Music

03 Nov 2022

DJ Drama Talks Having Two ‘Gangsta Grillz’ Albums in the Top 10 & Pays Tribute to Takeoff

If you’re a hip-hop head that was around in 2004-2009 during a revolutionary time in mixtape evolution, you more than likely came across a Gangsta Grillz. DJ Drama’s well-established mixtape series began with T.I., who was the first to allow him to take a collection of songs from one individual artist and make it a street album. Drama would add his sermons and bells and whistles to the tracks as the mixtape host, charging up the listener’s experience. Distribution was hand-to-hand and promotion was word-of-mouth, growing Gangsta Grillz’ allure as a way to certify your buzz in the streets. Drama has done tapes with Lil Wayne, Jeezy, Gucci Mane, Cam’ron, Pharrell, Little Brother, and too many others to name. The “Gangsta Grillz” tag is now timeless.

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Thanks to Tyler, the Creator —who teamed up with Drama in June 2021 to execute the perfect album with a mixtape feel with his Billboard 200-topping Call Me If You Get Lost — the Gangsta Grillz series is having a revival. Give credit to Dram, who has stayed dropping Gangsta Grillz sets even before Tyler paid homage, but this current moment shows the excitement over artists wanting that stamp of approval again. It wasn’t too long ago that Jack Harlow teased a Gangsta Grillz with his song “Ghost,” and to see the likes of Benny the Butcher, Fat Joe, Jim Jones, Dreamville and Snoop Dogg all get one in with the veteran DJ makes it feel to fans like they’re reliving the golden era of mixtapes.

In fact, on the latest Billboard 200, two Gangsta Grillz projects — Youngboy Never Broke Again’s Ma’ I Got a Family and Jeezy’s Snofall — are new entries in the top 10, at No. 7 and No. 9. But the career achievement has unfortunately come the same week a dark cloud has emerged over hip-hop, as Billboard‘s conversation with Drama falls on the same day that news breaks about Migos member Takeoff’s death in Houston.

Below, Drama discusses Takeoff and his relationship with the Migos, the impact of Gangsta Grillz, his chemistry with Jeezy, DJ Kay Slay, his next Gangsta Grillz offerings, and his advice for younger DJs.

I don’t know if you heard the news about Takeoff. How do you feel about that right now?

I think I’m still kind of processing it. You know, just waking up to the news. It just feels like a never-ending cycle. I don’t know if it is getting worse. It feels like it’s going from every three months to every month to every other week. He was a figure in hip-hop. I was just thinking about it earlier, if you look back at the last four or five years, everyone that we lost is literally 33 and under.

It’s like these young Black men who haven’t even lived a fraction of their lives. We all know Takeoff when it comes to the Migos. He’s the most laidback of the trio. In a sense, he’s the backbone and minded his business. Stayed out the way. It just sucks, man. And it’s just sad.

You and the Migos had a Gangsta Grillz in 2014. Solid Foundation.

Yeah, we did a QC, Solid Foundation tape. My history runs deep with the Migos. I was introduced to them probably 2011 before they were signed to QC. I actually took Takeoff and Quavo to New York. Their first time ever going to New York was with me.

Really?

Yeah, I took them to a label meeting. I took them to eOne about potentially signing. We had a meeting with them. And yeah, the first time they ever went to New York was with me. And the first time they ever did Birthday Bash was me bringing them out during my set. I have a lot of history with those guys. I’ve known them for over a decade. When I met Takeoff, he was 18, 19. We did the tape together, Solid Foundation tape. It’s a sad day.

Are there any stories that you want to share about it? When you stamp someone with a Gangsta Grillz early in their career, it’s a big deal.

Me and Migos, we’ve had some disagreements at times. And one instance being on The Breakfast Club and talking about Atlanta. Quavo was vocal at the time because I didn’t mention their name. I think I said Thug and Future and a couple other people. And I didn’t mention Migos. We had a little back and forth, but it was literally because of that they were saying they are the culture, and hence naming their album Culture. I think because of our back and forth, they went on to name their album Culture.

I got nothing but love for those guys. My condolences to his friends and his family. It’s a tough time for the city, for sure.

So at this point, what do you value more? Is it the street validation from Gangsta Grillz or the mainstream recognition?

I think it all means a lot to me. I’ve had conversations recently just about like [being] the hottest I’ve ever been in my career. You know, just in the thought of barbershop talk. People are like, “Nah, when you did Dedication 2, you were on fire in the streets.” “’06-’07, this time.”

For me, to be where I’m at right now in 2022 off the legacy that I built and off the history of what I accomplished within the culture, to stand on all that and to be where I’m at… One of my earliest goals for when I first kind of felt like I got on, my main point was always like, “Okay, you got here. How do you stay here? How do you stay relevant?” So to be in a space where 22 years later after creating Gangsta Grillz, 30 years later after DJing as a hobby to two albums in the top 10. Or even after going from a mixtape DJ to an A&R to an executive and doubling back. It’s a very surreal time for me.

On the Billboard 200 albums chart, the YoungBoy project is at No. 7 and the Jeezy project cracked the top 10 at No. 9. At this point, does it feel good to see the Gangsta Grillz movement reach the masses at this level?

Absolutely. It feels great, having Gangsta Grillz [in the top 10]. Again, I think at this point there’s no argument that Gangsta Grillz is the most important mixtape series of all time. What I think is dope is that particularly with Jeezy, and Youngboy too — I also dropped a Snoop tape — the fact when you listen to those projects and you listen to Jeezy, the word mixtape has gotten construed in the last few years as just a word. There was no separation from a mixtape to an EP to an album. But now with this Gangsta Grillz resurgence, it adds the mixtape feel to it. It feels like a mixtape. You know, doing what I do with my personality and talking on the records and the bells and the whistles and bringing back records, the nostalgia of it is just exciting. I see a lot of people saying that was missing, and this is bringing some excitement to the projects.

What’s your process when you’re choosing to stamp someone with a Gangsta Grillz? What do you look for?

The majority of the time, they come to me. The Jeezy project is something we’ve been talking about for quite some time. It’s been in the work for over a year now — Cannon executive produced it, and Cannon and Jeezy were working adamantly in the last year on the records and the project. We discussed it even before we did the Legendz of the Streetz Tour. But the majority of the time when I do a tape, it’s the artists coming to me and saying, “Hey, I want to do a Gangsta Grillz.” If it was that easy for me to reach out, everybody would have a Gangsta Grillz.

Yeah, you’d be stamping everyone.

It’s literally, my phone rings and someone says, “Hey, I’m working on this and I want to make it a Gangsta Grillz.”

You shared something on your Instagram Stories from Sonny Digital saying that you’re not going to that next level until you got a Gangsta Grillz. Is that pretty accurate?

I mean, that’s something that Sonny said. There’s been plenty of artists that have been successful without a Gangsta Grillz. But I think coming from Atlanta, and what Sonny means — growing up for him and for most artists that come out of the city, Gangsta Grillz was the ultimate stamp.

Even if I take it back, 2 Chainz has an old line before we did our tape where he said “I’m the hottest in the city without a Gangsta Grillz.” It was like a jab and a compliment at the same time when he said that because he literally was saying “I’m the shit without a Gangsta Grillz.” He was also saying normally if you’re the shit or if you’re gonna be the shit, you have to go through Gangsta Grillz.

People sometimes even forget in 2017, Harder Than Hard, Lil Baby’s project that “My Dawg” was on, that was a Gangsta Grillz. Through the eras, I’ve always been right there to stamp the majority of the artists, particularly in Atlanta. But it reaches out even further. It’s not just a Southern trap brand like when it first started. Literally, you name it, everyone under the sun has done a Gangsta Grillz, from all facets of the culture.

Jeezy told us that you and him coming back together was like watching Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan playing one-on-one. Basically, he’s saying we get to see our favorite basketball players or boxers spar at the gym. Being in the game for so long, how does doing collaborations like this make you better?

It’s because I work off the artists. I think he’s accurate in saying that or like a Kobe a Shaq. Or a Steph and a Klay. Artists bring out the best in me in a sense and vice versa. I think it’s so funny when I see people say like, “Why DJ Drama talk over the song?” and so forth. I’m like, “Yo, the crazy part is the artist that you’re listening to tells me to go crazy.”

And it’s just like, for me — I really found my formula, or found my blueprint of how I attack the music. And I literally work off the music in so many ways. So it makes me better, because the records, the subject matter, or even the concepts — like how I may attacked YoungBoy’s project in comparison to Jeezy’s project — my tone is different. Because of YoungBoy’s direction, I’m literally taking real-life experiences that I may have and using them, based on his subject matter. In comparison to Jeezy, where if it’s a song called “Scarface” or “Most Hated,” I’m using my influences on that. Or “Street Cred” when it comes to that, [I’m using my influence] in a different light.

Many people appreciate what I do. When it is all said and done, people will be discussing how I will attack the music. Just recently, I did Westside Gunn’s project, 10 — the last song “Red Death” and I’m literally talking about movie franchises. What I’m doing is I’m comparing the Hitler Wears Hermes series to the best movie franchises of all time. The only thing I’m not doing is make my s–t rhyme, but I’m literally giving bars out.

On “MJ Jeezy,” you say Tha Streets Iz Watching is Off the Wall, Trap or Die is Thriller, and Can’t Ban the Snowman is Bad. Can you break that down for me?

Again, that’s me playing off Jeezy with the song, you know? That’s a true story for him, as far as him going to Florida and him being called Michael Jackson Jeezy even before the rap. When I was listening to the song in comparison, it’s like, “Okay, here he is comparing himself to Michael Jackson.” So what better way for me to break it down, saying Tha Streets Iz Watching is Off the Wall and Trap or Die is Thriller and Can’t Ban the Snowman is Bad.

When I think about the projects and I think about hip-hop, they really add up that way. If Thriller is Michael Jackson’s most heralded album then Trap or Die is Jeezy’s most heralded mixtape. Off the Wall is still noted as a classic just as Tha Streets Iz Watching is. When we came with Can’t Ban the Snowman, people were hungry for it just as when Bad came out. People couldn’t wait for the follow up to Thriller. And then at the end, I go and compare myself to… if he’s Michael Jackson Jeezy, then I’m Quincy “Drama” Jones.

I want to jump to the Snoop Dogg project because “I’ll Holla Back” has Kurupt and “Lit” has Daz Dillinger. Did you have anything to do with getting Tha Dogg Pound back together?

That was me telling Snoop when we were talking about I Still Got It, you can’t be in the space of saying “I still got it” and not have the original Dogg Pound Gangstaz. That was what a lot of us [were] introduced to Snoop, Daz, and Kurupt early on, as [DPG]. I felt it was only right to have those guys on this project.

And then the first thing you say on YoungBoy’s project is you’re “Jeffery Dramer.” That s–t was wild.

I think that’ll definitely go down in my top ten craziest things. I saw a lot of reactions to that. But I love it. It had a lot of shock value on it. I actually did it over the beat, and then YoungBoy took the vocals and made it a cappella, which made it hit even harder. It’s a creative license. I’m a fool when it comes to the nicknames.

In your opinion, what has changed about the audience when dropping a Gangsta Grillz during the LiveMixtapes/Datpiff era versus the streaming era?

I think the fact that these projects are on DSPs, it reaches a lot more people these days in a lot of ways. The Datpiff/LiveMixtapes era came after the physical era. Mixtapes were always a certain segment of hip-hop that were kind of hip to the new s–t, or came from a certain demographic of hip-hop, and now…

The crate-digging kind of people.

Exactly. And now, we’re literally touching everybody. At the same time, there’s new fanbases that I am being introduced to that may not have been familiar with Gangsta Grillz. Tyler [,the Creator] introduced me to a whole new fan base in a lot of ways. Even me this summer, I was on tour with Wiz [Khalifa] and Logic. I would walk out for my first set and they would be chanting my name. These are kids that are 18, 19, 20, that were born when I first started making Gangsta Grillz. When I play Tyler or I play “Stick” off the Dreamville project, they are getting familiar with me that way.

Or my daughter’s friends. My daughter is 16 and her friends are going crazy off the NBA YoungBoy tape. And she sent me a group chat with them, like, “Wow, we touched the hand of somebody who probably touched the hand of YoungBoy.”

That’s crazy.

Just recently, with the Snoop, the Jeezy, and the Youngboy, there’s an older demographic that has the nostalgic feel of being around when Trap or Die came out and reminiscing in that feel — and there’s a younger demographic that are excited to see me and somebody like a YoungBoy tap in. Even like this year or last year alone, from Tyler to [J.] Cole to Symba to you know…

You’re also adapting to the streaming world, with projects with OMB Peezy and Badda TD. You know the artists that are getting the most streams on these platforms.

Nah, absolutely. Again, I’m just trying to touch as many years as possible. Again, it’s exciting that this Gangsta Grillz resurgence is happening. [Funkmaster] Flex said something to me one time when we were just talking about the different eras of mixtapes and the various times of people having their reign. To have him tell it, it’s like — for me, since I became the top of the food chain in mixtapes or became the mixtape king, nobody has come along and taken that crown from me. That’s quite the statement, especially coming from someone like Flex.

Even thinking about my run when it comes to mixtapes with all due respect to others that came before me, no one has had the longevity and run that I’ve had. From ‘05 to 2022, I’m literally going on 20 years. People have came and had the crown for time periods — but again, Gangsta Grillz is still the hottest brand in mixtapes in 2022, as it was when it was first introduced.

When you were coming up, did you ever imagine you would get a Grammy for the mixtape series?

Never in my wildest dreams. I’ve done so many things I never imagined. And it’s just like, again, it’s so surreal. Even on my Instagram, I showed one of my original tapes that I made. And to think going from that to winning a Grammy off a mixtape series. Off of something I just started out of love. It really is, “Sky isn’t the limit.” I always say, “Sky is what we stand on to reach the beyond.”

On top of that, just beyond having the last couple years of success, thinking about the success of [Lil] Uzi [Vert] and Jack [Harlow] and Generation Now. On top of that, the individual success that I am having… It’s really a dream come true. It’s beyond a dream come true. I think a lot of it really comes down to the passion and the dedication I have to hip-hop and the culture.

Earlier this year, you released a single called “Forever.” What did DJ Kay Slay mean to you?

Kay Slay, he’s the culture. If you go back to his appearances in Style Wars as a graffiti artist to what he did for the mixtape game and being the Drama King. And even that, us sharing the name Drama. Kay Slay is a giant in hip-hop. Sadly, we lost him earlier this year so when I was doing the “Forever” record, it felt only right to dedicate it to Slay. Specifically, it being such an East Coast, New York record. That was just me paying homage to somebody who was a giant in the mixtape game before me. And having KRS-One there as well, it was me just saluting Slay and giving him his flowers.

Last time we spoke was when you were releasing Quality Street Music 2. Are there any thoughts on a Quality Street Music 3? Is it too early to talk about?

Nah, I’m naming my new album I’m Really Like That. I thought about maybe making it Quality Street Music 3: I’m Really Like That or I’m Really Like That. I don’t know if it is going to be Quality Street Music 3, but I am in the process of finishing up the new album and that is the title.

So, who’s next on the Gangsta Grillz list? Is there anyone you want to throw out there?

We got some things coming. Definitely Icewear Vezzo. Me and Meek [Mill] got something coming. Me and Lil Wayne have something exciting coming next year.

Is it Dedication 7?

I won’t say what it is. Definitely me and Wayne have something exciting coming next year. Dave East project is coming. And to be honest, my phone has been off the hook with projects. To be honest, there’s no telling how we are going to end the year.

Personally, I hope you and Fab do something together. Like a There Is No Competition.

That would be exciting. Me and Fab have definitely talked recently about getting back in.

With your whole career and how it has matured over the years, what advice do you have for the younger DJs just trying to make it?

You know, definitely be a student of the game. Study those who came before you. I think the thing about being a DJ is the majority of us get into it because of our love for the music. And trust the process. Find a niche, find a lane. For me, I studied all facets of DJing, whether it was battling DJ, regular DJs, party DJs. The Mixtape DJ was something that I always focused on. I knew that was my niche. I went full-throttle. I manifested a lot of things. Early on, I would say “I’m the king.” Manifesting a Gangsta Grillz album way before it was even time. Just put things into the universe and a lot of things I manifested or put out in the universe wound up coming true.

I would tell younger DJs, before you necessarily reach out to the hottest artist in the game or the hottest DJ or what have you, look to your left and look to your right and build movements around you. When me and T.I. or me and Jeezy were working, we were all coming up together. We created movements together. Find a rapper that’s within your city or within your stratosphere, and create movements with them before you necessarily go after the A-listers and try to make a mixtape or a song with them. Come up with those around you. Those are the real ways of really making movements within the culture.

03 Nov 2022

British Alt-Rock Vets The London Suede and Manic Street Preachers Talk Joint North American Tour: ‘It Could Be the Last Time’

“Is this America, or is this the bands?”

That’s the question that Manic Street Preachers frontman James Dean Bradfield remembers asking himself back in the ’90s, about the destructive impact that touring the United States seemed to have on so many bands (particularly British ones) of the era. At the time, the question was most directly inspired by his then-tourmates in Oasis and Screaming Trees, both of whom appeared to be disintegrating as the three acts were trekking across the U.S. in 1996. But Brett Anderson, leader of the London Suede, recalls his own band being something of a casualty of stateside touring in their own early days.

“I’ve seen bands fall apart in America – our own included, actually,” Anderson says. “And I’ve seen what it can do to you … I’m slightly wary of the pressures that the States kind of exerts on bands, actually.”

This wariness may have contributed to both bands — two of the U.K.’s most successful and best-enduring alt-rock outfits of the ’90s — mostly refraining from touring the States in recent years, with the London Suede’s last full U.S. trek now a full quarter-century in the rearview. But older, wiser, and newly motivated post-pandemic — and with a pair of excellent recent albums to promote in the Manics’ 2021 effort The Ultra Vivid Lament and London Suede’s September release Autofiction — the two veteran groups are linking up for a dozen North American tour dates, starting Thursday (Nov. 3) in Vancouver, and taking them to both U.S. coasts and a handful of cities in between. “We’re not all 25-year-old lunatics anymore, so hopefully we can bring a bit of judgment to bear with that,” Anderson says.

It also helps that the two groups, who toured together in Europe in 1994, are longtime well-wishers and kindred spirits. It’s a familiarity obvious in Billboard‘s Zoom conversation with Bradfield and Anderson, who spend the first five minutes catching up about each other’s lives, and laughing about how unimpressed their kids are with them. (“I think it doesn’t really matter what your parent does, they’re automatically uncool, aren’t they?” Anderson remarks. “It’s just the definition of being a parent — that they’re a bit naff, d’ya know what I mean?”)  

Below, Billboard discusses the two bands’ histories of touring America with Bradfield and Anderson — as well as what they expect on this current tour, and why them actually getting along with one another is more the exception than the rule with bands of their era.

So obviously it’s been a while since you’ve both been on tour – and it’s even longer since you’ve been to the States, in both your instances. So what made now the right time?

Bradfield: I suppose I should just be really honest … after COVID, after lockdown, and then looking in the mirror too many times … as a band, we started talking about the things that we wanted to do again, just in case — well, just in case, really. And we had realized that we hadn’t toured America that much, and we wanted to go back. And places like America and Japan were places that we always want to go back to. It was just that thing of the near future not being so definite anymore – it spirited us on to actually do it again, I think. 

Anderson: Yeah, uh, from our point of view – I can’t remember where the suggestion came from, but one day someone suggested this … did it come from you guys?

Bradfield: I think it may have come from our dear manager, Martin [Hall]. 

Anderson: Well, that’s lovely. Then it was a fantastic suggestion. Like most things with one’s career, it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. And I think that you kind of have this sort of idea that everyone’s got these incredibly sort of strategic plans for their careers, and it’s not really like that. You kinda stumble into things. Someone suggested it, and we thought, “Yeah! F–k it, why not? Let’s do it.” 

Bradfield: We have no delusions about what we mean in America as a band, y’know, the Manics. And the idea of going with another band that could help us with the lifting – sometimes lift more than we could, or vice versa, just helping each other – was appealing to us. Because we’re not delusional about our status in America. And just touring with Suede, in terms of – some kind of kinship there, some kind of empathy that we share, I think – and the idea that we could actually help each other get there, and for it to mean something… we definitely looked at touring with Suede – with you, Brett – and we just thought, “God, that could just be a great experience for us,” simple as that. 

Anderson: Yeah, I think the same for us. You know, we haven’t been to the States in such a long time, and it didn’t really ever go off for us in the States. I mean, the first album [1993’s Suede] did OK, and then after that we had to change the name [to The London Suede], and there’s a lot of s–t that went down … and we didn’t, we just sort of, we left it alone for a while.

And when [this tour] was suggested, it was almost like – you know, more than the sum of its parts, almost. It’s a thing with both bands together – I think we share, not the same fanbase, because that would be oversimplified, but I think we have a fanbase in common. Lots of people like both bands, there’s a similar kind of thread that runs through both bands. So it seemed like a really exciting prospect. And we’d toured together before and we’d always got on, so it seemed … like yeah, a bit of a no-brainer. 

Bradfield: They know that we’re quick sound-checkers! [Both laugh.]

Had there ever been any discussions either between your two bands, or between your bands and other like-minded bands from your era, of doing kind of this package thing, and sort of doing the strength-in-numbers approach and maybe getting to the States last decade or the decade before?

Anderson: The problem is … we don’t really like many other bands. That’s our problem. We’re one of the most miserable bands in the music industry, d’you know what I mean? So the Manics are one of the few bands that we like. 

James: As I remember, there was a quote from Richey [Edwards, late Manics lyricist/guitarist] before — somebody asked him why he didn’t really like other bands, and he went, “You wouldn’t ask other plumbers if they hang out with other plumbers. You wouldn’t ask James’ dad,” who was a carpenter, “if he hangs out with other carpenters. Why do bands need to hang out with each other?” And he has a point!

I grew up in the music press of the ‘80s, and I grew up with Ian McCulloch, Mark E. Smith, Morrissey, all just taking shots at each other all the time. There was open warfare! And it was kind of part of the game. So we kinda grew up with that culture in the press, that bands didn’t necessarily have to like each other. So Brett – I can concur with that. I don’t have many musician friends.

We had supported Suede in France, and a couple parts of Europe back in the ‘90s. And so we knew that it worked, and we knew that we got on with those guys, and we knew that – importantly — we can give each other space. You don’t have to prove to each other that you have to socialize all the time. And you know that you can get on if you have to socialize … So, unless we’ve all irrevocably changed since then, I think we should be OK again. 

Was it sort of a rite of passage for U.K. bands back in those days to build your audience at home, and in Europe, and then come to the States and have a bit more of an up-and-down experience? You say that you don’t really like a lot of other bands, but would you talk to other bands and kind of compare experiences at the time?

Bradfield: There was a strange thing in the ‘90s, where you were goaded by the British music press that you hadn’t really made it if unless you sold records in America. But then when you went to America, you realized that the British music press – NME, Melody Maker, Sounds – meant f–k all in America. You know? In fact, when we first came to America, we were just called “typical NME band”; that was used as the open insult to describe us when we first came to America. But then we’d come back, and the NME would say, “Well, if you haven’t sold quite a lot of records in America, you haven’t really made it.”

So there was always this strange kind of like, back and forth thing going on about the pressure of having to sell records in America for it to sort of define you kind of thing, from the British music press. 

Anderson: I think [touring America is] an interesting cocktail of things, isn’t it? So often what happens is: a band becomes successful in the U.K., and then they go to America, and … they find a challenge, because they’re not received as warmly in America. So straight away, their egos are damaged. I’m just talking about as a broad thing, not anyone specific. But that’s what happens, and you’re not playing in front of your London crowd or whatever? You’re in front of a much more disinterested crowd. And then the size of the country as well, just the physical size of the country. All of these elements kind of get thrown into the mix.

And then there’s obviously – when English bands are in America, there’s a kind of sort of carnival element to it, where you kind of almost feel like you’re on holiday. We definitely did that in the early ‘90s, you know, partying much too much. You feel as though you’re not really working, you’re kind of on one long jamboree, almost. And all these elements, and drugs and drink and stress – they’re very harmful to bands. 

It’s a crucible that kind of makes you or breaks you. And some people come through it unscathed and some people don’t. But it’s all kind of part of the contract that you enter into, you know? 

Do you have any really positive experiences that you remember – shows where you did find a small audience that was really invested in the band? 

Bradfield: Oh, yeah! Absolutely, the first time I played in Detroit, I absolutely loved it. I had a great day in Detroit. I had the best hot wings ever. I played the best gig in front of 350 people in a 1,000-2,000 people room. But the 350 people there were absolutely amazing. I did the corny thing of, like – because I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for the Red Wings, the ice hockey team – and I went to the Hitsville museum, I had a great gig, I had great food … that was one perfect date, that was amazing. 

And then I’ve had other nights there that were strange. [America] is just like any place, it’s a mixed experience. But the road feels like a very real place in America. The contrast of experiences is so enormous, that it feels like a very real journey when you come to America. But that’s what makes it exciting. That’s why we’re coming back. Because there is a challenge there. And there is a bit of fear there. But you know that when it clicks, it’s a great experience, too. 

Anderson: I’d echo that. You know, it’s a big country – it’s like saying, “What’s it like touring Europe?” “Well, you know, Sweden is different from Spain, it’s very different from Austrian …” America’s almost like a lot of different countries [in one]. There’s no one American experience. And it’s difficult to really sort of sum it up like that. It’s like, some gigs will be great, and some gigs will be terrible, I’m sure … 

Bradfield: Hey, Coach, thanks for the pep talk! [Both laugh.]

Have you found in general that bands from the U.K. from the ‘90s have more of a U.S. base now than when you were touring at the peak of your popularity?

Anderson: I’m kind of keeping my expectations low and then I’ll be pleasantly surprised. It’s been such a long time ago since we’ve been to the States. I’d like to think that there’s kind of, y’know, universal appreciation of both bands. And as bands kind of age, they kind of like, grudgingly gain more respect. But who knows? It might be a disaster! I don’t think it will be, but … 

Bradfield: I’ve done an interview like a week ago, and one journalist said, “These are quite small gigs for you.” I’m like, “F–k no! Some of these are quite big for us in America!” So we’re under no illusions.

Is there anything that you’re particularly looking forward to coming to America – places to visit, or venues you’ve never played before that you’re really excited to play for the first time? 

Anderson: I’m looking forward to [all of it]. I’ve got that sort of slight nervousness, that slight sort of anticipation. But it could be really exciting. It’s going to be great touring with the Manics, and it’ll be great in the States, and let’s see what happens. 

Bradfield: It kind of feels so novel to come back to America, that there will be that element of feeling like it’s the first time for a while. And you never know, it could be the last time! It could be.

Anderson: It could absolutely be the last time for us, as well. Who knows? We haven’t been there for 25 years. We might come back in another 25 years! It might very well be the last time we play for another 25 years. So if anyone is ummming and ahhhhing about it — come along, because you might as well see us now.

03 Nov 2022

Billy Joel & Stevie Nicks to Co-Headline 2023 Stadium Concerts

Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks are hitting the road next year for a very special concert series. On Wednesday (Nov. 2), the Piano Man took to Instagram to share that he and the Fleetwood Mac singer will be joining forces for a “one night only” event that turned out will be a little more than a single evening.

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“Two Icons – One Night Only, Billy Joel & @stevienicks, live at @attstadium on Saturday, April 8! Tickets go on-sale Friday, Nov. 11 at 10AM local time,” the “Uptown Girl” singer shared, along with a poster for the event to be held in Arlington.

Joel rolled out two more dates on his page on Thursday, revealing that Los Angeles and Nashville will also be getting concert dates on March 10 and May 19, respectively. Per Joel’s posts, tickets for the events will go on sale on Friday, Nov. 11, through Live Nation.

The “Rhiannon” singer also shared the news on Instagram Wednesday. “Excited to hit the road with the amazing @billyjoel in 2023,” she captioned her post. But, she also teased, potentially hinting at additional shows: “More soon!”

Fans in Joel’s posts expressed their excitement at his and Nicks’ joint venture, and begged for their cities to be added to the list, with one commenting, “ok now do this but in new york.” Requests from Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana and Mexico also rounded out the list.

See Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks’ posts below.

03 Nov 2022

Selena Gomez Calls Taylor Swift the ‘Most Influential Artist’ to Her Career: ‘She’s Definitely Inspired Me’

Selena Gomez opened up on her newly curated SiriusXM Radio channel on Thursday (Nov. 3) about one of the many reasons she admires Taylor Swift.

“The most influential artist, for me, it is kind of Taylor,” the singer said of her bestie. “Not because she’s my friend, but she has been an artist that can transition into so many different genres and she is able to do it seamlessly and I admire that so much. And that’s so rare. I love her process and I just admire all the work that she’s done. She’s definitely inspired me.”

While Swift pivoted back to diaristic pop with her latest record-smashing No. 1 album Midnights last month, Gomez’s most recent studio set remains 2020’s Rare, which contained her first No. 1 hit “Lose You to Love Me” as well as follow-up singles “Look At Her Now,” “Rare” and “Boyfriend.” (One year later, she also showcased in her Mexican roots on the Spanish-language EP Revelación.)

Gomez has been busy promoting her new documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me, which premieres Friday (Nov. 4) on Apple TV+. “I guess when we started to record footage of the Revival Tour, we initially thought that we were gonna do a concert tour video, and during the tour I had to cancel it because I was going through a lot of stuff personally. So we decided to stop,” she explained of the project’s origins.

“Then the Kenya trip kind of came up and we decided we wanted to record that trip. So it really wasn’t gonna be a documentary until the end when we filmed all the stuff and where I am now,” the singer continued. “I can tell that it was gonna be something bigger than just a puff piece…I want it to be about the conversation around mental health and ways that we can change the conversation. I feel like a human sacrifice. I’m like throwing my personal life in to hopefully have this conversation be bigger and transcend.”

Listen to more from Selena’s SiriusXM radio show below.

03 Nov 2022

Blessd Breaks Down 5 Essential Tracks on New ‘Siempre Blessd’ Album

Following his debut album Hecho en Medellin, Blessd (real name: Stiven Mesa Londoño) presents his sophomore set Siempre Blessd out Thursday (Nov. 3) via Warner Music Latina and JM World Music – Cigol. 

Home to 13 tracks, including the previously-released “Instagram (Remix)” with De La Ghetto and Darell, and “Tendendia Global” with Myke Towers and Ovy on the Drums, Siempre Blessd continues to consolidate the artist’s status as Colombia’s breakthrough performer. 

The set navigates from songs that will inspire aspiring artists from the barrios to dream big (such as “Barrio Antioquia”), to songs about embracing solitude after a failed relationship (such as the Ñengo Flow-assisted “Solitario”) to songs inspired by him discovering the world (such as “Europa”).

But beyond all, it’s fully charged with certified club bangers — including edgy reggaetón songs, raw trap bangers, and infectious collaborations with other renowned acts and newcomers, including Dalex, Rvssian, Amaro, Pirlo, and Philip Ariaz. It also demonstrates Blessd’s ability to freestyle, sing, and pen his own music.

“This album fills me with great pride because it is an album that I can call mine,” the Colombian artist, who appeared as a panelist at 2022’s Billboard Latin Music Week, says in a statement. “With this album, I want to connect with all my fans and take my career to another level.” 

Siempre Blessd drops with the focus single “Que Duro,” which the artist produced himself and further demonstrates the album’s connectivity with its audience.  Below, he elaborates on the focus track, and also breaks down other essential tracks.

03 Nov 2022

Johnny Depp to Appear in Rihanna’s ‘Savage x Fenty Vol. 4’ Show

Johnny Depp will be appearing in Rihanna‘s upcoming Savage x Fenty Vol. 4 show, Billboard can confirm.

The news was first reported by TMZ Thursday (Nov. 3). According to the publication, Depp won’t be walking the runway as a model, but will instead be a celebrated guest at the center of a “star” moment in the show. He becomes the first man to take on the role, following previous “star” moments dedicated to Cindy Crawford and Erykah Badu in past Savage x Fenty shows. TMZ also reported that the actor has already filmed his portion of the show.

Anitta Savage X Fenty

Rihanna’s ‘Savage x Fenty Show Vol. 4’: See Exclusive Photos of Anitta, Burna Boy & More Performers

Depp will model items from Ri’s men’s collection, according to the publication. Savage x Fenty Vol. 4 show premieres on Amazon’s Prime Video Wednesday, Nov. 9.

Billboard has reached out to Rihanna’s team for comment.

The show comes about five months after the conclusion of the Pirates of the Caribbean actor’s highly publicized libel trial, in which he sued Aquaman actress Amber Heard — his ex-wife — for penning a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post about her experiences as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Heard countersued Depp over statements made by his attorney concerning her abuse claims, and the Virginia jury found both parties liable. However, Depp was awarded significantly more damages than Heard.

Depp’s participation in Savage x Fenty Vol. 4 follows his surprise August appearance at the 2022 VMAs, for which his face was digitally edited onto the helmet of a life-size Moon Person that floated from the rafters during the show’s opening moments.

03 Nov 2022

Billboard to Begin Using Mediabase Radio Airplay Data for Charts Dated Nov. 12

Data and insights company Luminate, which provides data for Billboard’s charts, has partnered with airplay monitoring service Mediabase, and the latter’s radio tracking data will begin fueling Billboard surveys reflecting airplay activity dated Nov. 12.

Luminate previously provided radio data for Billboard airplay charts as monitored by BDS.

Airplay charts (based on audience and/or plays) finalized Monday, Nov. 7 (dated Nov. 12), will be the first using Mediabase data. Individual-format airplay charts dated Nov. 12 will reflect airplay tracked Monday, Oct. 31, through Sunday, Nov. 6. The Nov. 12-dated Radio Songs chart, which serves as the airplay chart component to the all-genre, multi-metric Billboard Hot 100 (which also blends streaming and sales data, as compiled by Luminate), and reflects a Friday-Thursday cycle, will incorporate BDS data for Oct. 28-30 and Mediabase data for Oct. 31-Nov. 3 (with Mediabase data to power Radio Songs thereafter).

Billboard will continue to maintain unique charts and reporter panels, separate from Mediabase’s, for all formats. Upon the change, Billboard will continue to incorporate all current reporting stations that are also monitored by Mediabase for Billboard’s charts. Billboard and Mediabase aim to add additional reporting stations going forward.

Meanwhile, weekly and year-end Billboard charts will continue to be compiled via the same parameters previously applied with BDS data. (Year-end airplay rankings will continue to reflect songs’ activity while on corresponding weekly charts.)

Along with Radio Songs, Billboard’s United States-based airplay charts encompass: Pop Airplay (Mainstream Top 40); Adult Pop Airplay (Adult Top 40); Adult Contemporary; Country Airplay; Rock & Alternative Airplay; Alternative Airplay; Adult Alternative Airplay (Triple A); Mainstream Rock Airplay; R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay; Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay; Adult R&B Airplay; Rap Airplay; Rhythmic Airplay; Latin Airplay; Regional Mexican Airplay; Latin Pop Airplay; Latin Rhythm Airplay; Tropical Airplay; Christian Airplay; Christian AC Airplay; Gospel Airplay; Dance/Mix Show Airplay; Smooth Jazz Airplay; and the seasonal Holiday Airplay chart. (View all Billboard charts here.)

Click here for more information, via Luminate, about the BDS/Mediabase transition (for Luminate subscribers with access to Luminate’s Music Connect platform).

“Mediabase has proven itself to be the most trusted and referenced radio data provider in today’s fast-moving, ever-changing music industry,” said Luminate CEO Rob Jonas in a statement earlier this year. “At Luminate, we pride ourselves in being able to provide our clients – whether they be major record labels, tech companies, film studios, TV networks or indie music powerhouses – with the absolute best information they need to operate and grow their businesses. This new partnership allows us to do just that.”

Said Mediabase president and CEO Philippe Generali, “This new strategic partnership allows us the opportunity to be innovative in our approach to radio monitoring and to further ours and Luminate’s positions as undisputed experts in music data.”

03 Nov 2022

Selena Gomez Describes Depths of Mental Health Struggles: ‘I Thought the World Would Be Better If I Wasn’t There’

Selena Gomez has been very open about her mental health struggles and feelings of despair as a child, and then young woman, growing up in front of the cameras. But in a new Rolling Stone cover story the Only Murders in the Building star opens up about the depths of her battle against depression and bipolar disorder, subjects she takes on with her signature no-BS style in the new Apple TV+ documentary, Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me (Nov. 4).

According to the piece, just minutes into the series, we see Gomez cancelling her 2016 Revival tour early in order to tearfully check-in to a treatment facility, as well scenes in which she is, “unable to get out of bed, scenes of her lashing out at friends, scenes of her roaming her house aimlessly [and] scenes of her coming apart in the middle of a press tour.” In fact, it was so real that up until a few weeks ago Gomez said she considered pulling the plug on the doc.

“Because I have the platform I have, it’s kind of like I’m sacrificing myself a little bit for a greater purpose,” she told the magazine. “I don’t want that to sound dramatic, but I almost wasn’t going to put this out. God’s honest truth, a few weeks ago, I wasn’t sure I could do it.”

But, she tells RS, sharing the story was important, which might explain why she also revealed some of the most difficult struggles she’s faced in her life off-camera. “I’m going to be very open with everybody about this: I’ve been to four treatment centers,” Gomez said. “I think when I started hitting my early twenties is when it started to get really dark, when I started to feel like I was not in control of what I was feeling, whether that was really great or really bad.”

Those high and low periods sometimes found her not sleeping for days, or convinced that she should buy everyone she knows a car and that she had a gift she wanted to share with the world. That mania, however, would then give way to the lowest lows, which she said would begin with depression and then tip into scary isolation. “Then it just was me not being able to move from my bed. I didn’t want anyone to talk to me,” she said. “My friends would bring me food because they love me, but none of us knew what it was. Sometimes it was weeks I’d be in bed, to where even walking downstairs would get me out of breath.”

And though she said she never attempted suicide, Gomez told RS she spent several years contemplating it. “I thought the world would be better if I wasn’t there,” she said. Between her mental health struggles and a diagnosis of the autoimmune disease lupus that required a 2017 kidney transplant which triggered a potentially fatal complication, Gomez said she worried that the life she’d once dreamt of was not in the cards.

“I grew up thinking I would be married at 25,” she said. “It wrecked me that I was nowhere near that — couldn’t be farther from it. It was so stupid, but I really thought my world was over.” A year after the surgery, Gomez said she began hearing voices, which eventually triggered an episode of psychosis. Though her memories of the period are hazy now, the RS piece describes her ending up in a treatment center and spending “several months in paranoia, unable to trust anyone, thinking they were all out to get her.”

That led to her bipolar diagnosis, which helped her make sense of what had just happened, but also meant she was so heavily medicated that she began to lose her essential self. “It was just that I was gone,” she said of the drugs’ effect on her. “There was no part of me that was there anymore.” A psychiatrist scaled back all but two of the meds and as Gomez began to detox she said she had to “learn how to remember certain words. I would forget where I was when we were talking. It took a lot of hard work for me to (a) accept that I was bipolar, but (b) learn how to deal with it because it wasn’t going to go away.”

Aware that the psychosis could return and that her bipolar diagnosis will have to be managed for the rest of her life, Gomez said after her initial concerns she felt the AppleTV+ doc was a part of her story she wanted to share. “I know it has a big message, but am I the right person to bring it to light? I don’t know,” she recalled wondering. “I wanted someone to say, ‘Selena, this is too intense.’ But everyone was like, ‘I’m really moved, but are you ready to do this? And are you comfortable?’”

She couldn’t bring herself to watch the doc at an Apple+ screening, but she did keep an eye on the audience and immediately sensed the right answer. “I was like, ‘OK, if I can just do that for one person, imagine what it could do,’” she recalled thinking. “Eventually I just kind of went for it. I just said, ‘Yes.’”

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.

03 Nov 2022

Grammy Museum Presents ‘The Rolling Stones 1972: Photographs by Jim Marshall’

It’s only rock n’ roll, but the Grammy Museum likes it.

The Rolling Stones’ 1972 tour of the U.S. and Canada, which coincided with the band’s classic album Exile on Main St., is legendary. The Grammy Museum at L.A. Live in Los Angeles is paying tribute to that tour with “The Rolling Stones 1972: Photographs by Jim Marshall,” which opens on Saturday, Nov. 5, and is scheduled to run through June 2023.

The exhibit showcases backstage scenes and performance stills from the California leg of the tour as well as the band’s visits to Sunset Sound recording studios in Los Angeles.

“Once Jim was in, he was another Stone,” Keith Richards said in the foreword of 50th anniversary edition of The Rolling Stones 1972. “He caught us with our trousers down and got the ups and downs. I love his work, which must have been frustrating to do at times, but that is what happens on gigs like this. Wonderful work, and a great guy. He had a way with the shutter and an amazing way with the eye!”

“Jim’s masterful eye and unlimited access captured the Stones in the iconic rockstar way we now visualize the band,” said Kelsey Goelz, associate curator at the Grammy Museum. “This exhibit will transport you to an era of wild rock n’ roll energy at its best.”

There is an irony here: Grammy voters were resistant to The Stones — and to rock in general — in the 1960s and well into the ’70s. Incredibly, the Stones didn’t receive a single Grammy nomination until 1978, when Some Girls received an album of the year nod.

But the Academy has long sought to make amends. The Stones received a lifetime achievement award from the Academy in 1986. Eight years later, they won their first competitive Grammys – best rock album for Voodoo Lounge and best music video, short form for “Love Is Strong.” Five years ago, they won their third Grammy in competition, best traditional blues album for Blue & Lonesome.

The band’s albums Beggars Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971), and Exile on Main St., along with the classic singles “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (1965), “Paint It Black” (1966) and “Honky Tonk Women” (1969) have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Hall is meant “to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance,” but it sometimes functions as a second chance for the Grammys to do right by recordings they might have undervalued when they were current.

Marshall, too, has been honored by the Academy. In 2014, he became the first (and remains the only) photographer to be presented with the Trustees Award, an honorary award presented to individuals for nonperformance contributions to the music industry. He was saluted that year alongside film composer Ennio Morricone, and producer Rick Hall.

In 2013 the Grammy Museum hosted a screening of the then-new documentary, Charlie Is My Darling, which was filmed during the band’s 1965 tour of Ireland.

03 Nov 2022

Travis Barker Mourns Death of Dog Blue: ‘Love You 4Ever Boy’

RIP, good boy. Travis Barker mourned the death of his family’s dog Blue on social media Wednesday (Nov. 3).

“I’ll miss you Blue,” the Blink-182 rocker wrote in a heartbreaking Instagram Story of the French bulldog. “You were the best dog. I was always waiting for you to say something. Love you 4ever boy.”

He also tagged daughter Alabama Barker in the video, who posted her own heartfelt tribute to the pup on her Instagram account, even changing her bio to read “Forever blue.” “I love you blue,” she wrote, “you will never understand how much you helped me on my darkest days, you slept next to me, the way I would throw your ball and you would run with excitement, or the eyes you had that just touched everybody, I’ll never forget you my baby, I know you’ll have the most amazing time up in doggy heaven, until we meet again my love.”

Prior to Blue’s passing, the elder Barker’s social media as of late had consisted mainly of posts with wife Kourtney Kardashian, including a trio of snaps of the reality star posing in the bathtub while her hubby fawned over her “angel feet.”

In October, the drummer and Mark Hoppus reunited with their Blink-182 bandmate Tom DeLonge to drop “Edging,” their first new single together since 2014. The rock band will also embark on an international tour starting in March with stops headlining Lollapalooza Chile, Brazil and Argentina, as well as When We Were Young 2023.

Watch Barker and his daughter’s tributes to Blue here and here before they expire.