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Nipsey Hussle fans might be getting new material from the late rapper soon. While sitting down with Power 106 L.A.’s Brown Bag Mornings, his older brother Blacc Sam spoke on the upcoming documentary that was teased a couple years ago and revealed that a Nipsey and Bino Rideaux collab album should be coming out this […]
Queen Latifah is set to take part in a tribute to Quincy Jones on the 2025 Oscars, which is set to air on Sunday (March 2) from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood. The actor and musician performed on two tracks on Jones’ 1995 album Q’s Jook Joint.
The news was announced by Raj Kapoor, the telecast’s executive producer and showrunner, during a press conference on Zoom with the creative team. “One of the most exciting things that we’ve worked on this year is a musical performance that will tribute Quincy Jones,” he said.
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“We’ve planned and curated this beautiful moment that we hope will uplift the room, that will celebrate the spirit of Quincy and all of his greatness,” said Kapoor, who is co-executive producing the show for the second year in a row (and is part of the Oscars team for the ninth time). “It’s a beautiful moment, and we think it will be very celebratory and make everybody feel really good.”
It’s no surprise that Jones will be receive a special tribute on the show. The producer and musician, who died in November at age 91, made Oscar history many times. He was the first Black musician to be hired as music director on the annual Oscar telecast. In 1967, he became the first Black composer to receive an Oscar nomination for best original song. Jones is, to this day, the only Black composer with three nods in scoring categories, for his work on In Cold Blood (1967), The Wiz (1978) and The Color Purple (1985).
Will Smith, who starred in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, which Jones executive produced, would have been a natural for the Jones tribute, but he was banned from all Academy Award events for 10 years in 2023 following his misbehavior on that year’s telecast.
Smith was part of the tribute to Jones on the Grammy Awards on Feb. 2. He shared memories of working with Jones on the show, which Kapoor also executive produced. The Grammys also featured musical tributes to the beloved musician by Herbie Hanock, Cynthia Erivo, Stevie Wonder, Lainey Wilson, Jacob Collier and Janelle Monáe.
In the Zoom conference, the Oscars’ first-time music director Michael Bearden said he has long walked in Jones’ footsteps. Both men were born on the south side of Chicago, moved to New York, and then moved to Los Angeles. “Quincy is really the blueprint of what I’m able to do,” he said.
While the creative team was reluctant to spoil surprises, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are expected to perform a Wicked medley to kick off the Oscars ceremony. Other performers on the show are Doja Cat, Raye and BLACKPINK’S LISA. The 97th Oscars will also feature a special appearance by the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
First-time show host Conan O’Brien explained the team’s reluctance. “You don’t tell people what you’re going to do. A magician told me that.”
O’Brien has hosted the Primetime Emmys twice (in 2002 and 2006) and the MTV Movie Awards (in 2014). But as he said, the Oscars are on another level. “The Oscars feels it’s all of that on steroids,” he said. “The Oscars team is incredibly professional. It’s like for the first time getting to drive a Ferrari. … I wanted to be part of this magical machine.”
O’Brien said he reached out to past hosts Billy Crystal and Jimmy Kimmel for advice. Crystal has hosted the show nine times; Kimmel, four times.
Kapoor announced there will be a charitable component to the show, as there was on the Grammys. “People will be able to interact, and they are free to donate if they would like to.”
Kapoor, Bearden and O’Brien were joined on the Zoom call by executive producer Katy Mullan, co-executive producer Rob Paine, producer and writer Mike Sweeney, writer Jon Macks, production designer Alana Billingsley and supervising choreographer Mandy Moore.
Atlanta police have alleged that a May 2024 triple shooting on the set of a Lil Baby (born Dominique Jones) music video sparked a gang war that led to multiple homicides. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Major Ralph Woolfolk of the Atlanta Police Department hosted a […]
Kendrick Lamar may be one of the most successful rappers alive, but he stays humble when it comes to his education. In newly surfaced photos from 2022 that have been going viral following his 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, the Compton artist sits in a classroom over the course of a few different days, looking […]
Tyler, The Creator has had his fair share of weirdo run-ins already this year. First, he recently called out some fans for asking him “weird a– questions” whenever he’s randomly spotted somewhere. Now, he’s taking aim at an undisclosed shop owner for posting a screenshot of security footage without his consent with a lengthy rant […]
One of Chappell Roan‘s most iconic looks was hot to go at a recent auction for Los Angeles wildfire relief, with the star’s quintessential blue-sequined marching band unitard pulling in tens of thousands of dollars for the cause at Give a Frock’s charity benefit. As announced on Instagram by Julien’s Auctions on Tuesday (Feb. 25), […]
The Lumineers’ Automatic debuts in the top 10 of multiple Billboard charts dated March 1, paced by its No. 2 starts on the Top Rock Albums and Americana/Folk Albums tallies. In the week ending Feb. 20, Automatic, The Lumineers’ fifth studio album, starts with 29,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S., according to Luminate. […]
Andy Reid is not happy about the Taylor Swift slander. The Kansas City Chiefs coach joined NFL on NBC this week for a wide-ranging conversation about the Super Bowl, where he came to the “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” singer’s defense after she was met with boos from the crowd at the […]
Another week means another new episode of Billboard Unfiltered. This episode was broadcasted live on Wednesday (Feb. 26) with the core four back together.
Drake and PartyNextDoor topped the Billboard 200 with $ome $exy $ongs 4 U earning 246,000 first-week units. The feat brings Drizzy to 14 No. 1 albums, which ties him for the most ever among soloists.
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Deputy Director Damien Scott thinks Drake cracked the code with his album sequencing in the streaming era with Views. “Views, to me, is where Drake figured it out. He’s like, ‘Oh, this long-ass album with a multitude of genres.’ He figured out how to make an album for the way people consume music now and then he kept trying to make that album over and over again,” he said. “He’s never dropped below a certain qualitative point where people are like, ‘I’m not gonna pay attention to this.’ … I’m curious to see what the staying power is.”
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Staff Writer Kyle Denis considered the first-week sales for Drake to be “soft” when comparing to his previous bodies of work. “I’ll never take away this kind of feat. Tying the record for most No. 1 albums by a rapper, that’s something to celebrate about. But at the same time, when you contextualize these numbers they’re kind of soft,” he said. “I think him not clearing 300,000 is pretty surprising to me… This is squarely more in his wheelhouse and he’s still 100K behind his collab albums he did with Future and 21 Savage.”
When looking ahead to the all-time No. 1 albums list, Billboard charts expert Trevor Anderson wonders if Drake albums will continue to remain events. “Will Drake ever come out and it’s eh, fine, top 10 or will they always be events?” Anderson pondered.
Deputy Editor Carl Lamarre reported that he’s hearing that Drake could possibly come with his next heavily-anticipated solo album this summer surrounding his three-night headlining performance across the pond at Wireless Festival.
Meanwhile, J. Cole returned with “Clouds” last week, and it appears a possible feud with Freddie Gibbs is brewing on the horizon. After side-stepping the Kendrick Lamar feud last year, would Cole step into the ring with Freddie Kane?
“If he were to go at Cole, I don’t have any inside information, but I don’t think Cole would be like, ‘I’m alright, man.’ Gibbs is basically calling him a b—h, like you’re not gonna squeeze off with anybody. The dude’s still an amazing rapper,” Scott said. “The circumstances around the Kendrick beef are very particular… It won’t be like that otherwise.”
Ye and The Game also reunited earlier this week and appeared to be using Tina Knowles as the duo’s creative muse while Yeezy teased Game’s The Documentary 3.
“He’s just too old to be acting like this,” Denis said. “45 and 47, really? It’s just so desperate and so pathetic and it’s so clear you want their attention and they haven’t given you it in recent years.”
Watch the full episode below.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.
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This week: A viral TikTok is remixed into a best-selling protest song, an indie rock institution is introduced to younger fans (again) through a big movie synch and Philadelphia gets to celebrate yet another February win via a breakout rap hit.
‘Hostile Government Takeover’ Dance Remix Turns Bleak Current Events Into a Bop
A few weeks after Donald Trump returned to the White House and started dismantling norms left and right, the TikTok user AGiftFromTodd recorded a 30-second video of himself getting ready to leave his house while crooning an original song that began with the line, “We’re in the middle of a hostile government takeover/ I wanna talk about it, but I’ll be late for work.” Todd’s soulful alarmism went viral, with thousands of likes and shares on TikTok upon its Feb. 4 upload, and while he posted a few new versions of the song in the following weeks, the one that’s crossed off to streaming services in a major way is an EDM remix that pairs hopelessness with a club thump, courtesy of producer Vinny Marchi.
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“Hostile Government Takeover” by AGiftFromTodd & Vinny Marchi spent a good chunk of last weekend at No. 1 on iTunes, selling 4,800 downloads from Feb. 21-24, according to initial data provided by Luminate. Meanwhile, its streams keep climbing — the dance remix earned 597,000 official U.S. on-demand streams over that four-day span, up from 153,000 streams from the previous Friday-to-Monday tracking period. As the song continues to spread, the good news for Todd Givens Jr. is that the next four years will offer plenty of new material to riff on for follow-ups. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Yeah Yeah Yeahs ‘Edge’-ing Towards Another Newly Viral Hit Thanks to ‘Gorge’ Synch
If there’s one rock act from 20 years ago that doesn’t especially need any more bumps from newfound Gen Z virality, it’s probably New York’s the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The trio, which reunited in 2022 for its first album together in nearly a decade, spent a stunning eight weeks atop the Billboard TikTok Top 50 chart last year for signature 2003 power ballad “Maps,” racking up millions of streams a week for the revitalized (and re-viralized) hit. Now, the group is surging again with a catalog hit – though this time, it’s not with another decades-old song, but rather a song from that reunion album.
“Spitting Off the Edge of the World,” which was the lead single of 2022’s Cool It Down and featured an assist from acclaimed alt-pop singer-songwriter Perfume Genius, has gotten a big look in Apple TV’s original movie The Gorge, released on Valentine’s Day. The song plays during a pivotal love scene between the film’s co-leads – played by film stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy – and it shot to near the top of the Shazam charts almost immediately after the film’s release, still sticking around there a week later, as folks scrambled to find out what the doomy song playing in the action romance was.
A whole lot of those Shazamers undoubtedly ended up streaming “Spitting” as well – as the song racked up 629,000 official on-demand U.S. streams for the tracking week ending Feb. 20, a 375% gain for the song from the previous week, according to Luminate. And many ended up purchasing the song, too: “Spitting” sold nearly 3,000 copies in that week, a massive gain from the just-over-100 it moved the week before, and good enough for a No. 15 debut on the Digital Song Sales chart – the group’s first-ever appearance on that listing. – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Philly MC Skrilla Taps RWE Basketball Star & TikTok ‘Clipfarming’ for Latest Viral Hit
Last fall (Sept. 9, 2024), a nameless TikTok account uploaded a snippet of a then-unreleased Skrilla song titled “Doot Doot.” The snippet quickly rent viral due to his rambling opening verse, 1ellis’ gritty production and his memorable delivery of the phrase “six, seven.” Since September, the snippet has been used in over 126,000 TikTok posts, eventually giving way to an official DSP release on Feb. 7, 2024.
As the “Doot Doot” snippet continued to make the rounds on TikTok going into 2025, the song earned an unforeseen supporter in Taylor “TK” Kinney, a basketball star for RWE of the Overtime Elite league. Hailing from Newport, Kentucky, the baller has found a way to say “six, seven” in Skrilla’s cadence in nearly every interview from the past few months. The phrase is now synonymous with both TK and Skrilla on socials, and the two young men got to link up in person at an RWE game two weeks ago.
For weeks, TikTok users have been responding positively to TK’s “clip farming” — a practice that basically entails purposely doing something in hopes that it will be clipped and reuploaded across social media – by making edits of his game highlights that are soundtracked by his “six, seven” quip merged with the “Doot Doot” snippet.
According to Luminate, “Doot Doot” earned 1.7 million official on-demand U.S. streams during its first week of released (Feb. 7-13). That figure shot up 105% the following week to over 3.5 million streams. The track has already racked up 3.2 million streams over the first four days of this tracking week (Feb. 21-24), according to initial data provided by Luminate, which marks an 88% jump from the same period the prior week.
With its official music video garnering over 1.26 million YouTube views in just over a week and no signs of slowing down on TikTok, there’s tons of room for Skrilla ‘s latest hit to continue growing. – KYLE DENIS
