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Cazzu’s “Dolce” has topped Billboard’s latest new music Latin poll. In a poll published on Friday (Jan. 24) — in support of the weekly New Music Latin roundup and playlist, curated by Billboard Latin and Billboard Español editors — music fans voted for the Argentine artist’s new track as their favorite music release of the […]
Coming off the release of his acclaimed debut album, Central Cee is hitting the road for the Can’t Rush Greatness World Tour.
Kicking off in Norway on April 1, Cench revealed the complete 39-date global trek on Tuesday (Jan. 28). A first leg will run through Europe/U.K. which will be followed by the U.S. and then Australia.
General tickets will go on sale starting on Friday (Jan. 31) at 10 a.m. local show time while artist pre-sale begins on Wednesday (Jan. 29) on his website.
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“CAN’T RUSH GREATNESS WORLD TOUR,” he wrote in a post on X. “TICKETS ON SALE THIS FRIDAY 10AM WHEREVER YOU ARE.”
European stops for the tour include Norway, Denmark, Milan, Paris, London, Ireland and more. The North American leg starts in Portland on May 2 and will hit Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Toronto, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Montreal.
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Cench delivered his Can’t Rush Greatness debut album on Friday (Jan. 24) which features 21 Savage, Young Miko, Lil Durk, Lil Baby, Skepta and more. The 21 Savage-assisted “GBP” debuted at No. 92 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Cee sniped at Aitch on “5 Star,” calling out how the British rapper won an award over him at the 2023 BRITs. Aitch didn’t waste much time firing back at Cench earlier this week with his “A Guy Called?” diss track.
Cench is up for a trio of 2025 BRIT Awards for Best U.K. Artist, Best Song (“Band4Band”) and Best Hip-Hop & Grime.”
Find all of the 2025 Can’t Rush Greatness World Tour dates below.
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Two of the so-called Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrectionists who received a blanket pardon from President Donald Trump recently found themselves in the news for unfortunate reasons. One of the Jan. 6 participants was shot and killed during a traffic stop, while another is on the run for soliciting a minor.
As reported by local outlet Fox 59, Indiana man Matthew Huttle was one of the 1,500 individuals involved in storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and was given freedom by the newly-inaugurated President Trump who felt those insurrectionists were serving their duty as Americans despite their seditious aims.
According to the outlet, Huttle, 42, was stopped by a Jasper County Sheriff’s Department deputy this past Sunday (Jan. 26) for an unnamed violation. As the deputy attempted to arrest Huttle, a struggle ensued leading to the deputy using his service weapon as Huttle resisted. Indiana state police say Huttle had a firearm in his possession and it is still being unsaid why the deputy pulled him over.
Huttle and his uncle Dale Huttle were arrested for participating in the Jan. 6 standoff, with the uncle stating publicly that he had no regrets for the actions he and his nephew took in 2021.
As seen on Houston Public Media, Andrew Taake of Houston was released from a Colorado prison on Jan. 20 after the sweeping pardons of President Trump. However, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare shared with the outlet that Taake, 36, is wanted under a pending state warrant for online solicitation of a minor in 2016. The Harris County DA’s office attempted to have Taake held in prison by showing a warrant to the Federal Bureau of Prisons five days ahead of his pardon.
Harris County authorities are currently searching for Taake to bring him to justice for the alleged crime.
“Re-arresting individuals, like Taake, who were released with pending state warrants, will require significant resources,” Teare said in a statement. “Know that we are already in the process of tracking Taake down, as he must answer for [the] 2016 charge of soliciting a minor online.”
It seems like President Donald Trump feels like the Jan. 6 domestic terrorists are “very fine people” because they did his bidding with murderous and treasonous intent.
On X, folks are taking note of the pardoned insurrectionists and their checkered trails since being cleared of their crimes. Check out the reactions below.
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It’s officially been one year shy of a decade since Rihanna last released an album, with the pop star celebrating nine years since the debut of her critically acclaimed LP Anti on Tuesday (Jan. 28). To mark the occasion, the superstar shared a montage of sultry music video and performance footage from her 2016 era, […]
01/28/2025
The contestants offered their best compilation album commercial impressions in this week’s challenge. See which queens reached the top of the charts, and which ones fizzled out.
01/28/2025
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NLE Choppa has made it well-known that he proudly stands behind the LGBTQ community and though he doesn’t claim to be gay or bisexual, the man has been accused of gay baiting in the past. So when he posed up a storm for the latest issue of Playgirl, y’all already knew those accusations would once again go into overdrive.
Looking particularly zesty for his photoshoot in the January issue of Playgirl, many in the Hip-Hop community have once again taken to social media to call NLE Choppa out for baiting the gay community while others feel the man may just be slowly coming out the closet. Either way, that’s his business.
Still, it seems like the gay baiting accusations isn’t sitting too well with NLE Choppa. He explained that he did not care what others think about how he’s portraying himself for his fans, but does want people to stop saying he’s a “gay baiter just because I’m comfortable enough to show off the perfection that God has orchestrated over my physical, my mental, my spiritual and even my emotions.”
Homie low-key went from sounding conceited to humble in one sentence.
Continuing on with his statement of the gay baiting sentiment, NLE Choppa added, “I am not a gay baiter because I post a selfie in the mirror showing off how beautiful I am. I am not a gay baiter if I post a picture showing off how much God has blessed me from below the waist with something that got women going crazy. I am not a gay baiter because in my Playgirl shoot I showed a piece of my ass. I can’t show a piece of my own ass without being called a name? It’s my ass! I am not a gay baiter because I showed my ass to a lady photographer.”
Well, he’s not wrong, but y’all already know heads are going to think what they want to think, and they’re thinking he’s either gay baiting or simply gay on the low (not that there is anything wrong with that). That’s just the game.
Still, NLE doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks of him and once again reiterated his support of the gay community saying, “I love gay people but I would never want to bait gay people to love me for a certain reason. That’s not what I wanna do.”
Good for you, NLE. Now, go put some pants on, b.
Check out NLE Choppa’s statement and let us know your thoughts on his statement in the comments section below. And peep the CassiusLife cover story while you’re at it.
Editor’s note: The list is updated on a monthly basis. Festivals that have already passed are deleted from the list.
From Vive Latino in Mexico City to La Onda Fest by Bottlerock in Napa Valley, Calif. to Cosquín Rock in Santa María de Punilla, Argentina, Billboard Español brings together the definitive guide to festivals celebrating Latin music and more around the world.
Picnic Festival Centroamérica turns 10 this year. The two-day event, which takes place in Costa Rica on Feb. 8 and 15, will feature four headliners each day, including Paulo Londra, Maria Becerra, Maluma, and Grupo Frontera.
The U.K.’s La Línea Festival also celebrates an important milestone with its 25th anniversary in 2025. Buena Vista Social Club star Eliades Ochoa, Spanish singer Rodrigo Cuevas, Latin Grammy winner Ed Maverick, Puerto Rican rapper Villano Antillano, Brazilian rock outfit Francisco el Hombre, and more have all been confirmed to perform in venues across London from April 22 to May 5.
We see more diverse lineups headlined by Latin and Anglo artists this year, such as Coachella in Indio, California, with performances by Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post Malone, as well as The Marías, Alok, Anitta, Junior H and many more. At the Bésame Mucho Fest in Austin, the musical cycle includes diverse and multi-generational Latin artists such as Bronco, Carín León, Los Tigres del Norte, and Hombres G.
Noteworthy, the exclusively hip-hop festival will feature corridos superstar Peso Pluma as a headliner.
While this may not be an exhaustive list, it serves as a comprehensive guide to some of the genre’s most significant events. Whether you’re a die-hard reggaetón fan, a salsa aficionado, or a lover of all things Latin, see our guide to the must-attend festivals across the globe, arranged in sequential order.
Picnic Festival Centroamérica
After Selena Gomez posted an emotional response to the Donald Trump administration’s recent immigration raids, a user identifying as politician Sam Parker called for her to be deported in a post on X — but the singer-actress isn’t fazed.
On Instagram Stories, Gomez dismissed the Utah Republican — who Ballotopedia says ran unsuccessfully for United States Senate in 2018 — by writing, according to People, “Oh, Mr. Parker, Mr. Parker.”
“Thanks for the laugh and the threat,” the Rare Beauty founder added in the post, which has since disappeared from her Story.
Billboard has reached out to Gomez’s rep for comment.
The Only Murders in the Building star’s words come in response to Parker taking to X to call on the U.S. government to “Deport Selena Gomez” after she posted a video on her Story Monday (Jan. 27) of herself crying over the arrests of nearly 1,000 people deemed to be national security threats by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the weekend. “All my people are getting attacked, the children,” Gomez said in the clip through sobs. “I’m so sorry, I wish I could do something, but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise.”
The Texas-born star later deleted the video from her Story and wrote, “Apparently it’s not ok to show empathy for people,” according to People.
Gomez has long been a strong advocate for the immigrant community. In 2019, she produced the Netflix docuseries Living Undocumented, which told the stories of eight families who faced potential deportation under the first Trump administration. She’s also spoken about how immigration has shaped her own family’s history, detailing how her aunt and grandparents crossed the Mexican border to start their lives in the U.S. before she was born in a 2019 essay for Time.
“Over the past four decades, members of my family have worked hard to gain United States citizenship,” she wrote at the time. “Undocumented immigration is an issue I think about every day, and I never forget how blessed I am to have been born in this country thanks to my family and the grace of circumstance.”
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South Carolina DJ found herself in hot water after playing a song by the late rapper Camoflauge, the father of LSU star Flau’jae Johnson, during a recent game.
I’ll take my L on the chin, but this just nasty behavior. Nun funny bout that pic.twitter.com/BKYGgGvfGo
— Flaujae 4️⃣ (@Flaujae) January 26, 2025
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The move was seen as highly insensitive because Flau’jae’s father was tragically killed in a shooting back in 2003. When news of the incident spread, Flau’jae took to social media to express her disgust, saying, “I’ll take my L on the chin, but this just nasty behavior. Nun funny bout that.” Her response highlighted how painful and disrespectful the situation was, considering the personal trauma tied to the song.
DJ T.O. quickly took to Twitter to apologize for the mistake, explaining that she never intended to disrespect anyone. She clarified, “I apologize for playing Cut Friends Instrumental at the game yesterday. It is never my intent to disrespect anyone or offend anyone when my job is to have fun and make sure other people have a good time.”She also explained that the song, which is a staple from her home region of the Lowcountry/C-Port area, had been part of her DJ sets for years, even at other events. She stressed that she’s always played it with good intentions, as she grew up on Camoflauge’s music and had no idea how it would be received in that particular setting.
Despite her explanation, the incident left a bitter taste for many, especially Flau’jae, who understandably felt the song choice was in poor taste. DJ T.O.’s apology did little to ease the tension, leaving fans to question the boundaries between local culture and sensitive moments in public spaces.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams is sick and has a limited public schedule, but details on what is ailing him have not been publicized.
Late Sunday evening (January 26), a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Adams informed the press that he was sick and was set to undergo a series of appointments with doctors and routine medical tests. “While Mayor Adams will continue to communicate constantly with staff and ensure city business continues undeterred, during this time, the mayor will have a limited public schedule,” Deputy Mayor for Communications Fabien Levy said in the statement, adding that he “has a right to privacy when it comes to personal matters, but we will continue to communicate in the unlikely event he is unable to fully discharge his duties on any particular day.”
Levy didn’t offer any details on what Adams is ailing from but said that he is “doing well” and that he is continuing to conduct phone calls related to the city’s business. His public schedule on Monday (January 27) only showed a meeting with senior administration officials at the beginning of the day, and his office has canceled his usual Tuesday off-topic Q&A session with the media. Adams has also waived his scheduled appearance in court on Wednesday (January 29) on federal corruption charges. The hearing concerned classified evidence in the case.
The 64-year-old has often touted his energy and health, attributing it to becoming a pescatarian in 2016 after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. “No one is going to outwork me,” he said to a press gaggle earlier in January. “I am so committed authentically to New Yorkers.” Under city rules, if Adams is indisposed further, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer would step in as “acting mayor.” If needed, Public Advocate Juumane Williams would take over as mayor with limited authority.
The news comes as Adams has been under intense scrutiny for attending the inauguration of President Donald Trump at the last minute, and sitting down with conservative reporters such as Tucker Carlson. The moves are seen as a way to curry favor with Trump to gain a federal pardon. Adams is set to undergo trial in April, a short time before the Democratic primary elections for mayor are set to begin.