News
Page: 189
HipHopWired Featured Video
CLOSE
Source: Alex Wong / Getty / Donald Trump
Donald Trump is on a quest to make America broke again, oops we mean “wealthy again” through tariffs, but he keeps ignoring what economists are trying to get through his thick orange head, regular Americans will feel the pain through their wallets.
Felon 47, for whatever reason, is obsessed with tariffs and believes they are a great tool against our three main trade partners, Canada, China, and Mexico because he feels we are being “ripped off,” in the trade deal he negotiated during his first term.
Trump didn’t waste any time imposing a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico, but he pulled some back after the stock market reacted negatively. As of this writing, the markets continue to tank due to his bonehead decision.
The Orange Menace imposed an additional 10% tariff on goods from China on top of the 10% tariff he imposed on the country in February. Analysts believe that Trump’s new round of tariffs will make video games and other electronics more expensive and push publishers to abandon physical releases.
https://x.com/ZhugeEX/status/1896897066888278262
GameRant reports that Trump’s tariffs on Mexico could make consoles like the Nintendo Switch 2 more expensive and have other negative implications.
Per GameRant:
Industry experts are particularly concerned about the ripple effects on the video games market. Mat Piscatella, Circana Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst, predicts a “sharp downtick” in the number of physical game releases in the United States. Much of the production infrastructure for these games is based in Mexico, and a 25% tariff would disrupt supply chains, increasing manufacturing costs. As a result, retailers may raise prices on both physical and digital games to maintain price parity. “If physical game prices go up, digital games’ MSRPs will likely follow,” Piscatella noted in a recent discussion on Bluesky. He expressed doubts about any positive outcomes for the physical game market in the near future.
Bruh.
During Trump’s first disastrous presidency, the video game industry convinced him to chill and exclude them in the tariffs he placed on Chinese goods, but he has not extended the same grace.
The ESA warned that Trump’s tariffs could significantly harm the video game industry. There are fears that Project 2025, the extreme right-wing playbook that Trump claims he knows nothing about, could somehow interfere with the release of Grand Theft Auto 6 because the language in it suggests possible censorship of games like GTA 6 due to their graphic and violent nature.
This nightmare is just beginning. Brace yourselves, it’s going to be a long four years. You can see reactions in the gallery below.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: River Callaway / Getty
Quite often some of the most serious conversations are presented on social media through viral clips and tweets. Still, in most cases, online responses rarely receive the benefit of the care and nuance needed to be transformative.
In the case of the most recent viral clip from rap phenom and Billboard Woman of the Year, Doechii, this couldn’t be closer to the truth. Her most recent soundbite, in which she shared with DJ Miss Milan that her top “red flag” was “heterosexual men,” generated quite the buzz from rap critics and fans alike who saw her honest quip as confirmation of her hatred for mankind.
https://x.com/Glock_Topickz/status/1898100042839314548
Admittedly, my knee-jerk response was to feel the same way. For many male rap fans who champion the music of what the genre would deem as lyrical music, we saw her comments as hurtful and divisive, a reflection of a growing multitude of society that views heteronormative mannerisms as oppressive. But after some reflection, I had to begrudgingly concede that feelings aside, the sentiment of her words were true. For many Black women who’ve been caught in the crosshairs of the misogyny of rap and popular media, queer people and, in particular, queer Black women, were often fodder for the endless flame of insults and criticism churned out.
Just last month, Doechii, who identifies as bisexual, shared her experience as a middle school student with bullying, a commonality that other Black women and Black people in the LGTQBIA community have spoken about at length, which ties back into the central theme that Black men deserve rightful skepticism for their intentional and sometimes unintentional reinforcement of oppressive conditions.
An article titled, The Status of Black Women in the United States from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research shows that “more than 4 out of 10 Black women suffer violence at the hand of an intimate partner in their lives” while also sharing that they tend to suffer psychological abuse at a higher rate than women from other racial groups. Most of the violence that affects women comes at the hands of men, often stemming from archaic ideas about what a woman should do and be. Add to that the historic elements of racism and in the case of many darker-skinned women like Doechii—colorism—and you have a culture that openly celebrates otherizing people. With all of the violent ideas and actions Black women encounter in a lifetime then, it makes perfect sense for Doechii to feel that way.
It may sting to hear, but somewhere deep inside it reminds us that we have the power to positively affect people and shape their perceptions for better or worse. Instead of condemning her for her opinion, we should choose to focus on her work and the importance of the moment she’s in. She made history just this year when she became the third woman to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album and has not stopped breaking ground in areas where her creativity and innovation can be fully celebrated.
So for others who may have felt as I did when I heard her comments, I would implore you to do what I had to, which is appreciate her thoughts for what they were and continue the work of making a safer world for other Black people who are also geniuses.
Tito Fuentes, vocalist and guitarist of the Mexican rock band Molotov, is taking some time off to deal with health issues. The musician announced that he is undergoing physical and mental rehabilitation, without going into details.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
“I am in a process of both physical and mental rehabilitation that has led me to be absent from the stage during the last Molotov concerts,” he said in a statement on social media Monday (March 10). “Putting my health as a priority, I have decided not to return to play until I am 100%.”
Fuentes will be replaced by Jay de la Cueva, leader of the defunct band Moderatto and former member of Molotov, for the group’s upcoming scheduled performances.
Trending on Billboard
De la Cueva “is not only a great musician and dear friend, but Jay is also one of the founding members of the band, and I am sure it will be a great show to see him with them at Vive Latino,” said Fuentes, adding, “I hope to return soon.”
The announcement comes just days after the iconic Mexican band began an extensive tour with dates in Latin America and Europe to celebrate its 30th anniversary, a series of shows that includes the group’s participation in the 25th edition of the Vive Latino festival Saturday (March 15) at the GNP Seguros Stadium in Mexico City.
Billboard Español reached out to Molotov’s team for additional comment.
Jay de la Cueva, considered one of the most versatile musicians in the Mexican rock scene for his participation with various groups and projects, was a founding member of Molotov in 1995, along with Fuentes and Micky Huidobro (bass).
For three decades, Molotov — which also includes Paco Ayala (guitar) and Randy Ebright (drums) — has been a reference in Latin rock music. Songs such as “Gimme the Power,” “Frijolero” and “Voto Latino” have become the soundtrack for their followers through political and social changes, while denouncing issues such as racism, corruption, bureaucracy and abuse of power.
On the Billboard charts, the band has placed four titles both in Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums, including two top 10s of the latter: Dance and Dense Denso in 2003, and Agua Maldita in 2014.
A seven time Latin Grammy-winner, Molotov has also sparked controversy on several occasions. One of the most memorable occurred in 1997, when the band released the Gustavo Santaolalla-produced album ¿Dónde Jugarán Las Niñas?, whose cover caused it to be removed from record stores for being considered offensive to morals in Mexico. The cover featured a photograph of a girl in a high-school uniform with her panty at mid-thigh.
The band’s song “Puto” has been labeled as homophobic by LGBTQ advocacy groups, something the band has denied on several occasions, arguing that the title is just a popular Mexican expression.
OpenPlay, the back-office technology company that Universal Music, BMG and others use to manage their catalogs, said on Tuesday it hired former Dubset Media executive Bob Barbiere to lead a new service offering.
Called OpenPlay Reach, the new offering will launch in the second quarter this year and it aims to give its thousands of label and publisher clients more control over the distribution and monetization of their catalogs, and delivery of tracks to the streaming platforms, the company says.
With more than 100,000 new tracks uploaded to music platforms every day, and video assets with music components becoming more powerful generators of streaming revenue than in recent years, managing the thousands and millions of songs major music companies and publishers have in their catalogs has never been more complicated.
Trending on Billboard
At the same time, record labels and publishers are looking to automate back-office functions to save money and focus staff resources on finding new artists and talent.
“[OpenPlay] Reach is both well-conceived and uniquely timed,” Barbiere said in a statement. “Labels and publishers are not only trying to keep up with the growing use of their catalog and rapidly expanding number of consumer touch points, they are being fiscally challenged to get more accomplished with less. While OpenPlay now powers the back office of thousands of labels and publishers, it’s been one of music’s best kept secrets. With the introduction of Reach, it will not be a secret much longer.”
OpenPlay says it not only helps clients house their catalogs, but also distribute their songs. The OpenPlay dashboard shows effectively everything Spotify, Apple Music and other digital service providers require: rights, audio information, secondary contributors, everything associated with an individual ISRC or composition, basic publishing information, lyrics, expanded metadata and more. OpenPlay’s tools also provide distribution services like creating secure, trackable playlists to send promoters, a tool that automatically creates electronic press kits, and a dashboard for label groups to approve or reject releases from across label groups.
Its clients include all the majors — Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group — as well as BMG, Concord, HYBE, Netflix, Disney Music, Big Machine, MNRK and others, according to the company.
A veteran of music technology and digital rights clearances, Barbiere previously co-founded ClearBeats, a startup aimed at solving hassles in licensing derivative works, and was an executive at Pex, which tracks music usage and modified audio. He joins OpenPlay as executive vice president and general manager of OpenPlay Reach.
OpenPlay co-founder and chief client officer Edward Ginis says the expanded new tools further “our vision to give rights owners the independence to take asset management decisions with complete control. Bob Barbiere’s leadership will be key in driving this expansion forward and ensuring that content can be managed, delivered and monetized at scale.”
Ask any parent and they will tell you that their kid is absolutely the best, the tops, no matter what anyone else thinks. Britney Spears is exactly one of those proud mamas, as evidenced by a pair of Instagram clips she posted on Tuesday (March 11) of her youngest, 18-year-old son Jayden James, showing off his piano-playing and mumble rapping skills.
In the first video, Jayden can be heard playing an unidentified song on the piano as Britney, 43, walks through her living room and zooms in on a picture of her with her second born before walking over to watch him tickle the ivories. Wearing baggy black jeans, a Muhammad Ali t-shirt and a black wool hat, Jayden fools around on the baby grand as his mom exclaims, “that’s sick!”
As he continues to play, Britney can be heard saying, “Jesus! That’s sick!” She captioned the clip “WOW WOW WOW !!!”
Trending on Billboard
In the second video, Jayden, now wearing dark shades indoors, walks around mumbling as Britney screams, “Well that was really good! My son just played! Oh my God! I felt it in my bones, and my heart, and my lungs, and my a–, and my throat and my…,” as Jayden appears to complete the thought with “my d–k.”
“Yes sir, yes sir,” Jayden says nonchalantly while Britney enthuses, “Hello, hello, hello, whoa!,” swinging her phone camera back to the piano. Her excitement at their get-back was clear from the caption of the second video: “He’s a genius and I’m in awe of him !!! I can’t believe he’s mine !!! I was honestly scared that’s not normal !!!”
The singer who also shares older son Sean Preston, 19, with her ex Kevin Federline, posted pics in December of what she called a reunion with Jayden after what she said was a two-year period in which she didn’t see her sons. “Best Christmas of my life !!! I haven’t seen my boys in 2 years !!!” she wrote on Christmas Day. “Tears of joy and literally in shock everyday koo koo crazy so in love and blessed !!! I’m speechless thank you Jesus !!!”
Check out the musical mother and child reunion below.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: iOne / iOne
Bow Wow treats fans to an exclusive in-studio performance of his iconic hit “Let Me Hold You” on the 20th anniversary of its release, exclusively on Hip-Hop Wired.
Dropping back in 2005 as a lead single off his fourth studio album, “Wanted”, the track still hits just as hard today. Featuring R&B star Omarion, the song became an instant smash, climbing to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and solidifying Bow Wow as one of the biggest young stars in the game.
For the anniversary set, Bow Wow, real name Shad Moss, proved exactly why “Wanted” was a movement. The album was stacked with heat, delivering back-to-back bangers like “Fresh Az I’m Iz,” “Do What It Do,” and “Like You” featuring Ciara. Every track kept him heavy on the charts and in rotation on 106 & Park, making him a staple in mid-2000s hip-hop and R&B. The project didn’t just showcase his evolution it cemented his legacy as one of the youngest to ever do it at that level.
Bow Wow’s influence on hip-hop culture runs deep. From his early days as a pint-sized prodigy under Jermaine Dupri’s wing to dominating the 2000s with platinum records, blockbuster films, and cultural moments, he’s been a force in the game. He paved the way for young rappers to be taken seriously, proving that age was just a number when it came to making hits. His impact extended beyond music—his presence in films like Like Mike and Roll Bounce made him a household name. Love him or hate him, Bow Wow’s resume is undeniable. He’s a hip-hop legend, stamped for life.
Check out the full performance below exclusively on Hip-Hop Wired:
A few weeks after revealing his plans to sell a custom 2022 Lamborghini Urus won from its previous owner, superstar Shakira, in a giveaway, Colombian-American artist Michael Mejía was involved in a car accident while driving the luxury vehicle on Thursday (March 6).
“I was simply hit. It wasn’t me who crashed,” Mejía told Billboard on Tuesday (March 11). “I was about to cross a street when a car came speeding, and the driver was probably distracted. It was quite a scary moment. Fortunately, I wasn’t injured, but it was a very [tough] moment. The car is being restored. Thankfully, I had good insurance, so the car will be as good as new.”
An Instagram video posted on Sunday (March 9) by Spanish-language reality series ¡Siéntese Quien Pueda! showed the purple Lamborghini damaged in Miami.
Trending on Billboard
In February, during an interview with El Gordo y la Flaca, the contest winner talked about receiving the car from Shakira and his intention to sell the car — worth $280,000 — for potentially $1 million because of the steep maintenance costs. Shakira had provided him with an extra $90,000 to cover various expenses such as taxes, the car’s title transfer, legal fees and six months of insurance payments.
He previously explained the financial challenges involved, facing about $95,000 in federal taxes at the end of the year, monthly insurance costs exceeding $2,000 and more expenses related to the luxury vehicle. And now, he tells Billboard, he’s also facing backlash from the pop superstar’s fans for needing to sell the Lamborghini.
“The reality of all this is that I am an artist — I earned this car with my art,” he tells Billboard. “I’ve had a super lovely experience receiving that recognition from Shakira. What’s happening now is that all of Shakira’s fans — who initially supported me — are hating me because I decided to sell the car, since it is very costly. So, to them, it’s like, ‘This man is an opportunist. How can he take advantage and sell the prize?’ They see it as potentially disrespectful towards Shakira. I mean, the reality is that the car is very expensive. All the monthly costs are too much, and I just can’t keep up with them.”
The artist — known for his work in fine art, murals and body painting — won the prize based on the merit of his artistic contributions. He adds to Billboard: “A car doesn’t define an artist; let [fans] not forget why I won that car.”
This is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.
This week: Daddy Yankee sues his ex-wife for $250 million; Jay-Z’s dispute with his former accuser and her lawyer goes on; prosecutors say Taylor Swift tickets were stolen and resold by hackers; and much more.
THE BIG STORY: Daddy Yankee Goes Back To Court
Daddy Yankee’s legal war with ex-wife Mireddys González isn’t over yet.
The pair finalized their divorce last month, but in a lawsuit filed last week in Puerto Rico, the reggaetón superstar (Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez) accused her and her sister Ayeicha González Castellanos of mismanaging two of his companies to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Trending on Billboard
“Mireddys and Ayeicha … proceeded to concentrate in themselves a greater power than authorized and, together, made negligent and selfish decisions that were detrimental to both the companies and [Daddy Yankee] in his personal capacity and as an artist,” the star’s lawyers wrote.
The lawsuit follows, and often echoes, the allegations Yankee made in December when he sought an injunction against González – namely that the two women had withdrawn $100 million from his companies’ bank accounts without authorization. Now, Yankee claims that after regaining control of the companies, his team discovered many new irregularities, including the “disappearance” of key records.
For all the details, go read the full story from Billboard’s Griselda Flores.
Other top stories this week…
FIGHT GOES ON – Jay-Z’s rape accuser is standing by her story, according to court documents filed last week — directly contradicting a recent lawsuit in which the superstar claimed the woman had admitted to fabricating the allegations. Later in the week, the star’s lawyers filed sworn statements from private investigators to whom the accuser allegedly recanted, and suggested that she and her lawyer should sit for depositions.
HACKED TICKETS – Members of a “cybercrime crew” stole more than 900 tickets to the Taylor Swift Eras Tour and other events and then resold them for more $635,000 in illegal profit, according to charges handed down by New York prosecutors. The tour, which wrapped in December with a record-shattering haul of more than $2 billion in face-value ticket sales over a two-year run, spawned an infamously pricy resale market – something the accused fraudsters were allegedly able to exploit.
“FLOWERS” UPDATE – Miley Cyrus seems unlikely to immediately escape a copyright lawsuit filed over allegations that her Grammy-winning “Flowers” infringed the Bruno Mars song “When I Was Your Man.” At a court hearing, a Los Angeles federal judge indicated that would likely deny a motion to dismiss the case filed last year by attorneys for Cyrus.
SHEERAN CASE AT SCOTUS – The legal battle over whether Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” infringed Marvin Gaye‘s “Let’s Get It On” has reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In a petition for certiorari filed last week, a company that owns a stake in the rights to Gaye’s 1973 song urged the justices to overturn a November ruling by a lower appeals court that rejected the lawsuit, arguing that “the rights of thousands of legacy musical composers and artists” were at stake in the case.
ANTITRUST SHOWDOWN – A lyrics service called LyricFind filed an antitrust lawsuit against Musixmatch, claiming that the larger rival has reached an exclusive licensing deal with Warner Music Group (WMG) that’s “unprecedented in the music industry” and is aimed at securing an illegal monopoly for providing lyrics to streamers like Spotify.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
We’re getting closer to the 2025 March Madness tournament, but first, some of the country’s best basketball schools will have to go through the Big Ten Conference Tournament, taking place this week in Indianapolis.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The 2025 TIAA Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament takes place March 12-16 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Tickets to the NCAA event are still available on sites like Stubhub and Vivid Seats (bonus: use our exclusive promo code BB30 to take $30 off your purchase at VividSeats.com).
How to Watch 2025 Big Ten Basketball Tournament
All 14 games of this year’s Big Ten Tournament will be broadcast live, through a mix of network television and streaming services.
The Big Ten tournament first round is streaming live on Peacock and you’ll be able to watch the basketball games online by logging into your Peacock account. Don’t have Peacock? You can sign up right now for just $7.99 and get instant access to a college basketball livestream as well as thousands of hours of TV shows, movies, specials and more live sports.
The second and quarterfinal round games will air on the Big Ten Network, while the semifinals and championship game air live on CBS. If you want to watch the Big Ten Championship on TV, you can do so with a basic digital antenna or any cable package that includes a local CBS feed. Otherwise, you can stream the games online through Fubo, which includes Big Ten Network and CBS as part of its channel offerings.
Fubo lets you watch Big Ten basketball live online through your phone, computer, tablet or smart TV, and you can stream the games without needing cable. Fubo currently has a seven-day free trial that you can use to livestream the Big Ten tournament online free.
The Big Ten Tournament semifinal and championship games will also be available to stream online through Paramount+. Try it out with a free trial here.
Michigan State is the number-one seed in this year’s Big Ten Basketball Tournament, taking the top spot for the first time since 2019. Maryland is number two, with Michigan and UCLA rounding out the top four teams. All four seeds have earned double-byes and don’t open play until Friday’s quarterfinal round.
Michigan State is once again favored to take home the championship. The school’s 17 Big Ten wins are the most in program history.
New York University (NYU) and Sony Corporation have announced the launch of a new institute at the school through which students will have access to Sony audio technology, be given real-world opportunities and more.
Formally dubbed the Sony Audio Institute for Music Business and Technology, the institute will be based within NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, whose leadership and faculty co-created it alongside Sony’s personal entertainment business. Through the partnership, students enrolled in Steinhardt’s music business and music technology degree programs will have access to Sony audio technology, including 360 Reality Audio and the 360 Virtual Mixing Environment — both of which will be outfitted in the newly-named Sony Audio Institute Studio at NYU’s Brooklyn campus.
NYU’s Music and Audio Research Lab (MARL) will also receive input from Sony researchers and engineers in conducting its research on music and audio technologies. Current areas of focus at MARL include music and auditory perception and cognition; machine listening and music information retrieval; spatial and immersive audio; and music in the health and rehabilitation sciences.
Trending on Billboard
The institute will additionally offer workshops, internships and special events to students, while NYU venues “will present student-driven programming that bridges the gap between academic learning and real-world industry experiences,” offering students “a platform for hands-on innovation and collaboration,” according to a press release.
Through the institute, NYU will also establish a scholarship program to assist undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students at NYU Steinhardt “who demonstrate financial need and academic merit with a preference for students who have an interest in pursuing research or careers in the audio industry,” the release adds.
The institute, which has been established for an initial 10-year term, is set to open this spring, with NYU Steinhardt clinical professor and music industry veteran Larry S. Miller serving as inaugural director. Miller will also continue serving as the director of the music business program at NYU Steinhardt until fall 2025.
“It is an honor to establish this collaboration with New York University, one of the world’s premier music schools, renowned for its long-standing legacy of producing some of the audio industry’s top talent,” said Kimio Maki, president/CEO at Sony Corporation, in a statement. “Through this collaboration, we look forward to inspiring creativity for the next generation of music creators and witness how their artistry will influence the music industry for years to come.”
NYU president Linda G. Mills added, “We are excited and grateful that Sony has chosen NYU Steinhardt to collaborate on this important initiative, which will create new opportunities for our amazingly talented students through scholarships, internships, research fellowships, and other unrivaled experiences. This forward-looking initiative will not only create new opportunities for creative expression, it will give our students a competitive advantage in a rapidly changing industry. I’d like to thank the team at Sony and everyone at NYU who worked tirelessly to make this dream a reality.”