R&B/Hip-Hop
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“Bro, everything I thought I knew was gone. I thought I had a grasp on s–t. The songs that’s been out three weeks went up more than the classic records.” It’s an early Tuesday afternoon in mid-¬November and Tyler, The Creator is still in disbelief. Just a few weeks earlier, he’d released his new album, […]
J. Cole is calling it a day on Dreamville. The “Huntin’ Wabbitz” MC announced on Tuesday (Dec. 10) that next year’s Dreamville Fest will be the fifth and final edition of the event. Writing on Instagram, Cole said that the April 5-6 show in Raleigh, North Carolina’ Dorothea Dix Park will be the event’s swan song.
“What a ride it’s been… We can’t thank y’all enough for all the memories we’ve shared,” Cole wrote on the Dreamville Insta feed. “From the very beginning, the idea behind the fest was creating a place where our fans, the Dreamville community, could spend time together, a place where they could see themselves reflected, a place to share in experiences. Let’s run it back one more time in April!”
At press time, the lineup for next year’s show had not yet been announced. Last year’s blowout featured headliners SZA, 50 Cent, Cole and Nicki Minaj, as well as appearances by Lil Yachty, Schoolboy Q, Sexyy Red, Jeremih, Earthgang, Teezo Touchdown, Rema, Jeezy, Monica, Rae Sremmurd, Key Glock, Hunxho and more.
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Presale tickets for the 2025 Dreamville are on sale now (text 68624 for access), followed by a general onsale if any tickets remain.
In a second post celebrating the festival’s half decade run, Cole wrote, “From the moment the idea of a festival took shape, we couldn’t help but wonder: were we in over our heads? Would people come to our home in Raleigh? What would that even look like? We took a leap of faith — breaking ground, making announcements, and even navigating reschedules due to the elements and a world that seemed to be falling apart. Through every challenge and milestone, our community stood by us.”
The note added, “Watching people from all over the world and all walks of life gather here each year has been one of the most fulfilling chapters of our journey. Whether it’s the day-one fans or the newcomers, each reunion has been unforgettable. As we approach our 5th and final year, we want to invite our alumni and new pledges to come together one last time—to break bread, share fellowship, and celebrate this thing of ours.”
Mariah Carey literally got her flowers — as in a giant bouquet — on Monday night (Dec. 9) at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C. after it was revealed that her perennial holiday hit, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” had hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 yet again. Explore Explore See latest […]
Usher makes it a point to give back to the community and he’s investing in the youth once again with the launch of a Content Studio at the Whitehead Boys & Girls Club in Atlanta. The R&B legend made the initiative official with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Usher Raymond IV Spark Lap at the […]
Looks like A$AP Rocky will be returning to the silver screen. Spike Lee said the rapper will have the “main role” in his upcoming Highest 2 Lowest film in an interview with Deadline on Monday (Dec. 9). “The main role … is A$AP Rocky,” he said during the interview at the 2024 Red Sea International […]
The second iteration of the Top Gabb Music Songs chart features a new No. 1, as KSI‘s “Thick of It,” featuring Trippie Redd, rises to No. 1 as the most-played song on Gabb Wireless phones and tablets for November 2024.
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Billboard has partnered with Gabb Wireless, a phone company for kids and teens, to present a monthly chart tracking on-demand streams via its Gabb Music platform. Gabb Music offers a vast catalog of songs, all of which are selected by the Gabb team to include only kid- and teen-appropriate content. Gabb Music streams are not currently factored into any other Billboard charts.
“Thick of It,” released Oct. 3, bowed at No. 3 on the inaugural Top Gabb Music Songs list as the most recently released song in the tally’s top 10. It retains that distinction on the November 2024 survey as well (though it isn’t the newest song on the 25-position chart – more on that later).
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The song has peaked so far at No. 64 on the multimetric Billboard Hot 100, achieving the feat on the Oct. 26-dated ranking.
Released by rapper and YouTube star KSI, “Thick of It” leads a hip-hop-dominated Top Gabb Music Songs top 10, with half of the region from rappers. Drake’s “God’s Plan,” No. 1 on the Hot 100 for 11 weeks in 2018, enters the survey at No. 4, while Travis Scott’s “Butterfly Effect” at No. 6 (No. 50 on the Hot 100 in 2018) and Juice WRLD’s “Face 2 Face” at No. 8 (No. 92 on the Hot 100 in 2022) also debut. The fifth, NF’s “Let You Down,” remains in the top 10 for a second straight month, falling 5-7.
Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things,” which reigned atop the first Top Gabb Music Songs list, dips to No. 2 on the November tally, but Boone still boasts a new distinction: he’s the first act with two songs in the top three, as “Slow It Down” zooms 9-3 in its second month. The former peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 in March, while the latter reached No. 32 in September.
Olivia Rodrigo’s “Deja Vu” and Imagine Dragons’ “Bones” appear in the Top Gabb Music Songs chart’s top 10 for the first time; “Deja Vu” shoots 15-9, while “Bones” jumps 16-10. Three and two years old, respectively, the former reached No. 3 on the Hot 100 in 2021 and the latter peaked at No. 47 in 2022.
Top Gabb Music Songs’ top debut of the month by a song released in 2024 belongs to Maddox Batson, whose “X’s” starts at No. 14. It’s the second-highest-performing country song on the tally, following Luke Combs‘ “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma” at No. 5. The 14-year-old Warner signee’s song was released in September.
Holiday music has officially come to Gabb as of November, as Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” bows at No. 15. And the newest song to grace the survey, ROSE and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” (released Oct. 18), starts at No. 24.
See the full top 25 below.
Top Gabb Music Songs, November 2024
1. “Thick of It,” KSI feat. Trippie Redd (+2)2. “Beautiful Things,” Benson Boone (-1)3. “Slow It Down,” Benson Boone (+6)4. “God’s Plan,” Drake (debut)5. “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma,” Luke Combs (-3)6. “Butterfly Effect,” Travis Scott (debut)7. “Let You Down,” NF (-2)8. “Face 2 Face,” Juice WRLD (debut)9. “Deja Vu,” Olivia Rodrigo (+6)10. “Bones,” Imagine Dragons (+6)11. “Hope,” NF (-4)12. “Please Please Please,” Sabrina Carpenter (-4)13. “Motto,” NF (=)14. “X’s,” Maddox Batson (debut)15. “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Mariah Carey (debut)16. “Mood,” 24KGoldn feat. Iann Dior (debut)17. “Love Somebody,” Morgan Wallen (debut)18. “Stargazing,” Myles Smith (-4)19. “Ghost,” Justin Bieber (debut)20. “Eyes Closed,” Imagine Dragons (-3)21. “Enemy,” Imagine Dragons & JID (-1)22. “Stressed Out,” Twenty One Pilots (-10)23. “Too Sweet,” Hozier (-19)24. “APT.,” ROSE & Bruno Mars (debut)25. “Radioactive,” Imagine Dragons (-6)
DROPS FROM OCTOBER 2024: JVKE, “Golden Hour”; NF, “The Search”; Glass Animals, “Heat Waves”; Zach Bryan, “Pink Skies”; Imagine Dragons, “Demons”; Tate McRae, “She’s All I Wanna Be”; Ariana Grande, “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)”; Jelly Roll, “I Am Not Okay”; Nicky Youre & Dazy, “Sunroof”
Drake and Latto connected for the 100 Gigs cut “Housekeeping Knows” earlier this year — now, the 6 God is tapping the Atlanta rapper to star in an ad for his Nike Nocta brand campaign. With the Nocta Nike Air Force 1 set to arrive as part of a larger apparel collection, Latto appeared in […]
The fallout from the Drake and Kendrick Lamar war continues. Mustard called out longtime OVO producer Boi-1da for allegedly trashing West Coast music, and the Cali native posted receipts of their alleged past conversations to his Instagram Story on Monday (Dec. 9). “West Coast music is a–,” the Toronto producer allegedly wrote in a DM […]
Motown Records icon Smokey Robinson remembers that at one of the storied label’s holiday parties in the late ‘60s, he received a very special gift.
“Stevie Wonder came,” Robinson recalls to Billboard, “and gave me a cassette tape with the music for [the No. 1 R&B/pop hit] ‘The Tears of a Clown.’ But he couldn’t think of a song to go with it and wanted me to write a song for that music. And so I did. And ‘Tears’ became one of the biggest songs I’ve ever been associated with around the world.”
Now, as NBC gets set to premiere its holiday special A Motown Christmas, Robinson is promising music fans a “great night featuring legendary Motown artists and contemporary artists singing music and having a good time together.” The two-hour special bows Wednesday (Dec. 11) at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and will stream the next day on Peacock.
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Halle Bailey and Smokey Robinson in ‘A Motown Christmas.’
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Hosts Robinson and Halle Bailey will be welcoming a diverse cast of performers that includes Gladys Knight, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and the Temptations as well as Ashanti, Andra Day, BeBe Winans, Jamie Foxx, JoJo, Jordin Sparks, MGK, October London, Pentatonix and the hosts themselves. More than 25 Motown gems and other songs will be performed via a tuneful array of solos, duets and group medleys.
Among the highlights: London’s medley of Marvin Gaye songs (including “What’s Going On”); Knight (“Midnight Train to Georgia”); Pentatonix’s Four Tops medley (including “I Can’t Help Myself”); Foxx (“Little Drummer Boy”); Bailey and The Supremes’ medley (including “Stop in the Name of Love”); a Temptations medley (including “My Girl”); Andra Day (“Higher Ground”), Ashanti (“Santa Baby”) and Robinson performing his and the Miracles’ classics including the aforementioned “The Tears of a Clown.” Rounding out the show will be a world exclusive performance from the Broadway company of MJ the Musical.
Gladys Knight in ‘A Motown Christmas.’
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Calling fellow host Bailey “a wonderful young woman and a great talent,” Robinson also talked about working with the executive producers of A Motown Christmas, Debbie Allen and Motown alumnus Suzanne de Passe. “Debbie and Suzanne are my sisters,” he says. “I’ve known them forever and ever, so it’s always great to work with them. Debbie is one of the best choreographers and dancers that you’d ever want to meet. And Suzanne is a Motown mainstay. At one point she was our A&R director for music and now she’s a top movie and television producer.”
Asked about Motown founder Berry Gordy’s reaction to the holiday special, Robinson notes, “I think he’s going to love it because, you know, he is the reason for the season. On the very first day at Motown, he sat us down — it was four people there other than him — and said, ‘I’m going to start my own record company, and we’re not just going to make Black music. We’re going to make beats for everybody, make music for the world; quality music.’ So we set out to do that and, thank God, I think we accomplished it. If it hadn’t been for Berry, we wouldn’t be having a Motown special.”
Jamie Foxx and Halle Bailey in ‘A Motown Christmas.’
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Nearly a year ago to the day, 4batz released his “Act II: Date @ 8” single, which went on to power the Dallas native’s rise with a boost from Drake, who hopped on the remix and helped Batz earn his first top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Ye (formerly Kanye West), SZA and Robin Thicke were just a few of the stars to lend co-signs to the R&B singer while fans seemingly had something to say at every step of Batz’s ascension, whether that be his signature Shiesty look, the duality of his street persona matched up with his airy vocals and some even falsely accused him of being an “industry plant.”
The 21-year-old looks to build on his Rookie of the Year campaign with his Thank U, Jada project, which is expected to arrive at the top of 2025.
“I want people to know I’m uncut. I’m a regular n—a. I don’t give a f–k, but at the same time I do for the right things,” Batz tells Billboard News. “I want people to know that I’m an honest person and I feel and I want to bring an evolution to music and start my own little thing.”
Last year, 4batz pulled up to one of Drake’s shows — his first concert ever — and got some advice from the 6 God when it comes to being a prolific performer.
“I asked him, ‘Bro, how do you perform like that?’ He said, ‘Look up House of Blues by 2Pac.’ I looked that up and I studied him,” Batz recalls. “I bring energy. If I’m turning up, they gonna turn up … That’s one of the things he told me.”
Batz added to his list of star-studded collabs when Ye hopped on the remix to “Act III: On God (She Like).” He called West the “smarted person” he’s ever met in his life thus far.
“Genius. He actually the smartest person I ever met in my life,” Batz says. “[Ye] drove me two hours to Santa Barbara. It’s just me and Bianca. I’m like, ‘Huh? I’m really in a car with Kanye West.’ And he’s recording me. I’m in the backseat and he’s playing his music.”
Growing up in Dallas, 4batz felt his options were limited to the streets, school, basketball and rap, but he refused to be boxed in while taking a risk in being emotional with his music. Partly inspired by heartbreak and losing his father, Batz began singing.
“I kinda got tired of the same spectrum of everybody has to be this type of person,” he added. “Where I’m from, being emotional ain’t the coolest thing in the world. You don’t get no cool points for that. My whole thing was I got my feelings hurt and I was like I don’t have nothing else to lose.”
Watch the entire interview with 4batz above.