Music
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Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has come to his superstar DeMar DeRozan’s defense and he’s channeling Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” anthem, possibly to needle Drake.
Seated near former Raptor and No Limit boss Master P, Ranadive was courtside at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Wednesday night (Nov. 6) wearing a black T-shirt inscribed with “They Not Like Us” as his Kings took on Drizzy’s Toronto Raptors.
Fans liked seeing the Kings owner stand up to Drake and defend DeRozan, who previously played for Toronto. Sacramento ended up throttling the Raptors 122-107 to improve to 5-3 on the young season.
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“This level of petty > > >,” one fan tweeted, while another called Vivek the “goat.”
For context, the Kings took on the Raptors over the weekend of Nov. 2 in Toronto, where Drake joined the TV broadcast and called DeRozan a “goof.”
On the same night, Vince Carter’s No. 15 went into the rafters, the 6 God — who is an official ambassador of the Raptors — trashed the idea of the franchise retiring DeRozan’s No. 10 one day. “If you ever put up a DeRozan banner, I’ll go up there and pull it down myself,” Drake said during the broadcast.
DeMar was asked about Drake’s comments in his post-game presser, which he brushed off. “He’s going to have a long way to climb,” the athlete quipped. “Tell him good luck.”
DeRozan spent nine seasons with the Raptors and delivered a close friendship with Drake, but Drizzy appeared to feel a type of way about DeMar — a Compton native — seemingly siding with Kendrick Lamar during their feud. DeRozan also made a cameo in the “Not Like Us” music video.
Joe Budden chimed in on the DeRozan-Drake beef, and while he understood Drizzy’s feelings toward the NBA star for seemingly switching up on him, he doesn’t appreciate how he’s navigated the conflict.
“I’m not mad at [Drake] for feeling — he should feel that way,” he explained on a recent episode of his eponymous podcast. “It’s never the conflict. It’s the inability to navigate the conflict … But all that standing at the game … the mumbling under his breath … You a b—h. I’m not about to sit here and do a bunch of unpacking. You went to the game and cut his eyes.”
“Not Like Us” arrived in May and proved to be a decisive blow in the Drake-Kendrick feud, which Billboard declared K. Dot the winner.
The Mustard-produced anthem has continued to haunt Drake and be part of pop culture throughout 2024, as it broke the record for most weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Rap Songs chart when it held firm for a 21st week at the apex in early October.
Drake has yet to respond to Vivek’s move, and he’ll have to wait until next year to see DeRozan again, as the Kings won’t make another trip to Toronto for the rest of the season.
The Recording Academy recently announced that 66% of its voting members have joined since 2019, when the academy adopted a peer-reviewed membership model. Harvey Mason Jr., the academy’s CEO, says the change in the membership can be seen in this year’s nominations.
Album of the year nominees include three albums from genres that are not in regular rotation in this top category – André 3000’s New Blue Sun, which is also nominated for best alternative jazz album; Charli XCX’s Brat, which is also nominated for best dance/electronic album; and Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, which is also nominated for best country album.
Mason took time on the eve of the nominations reveal to talk to Billboard about the nominations. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
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In a press release, you were quoted saying “These nominations reflect the work of a voting body that is more representative of the music community than ever before.” Can you point to a specific nomination that illustrates that point?
I would start by looking at the General Field [which includes the Big Four categories – record, album and song of the year plus best new artist]. The reach of genres in those categories – country, rap, alternative jazz – is a direct reflection of the diversity of our membership.
66% of this year’s voters are new [since 2019]. More than 3,000 women voters have joined. People of color are now almost 40%. That is a stark difference from where we were about four or five years ago. Definitely, the tastes, the ears, the outcomes are going to change.
Back in July, I sent a very direct message to our voters. I asked them to please vote with purpose; vote with intention; vote with your ears. And I’m really, really pleased. It seems like they definitely did that.
I was a little surprised by The Beatles being nominated for record of the year for “Now and Then.”
You can never be surprised by The Beatles popping up. When I was nominated many moons ago [for Dreamgirls, nominated for best pop compilation soundtrack album for motion picture, television or other visual media], I thought I had that sucker won, and then The Beatles came along and snatched it [for Love, featuring music remixed for the Cirque du Soleil show of the same name].
To me, the AI is kind of the interesting part [of ‘Now and Then’]. It’s a great example of how AI definitely enhanced some creativity as opposed to creating a fake voice. This was a cool use of AI that I felt made a lot of sense and I’m pleased it’s been nominated.
Beyoncé was shut out in the nominations at the CMA Awards, a very credible show, and leads here with 11 nominations for the same album. How do you reconcile that?
I would reconcile it by saying our voters really resonated with the music. And it wasn’t just one group of voters. Because of our 10-3 rule, voters have to declare [no more than] three fields you’re going to vote in, so you’re not just wandering all over the ballot voting. Country voters voted for Beyoncé in country. Different voters voted for her in rap – she’s nominated for best melodic rap performance. It’s totally different subsets of voters. So, I think it’s really impressive.
Jack Antonoff co-produced two albums that are nominated for album of the year (Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department). He’s the only producer with two albums in that category, but he’s not nominated for producer of the year, non-classical. How do you explain that?
Yeah, that’s definitely different. I can’t speak for the voters. They each vote in their own way, but it’s something to look at.
This is the second year in a row you’ve had eight nominees in each of the Big Four categories. Before that, it was 10 for two years and before that it was eight for three years. Do you like eight?
I do because I think it gives us the opportunity to celebrate more music than five [nominees, which was the norm before 2018]; more diverse genres and to hear from a lot of different artists. I think maybe to get much higher than that, it starts to get confusing, too many to choose from for voters and maybe diluting the category. We’re trying to find the sweet spot, the right number. We’ll continue to look at it.
André 3000’s album wasn’t a big hit – it spent two weeks on the Billboard 200 last December – but it’s up for album of the year.
That’s hopefully reflective of the fact that they listened to the music and they’re not basing it on chart positions or fan reactions or streaming numbers. It’s really based on the quality of the music. You don’t know what’s going to resonate from year to year. This year, these eight albums resonated with our voters and I think they did a great job.
Cowboy Carter is the only country album up for album of the year and even Beyoncé wrote on Instagram, ‘This ain’t a Country album, it’s a Beyoncé album.’ We don’t have a Chris Stapleton or a Kacey Musgraves or a Lainey Wilson in there. It seems to me you’re perennially a little light on country. When you see the nominations every year, do you think ‘We need to work on this’?
I say that about a lot of things when I see the nominations – more so when I see our voting membership numbers. We’re always working on this. The membership team is working really hard, making adjustments to the membership so that we’re reflective of the music community. Yes, we’re working on balancing out different genres, and we’ll continue to do that work. But you’re not wrong.
Ab-Soul’s close friend, collaborator and yin to his yang Armon “Doe Burger” Stringer passed away in 2021, and Soulo’s carrying the tastemaker’s spirit with him to this day. The 37-year-old dedicated his sixth studio album to Stringer as Soul Burger — the fusion of Ab-Soul and Doe — hit streaming services on Friday (Nov. 9).
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It’s nearly 2:00 pm in the afternoon on the West Coast, and Ab-Soul hasn’t been to sleep yet when he hops on a phone call with Billboard. “I’ve been the illest lyricist and the dopest MC, which I pride myself on, but what can I do now to touch more people and take it further?” the Top Dawg Entertainment rapper rhetorically asks.
Soulo has proved himself 10 times over as one of the elite wordsmiths and lethal pens in rap over the course of the last decade-plus, but his mission is different with serving up Soul Burger.
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“This is to get the crowd jumping and focus more on the feeling versus being so cerebral,” he says, before quoting Quincy Jones days before the legendary producer’s death. “I think Quincy Jones said, ‘You gotta leave a little space for God to step in.’ I been going in beating my head against the wall coming up with the dopest metaphor versus expressing myself.”
The Underground Emperor solicited advice from a range of people and challenged himself in the studio, while assembling a versatile cast of guests as Ty Dolla $ign, Doechii, Vince Staples, Blxst, J.I.D., Lupe Fiasco and more joined him on the LP, which begins cinematically like the opening scene to Belly.
There are certain moments in a career that fans wish could be bottled up to last forever. Soulo enjoyed one of those in June when he joined his ex-TDE brother Kendrick Lamar on stage at the Pop Out concert where they rapped “6:16 in L.A.” together. “For him to pull me on stage and kick it to me made me feel like he was checking with me to see if he still got it. Like he was looking for my approval,” he reflects. “That’s our relationship.”
Find plenty more below with Ab-Soul detailing how his first Billboard Hot 100 hit “Pi” got into J. Cole’s hands in addition to him explaining his viral Drake “redemption” tweet and living as a rapper with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome.
Ab-Soul
Justin James Agoncillo
I heard you say this is a Soul Burger project rather than an “Ab-Soul project.” Could you explain the difference between when you came into this creatively and what you were going for with that?
In essence, it’s an ode to my brother Doe Burger. If you’re familiar with me, you should be familiar with him, hence the name Soul Burger. It should serve as the fusion of me and him together. We were yin and yang in a lot of ways. I just really wanted to channel him the best I could to keep him with me. I say this often, but I don’t know how I’m doing this without him. My only logical explanation is that he must be with me. This is an album I feel like he wanted me to make. He was a true tastemaker. I valued his opinion. A real artist in his own right. I just really hope he would be proud of it.
Long live Doe Burger. I wanted to get into some tracks starting with the opener “9 Mile.” I felt like I was walking into the opening scene of Belly.
Honestly, I wanted it to come in and feel like Belly. That’s actually what I been practicing as of late. Just not trying to think about it so much and go with the feeling. Just try to complement the music more than focus so much on what I’m saying. I’m a poet by nature. I wrote a million rhymes a million times. I been challenging myself to really catch a vibe. Complement the music versus what I’m trying to convey lyrically, metaphors, punchlines and similes. It’s been working for me. I’ve been honest throughout my career. I shared my testimony. I feel like it’s been more important to me for people to hear what I’m saying to feel the music.
Definitely. I know you were talking to DJ Hed about wanting to make some bops out here as the Underground Emperor. Like you wanted to compete on another level to be in that conversation. Detail the elevation you’re trying to make.
Just challenging myself to take advice and collaborate and ask questions. I’ve been the illest lyricist and the dopest MC, which I pride myself on, but what can I do now to touch more people and take it further? Why not go for everything that you can get in this art form? Compete on all levels. It’s still trying my best not to compromise the spirit that got me here, but how can I take it further?
It’s dope to see that humility and that willingness to challenge yourself over a decade since Control System in 2012.
I’m glad you said that. I can’t beat Control System for nothing. It’s a goal for us to take it further. I gotta beat Control System. I need somebody to reference another project of mine. Control System was a frequency, man. That was a time when it was just pure hunger. I wasn’t worried about numbers or business. I just really did what I wanted to do. I made the art I wanted to make unapologetically and I’m trying to get back to that.
You made your Billboard Hot 100 debut with J. Cole’s “Pi” earlier this year. I know the whole backstory with that how you didn’t know Cole would end up getting the record for [Might Delete Later]. Have you had any conversations with him since about how you guys gotta go bar-for-bar soon and get your lick back?
Daylyt, he’s part of the team now. He work real close with us and Punch in particular. Shout-out to the Room Full of Mirrors. Me and him are close and we had a sparring session going back-to-back on some lyrical exercise. It’s called “Pi” because the song ended ironically at three minutes 14 seconds. This was done long before the battle and all of that. He sent it to Cole and I didn’t know. It was [Daylyt’s] record. I woke up one morning and I had a crazy J. Cole verse in my phone. I’m like, “Bro what the? You gotta let me know. This is one of the best rappers in the world.”
I had a little issue with Cole, because he was supposed to be on my last album Herbert. Cole’s a real artist, he probably couldn’t just catch the vibe — and that’s proof, because he was instantly motivated by this one. A true rapper’s rapper. I called him immediately like, “Bro, I need my get-back.” We’re all real cool. The whole Dreamville camp. He respected that. He was inspired to do a lock-in with the Jedis and he flew us out to [Atlanta]. It was dope, we all got to build and create. He had that spirit. I told him straight up, “We gon’ have to spar.” In divine timing when the stars align.
Rapping “6:16 in L.A.” at the Pop Out with Kendrick, what does that moment mean to you when you look back on it?
Not only is that one of my favorite records from him, period. Aside from the beef, that was such a beautiful record put together. He was saying such profound things. Like my favorite line, “There’s opportunity when living with loss/ I discover myself when I fall short.” He was talking to all of us. That was more than a battle. He had me looking myself in the mirror. It was larger than that and that’s what the Pop Out ended up being. He took a battle and used it as an opportunity to unify. It was amazing. He was kicking that s–t. I’m not playing about Dot. I’ve learned so much from him and all my brothers. I don’t expect nothing from him, and that was an honor and a privilege.
You said “redemption was not off the table for Drake” and you got a lot of backlash, so I wanted to ask you about the months since and how he’s moved.
I’m actually glad you asked that. I did get a lot of blowback from that. I kind of was impulsive with my response. You know how the internet come. If you read it properly, I began with a Dot quote and ended with a Dot quote. It goes back to me saying that was more than a battle for me. That battle had me looking myself in the mirror. It felt it was more than just about his opponent it was something for us all to learn from. That was intelligent movement. It got personal, but that has nothing to do with me.
What I was saying was everyone coming to me all my homies asking me how I felt about it. I’m just hearing all of these opinions and stuff like that and I just got tired of it. I was saying, if Drake is one if the top MCs where the industry and media put him — these guys are superstars. I tread light speaking on these guys. Dot is my brother and I don’t expect nothing less from him. I’m biased, but he did what he does. But I’m saying if Drake is the MC that I hope he can be, then redemption is not off the table. You know who the gang is. Dot whooped feet.
I don’t know what everybody thought I was trying to do. It was obvious he got worked. All we talk about is loss. Dot was in the battle talking about his losses. Talking about his shortcomings. I thought that was beautiful. Especially me, myself as an artist, I put it on the table. I share my testimony. I share my shortcomings. If Drake is an MC, then get up and rap. Let’s keep it hip-hop, keep it on wax, keep it clean. I come from that. I used to battle in the street. I battled Daylyt on my album. This what we do. At the end of the day, I want to make it clear, you know who the gang is.
There’s no nuance on the internet. People take things out of context and they run with stuff. I’m like, “Man, he’s making a good point here. I wish he could explain this and keep going off it.” It’s a good conversation to be had.
If you a real MC, like I feel he wanna be, get up. Sometimes you box with the homies and you get put on your pockets and you get up and fight again. I don’t know that man. God bless him. He’ll be alright, he a superstar. But the homie whooped feet, I’m not sorry.
How did you link up with Jhené Aiko? I love this quote she had, “If I was solely a rapper, I’d be Ab-Soul.”
That’s really my sister from way back. She was with us in the trenches. She was really pulling up to the headquarters back in the day. We got a lot of music together. She would share me her records and let me check her flow. She can rap too. She’s a lyricist. It’s beautiful seeing her ascension. She put a lot of work in. I love to see it. Well-deserved. That’s my Pisces sister.
Living with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, what has been the toughest part of navigating being an artist? Have you had any other artists lean on you or look at you as inspiration?
I haven’t run into any other artists, personally, that have had that. I’ve seen an artist that has had it. I believe it was a female artist that is a Stevens-Johnson Syndrome survivor. When I got it, it was very new so I’m sure they got a better grip on it now. It’s just a blessing I’m still able and I don’t let it handicap me. I’m blessed to have strong family and friends. People who love me and encourage me to keep going.
50 Cent has landed his second video in the YouTube billion-views club. The rapper’s 2005 hit “Candy Shop” now joins his signature breakthrough 2003 hit “In Da Club” in the 10-digit realm. The Scott Storch-produced second single from 50’s sophomore album, The Massacre — which spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot […]
From Charli XCX’s momentum-shifting “Kamala is brat” post to Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar’s “Freedom” serving as her official campaign song, music was integral to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 bid for the U.S. presidency.
On Election Day (Nov. 5), Vice President Harris returned to her beloved alma mater, Howard University, to observe the election results and spend the historic night at the place where she first ran for office. Though former President Donald Trump would ultimately win the election, Harris still chose to concede and end her campaign with dignity and grace on her undergraduate campus.
To soundtrack both Election Night and the hours leading up to the VP’s concession speech, the Harris campaign selected DJ Chubb E. Swag (born Terrell D. Williams) – another Cali-bred Howard student who has played gigs ranging from Nipsey Hussle tours to the wedding of Vanessa Bell Calloway’s daughter. “I used to be Nipsey Hussle‘s tour DJ years ago, back in 2012 and part of 2013,” he tells Billboard. “We did some important work together and I did one of his last shows before he transitioned into the Crenshaw situation.”
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Though his DJ career has brought him to stages around the world, very few gigs can compare to preparing the stage for a sitting Vice President – let alone in the context of one of the most mind-boggling election cycles in U.S. history. Tasked with keeping hope alive during Election Night and curating the mood for a concession speech sure to break the hearts of millions of listeners, DJ Chubb E. Swag turned to the healing power of Black music to tell his own story and Vice President Harris formally ended her campaign. From The Isley Brothers’ “Shout” and Chaka Khan’s “What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me” to Beyoncé’s “America Has a Problem” and Lamar’s “Alright,” DJ Chubb E. Swagg curated a setlist brimming with hope and resistance in the face of complete and utter despair.
In an illuminating conversation with Billboard, DJ Chubb E. Swagg details how he rose to the occasion of emceeing Election Night and the following day, the legacy of Howard DJs and breaking “Swag Surfin” on the storied campus.
What’s your history with Howard?
I went to Howard University from 2008 until around 2013. 2012 was when I started going on tour with Nipsey, after which I had ceased to go to school for a second. I came back for a little when I was done [with the tour] to try and finish, but business started moving so quickly that it was more advantageous for me to start worrying about that instead. In addition, I started building a little DJ family there and teaching kids how to DJ for free. We got a nice little legacy and history of DJs from Howard University, especially over the last 15 years.
When did you find out who won the election? When were you confirmed to DJ these events?
People had an idea of [the loss], as the event was going along, but we knew before we left. I was confirmed that morning to do the event, or the day before honestly. We had been in conversation for a second, but it wasn’t a guaranteed thing. I asked as soon as I found out [about where Vice President Harris would be spending election night]. It had to go through a couple of channels. I got lucky because I was invited to the Vice President’s mansion earlier this year for a celebration of HBCU leaders, and we got a picture together. I’m not gonna say we were on a first-name basis, but she had a nice reference for me just in case somebody asked her about [potential DJs].
The day before the Election, one of the higher-ups got in contact with me and said, “Hey, we heard you’ve been chosen to DJ the event. Can you come set up the day before because they have to do several different sweeps?”
In addition, there was also a completely different watch party that was supposed to be happening at the same time in the gymnasium and they sent all those kids to the yard. The DJ from the gymnasium, DJ K.Dimes, came up to me during the Election Night event and told me that they shut down the stadium. [The Harris team] wanted everybody to get the experience. As soon as he told me that, I made sure he got to get a picture and play a song or two; now he was part of history as well. We try to lift as we climb.
I got confirmed to DJ before her concession speech at 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday. They said they enjoyed my energy and what was going on at the rally, and they wanted me back for the next day. Before they even got any words out, I told them, “Instead of trying to force dancing on this day, can we keep things a little more mellow and can we look to tell more of a story?” They were okay with it, and I had to send in a playlist the day before.
I put about 150 extra songs on the playlist. I sent over nearly 500 songs in total — you’re potentially playing for a seven-hour period. As a DJ, there is no “travel light,” you gotta pack everything.
How much did the decision of the election influence the kind of set you created going into the concession speech yesterday?
We had an idea that things were not right when they started playing the CNN video and she was already down like 80 points. There were seeds of doubt being sown at that moment. People were still hopeful and resolute because they knew what happened in 2020 with a lot of states [going] blue later on, but it really felt like an uphill battle.
I wanted to go in and tell a story about perseverance with the music. I wanted to tell a story about making a way out of no way. My Election Night set was a little more energetic due to the circumstances, and the following day had to be a bit more mellow. I still got some energetic records in there, but it was definitely different.
How did you understand your role and responsibility as the literal master of ceremonies preparing the crowd for an emotional and historic concession speech?
Have you ever buried a relative? It’s honor and it’s duty, but at the same time, it’s extreme sadness, heartbreak, gut-wrenching, all the superlatives you hear in the movies.
I have so much respect for Kamala [Harris], because she said, “Win or lose, I’m going down with the gang. I’m coming back home. Win or lose, I’m talking to my people and I’m talking to them at the place where everything first started.” I more than empathize with that. I wanted to make sure her transition, whether it was in or out, was met with nothing but love.
This Howard thing… people talk about it abstractly, but it’s real. She and I are both Howard students from California. We had to come from a long way to get where we are. We’re doubly connected. Outside of the exposure, I wanted to be there to make sure my sister was good. I wanted to make sure she was okay. She fought her life out for the last 100 or so days for us. When everybody else was telling her what to do and when she was doing everything in her power to make something shake, nobody had her back. So, I had to make sure we had her back.
On X, you wrote, “We use music to tell a story. Glad I could include mine.” What were the parts of your specific story that you were plugging into the setlist?
One of the first songs I got off that day was “Changes” by 2Pac, and one of the verses starts off with “I see no changes, all I see is racist faces/ Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races.” I started off preaching. Then, I played Chaka Khan’s “What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me?” and Hall & Oates’ “I Can’t Go for That.” A lot of those are self-explanatory, like, personally, I’m not going for no Trump presidency. You gotta ask Trump what he’s gonna do for me! And that can go both ways because what are we gonna do for Kamala now that the chips are down?
I actually wanted to play The Isley Brothers’ “Shout” the day prior, but it was too old for the crowd. We had a really young crowd on Election Night. There were a lot of older people there, but the young folks showed up for Kamala in droves. I played Victoria Monét’s “On My Mama,” because they call her “Momala” or “Big Mala” sometimes, so I wanted to make sure she was comforted. You could hear it in her voice – not saying that she couldn’t handle that moment, but if you could be anywhere in the world other than this specific place right now, I’m sure you’d want to be there.
I added a few extra songs that I played that weren’t on the approved list. I remember one of the DJs that I brought up was trying to play Soulja Boy and I was like, “Ay, turn that s—t off!” [Laughs.] I love you to death, but if the [artist] ever said anything stupid in public, we gon have to drain the swamp on that one! No Soulja, no Chris Brown… Bobby Brown didn’t even make it through testing.
Who made that call?
I don’t make those decisions. I don’t have that type of power. I spent seven or eight hours on the initial list making sure it was curated perfectly without any abusers, fascists, etc. When [her team] sent the list back, they only took off one name and it was Bobby Brown. I was able to play Chaka Khan and even Janet Jackson if I wanted to – I didn’t because [Jackson] had said something kinda goofy about Kamala.
What did you see on the crowd’s faces from your vantage point?
It was like a third homecoming. The energy out there was electric. It was even more hilarious with the random rally-goers and people who had never been around HBCU folks or Black people because they were like “What the hell is going on?! Why are they playing this song?”
There were even staff members asking me, “Can you play a dancing song?” And I’ll tell them, “This is the dancing song! This very slow Tamia song is the dancing song.” Women of all ages are moving to this one, and they will not get tired; they’ll do the song for nine minutes if they need to.
I played so much s—t on Election Night. We went around the world. I was playing calypso, soca, go-go, East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, Dirty South – I did a lot of Afrobeats on both days. For the concession speech, I played Asake’s “Organize,” and I thought it was really important for the movement moving forward. In order for us to do what we need to do, we need to get organized quickly.
On Election Night, people came in excited, and they got their hearts broken. Before the concession speech, people came in with their hearts already broken. You could see it on their faces. It was like trying to lift somebody out of despair, and they don’t wanna leave that [emotional] space just yet.
I almost felt like I lost the election, like I let y’all down. I was in the middle of it. When s—t really started getting bad — after 11:30 p.m., around midnight — they was asking me to play hype, dance, rally stuff. I was like, “As much as I can do that, I don’t think it’s gonna do what you think it’s gonna do right now.” Having to tell the truth is really more difficult than people give it credit for being. Don’t nobody wanna hear that s—t! They don’t wanna swag surf right now.
Speaking of, you’re also the DJ who broke “Swag Surfin” at Howard, right?
I am! And I was upset because they did a whole ESPN thing on this s—t and they got somebody on there who was on a whole different radio station at the time and damn near 50-60 years old – n—a, you wasn’t playing no “Swag Surf!”
We had to bring that record up from the South. N—as didn’t even put that shit in a promo email at first! Students were the n—as that put us on to it at first. I guess they went back for vacation and when they came back [Fast Life Yungstaz’s] “Swag Surf” was a big thing – and I wanted to make sure I was on top of it. I was breaking all the s—t. Everybody wanted to go more mainstream, and I was really trying to break that underground.
If I remember correctly, Obama was already president, and his brother-in-law, Michelle’s brother, is the head coach at Morgan State University. They devised this plan where Morgan ended up playing Howard every year at Howard, and Obama started coming to campus once a year just for a basketball game. I DJ’d the very first game that he came to; I played Jeezy and Jay-Z‘s “My President Is Black” and “Swag Surfin.” He gave me the head nod from about 1000 feet away.
I had hands in all that s—t, I was at Howard during what we call the “Golden Era” of those HBCU anthems. There were some songs I broke at Howard and some songs that I was the first to play in general. Like “Country S—t” by Big K.R.I.T. — we was beating down his DJ’s email because we wanted to play it, and it wasn’t in any record pool. He emailed us the studio version and the clean version, and I was one of the first people to ever play that record. Dom Kennedy wasn’t even trying to get on the radio, and he sent me a clean version of “1997.” That Howard legacy runs deep!
When Sting was first approached about being a mega mentor on this season of The Voice, he had his doubts.
“I was reticent, to be honest,” he says on the Universal Studios set of the NBC series. “The premise of the show is frightening to me, this sort of competition. I think art and music aren’t really competitions. If you win the U.S. Open, you are the best player at that particular time. But singing is different. Everybody’s voice is unique.”
It turns out he was very glad he said yes. Sting, who serves as a mega mentor for Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg’s teams during the Knockout rounds airing Monday (Nov. 11), found the experience to be a wonderful one.
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The former schoolteacher found the contestants needed very little instruction. “I’m still a student of music, but I’ve been doing it for a long time, so I can give them a tiny hint,” he says, “but the standard of singing is so high, there’s nothing you can say. They know how to sing. There’s little bits of presentation or posture or the way that you present yourself I can probably help, but technically, they’re great singers.”
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Still, the experience was rewarding. “It was very nourishing to see a small piece advice that you’re given and then their next run through, they put that into action and the whole thing is raised,” he says.
As far as the best advice he ever got from a mentor came from his dad and he clearly took it to heart. “He said go to sea. See the world. Make something of yourself,” he says. “Basically, take a risk.”
Sting was already friends with Stefani and Snoop Dogg before the taping. He and Stefani first met when she was 13 and she approached him as a fan. They then met again when her group No Doubt and Sting (both as a solo act and as a member of The Police) were on A&M Records, including playing the Super Bowl halftime together in 2003.
“I’ve been so impressed by how succinct she is in her comments about the artists, how compassionate she is and her wisdom,” he says of Stefani’s coaching technique. “She’s very clever lady, and, also, she’s not hard to look at!”
As far as his other coaching partner, Sting appears on Missionary, Snoop Dogg’s first new solo album since 2022 out in December. Snoop and Dr. Dre, who produced the set, asked Sting to play on a song from his past.
“Dre and Snoop sent me a version of [the Police’s 1979 hit] ‘Message in a Bottle,’ and I was very impressed by it. Frankly, it was great,” he says. “It’s a rebirth of the song, if you like. I played the guitar on it. I sang a verse, but in order to sing a verse that would match what they’d done, I had to raise my game, sing in a way that I don’t normally sing in a rhythmic way. It was challenging, but very, very satisfying. It’s a great version of the song.”
Reba McEntire, who is in her second year as a coach, started as a mentor, but Sting quickly denies advancing to that status is his endgame. (Jennifer Hudson serves as McEntire and fourth coach Michael Bublé’s mega mentor.) “I’m not a judge, I’m still a student,” he says. Plus, as he notes, “I have another job and that other job seems to be going very, very well.” Indeed, the day after Sting appears on The Voice, his stripped-down Sting 3.0 tour will start a five-date run in Los Angeles. The outing wraps in Sweden in July.
Rome Streetz and Daringer have been Griselda Records’ secret weapons.
Rome, who reps Brooklyn signed to Westside Gunn’s imprint back in July of 2021 and released the impressive album Kiss the Ring. On that project, is a song entitled “Tyson Beckford” where he and the label’s in-house producer Daringer first linked up. They then began working closely together because the Buffalo producer’s Queens studio is a hop, skip, and a jump from Rome’s Brooklyn apartment.
“When I ain’t doing s–t, I go to the studio,” Rome told me in a Billboard conference room. “I was literally there everyday for months just cookin’ up, just vibin’, listening to beats.” Daringer would already be working and he would play Rome beats until one of them caught his attention. “By the time he pulled up, I would have either something started or I would have part of a beat and then I would just be throwing records on until something something landed,” the Griselda beatmaker added.
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What resulted from those sessions is their first collab album Hatton Garden Holdup named after London’s diamond district. Rome spent some of his high school years across the pond and would come back to NYC during school breaks. But it wasn’t until they were out in London doing show’s with Griselda mainstay Conway the Machine that they got the idea for the short film which then turned into them naming the album, and interjecting London-based skits and samples into the final product to bring everything full circle. “It was easy to make that the theme once the movie was part of it,” Daringer said. “I felt like we had to even down to the name.”
The duo came by the Billboard office in midtown Manhattan to talk about the making of the album and the film which included some of Rome’s childhood London friends that he has continued to keep in touch with.
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Check out our talk below.
We might as well start with the short film you guys recently released. How did that idea come about? Like, what made you guys want to do a movie?Where in the process of the album. Did the in the did the idea come about to do it, to do a movie?
Rome Streetz: We were pretty much around 80 percent done with the album once we shot the movie. And it just hit me, like, ‘Yo, we should do a movie. Because [Coach] always wants the videos to be like little movies. Most of the videos Coach directs have kind of like a movie-esque vibe to them. We did “Chrome Magnum,” we did “Shake and Bake.” So, we’re like, ‘You know what? Let’s just do it, I’m saying. And because it’s not a Griselda album or something Westside Gunn is spearheading, we just wanted to do more than you would get from a Griselda album.
That’s what it really was: How can we just turn this sh—t up another level? How can we do something that most motherf—kers in this realm are not doing? Everybody drops the album, one or two music videos, do a couple interviews, drop a tape, CD, vinyl, and then it’s on to the next sh—t. Who’s actually doing a movie?
Hatton Garden is essentially London’s diamond district, there’s British samples from movies and interviews. When did the London theme come about?
R.S.: The London theme honestly, came from the movie. You know, I’m saying, like, once we did the movie. Then we started adding the London sh—t.Daringer: It was easy to make that the theme once the movie was part of it. I felt like we had to even down to the name.
Were you guys out there to perform or were you there specific all to shoot the movie?
R.S.: Earlier in the year, I was out there performing with Conway, and then it just kind of came about like that. And also because I used to live in London when I was a teenager for a couple years, so that was like a throwback to that time.
You were born in London, right?
R.S.: I was born in London, but I came to New York when I was like one. Then I went back to London from like 14 to like 17. It wasn’t for the whole year, I would go to school out there, and when school was done, I’d come back to New York.
You still have family and friends out there?
R.S.: Yeah, I got family, I got friends out there. A lot of my friends are into the same sh—t that we into. I communicate with them all the time: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp. So, I was like, how canI incorporate that into what I’m doing? How can we mix this London sh—t. A lot of my homeboys were in the movie. The part when we were in the alleyway talking? None of them were actors, they were all my homeboys.
Daringer, your name is synonymous when it comes to Griselda, so it was cool to see you, be more visible now. Is that something that you want to do moving forward?
D.: Absolutely, especially with me, just like, kind of flourishing more as an artist now too. It was always just me producing behind the scenes for all these years. Now is the time where I need to start moving as an artist. I feel like this was the perfect time to really start being outside and actually being seen. I felt like this was a perfect opportunity for that, for sure.
You guys have been working together since Rome has been with Griselda, but what made you want to do a tape together?
R.S.: We did that one song on Kiss the Ring, “Tyson Beckford.”D: Then he pulled up to my apartment.R.S.: The first song we did was the joint with Cormega.D: Right.R.S.: But Mega wasn’t on it at first. We did that joint, like, ‘This sh—t is hard.’ And what we gonna do? We just kept cooking up. His studio is right by my crib. We kept making stuff and was like, “We got a lot of songs we might is well do an album.”
And you live in Queens now. I guess it made it easier for you guys to kind of connect for this album. Or did that matter?
R.S.: His studio is on the border of Queens and Brooklyn and I live like 5-10 minutes away. When I ain’t doing s—t, I go to the studio, I was literally there everyday for months just cookin’ up, just vibin’, listening to beats.
So, you guys worked on most of the album together? Did you already have a pack of beats or were you making them on the spot as you guys were cookin’ up?
D: I made the majority of them on the spot. Maybe I’d have some drums started by the time he got there, or a sample idea, and I was kind of just trying to figure it out. By the time he pulled up, I would have either something started or I would have part of a beat, and then I would just be throwing records on until something something landed.
You living in Queens makes sense now because one of your first tapes outside of Griselda was with Meyhem Lauren.
D: Yeah, I traveled with Action when I first moved there, worked with Meyhem, getting tight with them, and being able to actually stay in New York now because I’m doing enough things, and then that was when the Shady deal happened. So, luckily I was able to stay in New York, but it’s funny because I didn’t have a studio when we “Tyson Beckford,” I was still just making beats out of my apartment. We made the first song in my apartment, and my goal was to always eventually just get a studio in New York, so it just happened to work out that it was close to where he was living. I feel like that definitely helped out with the whole process, it made things a lot easier.
What I found interesting about this tape was that some of it sounds different from the usual Griselda stuff, especially the track with ScHoolboy Q. I wasn’t expecting that beat to sound like that. Was that on purpose?
R.S.: Honestly, it was just energy. Whatever he was throwing at me. I wasn’t being picky. Daringer is Daringer, so it’s all gonna hit. We’re just gonna make sh—t until we feel like we got what we need. You know, we still got a lot more songs left over. And then the ScHoolboy Q record was so different and he wasn’t on it at first. He happened to tap me on Twitter. I was in the studio with Q, and he heard it, and wanted to get on it. The song that Daringer made for Q was the one that Conway was on. He heard that first, like “Yo, this is fire.”
But then he went to the bathroom, and then the engineer was just like, “Yo, play me some s—t.” So, then I just started playing him songs, and when I played him that one, Q just so happened to walk in the room and was like, “What the f—k is that? This is it. This is the one I wanna get on.” I had a second verse on it, so I had to call Daringer, like, “Oh s—t, yo, I need you to f—king send me this s—t right now without the verse on it. Luckily, I had to beat in my phone. That’s what saved it.
So, you and Q just happened to be in the same studio, or you linked up specifically to chill and record?
R.S.: I did an interview in Portugal when I was on tour and the interviewer asked me who is somebody I would like to work with. think I named, like, three other people, but then I named ScHoolboy Q, so then eventually the interview just ended up on Twitter, and then he seen it, and then he quote tweeted it, like, “Yo, send it.” I hit me back and he was like I could either send him the record or just pull up to the lab. So, I pulled up and went to L.A. That’s how it happened.
I’m always fascinated by this, especially since you guys worked on this together. Today, nobody does that anymore. They send a pack and then you send verses back. Can you tell us the difference between collabing over email versus being in the studio with each other?
R.S.: With me? At one point, I used to feel like I work better on my own time. Sometimes when you in the studio, you get boxed into the time constraints. I used to feel like I’d rather not put my creativity in a time constraint box, like I feel like I work better when I just have my own time. So, a lot of my other s—t was more so just like, you could send me a beat, I’ll cook it up. But this one was more of a challenge. How much can I write on the spot? I hear the beat, I’m going in right there.
I used to think that I write better rhymes outside of the studio, but this pretty much proved to me that it don’t matter, you got the glow. I like this process because it’s more of a stream of consciousness. It’s more of just your energy right then and there. When somebody sends you a pack, you probably write half a verse today and then finish it two days later, and you may not have the same energy.
I like working on the spot because it makes me better, it’s like a challenge. You’re capturing the energy right there. Your creativity dies when you’re too comfortable, you start leaning on s—t. I just feel like I need to challenge myself.D: That was the goal of me getting the studio to begin with. I don’t have control over what happens after I send the beat a lot of times. What helped with this album is that we got to revisit and work on the songs more, I guess, post production, or whatever you like to call it. It’s got to spend more time on the songs and structure them and drops, you know, and just the skits and outros, intros. All that extra stuff that maybe a lot of times I don’t add that when I’m just making.
The bells and whistles, just to make it perfect.
D: The email stuff is always like an unfinished idea that ends up becoming a song. That was definitely the goal of me getting the studio and wanting to make a record like that, and being able to spend the extra time for sure. We got to do the s—t the right way. I’m happy with my investment, just because of that.
Yeah, them all habits die hard. Rome, do you punch in?
R.S.: Nope, at least I try not to. I’m not gonna say I don’t, sometimes you have to for continuity. But the reason why I don’t like to punch in is because if I can’t spit the rhyme straight through, I can’t perform it. If I’m punching in every bar, how’s that gonna translate on the stage? I gotta be able to say the rhyme straight through. I gotta be able to record it in one whole take, if I can perform it.
Yeah, because that’s like the norm now, especially with the younger rappers.
R.S: When you see them on stage, they’re not even f—king rapping. They just let the song play, and they just jumping up and down, ad-libing their own vocals, because they can’t even say the sh—t in one breath because of the fact that they had to punch it.
Was this the first project that you recorded in full there?
D: Yup, it’s personal space. I’m not sharing it with anybody and no one is going in and out besides me. We probably wouldn’t even have that ScHoolboy record had we not been in the studio. Because it was a beat that started with just drums, and me listening to records and not overthinking. It was literally just like the first thing that landed that just sounded good with the drums and then we kind of just built on it. We did a bunch of the records like that.R.S.: Sometimes it’d be better that way. If I wasn’t there, that’ll probably be one he made that he didn’t like. But I heard it and was like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what the f—k is that? Sometimes you might just overthink it and be like, “Nah, this ain’t it.” The producer might want to do something, but then the rapper might hear something that the producer don’t hear. It’s like, “Nah, the rhyme could go crazy, right here. Don’t even add nothing. Keep it just like…” You know what I mean? That on the spot, energy is good.
Rome Streetz and Daringer
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How much input did you have on the beats?
R.S.: A lot, but I let Daringer do his thing. As far as the samples, it wasn’t like, “Pick this,” because he’s got 1000s of records. I don’t know what the s—t sounds like until he puts it together. Like, I don’t imagine you.
You work with The Alchemist closely too. He be digging obscure s—t. I’d imagine you do the same.
D: I’ve been on the same wave too. way. So, of course, when we got together, we could share ideas. I never felt like he thought I was gonna come in and just take his ideas either. So we always, somehow didn’t really run into the lot of the same things. We like a lot of the same music, a lot of the same records. But luckily, we didn’t run into too many instances where it was, like, we’re using the same sh—t. Yeah, the approach is a little different.
So, how’s that been for you, man? Now that you moved from Buffalo essentially into the industry for lack of a better term.
D: Not too many producers ever came out of Buffalo. I could only think of one off top that really flourished. Emile Haynie. And he took a different approach. He was doing Lana Del Rey and Mark Ronson. He’s worked on pop records, He did stuff with Ghostface and D.I.T.C. early on. He was around, but he definitely chose the pop route. So for me to be able to come up and stick with this style of rap, it feels dope. I always had the vision, but to actually come out of Buffalo and be able to move to New York City and be able to make a living from it? That was a big accomplishment.
How did you get affiliated with Griselda?
D: It’s crazy, we were bringing up Twitter before. There’s a small underground network that was going on in Buffalo at the time, so if you’re into that scene, we’re all going to run into each other at some point. I was a DJ at the time and I was trying to make beats on the side eventually. I was doing the DJ thing, playing showcases and playing rap records at a spot on Thursdays. I was a little bit younger, so I came in a little late, but I ended up meeting Gunn and Benny, and Gunn ended up just disappearing and then hit me on Twitter years later.
It was pretty much like, “Remember me, I’m about to put out an album. You got any beats?” And I was like, what Do you remember what year it was? 2014? HWH1. And that was the only original record on that tape.The rest of it was just like beats that he got, that he picked, that were already produced songs. That was the first one that we did, “Mess Hall Talk.” It was a little bit faster than a lot of the stuff that we would do down the line too.
He had the idea to start slowing the s—t down. Naturally, when we start pitching the music down, everything gets slower. I didn’t have Ableton and certain things at the time to maintain the tempo. That’s kind how the records and beats started getting slower, like 70 bpm, 60 bpm, type stuff. And he was coming from Atlanta at the time too, so you could tell there was some influence there. He kind of wanted to blend in the A with this type of rap, but with these tempos, with the samples pitched down, and it sounds like some chopped and screwed s—t.
Man, that makes sense. I never put those things together.
D: At least, I feel that way. That maybe was part of the reason why we were pitching it down to a certain speed. Also him still living there. Conway spent a bunch of time there. Benny spent a bunch of time there, so really Atlanta had a big influence on the whole s—t, surprisingly. The fact that he would travel all the way from Atlanta to Buffalo, he would drive a lot of times too. That’s not an easy drive. They would come to my apartment at the time, we recorded everything in my living room. Eventually, Conway stayed with and we started working on Reject 2. We ended up making two full records because he was staying with me the whole time. Looking back, making all that in my living room at the time was crazy, and the fact that Gunn was taking all these trips back and forth from the A to lock in made it even more special.
What else you got going on or planned. Anything you could talk about?
R.S.: I got an album with Conductor — probably two albums worth of music. I got sh—t with V Don. I got s—t with Muggs, Futurewave. I did a mixtape with Real Bad Man. I got a lot of sh—t.D: I want to do a compilation featuring a bunch of different artists on it. That’s always been a thing that I wanted to do. I think I’m going to end up doing a couple of them and make a series out of it. I got music with Meyhem still, so we’re probably gonna do a follow up. Maybe one day me and Bronson will do a full length. I did a handful of the records on that last album. So hopefully one day we could tap in and do a full length. Reject 2 is turning 10, so maybe Reject 3 with Conway in the next year or two. I’m really just focusing on me as an artist.
I’m sure you want to show off your versatility, because I think you kind of did that with this tape.
R.S.: One thing I can say, when it comes to picking the beats, I was purposely steering away from certain type of beats only because fans are used to hearing that. it’s like one No, rather than being a whole album, I kind of knew what to expect, but then the project was still about to surprise me.D: We definitely worked on the sequence for a while and put that puzzle together. I feel like, once we got the songs in a specific order, we were able to start adding the skits and gluing it all together.R.S.: That’s the one benefit of working with one producer. You’re able to make all the songs flow into each other. I’m not saying you can’t do it with multiple producers, but it’s a little bit more difficult. You would literally have to get all of them people in the room at the same time to orchestrate that.
Why do you like working with one producer?
R.S.: I like to do one producer because it’s just cohesive. Sometimes when you have a bunch of different producers on one tape, you can’t really get a lot of the post production. I’m a fan of post production. Sometimes when I get beat and rap over it, when I play the song back, it sounds totally different. It’s easier to make intros and outros. If I’m getting packs all day, it’s harder to get 10 different producers to agree on the overall sound. One producer might like the mix on it, but then the other three might not like it, so then you gonna have to re-mix that song to go with that song.It could get crazy. I like working with one producer because you can kind of maximize the sound. You can get the most out of it, the producer can sit with it.
You should’ve did a British accent on one of the songs.
R.S.: [Laughs.] I probably have to go back to London for a couple years to get that sh—t down pat.
Were there any British movies or TV shows that inspired the samples and skits? I know the short was inspired by Snatch.
R.S.: Probably that that interview with the road man, that s—t funny as hell.D: I watched things like Layer Cake to get the gist of it which sent me into a rabbit hole. There was a few joints from the ’70s that I was hoping to sample, but basically just ended up watching them to catch a vibe. We used something on “Starbvxkz” that we added at the last minute, pretty much when we were doing the video. Definitely some influence there.
You guys planning on going on tour? London definitely has to be a stop, right?
R.S.: They’re not going to let me live if I don’t. That’s the main place that I have to do a show.
Everyone gets a little nervous meeting super famous people, even if they’re equally famous. Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan stopped by The Tonight Show on Thursday (Nov. 7) and revealed that when she finally met her celebrity doppelgänger this summer she was totally star-struck. Fallon held up a picture of a post in which someone online […]
The official tour dates for the Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour — an interactive live concert experience coming to arenas across North America next summer — have arrived, and Billboard can exclusively reveal them below.
Featured on the three-month run are Kylie Cantrall, Joshua Colley, Malia Baker and Dara Reneé from Descendants: The Rise of Red, and Freya Skye, Malachi Barton and Mekonnen Knife from Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires. According to Disney Concerts, Disney Branded Television and AEG Presents, the shows will celebrate the music from the two franchises, inspiring attendees to dance, sing and engage with the stars.
The tour kicks off July 17, 2025, at Pechanga Arena in San Diego, Calif., before hitting cities across the continent, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, St. Louis, Toronto, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Atlanta, Nashville, New Orleans and more before wrapping up Sept. 16 in Fort Worth, Texas.
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An exclusive presale for Disney+ subscribers in the U.S. and Canada, as well as a limited number of exclusive VIP packages, will be available starting Tuesday (Nov. 12) at noon local time until Nov. 14 at 10 p.m. local time. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday (Nov. 15) at 10 a.m. local time here.
See the full list of tour dates for the Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour below.
July 17 – San Diego, CA – Pechanga Arena San DiegoJuly 19 – San Jose, CA – SAP Center at San JoseJuly 20 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 CenterJuly 22 – Anaheim, CA – Honda CenterJuly 23 – Los Angeles, CA – Crypto.com ArenaJuly 25 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint CenterJuly 26 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile ArenaJuly 28 – Denver, CO – Ball ArenaJuly 30 – Oklahoma City, OK – Paycom CenterAugust 1 – Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile CenterAugust 2 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise CenterAugust 4 – Minneapolis, MN – Target CenterAugust 5 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv ForumAugust 6 – Rosemont, IL – Allstate ArenaAugust 8 – Indianapolis, IN – Gainbridge FieldhouseAugust 9 – Louisville, KY – KFC Yum! CenterAugust 10 – Cincinnati, OH – Heritage Bank CenterAugust 12 – Columbus, OH – Schottenstein CenterAugust 13 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage FieldHouseAugust 14 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints ArenaAugust 16 – Toronto, ONT – Scotiabank ArenaAugust 17 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars ArenaAugust 19 – Buffalo, NY – KeyBank CenterAugust 20 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo CenterAugust 21 – New York, NY – Madison Square GardenAugust 23 – Belmont Park, NY – UBS ArenaAugust 24 – Newark, NJ – Prudential CenterAugust 25 – Boston, MA – TD GardenAugust 27 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank ArenaAugust 29 – Charlottesville, VA – John Paul Jones ArenaAugust 30 – Greensboro, NC – First Horizon ColiseumAugust 31 – Raleigh, NC – Lenovo CenterSeptember 2 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm ArenaSeptember 3 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone ArenaSeptember 5 – Tampa, FL – Amalie ArenaSeptember 6 – Sunrise, FL – Amerant Bank ArenaSeptember 7 – Orlando, FL – Kia CenterSeptember 9 – Jacksonville, FL – Vystar Veterans Memorial ArenaSeptember 11 – Birmingham, AL – Legacy Arena at the BJCCSeptember 12 – New Orleans, LA – Smoothie King CenterSeptember 14 – Houston, TX – Toyota CenterSeptember 15 – Austin, TX – Moody CenterSeptember 16 – Fort Worth, TX – Dickies Aren
Chappell Roan is over-the-top. The “Hot To Go” singer who has established a reputation for elaborate costumes and aesthetics inspired by drag queens can often seem like a character from a camp movie. And, as it turns out, there’s a good reason for that.
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During a conversation at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles moderated by Brandi Carlile on Thursday night (Nov. 7), Roan talked about making her breakthrough album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and how the woman born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz transformed into megawatt pop star Chappell Roan.
“Chappell is a character,” Roan, 26, told Carlile, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I just can’t be here all the time. It’s just too much.”
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Roan explained that it took “a lot of years” to convince people that her debut album was worth releasing. Recorded with producer Dan Nigro (Olivia Rodrigo), the LP which has logged 32 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart was released in 2023 after five years of work. “I had no money. I had no numbers backing me up,” she said. “I had an EP [2017’s School Nights] that did not do well by the music standards. I had toured, but no headlines. There was nothing backing me up.”
The star said that one of the early songs she worked on with Nigro, signature banger “Pink Pony Club” — which she performed during her Saturday Night Live musical debut last weekend — was released at the “worst time” for a club anthem, April 2020, during the early peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was, however, the track that helped her pull off a “complete 180” from how she dressed and performed at the time, which consisted of wearing “only black on stage. It was very serious.” But, she noted, as soon as she stopped taking herself so seriously “things started working.”
Roan has been open about how her rocket ride to fame has been disorienting. In addition to recently being being diagnosed with severe depression amid her Midwest Princess tour, she was previously diagnosed with bipolar II disorder. The singer canceled two shows on her tour in September just days before they were set to take place after saying she needed a break after feeling overwhelmed.
Asked by Carlile to describe her mental health routine, Roan said it is evolving in the wake of her sudden success this year. “My life is completely different now. Everything is out of whack right now,” she said. “This type of year does something to people. Every big thing that happens in someone’s career happened in five months for me. It’s so crazy that things I never thought would happen happened times 10. I think that that just really rocked my system. I don’t know what a good mental health routine looks like for me right now.”
Roan debuted a new song, the country pop tune “The Giver,” on SNL, just weeks after appearing to tease her next music era in an Instagram post in which she shared selfies and hinted at the follow-up to her debut breakthrough LP. “Album kinda popped off imo but it is time to welcome a hot new bombshell into the villa,” she captioned the pics, in a reference to the Love Island catchphrase welcoming new contestants, which led fans to speculate that she’s working on her second LP. In addition, Nigro has teased that Roan’s next album will be a “new version” of her.