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Former executive assistant George Kaplan revealed unsettling details about his time working for Diddy at Combs Enterprises.
Kaplan, who served in the role from 2013 to 2015, told jurors that part of his duties involved preparing hotel rooms for Diddy’s private encounters, which he referred to as “freak-offs.” According to Kaplan, these preparations included setting up items like Astroglide lubricant, Johnson’s baby oil, and candles—creating an atmosphere tailored to Diddy’s specific preferences.
Kaplan testified that he regularly booked hotel rooms for Diddy in major cities such as New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. Among the locations mentioned was the InterContinental Hotel, where Diddy was later seen on surveillance footage assaulting singer Cassie in March 2016. Although Kaplan’s employment ended before that incident, his testimony painted a troubling picture of the behind-the-scenes operations at Combs Enterprises. He disclosed that he often reserved rooms under the alias “Frank Black,” a name inspired by The Notorious B.I.G.’s alter ego, Frank White.
Describing his job as grueling, Kaplan said he typically logged between 80 and 100 hours per week for a starting salary of $125,000. Despite the high compensation, he claimed the work came with intense pressure and verbal threats. “He told me he only wanted the best around him,” Kaplan said, alleging that Diddy would regularly threaten to fire him if he didn’t meet those expectations.
Kaplan’s responsibilities extended beyond logistics; he was also tasked with packing Diddy’s bags and then unpacking and arranging the room to meet his boss’s standards, often setting the mood with specific items in anticipation of private liaisons. Kaplan’s testimony is one of several key elements in a case that has drawn widespread attention for its explosive allegations.
His account adds to the growing portrait of a celebrity empire allegedly sustained by coercion, secrecy, and manipulation. As the trial continues, more witnesses are expected to shed light on Combs’ inner circle and the nature of his conduct. For now, Kaplan’s words provide a rare and intimate glimpse into the personal demands of one of the entertainment industry’s most powerful figures—and the troubling dynamics that may have enabled them.
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So does Mad!, the title of Sparks’ new and 26th studio album, refer to brothers Ron and Russell Mael’s current temperament? Or is it simply a reference to their legendarily idiosyncratic creative comportment that’s made the pair a cult darling for the past 54 years?
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“Maybe a little of each,” Russell Mael tells Billboard as he travels from Philadelphia, where Sparks performed at NON-COMMvention the previous evening, to New York. “There’s the two general meanings of mad, being either angry or being crazy,” he says. “Just the overall ambience of the whole album seemed to lend itself to that title. But then you can exact from it, too, that it also is reflective of the general zeitgeist now, with what’s going on everywhere — in particular here (in the United States).”
The 12-song set, produced by the Maels and recorded with their regular touring band, comes as part of a particularly prolific period in Sparks’ career. It’s the group’s ninth studio album since the turn of the century and its third of the decade, directly following 2023’s The Girl is Crying in Her Latte. It also comes in the wake of Edgar Wright’s acclaimed 2021 documentary The Sparks Brothers and the 2021 release of the Maels’ long-gestating film musical Annette, which produced not only a soundtrack album but also last year’s Annette — An Opera by Sparks (The Original 2013 Recordings).
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All of that, along with touring, has kept Sparks’ profile high, and there’s an undeniably triumphant — as well as defiant — message conveyed as Sparks kicks into Mad! with the forceful opening track “Do Things My Own Way.”
“You don’t like to be heavy-handed with a message like that,” Russell explains, “but it is kind of that statement, in a way. It kind of applies to how we think — from day one, even when we did our first album [1971’s Halfnelson, also the band’s name at the time] with Todd Rundgren (producing). He always encouraged us to keep the eccentricities that we just naturally had and to not smooth over the edges, don’t lose your character and personality. Even on that first album, he thought we’d created our own universe he’d never heard before. He said it was something from somewhere else, which is a nice thing to say, especially with a band that was just a new group.”
Sparks was celebrated last year with an outstanding contribution to music honor at the AIM Independent Music Awards. And though the group has only intersected with the pop mainstream on rare occasions — “Cool Places” with Jane Wiedlin hit the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983, and “When Do I Get to Sing ‘My Way’” went top 10 on the Dance Club Songs chart in 1995 — the fact Sparks is still with us is proof that being a bit “weird” is not a bad thing.
“Things are on the upswing for Sparks,” Mael says. “I think there’s been this — especially in the last few years, since the Edgar Wright documentary, and since the Annette movie — whole new audience, some of whom didn’t even know the band at all but became aware of it through different channels than just us having our own album out. It’s not the typical career trajectory.”
Mad! was created in standard Sparks methodology, according to Mael, without a great deal of forethought — and, according to the vocalist, nothing held over from previous projects.
“Everything was done specifically for this album,” Mael says. “It’s a process where we’re pretty free to work however we want. Sometimes we’ll have a complete song that’s fully formed…or we come in with nothing at all planned and just sit down and see if something can come up from nothing. Having our own studio, you’re free to experiment in that way. We’ve been working together for so long now that we’re able to read what each other’s thoughts are regarding the songs or the recording process. That certainly makes it easier. It’s not starting off with any questions marks.”
The result on Mad! is unapologetically diverse — to its benefit. Musical and lyrical quirks about; “JanSport Backpack” is about just that, for instance, while “Running Up a Tab at the Hotel for the Fab” is a good-humored “mini-movie,” and “I-405 Rules” and “A Long Red Light” show the Maels are well attuned to traffic patterns in their native Los Angeles. The range of sounds, meanwhile, runs from the aggressive attack of “Hit Me, Baby” to the theatrical drama of “Don’t Dog It” to the string-fueled “I-405 Rules,” while a great deal of melodic pop floats through “A Little Bit of Light Banter,” “My Devotion,” “Drowned in a Sea of Tears” and the Mersey-meets-Bacharach majesty of “Lord Have Mercy.”
“I think we both have the same goal in mind… to try to come up with fresh approaches to the universe that Sparks has and has had since the very beginning and try to stretch that, or try to find new angles to be able to do in three-and-a-half-minute songs,” Mael says. “We both really like pop music, and we still feel there are ways to come up with stuff that will hopefully surprise a listener in this day and age. Pop music has been there a long time, so the trick is to see how you can take that form and still come up with something fresh — but not be weird just to be weird, or odd.”
Mad! also finds Sparks with a new label, Transgressive Records, after working with Island on The Girl is Crying in Her Latte. “Sometimes you just have to make moves,” Mael notes. “Transgressive heard the album; even referring back to ‘Do Things My Own Way,’ they told us they thought that was really a kind of manifesto of their label. They’ve all been huge Sparks fans for a long time. They really wanted to be involved not only ’cause they like us as a group, but they responded to this album and really felt a kinship to it. We’ve been lucky enough to work with people like Chris Blackwell at Island in the ‘70s, even Richard Branson at Virgin and of course Albert Grossman with Bearsville Records when we first started. It seems like in today’s musical climate there’s fewer and fewer of those visionary types. Transgressive shares that same kind of spirit, so it’s a good fit.”
Mad! will send Sparks back on the road, beginning June 8 in Japan and followed by an early summer trek through Europe before returning to North America starting Sept. 5 in Atlanta, with dates booked through Sept. 30 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Maels are also working on another movie musical that John Woo (Face/Off, Mission: Impossible 2, Silent Night) is on board to direct.
“We wanted to do another narrative project, ‘cause we really liked the whole process with Annette so much, really working and channeling our music in other ways,” says Mael, who describes the new piece as “really different in its approach than Annette.” The brothers read in an interview with Woo that he’s long wanted to make a musical and invited him to their studio to hear what they had.
“He said, ‘This is amazing, and I want to direct it,’ so we’ve been working with him to refine the story elements. He’s completely sold on the whole approach and all of the music. We have three really great producers now on the project; they’re out there trying to get all the financing together so we can start the production. We think it’s going to be something really amazing.”
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Over the past few weeks the Megan Thee Stallion and Tory Lanez saga has once again been dominating social media due to new revelations about the case and Megan herself chiming in on Tory’s attempts to overturn his case.
Now SZA is coming to the defense of her fellow baddie and commented on a video that was posted by Theluncheonlawyer who opposed Tory Lanez claims in court. Taking to the comments section, SZA responded to the video (and Tory Lanez defenders) writing “The density !!!!! I’m actually SO shocked at the amount of ppl fully comfortable bullying a woman that’s proven to be a victim of assault ??! Like out loud where other ppl can see you ?? Lmao u finna be stupid OUTLOUD ?”
Naturally, SZA’s comments garnered thousands of likes with hundreds of responses supporting her view, but still Tory fans chimed in also and show no signs of wavering as they continue to call for the man to be released from prison.
SZA’s take on the Megan and Tory situation comes weeks after Tory Lanez was stabbed 14 times in prison and miraculously survived the assault. Wildly enough, Megan Thee Stallion fans began donating money to the assailant for stabbing up Tory Lanez even though he’s serving a life sentence behind bars. Social media has truly ruined our morals and values as human beings smh.
What do y’all think about SZA standing up for Megan Thee Stallion? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Dolly Parton might just saddle up with Beyoncé on the Cowboy Carter Tour, with the country icon revealing she’s not opposed to sharing the stage with the pop star at one of the latter’s shows this year.
Following the pair’s collaborations on Bey’s Cowboy Carter, Parton reacted to the possibility of performing alongside the Destiny’s Child alum in an interview with HuffPost published Thursday (May 22). “You never know ― anything is possible!” the “9 to 5” singer said.
“Because she really is doing great with that [tour],” Parton added of Bey’s Cowboy Carter trek, which kicked off April 28 in Los Angeles.
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The interview comes more than a year after Cowboy Carter dropped, showcasing the “Texas Hold ‘Em” singer as she embraced her Southern roots and tinkered with the country genre. Featuring a spoken interlude from Parton, the album spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and won both best country album and album of the year at the 2025 Grammys.
The LP also featured a new take on the Dollywood founder’s smash hit “Jolene,” with Bey shaking up the lyrics to say, “I’m warning you, don’t come for my man” instead of the original, “I’m begging of you, please don’t take my man.”
“I was very honored that she wanted to do her version of ‘Jolene,’” Parton told the publication. “That’s all a great compliment to me, when somebody wants to do my songs in any version.”
“I was very amused by her take on that, and I got a big kick out of that,” she continued. “She’s not gonna sit back and say, ‘Oh please don’t take my man.’ She’s gonna kick some a–!”
Following stops in L.A. and, most recently, Chicago, Beyoncé is gearing up to play five nights at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. She’ll then spend June touring through England and France before circling back through the United States.
Parton’s new interview also comes as she’s gearing up to publish a new memoir, Star Of The Show: My Life On Stage, on Nov. 11. On a more personal front, the legend also recently lost her husband of 60 years, Carl Dean.
“It’s a big adjustment, just trying to change patterns and habits,” she said of her grief in an interview with TODAY earlier in May. “I’ll do fine, and I’m very involved in my work, and that’s been the best thing that could happen to me. But I’ll always miss him, of course, and always love him.”
05/22/2025
Billboard has rounded up 16 songs by R&B and rap artists that sample old African songs.
05/22/2025
Months after hip-hop producer Madlib filed a lawsuit against his former manager and business partner Eothen “Egon” Alapatt, the exec is now suing him right back — blasting him for “having the audacity to bring this mean-spirited personal action” and citing a potential release of music by the late Mac Miller.
In a countersuit filed last week in Los Angeles court, Egon accused Madlib of a wide range of “misconduct” following the sudden end of their long partnership — a split that Egon said came after he had spent more than a decade building Madlib’s career and catering to his “whims and eccentricities.”
“Madlib had the audacity to bring this mean-spirited personal action against Egon, accusing him with no basis or any proof,” Kenneth Freundlich, the manager’s lawyer, writes in the May 14 cross-complaint. “Instead, under the apparent spell of his transactional lawyer/manager, it is Madlib who has unlawfully absconded with [shared] property.”
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The lawsuit did not disclose the identity of the “lawyer/manager” in question. Madlib’s attorney did not immediately return a request for comment on the allegations in the countersuit.
Madlib, a critically acclaimed producer known for his work with Kanye West (now Ye) and the late MF Doom, filed his lawsuit against Egon in October, accusing him of “rank self-dealing” and “pervasive mismanagement.” The case accused Egon of abusing his power over their companies (record label Madicine Show and merch firm Rapp Cats) to profit at Madlib’s expense.
But in last week’s countersuit, it was Egon’s turn to level accusations. After more than a decade together, he says Madlib “cut off all ties” in 2022 and launched his own label called Madlib Invazion — a name he says belongs to their old company. In one of his many claims, he says Madlib is infringing Madicine Show’s trademarks by using that name.
“It could not be clearer that Madlib did this to usurp and disrupt Madicine Show’s business and to blatantly trade on the goodwill created by Madicine Show in the name ‘Madlib Invazion,’” Egon’s lawyers wrote. “Because of Madlib’s nefarious formation of a record label with the identical name … the public is confused and misled.”
Egon says Madlib’s new label is interfering with music projects that legally belong to the old company, including the release of a years-old recording of the late Miller that has long been rumored to be in the works. (Miller’s estate is not involved in the dispute nor accused of any wrongdoing.) He also says Madlib is refusing to complete an album for Freddie Gibbs that they are contractually obligated to deliver to Sony Music.
The lawsuit from Madlib is the second legal battle Egon has faced in recent years. Back in 2023, MF Doom’s widow (Jasmine Dumile Thompson) filed a case against him, claiming he stole dozens of private notebooks belonging to the late hip-hop legend and was refusing to return them in the years since Doom’s 2020 death.
In a response filing, Egon’s lawyers blasted that case as “baseless and libelous” and part of a “year-long smear campaign.” The lawsuit ended last year with a settlement, which reportedly saw the notes returned to Thompson.
Kid Cudi took the stand as a witness in Diddy’s sex trafficking and racketeering trial on Thursday (May 22). Following his hours-long testimony surrounding his brief romance with Cassie in 2011, Cudi took to X to reflect on his time in court and thanked his fans for their support along the way.
“I’ve been seeing all the love and support and I just want to say thank you so much, man,” Cudi said. “People been hitting me up the past week just checking in and even today, it really means a lot to me, man. You guys are the best. I love y’all.”
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The Cleveland native continued: “This is a stressful situation. I’m glad it’s behind me. Yeah, I love y’all.”
Producer BNYX and Cudi’s fans showed their appreciation in his replies on X for taking the stand. “You did great Scott! Glad it’s over and done with,” one person wrote. While another added: “I’m so proud of you baby!!!!! Take time for yourself , you did that.”
The “Day ‘n’ Nite” rapper was questioned on the stand Thursday about his short stint dating Cassie in the early 2010s, and Cudi opened up about Diddy allegedly setting his Porsche on fire with a Molotov cocktail. Cudi also recounted a break-in of his home around the time of his relationship with Cassie, which he tied to Diddy.
Cassie’s initial bombshell 2023 lawsuit against Combs accused Diddy of blowing up Kid Cudi’s car in his driveway after repeatedly threatening Cudder.
“Too much danger, too much uncertainty of what could happen if we continued to see each other,” she reportedly said of why she ended things romantically with Cudi during her emotional testimony last week.
“[Diddy] said he wanted Scott’s friends to see Scott’s car blown up,” Cassie recalled. “We met, [Diddy], [Kid Cudi] and me. [Kid Cudi] said, ‘What about my vehicle?’ And [Diddy] said, ‘What vehicle?’ And that was the end of the meeting.”
The Bad Boy mogul could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty on all counts of sex trafficking and racketeering. Diddy’s trial is expected to last into July.
Watch Cudi’s full statement on his experience at the Diddy trial below:
Brandy Senki released their first album, BRANDY SENKI, on May 14. The band, which formed in August 2022, is made up of Hazuki (guitar and vocals), Minori (bass), and Bori (drums). They’ve picked up a tremendous amount of momentum, selling out shows on both their first solo tour of Japan, in January 2025, and their upcoming BRANDY SENKI 1ST ALBUM RELEASE TOUR, which will begin in June.
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Their major label debut album, BRANDY SENKI, is the culmination of their efforts so far. It’s a collection of 13 songs including “Musica,” which brought them to the attention of the world at large, “Coming-of-age Story,” which generated a ton of buzz when it was shared by NJZ’s Minji, and “Fix,” a dramatic song that depicts the weaknesses we all have. Billboard JAPAN took the opportunity of this momentous release to talk with Brandy Senki about how they felt as they enter this new stage of their musical careers.
To start off, could you tell us about Neon Oasis Fest 2025, the Taiwanese music festival you just finished performing at in late April? What did you think of your first overseas show?
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Hazuki: Standing up there on stage, you could feel the love, even in another country with a whole different language. Also, the way people listened was a little different than the way Japanese audiences do. There were people who were really amped up, but there were also people slowly swaying to the music. There was this striking feeling of personal freedom. It was a lot of fun.
Your new album, BRANDY SENKI, is the same as your band’s. What led you to choose this name?
Hazuki: There are only really a few times when you can self-title an album. This album has lots of songs that we’d released in the past, so we talked about making it a self-titled album to share the message that “this is what Brandy Senki is today.” That’s why we called the album BRANDY SENKI.
I think the first song on an album is important. Why did you pick “The End of the F***ing World” to start off the album?
Hazuki: We thought a lot about how someone who didn’t know Brandy Senki would feel when they listened to the album for the first time. We thought it would be good to start with a song that would get the listener excited, like “What’s about to start?” This song was perfect for that.
You’ve said that this song was influenced by the British show The End of the F***ing World. When you write poetry or music, Hazuki, are you usually influenced by things like novels or movies?
Hazuki: Always. But being inspired by a single work, like I was with “The End of the F***ing World,” is unusual.
Could each of you share a song on the album that is especially important to you?
Bori: For me, it would be “The End of the F***ing World.” There’s this bouncy beat that goes through the entire song, and it was a bit of a struggle to perform. Now, having finished the song, whenever I hear it or when I play it live, I’m glad I put in the effort.
Minori: For me, it’s the fifth song, “Water Mirror.” We’ve been playing it pretty much since our first show. I think it was also the first song that I wrote a bass line for after Hazuki sent me a demo. So, for me, it’s an important song because it represents a lot of firsts.
Hazuki, what about you?
Hazuki: I’d probably answer that question a different way every day (laughs). Today, I’d say the first song, “Spring.”
The lyrics of “Spring” are very evocative of summer. They mention the beach, and a shirt, and a “Sicilian painting,” which conjures the image of the seaside.
Hazuki: The reality is that, for the people in the song, spring hasn’t even come yet, let alone summer. The heart of the song is this longing to go to the beach, this yearning for Sicily, that kind of feeling. But time just passes in this room.
You’ve also been playing “Last Live” since your early live shows, right?
Minori: It goes back to right around when we were starting out, but we changed the arrangement a little when recording it.
How so?
Minori: In the middle, when the tempo changes in the bridge. There’s a drum fill there now, but that wasn’t there originally.
Bori: We decided to make that part, so we changed the arrangement around that.
Hazuki: We were thinking of a cool way to speed up the tempo of the song.
I also saw the music video. It has this very “kawaii” feel to it. What did you and the director Nathalie Scarlette talk about when making it?
Hazuki: Nathalie came up with pretty much every aspect of the music video, starting from the initial idea. For us, filming in Akihabara or a roller skating rink was really novel. We were really impressed with how great the visuals came out.
Minori: Nathalie really loves Brandy Senki. She understood the lyrics Hazuki had written at a deep level, which was wonderful. Nathalie’s Australian, so she understands what Japan looks like from the outside. She sees beautiful things that we overlook because we take them for granted. It’s wonderful having someone who notices those things and can depict them. I’m always impressed at how she can make these interesting music videos that wouldn’t have even occurred to us.
Bori: It was all shot guerilla-style, too. We set up a drum set in a truck, and there were tourists out there taking photos of us. It was a very different experience than the usual filming of a music video, and really stimulating.
Then there’s the lead single, “Fix.” That word has a lot of different meanings, right?
Hazuki: It’s used to mean a lot of different things, so we thought it would be an interesting name for a song. You can fix something in place, or you can fix something that’s broken. In the song, we use it in different senses, singing about whether you can fix these relationships between people–between yourself and others.
There’s also a brand-new song, “Memento Waltz” Does the title simply mean “don’t forget this waltz?”
Hazuki: Yes. We wanted to make a waltz, or rather a song in triple meter. That was our starting point.
It also has a string part. Was this was your first time using strings since “Nightmarish – Acoustic?”
Minori: “Nightmarish – Acoustic” had strings, too, but this was our first time using strings that were performed live. On the album, there are strings on “Memento Waltz” and also on “Untitled”
“Untitled” is an acoustic piece. When was it written?
Hazuki: We wrote “Untitled” over a year ago. It’s the only song on the album that I think you could call a pure love song.
To close off with, are there any new things that you’ve been trying your hand at, or that you want to try to do in the future?
Minori: I like going on long train trips, but you need to have a whole day free to do that. I want to make time for myself and learn about trains throughout Japan.
Bori: In a certain sense, I’m taking on the challenges of drumming. Ever since I started playing in a band, I’ve been learning different beats and really making them part of my own repertoire. Lately, I’ve been reexamining just what a drum is, and learning more about drums — how do you get a better sound? What form should you use when drumming? That sort of thing.
Hazuki: I just want to work hard on writing our next song.
—This interview by Tatsuya Tanami first appeared on Billboard Japan
Something Beautiful…in the woods? Miley Cyrus opened up in a new interview on Wednesday (May 21) about how she scrapped an overly ambitious plan for her new album thanks to some advice from Harrison Ford. Speaking to Zane Lowe for Apple Music, the superstar explained that her original idea for the project involved performing shows […]
FRUITS ZIPPER’s “Kawaiitte Magic” blasts in at No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, on the chart released May 21.
This song by the seven-member girl group is the theme song for the animated movie Oshiri Tantei: Star and Moon that hit domestic theaters on Mar. 20. The CD version sold 292,341 copies to rule physical sales, powering the track to No. 1 on the Japan Hot 100. It’s the first chart-topper for the ASOBISYSTEM group — here’s a list of the FRUITS ZIPPER’s chart record so far:
“NEW KAWAII” (Peaked at No. 10)“Watashi no ichiban kawaii tokoro” (No. 13)“Kagami” (No. 48)“Fruits Basket” (No. 67)
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Mrs. GREEN APPLE’s “Lilac” holds at No. 2, coming in at No. 13 for downloads (2,329 units), No. 2 for streaming (8,457,867 streams), No. 91 for radio airplay, and topping video views and karaoke. The three-man band continues to dominate the top 10, with “KUSUSHIKI” following at No. 3, “Tengoku” at No. 4, and “Darling” at No. 10.
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XG’s “MILLION PLACES” debuts at No. 6, coming in at No. 2 for sales (39,404 copies), No. 11 for downloads (2,193 units), No. 4 for radio and No. 93 for video.
Elsewhere on the Japan Hot 100, Gen Hoshino’s “Star” soars 84-12 this week, following the release of his new album Gen on May 14. The music video accompanying “Star” also arrived recently, and the track comes in at No. 72 for downloads, No. 76 for video, and rules radio.
The Billboard Japan Hot 100 combines physical and digital sales, audio streams, radio airplay, video views and karaoke data.
See the full Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, tallying the week from May 12 to 18, here. For more on Japanese music and charts, visit Billboard Japan’s English X account.
