Hip-Hop
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The long-awaited reunion of the Hot Boys has finally taken place.
On Saturday (Nov. 2), the iconic rap supergroup — featuring Lil Wayne, Juvenile, Turk and B.G. — performed together for the first time in more than 15 years at Wayne’s Lil WeezyAna Fest in New Orleans.
The group’s 22-minute set included songs like “Get Your Roll On,” “I Need a Hot Girl,” and “Neighborhood Superstar,” during which the act was joined by Big Tymers’ Mannie Fresh and Birdman, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Watch the performances here.
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This year’s Lil WeezyAna Fest also featured solo performances from Juvenile, who brought down the house with “Back That Azz Up,” and B.G., who delivered “Bling Bling.”
During his solo performance, Lil Wayne once again spoke about being snubbed for the Super Bowl halftime show, expressing his disappointment at being overlooked in favor of Kendrick Lamar.
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“I told myself I wanted to be on that stage in front of my mom, and I worked my ass off for that position. It was ripped away from me, but this moment right here… they can’t take this away from me,” the rapper told the crowd at the Smoothie King Center.
Wayne previously teased the Hot Boys reunion on X (formerly Twitter) in September. Earlier this year, rumors began swirling when Juvenile hinted at a performance at Essence Fest in New Orleans and mentioned the group was working on a new album.
“Hot Boys is back together, man. What you talkin’ about put the Hot Boys back together? Show y’all ain’t keeping up with sh–,” he said on Instagram Live in May. “Turk gonna be with me tonight, I’m gonna be with B.G. next week. Me, Wayne, Turk and B.G., all of us gonna be on stage in New Orleans with Mannie Fresh and Birdman. And we already done started working on a Hot Boys album. Any other f—ing questions? Keep on askin’ put the Hot Boys together. Have some f—in’ patience.”
Despite the hype, fans were disappointed when the anticipated reunion at Essence Fest didn’t occur; while Birdman, Mannie Fresh, Juvenile, and B.G. took the stage together, Wayne opted for a solo set afterward, and Turk was absent.
The Hot Boys’ last album was 2003′ Let ‘Em Burn.
Cardi B shared her thoughts on Donald Trump during a Kamala Harris campaign rally near Milwaukee on Friday (Nov. 1).
Ahead of Election Day on Nov. 5, the “Bodak Yellow” rapper delivered a passionate speech at the Wisconsin State Fair Exposition Center in West Allis, voicing her support for Harris and criticizing Trump’s views on women’s rights.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” Cardi told the crowd, reading from her cell phone. “I take seriously the call to show up, to speak out, and to share a message that’s been on my heart for a while now.”
She continued, “Like Kamala Harris, I’ve been the underdog, underestimated, and had my success belittled. Women have to work ten times harder and still face questions about how we achieved success. I can’t stand a bully, but just like Kamala, I always stand up to one.”
Cardi noted that she hadn’t backed either Trump or Joe Biden for the 2024 presidential election until Harris entered the race and “changed my mind completely.”
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“I didn’t have faith in any candidates until she joined and spoke the words I wanted to hear about the future of this country,” she said. “I believe every word she says. She’s passionate, compassionate, empathetic, and most importantly, she’s realistic. Kamala recognizes that this country is at risk, and that we need to strengthen our economy and address the rising cost of living.”
Turning her focus to Trump, whom she referred to as “Donny Trump,” Cardi addressed the former president’s recent comment about protecting women whether they “like it or not.”
“Protection for women — especially regarding maternal and mental health care — is not about telling us what to do with our bodies. It’s about supporting us and providing the care we need for our choices,” the rapper explained. “People like Donald Trump don’t believe women deserve rights. When those rights are threatened, he disappears.”
She added, “If his definition of protection means restricting our choices and ensuring our daughters have fewer rights than our mothers, then I don’t want it!”
Cardi also labeled the former president a “hustler,” saying, “Hustling women out of their rights is disgraceful. Hustling Americans out of their hard-earned money by selling Trump watches, Trump sneakers, Trump Bibles… do we really trust this man with our economy? A man who only cares about getting rich and cutting taxes for his billionaire friends. I don’t even get a tax cut.”
Following the rally, Cardi continued her support for Harris and critique of Trump on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “Donald Trump talks about having plans, but the only plan he has is to hustle YOU.”
Watch Cardi B’s nearly 10-minute rally speech for Harris here.
U.K. rapper Central Cee has announced the release date for his long-awaited debut album, Can’t Rush Greatness. The LP is slated for release on January 24, 2025 via Columbia Records and will be the first full body of work since his 2023 mixtape 23.
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The 26-year-old shared the news on his social media feeds alongside the artwork, which you can see below. Pre-orders are now open on Cench’s website.
No tracklist has been released for the album so far, but it has been confirmed that his new song “One By One,” which was recorded in a Colors session, would not feature on the record.
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A press release also confirmed that the album was recorded in multiple locations over the last year, and it will feature guest producers as well as an appearance from fellow U.K. rapper Dave. The pair collaborated on the single “Sprinter” in 2023, which topped the U.K.’s Official Singles Charts for nine weeks and landed at No.10 on the Billboard Global 200.
2024 has seen a number of singles from the west London artist. In May, he teamed up with Lil Baby for “BAND4BAND” which landed at No.18 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at No.3 on the Official Singles Chart in the U.K. The song was the highest-charting U.K. rap single on the charts in Hot 100 history.
Elsewhere there was an appearance on Ice Spice’s debut Y2K, a team-up with Afrobeats star Asake on single “Wave” and most recently with RAYE on the single “Moi” in September.
Speaking to Dazed, Central Cee elaborated on the process of the making of Can’t Rush Greatness. “With the mixtapes, I was living in [the same] house I grew up in,” he said. “Now we’ve elevated, we’re actually musicians. There were times it was hard to say man’s a musician. I was just a guy that [went into the] studio [sometimes]. Now, I’m an artist.”
Last week, Central Cee was named as an additional headliner for Spain’s Primavera Sound Festival in June 2025, topping the bill alongside Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan.
Megan Thee Stallion is suing a YouTuber and social media personality who she claims is a “mouthpiece and puppet” for Tory Lanez, accusing the woman of “churning out falsehoods” about the criminal case stemming from Lanez shooting her.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, attorneys for the rapper (Megan Pete) accused Milagro Gramz (Milagro Elizabeth Cooper) of carrying out a public campaign to “denigrate, belittle, insult, and spread false statements” about her.
That allegedly included Gramz sharing a pornographic “deepfake” depicting the rapper – a move that Megan’s lawyers say violate a Florida statute banning “altered sexual depictions” of real people.
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“Enough is enough,” writes Megan’s attorneys at the law firm Quinn Emanuel. “Ms. Pete—a victim of violent crime and champion of women’s rights to her millions of fans worldwide—will no longer stand for defendant’s campaign of harassment.”
The lawsuit also accused Gramz of cyberstalking, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and invasion of privacy.
In a statement posted to X (formerly Twitter), Gramz acknowledged the lawsuit, saying she had “been informed that I’m being sued by Alex Spiro on behalf of his client Megan Thee Stallion.” After quoting from a threat letter, she said: “Of course we’ll chat about it. They threw in the tape too.”
The new case came days after a high-profile false story about Megan and Lanez – claiming incorrectly that an appeals court had declared “innocent” in the shooting — circulated on social media. Spiro, Megan’s long time attorney, warned yesterday that he was planning legal action over such “nonsense.”
Lanez (Daystar Peterson) was convicted in December 2022 on three felony counts over the violent 2020 incident, in which he shot at the feet of Megan during an argument following a pool party at Kylie Jenner’s house in the Hollywood Hills. In August 2023, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He has filed an appeal, which remains pending.
In the new lawsuit, Megan’s attorneys say Gramz repeatedly spread falsehoods about the case, including questioning whether she was even shot and claiming she was “caught trying to deceive the courts.” More recently, they say Gramz has pushed the “outlandish claim” that the gun used in the shooting had gone missing.
“Defendant Cooper’s statements recklessly disregarded the truth and suggested that the firearm was never presented in court because it had allegedly disappeared. It has not,” Megan’s lawyers write. “The firearm remains in the custody of the Los Angeles Police Department.”
As for the deepfake video, the lawsuit does not accuse Gramz of directly creating or posting the video, but claims that she “encouraged her followers” to watch it, including by pointing users to a post that had directly shared the video.
“Defendant Cooper willfully and maliciously promoted the Deepfake Video without Ms. Pete’s consent,” Megan’s lawyers write.
Yeat lands his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 as Lyfestyle debuts atop the list dated Nov. 2. The set earned 89,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 24, according to Luminate — his best week ever by units, largely driven by album sales. Lyfestyle is the fifth total and consecutive top 10-charting set for the rapper, who had gone as high as No. 2 in March with 2093.
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Also in the new top 10 of the Billboard 200, SEVENTEEN snares its sixth top 10 effort, all earned consecutively, as SPILL THE FEELS debuts at No. 5. Meanwhile, Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us surges 19-8 following a deluxe reissue with added songs, for its first week in the top 10 since it debuted at No. 2 in July.
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 Nov. 2, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Oct. 29). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
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Of Lyfestyle’s 89,000 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 60,000 (Yeat’s best sales week ever; it’s No. 2 on the Top Album Sales chart), SEA units comprise 29,000 (equaling 39.67 million on-demand official streams of the songs on the streaming edition of the album; it debuts at No. 17 on the Top Streaming Albums chart) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
Lyfestyle’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across many variants, exclusively sold through the artist’s webstore. Lyfestyle’s opening-week sales actually exceed the cumulative sales of Yeat’s entire album catalog before this past week. Until Lyfestyle’s release, his catalog of albums had sold a combined 35,000 copies.
The new album, his fifth full-length studio effort, was issued as a widely-available 22-track digital download and streaming set, and in a CD and vinyl edition exclusively sold through his webstore. (It’s the first time Yeat has released an album on CD.) The CDs were only available as part of deluxe boxed sets (exclusive to his webstore), and all CDs and vinyls were signed by the artist. There were six different deluxe CD boxed sets, each containing a T-shirt and a CD inside a branded box. There were also three webstore-exclusive CD variants, signed by the artist, and each contained two additional bonus tracks unique to the CD (one has “Style Lyfe” and “Back Thën,” the second has “5Brazy” and “Barbarian” and the third has “Graveyard” and “Gonë”)
In addition, Yeat’s webstore offered two exclusive digital download album variants — one with the bonus track “Project Lyfestyle” and one with four bonus tracks: “Project Lyfestyle,” “For Lyfe,” “Night Come” and “5Brazy Remix,” featuring Quavo.
All of the bonus tracks on the CD and download album variants were not available to purchase as stand-alone tracks through any retailer, nor available to stream through an official service.
In total, of Lyfestyle’s first-week sales of 60,000, digital downloads comprise 43,500; CD sales comprise 12,000 and vinyl sales comprise 4,500.
Yeat’s last album, 2093, which debuted and peaked at No. 2 earlier this year, was available in its first week across three digital download variants, but only one of them was exclusive to the artist’s webstore. 2093 sold 12,000 copies in its first week — all from downloads.
Sabrina Carpenter’s chart-topping Short n’ Sweet climbs 4-2 on the Billboard 200 with 79,000 equivalent album units earned (down 7%). After debuting at No. 1, Jelly Roll’s Beautifully Broken falls to No. 3 with 68,000 (down 58%). Rod Wave’s Last Lap dips 2-4 in its second week with 67,000 units (down 47%).
SEVENTEEN collects its sixth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 as SPILL THE FEELS debuts at No. 5 with 66,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, album sales comprise 64,000 (it’s No. 1 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 2,000 (equaling 2.61 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The album’s sales were bolstered by its availability across 17 CD variants, each containing collectible branded paper ephemera (such as photocards, posters, lyric books and stickers, some randomized).
Morgan Wallen’s former leader One Thing at a Time rises 9-6 on the Billboard 200 with 50,000 equivalent album units earned (up 5%), GloRilla’s Glorious falls 5-7 in its second week with nearly 50,000 (down 27%), and Gracie Abrams’ The Secret of Us surges 19-8 with 49,000 units (up 78%). The latter vaults up the chart, and back into the top 10 for the first time since its No. 2 debut in July, thanks to its Oct. 18 deluxe reissue on digital download and streaming services with seven additional tracks. Of the 49,000 units The Secret of Us earned in the latest tracking week, SEA units comprise the bulk of the sum — a little over 45,000 (up 89%).
Rounding out the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 are Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft (falling 7-9 with a little over 48,000 equivalent album units earned; down 4%) and BigXthaPlug’s Take Care (8-10 in its second week; with 48,000; up less than 1%).
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.
Tyler, the Creator is teasing a new song ahead of his upcoming album.
On Saturday (Oct. 26), less than 48 hours before the arrival of his new album, Chromakopia, the 33-year-old rapper shared a music video for the song “Thought I Was Dead.”
The nearly two-minute black-and-white video, directed by Tyler, finds the Igor musician dressed in military attire as he dances and prances on the wing of an old war plane in the middle of an airfield.
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Chromakopia will be released on Monday (Oct. 28) through Columbia Records. The set comes three years after his last album, Call Me If You Get Lost, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and earned a best rap album Grammy award.
Tyler released a single titled “Noid” on music streaming services ahead of Chromakopia. The accompanying music video features Ayo Edebiri, the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actress from The Bear.
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The rapper is scheduled to host a Chromakopia listening party at Los Angeles’ Inuit Dome on Sunday (Oct. 27). “Los Angeles I’m playing my album in full for you at the Inuit Dome. I will not be performing, I will be standing in the middle of the venue lip syncing to the new sounds. This event costs $5,” he wrote earlier in the week on X (formerly Twitter).
And after previewing Chromakopia in L.A., Tyler plans on taking the album around the globe with the Chromakopia: The World Tour. Along with special guests Lil Yachty and Paris Texas, the trek will launch Feb. 4 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., and wrap July 27 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
He also has dates set in Europe, Australia and New Zealand for next year.
Watch Tyler, the Creator’s “Thought I Was Dead” video below.
Lizzo is officially kicking off Halloween 2024 with a creative new costume.
On Saturday (Oct. 25), the pop-rap sensation took to Instagram to showcase her self-described “LizzOzempic” outfit, inspired by a recent episode of South Park.
“Ok Halloween… you can start now,” Lizzo captioned a faux advertisement featuring herself alongside a mock prescription box for a weight loss drug.
The South Park episode, titled “The End of Obesity,” aired in May and comically critiqued the Ozempic trend, using Lizzo as an alternative to the popular medication. In the episode, Eric Cartman visits his doctor seeking Ozempic for weight loss. When he learns he can’t afford it, the doctor prescribes an unconventional solution: “I’m going to write you a prescription for Lizzo. She’s a really good singer who talks about body positivity,” he says. “I want you to listen to Lizzo five times a day and watch her videos before bed. I’m afraid you’ll have to be on Lizzo for the rest of your life.”
In another post showing off the Halloween getup, Lizzo clapped back at South Park by dancing to the show’s jingle and flipping off the camera. “Oh OH oh… it’s Lizzo b—,” she captioned the clip, which also included a Cartman cut out in the background.
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The “About Damn Time” hitmaker also shared a clip of herself dancing next to someone wearing an inflatable Cartman costume. “It’s that time of year where I feed y’all so ridiculously, and you’re so very welcome, baby,” she captioned the video, soundtracked by ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.”
When the South Park episode originally aired, Lizzo reacted on TikTok, expressing her surprise. “That’s crazy. I just feel like, damn, I’m really that b—-,” she said. “I showed the world how to love yourself, and now these men in Colorado know who the f— I am and put it in their cartoon that’s been around for 25 years.”
Lizzo has donned numerous imaginative Halloween costumes over the years, including outfits based on Tina Turner, Marge Simpson and Baby Yoda, among others.
Check out Lizzo’s “LizzOzempic” Halloween costume on Instagram below.
Who knew that Freddy Krueger had good enough taste in rap music to be a Freddie Gibbs fan?
The Gary, Indiana, rapper tapped the notorious Nightmare on Elm Street slasher to help promote a mysterious new project. Apparently, there are billboards around L.A. featuring a picture of Krueger’s eyes with “Freddie’s Back” above them and the phone number (320) 244-5268 under the quote. When you call the number, the Freddy in your nightmares picks up and gives you the message below (or threat, depending on how scared you are).
“Well, hello little rabbits,” the Freddy Krueger voice is heard saying in the message. “Haven’t you missed me? Hmmm? The jagged edge piercing through your mundane reality. Freddie’s back, bi—. I can’t wait to rip through your dreams like a sledgehammer through a Piñata. Oh, what a rush. You’re all my children now. Welcome to prime time, bi—es. No matter where you run, I am omnipresent like a flock of rabid rabbits. You can keep your mind, but your $oul is $old $eparately. After all, they say You Only Live 2wice, but the truth is You Only Die Once. Sweet dreams.”
Freddy mentions three of the other Freddie’s projects: Piñata, $oul is $old $eparately, and You Only Live 2wice. But then he ends the message with, “but the truth is You Only Die Once,” which could be a clue about the name of this mystery tape. This hasn’t been confirmed, just a little speculating based on a video of a cartoon rabbit (Freddie’s nickname is Rabbit) in a Jason mask posted on an IG account with the handle @youonlydie0nce.
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At the top of 2023, Gibbs told XXL that he was working on multiple projects at once. “I’mma hit y’all with some sh– that y’all thought y’all was ready for, but you really ain’t ready for,” he told the outlet. “Alchemist and Madlib ain’t goin’ nowhere, so keep that in mind. And me and Boi-1da in the studio now real, real, real heavy.” He also mentioned that he might make an R&B album, saying, “I’m making the best music of my life, so it’s no reason to stop. And I’m the king of R&B, so I gotta do that album as well.”
Rod Wave‘s Last Lap beats the competition on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with a No. 1 entrance on the list dated Oct. 26. The album, released through Alamo Records, starts with 127,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. for the tracking week of Oct. 11 – 17, according to Luminate, kicking off as the week’s most-streamed album of any genre.
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Of Last Lap’s first-week sum, streaming activity contributes 125,000 units, equaling 173.4 million official on-demand streams of the album’s songs. Thanks to that swell, Last Lap begins at No. 1 on the Top Streaming Albums chart. Traditional album sales deliver 2,000 units with a negligible amount of activity from track-equivalent album units. (One unit equals the following levels of consumption: one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams for a song on the album.)
With Last Lap, Rod Wave picks up his fourth No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. His first two leaders – SoulFly (2021) and Beautiful Mind (2022) – each ruled for two weeks, while last year’s Nostalgia clocked three weeks in the top slot. In addition to his four champs, Rod Wave has sent three more titles onto the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart – Ghetto Gospel, which peaked at No. 7 in 2020, Pray 4 Love (No. 2, 2020) and the EP Jupiter’s Diary: 7 Day Theory (No. 5, 2022).
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Elsewhere, Last Lap opens at No. 1 on the Top Rap Albums chart and at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200.
Due to the Last Lap streaming avalanche, 21 of the album’s songs spill onto the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. “25” leads the pack at No. 4 and, with 17.5 million official U.S. streams, is the top-streamed Last Lap track for the week. Here’s a full recap of the album’s placements on this week’s ranking:
No. 4, “25”No. 8, “Last Lap”No. 10, “Federal Nightmares”No. 11, “Angel With an Attitude”No. 13, “Fall Fast in Love”No. 14, “F**k Fame,” featuring Lil Yachty & Lil BabyNo. 15, “Passport Junkie”No. 17, “Never Mind”No. 18, “Turtle Race”No. 20, “Apply Pressure”No. 25, “The Best”No. 28, “Even Love”No. 30, “Lost in Love,” with Be CharlotteNo. 35, “Waited 2 Late”No. 36, “Mike”No. 37, “D.A.R.E.”No. 38, “Scared Love”No. 41, “Karma”No. 43, “The Mess They Made”No. 44, “IRan”No. 47, “Spaceship”
The 21 simultaneous entries makes Rod Wave only the sixth artist to ever chart as many tracks on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in a single week, dating to the chart’s launch in 1958. (The feat is a recent trend, as huge streaming returns have allowed for a sharp rise in the number of songs that make the chart in a week, usually with an album’s debut.) The rapper joins Drake, who has eight different weeks of 21 or more songs, Lil Baby (three times), Future, Lil Wayne and Metro Boomin (one each).
A$AP Rocky is set to go to trial in Los Angeles early next year on charges that he fired a gun at a former friend and collaborator on the streets near a Hollywood hotel in 2021. The trial of the 36-year-old rapper, fashion mogul, Grammy nominee and celebrity co-chair of the next Met Gala is set to begin […]