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Trending on Billboard There’s a reason we love all those stories about iconic rock and pop hits that were dashed off in five minutes, or nearly tossed on the trash heap before being rescued and surging to the top of the charts. People‘s 2025 Sexiest Man Alive Jonathan Bailey clearly knows this, and on Thursday […]
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Not much rocked the Caribbean in October like Hurricane Melissa.
The historic storm made landfall in Jamaica (Oct. 28) and Cuba (Oct. 29), wrecked parts of Haiti, and caused heavy rain that resulted in fatal flooding across New York City. With a death toll of 75, as of Tuesday (Nov. 4), the devastation of Hurricane Melissa has spurred immediate action and support from some of Jamrock’s biggest stars. Shenseea, Beenie Man, Sean Paul and Spice have all documented their respective relief efforts via their respective social media channels, and, on Monday, Shaggy spoke with Billboard about what he saw on the ground in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
“We got [to Jamaica] early enough to reach the people, because it took me around six hours to get from Kingston to St. Elizabeth in Black River, which is normally a two-and-a-half-hour drive at most,” the reggae icon told Billboard. “We had to chop [tree] limbs down, move things out the way, and drive through high puddles of [runoff], so we got there in the middle of the night. At that point, all we could do was pass water out, so we had to regroup and drive six hours back to Kingston. The next day, we went to the Junction side of St. Elizabeth, which took us four hours. The square itself was shut down. It was ground zero because it wasn’t livable anymore. Nobody could stay there.”
In addition to Shaggy’s efforts alongside the Global Empowerment Mission, verified aid channels include World Food Programme, Project HOPE, GiveDirectly, American Friends of Jamaica, Food for the Poor and Friends of Caritas Cuba.
In lighter news, Trinidadian soca star Mical Teja made headlines after he shared a picture with his locs cut off, A$AP Rocky once again stoked marriage rumors by referring to himself as Rihanna’s “loving husband,” and Chronixx returned with Exile, his first new album in eight years.
Naturally, Billboard’s monthly Reggae/Dancehall Fresh Picks column will not cover every last track, but our Spotify playlist — which is linked below — will expand on the 10 highlighted songs. So, without any further ado:
Trilla-G & V’ghn, “Take Me as I Am”
The genre proves to be very much alive and well with The Recording Academy unveiling the 2026 Grammy nominations on Friday (Nov. 7).
11/7/2025
Trending on Billboard Another day, another flood of music industry deals. How does one keep track? In an effort to provide an overview of the latest acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures, licensing agreements and more, Billboard publishes a list of all of the latest pacts that have hit our radar every other Thursday. Intellectual property rights […]
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Bad Bunny continues to expand his winning streak this year. On Friday (Nov. 7), the Puerto Rican superstar not only received six nominations for the 2026 Grammy Awards, but also made history as the first Latin artist to appear in three main categories in the same year: album of the year for Debí Tirar Más Fotos, and song of the year and record of the year for “DTMF.”
This is the second time Benito is competing for the album of the year award, having previously done so in 2023 with Un Verano Sin Ti. Additionally, “DTMF” is only the second Spanish-language track to be nominated for both record of the year and song of the year, following “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee (featuring Justin Bieber). Bad Bunny is also nominated for best música urbana album, best global music performance for “EoO,” and best album cover as the art director for his LP’s artwork.
Also in the main categories, Mexican hitmaker Edgar Barrera received his third nomination for songwriter of the year, non-classical, this time for writing or cowriting hits for artists including Young Miko, Karol G, Carín León, Fuerza Regida, Grupo Frontera, Manuel Turizo, Shakira and Juanes. He is, once again, the only nominee for the award for writing songs in Spanish.
Other Latin artists are sprinkled throughout the categories. For the best global music performance award, in addition to Bad Bunny, Peruvian singer Ciro Hurtado is nominated for “Cantando en el Camino,” and Cuban artist Yeisy Rojas for “Inmigrante y Qué?” Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel and Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz are once again featured in the classical music categories, while the jazz and Latin jazz sections include Cuban musicians Paquito D’Rivera and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Mexican Arturo O’Farrill and Puerto Rican Miguel Zenón.
In the Latin music categories — which include pop, urban music, rock or alternative music, Mexican music and tropical music — there are superstars who have been nominated or awarded in the past, such as Gloria Estefan, Fito Páez, Karol G, Rauw Alejandro, Natalia Lafourcade and Alejandro Sanz, among others. It also includes first-time nominees such as Colombian singer Paola Jara and Argentine duo CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso.
Many of the artists who received nominations on Friday will first compete at the 2025 Latin Grammy Awards, which will be held Thursday (Nov. 13) in Las Vegas. At this ceremony, Bad Bunny leads with 12 nominations, followed by Edgar Barrera and CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, with 10 each.
Below are the nominees for the 68th Annual Grammy Awards in the Latin and Latin Jazz categories. The winners will be announced in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 1, just a few days before the Super Bowl, where Bad Bunny will headline the halftime show.
Best Latin Pop Album
Cosa Nuestra, Rauw Alejandro
BOGOTÁ (DELUXE), Andrés Cepeda
Tropicoqueta, Karol G
Cancionera, Natalia Lafourcade
¿Y Ahora Qué?, Alejandro Sanz
Best Música Urbana Album
Debí Tirar Más Fotos, Bad Bunny
Mixteip, J Balvin
FERXXO VOL X: Sagrado, Feid
NAIKI, Nicki Nicole
EUB DELUXE, Trueno
SINFÓNICO (En Vivo), Yandel
Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album
Genes Rebeldes, Aterciopelados
ASTROPICAL, Bomba Estéreo, Rawayana, ASTROPICAL
PAPOTA, CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso
ALGORHYTHM, Los Wizzards
Novela, Fito Paez
Best Música Mexicana Album (Including Tejano)
MALA MÍA, Fuerza Regida, Grupo Frontera
Y Lo Que Viene, Grupo Frontera
Sin Rodeos, Paola Jara
Palabra De To’s (Seca), Carín León
Bobby Pulido & Friends Una Tuya Y Una Mía – Por La Puerta Grande (En Vivo), Bobby Pulido
Best Tropical Latin Album
Fotografías, Rubén Blades, Roberto Delgado & Orquesta
Raíces, Gloria Estefan
Clásicos 1.0, Grupo Niche
Bingo, Alain Pérez
Debut y Segunda Tanda, Vol. 2, Gilberto Santa Rosa
Best Latin Jazz Album
La Fleur de Cayenne, Paquito D’Rivera & Madrid-New York Connection Band
The Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chano & Chico, Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Featuring Pedrito Martinez, Daymé Arocena, Jon Faddis, Donald Harrison & Melvis Santa
Mundoagua – Celebrating Carla Bley, Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
A Tribute to Benny Moré and Nat King Cole, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Yainer Horta & Joey Calveiro
Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at The Village Vanguard, Miguel Zenón Quartet
Trending on Billboard It’s another “Golden” week for KPop Demon Hunters as the breakout song reaches a whopping 10th week at No. 1 on the U.K. Official Singles Chart dated Nov. 7. The song, taken from the Netflix smash film, is credited to the animated group HUNTR/X and sung by EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei […]
Trending on Billboard Following its release on the spookiest week of the year, Florence + the Machine’s Everybody Scream has landed at No. 1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart dated Nov. 7. It makes for Florence Welch’s fifth set to reach the summit following 2009’s Lungs, 2011’s Ceremonials, 2015’s How Big, How Blue, How […]
Trending on Billboard This week in dance music: Bunt.’s manager Nick Groff talked about using emerging technology to turn phones back on fans during shows during Billboard’s Live Music Summit in Los Angeles on Monday, Nov. 3. Diplo reflected on his ex Katy Perry and her new boyfriend, the former prime minister of Canada Justin […]
Nicki Minaj showed love to Ye (formerly Kanye West) for taking accountability for his hurtful actions against the Jewish community after meeting with a rabbi.
West met with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto on Tuesday (Nov. 4), during which he expressed remorse and apologized for his previous antisemitic remarks about the Jewish community.
“So happy to see Kanye publicly take accountability for the pain his words may have cause to so many,” she wrote to X on Thursday (Nov. 6), praising West. “Standing with our Jewish brothers & sisters.”
Footage surfaced of West’s meeting with Rabbi Pinto when an Instagram account for Pintoposted the exchange on social media on Thursday.
“I feel really blessed to sit here and take accountability,” West began. “I was dealing with various issues. I was dealing with bipolar also, so I would take the ideas I had and forget about the protection of the people around me and myself. So I wanted to take accountability.”
Ye added: “So it’s like if you left the house and you left your kid at the house and your kid went and messed up the kitchen and messed up the garage and messed up the living room. Then when you get back, it’s your responsibility because that’s your job. That’s the way I look at it. It’s like I gotta go clean up the kitchen, I gotta clean up the living room, I gotta clean up the garage.”
West saw his meeting with Rabbi Pinto as the “first steps” in rebuilding “brick by brick” for the “strong walls” as far as his damaged relationship with the Jewish community goes.
Rabbi Pinto appeared to accept Ye’s apology. “A person is not defined by his mistakes, but by the way he chooses to correct them,” he replied in a translated statement. “This is the true strength of man: The ability to return, to learn, and to build bridges of love and peace.”
The Chicago rapper has been slammed for his repeated antisemitic rhetoric over the last few years, which includes a tweet saying he was going to go “death con 3” [sic] on Jewish people in 2022, and again praising Hitler on X in February this year.
As a result, just about all of his business deals vanished, as companies such as Universal Music Group, Balenciaga, Adidas and Gap ended their partnerships with the rapper.
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
Years after retired NBA star Charles Oakley sued New York Knicks owner James Dolan for having security at Madison Square Garden forcibly remove him from the arena, the court case has taken a new turn. Last Friday (Oct. 31), a court ordered Oakley to cough up some big money for the 2017 incident.
According to Complex, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky ruled that the former Knicks power forward has to pay $642,000 to James Dolan for legal fees to cover the attorney costs connected to MSG’s effort to recover Oakley’s deleted text messages related to the 2017 incident.
Who knew it costs so much to recover deleted text messages?
While $642,000 seems like a lot of money simply for recovering deleted text messages, it’s a lot less than the $1.5 million that Dolan’s legal team originally asked for relating to the matter. So we guess it’s a “win” of sorts for Oak. The judge reduced the bill after finding the firm’s hourly rates and time entries didn’t match up with its original request and landed on a total of $642,337.
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While Charles Oakley originally sued James Dolan for the incident eight years ago, things didn’t exactly break his way and have seemingly become a headache for the man ever since.
Per Complex:
The case was dismissed in 2021, but a federal appeals court revived parts of it in 2023, allowing specific claims to proceed. While the underlying case continues, the fee ruling represents a setback for Oakley.
MSG was granted the right to seek legal fees in July after the court found that Oakley failed to preserve text messages from the period following the incident. MSG’s attorneys said the process of attempting to recover those messages accounted for more than $1.3 million of their time.
Oakley’s attorney, Valdi Licul, said in a statement that the defense team plans to appeal the ruling, adding, “The court denied most of MSG’s wildly inflated fee request… we disagree that MSG is entitled to any recovery.”
Given James Dolan’s very deep pockets, we feel this won’t turn out too well for the beloved retired New York Knicks player. Just sayin’.
What do y’all think about this latest ruling in the case of Charles Oakley vs. James Dolan? Fair or foul? Let us know in the comments section below.
