Music News

Beefs, new albums and comebacks, it was another busy week in the hip-hop and R&B world of music. Billboard Unfiltered rises to the occasion to return with a brand new episode recapping all of the happenings on Thursday (Aug. 1).

Billboard co-hosts Carl Lamarre, Trevor Anderson and Damien Scott debated a myriad of topics including Ice Spice’s Y2K! debut LP, hip-hop media beefs and Will Smith’s return to the music scene nearly two decades after his Lost And Found album in 2005.

Senior Charts & Data Analyst Trevor Anderson expects Ice’s Y2K! to debut outside the Billboard 200’s top 10, but could crack the top 20 with a late surge.

“Ultimately goes down to one of those albums where the EP, the tapes, the singles beforehand are gonna be the thing we remember more than the actual debut album,” Anderson adds. “For whatever reason, when that word album comes on it — I don’t know if it’s the pressure that ramps up or whatever — but it feels ehhh.”

He continues: “If you think Ice Spice is gonna jump out and switch onto lyricism in a way that’s gonna be a lot more introspective or more than what it is, it’s not gonna be for you.”

For Deputy Director of Hip-Hop/R&B Carl Lamarre, he sees Ice Spice as more of a singles artist going forward rather than putting together cohesive bodies of work.

“When I think of Ice Spice, I just think of her as a singles artist. An artist that thrives off making singles, an artist that could thrive off her features. I don’t think it’s somebody that could put together a cohesive body of work. Something that’s gonna be mind-blowing from a body project standpoint.”

It’s not only the rappers that are beefing, as media personalities Elliott Wilson and Charlamagne Tha God are entrenched in a feud that boiled over this week. The spat seemed to be sparked by Charlamagne taking issue with Elliott’s position at No. 5 on the Complex Hip-Hop Media Power Rankings.

Deputy Director, Editorial Damien Scott found the beef to be “corny” and thinks they should set the right example for the next generation and settle it off the internet.

“I find this whole thing very corny,” Scott says. “This feels very clearly one person had a problem with another person and used this as an opportunity to get some grievances off their chest and it derailed from there. I think it’s a bad look for the industry.

Scott adds: “I think we need to be better at how we represent the industry and the forum and ourselves. That that s–t offline. Go grab a drink or a coffee and talk it out. Why are we acting like rappers?”

Will Smith is gearing up for possibly his first album since 2005. He returned last week with another single alongside his son Jaden and rapper Russ for the introspective “Work of Art.” The Unfiltered trio have forgiven Smith for his infamous Oscars slap of Chris Rock and seem to be in favor of a return to rapping for the superstar.

Damien Scott hypothesizes that Smith turned back to the hip-hop community for acceptance after his recent Hollywood projects stalled or were put on hold following the 2022 Oscars slap heard ’round the world.

“My guess is because we’ve seen this happen to Black celebrities before is that he realized certain people weren’t f—ing with him anymore, and he was like, ‘You know who’s gonna f–k with me? My people,’” Scott speculates. “And he went and did this press run for Bad Boys 4 that was like podcasts and shows you would never think Will Smith would do.”

Watch the full episode below and look for another episode of Billboard Unfiltered next week.

LL Cool J is causing a stir on Rap Twitter once again.

He was recently in the news for saying he wants to hear Andre 3000 rap instead of playing the flute. Now, during a recent appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay, he was asked to name his Mount Rushmore of Def Jam artists.

Shannon Sharpe rattled off a list of names that included Jay-Z, Kanye, LL, Rihanna, DMX, Ludacris, and Nas before teasing the legendary rapper about trying to avoid the question. However, LL pushed back and asked why Shannon didn’t mention Public Enemy. “It’s LL, it’s Public Enemy, it’s the Beastie Boys and it would have to be Slick Rick,” he retorted. “Because it’s Def Jam.” Shannon then asked, “Was Hov not at Def Jam?” to which LL answered, “Yeah, a thousand years later.” (It’s worth pointing out that the Queens rapper has had a long standing on again, off again cold war with Jay-Z.)

LL defended his choices by saying those were the acts that helped shape the influential rap label into the brand it is today. He also rightfully acknowledged that his answer would be dissected and debated on social media.

In the same clip, they talk about why he got offended by Canibus asking him to borrow the microphone that’s tatted on his right arm on his original verse from LL’s 1997 single “4,3,2,1.” When asked why he didn’t take it as a compliment, LL answered, “Not at that time. I was an egomaniac.”

LL famously made Canibus use another verse on the album version, but still sent shots at the young rapper on the same song. They then traded diss tracks. Canibus answered LL’s “4,3,2,1” verse with “Second Round K.O.” and LL returned serve with “The Ripper Strikes Back” effectively ending the battle.

While Rick Rubin had already released an EP of his punk band Hose, LL’s song “I Need a Beat” was the first official release on Def Jam that had a catalog number and the label’s now famous logo. His debut album Radio was released a year later in 1985 with the unique distinction of being the iconic label’s first full-length release.