News

12 Oct 2022

What’s Your Favorite Jimin Song? Vote!

Happy birthday Jimin! The BTS star turns 27 years old on Thursday (Oct. 13).

To celebrate Jimin’s big day, what better time to look back at some of the singer’s biggest solo hits? Of course, he’s had worldwide success as a member of BTS, but Jimin is a solo superstar in his own right, swooning fans with songs like “Lie,” “Filter,” “Promise,” “With You,” his festive “Christmas Love” and more.

We at Billboard want to know your favorite of Jimin’s solo tracks. Let us know by voting in our poll below.

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

12 Oct 2022

Nessa Barrett Talks ‘Tired of California,’ ‘Misconceptions’ About Social Media Stars & More

Nessa Barrett is gearing up to release her debut album, Young Forever, on Friday (Oct. 14), and the 20-year-old singer sat down with Billboard‘s Rania Aniftos to discuss the upcoming album, as well as her new single, “Tired of California.”

Explore

Explore

See latest videos, charts and news

See latest videos, charts and news

The singer, who got her start on TikTok, revealed that she got “tired of California” right after she moved to the sunny state. “Living in LA and California itself was a dream of mine since I was little. When I was 17, I ran away and moved across the country to be in LA, and it has given me so many opportunities and I love it so much,” she explained. “But, I feel like a lot of people in the industry can relate, we just feel trapped here.”

On her healing while writing such an emotionally charged album, she shared that she’s big on hypnotherapy and inner child work. “I feel like working with yourself and getting very deep and learning how to have compassion for the person that’s inside of you — because we forget that and neglect ourselves in a way — I feel like it’s very important.”

Barrett also shared her thoughts on those who have large social media platforms that are sometimes not taken seriously when trying to take the jump into full-blown musical artist, and then feel confined. “Everyone online isn’t fully the person that they are on social media. So when people start to branch out and do new things or follow a dream of theirs, it’s kind of confusing for people and it’s hard for them to accept,” she said. “Just because you have an audience and a big platform, it doesn’t mean you don’t grow and change like anyone else. That’s part of life.”

Watch Billboard‘s full interview with Nessa Barrett above.

12 Oct 2022

Here Are All of Taylor Swift’s Acting Roles, From ‘Amsterdam’ to ‘Valentine’s Day’

Taylor Swift will always be a singer-songwriter first and foremost, but when she isn’t penning No. 1 hits or selling out stadiums on tour, the pop star sometimes trade in her guitar for a script. Since rising to fame as a country darling in the 2000s, she’s made cameos in both big screen and small screen projects, be it as a one-time guest on a random episode of CSI or a lead performer in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats film adaptation.

But while it may seem as though Swift’s acting career stemmed from her success in music, here’s a little known fact: The Grammy winner actually started out with a love for musical theater. As she told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in October 2019, “I started out doing musical theater as a kid. It’s what made me fall in love with performing as a medium.”

That said, the musician probably won’t be taking on a second full-time profession any time soon. Three years before appearing in David O. Russell’s Amsterdam — which debuted in theaters Oct. 7, 2022 — she was asked by Webber in an interview for British Vogue whether she’d ever considered fully committing to being an actress.

“I have no idea,” she told the composer, with whom she also composed a song for the movie adaptation of Cats.

“When I was younger, I used to get questions like, ‘Where do you see yourself in 10 years?’ I’d try to answer. As I get older, I’m learning that wisdom is learning how dumb you are compared to how much you are going to know. I really had an amazing time with Cats. I think I loved the weirdness of it. I loved how I felt I’d never get another opportunity to be like this in my life.”

Keep reading to learn about all of Taylor Swift’s acting roles to date.

12 Oct 2022

Bizarre Recalls Dr. Dre Encouraging Him To Fully Embrace His Wacky Persona

Bizarre has shown some love to Dr. Dre, recalling the time the legendary producer pushed him to embrace his wacky persona.

Speaking to Fiend on the former No Limit rapper’s Who Got Dat Fire podcast, the Detroit native opened up about his relationship with Dre, who he first met during the early days of Shady Records.

According to the rapper, Dre is the one who pushed him to embrace the wacky persona that fans later came to know and love. “I had heard stories about how Dre would have n-ggas in hotel rooms for months trying to get up with him,” Bizarre said about his friend and collaborator. “I know Meth and Red went through that just trying to get on his schedule.

“I had heard about how hard it was to get to him, so when I first met him, I remember he was like, ‘D Twizzy, wassup,’ and he was like, ‘Who is that n-gga Bizarre’ and they all pointed at me and shit, and he quoted one of my lyrics and shit, and I was just like, wow. I was stunned.”

Bizarre continued: “He ended up being a cool mentor, and I ain’t gonna lie, a lot of the lines that you hear that come out of my mouth, they started out as jokes in the studio. Dre was always like, ‘Yo keep that, say that.’ He pushed me to be Bizarre, to stay in my lane. Any lines that I had that I thought were questionable, he was like, ‘Nah say that shit.’ That’s what I remember about Dre, and he loved Popeyes chicken and Hennessy.”

Bizarre made a name for himself as the wild and eccentric member of D12. He would regularly walk around shirtless and wear a shower cap on his head. If he wasn’t wearing the cap, he would display his colorful hair for all to see.

related news

Bizarre Reveals Another Prominent Detroit Rapper Was In D12 ‘For A Minute’

September 20, 2022

During a recent interview with Bootleg Kev, the Detroit rapper reflected on his experience working with another mentor, Eminem, with whom he released two albums — 2001’s Devil’s Night and 2004’s D12 World — as part of the platinum-selling group D12.

“It was a lot of work, man. I think we had fun after the studio,” he said. “Being in the studio with Em, man, sometimes you might be in the booth for five, six hours doing one verse over. He was on yo ass.

“I remember one time he got so sick with it, man, I went home and he wanted me to do some ad-libs over. I guess he couldn’t wait ’til I came back; the next day, he had did them for me. He sounded just like me, my voice. I was like, ‘Bro, you are sick.’”

12 Oct 2022

BTS Gets Ready to Fly in Aerial Yoga Class for Special ‘Run BTS’ Episode: Watch

It’s finally here, BTS ARMY — the Bangtan Boys first teased their special yoga-themed Run BTS episode on Oct. 4, which featured members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook giving the aerial silks a try.

Though the K-pop stars were totally game in the teaser to experience a brand new challenge, the septet later ended up quickly struggling with nailing down the moves. Now, ARMY has the chance to see the episode in full — and all the hilarious shenanigans that ensued — in a video uploaded to BTS’ official YouTube on Tuesday (Oct. 11).

After being introduced to their instructor, who greeting the K-pop group by instantly launching to a pose above ground on the aerial silks, BTS gave him a round of applause — but not without gushing over their instructor’s physique and talents. Jimin, impressed with the elegant display, said, “He made a fantastic appearance!” Suga then enquired, “Did you make that body with flying yoga?”

Jin and RM then had their own questions, with the singer asking, “He probably worked out, right?” and the rapper adding, “What if he pumps a lot of metal at home?” The instructor assured the guys that aerial yoga acts as a full body workout, which RM concluded, “Those are muscles that are made in action!”

The rest of the episode sees the BTS members doing a lengthy stretching session, some members more successful at hitting the exercises than others, before giving actual aerial silk moves a try. All of the members struggled with at least one of the moves, but closer to the end of their class, the members had more stability and confidence. Sadly, fans will have to wait for the next episode to see how BTS makes it through the rest of the class.

The next part of “Fly BTS Fly” will first air through Weverse and VLive, and will later be available on YouTube. Watch the newest installment of Run BTS below.

12 Oct 2022

Lizzo Admits She Has a Secret Instagram Account During Hilarious Lie Detector Test: Watch

Lizzo sat down for Vanity Fair‘s Lie Detector Test on Tuesday, and the results were as amusing as you’d expect.

In contrast to the famous lyric in her breakout single “Truth Hurts,” the singer admitted she’s actually never taken a DNA test to determine if she’s really “100 percent that bi—,” as the song goes. (Though if she did, she’d be crossing her fingers to be related to Beyoncé despite her Detroit roots and Queen Bey hailing from Texas.)

However, when it comes to what it takes to actually be “100 percent that bi—,” Lizzo said, “I think it’s owning your identity and having autonomy of your body, and owning that. And of who you are and owning that. Having no shame in your motherf—ing game.”

Later in the interview, Lizzo hesitated to answer a question about whether she’s aiming for EGOT status now that she’s taken home her first Emmy for Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls (not to mention her three Grammys), saying, “See, you can’t spell EGOT without ‘ego,’ and I try to keep my ego out of my career and my purpose.”

Knowing she was hooked up to a polygraph machine, the “About Damn Time” singer was blatantly honest about how much time she spends on TikTok (“It’s a lot, it’s embarrassing”) and copped to having a secret Instagram account where she posts pictures with boyfriend Myke Wright, however she got caught in a lie about whether fans would be surprised with what’s on her TikTok “For You Page.”

In the section about her life, Lizzo revealed that she has, in fact, gotten apologies from former classmates who bullied her in high school for being a band geek. However, the apologies didn’t stop her from refusing to give the unnamed bullies free tickets to her show when they asked (“I feel like I should’ve said ‘yeah,’ but that would’ve been a lie”).

Watch Lizzo’s full Lie Detector Test segment below.

12 Oct 2022

Freddie Gibbs Downplays Jim Jones & Benny The Butcher Fights: ‘Ain’t No Rapper Ever Hit Me’

Freddie Gibbs has been in his fair share of altercations with other rappers and their crews this year, but he’s downplaying the alleged brawls.

Gangsta Gibbs was asked about the scuffles with Jim Jones and Benny The Butcher during his interview with The Breakfast Club and he claimed neither of them actually laid a finger on him.

“All the incidents you see, I was just eating with my girl. I don’t go out trying to start nothing with nobody… I like to fight… Either time could’ve been bad, but everybody naming these rappers and stuff but ain’t no rapper ever hit me,” he explained.

Freddie Gibbs and Benny’s crews were involved in an altercation in May while Gibbs was eating at a restaurant in Buffalo while on tour.

“I’ve been in way worse situations than that,” he continued of the Benny The Butcher altercation around the 17-minute mark. “I can’t control if you bring 30 people to a restaurant with a camera crew to humiliate me but you end up losing.”

Freddie Gibbs also touched on the Jim Jones beef, where he allegedly was involved in another scuffle with Jones’s entourage while out to eat at Miami hot-spot Prime 112 in December.

“I let street shit stay in the streets and I don’t got a problem with anyone doing better than me,” the Indiana native said around the 14-minute mark. “It was some furniture moving, but it was a food fight or something like that. It wasn’t nothing crazy like that. Nobody got fucked up to that point.”

related news

PnB Rock’s Robbery Death Was A ‘Lose-Lose,’ Says Freddie Gibbs

October 6, 2022

Gibbs squashed at least one feud earlier this month when he extended an olive branch to Jeezy and reached a truce to end their longstanding beef.

“I love U bro,” he wrote in an Instagram post. “I apologize. But really U brought a different beast out of me and motivated me to get to this point so I gotta thank U at the same time. Love. @jeezy.”

Freddie Gibbs delivered his $oul $old $eparately album on September 30, which earned him a career-best charting position on the Billboard 200 where he debuted at No. 11.

12 Oct 2022

Kid Cudi Gets Skateboarding Lessons From Tony Hawk: ‘I Feel Like A Big Kid’

Kid Cudi has learned how to skateboard, thanks to a few lessons he got from the legendary Tony Hawk.

The skateboarding icon took to Instagram to share a video compilation of some of Cudi’s first lessons and said the Moon Man reached out to him to ask for help.

“Kid Cudi hit me up recently about wanting to learn how to skate,” Hawk wrote. “I have now given him two lessons in as many weeks and it has been gratifying to see his commitment to the process. Rarely do beginning skaters take direction so well, or progress as quickly.”

He continued: “By the second ‘lesson’ he is turning, doing fakies, kickturns, fakie 180’s and starting to snap ollies. And he’s taken a couple heavy slams in the process! But we skaters know that makes getting up and conquering the challenge even more satisfying.”

Hawk went on to say it had been a “pleasure” and an “honor” getting to know Kid Cudi, and that he was “inspired” by his “talents in music and film.”

“I am thankful he has chosen skateboarding as a new passion, helping to raise awareness and appreciation for our culture to a bigger audience,” Hawk wrote. “His ‘pursuit of happiness’ now includes a wooden plank and four wheels. And he’ll be fine once he gets it.”

Cudi replied to Hawk’s post on Twitter, writing: “my guy!! Got the best coach!! Blessed.”

“The homie and coach, @tonyhawk hooked me up w a ramp builder,” Cudi announced in a another tweet. “First day of installation tomorrow. This is unreal. Always wanted to skate ramps. I feel like a big kid.”

The “Cudi Zone” rapper then posted two videos that showed his basketball court being torn apart by construction workers as his ramp was installed.

“It beginss. So long basketball court,” Kid Cudi wrote. “#ragerville.”

Skateboarding is just the latest new venture Kid Cudi has undertaken this year. He recently dropped off his new project Entergalactic on September 30, which serves as the soundtrack to the new Netflix animated series he created. He told Zane Lowe it very well could be the last Cudi album for a while because of how many other outlets he’s involved in.

“The Kid Cudi stuff, I think I want to put it on the back burner and chill out with that,” he said. “I think, I want to be done with it. I think, closing the chapter on Kid Cudi.”

related news

Kid Cudi: ‘I Am The Most Hated Man In Hip Hop Right Now’

September 19, 2022

He continued: “I’ve said a lot and I have other desires, I have other things I want to do. And I do not see me never making music, I’ll always fuck around in the studio, or make something here and there. But, as far as getting in the studio and working on an album, and then going and touring it, I just don’t have it in me. I don’t have the desire.

“I have so many other things I want to invest my time into… I really want to spend more time with my daughter. You know what I’m saying? We’ve been kicking it a lot lately and I’ve been having more time and it’s good, she’s growing up, our relationship is super tight. It’s what I always dreamed of.”

Meanwhile, Kid Cudi has begun the process of penning his life story in an upcoming memoir.

The Cleveland, Ohio native revealed in a tweet last month that he’s started writing the first chapter of his biography, which he said will explain his “troubled boy” beginnings.

12 Oct 2022

Fugees’ Pras Gets New Trial Date In Criminal Conspiracy & Campaign Finance Case

Fugees rapper Pras will finally be going to trial after receiving a court date for his criminal conspiracy and campaign finance charges case.

The trial, which is set for March 27, 2023, will see Pras defend himself in a case alleging he was funneling money to political campaigns.

In 2019, the Fugees member was charged alongside Low Taek Taek Jho (aka Jho Low), a Malaysian national who is still at large, and the man that Pras is accused of laundering the money for and making false statements in connection to the case.

The charges against Pras include one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States government and making foreign and conduit campaign contributions, one count of concealing material facts, and two counts of making a false entry in a record in connection with the conspiracy.

Prosecutors also allege the rapper received approximately $100 million from Jho Low to influence American politics. He allegedly handed political committees illegal political contributions supporting the re-election of former President Barack Obama in 2012.

Pras is also accused of attempting to influence former President Donald J. Trump and his administration to end a civil and criminal investigation into Jho Low by the Department of Justice.

If that wasn’t enough, Pras is alleged to have attempted to influence the Trump administration on behalf of the Chinese government to remove a Chinese dissident from the United States and send him back home to China.

According to a report from Politico, actor Leonardo DiCaprio is among the list of potential witnesses set to testify in the case. Jho Low, a Hollywood personality known for lavish parties and dating model Miranda Kerr, has said he helped supply the money for DiCaprio’s 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street.

Jho Low is also wanted internationally in connection with his role in the 1MDB scandal, where billions of dollars were embezzled from the state-owned sovereign investment fund Low co-founded with Malaysia’s then–prime minister, Najib Razak.

Pras and Jho Low’s trial was set to begin next month, but a motion to continue was granted due to an attorney on the case suffering an unrelated injury.

related news

Former Fugees MC Pras Arrested For $150,000 Child Support Debt

March 10, 2020

The charges put a dampener on the Fugees’ planned reunion tour for The Score’s 25th anniversary. According to Rolling Stone, a report suggested the Grammy Award-winning MC’s legal troubles made it impossible for the tour to continue.

The legendary Hip Hop trio performed just one date in New York City last year before pulling the plug. Fugees had initially announced they were canceling the remaining 11 dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We anticipate and understand disappointment but our anniversary tour will not be able to happen,” they said at the time. “The continued Covid pandemic has made touring conditions difficult, and we want to make sure we keep our fans and ourselves healthy and safe. An idea sparked to honor and celebrate this 25th anniversary of The Score, but we see now it may not currently be our time for revisiting this past work.”

It turns out the Justice Department wouldn’t let Pras go on the international tour, which included stops in London and Paris. Pras reportedly rejected a plea deal that would’ve required him to plead guilty to an obstruction of justice charge along with a 16-month prison sentence and financial retribution to Malaysia.