Music News

14 Sep 2024

Tommy Cash, Country Singer & Johnny Cash’s Brother, Dies at 84

Tommy Cash, a country singer and the younger brother of Johnny Cash, has died. He was 84.

The news of Tommy’s passing was confirmed on Saturday (Sept. 14) in a social media post by the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville.

“We are saddened to announce that the world lost a bright light last evening with the passing of Tommy Cash,” reads a statement on Instagram from Icon Entertainment CEO Bill Miller, who founded the museum.

A cause of death was not provided at press time.

Tommy died on Friday, just one day after the 21st anniversary of late country music icon Jonny Cash, who passed away on Sept. 12, 2003, from complications of diabetes.

“Tommy Cash was a loyal supporter of the Johnny Cash Museum and a very beloved member of our extended family as well as a highly respected member of the music industry,” Miller added. “This great man will be deeply missed by his friends and many loyal fans around the world. Please keep Tommy’s beloved wife, Marcy and his family in your prayers.”

Tommy was born in Dyess, Ark., on April 5, 1940. Following the artistic path of his older brother, Tommy enlisted in the U.S. Army and worked as a radio DJ for the Armed Forces, and later performed as a musician with Hank Williams Jr.‘s band.

Tommy’s solo music career began to take off after scoring his first record deal in 1965. Three years later, he released his debut album, Here’s Tommy Cash, and scored his first top 10 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs in 1970 with “Six White Horses,” a tribute to John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. The track, which reached No. 4, was later covered by country great Waylon Jennings.

Tommy scored two more top 10 hits on Hot Country Songs in 1970 with “Rise and Shine” and “One Song Away.” He went on to perform as a musician over the decades, teaming up with his big brother Johnny on “Guess Things Happen That Way” in 1990.

“He performed around the world throughout his career, carrying on the Cash legacy long after his brother, Johnny Cash, passed in 2003,” Miller concluded in his statement.

See the Johnny Cash Museum’s announcement about Tommy Cash’s death on Instagram here.

14 Sep 2024

Donald Trump Confuses Nicky Jam for a Woman Ahead of Latin Star’s Endorsement Speech in Las Vegas

Nicky Jam is officially endorsing Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

On Friday (Sept. 13), the former president held a campaign rally at the World Market Center in downtown Las Vegas, where the 43-year-old reggaetón veteran took the stage to show his support for Trump as he faces off against Vice President Kamala Harris in the November election.

In an embarrassing faux pas, however, the ex-POTUS mistakenly referred to Nicky as a “she” when introducing him to the crowd for his endorsement speech.

“Do you know Nicky? She’s hot. Where’s Nicky?” Trump said from the stage while looking off to the side for the “X” singer. A few moments later, the former president spotted the Latin star and quickly realized his mistake. “Oh, look, I’m glad he came up,” Trump said as he patted the musician’s shoulder.

Nicky, wearing a black sweatshirt and the Trump campaign’s signature red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, then took the stage to deliver a brief statement.

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“It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. President. People that come from where I come from, they don’t meet the president. So I’m lucky,” said Nicky, who moved from Massachusetts to Puerto Rico at a young age. “We need you. We need you back, right? We need you to be the president.”

Nicky Jam is one of many music stars who have endorsed the 78-year-old businessman-turned-politician in his 2024 re-election bid. In late August, Puerto Rican reggaetón stars Anuel AA and Justin Quiles took the stage to support Trump at a rally in Johnstown, Penn. Other artists who support the former president include Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, Kodak Black, Lil Pump, Sexyy Red and Billy Ray Cyrus.

Nicky, who announced last October that he’ll be “retiring soon,” recently opened up about the decision in an interview with Billboard.

“I’m not going to be a singer for the rest of my life,” he said over Zoom from his Miami home. “I think I’ll probably retire soon… Well, not retire. Singers never retire. You just tone it down.”

Nicky dropped his sixth studio album, Insomnio, on Sept. 6.

14 Sep 2024

Jane’s Addiction’s Perry Farrell Throws Punch at Dave Navarro During Boston Concert

Jane’s Addiction‘s concert in Boston came to a sudden end on Friday (Sept. 13) when frontman Perry Farrell attacked guitarist Dave Navarro onstage.

The fan-captured altercation at Boston’s Leader Bank Pavilion broke out midway through the reunited band’s performance of “Ocean Size,” when Farrell became angry for unknown reasons and lunged at the Navarro’s shoulder. Farrell, 65, then continued to shout at the guitarist, 57, who appeared confused, and the singer ultimately threw a punch at Navarro.

“What the f—?” Navarro appeared to shout as crew members restrained Farrell and dragged him backstage. The guitarist then took off his guitar and walked off stage, ending the concert after 11 songs. Jane’s Addiction’s reunion shows have typically featured three or four additional performances.

Jane’s Addiction hadn’t publicly commented on the situation at press time. Billboard has reached out to the band’s representatives.

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Farrell’s wife, Etty Lau Farrell, took to social media shortly after Friday’s concert to share her version of the story in a lengthy message. “Clearly there had been a lot of tension and animosity between the members.. the magic that made the band so dynamic. Well, the dynamite was lit,” Etty Lau wrote on Instagram alongside a video of the onstage fight.

“Perry’s frustration had been mounting, night after night, he felt that the stage volume had been extremely loud and his voice was being drowned out by the band. Perry had been suffering from tinnitus and a sore throat every night. But when the audience in the first row, started complaining up to Perry cussing at him that the band was planning too loud and that they couldn’t hear him, Perry lost it.”

She added that an altercation had occurred backstage between her husband and Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery, who “put Perry in a headlock and punched him in the stomach three times.”

“Perry was a crazed beast for the next half an hour — he finally did not calm down, but did breakdown and cried and cried,” Etty Lau wrote. “Eric, well he either didn’t understand what descalation meant or took advantage of the situation and got in a few cheap shots on Perry.”

Jane’s Addiction’s Live Nation-produced reunion tour — which finds the four original members hitting the road for the first time in 14 years — launched in early August. At press time, the band’s next show was scheduled for Sunday (Sept. 15) in Bridgeport, Conn.

13 Sep 2024

Lil Tecca Talks ‘Plan A’ Album, National Guard Using His ‘Ransom’ Photo & Juice WRLD’s Greatness

There was never a Plan B for Lil Tecca, who is gearing up to unleash his Plan A album next Friday (Sept. 20). Ahead of the LP’s arrival, the New York rapper stopped by Billboard News to discuss all things surrounding his new project and much more.

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Plan A serves as Tecca’s fourth studio album and boasts 18 tracks with a lone feature from Don Toliver and production from Taz Taylor and the Internet Money crew.

“I honestly got the name Plan A when I was about to finish Tec, my last album,” he said of the title’s inspiration. “I think it kind of summarizes where I was at in my life when I was probably 14 and I kind of decided that I wanted to rap and actually only rap. There would be people in class telling me, ‘Ay bruh, you know gotta have a backup plan and sh– like that.’ I’m like, ‘Not really, bro. I don’t really got no back-up plan.’”

Tecca added: “We recorded most of it in Miami. I was just in the studio every day with Internet Money, Taz [Taylor] and all of them. There were a couple songs I had did in New York and at the crib too. I didn’t produce a lot of it, but definitely my beat selection is what drives a lot of the production… The whole message is like decide what you want to do and do it.”

The 22-year-old also debunked the bizarre situation involving the Pennsylvania Army National Guard using his personal photo taken from his “Ransom” hit’s cover art as part of a recruitment flyer.

“That sh– is real,” he said. “I seen that sh– on Twitter — I’m like, ‘What is going on right now? … They got in contact with the people that was responsible and he’s like, ‘Sorry, we used the picture by accident.’ He used super-big words. Basically that’s what he was saying, ‘We didn’t know this was an artist.’ My thing is that picture doesn’t exist without ‘Ransom.’”

“Ransom” arrived in May 2019 as Tecca’s breakout smash when he was just 16 years old. It eventually reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 when it peaked at No. 4. The track’s currently 8x-platinum.

“That was my first time hopping on a beat that was not from YouTube,” Lil Tecca revealed. “That was my first time ever taking edibles in the studio. I had edibles and a drink from Starbucks.”

Juice WRLD eventually hopped on the official remix and Tecca reflected on being amazed watching a master at work in the studio with the late rapper.

“That right there was one of the craziest moments ever,” he said. “I remember when I first met him he was like, ‘Ay bro, this flow hard.’ That was my first time ever meeting someone that I seen online that was going crazy at the time and actually gave me an opinion on my music… It really meant a lot, bro.”

Tecca went on: “All the stuff he would say to me and actually seeing him work. Seeing it. Seeing it in person though — it was crazy… He did the verse. He did it in one take. It kind of fried me because I didn’t really know people were doing stuff like that at the time. I was really used to writing s–t and reading it off my phone.”

Plan A hits streaming services on Sept. 20. Watch the full interview below.



13 Sep 2024

LL Cool J Wants to Change Ageism Narrative in Rap, Has Unreleased Music With Michael Jackson

In a new interview, LL Cool J admitted to being nervous about the response his 14th solo album The FORCE would get, saying that he had a hard time sleeping the night it dropped. However, when he checked social media, he was relieved by the positive response.

“When I told people, ‘Yo, I wanna do a culturally relevant album’ in the midst of all these [younger artists], people looked at me like I had nine heads,” the 56-year-old told Variety. “They looked at me like I was a hydra — a hydra! — looking at me crazy like that, not because of any ill will, but just ‘How can you do that?’”

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While the genre has welcomed older acts, their mainstream success has been hit-or-miss, unless you’re Jay-Z, Nas or Eminem. LL was up for the challenge, though, saying, “It’s like breaking the 4-minute mile. Nobody thought it could be broken until Roger Bannister did it, and then a lot of people started breaking it.”

Adding, “Now you’ll see, when [The FORCE] has success, you’ll see people believing that they can make it happen, and it’s gonna extend the life of hip-hop in general. But if somebody doesn’t do it, if I don’t do Rock the Bells and [other] festivals and show that guys without records in the marketplace still can be relevant, and then if I don’t tell you that a guy who’s been out for a long time can make a new record and be relevant — if nobody does it, it never happens.”

Also, before LL worked with Q-Tip on his latest release, he says he recorded a bunch of songs with Dr. Dre, but the Queens MC wasn’t confident in the raps he laid down, so he decided to start over. “That would have meant I would have more confidence in him than I have in myself when it needs to be equal,” he told the outlet. “He deserves a better LL than that. For me to go in there and not give Dr. Dre the best possible LL, it’s not fair to him and it’s definitely not fair to me, because it means I’m not taking advantage of the opportunity.” He continued by saying, “We both knew it wasn’t there. The sonics were there, but I gotta deliver on the writing. I’m not putting nothing out if I don’t feel it’s right.”

Later in the interview he revealed that he and the late Michael Jackson have unreleased songs stashed away and that the King of Pop was inspired by LL’s song “I’m Bad” to make his own “Bad” song. “Me and Michael Jackson went to the studio, man,” he said. “Mike showed a lot of love to me in general, and definitely to hip-hop. Let’s be clear: For me, he’s the king. I’m a Michael Jackson fan, B. His talent speaks for itself.” Adding, “[Former Def Jam chief] Russell [Simmons] played my record for him and Quincy [Jones], and they got inspired. That’s OK.”

13 Sep 2024

Pharrell Postpones Something in the Water Festival to 2025: ‘It Just Isn’t Ready Yet’

There’s nothing in the water this year. Pharrell has announced that his Something in the Water festival in Virginia Beach will no longer be taking place in October and has been postponed to April 2025.

While pre-sale tickets still went on sale on Friday (Sept. 13) and the festival’s lineup was set to be revealed — the latter never happened — Pharrell stepped in to pen a letter to fans revealing that Something in the Water had been delayed once again until April 2025 because “it just isn’t ready yet.”

“Dearest Virginia, I love you with all my heart,” he began. “Nobody loves you more than I do. Virginia doesn’t deserve better, Virginia deserves THE BEST. So SOMETHING IN THE WATER has to match that. It just isn’t ready yet. That’s why we as a team have decided that we must postpone this year’s SOMETHING IN THE WATER festival that was due to take place in October.”

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P continued: “This is not a Pharrell festival, this is the state of Virginia’s festival so it has to be the best. Virginia made me, and I want to honor it with as much love as it’s shown me my entire life. And you know me, everywhere I go it’s VA.”

Fans who paid for tickets already by debit/credit card will be refunded through their point of purchase. Those who waited on line to purchase tickets in-person can receive a refund at the Veterans United Home Loan Amphitheater ticket office. Those who bought tickets will have first access when the new dates are announced for next year.

Pharrell added: “I am so grateful to our amazing sponsors and the city for their continued support and trust in us to get this right, and that time is April 2025.”

Something in the Water was originally slated for April 2024 before being pushed to October, which will now take place when we turn the calendar to 2025.

April 2023’s SITW festival was a three-day soiree in Virginia Beach, Va. and saw headlining performances from Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne, The Clipse, Summer Walker, Grace Jones, Lil Uzi Vert, Kehlani and more.

Find Pharrell’s full letter below.

13 Sep 2024

Lauren London Says She ‘Still Feels Like a Mess’ Since Losing Boyfriend Nipsey Hussle

Lauren London sat down with Radhi Devlukia on the A Really Good Cry podcast and talked about how she’s been handling grief since her boyfriend Nipsey Hussle was murdered in 2019.

“I still feel like a mess, that’s the thing,” she said of how she’s been dealing with his death. “I guess I have to ask my friends how far I’ve come because I still genuinely feel like I have not arrived anywhere.” Adding, “I feel like I’m really heavy a lot, but again, I have to counter that to just, like, the grace of God, because if it was up to me, I would be sliding in here on my stomach, but I also don’t want to take away from the work that I’ve done from then until now. So, I don’t wanna do that, ’cause I’m good at doing that.”

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She credited her kids and her community for helping her “push through” the pain. “God just placed people in my life that can kinda just usher me in and teach me and guide me. I always say the prayer of strangers held me up.”

London also talked about how she’s been teaching her two sons about dealing with losing Nipsey. “It’s so different with both of them, because one’s 14, the other one’s 7, so you know. I’m always, like, a container for whatever emotion they have,” she explained. “I’m just like, ‘It’s OK to feel all these things, you know? I’m holding it for you, I feel you, I understand, I hear you.’” Adding, “But also, playing his music. I’m always telling them to journal as well, like, write him a letter, tell him how you feel.”

Earlier in the interview, London told Devlukia that their love was “intentional, pure and safe” and talked about what she learned from him. “All the things he was saying to me made more sense after he left,” she said. “I’m such in my cave and a homebody, that he would be like, ‘People really need to hear from you. You have a lot of truth you should share.’ He saw me like my kids see me.”

She added, “But when he was here, just the reliance on God. He really relied on God, he truly believed in himself, he really did not believe in ‘Somebody else has the keys to your destiny as much as you and your creator does.’ And authenticity is something you can’t buy, it’s something that you can’t fake, it’s something that you can’t put on.”

On the fifth anniversary of his death, London shared a tribute on Instagram. “If you know me You know March is always tough for me 31 days of holding my breath,” she wrote. “This day decided to fall on Easter Sunday this 2024 Interesting…. considering your name #GodWillRise Energy never dies…. I love you. Eternal.”

You can watch the full interview here.

13 Sep 2024

Rick Ross Might Be Open to Squashing Beef With Drake, But ‘I Ain’t Losing No Sleep’

Rick Ross sounds like he’s open to reconciling with Drake.

During an appearance on Caresha Please with Yung Miami, Ross talked about the infamous incident in Vancouver and his relationship with Drake.

When asked if all it would take is a phone call between the former collaborators, Ross said he would maybe consider it. “I don’t know, it depend on how I feel. If I had Luc Belaire [champagne] already that morning, it may be a good day,” Ross told the former City Girl. “If I haven’t, you never f—ing know, you know what I’m saying? Because that’s how the game go, it’s just like that. F— ’em or whatever it is. But other than that? I ain’t losin’ no sleep over none of this sh–.”

He was even vaguer when discussing how his beef with the Toronto rapper went as far as it did. “Everybody doesn’t understand … the opportunities they have. Some n—as take sh– for granted. I don’t know what it is,” he said. “Everybody that’s been loyal to me or been down with me, you know, that’s something that I extend for the longevity of time.”

Adding, “I just think, when you’re not really from the streets and don’t really understand the way certain things work sometimes, you could take sh– for granted. Then two months later, sh– be lookin’ crazy for you. … This sh– could really just be a phone call. A lot of this sh– could be a misunderstanding, but when you jump out there? I don’t know, homie.”

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They then talked about the unfortunate brawl backstage after Ross performed in Vancouver where he said the friends he usually travels with weren’t able to make the trip. “All my homies that [usually travel] with me, them n—as couldn’t come in ’cause of their felonies,” he told Miami. “If I would’ve just had two or three more of my homies with me, we would’ve stripped them n—as out their drawers and socks.”

You can watch the full interview below:

13 Sep 2024

Ariana Grande’s Boyfriend Ethan Slater Finalizes Divorce With Lilly Jay: Report

Ethan Slater and Lilly Jay are now legally divorced, TMZ reports.

The couple separated last year, after which the Broadway actor began dating his Wicked co-star Ariana Grande.

According to TMZ, Slater and his high school sweetheart — who share a young son — reached a settlement that was approved by a judge as of Thursday. Like all divorces in the state of New York, the terms of the agreement are sealed.

Billboard has reached out to Slater’s reps for confirmation.

The news comes about a year and two months after reports first emerged of the Broadway actor’s romance with the “Yes, And?” singer, whom he met on the set of Jon M. Chu’s Wicked films. A few days after news of his relationship with Grande surfaced, Slater filed to divorce Jay on July 26, 2023, after five years of marriage.

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Meanwhile, Jay told Page Six at the time: “[Ariana’s] the story really. Not a girl’s girl. My family is just collateral damage.”

The following September, Grande filed to legally end her marriage to luxury realtor Dalton Gomez two years after they tied the knot, logging their date of separation as Feb. 20, 2023, in the court documents. The Victorious alum and Slater have since kept their romance low-key, though the couple have been seen out in public together a number of times. In April, Grande supported Slater at his final Broadway performance of Spamalot, and in June, the pair attended the Stanley Cup finals together.

As for the public scrutiny she’s faced for her relationship over the past year, the “7 Rings” star has remained diplomatic. Ahead of the release of her Billboard 200-topping album Eternal Sunshine, she acknowledged on The Zach Sang Show that the negative attention presented “an insatiable frustration, an inexplicable hellish feeling with watching people misunderstand the people you love, and you.”

13 Sep 2024

Doja Cat Explains Why ‘Scarlet’ Is an ‘Angry Project’: I’m ‘Squaring Up With Everyone & Defending Myself’

Doja Cat aired out a lot grievances on her 2023 album Scarlet.

And in a new interview with Jack Harlow for Present Space, the “Paint the Town Red” rapper explained why tapping into her own fury was such an important part of her creative process. “Scarlet is a very, to put it simply, quite an angry project,” she said in the conversation published Thursday.

“I think the point of that album was to showcase anger and how it processes through my mind, but also it’s about coming to your own defense and love,” Doja continued. “It’s sort of my ‘Why I oughta!’ moment of squaring up with everyone and defending myself, telling myself that I’m here for me, and not just for everybody else’s enjoyment.”

Released in September last year, Scarlet followed 2021’s hit-spawning Planet Her. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on the Top Rap Albums chart.

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While speaking to the “First Class” rapper, Doja also opened up about why she meticulously vets who she does and doesn’t follow on social media. “I think that as people, we are not ready, or not fully prepared, or fully evolved, as far as the Internet,” the Grammy winner said. “So when we see things on the Internet, there’s things that we think we’re in control of, that we’re not in control of. And when we see people having a good time, but we’re bed rotting, not having the best day, and we scroll and see something that’s not an artistic expression, but somebody doing something we wish we were doing, I think that we don’t take into account what that does to our brains.”

“I know that I just shouldn’t follow people who aren’t going to be creative, because that’s more mentally stimulating to me in a positive way, to follow people who are creating something new,” she continued. “It’s a safe haven for me as opposed to a place where I am watching people either pretend to be happy or genuinely be happy. I don’t want to use my phone in order to witness people’s happiness which I’d rather experience in reality.”