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Offset broke his silence on Tuesday (Nov. 15) to publicly honor Takeoff on social media.
“Dear Take, doesn’t feel real posting you like this….This still doesn’t feel like reality. I’ve been searching for the right words to say, but there aren’t any that will suffice. Until we meet again, Rest In Power. I love you,” the rapper captioned the Instagram post dedicated to his late bandmate and first cousin.
At the front of the slideshow of pictures and memories, Offset included a longer letter to Takeoff, who was shot down at a Houston bowling alley in the early hours of Nov. 1. “Dear Take, The pain you have left me with is unbearable. My heart is shattered and I have so many things to say, but I can’t find the words,” he wrote. “I’ve been going to sleep and waking up hoping that all of this is a dream, but it’s reality and reality feels like a nightmare. Every time you would see me, you didn’t give me a dap you gave me a hug.
“I wish I could hug you one last time,” the Migos rapper continued. “Laugh one last time. Smoke one one last time. Perform one last time. I know someone with a soul like yours is in heaven now. I hope you can see how much we love you and miss you. You have left a hole in my heart that will never be filled. Give me strength, give your brothers strength, give your family strength.”
Offset finished the letter by asking his cousin to “throw me a lil sign or a beautiful dream” to let him know he’s still with him.
While Takeoff’s public memorial took place earlier this month at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, stars like Cardi B, Quavo, Drake and more have also memorialized their fallen friend since his tragic death.
Swipe through Offset’s memories with Takeoff below.
For the second week in a row, Drake and 21 Savage’s “Circo Loco” heads up Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart, powered by Twitter and sponsored by Xfinity Mobile, crowning the Nov. 19-dated survey.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Billboard’s Hot Trending charts, powered by Twitter and sponsored by Xfinity Mobile, track global music-related trends and conversations in real-time across Twitter, viewable over either the last 24 hours or past seven days. A weekly, 20-position version of the chart, covering activity from Friday through Thursday of each week, posts alongside Billboard’s other weekly charts on Billboard.com each Tuesday.
“Circo Loco,” from the duo’s new album Her Loss, first topped the Nov. 12 list. The song has been the subject of debate on Twitter due to its lyrics referencing the alleged shooting of Megan Thee Stallion by Tory Lanez in 2020, with the former recently decrying the track.
In all, 10 of the chart’s 20 positions are from Her Loss’ tracklist, reflecting the album’s continued buzz on Twitter. The set concurrently launches at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, while the entirety of the full-length debuts on the Billboard Hot 100.
The week’s highest Hot Trending Songs debut belongs to GloRilla, whose “Nut Quick” starts at No. 2. The dressing down of one of the rapper’s potential flings is one of nine tracks on her new project Anyway Life’s Great, released Nov. 11.
The other non-Drake/21 Savage song in top 10 is Sidhu Moose Wala’s posthumous release “Vaar,” which bows at No. 10. The Indian artist, real name Shubhdeep Sidhu, recorded the song before his May 29 shooting death. “Vaar” is his second posthumous premiere, following “SYL” in June.
Keep visiting Billboard.com for the constantly evolving Hot Trending Songs rankings, and check in each Tuesday for the latest weekly chart.
Tracks from Drake and 21 Savage‘s new joint album Her Loss infuse Billboard’s Hot Trending Songs chart, powered by Twitter and sponsored by Xfinity Mobile, dated Nov. 12, paced by “Circo Loco” at No. 1.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Billboard’s Hot Trending charts, powered by Twitter and sponsored by Xfinity Mobile, track global music-related trends and conversations in real-time across Twitter, viewable over either the last 24 hours or past seven days. A weekly, 20-position version of the chart, covering activity from Friday through Thursday of each week, posts alongside Billboard’s other weekly charts on Billboard.com each Tuesday.
The recently relaunched Hot Trending Songs ranking features nine songs from Her Loss, as users tweeted about the then-upcoming release’s tracklist, which was shared Nov. 3, one day before the album’s arrival.
“Circo Loco” drew a larger amount of virality than the rest of the 16-song tracklist due to a controversial lyric referencing Megan Thee Stallion allegedly having been shot by Tory Lanez in 2020.
The Drake-only track “Middle of the Ocean” follows at No. 2, with album opener “Rich Flex” at No. 4.
JIN’s “The Astronaut,” which debuted on the Nov. 5-dated survey at No. 5, is the week’s top returning song, at a new No. 3 high. Joji’s “1AM Freestyle” rounds out the top five at No. 5, joined by his “Die for You” (No. 12) and “Dissolve” (No. 20), all from his newly released album Smithereens.
Keep visiting Billboard.com for the constantly evolving Hot Trending Songs rankings, and check in each Tuesday for the latest weekly chart.
Chris Redd opened up in a new interview on Tuesday (Nov. 8) about having a front row seat to Kanye West‘s pro-Trump diatribe on Saturday Night Live back in 2018.
In case you don’t remember, after performing “Ghost Town” as the episode’s musical guest, the rapper launched into a political rant once the cameras stopped rolling, telling the audience, “The Blacks want always Democrats… you know it’s like the plan they did, to take the fathers out the home and put them on welfare… does anybody know about that? That’s a Democratic plan. There’s so many times I talk to, like, a white person about this and they say, ‘How could you like Trump? He’s racist.’ Well, uh, if I was concerned about racism I would’ve moved out of America a long time ago,” while wearing a red MAGA hat.
However, Redd revealed to The Daily Beast that Ye’s speech wasn’t exactly off-the-cuff. “I remember the dress rehearsal where he tried his dress rehearsal version of that, and I heard it, but there was music playing still so people were like sitting there and vibing,” the comedian told the outlet. “But I was listening to his words, and I was like, bro, he’s about to pull some bulls–t. And I’m not about to be on stage for that. I’m not going to entertain this. Like, I’ve been a fan of Kanye my whole life. And I miss the old Kanye.
“He came in there wanting to shoot everybody — verbally — and I just felt that was disrespectful, because we’re all grown adults,” Redd continued. “And now all of us don’t like you. He just came in there with a chip on his shoulder, ready to talk s–t.”
Redd departed SNL at the close of the 2021-2022 season. West has not been invited back to the late-night sketch series since his rant on the Season 44 premiere.
Drake announced Monday (Nov. 7) that he’s pushing back his planned show at The Apollo to mourn the death of Takeoff.
“The Apollo show has been moved to allow us to pay respect to our dear friend this weekend,” the superstar wrote on his Instagram Stories beneath an updated poster announcing the new dates of Dec. 6 and 7. “We have added a second date for the fans.”
Sponsored by SiriusXM, the concert at the historic Harlem venue was originally meant to take place this Friday as a one-night-only event.
Last week, Drake memorialized the late Migos rapper — who was gunned down at a Houston bowling alley in the early morning hours of Nov. 1 — during the album release party for Her Loss, his new collaborative LP with 21 Savage.
“I’d just like to send our deepest condolences from the family to the entire QC, to our brother Quavo, to our brother Offset, to the friends and loved ones of the legendary, unprecedented Takeoff — a guy that I knew for a long, long time,” he said, adding, “I always talk about the fact that this was one family. My friends in the music industry are not friends, they’re family. So, our deepest condolences — tragic loss for all of us and, you know, a dark cloud over this business that we love so much.”
However, Drake’s new studio set also arrived with its own share of drama, with the rapper making digs at both Megan Thee Stallion and Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian in his lyrics.
Check out Drake’s new dates at The Apollo here.
Fat Joe stopped by Red Table Talk in an episode set to air Wednesday to reflect on his yearslong friendship with Lil Wayne.
“Lil Wayne is my brother, man,” the rapper tells hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield-Norris and Willow Smith in the preview clip. “One of the saddest things I ever did was go visit Lil Wayne in jail. And not only that, they had him, like, chained up. They had him, like, really chained up, like, Lil Wayne! This little, like, no, no, they had him in shackles and all that. They had him like he was the killer of all, right?
“So you know, I went to see him…He lives across the street from me in Miami,” Fat Joe continued, before telling the trio about getting a phone call from Wayne as he was preparing to turn himself into jail a few years after Wayne was released. “I was like, ‘Yo, Wayne, what’s up?’ And he was like, ‘Nah, man, I’m just telling you right now, be humble.’ I said, ‘How do you do it?’ He said, ‘Just be humble, bro. Don’t go in there on somethin’. Just go in there humble. You know, if you be humble, they’ll respect you.”
Lil Wayne served eight months in Rikers Island back in 2010 on charges related to a gun found on his tour bus in 2007. In 2013, Fat Joe served his own three-month sentence in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion.
This fall, Wayne was honored with an exhibit dedicated to his life and career at the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, which includes a handwritten letter from his time at Rikers.
Watch Fat Joe’s Red Table Talk preview here.
She’s got a princess face, a killer body, samurai mind. Nicki Minaj showed off her Disney princess fantasy in a new social media post on Monday (Oct. 31).
For Halloween, the rapper decided to dress up as a high-fashion Cinderella… or Chunderella, according to her fairy tale rewrite of a caption. “And as she heard the whispers…Chunderella snickered,” she wrote. “The ugly/evil step sisters had EVERY RIGHT to bicker (through their blisters!) After all, deep down inside…they knew…they’d never fit the glass slippers… The END.”
In the slideshow, Minaj poses in a blond wig, tiara and an architectural take on Cinderella’s classic blue gown. However, the Harajuku Barbie proved once she turned around that her version of the princess is quite the “Super Freaky Girl,” complete with two rather NSFW cutouts carved out of the backside of the dress.
Earlier this month, Nicki linked up with NBA YoungBoy on their new collaboration “I Admit,” which is featured on the latter’s brand-new album Ma, I Got a Family.
Meanwhile, she’s also been bumping heads with the Recording Academy over “Super Freaky Girl” being moved from the rap category into the pop category for voting at the upcoming 2023 Grammy Awards — that is, when she hasn’t been busy feuding with Latto on Twitter over whether her own “Big Energy (Live)” should (or shouldn’t) be facing the same categorization at the awards show.
In other awards news, Minaj recently landed five nods at the MTV EMAs, including best artist, best song and best video (both for “Super Freaky Girl”), best hip-hop and biggest fans.
Get a look at Nicki as “Chunderella” below.
Adidas may have severed ties with Kanye West, but it looks like they’ll still be selling the remainder of his Yeezy products — just without his name attached to them.
According to reporting by Bloomberg, the athletic brand’s parent company Adidas AG will rebrand all Yeezy designs under the Adidas brand at the start of 2023. “Looking ahead, on our understanding, the company will not sell any Yeezy-branded products and all Yeezy products will be branded under Adidas brand,” said Morgan Stanley analyst Edouard Aubin in a note to his clients on Tuesday.
“Adidas has the rights to existing Yeezy product designs and can sell these using Adidas branding (not Yeezy branding) following the termination of the Yeezy partnership, which Adidas intends to do,” RBC analyst Piral Dadhania added in a separate statement. “Speaking to the company, it believes it can limit the loss of revenues through this strategy, and will also save on expenses related to royalty and marketing fees no longer payable in 2023.”
Per Bloomberg, a rep for Adidas didn’t respond to the financial outlet’s request for comment on the news, which broke the same day Adidas issued a statement about dropping Ye following his recent barrage of antisemitic comments in the media. “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the company said. “Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”
Other brands and companies that have ended their relationships with West in the aftermath include Gap, Balenciaga, Foot Locker, TJ Maxx, CAA and more. Find a full list of the consequences West has faced here.
Lil Nas X had a very special guest at his concert in Los Angeles on Wednesday night: none other than A-list actor Will Ferrell.
Following the show, the rapper couldn’t help but rave about meeting the funnyman, posting a photo of the two backstage at LA’s Crypto.com Arena with the caption: “WILL FERRELL CAME TO MY F—IN CONCERT ! nobody can tell me sh–.”
However, Lil Nas X did end up finding himself in some hot water after making a joke in the replies to his tweet. One follower asked, “Where is Will’s hand?” and the superstar responded, “he couldn’t resist getting a good hand full of this big fat a–. and i couldn’t say no tbh.”
And just like that, Uproxx ran a story with a headline treating the “Industry Baby” artist’s quip as serious, leading him to post a screenshot of the story and write, “This why i can’t joke around on twitter no more lmaoo.”
When he’s not modeling for Coach’s new “Courage to Be Real” campaign, the prankster has found plenty of other outlets for his practical jokes as of late, including prank-calling famous friends like Lizzo, Olivia Rodrigo and Troye Sivan with his wax figure at Madame Tussauds Hollywood.
During his ongoing Long Live Montero Tour, Lil Nas X has also sent pizza to religious protesters outside Fenway Park and stopped the show in Atlanta for an emergency bathroom break.
See Lil Nas X geek out over meeting Ferrell backstage below.
Megan Thee Stallion had a few things to say regarding rumors online that boyfriend Pardison Fontaine had popped the question amid their second anniversary.
“Lol as nice as last night was we are not engaged,” she tweeted simply on Wednesday (Oct. 19), shutting down chatter among her loyal army of Hotties. However, the rapper didn’t hesitate to show off her anniversary date night with Pardi on her Instagram Stories.
In the first video, Meg shared her glitzy aquamarine gown and glamorous updo from the back of a car before her rapper beau crashed the frame, joking, “What, you thought this was a solo? Whatchu doin’, whatchu doin’? Why they always tryin’ to show the plate but never the date? What’s wrong with them? They crazy!”
Next she puts Pardi’s skills as a former teacher to the test as she requires him to do “tipsy math” and add up how many days they’ve been dating. “730 days of good lovin…wow,” she captioned the adorable video, in which her boyfriend hilariously asks, “Was last year a leap year or no?” before doing the arithmetic.
While Megan may not have a ring on it quite yet, she has another milestone to celebrate in her career, having just wrapped her first stint as both host and musical guest on last week’s Saturday Night Live. Between performances of “NDA,” “Plan B” and “Anxiety,” the Grammy winner showed off her comedy chops in sketches like “Girl Talk,” “Hot Girl Hospital” and “Women’s Charity.”
Read Meg’s response to the engagement rumors below and check out her date night Instagram Stories here before they expire.
Lol as nice as last night was we are not engaged— TINA SNOW (@theestallion) October 19, 2022