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Grammy-winning MC Jay Rock was arrested in Watts, Los Angeles on Thursday night (March 13) for felony firearm possession and trespassing. According to NBC 4, the rapper born Johnny Reed McKinzie, 39, was taken into custody around 6 p.m. in Nickerson Gardens on charges of trespassing and drinking in public.
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At press time a spokesperson for the LAPD had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the arrest and it did not appear that Rock had commented on the arrest on his socials; a spokesperson for the rapper had not returned a request for comment at press time.
ABC 7 reported that after police stopped Rock for trespassing in Nickerson Gardens — the largest public housing complex in Los Angeles and the place where Rock grew up — he reportedly tried to flee his vehicle when the arresting officers would not tell him why he was being detained. Police then reportedly found a firearm in the car, which led to a booking on suspicion of felony weapons violation.
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Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department records confirm that Rock was arrested on Thursday, with no information available at press time about whether he had posted bond and was released from custody or when he is due in court on the charge.
Rock is longtime member of the Top Dawg Entertainment family and was a member of the now-defunct Black Hippy crew, which included Kendrick Lamar, ScHoolboy Q and Ab-Soul. He released his debut album, Follow Me Home, in 2011, followed by 90059 in 2015 and Redemption in 2018. One of the tracks from the latter, “King’s Dead,” featuring Lamar, Future and James Blake, was included on the Black Panther: The Album soundtrack collection and won a best rap performance award at the 2019 Grammys; the song peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The rapper appeared alongside fellow TDE family members SZA, ScHoolboy Q, Doechii, Isaiah Rashad, SiR, Ab-Soul and Ray Vaughn at December’s 11th annual Christmas concert, toy drive and community giveback.
Chappell Roan gets the job done, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t scary sometimes. In a new post celebrating the release of her new single, “The Giver,” the singer-songwriter gave an honest look at her feelings toward pivoting to a country sound on the track and revealed she feels nervous about taking the leap.
Sharing photos of the various alternate cover photos for the single — as well as a throwback picture of herself as a tween wearing cowboy boots — Roan told fans on Instagram Thursday night (March 13) that she’s “so excited” for the song to “come to life.” “I love this song so much,” she wrote. “It’s been such a fun rollout to see the bus benches and billboards and posters and tear-offs wow.”
The Missouri native went on to say she feels like it’s “def a bold and scary move to release a full ass country song after only releasing one song last year and it having such a success in the pop genre.”
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“Like I am very scared as I type this lol,” she added in parentheses. “But I think that’s the entire point of chappell roan. Be bold and scary and have fun. be popstar girl then pop an edible +watch YouTube vibes. The whole point of this is to be silly !!!”
Roan released “Good Luck, Babe!” in April 2024, kickstarting her meteoric rise to pop superstardom over the course of last summer. The track — which marked her first release since 2023 debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess — reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking her highest peak on the chart so far.
Up until Friday’s “The Giver” drop, Roan hadn’t released a new song since “Good Luck, Babe!” And while the latter leaned retro dance pop, the new song is distinctly country, with the Grammy winner boasting through a twangy drawl, “‘Cause you ain’t got to tell me it’s just in my nature/ So take it like a taker,’cause, baby, I’m a giver.”
Roan previously opened up about embracing a different sound in an Instagram post earlier this month, explaining that the new style didn’t necessarily mean she was making a “country album.” “Right now I’m just making songs that make me feel happy and fun and The Giver is my take on c–try xoxo may the classic country divas lead their genre, I am just here to twirl and do a little gay yodel for yall,” she wrote at the time.
In Friday’s post, Roan elaborated on her love for the genre. “Country music is fire,” she wrote. “It’s the campiest of camp. some of you may be new to the country scene and not quite sure what to make of me having a fiddle and banjo in my song. Understandable boo … it is something different and sometimes different can feel bad because it’s unfamiliar, but I encourage you to give her another shot ;)”
She added, “Thank you to all the country divas who came before me.”
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, Chappell Roan gets the job done, Playboi Carti finally drops the album, and Haim kick off the spring. Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Chappell Roan, “The Giver”
2020s pop, meet 1990s country: “The Giver,” Chappell Roan’s long-awaited new single that was debuted on Saturday Night Live last November and has been teased for weeks, has arrived as a swirling, fiddle-filled gay anthem as well as an homage to the boot-stomping mainstream smashes of artists like The Chicks and Shania Twain, aware of the past but full of singular energy from a new superstar.
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Playboi Carti, Music
At long last, we have the follow-up to Playboi Carti’s towering 2020 album Whole Lotta Red: at 30 songs and 76 minutes, Music is a gargantuan undertaking that hides its A-list guests throughout the track list (Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Travis Scott and Future are among the attendees), but the project stands as a coronation of a relentless, rabble-rousing superstar, who iterates on his past flows and rage sound while also reveling in his improbable rise. Haim, “Relationships”
Him returning a few days after we push the clocks forward, and receive more sunlight on a daily basis, couldn’t be more perfect — “Relationships” sounds like an overdue embrace from an old friend, the cozy stylings of the trio typified by a buoyant bass line, rhetorical questions about relationship statuses and a breakdown that opens the song and then happily swings back around.
Sleep Token, “Emergence”
“Go ahead and wrap your arms around me,” goes the refrain of “Emergence,” the dazzling return of the mysterious British rock group Sleep Token: a six-minute epic that combines metalcore, hip-hop, electronic and pop, the lead single to Even in Arcadia is designed to command attention but pulls off its elaborate concept, and sets up Sleep Token for a huge year.
Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco, “Sunset Blvd”
We’ve gotten a few different shades of Selena Gomez and Benny Blanca’s collaborative album before its arrival next week, and “Sunset Blvd” is by far the dreamiest: over a warm bed of synths and unobtrusive drums, Gomez reflects on her first date with her fiancé, tossing out a few sexual innuendoes and big-hearted declarations.
Lil Nas X, “HOTBOX”
Concluding a full week of new singles from Lil Nas X, “HOTBOX” offers sing-rap opulence over a sample of Pharrell Williams’ “Frontin’,” with Nas calling everybody to the dance floor while the beat wordlessly does the same thing; the other new tracks were worthy, but he saved the best for last.
LE SSERAFIM, HOT
The fifth mini-album from the K-pop quintet finds LE SSERAFIM sharpening their aesthetic over five tracks, and while the title track to HOT is the group’s latest single, “Come Over,” which plays out like an extended flirtation over a Bossa nova-esque riff, is the easy standout here, and one of the strongest songs the group has ever made.
Lizzo, “Still Bad”
If “Love in Real Life,” Lizzo’s first new music in three years, arrived two weeks ago as the opening credits to her return, “Still Bad” sounds like the main event, as an unapologetic showcase of the Grammy winner’s vocals, sense of humor and party-ready rhythmic pop flair.
Peso Pluma, “RARI”
The latest single from Peso Pluma comes back to a successful blueprint for the superstar, but “RARI” might be the most instantly catchy track he’s released in years, with a vocal hook that is woven throughout every line and emphasizes the rougher textures in his delivery.
Editor’s Pick: Charley Crockett, Lonesome Drifter
On first blush, Charley Crockett’s new album Lonesome Drifter is a traditional country project, full of hard-scrabble storytelling, strummed hooks and the singer-songwriter’s rumbling twang — but multiple listens reveal an impressive synthesis of classic and modern styles from an emerging star, as Crockett folds well-worn country tropes into charming explorations of R&B, blues and modern rock.
The wait is finally over: Playboi Carti has released his long-awaited third studio album, I Am Music on Friday (March 14) via AWGE and Interscope Records. Spotify has been assisting with the album rollout over the last month by putting up billboards around major cities such as Los Angeles, New York City and Miami that […]
Vice President JD Vance was greeted with a loud round of boos when attendees spotted him at a performance of Stavinsky’s Petrushka at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on Thursday night (March 13). Video of the incident appeared to show other attendees expressing their displeasure with the veep as he took a seat in a box next to wife Usha Vance and sipped on a beverage before the start of the performance.
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Seemingly not reacting to the nearly 30 seconds of boo birds, Vance was seen waving and smiling during the VP’s first appearance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts since Donald Trump appointed himself chairman of the Kennedy Center and controversially filled its board with MAGAloyalist last month.
According to the New York Times, the concert started nearly 20 minutes late because of added security measures related to the VP’s attendance. The Trump takeover of the Kennedy Center leadership featured a purge of the previously bipartisan board, with appointments that included other Trump loyalists appointees, including his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, Fox News host Laura Ingraham and attorney general Pam Bondi.
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After the Trump purge of the board at the Center, the backlash from performers and former supporters was swift. Among those resigning from the Center were Ben Folds, soprano Renée Fleming and producer Shonda Rhimes, with actress Issa Rae, singers Rhiannon Giddens and Peter Wolf and a production of Hamilton all calling off previously scheduled performances in protest.
J. Geils Band singer Wolf said he’d decided to pull his planned March 21 stop at the Center due to the “egregious firing of staff by the new administration,” while Gidden explained her decision by saying, “I cannot in good conscience play at The Kennedy Center with the change in programming direction forced on the institution by this new board.”
In addition, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington cancelled a planned Pride Month performance and Philly band Low Cut Connie canceled a booked February show.
Posting about the board putsch on his social media feed last month, Trump promised that the new bookings at the Center would be free of “ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA.” In his first term as president, Trump broke with precedent by not attending the annual Kennedy Center Honors, something all previous presidents had done since the honors program began in 1978, with the exception of a few cases when they were called away by urgent events.
At the time of the board re-shuffle, Trump — who has never attended a show at the Kennedy Center in either one of his terms to date — added, “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP. The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”
In addition to the board shake-up, like many parts of the government, the Center scrubbed its site of any references to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. To date, nearly two dozen performances have been cancelled or postponed at the Center.
Thursday’s boos were not the first time this week that Vance has faced a hostile audience. While visiting his Cincinnati home last weekend, the Ohio-bred VP was greeted with protesters outside his $1.4 million East Walnut Hills home, where a group of pro-Ukrainian demonstrators waved signs reading “JD Vance: Ukraine’s kids aer way more scared than yours” and “JD Vance: Have you no shame?”
The protest came in the wake of a tense Oval Office meeting last month with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Vance berated the wartime Ukrainian leader for what he perceived as a lack of gratitude for U.S. support in the unprovoked war against his country launched by Russia in 2022.
In an Instagram post earlier this week captioned “dirtbag girl in a dirtbag world,” Halsey fully embraced their body in pics in which the “Safeword” singer modeled a series of skin-baring outfits. The get-ups ranged from a black sweater and plaid skirt combo to a black lacy thong and push-up bra, a half-shirt reading “Breed […]
Jessica Simpson returned to the stage for her first live show in 15 years on Wednesday night (March 12) at SXSW in Austin, TX. The singer performed a live set at Owen Bradley Park for the Recording Academy’s Block Party during the annual music industry conference, playing a mix of gritty, rock-tinged and country-influenced originals and covers while rocking a fringed buckskin jacket and brown leather skirt.
The energetic six-song set opened with the live debut of two new songs, the gospel country-tinged “Breadcrumbs” and “Leave,” followed by a gritty cover of the Dusty Springfield classic “Son of a Preacher Man” that found Simpson, 43, belting the song with enthusiasm while accompanied by a full live band featuring stand-up bass and two powerful back-up singers.
“Last night, was my first performance in 15 years. It was an emotional coming back home to the best part of myself,” Simpson wrote on Instagram in a post that featured footage of the set. “Thank you for embracing me. You know that I have so much to say, but this lucky voice gets to soar again tonight. I love y’all. More to come.”
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In addition to the Springfield cover, Simpson also took on the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 Nancy Sinatra hit “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” — which she covered for the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard soundtrack — along with the live debuts of the bluesy “Blame Me” and boot-scooting country pop tune “Use My Heart Against Me“; the new songs are slate to appear on Simpson’s upcoming Nashville Canyon, Part I EP. Simpson recently released “Use My Heart Against Me” and “Leave” in advance of the EP’s March 21 street date, marking her first new music since a 2010 Happy Christmas album. Simpson’s last studio album of new music was 2008’s Do You Know.
Speaking to the audience at the top of the set, Simpson explained, “This time I needed to remember who I was and why I wanted to sing in the first place and all the music that inspires me. And I need to forget who they told me to be.” The last time Simpson performed live was at the 2010 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting ceremony.
In one of the videos from her SXSW show, Simpson described how therapeutic her Nashville writing and recording sessions were to the audience. “The songs kept coming, I was so inspired, it was such a beautiful moment. But within that moment, my life turned upside down and there was no way I was going to let it keep me from my purpose,” she said to whoops from the audience. “There was no way I was going to let the light go dim. I’ve done that before and it really only held me back and made me so insecure. And I can say today that I love myself, I love the woman that I am, I love the mother that I am, I love the friend I am and I know that heartbreak… you write some good music when you go through heartbreak… so, I guess take advantage of it?”
In January, Simpson announced her split from husband of 10 years, former NFL tight end Eric Johnson. “Eric and I have been living separately navigating a painful situation in our marriage,” Simpson — who shares three children with Johnson — said in a statement at the time. “Our children come first, and we are focusing on what is best for them. We are grateful for all of the love and support that has been coming our way, and appreciate privacy right now as we work through this as a family.”
Doubling down on her country pivot, Simpson was also a surprise guest at Thursday night’s (March 13) annual Luck Reunion at Willie Nelson’s ranch in Luck, TX, where she performed “Use My Heart Against Me,” “Breadcrumbs” and another new song, “Sunday Lover,” as well as the “Boots” cover. This year’s show also featured sets from Willie Nelson & Family, Charley Crockett, Shane Smith & the Saints, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Julien Baker & TORRES, Taj Mahal and others.
Check out Simpson’s performance below.
Playboi Carti fans will have to wait a little longer for his highly anticipated album I AM MUSIC, as the rapper has announced a last-minute delay.
Initially scheduled for release at midnight EST, Carti revealed on social media that the album will now drop three hours later at 3 a.m. EST.
The rapper took to X on March 14, citing Young Thug’s involvement in the project as the reason behind the delay. “HAD TO WAIT 4 THUG 2 SEND HIS VERSE,” Carti wrote, confirming that the Atlanta rap icon will be featured on the album.
Alongside the announcement, Carti also shared what is believed to be the official list of featured artists on I AM MUSIC, which includes heavyweights such as Travis Scott, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, The Weeknd, Skepta, Young Thug, Ty Dolla Sign, and one mystery feature whose name is blacked out. The final tracklist currently remains unconfirmed.
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DJ Akademiks previously claimed to have heard the album on Thursday (March 13), and he’s already championing it as a “day one classic” and seemingly dropped names from the star-studded guest list.
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“CARTI got Pluto slime Uzi Trav Weeknd floating on dat bih,” he wrote to X. “I nearly shed a tear listening to the s–t. This s–t for everybody I SWEAR. Btw purple hair Uzi back.” He also seemingly confirmed rumors circulating of a Kendrick Lamar appearance on I Am Music. “Buckle up, y’all,” Akademiks said. “That n—a talking s–t again.”
Ak also teased a posthumous collaboration with XXXTENTACION. “I also heard a song with,” he said on a stream and proceeded to play X’s “SAD!” hit.
Before hitting the road for tour with The Weeknd, Carti will debut the project live when he takes the stage at Rolling Loud California 2025 this weekend at Hollywood Park.
It’s been a long journey for Playboi Carti to I Am Music after announcing the project in 2022. His last album, Whole Lotta Red, arrived on Christmas Day in 2020 and debuted atop the Billboard 200 for his first No. 1 album, which earned 100,000 equivalent album units.
Carti has been teasing I AM MUSIC for months, with fans eagerly anticipating its sound and directio
I AM MUSIC is now expected to arrive at 3 a.m. EST.
Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco’s joint album I Said I Love You First is arriving in just a week, and the pair unveiled the latest single from the project, “Sunset Blvd,” on Friday (March 14). The title is inspired by the Los Angeles street where the duo, who got engaged in December, had their first […]
There are changes afoot at Australia’s peak trade body and the country’s labels’ copyright collecting society.
Lynne Small, the Chief Operating Officer of the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA), has announced she will be stepping down from her joint role at the organizations as of April 30.
Small joined PPCA in 1996 following seven years spent at Festival Records as their Group Finance Manager. With her initial roles seeing her serve as Finance Manager and later Finance Administration Manager, Small’s presence within the company grew in the ensuing years, ultimately resulting in her appointment to General Manager of both PPCA and ARIA in 2011.
In 2021, Small took over the role of Chief Operating Officer alongside the appointment of Annabelle Herd to the role of Chief Executive Officer.
Small’s work within both ARIA and PPCA have seen her become one of the Australian music industry’s most respected figures, with her impact felt far beyond the two companies for which she has served. Small will continue in her current role until April 30, though she will continue to be engaged on a part-time basis to support key PPCA projects and assist with ARIA’s transition.
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“I’ve been incredibly lucky to have spent the majority of my career with organisations that support and champion Australian music,” Small said in a statement. “The friendships, challenges, and achievements over the past 28 years have been incredibly rewarding, and I am so grateful to have worked alongside such passionate and talented people, both inside and beyond ARIA and PPCA.
“While I’m looking forward to the next chapter, I’ll always be invested in the ongoing success of ARIA, PPCA, and the Australian music industry, and a big supporter from the cheap seats!”
“Lynne’s legacy is immeasurable. She’s been more than a leader, she’s been the heartbeat of ARIA and PPCA, a trusted advisor, and a guiding force through decades of change,” Herd added. “Her encyclopaedic knowledge of the industry, coupled with her warmth, integrity, and sharp wit, will leave an incredible legacy and undeniably positive impact on all of Australian music.
“While this is a significant change for ARIA and PPCA, we are fortunate to have Lynne’s continued support during the transition, and we will forever be grateful for her immense contribution.”
Alongside Small’s news, the organizations have announced that Julia Robinson will be promoted to Head of Government Relations and Programs, while Rohini Sivakumar will be promoted to General Counsel & Company Secretary. Their new roles will take effect as of May 1.
ARIA and PPCA have also posted a job advertisement seeking a new Head Of Finance, with full details available via recruitment website SEEK.
