R&B/Hip-Hop
Dallas rapper Yella Beezy has been arrested and charged with capital murder in the shooting death of fellow rapper Mo3 on a busy interstate in 2020, according to court records.
Yella Beezy, 33, whose real name is Markies Conway, was indicted by a Dallas County grand jury on Tuesday (March 18) on a charge of capital murder while remuneration. The indictment accuses Conway of hiring a man named Kewon White to murder Mo3, whose real name was Melvin Noble.
The indictment did not provide information on why authorities believe Conway hired White to shoot Noble, who also lived in Dallas.
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Court records did not list an attorney who could speak on behalf of Conway. Calls and emails to representatives for Conway were not immediately returned.
In a Facebook post after Conway’s arrest, Noble’s mother, Nichole Williams Noble wrote, “Justice for my baby!!!!”
The 28-year-old Noble was driving on Interstate 35 in south Dallas on Nov. 11, 2020, when authorities allege White drove up next to him and got out of his vehicle with a gun in his hand. Noble got out of his vehicle and began running south on the freeway as White shot at him, authorities said. Noble and a bystander who was inside a car were shot by White, police said. The bystander survived but Noble died at a hospital.
White and another man, Devin Brown, 32, were later indicted in Noble’s death. Their cases related to Noble’s death remain pending. White, 26, was sentenced in 2022 in a separate case to nearly nine years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Conway is best known for his 2017 single, “That’s On Me” and the 2019 song “Bacc At It Again” with Quavo and Gucci Mane.
In October 2018, Conway survived being shot while driving on a tollway in the Dallas suburb of Lewisville when someone pulled up next to him and opened fire, hitting him three times.
Noble had more than 800,000 followers on his Instagram page and was best known for a 2019 remix of the song “Errybody,” with Baton Rouge, Louisiana, rapper Boosie Badazz.
PlaqueBoyMax continues to make a name for himself with his “In the Booth” series on YouTube. He’s had everyone from Cash Cobain to Will Smith pull up to his studio to lay down some tracks and today he dropped his debut EP centered around his trip to London. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and […]
It’s no secret that Drake enjoys gambling, and his partnership with Australian online gambling company Stake is a testament to that. The Toronto rapper posted of clip of him sitting down with the company for their online series House Money, where he answered questions about his biggest win and his gambling GOAT. When asked about […]
“They Don’t Know.” “Are You Still Down” featuring Tupac Shakur. “Someone to Love” featuring Babyface. Jon B’s brand of soulful music has kept female fans screaming for 30 years. Now the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter-producer-musician is celebrating — and continuing — that legacy with the March 21 release of his eighth studio album, Waiting on You (stream HERE).
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“Man, 30 years,” Jon B tells Billboard of reaching that lofty career milestone. “I love what I do, and Waiting on You is just another product of my loving what I do. I also love my fans, who have allowed me into their lives. We’ve gone this long together and still got that love, so let’s keep this thing going.”
That sentiment is reflected in one of the album’s 11 songs, “Still Got Love,” whose cha-cha groove is reminiscent of another Jon B fan fave, the 2001 club jam “Don’t Talk.” In addition, Waiting on You has already spun off two singles: the ‘90s-vibed title track and the atmospheric ballad “Natural Drug.” On the former, Jon B reunited with Tank, who first collaborated with his fellow R&B purveyor on the title track for another Jon B album: 2004’s Stronger Everyday. Along with Tank, Jon B’s Waiting on You production collaborators include Brady Watt, Loren Lomboy and Donte Jackson.
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Of his and Tank’s musical rapport, Jon B says, “He can play, write and sing. So when you put us in a room, we immediately start talking that musical language. I love his bridge [on “Waiting”] because it brings back the harmonies and energy that we were giving in the ’90s — a little of that old goodness that’s kind of missing in R&B.”
As does the ballad “Understand” featuring late ‘90s-early ‘aughts R&B artist Donell Jones. The album’s other tasty offerings include the uptempo love ode “Hills to the Hood” with rap icon Rick Ross (“WhenI made the track, I thought the only voice that needs to rap on this is Rick Ross”) and the meditative “Show Me” featuring rising star Alex Isley (“Her lineage and classic voice speak for themselves; she sounds ahead of her time.”)
“I only have 11 records on here,” Jon B adds, “so there’s just a different intensity with each song. I don’t feel like there any song that’s redundant or just filler. Every song could be a single.”
The one thing that’s remained constant in Jon B’s creative evolution is his smooth, sexy and supple tenor. It’s what caught fans’ ears in 1995 when debut studio album Bonafide was released by Tracey Edmonds’ Yab Yum label via Epic Records division 550 Music. The set boasted the later Grammy-nominated song with Babyface, “Someone to Love,” which initially appeared on the 1995 Bad Boys soundtrack. Jon B’s enduring catalog has since been sampled by the likes of The Weeknd (“Niagara Falls”), Drake (“Cameras / Good Ones Go Interlude”), Chris Brown featuring a posthumous appearance by Aaliyah (“Don’t Think They Know”) and Gunna and Chloe Bailey (“You & Me”).
Now Jon B is back on deck with Waiting on You, the follow-up to his 2019 single “Priceless” and last formal studio album, 2012’s Comfortable Swagg. All three projects are under his own label Vibezelect. Jon B credits his wife Danette as being “the backbone” of the family operation. “She’s the executive producer, artistic director, stylist and booker,” he explains. “It’s a really cool collaboration between the two of us and has been now for almost 20 years.”
The pair’s next collaboration is Jon B’s Pick Me Up Tour. Named after the album’s newest single, the 10-city trek — with additional dates forthcoming — begins April 11 at The Fillmore in Silver Spring, Maryland and will swing through New Orleans, Dallas, Houston and Chicago, among other cities. Opening for him will be Nigerian-born British singer-songwriter Shaé Universe. “People are really going to be in a trance when they hear her sing,” Jon B promises.
In the meantime, the newly minted 50-year-old says it’s “pretty cool” to come back with new music and new energy. “I feel better and more confident about being an artist than I ever have. After searching for a long time to find my rhythm, I’ve finally figured this whole thing out. Now I’m definitely coming into my own.”
Who is Amir “Aura” Khan?
That’s the question everyone has been asking as McNeese State’s Men’s Basketball student manager has been taking March Madness and the Internet by storm with his tunnel walkouts.
Before each game, Aura leads McNeese State into battle, as he wraps a boombox around his neck that blasts various rap songs from rappers like Kodak Black and NBA Youngboy, and walks the Cowboys from the locker room, through the arena tunnel, and onto the basketball court.
The guy has personality as well, and takes his role very seriously. He once said, “If they kept manager stats for rebounding and wiping up wet spots on the court, I’d put up Wilt Chamberlain numbers.”
And look how he keeps himself in shape to be the best team manager in the nation.
The guys is a maniac, telling Sporting News that his fast mopping skills are what separates him from the field. “My quickness,” he told the outlet. “As soon as a player gets down, I’m running towards the wet spot, I’m diving on the floor for everyone, wiping up as quick as I can, but also making sure I get it. [Then] getting up as fast as possible and getting ready for the next one.”
His aura has earned him not only a lifelong nickname, but it’s earned him some paper. Khan is the first student manager to have NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals, and he has them with TickPick, Insomnia Cookies and Buffalo Wild Wings.
Amir Khan, you are officially a pioneer. In the wildest couple of weeks anyone could have, you’ve stayed so humble & true to yourself. First-ever college student manager to ink a NIL deal… 3 deals… all with global brands… in a week! Keep going. You deserve it all✊@amirk_23 pic.twitter.com/hvEernU05Y— Reed Vial (@reed_vial3) March 16, 2025
Here he is letting everyone know what time it is like Shedeur Sanders.
He even has the cheerleader squad wearing socks with his face on them.
The god even takes time to give out some fan love.
If you’re still not convinced, check out this list I put together of some of his best rap moments this season.
I gotta warn you, though. The aura is contagious.
Kodak Black, “No Flockin’”
Jae Tips never saw himself as making a “transition” from rapper to sneaker designer. For him, music and fashion have always been intertwined — parallel worlds where influence is currency. “I feel like if you’re big in music, you’ll be big in fashion just because of how influential the voices are,” he explains. “Musicians, from the beginning of time, have always had a way of dictating trends.”
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The Bronx native started pouring more energy into fashion when he realized his brand was gaining traction — perhaps even more than his music at the time. “What if I stop putting all my finances into just music for a moment?” he recalls thinking. “Let me see what happens if, for six months, I invest in clothes, fashion, and style — see where it takes me.” That decision led him to this moment: sitting with Billboard, reflecting on the journey that brought him to a major sneaker collaboration with Saucony.
Still, music remains part of his DNA. “I think you never really retire from music — it’s always a part of you,” he says. Every move he makes, from sneaker drops to brand-building, is part of a broader plan. “It’s all just a big rollout for new music eventually. So, I think it’s always a possibility that you’ll see some new Jae Tips pop up on your timeline, on your little streaming services.”
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For his upcoming Saucony Jazz sneaker, Jae Tips introduces the theme: “I Love You But I’m Busy.” The phrase, he says, speaks to the delicate balance between ambition and personal relationships. “To me, it represents the entrepreneurial and creative lifestyle — constantly trying to figure out a work-life balance,” he explains. “Sometimes, intentions don’t always align with actions. You want to acknowledge the shoe’s place as another notch in your resume and design history, but it also marks a real turning point— one that involves making difficult decisions about the people you love and the things you love.”
Jae Tips x Saucony
Jordan Keyser
The inspiration behind the sneaker taps into this idea of emotional distance in the pursuit of success. “The soundtrack for this shoe, to me, is ‘Welcome to Heartbreak’ by Kanye West,” he says. “It reflects how you can become out of touch with reality while everyone else remains in the same place you left them.”
Jae Tips’ approach to sneaker design is deeply rooted in his past work in headwear. “The design process began a few years ago when I made a hat inspired by a Mickey Mouse, Disney and Ralph Lauren collaboration with the NFL,” he recalls. “I remade a Yankee hat using those same colorways. Many people who have followed my journey know I’ve done so much in the headwear space, but you can’t always tell the full story with hats because of licensing restrictions. With shoes, there are so many different panels, hidden features, and details — it’s been like a wonderland for expanding on stories I initially started with hats.”
This new sneaker embraces those past influences, featuring thoughtful color placement, rich materials, and subtle details that elevate the design. “We have an orange hit in the toe box, but in the mid, there’s an orange that almost looks like a faded yellow. It’s one of those things you appreciate more the closer you get to the shoe — you can really see the contrast,” he notes.
The sneaker also includes hidden gems, such as a “Savior S” logo on the tongue for Savior Sport, the phrase “Made by Jae Tips” — a staple in all his collaborations — and an insole that reads “Coming Soon.” Retail pairs will come with a flower keychain, and the box includes an extra set of white laces. Jae wanted to create a trendy runner shoe that people would wear in a sporty way. “I thought, ‘If you make it a sports shoe, maybe people will pair it with track suits, sweatpants, and really get busy with it.’”
Jae Tips x Saucony
Jordan Keyser
For Jae Tips, the connection between music and sneaker culture has always been undeniable. “Rappers always want to be designers, and designers often want to be in the limelight like rappers,” he says. “For as long as I can remember, a rapper wearing a certain designer’s piece or outfit could make or break a brand. Now, as trends shift, we’re seeing more musicians launch their own clothing brands because they realize the power they have to change an entire trajectory.” He points to examples like Dapper Dan’s influence on Gucci, Rihanna’s success with Fenty, Kanye West’s Yeezy empire, and Travis Scott’s massive impact on sneaker culture. “His brand is so big that when you say his name, you might not even know if you’re talking about a shoe or a song. That’s pretty dope.”
While Jae Tips’ designs carry echoes of his musical background, he sees his creative identity as something people are still discovering. “I would say yes, and I’d say no,” he reflects when asked if his music shaped how people view his aesthetic. “I apply a lot of the principles I learned navigating the underground music scene to my work ethic — the way I put things together, prepare emails and documents, and communicate all stem from that experience. And the way I promote myself is similar to how an artist drops a single.”
To celebrate the release of the Saucony Jazz “I Love You But I’m Busy,” dropping on March 28th for $165, Jae Tips has curated an exclusive playlist for Billboard — tracks that embody the spirit of his latest creation. Mark your calendars for the drop, and in the meantime, press play on the soundtrack to his latest masterpiece.
Jae Tips’ “I Love You, But I’m Busy” Playlist
1. Kanye West, “Welcome to Heartbreak”
2. Nipsey Hussle, “Forever on Some Fly S–t”
3. Jae Tips, “ Remember Who Fronted”
4. Leon Thomas, “YES IT IS”
5. Nipsey Hussle, “ That’s How I Knew”
6. Bonus: Frank Ocean, “Lens”
Lizzo has long been a loud and proud advocate for embracing your body, no matter what size or shape it is. And after sharing earlier this year that she had reached her “weight release” goals and encouraging her fans that her journey is a reminder that “you can do anything you put your mind to,” the “Juice” singer told Andy Cohen on Thursday (March 20) that, frankly, she doesn’t think anyone really even understands what “body positivity” means anymore.
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“I think people don’t know what body positivity is because the body positivity movement was very political and it got taken and kind of commercialized and now body positivity to people is code word for ‘fat,’” Lizzo told Cohen on his SiriusXM show. “Like DEI is code word for Black… so they’re like, ‘Oh she’s not body positive anymore, I’m not fat anymore,’ but I’m still body positive because the body positive movement was actually created by a subgroup of people who were not put in the media, who were not praised, who were told we shouldn’t exist and we were not good enough because our bodies were bigger, or disabled, or even queer and trans.”
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Lizzo said all those traditionally marginalized communities were the latest wave of body positivity she said has been happening for “decades.” But she times her own engagement with the idea to 2016 when she began “bucking against society telling me I shouldn’t exist. I shouldn’t wear leotards and I shouldn’t like how I look.”
At that time she began speaking out about body positivity, hiring a group of plus-size dancers she named the Big Grrrls and, in 2020, telling Vogue magazine that, “I wan to normalize my body. And not just be like, ‘Ooh, look at this cool movement. Being fat is body positive.’ No, being fat is normal.”
Last year, Lizzo leaned into jokes she’d heard from people speculating that she was using one of the current popular weight-loss drugs as a helper in her health journey. She further tweaked haters by dressing up as “LizzOzempic” for Halloween in a costume inspired by a South Park episode from last May that parodied Lizzo’s well-known body positivity with a new medication: “Ask about the power of not giving a f— — with Lizzo,” the animated show joked in a commercial parody that claimed: “FDA-approved Lizzo makes you feel good about your weight, and it costs 90% less than Ozempic.”
She had a laugh about the episode, reacting by saying, “I just feel like, damn, I’m really that b—-. I showed the world how to love yourself, and now these men in Colorado know who the f— I am, and put it in their cartoon that’s been around for 25 years.” She promised, “I’m gonna keep on showing you how to not give a f—.”
You can (likely) hear all about it on the singer’s upcoming Love in Real Life album, which she announced this week is officially complete. Lizzo’s already released two songs from the upcoming LP, “Still Bad” and the title track and she’s slated to make her fourth appearance on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest alongside host Jon Hamm on April 12.
Watch Lizzo on Cohen’s show below.
Jack Harlow and Doja Cat throw a dinner party for the ages in the sultry video for their new single “Just Us.” While their sizzling back-and-forth makes it seems like they can’t see anyone else in the room, the Neal Farmer-directed video makes it clear that if they look around they might just spot Oscar, Grammy and SAG award-winners at every table.
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Sprinkled around the room at the L.A. eatery where the pair trade NSFW lines about how much they need each other, like, right now, are a bearded Matt Damon, a chatty John Mayer, as well as British singer PinkPantheress, DJ Drama, Succession star Nicholas Braun, sports journalist Taylor Rooks and singer Malcolm Todd.
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Fully in his alpha flirt mode, Harlow starts out making eyes at Doja from across the room, trying to rope her in with some subtle come-ons. “I wish it was just in this b–ch/ But they can’t trust us in this b–ch/ ‘Cus I’m trying to buss nuts in this huh/ Let’s keep it on the hush hush in this b–ch,” he raps as Doja casts a dubious eye while rocking a skin-tight, shimmering red latex minidress. “I told her she so pretty/ And she just blushed in this b–ch/ She clutch clutching my huh/ I’m adjusting my huh/ She husky like mush mush in this b–ch,” he adds on the song produced by Hollywood Cole, Tay Keith, Angel Lopez, OjiVolta and Dylan Graham.
Rubbing up on Jack in the bustling kitchen, Doja gives as good as she gets, rapping, “Two hands in my fro/ Staring into my soul/ Leg up on that chair/ Hand on that arm/ Tongue in that throat/ I don’t play with my pen/ Leave it on a good note/ Keep you all on yo toes/ Leave the tv off for this show.”
Harlow has been manifesting this collab for years, admitting in a 2020 Instagram Live that he has long been infatuated with Doja. “I need to talk to you for a second though,” he said during the chat between the two. “People thought we were dating because your man apparently looks like me.” After Doja gave him props for being “great,” Harlow waited until she left to tell his followers, “I’ve had a crush on her for months.”
“Just Us” is the follow-up to Harlow’s previous 2025 single, “Set You Free,” which dropped last month and December’s hater baiting “Tranquility“; Harlow’s most recent album was 2023’s Jackman. Doja Cat teamed up with LISA and Raye in February for the single “Born Again,” with all three taking the stage at the 97th Annual Academy Awards earlier this month for a medley of James Bond classics.
Watch the “Just Us” video below.
Jack Harlow has called on Doja Cat for his newest collaboration, the flirty “Just Us,” which arrived on Friday (March 21). I wish it was just us in this b—h/ But they can’t trust us in this b—h,” Harlow raps on the track. “Because I’m tryna bust nuts in this, huh/ Let’s keep it on the hush-hush in […]
J.B. Moore, a key contributor to some of hip-hop’s earliest hits, died in Manhattan on March 13 of pancreatic cancer. He was 81.
Though not well-known today, Moore was instrumental in hip-hop’s early mainstream success in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when he helped produce and write records for Kurtis Blow with Robert “Rocky” Ford Jr., his friend and colleague at Billboard, where Moore worked in ad sales and Ford was a reporter. (Ford died in 2020.)
Moore, who also sometimes wrote jazz reviews for Billboard, is credited as a producer and writer on classic early hip-hop tracks like “The Breaks,” “Christmas Rappin’” and “Basketball.”
“One of the interesting things about our partnership,” Moore said of Ford in a 2001 oral history for the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, “is that, as Robert and I got to know each other at Billboard, we realized that he was a black guy from the middle of Hollis, Queens and I was a white guy from the North Shore of Long Island, and our record collections were virtually identical. I think we had 800 records a piece and 200 of them were different.”
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Released during the 1979 holiday season, “Christmas Rappin’” was the brainchild of Ford, who came up with the idea of writing a Christmas song because he had a kid on the way — telling Moore that “Christmas records are perennials, and therefore you get royalties ad infinitum on them,” according to Moore’s recollection for the oral history.
Moore, already familiar with the guitar, bass, and songwriting, didn’t set out to write and produce rap records. Having served in the Vietnam War, he was originally saving up money to write a novel about the conflict. “I had been saving money to leave Billboard to write a book for five years,” said Moore for the oral history. “I had about $10,000 and that got invested in making ‘Christmas Rappin.’”
Through Ford’s relationship with a then up-and-coming Russell Simmons, who was then promoting Blow, he and Moore got the young rapper to lay down the “Christman Rappin’” lyrics, which were inspired by the Clement Clarke Moore poem “The Night Before Christmas” — and the rest was history.
Ford and Moore shopped the song around to about 20 labels and were rejected until Mercury Records gave them a shot with a two-single deal that would turn into an album deal if the singles were a success, according to a 2018 blog post written by Simmons.
“We didn’t think a major label would understand a rap record,” Moore recalled in the oral history. “But they would understand a parody.” He was right.
According to Simmons’ blog post, “Christmas Rappin’” sold close to 400,000 copies while their next single, Blow’s “The Breaks,” was the first rap song to be certified gold, selling 500,000 copies. “The Breaks” also peaked at No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100, while “Basketball,” released in 1985, peaked at No. 71 on the chart. And just like that, Moore, Ford and Blow had carved out careers in the burgeoning new genre known as rap music.
Blow paid tribute to Moore on Instagram with a lengthy caption, writing in part, “Moore was a key figure in the early commercialization of Hip Hop. His productions helped bridge the gap between Hip Hop and mainstream audiences in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.” He concluded by writing, “Rest in power to a friend, teacher, pioneer who helped lay the foundation for what Hip Hop became. Thank you, JB, I learned so much.”
As a songwriting and production duo, Moore and Ford worked on Blow’s first four albums, helped produced three albums for Full Force, and even had a hand in Rodney Dangerfield’s classic parody rap song “Rappin Rodney,” which hit No. 83 on the Hot 100 in 1984.
Moore does not have any known immediate survivors.