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21 Jul 2023

Mayor Eric Adams Announces Hip-Hop Block Parties Citywide

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New York Mayor Adams Makes Announcement Related To Gun Violence

Source: Michael M. Santiago / Getty

New York City is throwing Hip-Hop a huge birthday bash throughout its five boroughs, as Mayor Eric Adams announced a series of block parties that will be held next month.

On Thursday, Mayor Adams held a press conference at City Hall to announce the 5×5 Block Party Series, which will be held in each of the city’s five boroughs. They will be thrown by the city in conjunction with ITSALLBLACKMUSIC PRESENTS. Each will feature a lineup of DJs as well as food vendors, artists, and educational and entertainment talks in prime locations essential to the history of the culture.



Mayor Adams was joined at the press conference by Eric B and Boogie Down Productions founder and MC, KRS-One. The icon “will collaborate with the city as well to help curate and perform at the block parties,” as expressed in a statement released later by the city. The “Outta Here” artist even kicked a freestyle for the gathered crowd at the behest of Adams.

The first of the block parties will take place on August 5th at Fulton Street and Washington Avenue in Brooklyn. The location is known for being a block away from the house where rapper The Notorious B.I.G. grew up. The second will be in Queens on August 6th, at Vernon Boulevard and 41st Avenue near the Queensbridge Houses where Nas and Mobb Deep grew up. The birthplace of Hip-Hop, 1520 Sedgwick in The Bronx, will have its own celebration on Aug. 12th. Dates and locations for Manhattan and Staten Island are expected to be announced soon.

The lineups for each block party haven’t been announced yet, but This comes on the heels of the city announcing that there will be 50 murals created across the city in collaboration with LISA Project NYC. The city is also working with Pixis Drones to create light shows with “iconic Hip-Hop imagery” at each party, which will run until 9:30 PM.

“New York should be celebrating a genre that we created,” Adams, who calls himself “the Hip-Hop Mayor”, said. “We raised it on the streets of New York, and it has gone out to cascade throughout the entire globe.” He continued, “This summer we’re going to do more than reminisce on hip-hop, we’re going to celebrate it and elevate it. So I encourage New Yorkers to step into the world where hip-hop is on our blocks this summer.”

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21 Jul 2023

Matty Healy Says The 1975 Is Banned From Kuala Lumpur After Onstage Kiss

The 1975 took the stage at Good Vibes Festival in Malaysia on Friday (July 21), but the set came to an abrupt end after the band’s frontman Matty Healy spoke out against the country’s stances on LGBTQ+ rights.

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“I’m f–ing furious, and that’s not fair on you because you’re not representative of your government,” the 34-year-old singer-songwriter is heard telling the crowd in videos circulating social media. “Because you are young people, and I’m sure a lot of you are gay and progressive and cool. So, I pulled the show yesterday, I pulled the show yesterday, and we had a conversation and we said, ‘You know what, we can’t let the kids down because they’re not the government.’ But, I’ve done this before. I’ve gone to a country where it’s — I don’t know what it f—ing is. Ridiculous. F—ing ridiculous to tell people what they can do with that and that. If you want to invite me here to do a show, you can f— off. I’ll take your money, you can ban me, but I’ve done this before and it doesn’t feel good, and I’m f—ed off.”

After the rant, Healy challenged the anti-LGBTQ+ laws even further, kissing bandmate Ross MacDonald for an extended period of time. The set then ended half an hour early, with Healy telling the audience before leaving the stage: “Alright, we just got banned from Kuala Lumpur, see you later.”

A source tells Billboard, “Matty has a long-time record of advocating for the LGBTQ+ community and the band wanted to stand up for their LGBTQ+ fans and community.” Back in 2019, the musician broke an anti-LGBTQ law in United Arab Emirates by going into the crowd during their show in Dubai and kissing a male concertgoer.

While there hasn’t been an official statement confirming The 1975’s band from Malaysia, Billboard has reached out to reps from the festival for more information.

According to Outright International, same-sex relationships are illegal in Malaysia, and in states imposing Islamic Sharia law, gender non-conformity is also criminalized. “Due to these laws, LGBTIQ Malaysians are subject to arbitrary arrests, assault, extortion and privacy violations by police and public officials,” according to the site.

See Healy’s speech as well as the kiss and end of the set via social media below.

21 Jul 2023

HHW Gaming: Patrick Mahomes Is The Final NFL Superstar With A 99 Overall Rating In ‘Madden NFL 24’

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Super Bowl LVII - Kansas City Chiefs v Philadelphia Eagles

Source: Cooper Neill / Getty / Patrick Mahomes

If you had Patrick Mahomes joining Madden NFL 24’s 99 overall rating club, pat yourself on the back because you were absolutely correct.

Friday, EA announced that Patrick Mahomes is the final NFL superstar joining the 99 overall rating club in Madden NFL 24. This selection will be Mahomes third, tying him with New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Shockingly Mahomes is the only quarterback joining the club, with Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow with a 95 rating.

Mahomes joins Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson, Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald, Dallas Cowboys guard Zack Martin, and his teammate’s favorite target Travis Kelce.

EA also released the full list of the top-rated Quarterbacks and Linebackers in the game.

Quarterbacks                                                                          Linebackers

  1. Patrick Mahomes 99                                                 1. Fred Warner 96
  2. Joe Burrow        95                                                    2. Roquan Smith 92
  3. Josh Allen           94                                                    3. Lavonte David 91
  4. Lamar Jackson   91                                                    4. Haason Reddick 90
  5. Jalen Hurts         88                                                    5. Demario Davis 90
  6. Justin Herbert   87                                                    6. Bobby Wagner 89
  7. Dak Prescott      87                                                    7. Matt Milano  88
  8. Aaron Rodgers  86                                                    8. Nick Bolton    87
  9. Kirk Cousins       84                                                    9. Tremaine Edmunds 87
  10. Tua Tagovailoa  83                                                    10. Shaquille Leonard 86

Jalen Hurts Should Be Very Upset

We’re shocked to see Jalen Hurts come in with an 88 rating, at Aaron Rodgers sitting at an 86 overall rating, falling out of the 90s club.

We won’t be surprised if actual NFL players look at these ratings in disgust and are mad that they did not get a 99 overall rating in Madden NFL 24.

Welp.

Madden NFL 24 arrives on August 15. ESPN and Madden NFL are releasing the full ratings in an hour-long special this Sunday, July 23, at 1 p.m. ET, hosted by Field Yates, Dan Orlovksy, Mina Kimes, and Louis Riddick.

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Photo: Cooper Neill / Getty

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21 Jul 2023

Tony Bennett, Legendary Interpreter of Great American Songbook, Dies at 96 | Billboard News

Tony Bennett died at his home in New York on July 21, according to a statement from his management company. He was 96 years old.

Tetris Kelly:
The legendary jazz singer Tony Bennett has died at the age of 96. Tony Bennett’s list of amazing achievements includes 20 Grammys, 23 Hot 100 hits and 44 Billboard 200 albums. Tony began performing in nightclubs in 1946 and will continue to perform to packed crowds all the way up to 2021 at Radio City Music Hall as a celebration of his 95th birthday, even in spite of an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2016.

His last performance was with one of his most well-known collaborators, Lady Gaga. The pair released two albums together, both of which took home Grammys.

Tony collaborated with some of the biggest names in music. In addition to Gaga, Tony worked with Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Christina Aguilera, Amy Winehouse, Marc Anthony, John Legend and so many more. Tony Bennett will be greatly missed, but his spectacular music will live on.

Watch the full video above!

21 Jul 2023

Kenzie Opens Up About How Her Vulnerable ‘Anatomy’ Single Allowed for the Ultimate Inner Child Healing: ‘I Got to Let Everything Out’

If you took one look at 19-year-old Kenzie‘s Instagram, you’d see a smiling girl who loves spending time with her friends, playing with her sense of style and cuddling with her boyfriend.

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But, as we all know, social media isn’t always what it seems. “I feel like everyone thinks that all of these people on social media are perfect and don’t go through struggles. We all do,” the singer and dancer tells Billboard.

That’s why Kenzie decided on Friday (July 21) to release “Anatomy,” a heart wrenching ballad about her strained relationship with her father. “It’s just anatomy, you’re only half of me / But still you don’t know me at all / You’ve been my missing piece, so why aren’t you missing me?” she sings in the chorus, her voice nearly trembling in the way it usually does when being so deeply vulnerable for the first time.

The song, which acts as a musical therapy session, started out fittingly as a suggestion from her therapist. “When I turned 18, I started therapy and it was a big moment for me, because I just never trusted anyone to listen to my emotions,” she explains. “It just felt like a weird concept to me, you know, talking to a stranger. As I started doing therapy, she kept telling me write a letter to my dad and I felt that was so weird. So, I ended up just writing a song about it. I sent it to her and I was like, ‘Here’s my letter to my dad. Here’s everything.’”

She continues, “I ended up really loving the song and I hit the realization that there are people who will relate to this and I feel like it could help a lot of people in some way. It also gives people a chance to get to know me better.”

The track arrived along with an equally goosebump-inducing music video, in which the Dance Moms alum dances in an empty studio with the younger version of herself. “I’m healing my inner child for sure,” she says of the clip. “It was really important to me to add a younger version of myself in the video because when I was younger, I didn’t think about all of these issues. I think the second I turned 18, it all literally just came crashing down. I always used to make jokes about it. I’d just be like, “Yeah, well, that’s my life.” You know how kids are. But it’s a real life struggle that people go through and it really didn’t hit me until I was 18. Every time I watch the video, it just makes me cry because she’s so amazing in it.”

Before releasing the track, she showed it to her mother and sister — fellow dancer Maddie Ziegler — and, while she was “nervous,” the result was everything she hoped for. “I sent it to my sister and she just FaceTimed me and didn’t say anything and had tears coming down her face,” Kenzie recalls. “I also played it for my mom which I was a little nervous for because it’s a touchy subject. She’s just so supportive and she obviously cried as well. She just looked at me and was like, ‘that’s the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.’”

In fact, Maddie ended up choreographing the music video. “I mean, she loves it so much because, of course, it’s her childhood too,” Kenzie explains. “It was so special having her there with me because it is a big moment in my life to be talking about this. Just having her be a part of it made me feel at home and comforted.”

As for how she perceives her relationship with her father now, Kenzie says “Anatomy” (and therapy) has helped her immensely in coming to terms with it. “I was really hesitant to release the song, because I have so much love for my dad no matter what because he is my family. I love very deeply and I don’t hold grudges,” she says. “But it definitely was healing because I just feel so content and I feel so happy with myself. I honestly don’t have these struggles anymore and I think it’s because I was so vulnerable and got to let everything out.”

Moving forward, Kenzie wants to continue being vulnerable in her music — not only to help herself heal, but also to help others. “I just feel like it’s just so personal and I really look up to people that are honest and share their story to other people. It helps other people in many ways,” she shares. “Bottling it up and acting like it doesn’t exist is not always the healthiest way. I think it’s important to talk freely about what you’re going through, and not be afraid to share your feelings. It’s also not embarrassing! That’s how I felt for a long time with my friends that had a mom and dad, and I just felt really embarrassed and left out. I learned that it made me a strong person and it’s made me who I am.”

Watch Kenzie’s “Anatomy” music video below.

21 Jul 2023

Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town’ Surges in Sales and Streams Following Controversy

Sales and streams of Jason Aldean‘s single “Try That in a Small Town” have surged, following controversy that erupted this week surrounding the song and its corresponding music video.

After selling around 1,000 copies of the song each day from July 14 through July 17, according to preliminary reports from Luminate, sales rose after Billboard’s July 18 exclusive that CMT had pulled the video. The song earned 12,000 in sales on July 18, before surging to 108,000 in sales on July 19 and 103,000 in sales on July 20. The latest sales total for the week (July 14-20) is 227,000, according to the preliminary reports.

U.S. official on-demand daily streams of “Try That in a Small Town” also exploded over the past week.

After earning 204,000 official U.S. on-demand streams on July 14, and then dipping to 194,000 on July 15 and 174,000 on July 16, streams rose 24.3% to 216,000 on July 17, then surged 178% on July 18 to 600,000. On July 19, U.S. official on-demand streams of “Try That in a Small Town” skyrocketed to 3.2 million, a 440.2% increase.

The sales and streaming spikes come the same week social media commenters began questioning the song’s lyrics and the video’s imagery — with many calling it racist and anti-protest. “Try That in a Small Town” was written by songwriters Kelley Lovelace, Kurt Allison, Tully Kennedy and Neil Thrasher. The video features Aldean performing in front of the Maury County Courthouse in Columbia, Tenn. — the same location where a lynch mob murdered a Black man, Henry Choate, in 1927 — with an American flag hanging from the entrance. The performance is interspersed with footage of a flag burning, protesters screaming and attacking police in various scenarios as well as looting and robbing a convenience store.

Artists including Sheryl Crow and Margo Price have spoken out against Aldean and/or the song and video, while others, including Aldean’s labelmate Blanco Brown, have defended the singer.

Aldean issued a statement on July 18 that read in part, “In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to a comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests. These references are not only meritless, but dangerous. There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage- and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music- this one goes too far.”

In the week since it was released, the official music video for “Try That in a Small Town” has now been viewed more than 9 million times on YouTube. On the morning of July 18, before the controversy broke, it had been viewed around 350,000 times.

In terms of radio airplay, on last week’s Country Airplay chart (dated July 15), “Try That in a Small Town” rose one spot from 26-25, though it declined 2% in audience impressions for the week. On this week’s Country Airplay chart (dated July 22), the song holds at No. 25 but gained 16% to 6.5 million audience impressions in its ninth week on the chart.

21 Jul 2023

10 Times Fans Crossed the Line With Musicians: Phone Throwing, Stage Crashing & More

In the world of modern music, you have your fans. You have your Stans. And then, beyond even that, you have people who are pretty much just one misstep away from a restraining order.

Horror stories about stalkers, trespassers and aggressive admirers are sadly nothing new in the history of music. But in the past few years, oddball behavior from fans seems to have reached a completely new level of nope, with the boundaries between artist and listener blurring more than ever before.

For instance, in the span of just a few months in 2023, artists like Drake, P!nk, Bebe Rexha and Kelsea Ballerini were either hit with items thrown at them — one of them sustaining moderate injuries as a result — or were gifted items that were way, way too personal. And before that, performers like Taylor Swift, Adam Levine and Billie Eilish were unexpectedly grabbed, tackled or kissed (absolutely not, folks!) by unruly fans right in the middle of a concert.

There are plenty of theories as to why these incidents have increased in recent years, with some arguing that in the social media age, constant access and visibility has encouraged inappropriate behavior. It’s also been said that two years (give or take) of isolation in the COVID-19 pandemic made people forget how to act when face-to face with their faves.

But whatever the reason, there’s absolutely no excuse for fans to turn celebrities into targets for airborne objects, unauthorized physical contact or unplanned stage sharing. For a list of what not to do when in the same space as a musician, see 10 examples of times people definitely crossed the line with artists below.

21 Jul 2023

Travis Scott, Bad Bunny x The Weeknd, Britney Spears x Will.i.am & More: What’s Your Favorite Music Release of the Week? Vote!

This week’s new music Friday features a mega collaboration across genres with Travis Scott, The Weeknd and Bad Bunny teaming up for a track, as well as the return of former One Direction member ZAYN and Britney Spears — with help from Will.i.am — for new singles.

Scott, The Weeknd and Bad Bunny’s new single “K-Pop” has none of the trappings from the genre of the same name. Instead, the track opts for Afrobeats for instrumentation as Scott and Benito carry the first half of the song. The Weeknd gets listeners moving toward the end of the track, and ultimately reveals the drug that the title of the track is in reference to.

Spears dips a toe into her Blackout era lyricism with Will.i.am collab “Mind Your Business.” On the single, the pop star sings, “Paparazzi shot me, I am the economy/ Follow me, follow me, follow me,” recalling the hectic swarm of media attention she received in the early aughts as well as the 2020s. Much like their previous collab “Scream & Shout,” “Mind Your Business” is an electro-pop ear worm that has potential to inch its way onto the charts.

Zayn returned on Friday with “Love Like This,” his first offering since releasing his third studio album, Nobody Is Listening, in 2021. Re-energized from a switch to a new label (Mercury Records), the former boy bander tries new sounds through use of U.K. garage instrumentation. The choice is a wise one that allows his vocals to sensually float above the thumping beats, as he sings of giving himself up to a new and enticing romance.

There’s also new material from Ice Spice, Diplo and Chris Stapleton, and the Barbie The Album on Friday. It’s a lot to choose from, but what was your favorite new release of the week? Vote in the poll below.

21 Jul 2023

Lucy Dacus Calls Barack Obama a ‘War Criminal’ After Boygenius Made His Playlist

Barack Obama unveiled his annual summer playlist on Thursday afternoon (July 20), sharing his eclectic mix of music recommendations.

Upon seeing that Boygenius’ “Not Strong Enough” made the list, the group’s guitarist Lucy Dacus was not thrilled. She took to Twitter to retweet the playlist, writing, “war criminal :(.”

While its not entirely clear what incident Dacus is referring to in her response, the former POTUS came under fire during his presidency for his approval of drone warfare and authorizing the use of strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, which ended up killing hundreds of civilians.

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The 44th commander-in-chief has been known over the past few years to treat followers with at least two playlists — one in the summer and one at the end of each year — every year.

Among the other songs featured on Obama’s 2023 summer playlist included SZA’s “Snooze,” J Hus and Drake’s “Who Told You,” Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro’s “Vampiros,” Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj’s “Princess Diana” and Janelle Monáe’s “Only Have Eyes 42.” Classics from Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Otis Redding and Ella Fitzgerald also made the cut.

 “Like I do every year, here are some songs I’ve been listening to this summer — a mix of old and new,” Obama tweeted. “Look forward to hearing what I’ve missed.”

21 Jul 2023

Ice Spice Gives a Tour of the Bronx, Talks Drake, Nicki Minaj & Taylor Swift | Billboard News

Ice Spice gives a tour of the Bronx, talks about Drake being a “mentor,” her reaction to meeting Nicki Minaj, how Taylor Swift makes her laugh and more in an interview.

Tetris Kelly:
Ice Spice gave fans a tour of her neighborhood and talks Nicki Minaj, Drake and Taylor Swift.

Ice Spice took Apple Music to the Bronx to reflect on where she’s from and how far she’s come. And she sat down with Zane Lowe to talk about her whirlwind career, like collaborating with Taylor Swift.

While Taylor is making her laugh, she said Nicki made her cry. Ice said when she met Nicki Minaj, it felt like a full circle moment. She held it together when Nicki hugged her, but lost it when she walked away. She told Zane Lowe she considers Drake to be a mentor. She asked him questions about his come-up, he gives her career advice and they constantly crack each other up. She said he gives coach vibes. We love to see it. Now hopefully they collab soon.