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Young Thug has spoken about his relationship with Gunna in a new interview with GQ. The Atlanta rap star finally breaks down everything from his rumored falling out with Rich Homie Quan to his lengthy and chaotic RICO Trial that kept him behind bars for over two years in GQ’s video cover story published Friday […]
Birdman revealed some interesting tidbits about Cash Money’s rise from New Orleans street label to mainstream powerhouse.
He sat down with Nick Cannon for the Counsel Culture Show in the episode that dropped Wednesday (April 23) to talk about how he and his older brother Ronald “Slim” Williams became success stories, and some of the early label meetings they had before signing their historic deal with Universal Records. Baby said he first took a meeting with Warner Bros. and executive Sylvia Rhone, but they weren’t really into the independent label’s music. “Sylvia Rhone said our music don’t work for them, so we just left,” he said. “I just walked out.”
Cash Money then took a meeting with legendary rap label Def Jam, but was turned down because of their artwork, which still confuses the rapper and music executive. “I went to Def Jam and met with Russell [Simmons], Lyor [Cohen] and Kevin Liles,” Baby told Nick Cannon. “This n—a Russell said he don’t like our artwork. I said, ‘This some weird s—t. I walked clean out. N—a don’t like my artwork, what about my music? You don’t care for the music? So, I left.”
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Baby then said that he and his brother almost had a deal with Priority Records, who just so happened to be in business with fellow New Orleans label No Limit headed up by Master P. However, according to him, things fell apart after the label flew them out to their offices in L.A. “I went to Priority — some weird s—t here — I go to Priority, they fly us to California,” he said. “Me and Slim, a couple of the homies, we go out there. N—a come in there and said, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t do the deal. They said because Master P said, ‘If we sign y’all, he’s leaving.’ I just jumped on a jet and went back to New Orleans was like, ‘F—k it, we just gonna grind with it.”
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Finally, Universal came calling and the two sides were able to carve out one of the more historic deals in music history. “And then Mel Lewinter and them called and I said this my last trip. I ain’t taking no more motherf—king flights to New York or California,” he recalled. “F—k it, we’ll thug it out. I’m still making millions, they gonna come down here and f—k with me, I ain’t going back. And that was my last flight.”
Master P and Birdman have seemed to have moved past those early issues, as the New Limit founder gave Lil Wayne key to New Orleans alongside Mayor LaToya Cantrell last year. He also said there weren’t any issues between the two camps when he went on No Chill with Gilbert Arenas in 2021, saying, “A lot of people thought, ‘Oh, they got beef,’ but, man, we lived right up the street from each other.”
Watch the full conversation below.
“I’m still trying to take it all in,” Gigi Perez tells Billboard of her extended moment in the spotlight. Last July, the singer-songwriter’s “Sailor Song” became a viral hit and Perez’s first Hot 100 hit — and months later, the folksy exaltation of queer flirtation remains in the chart’s top 40, rising up one spot this week to No. 35.
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In the interim, Perez played a slew of shows to growing audiences, released follow-up singles like “Fable” and “Chemistry,” and most importantly finished recording her debut album. At The Beach, In Every Life, out today (Apr. 25), finds Perez navigating love, grief and self-possession, as the success of “Sailor Song” has amplified her Island Records debut but not altered its core tenets.
“This project is as close of a reflection of my experiences over the past five years as I could get,” says Perez of the album, which expounds upon the reflection of her sister’s passing that became the focus of her single “Fable.” “My grief has shaped the way that I love, in friendships and with family and romantically. On the project, those things exist next to each other.”
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Below, Perez discusses four songs on At The Beach, In Every Life, and what they represent within her debut album:
The Song That Was Finished Last
“Two days before I was turning the album in, I recorded ‘Sugar Water’ on my own,” says Perez of the five-minute emotional heavyweight, which looks back on her transition into adulthood with childhood details and a simple guitar-and-vocals arrangement. “I wasn’t expecting to put ‘Sugar Water’ on the project,” Perez continues. “And my A&R asked me about the song. I was like, ‘Oh, I love this song.’ … I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna just record and see what happens.’ And it ended up being one of my favorite songs on the project.”
The New Song That’s Most Fun to Play Live
“The most excitement that I’ve had playing a new song has been definitely ‘At The Beach’ or ‘Sugar Water,’” says Perez, who’s been playing a handful of headline shows in the lead-up to the album release. The title track of At The Beach, In Every Life closes the album with an encapsulation of Perez’s worldview, full of passion, disappointment and unruly thoughts that run into each other over the course of the song.
Perez says that testing out her new material on live audiences over the past few weeks has been a thrilling experience. “I just have fun for an hour straight, so it’s hard” to pick one highlight, she explains. “Every single song I get the guitar, and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, I’m so excited to do this song!’”
The Song That Was Most Difficult to Finish
“’Crown’ was hard,” Perez says of the searing centerpiece of the album’s second half, which mixes religious imagery with memories of her late sister. “I think it was letting myself go into that space of my grief and the uglier side of it. It’s all ugly, pretty much, but a different shade was probably the hardest to do in a specific time constraint.”
Yet that struggle, Perez believes, speaks to the truth of her first full-length. “Ultimately, I feel like that’s part of the album,” she says. “It’s not easy.”
The Smash Single That Set the Tone
“Sailor Song” kicks off At The Beach, In Every Life, and Perez says that she’ll always be thankful for the doors that her breakthrough hit has opened. “Especially now that there are new songs in the mix and other focuses that I have, to know that she’s just holding down the fort is amazing,” she says of “Sailor Song. “It’s a gift — to know that I was part of the creation of something that has impacted people globally just feels divine.
“And it’s exciting to see where the rest of the music is gonna go,” she continues, “because in my head, ‘Sailor Song’ and the impact that it’s had are amazing, but I’ve set my sights on personal fulfillment, and what that means is different. As long as there’s a community there, whether it’s one person or it’s 1 million, every single person that’s impacted by it matters.”
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony famously could not re-assemble earlier this month to appear on comedian John Mulaney’s live Netflix late night talk show Everybody’s Live due to what the host said was a scammer posing at the Cleveland rap crew’s phony manager. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news But […]
Don’t try this at home. While exploring the great outdoors, HARDY decided to sneak up on a wild snake and grab it by the throat — after which the reptile reacted about exactly as you might expect: by biting down on the country star’s hand. In an Instagram clip posted Wednesday (April 23) set to […]
TWS has released their third mini-album, TRY WITH US. The members of TWS — Shinyu, Dohoon, Youngjae, Hanjin, Jihoon and Kyungmin — embody the brave and adventurous spirit of youth stepping boldly into their twenties. The album title, TRY WITH US, symbolizes courageously embracing new and unexplored experiences. It showcases lively and refreshing sounds blended […]
Dallas rapper BigXthaPlug is speaking out about his journey to understand autism in a new PSA for the Autism Society of America’s Autism Is campaign during Autism Acceptance Month. “To me, autism is a journey,” he says in a new video in which he talks about his 6-year-old autistic son.
“The reason I say that it is a journey is because I have a six-year-old son who has autism,” he continues about his son, Amar. “There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s a perfectly good child. My journey as far as me having to be gone, be able to make funds for my child and him having autism, so the journey is not an easy journey. You can’t make it a hard journey, because if you make the process hard, it’ll all be hard.”
April is Autism Acceptance Month and BigX’s advocacy for his son comes just a week after Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., drew widespread criticism for his latest comments about autism, in which he said it “destroys families,” as well as making broad, unscientific claims about autistic people.
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At an April 16 press conference, Kennedy said that many autistic children were “fully functional” and then “regressed… into autism when they were 2 years old. And these are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”
According to a PBS report, medical experts and people on the autism spectrum told PolitiFact that Kennedy’s comments were off-base, citing a 2023 study written by CDC officials and university researchers that found that one-quarter of people on the autism spectrum have severe limitations, a figure that is at the high end of studies. It noted that the vast majority of people on the spectrum do not have the kinds of severe challenges Kennedy suggested, nor do many of the people in the one-quarter of the autism population cited in the studies.
A HHS spokesperson later clarified that Kennedy was referring to “those that are severely affected by this chronic condition” and that “this was in no way a general characterization.” Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic who for many years has made false claims that vaccines cause autism, recently announced that his department is launching a “a massive testing and research” effort to determine the long-sought cause of autism by September of this year.
According to the BBC, experts called the effort “misguided and unrealistic,” given that autism spectrum disorder is a complex syndrome that has been studied for decades and that promising a definitive answer in six month is unlikely. At press time Kennedy had not revealed any details on the scope and range of the research project or how much funding will be devoted to it at a time when Pres. Trump’s administration is making drastic, wide-ranging cuts to research grants at HHS.
“As a dad to an autistic son, I’ve seen the importance of being understood for who you truly are,” the “Texas” rapper added in a statement. “This is personal for me — it’s about sharing our journey, showing up for my son, and breaking down the walls around autism. It’s about being real, spreading awareness, and making sure no one feels alone in this.”
The Autism Society — the largest and oldest grassroots autism organization in the U.S. — praised BigX (born Xavier Landum) for speaking out to “authentically” combat the “stigma and stereotypes by sharing his own family’s journey. Through his platform, BigXthaPlug is using his voice to reach fans and families who may be navigating similar paths — especially in communities where awareness and access to support can be limited. His participation in the Autism Is campaign encourages conversation, connection, and compassion.”
Speaking to People, BigX also offered some advice for other parents trying to navigate the sometimes confusing journey of helping their children. “You ain’t alone. I know in our communities, sometimes it feels like you gotta keep stuff to yourself, or like nobody’s gonna understand,” he said. “But there is support out there — you just gotta start askin’ questions, lean into the love you got around you, and don’t be afraid to speak up for your kid… Every kid on the spectrum is different, so take time to learn your child. Be patient, be open, and don’t wait for a ‘perfect’ answer — just show up, every day. That’s what matters most.”
BigX just scored his first top-five hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when his Bailey Zimmerman collab “All the Way” ran up to No. 4 on the chart dated April 19.
Watch BigXthaPlug’s video below.
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It’s extremely rare that fans get to hear Ariana Grande tap into her jazzier side when she isn’t singing pop music or Wicked show tunes, but thanks to Jeff Goldblum, the star’s latest performance is a rich cover of Dean Martin’s staple “I Don’t Know Why (I Just Do).” The wonderful wizard indeed. For his […]
Justin Bieber is calling out the “darkness” in Los Angeles, particularly what he experiences from paparazzi.
On Instagram Friday (April 25), the pop star shared a video showing his point of view while stepping outside to blinding camera flashes, with several photographers following him every step of the way to his car and frequently blocking his path. “Look at these guys, man,” Bieber’s voice says disapprovingly from behind his camera, while his security guard repeatedly tells the paps to back up.
“This has to stop,” the musician captioned the clip.
In other posts, Bieber shared his thoughts on the culture as a whole in his home city. “Everyone telling me to move from La,” he wrote in a block of text on his feed. “U think I’m gonna get bullied to leave where my influence is most needed? How can we make a change if we run away from the darkness?”
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Admitting that he too has “been caught up in the transactional nature of Hollywood” in the past, Bieber went on to say that he now wants “nothing to do with that as a grown adult with a wife and son.” The “Peaches” artist, who married model Hailey Bieber in 2018, welcomed first child Jack Blues in August.
“I just want to be submerged in the culture learning from any and everyone,” he added. “And be a proponent and advocate for LOVE AND EQUALITY.”
Also sharing a photo of a stately lion, Bieber wrote, “IM CURRENTLY ASKING [GOD] TO HELP ME WITH PATIENCE BECAUSE It CAN BE REALLY HARD TO NOT RIP THESE F–KIN GUYS HEADS OFF.”
“Today I’m forgiving myself for my own selfishness, AND forgiving THOSE WHO SEEK TO USE AND ABUSE ME SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY WANT TO CAPITaLIze off of me, Or Their jealousy makes them want to make me feel small like how they feel,” he continued. “People have had to die cuz of this s–t princess Diana is the first that comes to mind smh. We gotta do better please can we make a change?”
Bieber has long clashed with the paparazzi. Enduring consistent hounding since he first debuted in 2009 at just 15 years old, the “Baby” artist has spoken out against the invasive practice on multiple occasions, with Friday’s post echoing something he said after his Ferrari was rear-ended by a persistent photographer in 2014. “There should be laws against what I just experienced,” he posted on X at the time. “We should have learned from the death of Princess Diana…”
His latest posts follow a string of candid musings Bieber has been sharing on Instagram lately, with the star writing the day prior that he’s working to forgive people who “gossip and spread lies” on the internet. “Honestly if I was u it would be hard not to be jealous if I saw me and Hailey going so brazzzzyy,” he also added Thursday (April 24).
See Bieber’s new posts below.
Shaboozey is celebrating his success with Friday’s release of Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going: The Complete Edition, an expanded version of his breakthrough March 2024 third LP Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where Going. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Among the bonuses accompanying the revamped album […]
