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In today’s episode of ‘Billboard Unfiltered,’ Billboard staffers Trevor Anderson, Kyle Denis and Damien Scott react to LiAngelo Ball signing a deal with UMG & Def Jam after “Tweaker” became a viral sensation, Drake’s defamation lawsuit against UMG over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” and more! Kyle Denis: Like give to people who actually do […]
ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” is now solely the highest charted song by an act prominent in K-pop (Korean pop) on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart, as it ascends a spot to No. 4 on the latest, Jan. 25-dated ranking. The song surpasses BTS’ “Dynamite,” which peaked at No. 5 on the radio ranking in December […]
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B.M.F founder Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory is throwing a concert celebrating his freedom after 16 years of federal detention.
The 56-year-old drug kingpin was originally sentenced to 30 years in prison following his 2008 conviction for drug trafficking and money laundering. According to the Associated Press, he was released to a residential reentry program in Miami in October. His official release from federal custody is scheduled for the end of this month, setting the stage for the concert scheduled Feb. 13 at the Amerant Bank Arena in Miami. A flyer of the event is floating around on social media.
According to Complex, the show is produced by XO Touring and AG Touring. The show aims to unite the music industry in honoring Big Meech. Dubbed the Big Meech Welcome Back Legacy Concert, the show will feature performances by Lil Baby, Rick Ross, Sexxy Red, 21 Savage, 42 Dubb, Moneybagg Yo, and a slew of Detroit rappers including Payroll Giovanni, Tee Grizzley, Babyface Ray, and Icewear Vezzo.
The Detroit native and his brother Terry “Southwest T” Flenory are notorious for their criminal enterprise and foray into the music industry in Atlanta during the early 2000s with affiliations with Bleu DaVinchi and Jeezy. At the height of the B.M.F’s success, a billboard loomed over Atlanta with the ominous message, “The World is B.M.F’s.”
The brothers’ life story has been brought to the small screen with a series on Starz produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and starring Meech’s son, Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory, Jr. In a 2023 interview with CassiusLife, Lil Meech said, “I’ve always looked up to my dad. But, I didn’t want to be him. I wanted to make a way for myself, like he did…but my own legacy.”
Season 4 of BMF will drop in the middle of 2025. Per The Direct, Creator Randy Huggins has hinted at possible time jumps to accelerate the story, suggesting that the show may delve into the complexities of the BMF’s rise before its eventual downfall in the early 2000s.
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The problems between Cam’ron and Jim Jones continue to be a hot topic in Hip-Hop. Maino is doing damage control with Cam’s story about being confronted by Jim, but the internet proves that Cam’ron was right.
As per HipHopDX, Maino paid a visit to Way Up With Angela Yee. During the broadcast the radio personality asked him about the recent headlines Cam’ron made when he said that Jim Jones pressed Maino about some lyrics and Maino didn’t go for it. To hear Maino tell it, Cam’s version of the story wasn’t 100% accurate. “The song he’s talking about is the song that put me in the game, ‘Rumors,’ where I was talking about all the rumors in the industry,” he explained. “The thing about that is I mentioned [Cam’ron] in the song; I didn’t mention Jimmy. Jimmy didn’t like me [because of that] so when we saw each other, we would have these ‘face fights,’ but nothing ever happened.”
Maino went on to detail how he and Jim Jones settled things during a random moment while shopping at a mall in Atlanta. “He didn’t approach me and press me or none of that. We had a conversation. It wasn’t spectacular, nobody swung. Once we started to talk and realized that we had things in common, we were cool from that point on. We’ve been way cooler than we were [enemies] because we didn’t know each other. That was a long time ago.”
During The Breakfast Club DJ Envy also chimed in on the previous tension that Maino and Jim Jones had and told a story where Maino pretended to have a gun on him in order to get the Byrd Gang to back up. During the same segment with Angela Yee he said that DJ Envy’s story was also incorrect. “I think maybe Envy is maybe confusing some incidents that maybe he was a part of because for one I’ve never in my life ever faked like I had a gun for nobody,” Maino added.
But one thing about the Internet, it always keeps receipts. Back in 2021, DJ Envy was a guest on Maino’s podcast Kitchen Talk. During the episode DJ Envy explained how the two originally met on the wrong foot but would soon become close friends. So close they would frequently go to nightclubs together. One night while partying, they see Jim Jones and DJ Envy tells the same story about the fake gun while Maino is sitting right next to him. If body language is any indicator, it seems that Maino was in agreement with Envy’s recollection of that evening.
You can see DJ Envy tell the story with Maino below.
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Rappers and the NFL go hand in hand. A lot of rappers rep their favorite football teams, and it’s not just about the game—it’s about hometown pride or just vibing with a team’s energy. Whether they’re rocking team gear, shouting out their squad in lyrics, or showing love on social media, you’ll see these rappers making their NFL loyalties known. Some even pull up to games or link up with players, blending the worlds of hip-hop and football.
For these rappers, their NFL team loyalty is more than just picking a favorite—it’s a way to connect with fans, show off their style, and rep where they’re from. Whether they’re backing a hometown hero or just feeling a certain team’s vibe, it’s all part of the culture. So, from trash-talking rival teams to celebrating big wins, these rappers bring their energy and love for the game right along with their music. Below, we’ve got a list of some of your favorite rappers and the NFL teams they’re down for.
With the NFL Playoffs in full swing, rappers are going extra hard for their teams right now. From playoff predictions to game-day shoutouts, the energy is high. Whether it’s showing up to games, repping team gear, or just going off on social media, you’ll see rappers flexing their team loyalty as the race to the Super Bowl heats up. It’s all about that playoff hype, and you best believe the rap game is buzzing with excitement.
Check out the full list of rappers favorite NFL teams below.
1. Lil Wayne – Packers
2. GloRilla – Steelers
3. Meek Mill – Eagles
4. Snoop Dogg – Steelers
5. Eminem – Lions
6. T.I. – Falcons
7. Wale – Commanders
8. Kodak Black – Ravens
9. Ice Cube – Raiders
10. Benny The Butcher – Bills
ROSÉ of BLACKPINK had no choice but to get honest about her relationship with Jaden Smith in a new interview with Vanity Fair.
While hooked up to a lie-detector test for the Thursday (Jan. 16) episode of the publication’s web series, the K-pop star first addressed whether her song “Toxic Till the End” is about the Karate Kid star — with whom she’s previously been spotted hanging out. The track — which appears on ROSÉ’s December debut album rosie — finds the performer singing about a manipulative ex who was “jealous and possessive.”
“No, it’s not about Jaden Smith,” ROSÉ clarified, passing the lie detector’s assessment with flying colors. “He’s a good friend, though.”
“Hi, Jaden,” she added, waving to the camera. “Miss you lots.”
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The musician was then asked point-blank if she and Smith have ever dated, to which she gave a straightforward “no.” When the test administrator quickly confirmed that she was telling the truth, ROSÉ nodded and laughed.
“Toxic Till the End” became ROSÉ’s third Billboard Hot 100 entry in December, reaching No. 90 on the chart. rosie also spawned the girl group star’s first-ever top 10 hit with Bruno Mars duet “APT.,” which peaked at No. 5 earlier this month.
When the “Locked Out of Heaven” hitmaker and ROSÉ first announced in October that they had a collaboration in the works, Mars revealed on Instagram that the song’s title had been inspired by a Korean drinking game his duet partner had taught him one night. “Soon after, she tried to kiss me, and I was like ‘woah Rosie! what part of the game is this?’” he wrote at the time, to which ROSÉ replied, “what’s wrong with uuuu.”
To VF, ROSÉ confirmed that she, in fact, never tried to kiss him. “He’s a liar,” she said, laughing. “Bruno Mars is a liar.”
Watch ROSÉ talk about Smith, Mars and more above.
Billboard’s Friday Music Guide serves as a handy guide to this Friday’s most essential releases — the key music that everyone will be talking about today, and that will be dominating playlists this weekend and beyond.
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This week, Mac Miller’s beautiful mind shines once again, Central Cee debates currency with 21 Savage, and Lucy Dacus might break with “Ankles.” Check out all of this week’s picks below:
Mac Miller, Balloonerism
If 2020’s Circles, the first posthumous Mac Miller release, provided fans a sense of closure following his tragic 2018 passing at the age of 26, Balloonerism — a long-sought-after collection of songs that date back over a decade — serves as a reminder of his wonderfully unruly creativity, with songs ranging from the shimmering piano-rap anthem “Funny Papers” to the nearly 12-minute closing exploration “Tomorrow Will Never Know.”
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Central Cee feat. 21 Savage, “GBP”
Considering the success of “BAND4BAND,” Central Cee’s team-up with Lil Baby, it’s no surprise that the UK rapper has previewed his imminent album Can’t Rush Greatness with another high-wattage collaboration — but “GBP,” featuring 21 Savage, iterates on the formula of Cench’s biggest hit, with similarly eerie production but a more spacious flow, which nicely counterbalances 21 Savage’s twitchy delivery.
Lucy Dacus, “Ankles”
Boygenius has become a supergroup that has elevated all three of its members’ profile, and Lucy Dacus’ next album, Forever is a Feeling, will arrive in March with much more fanfare than any of the singer-songwriter’s previous projects; it also helps that “Ankles,” a driving love song with beautiful harmonics on the hook, may be Dacus’ most accessible single to date, and bring in even more fans ahead of the new full-length.
Marshmello & Jonas Brothers, “Slow Motion”
Four years after scoring a hit together with “Leave Before You Love Me,” Marshmello and Jonas Brothers have reunited for “Slow Motion,” which veers toward country-pop territory more than its predecessor: after the JoBros croon the wide-reaching chorus together, their masked producer swoops in a sparkly beat drop, making for a charming bit of pop interplay.
John Summit feat. CLOVES, “Focus”
John Summit’s upward trajectory continues with “Focus,” a hypnotic new dance track with Melbourne singer-songwriter CLOVES, in which the producer tosses out a collection of pulsating rhythms and lets his collaborator weave them into a yearning cry; “Focus” runs for nearly four minutes, but begs for repeat listens (or, fingers crossed, an extended mix).
Mumford & Sons, “Rushmere”
Mumford & Sons have gone back to basics with “Rushmere,” which previews the band’s first album in seven years and finds Marcus Mumford, fresh off a recent debut solo album, leading his group (now a trio, following the departure of banjoist Winston Marshall) toward the stomping, crowd-pleasing folk-rock that made them mega-sellers at the turn of the 2010s.
Hailey Whitters, “Casseroles”
On her first new single in two years, country star Hailey Whitters offers a nuanced reflection on grief and recovery with “Casseroles,” with the Iowa native wondering how people move on from loss once loved ones stop checking in and the comfort food stops arriving. Whitters, who lost a brother over a decade ago, imbues the song with an unsettled sense of hurt, her voice prodding at an uneasy questions for herself and others.
Editor’s Pick: Rose Gray, Louder, Please
The cover of Rose Gray’s debut album depicts the British pop singer on a beach, listening to a Walkman and seemingly screaming along to her favorite song while the strangers around her ignore her cries; Louder, Please will inspire similar fits of passion from pop listeners, with songs like “Everything Changes (But I Won’t),” “Free” and “Tectonic” providing sophisticated beats and top-notch sing-along fodder.
SZA promised fans updates and new songs would be added to her Lana project earlier this month, but nothing has changed yet 11 days later. Fans voiced their frustrations with the Grammy-winning singer on X, and she clapped back in a series of messages posted shortly after midnight ET. “Punch was right,” she began by […]

Throughout his career, Kele Okereke has never been one to stand still. When Billboard UK calls the Bloc Party vocalist and guitarist to discuss The Singing Winds Pt. 3, his new solo album released Jan. 17, Okereke paces around his London home for the duration of our chat, working his mind (and body) while he reflects on an illustrious career in music — one that has never remained in a single place.
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Okereke’s new project is his seventh solo studio album since 2010, and the third installment to his Elements project, which has taken inspiration from the forces around us. It kicked off in 2021 with The Waves Pt. 1 and was followed by The Flames Pt. 2 in 2023, both born out of a necessity to create during lockdown. Each collection is written and produced solely by Okereke in his home studio and with minimal tools.
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“It was important to me to do everything myself and for every sound to be made by my guitar,” he says. “During the lockdowns, I was at home and not really sure what I was going to do with my life, but I knew that I still wanted to be creative. It forced me to go back to the guitar. It gave me a new appreciation for the instrument.”
In the coming months, Okereke will head out on the road to tour this project, his first time using loop pedals and building each song live on stage. Then it’s back to Bloc Party to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its beloved 2005 debut album Silent Alarm, which the band will be playing in full across the U.K. at some of its largest outdoor shows to date.
Upon release, the LP landed to No. 3 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart and has endured as an essential of 21st century indie rock. A sonic fusion of influences from post-punk to electronica, plus lyrics that touched upon the British government’s disastrous war in Iraq and Afghanistan during the mid-’00s, set the group apart both from chaotic, romantic contemporaries like The Libertines and fashionable, sexy art-school graduates like Franz Ferdinand.
The group released a number of records in the ensuing years, notably 2007’s cult classic A Weekend In The City (No. 12 on the Billboard 200) and more recently 2022’s Alpha Games. Okereke still leads from the front with founding member Russell Lissack (guitars), plus Louise Bartle (drums) and Harry Deacon (bass) now completing the lineup; other founding members Matt Tong and Gordon Moakes left the band in 2013 and 2015, respectively.
As he releases The Singing Winds Pt. 3 and preps an upcoming tour with Bloc Party, Okereke speaks to Billboard UK about the project, his upcoming memoir and the enduring appeal of Silent Alarm.
You’re on the third installment of this project with The Singing Winds Pt. 3. What has it given you creatively?
It started very much as an accident or chance. It’s given me a focus and has been a somewhat indulgent but incredibly enjoyable way to throw myself into music. When I started making solo records [in 2010] it was very much a reaction to the fact that with Bloc Party, we were a guitar band and I wanted to get away from that. I wanted to explore other worlds and that’s what I did with the first four records – they were all coming from different places.
You started releasing the project in 2021. Did you anticipate it unfolding over this time period?
I always knew that it was going to take a while. When you’re writing these songs, you have to live your life and be inspired. Back then when I was working on The Waves, I didn’t really know what the next records were going to sound like, but [after] a year of living and experimenting, and being creative with Bloc Party and working on something very different, it shows you where you need to go next. I knew it was going to be a longer form project, but I really like the pace. I’m composing and writing a lot at home and you’re waiting for inspiration to spark.
Is each LP a reaction to the last in the series?
Doing these interviews and looking backwards retrospectively you can see a path, but at the time you’re just inching around in the dark. When I was making The Waves, it was tonally all in one place so I knew that I needed to go somewhere different next. To me when you listen to that record, it feels like you’re bobbing on water – there’s no drums or percussion, it’s just this floating thing. Whereas with The Flames the sounds are very brittle and abrasive and extreme, and it’s been interesting to see that in the writing process.
The point about this project is that I wanted each of these elements to have quite a different sonic and emotional personality. They’re all connected to the classical elements and it’s interesting to consider how I could refer to those elements in the song and the lyrics and the textures of the record.
On this release there’s a lot of candour, particularly on “The Arrangement” which highlights a broken romantic relationship. You’ve always been vulnerable in your songwriting, but as you get older and have your own family, do you censor yourself at all because of the real-world consequences?
There are moments of vulnerability in this record, and throughout my career I’ve always written from an emotional place, but in the past things would be hidden in abstraction and just glimpses of my personal life; for the most part I’ve been quite guarded in things.
With this next Bloc Party record, it’s very personal and confessional, and I’ve never really done that as a songwriter. I’ve always preferred an element of distance. But in the past year I’ve been through quite an unbelievable time and had some very difficult relationships with people, and this is the only place to put all of that.
This next [Bloc Party] record I’m making will be about the study of a fleeting relationship from start to finish. And it’s going to be incredibly personal, but I’m excited about that because it’s something I’ve never really done before. I’ve never really spoken directly, and this time I will.
Can you tell us anything more about what listeners might hear?
Without wanting to go into too much detail, I had a relationship with someone that wasn’t honest and I think I need the world to see that. So this next Bloc Party record is going to come from a place of necessity. We’ve written everything and we’ll be recording soon, and hopefully will be out in 2026. The only thing I will say is that ‘heartbreak’ is a term that people keep bandying around about these songs. It’s going to be emotional, for sure.
You’re heading out on the road this summer for the 20th anniversary of Silent Alarm. What’s your relationship like to that album?
Obviously I’m thankful that it has resonated and stood the test of time. Before we made that record we had a bit of a name for ourselves and a song or two out and it was this underground, exciting thing. But when we made the record we knew we had to strive further than what people were expecting of us.We knew it had to be expansive and there was this fear that we might be pushing it too far when we were in the studio, but we didn’t succumb to that, and I’m glad that we managed to express what we wanted to express. I’m glad that it worked and we made the best record we could, because it has stood the test of time.
Kele Okereke
Eleanor Jane
At the end of last year you released Another Weekend In The City, a companion record of B-sides from around the time of your sophomore album. It must be nice to see that excitement towards other pieces of music from throughout your career, not just Silent Alarm…
It’s nice to be able to go back and listen to those records, and to remember where I was when I wrote them, the conversations that I was having and the people that were in my life. That’s the stuff that comes back to me when I go back to these songs and I don’t really do that so often. I had to do it for Silent Alarm as I had to relearn the songs. I’ve always been obsessed with looking forward, but I am recognizing that we’ve done something quite good and it’s nice to bask in that sometimes.
Both records and 2008’s Intimacy had instant success on the charts and took you around the world. How did that feel in the moment?
Growing up when we were listening to music and going to shows, they weren’t bands that were on the cover of the NME and weren’t that in your face. So when that stuff started happening for us it was surreal to feel like we’d leapfrogged somehow where we thought we were going to be.
On top of the success we were having, it was nice that people were noticing us outside of the U.K. in the US, Europe and Australia and that we weren’t just a British band. There are still a lot of bands that are successful in the U.K. but don’t necessarily translate to other territories for some reason, but for us it felt quite immediate that people all around the world were curious about us – and that’s maintained.
I’ve heard that you’re in the process of writing a memoir. How’s that going?
I can’t say much about it but I’m about halfway through. I’m enjoying it, for sure. I was a little bit reluctant before because I’ve always been quite a private person, and there was something about the idea of writing my life in my words and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do that. But I started it and it’s amazing what has come back to me and my life over 20 years ago. Things that I never thought about or remembered unless I was doing this process. It’s giving me a perspective on things that I wouldn’t have had unless I forced myself to stop and look back.
I suppose it gives you the chance to write your own story in your own words. The discourse when you started your career was written by other people, particularly the indie press which had a bigger influence back then…
Having been around for so long, you have the sense that people have an understanding or belief about who you are or the perception of who you are, so it’ll be fun to present my story in my words. That was something I found very frustrating at the start of our career: you’d do interviews with journalists and you’d talk passionately and have a great conversation, then you’d read the interview and it would just be a reduction of everything you said. The one line where you inadvertently mentioned another band, it’d get taken into the pull quote where you slagged someone off.
There was so much of that at the start of our career, and I realized very quickly that I had to insulate myself from that. I just stopped reading the interviews, reviews and features because even though we were successful and it was a positive time, it also felt like a bit of a caricature of who I knew we were.
Alpha Games got a great response from fans. Does the wider response to your music from fans or critics impact you these days?
I think very early on that to do this job the right way, I had to not listen to what anyone else said… from our immediate team to the fans as well. I know that might sound controversial, but once the record is out there it’s not mine anymore. I only listened to Silent Alarm recently to relearn the songs; I’m never going to have the experience that other people have listening to my music, but I’m fine with that. Why I do this job is that I love creating music, and pulling ideas out of the air and making them come back through the speakers. The only thing I serve is that process is bringing songs into the world. So once they’re done and out there, that’s it for me.
Maybe that sounds naïve, but that’s the way I’ve been operating for the past 20 years, and probably the reason why I’ve made so much music in these past few years — because that’s why I do it. I know I’m in a fortunate position with the success I’ve had, but also this is my life and I love it. I feel grateful that 20 years later I’m still able to create.
The Singing Winds Pt. 3 is out now on Kola.
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Mac Miller left the world far too soon in 2018, just as his creative output was gaining notice and garnering him a wider fanbase. To commemorate the drop, the estate of Mac Miller has released a new body of work in Balloonerism along with a short film, and fans on X have reacted to the release in kind.
Balloonerism clocks in at 14 minutes and has just two features with SZA and Delusional Thomas showing up for “DJ’s Chord Organ” and “Transformations” respectively. According to what we read on Wikipedia, this album was recorded between 2013 and 2014. But fans reportedly have had access to some of these songs over the years via leaks and it was teased late last year at Camp Flog Gnaw.
Much of the album follows the soulful nature of Swimming, one of our favorite releases from the Pittsburgh star, and finds him flexing his singing abilities across several tracks. Songs like “5 Dollar Pony Rides” melt into a jazzy groove after a verse as Miller belts out vocals. The track “Friendly Hallucinations” continues the warm sound of the preceding track but finds Miller in confident rapper mode as he handles the hook capably.
Sonically, it sounds reminiscent of Miller’s work on his mixtape Faces, and certainly reveals more of his musical interests and connections with the sprawling musical community of Los Angeles with bassist Thundercat showing up on backing instrumentals alongside Thundercat’s brothers, drummer Ronald Bruner and keyboardist Jameel Bruner among others. Larry Fisherman, the producer moniker of Miller, shows up in the credits as well.
You can check out Mac Miller’s Balloonerism by clicking here along with the short film below supporting the project. Keep scrolling to see reactions from X regarding the new drop.
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Photo: Getty