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Music rights and media investment company HarbourView Equity Partners raised $500 million through the sale of a private asset-backed securitization (ABS), backed by royalties generated from its music catalog, to insurance vehicles managed by global investment firm KKR, HarbourView announced on Monday (June 9). The news comes a little more than a year after HarbourView […]
Social media star Khaby Lame was detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being apprehended by authorities on June 6. According to an ICE spokesperson, Lame was granted a “voluntary departure” and has left the United States. The viral TikTok sensation’s Instagram Story showed him in Brazil as of Monday (June 9). The […]
Sly Stone, a legendary musician who helped propel funk to its elevated heights in the realm of Black music, has died. Hip-Hop artists of various eras have sampled Sly Stone’s work over the years, and we’ve got a playlist highlighting some of those audio classics.
As Hip-Hop Wired reported earlier, Sly Stone, born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, passed away Monday (June 9) at the age of 82. After establishing his roots in the Bay Area as a musical prodigy, Stone ventured into becoming a front-facing artist with his Sly and The Stones in the 1960s with the late Cynthia Robinson, the trumpeter who was a founding member of Sly and the Family Stone, the band that catapulted Stone into the annals of music history.
Alongside fun pioneers such asJames Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic, Stone and his band enjoyed a successful run of album releases extending into the late 1970s. Stone’s life was captured in the 2023 biography, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), written with Ben Greenman, featuring a foreword from Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Thompson also produced the stirring 2025 documentary centered on Stone’s life and legacy, Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius).
Hip-Hop artists such as LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, The Jungle Brothers, Public Enemy, and scores more dug into the crates to grab bits of Stone’s music to form the backdrop of their works. Below, we’ve got a handful of those songs featured in the playlist below.
Long live Sly Stone. May he rest powerfully in peace.
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Photo: Michael Putland / Getty
1. LL COOL J – “Mama Said Knock You Out
Samples “Trip To Your Heart.”
2. Queen Latifah – “Dance For Me”
Samples “Dance to the Music.”
3. Jungle Brothers – “Because I Got It Like That”
Samples “You Can Make It If You Try.”
4. Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg – “Deep Cover
Samples “Sing A Simple Song.”
5. Cypress Hill – “Insane In The Brain”
Samples “Life.”
6. Arrested Development – “People Everyday”
Samples “Everyday People.”
7. A Tribe Called Quest – “Skypager”
Samples “Advice.”
8. De La Soul – “Description”
Samples “Poet.”
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Josi Cuen and Jorge Medina have achieved their first No. 1 as soloists with their maiden collab “En Tiempo y Forma (Juntos),” which climbs two spots to the top of Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart (dated June 14).
The song drew 7.5 million audience impressions in the United States May 30-June 5, according to Luminate. That’s a 21% gain compared to the week before. The song earns the chart’s Greatest Gainer honor, given to the track with the largest audience growth among titles at the format.
Cuen and Medina are former members of La Arrolladora Banda El Limón, which boasts 19 Regional Mexican Airplay No. 1s among 39 top 10s in a history on the chart that dates to 2001. Cuen departed the group in 2021, after Medina left in 2017.
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“En Tiempo y Forma (Juntos)” was released in December 2024 on Avivar Music. Thanks to the song’s coronation, the label likewise celebrates its first No. 1 on a Billboard chart.
Cuen previously reached a No. 24 Regional Mexican Airplay high as a soloist through “Prefiero Estar Muerto,” with Luis Ángel “El Flaco,” in 2023. Medina posted two prior top 10s, both in 2018, among seven entries.
Elsewhere, Cuen and Medina clock their highest-charting placement on the overall Latin Airplay tally, where “En Tiempo y Forma (Juntos)” bounds 7-2, with nearly all its airplay from regional Mexican stations.
The singers’ first No. 1 on a Billboard chart arrives hot on the heels of their first-ever joint tour, JUNTOS 2025, which launched October 2024 in Mexico. The U.S. leg of the tour kicks off June 12 in San Jose, Calif., and wraps Sept. 13 in Las Vegas.
All charts (dated June 14, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, June 10. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
It’s been almost a year since Scooter Braun officially retired from music management after years of shepherding the likes of Ariana Grande, J Balvin and Tori Kelly into superstardom. But before he had any of those clients, he had Justin Bieber.
In an interview on The Diary of a CEO posted Monday (June 9), the music mogul reflected on where he stands with the pop star nearly two decades after Braun first discovered the then-13-year-old Bieber back when he himself was just 25. “We were able to achieve some amazing things,” the businessman began. “I’m very proud of what we achieved and always rooting for him.”
Now that they no longer work together, however, Braun confessed that his relationship with Bieber is “not the same that it was.”
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“I think there comes a point where — I understand — he probably wants to go on and show that he can do it,” Braun said. “We worked together for so long and we had such extreme success, and I think you get to a point as a man where you want to show the world you can do it on your own. And I completely respect that. I think at this point, that’s what he’s doing. Myself and everyone from the old team is rooting for him.”
The SB Projects founder went on to praise Bieber and a few other former clients, noting that their successes only serve as “testimony” to what they were able to achieve together. “To see Justin move forward and succeed, to see Ariana with what’s happened with Wicked in this past year, to see Tori Kelly …,” Braun said. “Everybody that I’ve ever had a chance to work with, to see them go on and do great things on their own, it’s awesome.”
Braun announced in June 2024 that he would be retiring from artist management to focus on his duties as CEO of HYBE America, a role he stepped into after HYBE acquired his Ithaca Holdings for $1.05 billion in 2021. The news came a little less than a year after Billboard reported that the “Baby” singer was exploring other options on the management front, though a full-on split at the time seemed difficult as Bieber still had four years left on his contract with SB Projects.
Also in 2023, Grande, Balvin and Demi Lovato each parted ways with Braun’s company in quick succession. When Braun announced his retirement the following year, the mogul shouted out many of his former clients and wrote, “I will continue to root for them with the same passion that I did at each of their humble beginnings … there will never be a day where I don’t take great pride and honor in what we accomplished together.”
Even so, rumors circulated that there had been a personal rift between Braun and Bieber. That speculation was only exacerbated when the Grammy winner appeared to unfollow his former manager on Instagram in January.
But according to Braun, their professional separation was nothing personal. When asked on The Diary of a CEO whether it “hurt” to hear that Bieber wanted to go his own way, Braun said, “No, not at that point.”
“I was also at that point,” Braun said. “It had been a couple years where I knew I wanted to do something else. I wanted to find out who I was, I wanted to experiment with a different career. We were both communicating enough with each other. The writing was on the wall.”
Watch Braun’s full interview on The Diary of a CEO below.
Brittany Renner has confirmed her split from husband Kevin Gates after only 52 days of marriage. Renner sat down with Los Angeles radio station Real 92.3 LA to talk about her relationship with the Baton Rouge rapper during the lead-up to Monday’s (June 9) BET Awards. “We got married April 6 and divorced May 28,” […]
The best from the Sly Stone-led funk, rock and soul outfit, following its leader’s passing at age 82.
As the pioneering frontman of the legendary group Sly & the Family Stone, Sly Stone, who died Monday (June 9) at age 82, blazed a trail that merged funk and R&B with tastes of rock and soul for an influential catalog that surged to mainstream success in the late 1960s and early ’70s.
Like contemporaries Jimi Hendrix, Parliament and Isaac Hayes, Sly & the Family Stone were pivotal players in the late ’60s psychedelic soul scene, which blended classic R&B and soul elements with guitar-driven rock and jazz into a new sonic fusion.
The group made its Billboard chart debut on Jan. 27, 1968, with “Dance to the Music,” which arrived at No. 48 on Best Selling R&B Singles (today’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart) and peaked at No. 9 that April. The single also became the group’s first Billboard Hot 100 entry that February and rose even higher there, to No. 8, showing the group’s wide crossover appeal from the jump.
“Dance to the Music” was the first of 16 Hot 100 hits for Sly & The Family Stone, in 1968-75, a collection that includes three No. 1s: “Everyday People” in 1969, the dual-sided “Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin”/“Everybody Is a Star” in 1970 and “Family Affair” in 1971. In addition to the band’s output, Stone landed two solo hits: “I Get High on You,” which reached No. 52 in 1975 and a featured spot on Jesse Johnson’s “Crazay,” a No. 53 hit in 1986. The group’s commercial highs were also reflected by strong album sales: It scored three top 10s on the Billboard 200 in 1970-73, including the No. 1 There’s a Riot Goin On.
Thanks to the group’s impact, Sly & The Family Stone were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993; the year before, Arrested Development’s “People Everyday,” which interpolates “Everyday People,” notched three weeks at No. 1 on Hot Rap Songs and hit No. 8 on the Hot 100. In recent years, the group’s influence reached a new generation through appearances in two documentaries produced by Questlove: the multi-artist Summer of Soul, which won an Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2022 and this year’s Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius).
To recognize Sly Stone’s impact and contributions to the American music canon, here’s a review of Sly & the Family Stone’s 10 biggest hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
Sly & the Family Stone’s Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits ranking is based on weekly performance on the Hot 100 from its Aug. 4, 1958, start through June 7, 2025. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at lower spots earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account for chart turnover rates during various periods.
“Stand!”
Artists are speaking out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and offering support to protestors in Los Angeles after President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to the city over the weekend.
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Among those taking to social media on Sunday (June 8) voicing their frustrations were Tyler, The Creator, Finneas, The Game, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, Kehlani, Tom Morello, Reneé Rapp and Rebecca Black.
“F–K ICE,” Tyler wrote to his Instagram Story accompanied by a scene from 2002’s Paid in Full in which the phrase is repeated multiple times.
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Billie Joe Armstrong posted a scene from one of the L.A. protests to his Instagram over the weekend, which he captioned with a middle finger emoji and an ice cube emoji. He used “F— Off” from Green Day’s latest album Saviors (Édition de Luxe) to soundtrack the clip.
Kehlani, who has never been shy to speak out about various political issues, wrote, “And long live the resistance. Every single one of them.” The singer’s IG Story message was attached to another social media post that read, “Stop calling what’s happening as L.A. RIOTS. It’s RESISTANCE.”
Rapp added a post to her IG Story condemning ICE’s actions following an uptick in deportation raids. “F—k ICE f—k this administration f—k all of yall who are complicit in ensuring that this happened this is a f—ing disgrace,” she wrote.
Black chimed in with an Instagram Story repost backing the protestors and blasting ICE’s actions. “I [heart] LA F—K ICE. F—K ALL OF YOU GI JOE LOSERS IF YOU ARE INTO THIS FASCIST S—T YOU ARE SMALL AND WEAK AND WILL LOSE,” the message reads.
Finneas attended the “very peaceful protests” himself and claimed to have been teargassed by authorities. “Tear-gassed almost immediately at the very peaceful protest downtown. They’re inciting this,” he wrote to his IG Story.
Finneas also reposted a clip that appeared to show 9News reporter Lauren Tomasi being shot in the leg with a rubber bullet by law enforcement while she was reporting from the scene.
West Coast rap veteran The Game stood in solidarity with the protestors in his post on Instagram. “Ever since I could remember … it’s been black & brown in this city,” the Compton rapper wrote. “From the early days of my childhood til now, we’ve been side by side through it all. All of us. All the time. Not always seeing eye to eye but we’ve shared Los Angeles for a very long time. I stand with y’all like I know you’d stand with us.”
Former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello also hit the streets to stand with those in L.A. against ICE over the weekend. “Made some friends in Boyle Heights and DTLA yesterday. #DefendLA #WhatBetterPlaceThanHereWhatBetterTimeThanNow,” Morello wrote to IG with a photo of him holding a “Defend LA” sign while wearing a “Destroy American Fascism” shirt.
Plenty of other celebrities posted messages supporting the protestors and blasting the National Guard’s deployment, including actresses Jessica Alba and Eva Longoria.
Per CNN, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Governor Gavin Newsom are planning to sue the Trump administration for deploying the National Guard to L.A. without their consent, an action the governor described as “illegal, immoral and unconstitutional.”
According to the Associated Press, police declared the protest to be an “unlawful assembly,” and most of the crowd was dispersed by the evening.
Source: Fanatics / Fanatics
Lil Wayne just dropped Tha Carter VI, and to celebrate, he’s taking over London with a pop-up shop.
For the next two weeks only, there’s a Wayne pop-up shop live at Selfridges on Oxford Street, and it’s the only place on the planet where you can cop this exclusive heat. The space is posted up in the Men’s Designer Street Room, and it’s Tha Carter merch, think cover art aesthetics, gold-framed pics of Weezy, and a giant record on the floor that’s basically begging to be on your IG.
Fans can grab Tha Carter VI on vinyl and shop a fire new capsule collection put together by Bravado, that’s Universal Music Group’s merch squad. We’re talking limited tees, hoodies, a one-of-a-kind skate deck, and even a collab with BAPE, yeah, one of Wayne’s all-time favorite brands.
The album itself has been getting mixed reviews, with many fans feeling let down after the long wait. Still, the pop-up is a full-on experience. This isn’t just a store, it’s a whole moment. Whether you’re a die-hard Weezy fan or just looking to flex something no one else has, this is where it’s at. From New Orleans to the West End, Lil Wayne is bringing the heat, but only until June 23.
The pop-up will be held at Selfridges, 400 Oxford Street. This one’s for the culture.
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