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Linkin Park lands its 12th No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Airplay chart, as “Heavy Is the Crown” lifts a spot to the top of the tally dated Feb. 15.
The song is the band’s fourth No. 1 in as many tries dating to 2023, when “Lost” reigned for eight weeks. “Friendly Fire” followed for a week last April and “The Emptiness Machine” ruled for six frames beginning in October.
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With 12 total Mainstream Rock Airplay No. 1s, the sextet ties Disturbed for the eighth-most leaders in the chart’s history (which dates to 1981). Of those, 10 came with vocals from late singer Chester Bennington or rapper/singer Mike Shinoda, while new vocalist Emily Armstrong has taken the reins of the two most recent rulers alongside Shinoda.
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Most No. 1s, Mainstream Rock Airplay:19, Shinedown18, Three Days Grace15, Five Finger Death Punch14, Foo Fighters14, Metallica13, Godsmack13, Van Halen12, Disturbed12, Linkin Park
Linkin Park first led Mainstream Rock Airplay in 2003 with “Somewhere I Belong.” The group first appeared on the survey in 2000, when “One Step Closer” debuted; it peaked at No. 4 in January 2001, marking the band’s first of 21 top 10s.
Concurrently, “Heavy Is the Crown” rises 13-12 on Alternative Airplay. On the all-rock-format, audience-based Rock & Alternative Airplay chart, it reigns for a fourth week via 5.3 million audience impressions in the week ending Feb. 6, according to Luminate.
On the most recently published Hot Hard Rock Songs list (dated Feb. 8, reflecting the Jan. 24-30 tracking period), “Heavy Is the Crown” ranked at No. 2; “The Emptiness Machine” led for 21st week. In addition to its radio airplay, the former drew 1.7 million official U.S. streams, up 3%.
“Heavy Is the Crown” is the second single from From Zero, Linkin Park’s eighth studio album and first with Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain. The set launched at No. 1 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart in November and has earned 287,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated Feb. 15 will update Tuesday, Feb. 11, on Billboard.com.
Kendrick Lamar will return to the Super Bowl stage on Sunday (Feb. 9), but this time, the Compton native is slated to headline the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show in New Orleans.
Between the Drake battle, arrival of GNX and “Not Like Us” taking home five Grammy Awards — including song of the year and record of the year — it’s quite possibly been the most decorated 10-month stretch of Lamar’s career.
As detailed in this episode of Billboard Explains, the 37-year-old West Coast hip-hop titan has long laid the foundation, with decades of work honing his craft and refining his flows to get to this point at the top of the rap food chain.
Born in 1987, Kendrick took an interest in poetry and released his first mixtape as a teenager in 2003 titled Y.H.N.I.C. (Hub City Threat: Minor of the Year) under his initial K-Dot alias.
It wasn’t until his fourth mixtape, Overly Dedicated, that he made his Billboard chart debut in 2010 and changed his rap name to Kendrick Lamar.
Following his Billboard 200 debut (No. 113) with Section.80 in 2011, Lamar unleashed his major label studio album under Top Dawg Entertainment/Interscope Records when Good Kid, M.A.A.D City arrived in October 2012 and debuted at No. 2 on the all-genre albums chart.
The cinematic LP earned Kendrick seven Grammy nominations and was led by singles such as “Swimming Pools (Drank),” which was his Billboard Hot 100 debut, reaching the top 20.
To Pimp a Butterfly saw Lamar continue to elevate his profile when he scored his first Billboard 200 chart-topper in 2015. Two years later, DAMN. hit the streets and made history as K. Dot became the first artist to win the Pulitzer Prize for a hip-hop album.
He curated the Black Panther soundtrack in 2018, and Kendrick returned in 2022 following a hiatus with the poignant Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.
2024 proved to be his biggest year yet, as his Drake diss “Not Like Us” topped the Hot 100, and he spun the block before the year ended with the release of GNX, which produced the No. 1 “Squabble Up” and occupied the entire Hot 100’s top five.
Explore more about Lamar’s rise in the video above.
The streaming partners of FireAid, the mega-concert that has so far raised more than $100 million for LA wildfire victims, have extended on-demand access to the Jan. 30 concert for a year, with donations made during the streams matched dollar for dollar. Those streaming partners include Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, iHeart, KTLA+, Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock/NBCNewsNow, SiriusXM, TikTok, Veeps and YouTube.
Fans of Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Green Day or any of the dozens of other acts that performed at the five-hour-long concert can also still donate to wildfire relief through FireAidLA.org. Billionaire ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife Connie extended their commitment to match every streaming donation, thereby doubling the fundraising effort.
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The concert, which featured performances from 30 artists at two Los Angeles venues, the Intuit Dome and the Kia Forum, attracted 50 million viewers across 28 streaming platforms on Jan. 30. Organizers of the event said proceeds raised by the shows will go to support the L.A. region’s immediate needs and long-term recovery from a series of wind-whipped wildfires that killed 29 people and destroyed more than 16,000 homes and other structures.
FireAid’s grants advisory committee, led by the Annenberg Foundation and other experienced regional philanthropic individuals, is charged with distributing the aid, and they expect the first phase of grants to be awarded by mid-February, according to a press release.
“The committee has been listening daily to affected communities, assessing local resource gaps to ensure aid reaches those most in need, and researching the handling of other fire disasters, such as those in Maui and Northern California,” according to the statement.
FireAid was organized by Shelli and Irving Azoff and the Azoff family, Live Nation, and the Los Angeles Clippers, with Joel Gallen of Tenth Planet serving as executive producer and Rick Krim as talent producer.
CCM artist Brandon Lake and country artist Jelly Roll have teamed up for a collaborative version of Lake’s hit song “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” which arrived Friday (Feb. 7).
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Lake first released the song last year, and it quickly hit No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Christian Songs chart. The Jelly Roll/Lake version infuses the song with an extra shot of soul and angst, as the two artists blend their voices around lyrics that detail how facing trials and battles can result in a strengthened resolve.
Lake takes the first verse and chorus, singing, “There’s days when a praise comes out easy/ And days when it takes all the strength I got.” Jelly Roll soon joins in, adding his point of view on the value struggle revealing the depth of truth of a personal faith: “‘Case faith isn’t proven like gold ’til it’s been through the fire.”
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Together, they sing of finding the fortitude to lift their hands higher in praise and gratitude, even when it is hard to do. Jelly Roll feels like a natural collaborator on this song, given his own track record of tunes that blend heartache, struggle and faith, such as “Son of a Sinner” and “Halfway to Hell.”
Jelly Roll previously took to social media to discuss being part of the song. “This is so hard to talk about, because I’ve been called a ‘lukewarm’, a ‘fence-rider’, I’ve been called a ‘cussing Christian’. You know, I’ve had all these people, and I know that God’s got a lot more to do with me. I know that,” he shared aon Feb. 6. “I know I got a long way to go, and I know that my heart was only to share the faith that changed my life.”
“I might wear it a little different than other people, I might say things that other Christians don’t think are right to say,” he added, “but ultimately, I have a heart for God and I have a heart for Jesus.”
Lake responded, “You are thinking so dangerously outside of the box, even with me, dude, you could have called anybody else in this town, and something a little less controversial”. Endearingly, Lake immediately explains why he chose Jelly: “Because I got his heart.”
Lake has earned four No. 1 Christian Airplay hits, including the nine-week chart-topper “That’s Who I Praise.” Last year, he picked up GMA Dove Award wins for songwriter of the year-artist, and pop/contemporary album of the year for his project Coat of Many Colors.
Meanwhile, Jelly Roll has steadily continued his collaborative ways in the past several months, including releasing collabs with Kane Brown (“Haunted”) and MGK (“Lonely Road”), while his 2024 album Beautifully Broken earned the star his first No. 1 debut on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart.
Hear “Hard Fought Hallelujah” below:
In the midst of his hourslong spree of hate-filled, antisemitic, homophobic and ableist tweets on Friday morning (Feb. 7), Ye reached out to his friend President Donald Trump with a plea for the commander in chief to free disgraced hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.
“Free Puff,” Ye wrote in all caps on X in the first missive of the barrage of tweets, later adding, “@realDonaldTrump please free my brother Puff.” Combs (variously known as Puffy, Puff Daddy and Puff over the course of his career) was arrested in September and is currently in jail without bail awaiting federal trial in New York on racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution charges tied to what prosecutors say was an intricate scheme in which he “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill sexual desires.”
Combs is also facing dozens of civil lawsuits from women and men who claim that the once unstoppable Bad Boy Records boss sexually and physically assaulted them, forced or coerce them into sexual activity during hedonistic “freak off” parties and threatened them over the course of incidents dating back almost 30 years; Combs, who has denied all the allegations, is slated to go on trial in May in the case that could land him in prison for the rest of his life.
West visited the White House during Trump’s first term and has proudly worn the MAGA hat over the years. Amid the offensive tweets he also announced the launch of a collaboration between his Yeezy fashion brand and Comb’s Sean John fashion line. As of Friday morning, a number of basic-form white, grey and black “Sean John” t-shirts were available on the Yeezy site alongside a black sweatshirt with the white supremacist phrase “White Lives Matter.”
According to West, profits from the $20 shirts will be split evenly with Combs. “I just found out that Puff is not allowed to make or collect money while he’s locked up so I’ma send his half of the money to Justin,” he wrote, not identifying which Justin he was referring to.
The profanity-filled tweet string also featured a call-out of fellow celebrities — whom he referred to as “celebrity ni–as and b–ches [who] is p–sy” — who “watch our brother rot and never say s–t.” Trump, who pardoned more than 1,500 January 6 rioters on his first day in office in January — and who in the waning days of his first term pardoned or commuted the sentences of rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black — has not mentioned Combs’ case in the first few weeks of his second term.
In addition to advocating for the release of Combs, Ye also praised singer Chris Brown, writing, “we all watched them try to cancel Chris Brown and aint nobody do nothing,” adding, “I was p–sy then too Chris Brown its til the wheels fall off,” a seeming reference to West’s new song with Ty Dolla $ign, “Wheels Fall Off.”
Brown plead guilty to felony assault on then-girlfriend Rihanna after brutally beating the singer in 2009, for which he was sentence to five years probation, domestic violence counseling and six months of community service. In the years since, as Brown has continued to release charting songs as his list of reported physical altercations and allegations of battery have grown.
He was involved in a scuffle with Drake’s entourage at a New York nightclub in 2012, got into an altercation with singer Frank Ocean in 2013, was arrested for felony assault later that year in D.C. and was identified as the person who allegedly assaulted another adult male during a 2015 basketball game in Las Vegas; two months later a woman told police that Brown battered her in a Vegas hotel room during a spat over a cell phone. In August of 2016 Brown was arrested at his home in Los Angeles for suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
Since then, former girlfriend Karrueche Tran was granted a five-year restraining order against Brown in 2017 after sharing threatening texts he’d allegedly sent her and last year he was the subject of a lawsuit in which four men said Brown and his associates “brutally and severely” beat them backstage at Dickies Arena.
Ye’s advocacy for Combs and Brown came during a seven-plus-hour X rant in which he repeatedly used homophobic (“fag–t a– n–gas”) and ableist slurs (“f–k ret-rds,” “dumb a– ret-rds”) and praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler (“I love Hitler,” “I’m a Nazi”) while repeatedly denigrating the Jewish people (“you can get money with Jewish people but they always gonna steal.”)
In a statement on X, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt responded by calling the comments, “Another egregious display of antisemitism, racism and misogyny from Ye on his X account this morning… We condemn this dangerous behavior and need to call it what it is: a flagrant and unequivocal display of hate.” Some of West’s antisemitic post were amplified and re-shared by white supremacist Nick Fuentes, who joined Ye at the White House in 2018 for the meeting with Trump, who the rapper said at the time was like a “father” to him.
EST Gee knows all too well about turning tragedy into triumph, but that doesn’t mean it gets any easier each time out.
The Louisville slugger returned last week (Jan. 31) with his sophomore album I Ain’t Feeling You, which he followed up on Friday (Feb. 7) with a four-pack deluxe.
Geeski continues to elevate his gritty street tales out of the ‘Ville, but he says the imitators continue to surface. “People always take my style,” he contends to Billboard. “However I get to coming, it’s like a clone pops out of nowhere. But it’s cool though, I like it. It’s like a little army of Minions.”
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Inspired by Drake’s “Houstatlantavegas,” the EST boss recruited Lil Baby and Travis Scott, who he ran into during a night out at the strip club in Houston, to complete album standout “Houstatlantaville.”
“We was just at the strip club in Houston,” Gee explains. “I always bump into Travis. We came across each other a few times. It was a good night and he was asking what we was getting ready to do after we left the club. I’m like, ‘We bout to go to the studio. We gon’ go to the house and record like right now.’ He was like, ‘Yeah?’ I’m like, ‘Come on, we gonna go right now.’”
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Signed to his EST label in a joint venture with Alamo, EST Lu Mike was someone Gee looked at as the younger version of himself. Unfortunately, Lu Mike was killed last year following a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and Gee memorialized his mentee on “RIP Lu Mike.”
Geeski looked inward to finish the LP as he paid tribute to his late mother, who passed away from leukemia in 2020 before his rise to fame, with the poignant “Outro” seeking her direction. “I was gon’ go to my momma’s gravesite,” he recalls before recording the heartbreaking track. “I had planned on it because I’ve never been, but then something happened and I ended up not going. I was just thinking about her.”
Through it all, Gee is upbeat in conversation during his trip to NYC as we touch on his street style versus melodic rap in the music landscape, why he left that Bootleg Kev interview and a conversation with Jay-Z where the Brooklyn icon compared Drake and Future’s dynamic to Jay’s competitive nature with Nelly in the early 2000s.
I Ain’t Feeling You. Who aren’t you feeling?
Anybody that ain’t feeling me.
What inspired the project? When did you record it and what did you hope to leave the people with?
I been had it for six months. I like to record in little pockets. Whatever comes out of the pocket, that’s the project. That was probably like a two-week thing. I probably went to the studio six or seven times.
Talk about “The Streets” and how much you appreciate that “Duffle Bag Boy” sample.
Yeah, that was one of my joints growing up. I always used to wonder what happened to the other dude [Dolla Boy]. That was my way of sending the word out and a beacon for him. Where’s he at though? Turn him back up. That’s when I was playing the project for [Yo] Gotti. Most of it I had done. Dame was in there — he was like, “I got a beat for you I know you gon’ like.” I’m like, “Let me do this real quick.”
How was linking up with Travis Scott and Lil Baby for “Houstatlantaville?” How’d you get in touch with Travis?
We was just at the strip club in Houston. I always bump into Travis. We came across each other a few times. It was a good night and he was asking what we was getting ready to do after we left the club. I’m like, “We bout to go to the studio. We gon’ go to the house and record like right now.” He was like, “Yeah?” I’m like, “Come on we gonna go right now.”
I was just pumping him up. He was like, “Come on let’s go!” When we be in Houston, it be like a vibe for artists and stuff down there… We gon’ have five half-a-million-dollar cars, smoking raise the window down, good strip club, they got good food. Then we can go pull up at the spot to record. It was me and Baby at first and I was playing [Travis] some songs. He was like, “I want to get on that one.” I’m like, “You sure?” He’s like, “Yeah. Let’s do it.” I think I [was thinking] the Drake “Houstatlantavegas.” Took the Vegas off and put the Ville.
“RIP Lu Mike,” what made you want to memorialize him in that way?
Lu Mike, that was my lil’ bro. He shot himself. Something was going on in front of himself and he ended up shooting himself and having a gun in his pants. The shot rang off and the crowd at the club scattered so nobody seen that he was shot and helped him.
Lu Mike was signed to Alamo, and I had a joint venture with [him]. He was the younger version of me. My boy. He was just like my lil’ son. It was deeper than music. I seen him make his first $100,000 and f–k it all up in two weeks. I just seen him go through his stages of becoming a man. He’d be frustrating, but you gotta love him.
The outro is a tribute to your mom. What kinda space do you get into where you think, “I’m gonna end the album with that?”
It was just one of the days. I don’t know if you been through something like that, but sometimes you got days where you caught up thinking about ’em. It was just one of them days.
You know what clip I see go viral from yo? Your pick-six against SLU.
For real? Where do you be seeing it? I don’t get on Twitter. I had a whole lot of pick-sixes. I got a whole lot of highlights. My whole life been a highlight. That was light though. I ain’t celebrating with nobody.
You gotta pop up in the Eagles locker room like Gillie if they win the Super Bowl.
He’s a super Eagles fan. I might do that. Gillie and Wallo, that’s my people. I might do that and go in the locker room with the big hat on with Gillie. You know who else Gillie and Wallo made me like? They really part of the reason I started watching sports again. I was not watching football or nothing for years. When Gillie and them was going to Colorado, and I was seeing that, I liked it so much. [Deion] coaching his sons and stuff. I thought it was the coldest. I was watching from home and betting. I probably won $70,000 betting. I think I bet on Colorado and two or three more games.
One time Underdog wasn’t trying to pay me out. My first bet I was supposed to win like $100,000 and they said, “It’s a limit on your first bet so you can’t win over $50,000.” But they let me bet the $10,000. They was all lil’ spicy bets. Like Donovan Mitchell to get a block, Shedeur to not throw an interception. It was crazy on the first bet — and they were like, “Hell nah, we ain’t paying you all that money.” When I lost once or twice I was like, “They tryna come back and get that money from me. I’ma fall back off of them.”
[Gambling] brought it back for me. I was never really watching it since I was little playing, but since I started sports betting I’ve been watching it more. I ain’t miss a Colorado game all year.
I feel like in hip-hop now the Playboi Carti-type of sound is at the forefront, but you’ve been able to break through on the mainstream.
I don’t think that’s true. You said Playboi Carti type of music is at the forefront of music? Hell no.
What do you think is the sound that dominates hip-hop then?
I think it’s just hip-hop is dominating the music industry. I don’t think it’s one sound in hip-hop that’s dominating hip-hop. Whatever you mean by that type of music, I don’t think that’s the sound that’s dominating music. Hip-hop is dominating the music industry and that’s cool to say.
What do you think it’s about your music that’s been able to resonate in the mainstream?
It’s more people that are living day-to-day that have real stuff going on. I think when it be more gimmicky and fake stuff and 15-second attention-span stuff to make it look like it’s a thing, it’s a lot of fake s–t that goes along with it. People put the fake streams with it. It makes you feel like, “Damn, that many people are paying attention to that?” I just figured out when people do stadium shows, they’ll make the tickets a dollar. That’s crazy to me. When I had my show at the stadium in Louisville, them tickets wasn’t no dollar. It was $400, $550. I just figured out people do that. It’s a lot of tricking the eye in the music industry. I ain’t against it, though — it’s what it is. I’m just a player.
Do you care about chart success? Do the plaques matter?
I did a lot of that. I think I’m probably the biggest artist that’s came out since 2020 as far as a street artist. I probably got the most album and single success. I probably got the most tangible thing that you could see. I’m not depending on nobody else to do what I gotta do. I probably got the most money too. If you came out with me, I probably got the most of everything you can have. I’m talking about liquid cash too. They don’t gotta say it either. When we meet each other, you can just tell. I’m glad I could be a good example.
A couple of years ago you told me “Future is our Jay-Z.” What do you think it’s about Future that he’s been able to maintain this longevity? He had an insane year.
It’s probably the third or fourth time he’s done it too. I think it’s more a testament to what I said a couple of years ago. Future is the guy. I said it to Jay-Z, and his homies didn’t really understand it. He understood and then he explained it to them. He put in perspective — like, in his time, Nelly was more like Drake. He’s selling a whole lot of records and doing movies. Nelly was the guy at the award shows. But for all the street stuff, and when it’s time to go to the BET Awards, everyone wanted to be with Jay-Z, because it was the streets. Year after year it never went away — and that’s kind of what Future is. I think his friend was saying Drake was the biggest of my generation, and this was a couple of years ago. When he broke it down to him and Nelly, I was like, “What?” He was like, “Nelly was going quadruple-platinum every time.”
Did something else happen on the Bootleg Kev interview that we didn’t see when you dipped on him?
Just asking weird s–t, and I wasn’t feeling that. You know Red? I talk about Red a lot, and his older brother had died. If it wasn’t that day, it was the day before. He was asking me some weird a– s–t. He asked about the fake jewelry, but mentioned my jewelry — and I don’t be playing like that. I think he asked me about, did I know a porn star? I’m like, “Bro, what?” And it was over with.
How was reuniting with 42 Dugg since he got out? You see his sports gambling tweets? That s–t is hilarious.
My boy, he’s a funny dude. I didn’t know he was doing all that, bro. He’s going off on people?
Yeah, he’s like I’m gonna make a Jared Goff diss track because the Lions lost. He’ll find random college games and go off on No. 4 on North Carolina like, “What the f–k are you doing?”
I ain’t gonna lie, I be feeling the same way when Colorado used to piss me off. My boy No. 7 on Colorado [Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig]. I used to think he was the worst DB. He’s alright, I hope he makes it to the league. But damn he used to be making me so mad last year. I didn’t know that Dugg was doing that. The world don’t know how funny he really is. If he just let somebody follow him around like a reality show. If he really let y’all into what he does every day. If I called him right now, he’s probably doing some funny a– s–t. Yesterday, when I called him during the interview he was riding around in all Black in that truck. Then you know he’s short. He’s driving the car by himself he can’t really see. He’s on some bulls–t. Like, “Yeah I’ma call you back.” Yeah, Dugg is funny. That’s my brother.
What else is coming up for 2025?
I’m gonna be back on the scene this year. Last year, I kinda took a break and was chilling and relaxing. This year, I’m back pressing the gas. It’s gonna be dat.
Snoop Dogg was dropping jokes like they were hot at the NFL Honors Thursday (Feb. 6), but one of them in particular — lobbed at Bill Belichick and the coach’s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson — packed extra heat. During the rapper’s opening monologue at the pre-Super Bowl award ceremony, which he hosted, Snoop got the crowd […]
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, LISA is reincarnated alongside Doja Cat and Raye, while Anitta sets forth on a new era. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
LISA feat. Doja Cat and Raye, “Born Again”
Opulence and religious imagery abound on LISA’s new team-up with Doja Cat and Raye, as the BLACKPINK star settles on disco elegance for the pop-star summit: “I would’ve made you a believer / Would’ve showed you what it’s like,” she sings as a kiss-off, while her guest stars flaunt biting rhymes and oversized vocals on the second verse and bridge, respectively. Anitta, “Romeo”
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The first Anitta release of 2025 kicks off a new era in style — moving on from Funk Generation, the Brazilian superstar continues exploring propulsive dance on “Romeo” but with more restrained production and emphasis on her vocal delivery, as if Anitta, not the beat beneath her, is the star of the show.
Pardison Fontaine & Cardi B, “Toot It Up”
Over a masterful sample of Nas’ “Made You Look,” Pardison Fontaine and Cardi B aim for a chest-thumping anthem for a new generation on “Toot It Up,” with both artists trading rhymes on the hook and finally delivering a long-in-the-works collaboration to official streaming services.
GELO feat. Lil Wayne, “Tweaker (Remix)”
GELO’s “Tweaker” has been one of the first surprise smashes of 2025, a viral hit that has earned LiAngelo Ball a label deal and lots of raised eyebrows; that quick rise continues with this Lil Wayne-assisted remix, as Weezy (who just announced an album of his own) gets in on the basketball metaphors: “I cross your ass up like Jesus, baby.”
Dom Dolla feat. Daya, “Dreamin’”
Australian DJ Dom Dolla has been linking up with various pop stars for a while now, and Daya, the Pittsburgh native of “Don’t Let Me Down”/“Hide Away” fame, makes for a perfect muse on “Dreamin’,” a hypnotic club track in which Daya deploys the smokiness of her voice and repeats the refrain until it gets lost in the rhythms.
Editor’s Pick: Rema, “Baby (Is It a Crime)”
Revamping Sade’s 1985 classic “Is It a Crime,” Rema returns with an immediately memorable piece of rhythmic pop: the Nigerian star has demonstrated crossover potential in the past, most notably with “Calm Down,” but the contours of “Baby (Is It a Crime)” are more subtle, his flow bridging the 40-year gap in styles.
Ye went on a hate-filled tweet spree on Friday morning (Feb. 7) in which he once again praised Nazis and Adolf Hitler, while insulting the LGBTQ community and people with disabilities with phrases such as “f–k ret-rds.”
West, whose once formidable music and fashion empire crumbled in 2022 after a string of hate-filled, antisemitic rants in which he stated “I like Hitler” and repeatedly embraced antisemitic stereotypes and hate speech, doubled-down on that rhetoric in the dozens of posts on Friday.
The all-cap tweets began early in the morning with a statement in which Ye claimed that he “turned down 3 photos this week with Make-A-Wish kids in wheelchairs,” followed by a further, full embrace of antisemitic language. “I love Hitler, how what b–ches,” Ye wrote, followed by “I’m a Nazi.”
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt responded to the posts on X with a statement that read: “Here we go again. Another egregious display of antisemitism, racism and misogyny from Ye on his X account this morning. Just a few years ago, ADL found that 30 antisemitic indents nationwide were tied to Kanye’s 2022 antisemitic rants. We condemn this dangerous behavior and need to call it what it is: a flagrant and unequivocal display of hate.”
He added, “We know this game all too well. Let’s call Ye’s hate-filled public rant for what it really is: a sad attempt for attention that uses Jews as a scapegoat. But unfortunately, it does get attention because Kanye has a far-reaching platform on which to spread his antisemitism and hate. Words matter. And as we’ve seen too many times before, hateful rhetoric can prompt real-world consequences.”
Ye’s spree also included the use of homophobic slurs (“f—ot a– n–gas”), ableist insults (“dumb a– ret-rds”) and the statement “all white people are racist.” A number of the tweets were marked “visibility limited” as they ran afoul of X’s rules against hateful conduct.
Among them were comments such as, “Jewish people actually hate white people and use Black people,” “you can get money with Jewish people but they always gonna steal” and “this is how I really feel, how I really felt and how I will always feel… f–k all of your f–k a– unfair business deals any Jewish person that does business with me needs to know I don’t like or trust any Jewish person and this is completely sober with no Hennesy [sic].”
West also referenced Twitter/X owner and White House advisor Elon Musk’s repeated use of a Nazi-like salute at an inauguration event for Donald Trump last month that was widely criticized (Musk responded to critics by saying they “need better dirty tricks”). “Elon stole my Nazi swag at the inauguration… yooo my guy get your own third rale,” Ye wrote, adding, “I can say Jew as much as I want. I can say Hitler as much as I want.”
Claiming he has no interest in “adjusting nothing I do or say for anybody,” West promised to “normalize talking about Hitler they [sic] way talking about killing ni–as has been normalized,” followed by “Hitler was sooooo fresh” and “call me Yaydolf Yitler.”
The string of hate speech was seemingly embraced by white supremacist Nick Fuentes who wrote “and we’re back” in response to one of Ye’s tweets; Ye posted a series of crying laughing emoji on that Fuentes comment. Fuentes, known for his antisemitic, misogynistic and white supremacist views, also reposted a few of Ye’s most incendiary tweets, including one that read: “all you pleeeeease come at me… that’s who we spot the k–ns… let these white people and Jewish people tell you what to do and say.”
Amidst Ye’s earlier embrace of Hitler and Nazi propaganda, experts spoke to Billboard about the dangers of someone with such a wide social media reach promoting antisemitic tropes at a time when hate crimes against Jews and Jewish institutions were at the highest point in recent memory.
“At a time when the community is dealing with this level of hatred to have one of the most well-known entertainers in our culture making statements like ‘I like Hitler’ and showing up on [Jones’] InfoWars is not just vile and offensive, but it’s also endangering Jews by giving people permission to express that kind of prejudice,” Greenblatt said at the time. “People in the mainstream did not make such overtly awful, inflammatory comments before like this.”
Ye also tweeted support for Diddy, who is currently behind bars as he awaits trial for sex trafficking charges. “Puff we love you,” he posted. “I stood up for Puff and I’m still winning 20 Grammies [sic] next year and doing the Super Bowl.”
In a podcast interview earlier this week, Ye claimed that he’d recently been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) after his wife said she thought his previous diagnosis of bipolar disorder was incorrect.
Over the past year, West had slowly begun to try and rebuild his music and fashion empire following its rapid meltdown after his 2022-2023 spree of antisemitic hate speech in interviews, which included a tweet announcing he was going “death con [sic] 3 on Jewish people,” repeated praise for Holocaust mastermind Adolf Hitler and the promotion of the white supremacist phrase “White Lives Matter” on shirts at Paris Fashion Week.
In the wake of those incidents, Ye was dropped by the Gap, Adidas, Balenciaga and his agents at CAA and his social media accounts were suspended or revoked in a fallout so wide-ranging that the former — and according to him, again — billionaire said in February of last year that he nearly went bankrupt.
At press time, the string of antisemitic statements continued unabated with Ye writing, “I don’t even know what the f–k anti semetic [sic] means… its just some bulls–t Jewish people made up to protect their bulls–t,” as well as a claim that he “channeled” misogynist influence Andrew Tate in his comments. Tate was released from five months of house arrest in Romania in January related to allegations of human trafficking and sex with a minor; Tate has denied the allegations.
Thanks in part to LL Cool J‘s “Mama Said Knock You Out,” Pfizer’s new Super Bowl commercial will leave viewers feeling hyped about the medical company’s ongoing cancer research — but because of the inspiring message at its center, it’ll also likely leave you in tears.
Posted to YouTube Friday (Feb. 7), the minute-long commercial opens with a young cancer patient lying in a hospital bed and watching a boxing match introduced by Michael Buffer’s iconic line, “Let’s get ready to rumble!”
The little boy then stands up, suddenly dressed in boxing shorts and gloves, and lands a knockout punch on a celebratory bell on the wall, signifying the end of treatment. After that, he struts through the hospital hallways to the triumphant beat of LL’s iconic 1991 hit as doctors and nurses applaud.
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The celebration continues on the streets, where crowds of people gather to cheer on the young champion on every step to his final destination: home, where his mom tearfully wraps him in a big hug.
“Hey cancer,” reads onscreen text at one point. “We’re gonna knock you out.”
After showing photos of the little boy’s difficult treatment journey, the ad then displays a call to action with more bits of text. “Pfizer is fighting for eight cancer breakthroughs by 2030,” it reads. “Join the fight at PfizerForAll.com.”
The spot is set to air during the Super Bowl broadcast during a commercial break as the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday (Feb. 9). Of having his song — which reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991 — featured in such an inspiring ad, the “Loungin” rapper told People, “It feels good to have my song used for such an important cause.”
“Strength and resilience are at the heart of hip-hop, and they’re just as crucial in the fight against cancer,” continued LL, whose wife, Simone Smith, has battled bone cancer. “My family knows firsthand — staying on top of your health and getting screened early can save lives.”
Watch Pfizer’s “Knock Out” Super Bowl ad above.