State Champ Radio News
Page: 251
The Seoul High Court has sided with ADOR, the label behind K-pop powerhouse NewJeans, in an ongoing legal dispute that’s captivated fans and industry insiders alike.
On Tuesday (June 17), a panel of judges — Hwang Byung-ha, Jeong Jong-gwan, and Lee Kyun-yong — upheld a prior injunction barring the five-member group, currently promoting as NJZ, from pursuing independent activities outside of their exclusive contract with ADOR.
The court rejected the group’s appeal, stating there were no sufficient legal grounds to overturn the original decision, which was put in place to maintain the status quo of the contract.
Trending on Billboard
In their filing, the members of NewJeans argued that HYBE, the parent company of ADOR, had broken the trust central to their contract — pointing to HYBE’s internal audit and the controversial dismissal of former ADOR CEO Min Hee-Jin. They also cited a lack of support and neglect from the label as further grounds for appeal.
However, the court disagreed, finding no contractual clause that guaranteed Min’s position as CEO or producer. Judges emphasized that while the leadership dispute may have created tension, it did not invalidate the binding nature of the agreement.
The court further noted that HYBE had acted in good faith by establishing ADOR specifically for NewJeans and providing major support for the group’s debut and rise to stardom. Even after Min’s dismissal, HYBE reportedly offered to keep her involved in the group’s creative direction and later reinstated her as an internal director of ADOR.
In response to concerns about inactivity and career disruption, the judges concluded that any resulting harm stemmed from the members’ refusal to fulfill contractual obligations — not from actions by the company. They also emphasized that the contract had been individually negotiated and could not be considered an unfair, one-size-fits-all agreement under Korean law.
The ruling highlighted the potential financial damage to ADOR if the group were allowed to unilaterally terminate the agreement, a risk the artists had acknowledged at the outset. The seven-year term, the court noted, was clearly agreed upon by all parties.
With the decision, the court reaffirmed ADOR’s legal authority over NewJeans’ management and effectively shut down the group’s attempt to gain independent control of their activities marking a significant chapter in a legal battle that could reshape how artist-label contracts are viewed in the K-pop industry.
In the heart of the South, where culture, music, and history collide, the acronym “F.I.L.A.” has become a beloved mantra for many. Standing for “Forever I Love Atlanta,” F.I.L.A. is more than just a phrase—it’s a declaration of pride, loyalty, and love for the city of Atlanta.
Popularized in the early 2000s, the term gained widespread recognition through Atlanta’s vibrant hip-hop scene, with artists like Young Dro and others incorporating it into their lyrics. It quickly became a cultural emblem, representing the city’s unique blend of Southern charm, resilience, and creativity.
For locals, F.I.L.A. is a badge of honor, symbolizing their deep connection to Atlanta’s rich history, diverse communities, and iconic landmarks. From the bustling streets of downtown to the soulful beats of its music scene, the phrase captures the essence of what makes Atlanta special.
Whether it’s shouted at a Falcons game, worn proudly on a t-shirt, or hashtagged on social media, F.I.L.A. continues to unite Atlantans and fans of the city worldwide. It’s not just a slogan—it’s a way of life.
This year, #BirthdayBashATL is proud to present the Forever I Love Atlanta set, with performances by Young Dro, Yung LA, J Money, Trinidad James, and Rich Kidz…a nostalgic reminder of what makes the city so special. Check out some of our favorites in our playlist below!
When Atlantic Records’ Kevin Weaver was approached about the soundtrack to F1, he says the label didn’t face much competition. “The successes that we’ve had speak for themselves,” he notes, which include recent smash soundtracks to films including Barbie and Twisters. Both boasted chart-topping superstars and spawned multiple hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — and, in the case of Barbie: The Album, even landed three Grammys and an Academy Award. Which is partly why, Weaver adds, “We do get a lot of opportunities to see things early and first.”
Weaver, Atlantic’s president of the West Coast, was first approached about F1 last fall by David Taylor, head of music at Apple TV+ and Apple Original Films. He was then introduced to director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who showed him several scenes from the Brad Pitt-starring Formula 1 racing drama and discussed opportunities for music. “At that point, it felt undeniable to me,” Weaver recalls. “We knocked the deal out in less than a week — that is unheard of.”
Trending on Billboard
Weaver oversaw and produced F1: The Album — which received a kickoff at the Miami Grand Prix in April and will arrive June 27 alongside the film — with Atlantic executive vp/co-head of pop/rock A&R Brandon Davis and senior vp of A&R and marketing Joseph Khoury. This will be Atlantic’s first soundtrack release since restructuring as Atlantic Music Group, with Weaver sharing his gratitude for the “trust and support” from the new leadership team, including CEO Elliot Grainge, GM Tony Talamo and COO Zach Friedman. “From the very start with our launch at the Miami Grand Prix through each weekly single release, we’re lucky to have a team that is so dialed in,” he says.
Still, Weaver believes securing the deal might have been the easiest part of a process that has yielded one of the more genre-diverse soundtracks in recent memory, with contributions from Ed Sheeran, Rosé, Chris Stapleton, Myke Towers, Tate McRae, Burna Boy and more. “We try to look into a crystal ball,” he says. “And so as much as we go with the staples like the Ed Sheerans, trying to forecast artists that are going to be having the biggest moments around when we’re releasing the project and when the film comes out is always of critical importance, too.”
Plus, as Weaver says, Formula 1 is a “very global” brand, with the average F1 fan having music taste that is equally wide-ranging. “I went to a bunch of races. I got to spend time with drivers and team principals and immerse myself into the sport. A big part of general strategy was, ‘What are we doing that has a global feel?’ A big part of it was, ‘What kind of music would you hear when you’re in the paddock at an F1 race?’ ”
Kevin Weaver (second from left) and Rosé.
Evan Hammerman
The A&R experience, as a result, was much different compared with last year’s soundtrack to Twisters, which primarily featured country stars — fitting for a film about chasing tornadoes in central Oklahoma. (Twisters: The Album debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200.)
Only one artist appears on both projects: Stapleton had an existing song in Twisters and contributed the original track “Bad as I Used To Be” to F1: The Album. “Part of what was exciting was [it would] put Chris on an album and a platform that played in a much broader way than the lane and genre of country music,” Weaver says. “Same thing when I went to Dom Dolla and Tiësto and Peggy Gou: These seminal dance artists saw an opportunity to sit on an album with other global superstars across a lot of different genres, and I think that was part of the coveted nature of why artists really wanted to be a part of this thing.”
For Sheeran in particular, his aptly titled track, “Drive,” came together quickly while he was in the studio with John Mayer and producer Blake Slatkin, saying that “the song fell out of us” after he had seen some of the film. (Dave Grohl is also on the track.) Sheeran recalls how Mayer “just whacked an octave pedal on and went wild” to come up with the song’s riff.
“Movies are my hobby and probably the only thing other than sport that I get, like, starstruck to be part of,” Sheeran adds. “Not just directors or actors or whatever, but being a part of the journey of a movie is so exciting for me.”
Of the album’s 17 tracks, seven singles are already out. McRae’s “Just Keep Watching” has become the first to enter the Hot 100, at No. 33. The song also scored her another No. 1 on the Hot Dance/Pop Songs chart.
“We set out to have multiple hits and to move culture. We always have our own odds of what we think are going to be the records, but then other records come out of nowhere,” Weaver says. “We always felt like the Tate song was going to be big. We always knew the Rosé song [“Messy”] was going to be special and really important. I feel really bullish about the Ed Sheeran song, the Burna Boy song [“Don’t Let Me Drown”], Tiësto and Sexyy Red [“OMG!”]. We have a lot of really strong records here. It boils down to which raise their hand.”
Until then, Weaver is already on to his next project — in fact, his next three are locked in. “I have one I can’t talk about specifically, but all I can say is we are doing the soundtrack for probably the most highly anticipated relevant global media [intellectual property] of our generation,” he teases. “And I think that is going to be a monster.”
This story appears in the June 21, 2025, issue of Billboard.
Source: Rick Kern / Getty
RZA is always good for making eye-opening statements. He thinks his fellow Clan member GZA is the greatest MC of all time.
As spotted on HipHopDX, RZA was a recent guest on the Drink Champs podcast. The Abbott discussed his extensive journey in music and dropped several gems about the Wu-Tang Clan, how some of their biggest records came together, making movies and more. During the “Quicktime With Slime” segment, where guests are asked to choose between two options, NORE asked RZA to choose between Nas and GZA. To which he responded “In which way? They’re both very powerful brothers.” While the choice wasn’t an easy one RZA went on to further explain why Genius is the obvious pick for him. “For MC-ing, my favorite, best MC is the GZA. I don’t think no MC could beat the GZA. I think what GZA has written for Hip-Hop, no other MC can compare.”
To hear RZA tell it, GZA’s influence on the culture is greater than what any other rapper has contributed. “Even if you go look at Rakim, who is one of the greatest, to most people, one of the greatest. Nas is one of the greatest. If you go look at what GZA offered to Hip-Hop, look at what he spawned. He spawned me, Meth, Rae, Ghost — these are all from GZA, the enlightener.” RZA went on to add that “what the Wu offered lyrically is what no one has mastered yet.”
GZA is RZA and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s cousin. According to RZA’s book The Wu-Tang Manual, GZA taught RZA how to rap. He would later serve as the group’s unofficial leader. You can see RZA discuss his thoughts on why GZA is the GOAT MC below.
HipHopWired Featured Video
From Coachella to your couch, Yo Gabba Gabba! is so back. Fresh off the beloved kid show’s standout performance at Coachella in April — featuring special guests Flavor Flav, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Portugal. The Man and Thundercat — the full library of the original four seasons of Yo Gabba Gabba! is coming to Apple TV+ […]
Wes Donehower has been promoted to senior vp of A&R for both Mercury Records and Big Loud Records, in recognition of the alliance between the two labels. He was most recently senior vp of A&R at Republic Records. The New York-based Mercury and Nashville-based Big Loud have worked closely together on artists including Morgan Wallen as […]
If you can’t make it to Birmingham, England on July 5 for what is being billed as the final-ever show by Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath don’t sweat it, the Prince of Darkness has you covered. A video posted on Osbourne’s socials on Wednesday morning (June 18) shows a massive crowd joining the metal icon in an “ay-ay-ay” shout as the screen fills with comments from fans asking (and begging) for the Back to the Beginning show to be livestreamed.
“Your prayers answered!” reads a bold font message, followed by vintage footage of Ozzy saying “it’s time to go back to the beginning.”
Trending on Billboard
Ozzy, 76, recently said he will make it to the final show by Sabbath — with original bandmates guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Bulter and drummer Bill Ward — in their hometown of Birmingham no matter what it takes. As he trains for his first full concert since 2018 following a series of surgeries and health setbacks, Ozzy recently said on his “Ozzy Speaks” SiriusXM show that he will make it to the stage in Villa Park “by hook or by crook.”
Sabbath’s final show will feature them joined by Metallica, Mastodon, Anthrax, Pantera, Alice in Chains, Gojira, Slayer and a supergroup featuring members of Guns N’ Roses, the Smashing Pumpkins, Limp Bizkit, Judas Priest, Rage Against the Machine among many others.
The livestream ticket will cost $29.99 and include access to watch the entire show beginning at 10 a.m. ET on July 5, with VOD replay access to rewatch the whole event from July 5th shortly after the event’s conclusion until 10 a.m. ET on July 7; click here for details on livestream tickets.
Osbourne’s wife and manager, Sharon Osbourne, recently said she’d removed a band from the Back to the Beginning lineup after a dispute with the unnamed group’s manager, which made her feel “the worst way I’ve felt in years… I had a huge, huge to-do with a manager over this celebration for Ozzy and Sabbath. And it was probably the worst way I’ve felt in years. And I don’t care what this person says about me, thinks about it, because he doesn’t know me. And he’s now going around making up bulls— lies because I threw his band off the bill.” At press time it was unclear which band Osbourne was referring to.
Check out the livestream announcement below.
BTS fans’ long wait is nearly over. The K-pop supergroup’s label, BIG Hit, announced on Wednesday morning (June 18) that Suga, the final member of the group awaiting discharge from mandatory military duty in the South Korean army, is preparing to join his bandmates. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, […]
Like the reported five million plus Americans who took to the streets across the country over the weekend as part of the massive “No Kings” rallies, Bad Bunny is not happy with the Trump administration’s recent actions. In a video posted to his Instagram Story on Tuesday (June 17), the singer lashed out at what he said was a raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in his native Puerto Rico.
“Those motherf–kers are in these cars, RAV4’s,” Bad Bunny can be heard saying in the video in Spanish over footage of a scrum of unmarked SUVs blocking the street and seemingly apprehending some people on what the singer said was Avenida Pontezuela in Carolina, Puerto Rico. “They came here… sons of b–ches, instead of letting the people alone and working.”
Trending on Billboard
At press time it was unclear what the footage Bad Bunny posted was depicting, but if the action was part of the Trump administration’s stepped-up ICE raids all over the U.S. it comes after the president surged more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 active-duty Marines into Los Angeles — over the objections of both the mayor and the state’s governor — to quell what have been mostly peaceful protests against the ICE raids in that city.
Though Trump promised to remove criminals who are in the U.S. without proper documentation, the ICE raids have so far targeted a much wider swath of folks. NPR reported recently that the raids in Puerto Rico have mostly rounded up Dominican immigrants in actions that harken back to the island’s “long history of anti-Dominican racism,” with racial profiling possibly playing a role in the arrests.
Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Puerto Rico Rebecca González-Ramos said agents on the island nation have done surprise raids at hotels and construction sites, questioned people in the street and asked workers at the department of motor vehicles to hand over the names and addresses of the estimated 6,000 people who got licenses under an immigrant-friendly law that opened driving privileges to people without legal status, according to NPR.
González-Ramos added that so far ICE agents in P.R. have arrested close to 500 immigrants for deportation in the first four months of Trump’s second administration, less than 80 of whom had criminal records; three-quarters of those arrested have been Dominican nationals.
Bad Bunny joins a rising chorus of artists who’ve lashed out at the ICE raids. Over the weekend, Olivia Rodrigo posted her thoughts on the ICE deportations, saying, “I’ve lived in LA my whole life, and I’m deeply upset about these violent deportations of my neighbors under the current administration. LA simply wouldn’t exist without immigrants.”
Addison Rae also said she was “so disappointed and disturbed by what is happening across our nation. This country could not exist without immigrants. Every human being deserves the right to exist in an environment that makes them feel safe, lovingly protected, and embraced.” Finneas claimed he was tear-gassed during a peaceful protest in L.A. earlier this month, writing “F–K ICE… If you are into this fascist s–t you are small and weak and will lose.”
Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has also hit out at ICE, in addition to Katy Perry who has called the raids a “huge injustice,” while Shakira said she lives in “constant fear” as an immigrant in the U.S. Others who protested the actions in L.A. include Tyler, the Creator, The Game, Kehlani, Tom Morello, Reneé Rapp and Rebecca Black.
Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the Trump administration to end what he said was the “illegal and unnecessary takeover of a CalGuard unit, which has needlessly escalated chaos and violence in the Los Angeles region.” The lawsuit names Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Department of Defense, in a filing that outlines “why the takeover violates the U.S. Constitution and exceeds the President’s Title 10 authority, not only because the takeover occurred without the consent or input of the Governor, as federal law requires, but also because it was unwarranted.”
Trump responded over the weekend by saying that ICE must “expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” cities the president described as “the core of the Democrat Power Center.”
Kneecap’s Mo Chara appeared at Westminster’s Magistrates Court on Wednesday (June 18) in relation to an alleged terror offense.
In May, the MC (born Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) was charged for allegedly showing support for militant organizations Hamas and Hezbollah – both of which are defined as terror groups by U.K. law – in newly surfaced videos from a past concert. The video appeared to show Chara shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” and displaying a Hezbollah flag at a show in London in November 2024.
During the hearing, Mo Chara spoke only to confirm his name. The Press Association reports that Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring, presiding over the case, released him on unconditional bail and set a hearing date of Aug. 20. Mr Goldspring said that the 27-year-old must attend court on that day. Prosecutor Michael Bisgrove told the court: “This case is not about Mr hAnnaidh’s support for the people of Palestine or his criticism of Israel.” (via The Irish News)
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Campaigners supporting the group were present at the court’s entrance, with the band and its label Heavenly encouraging fans to attend.
Trending on Billboard
The Belfast trio, made up of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí arrived to court wearing “Free Mo Chara” t-shirts. In the build-up to the court case, Kneecap had “plastered” London with billboards with the message ‘More Blacks, More Dogs, More Irish, Mo Chara,’ in reference to the discriminatory slogan that was present at some London pubs in the 1950s and ’60s.
Speaking on their social platforms, the group called the charge “a carnival of distraction” from what they see as the real issue at hand: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.”
The group say that their pro-Palestine views have been weaponised against them and claimed that their artistic free speech has been infringed. A number of artists including Massive Attack, Fontaines D.C., Paul Weller and IDLES signed an open letter backing the trio. On Monday, The Smiths’ guitarist Johnny Marr shared a statement showing support for Kneecap, and called for them to remain on the bill at Glastonbury Festival next week (June 27-29) despite calls for a boycott.
The Northern Irish hip-hop trio released their breakthrough album Fine Art in 2024 alongside a self-titled biopic which saw critical acclaim, and was nominated for an Academy Award as well as winning a BAFTA prize.
In April 2025, the group ended their Coachella sets with a message that stated: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people. It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes. F–k Israel; free Palestine.” A number of industry names including Sharon Osbourne called for them to be removed from the bill and their work visas to be revoked.
Past videos of the band soon began to surface, including one from November 2023 with the group allegedly saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” Kneecap issued a statement on the remarks, offering an apology to the families of Sir David Amess and Jo Cox; both were killed while standing as MPs in separate incidents in 2021 and 2016, respectively.
“Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah. We condemn all attacks on civilians, always. It is never okay,” the group said. “We know this more than anyone, given our nation’s history. We also reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual. Ever. An extract of footage, deliberately taken out of all context, is now being exploited and weaponised, as if it were a call to action.” The group were not charged in connection with this incident.
During the fallout, a number of the band’s shows were cancelled by organisers, including TRNSMT in Glasgow, Scotland and the Eden Sessions in Cornwall. Kneecap announced – and promptly sold out – make-up shows for fans in those cities.
