks at No. 1: Vultures 1, Watch the Throne and 2005’s Late Registration, all with two weeks atop the list.
Meanwhile, Yeat notches his highest-charting album yet on the Billboard 200 as his latest release, 2093, debuts at No. 2.
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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 March 2, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 27. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of Vultures 1’s 75,000 units earned in the tracking week ending Feb. 22, SEA units comprise 72,000 (down 44%, equaling 95.25 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 2,000 (down 89%) and TEA units comprise 1,000 (down 25%).
Rapper Yeat notches his highest-charting title yet on the Billboard 200, as his newest album, 2093, debuts at No. 2. It earned 70,000 equivalent album units in its first week — the artist’s best week by units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 58,000 (equaling 79.15 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 12,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
2093 was released initially as a 22-song standard album on Feb. 16, boasting features from Future and Lil Wayne. A day later, the album was reissued in a deluxe edition, dubbed 2093 P2, with two bonus tracks, including one featuring Drake. Then, on Feb. 21, the album saw another reissue, termed 2093 P3, with four bonus tracks. The latter version of the album was only available as a digital download via the artist’s official webstore during the tracking week (and the four bonus tracks were only available as part of the full album purchase). All versions of the album are combined for tracking and charting purposes.
Yeat made his debut on the Billboard 200 a little over two years ago with Up 2 Me, when it bowed on the list dated Jan. 22, 2022. It eventually peaked at No. 59. Since then, he’s logged four more entries, and all of them have started in the top 10: 2 Alive (No. 6 in 2022), Lyfe (No. 10 in 2022), AfterLyfe (No. 4 in 2023) and now 2093 (No. 2).
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time rises 4-3 on the new Billboard 200 with 64,000 equivalent album units earned (up 1%), while Noah Kahan’s Stick Season slips 3-4 with 60,000 (down 29%). SZA’s former No. 1 SOS rounds out the top five, as it’s steady at No. 5 with 46,000 (down 9%).
Five former No. 1s finish off the second half of the top 10, as Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is a non-mover at No. 6 (just over 44,000 equivalent album units; down 12%); Swift’s Lover is stationary at No. 7 (a little more than 43,000; down 11%); Drake’s For All the Dogs climbs 10-8 (43,000; down 4%); Swift’s Midnights dips 8-9 (40,000; down 14%); and 21 Savage’s American Dream rises 11-10 (37,000; down 12%).
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.
21 Savage made his musical guest debut on Saturday Night Live, performing tracks from his latest album. The U.K.-born, Atlanta-raised rapper delivered three songs — “Redrum” and a mashup of “Should’ve Worn a Bonnet” and “Prove It” — from his 2024 album, American Dream, during the Feb. 24 episode of the long-running NBC sketch comedy […]
Lil Jon is known for his exuberant nature, but the “Turn Down For What” rapper was uncharacteristically quiet when he sat down on the couch at the Jennifer Hudson Show on Thursday (Feb. 22) to talk about his role in Usher‘s halftime show during Super Bowl LVIII earlier this month.
“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy to be a part of something like that,” he said of his spot joining Ush for a run through their hit 2004 hype-up anthem “Yeah!” during the musical break in the most-watched Super Bowl ever, for which he also served as musical director.
The low-key MC said none of it made him nervous because he turns those butterflies into energy he uses to bring in new fans, though he did cop to the preparation being “a lot of hard work… putting the show together was really hard because it’s Usher’s biggest show of his career.” In addition to Jon, the performance featured cameos from Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Ludacris, Jermaine Dupri and Will.i.am.
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And while he was in charge of shaping the 13-minute flight through Usher’s catalog, Lil Jon said he had to listen to the singer’s suggestions about which songs would make the cut, which was the “hardest part” of the process. “We narrowed it down and then he made changes to the very end,” Jon laughed, noting that, unlike Usher, you won’t find him on roller skates anytime soon.
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Confessions hit “Yeah!,” Jon recounted how he leaked the last song recorded for Usher’s multi-platinum LP — “Burn” was already tapped as the lead single — after talking to producer Jermaine Dupri, who told Jon to “do what you do.” Though Usher’s record company sent out a cease-and-desist to stations playing “Yeah!” at the time, a DJ at New York’s Hot 97, knowing it was a smash, resisted, kept playing it and framed the letter on her wall as a memento.
Elsewhere in the interview, Jon talked about his new Total Meditation album and his renewed focus on guided meditation and prioritizing his mental, and physical, health. “You turn up, but then you gotta turn down!” Jon said.
Watch Lil Jon on Hudson’s show below.
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The Super Bowl halftime show is arguably the biggest convergence of music and sports in a given year, but that’s not the only forum in which the two industries are colliding. Following in the footsteps of major artist-athletes like Shaquille O’Neal aka DJ Diesel and Damian Lillard aka Dame D.O.L.L.A., Chad Thomas aka Major Nine is looking to continue leveling up his athletic and musical careers while prioritizing independence at every turn.
After playing as a defensive end for the Hurricanes at the University of Miami, the Cleveland Browns selected Thomas in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft. He was the sixth defensive end drafted that year, and the 67th overall pick. A year before he became a national football star, however, Thomas was already making major waves in the music industry under the name Major Nine.
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In 2017, he scored a placement on Rick Ross’s top five Billboard 200-charting Rather You Than Me album (alongside Grammy-winning R&B singer-songwriter Raphael Saadiq) on the grand album opener “Apple of My Eye.” Ross’ By 2020 – the same year the Browns waived his multi-million-dollar contract – Major Nine snagged yet another high-profile placement, this time on Chris Brown & Young Thug’s Slime & B, which peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard 200 and earned nominations at the Billboard Music Awards and Soul Train Music Awards. With “Trap Back,” his joint on the album, Major Nine did what comes naturally: He leveled up, and contributed not just production assistance, but a credited guest verse as well.
As much as Major Nine has made waves through collaboration, he’s remained steadfast in pumping out projects of his own. Since 2018, he has released nine such sets – including 2019’s star-making Soulties – culminating in his two most recent: 2023’s Nothin Major and this year’s Kardiology. The former is Major Nine’s most radio-ready body of work to date; featuring emotionally vulnerable heaters (“Love Don’t Live Here,” “A Hustler’s Prayer”) and a splashy Kodak Black guest verse, Nothin Major boils down the best of contemporary Florida rap into something for the whole country to enjoy. The latter, Kardiology, is arguably Major Nine’s biggest artistic swing yet, an emotional 13-track Miami bass-laced journey through the throes of love.
In a new interview with Billboard, Major Nine discusses his new Kardiology project, moving through multiple industries as an artist-athlete and the ever-deepening union between the worlds of music and sports.
Obviously, you began your time as a public figure by way of football. Was music always on your mind? Or were you more focused on the athletic side of things?
I actually started music first. I’ve been doing music since I was a baby, so that was No. 1. And then football became No. 1 in high school. I was playing before that, but it got serious in high school.
What are some of your earliest musical memories?
My pops, he bought me a drum set, like the little kid drum set. That was probably my first drum set. Growing up, at my grandma’s house, she had a little piano in her house. It was a baby grand, something like that. [Those were] my first instruments: drums and piano. I made it into all of the magnet schools in South Florida. I ended up going to one of the biggest ones down there: New World School of the Arts. That was a big accomplishment, being where I’m from. A lot of people don’t make it into that school.
Music adds up different ways, I done did too much stuff with music. [Laughs.] My last time being in New York, we performed at Jazz @ Lincoln Center.
What do you remember listening to growing up? Who and what were the defining artists and songs of your childhood?
Anything ‘80s R&B. S—t, I’m from Miami, so Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, all the Miami moguls, the South Florida moguls. A little bit of West Coast. My music goes everywhere. I got Metallica in my library! I done listen to all types of music growing up, gospel music, Kirk Franklin. It go left and right.
As football took you across the country, did you pick up any new musical influences from different teammates or cities? Especially during your time with the Browns?
It was kind of backwards for me, to tell the truth. When I first touched down in Cleveland, my first apartment, the man at valet, he actually knew who I was. He was a producer and we tapped in. When I got to Cleveland, I tapped in with my teammates, and a lot of my teammates supported and are fans of my music. Actually, they was waiting on my new music, they weren’t really putting me onto people.
Sometimes, it’s like that. They’ll put me on to a person that’s back home. I done got put onto a bunch of artists that’s actually superstars now, and it was before their time. Football connects you with different cities.
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You scored a production placement on Rick Ross’ Rather You Than Me (2017). Walk me through how you put that track together and secured that placement?
That relationship been going on since I was in high school, definitely locked in with the whole MMG family, Rick Ross and everybody. I can’t really tell how the songs come about, they just call me and say “We need a verse” or “We need a beat.” You know I’m on go because that’s family. It wasn’t really no big thing about it. I went in and did my verse, sent it back to him, he loved it. When I did the beat for “Apple of My Eye,” he loved it. We got a bunch of work together. When that popped out, I was just ecstatic.
Are there any skills you find yourself bringing from the sports world to the music world or vice versa?
Always. Music and football taught me a lot about life. With football, doing certain drills and just having that pattern of skill. You gotta know numbers. It definitely goes hand-in-hand because ballers is gonna be ballers. The ballers that’s in the field gonna be the ballers that’s in the studio. Jarvis Landry is probably one of the best rappers I’ve ever heard.
If I was to bring music to football, I would just be tapping in with people. Football players got feelings too, they listen to music and get in their vibe. Who better to relate to than your teammate? They’re actually doing it.
Why is your independence as an artist important to you?
[Because] I’ve done music my whole life, part of that was learning how to do so much stuff and be that team for myself. Now that I actually have a team and label that I created, it’s easier for me to stay independent and learn how to build my company, so I could be one of the big companies or be on the level where they is. [Independence] is perfect. It’s big. It’s big to me, it’s big to the people around me because they understand how much more money you can make and how much business you can control or how much leverage you can have once you’re independent.
How do you compare your experiences on the business side of music versus the business side of sports?
As a kid growing up in South Florida, business is not taught to us with sports. Yes, it’s monetized, you grow up and you gangsta and they gon’ look out for you. But business is not taught to us.
When it came to football and I made it to the league, yes, I understood the business, but I kind of lost love for football because the business that goes into it – your whole life is a game, but once you get to a certain age or just before then, your fate is in another man’s hands. With music, I can’t control it, but I can express myself and God gave me a gift to be able to be at a level where people support me for my gift.
You put out Nothin’ Major late last year, and that featured the focus track “Shawty” (with Kodak Black). How did that collaboration come together and why was it chosen as the focus track?
I recorded my part in LA [probably two years ago] and I sent it to Kodak and he sent it right back. The next time we seen each other face-to-face was at another studio in Miami. It was supposed to have been his song, but I don’t how it went and came back to me and brodie was ready to drop it. Me and Kodak, we always doing business. That’s just that Broward-Dade County connection. It was a blessing man.
A lot of people mess with Kodak — besides all the other stuff, that’s a good person, I know him for real. Him getting on that song… we connecting different parts of Florida. When T-Pain and Plies did it, that was more Fort Myers and Tallahassee. We giving that Dade County/Broward vibe, that’s a Florida classic.
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Why is it important for you to rep your hometown?
I praise Florida, I praise Dade County. I’m from Liberty City, I’m from Miami. It ain’t no really big rappers out of Liberty City for real. The biggest we could go is Uncle Luke, and Uncle Luke opened doors for so many people, so many generations after him. To be from Miami and be from a birthplace of many styles and a lot of music that’s been sampled over the years, it’s big to let people know I’m from the 305. Florida, baby! We gon’ rep Florida wherever we go. And we got a different vibe too.
Miami, South Florida, all that music has been ringing for years, but we getting a different type of buzz now. Just being one of the people that created some of this buzz, it’s big to me and it’s big to everybody. So, I’m definitely gonna rep all my people. I’m gonna rep the whole Florida not just South Florida.
Who’s on your Mount Rushmore of Florida rappers?
I’m gonna go Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, JT Money — I’m gonna leave myself out cause I have a mountain by myself – Ice [Billion] Berg.
You recently dropped Kardiology (Feb. 16). What was your vision for the project and what are your goals for it post-release?
These songs, I already had down. Some songs I added on there because we always recording. The focus on the whole project was just… these not your typical songs about love. It won’t come out that way.
Every time you listen to a different track, it would give different directions of love or how love could have messed a person up or messed a situation up. These songs speak to the people, it’s a song on there for everybody. There’s a lot of Miami-style songs — I’m from Miami, so you know I gotta put that dance in some of the songs, the bass, the DJ checks, different stuff like that.
I was supposed to start the whole Kardiology rollout probably around 2022, but this is a great start.
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Why the delay?
It was the directions of the songs. I record songs, but I’m not the type of person to just throw stuff on the tape and just put it out. I want to make sure you can actually have a no-skip tape. It was a whole wait. And then the direction of the videos, the treatments, the whole marketing plan behind what we’re gonna do with Kardiology – it’s more stuff we gotta do. We got scrubs, I’m gonna play a doctor in one of my videos. We having fun with it.
We’re seeing the sports and music worlds continue to bleed more and more into each other every year, especially since Roc Nation and the NFL partnered for the Super Bowl halftime show. What do you make of that dynamic and how do you think it can best help artist-athletes like yourself?
Exposure, that’s the biggest thing about anything we do. People want exposure, they want the world to see what they can do. These artists been out here, but the world goes so fast. That exposure collides the worlds and makes it easier for the right people to be in the same room. What they’re doing right now is big. I hope it grows until more independent artists are brought to these stages.
Do you have any advice for other athletes looking to get into music or artists trying to get into sports or people who are just trying to balance both?
Don’t plan on having a life. That was kind of my biggest thing since I’ve been doing music since high school. Once I started making music seriously in tenth or eleventh grade, that was my way of not going outside, because I was a kid [who] was always outside. You gotta understand that what’s important gotta stay important. And if it’s gonna be important, you can’t worry about the people around you and say they’re not supporting you or you’re not getting that push that you need. You got to be that push. You got to be everything for yourself. That’s what I mean, you ain’t really going to have no life. I’m just starting to live!
People know me for “Okay, we’re gonna go make a tackle, get a couple of sacks, then come home and drop a hit.” If you’re gonna do it, do it. You’re gonna see the world change and you gonna realize that it’s easier to get that money if you really took it seriously.
