R&B/Hip-Hop
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WWE superstar turned actor John Cena opened up about his love of hip-hop while visiting Shannon Sharpe at Club Shay Shay.
While growing up in West Newbury, Massachusetts, Cena admitted to rebelling as a youngster in the predominately white small town. “I was one of five boys, and I had a lot of angst with how the household was being run. I was a rebel. That music found me at the right time,” Cena said around the six-minute mark. “So, even though a song like ‘F—k tha Police’ might have been an anthem for the state of the social well-being in South Central Los Angeles — to a 13-year-old kid the police are my parents, and it was me who was like, ‘Well, f—k that.”
He then talked about his iconic entrance song “The Time is Now” and his only rap album You Can’t See Me, saying he decided to make his own rap music because he wasn’t feelin’ the “stock rap music” the company had to offer.
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“At the time, WWE was a rock and roll company. They didn’t have any depth of field for hip-hop, and I listened to my own music being like, ‘I could do better than this,’” he said. “I called up a friend who knew a friend who had a studio. We got some beats and we made an album. And that was it, that was it.” His debut album, released in 2005, peaked at No. 15 on the 200 chart.
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Cena also named his top three athlete-rappers and his Mount Rushmore of Rap. Shaq, Kobe, and Master P made up the former, while Rakim, Jay-Z, Nas, and Eminem rounded out the latter. “Everyone has their bias and I know that list is obviously going to incite riots,” he admitted. “We all have our bias. We all have our favorites. That’s what makes music special. That’s what makes creativity. I was brought up in the East Coast boom bap. I love wordplay, I love poetry, that’s what I based my character on. So I think all that’s super clever.”
His signature “You can’t see me” hand gesture he often did in the ring was inspired by the G-Unit’s Tony Yayo. In 2022, the Queens rapper posted a clip of Cena explaining where he got it from while making an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
You might be able to see who Shannon Sharpe is talking to, but you can watch the full episode here.
Ludacris traveled to Alaska recently and he couldn’t go all the way there without checking something off his bucket list — or as he calls it his “f— it list.” The Atlanta rapper-turned-actor posted a video to Instagram on Monday featuring himself drinking some Alaskan glacier water, which sparked concern from fans. Explore Explore See […]
J. Prince isn’t happy with YSL Woody and the prosecutors handling the ongoing YSL RICO trial. Earlier this week, the prosecution once again called Woody to the stand to ask him about statements he’s made to police. In one instance captured on video and shared on social media, a prosecutor asked about Woody allegedly mentioning […]
Former gang leader Duane “Keefe D” Davis had his bond once again denied on Tuesday (Aug. 27), and he will remain behind bars as he faces a first-degree murder charge for his role in the September 1996 shooting death of Tupac Shakur.
Per the Associated Press, Clark District Court Judge Carli Kierny made her decision known on Tuesday, and was uncertain of the origins of Davis’ potential $750,000 bail funds. According to the AP, Kierny said she was skeptical after receiving two letters that were identical claiming that it was music executive Cash “Wack 100” Jones who wired him the payment.
“I have a sense that things are trying to be covered up,” the judge stated after revealing the signature on one letter was from a person not connected to the business, and the second had a typo in the name as well as a return address to a doctor’s office.
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Prosecutor Binu Palal believes the defense may have committed a crime if they indeed submitted false paperwork. “The state takes that very seriously,” he said, according to the AP. “Be advised that it will not go uninvestigated.”
Wack 100 previously testified in June about his motives for wanting to help bail out Davis. According to the AP, Wack said that David has “always been a monumental person in our community … Especially the urban community.” He also cited Davis reportedly battling cancer.
Wack also discussed bailing out Keefe D during an interview with VladTV earlier this year. “It’s only $750,000,” he told Vlad at the time. “I’ve been thinking about going to get him with the stipulations that I’ll do the series on it.”
However, Jones also admitted in a June court hearing that he sometimes says things for entertainment purposes and to drive up engagement. Keefe D was preparing to post bond back in June, but when he went to enter his $750,000 bail, the courts blocked the process due to concerns about the legitimacy of the funds.
In addition to denying Keefe D’s bid to be released on house arrest, Kierny also pushed Davis’ trial back from Nov. 4 to March 17 on Tuesday.
Davis was arrested in September 2023 and charged with one count of murder with a deadly weapon in connection to the September 1996 Las Vegas shooting of Tupac Shakur. The legendary rapper ultimately succumbed to his injuries six days later on Sept. 13, 1996.
Drake left a Kendrick Lamar breadcrumb within his “100 Gigs” project.
In a two-minute video filed under MVI_7806.MP4 in the 2.0 NWTS_1 folder, he, OVO 40 and OVO Hush are listening to a beat produced by 40 and Omen meant for Drake and an unnamed guest feature. As 40 talks about how the beats builds, Drake nods in agreement and says, “For him, where he’s at, I know he’s gonna murder this.” 40 then replied, “When he told me Kendrick, it just made so much sense. Oh, the brilliance! So good.”
The Toronto rapper ended up not using the beat and the collab never happened. However, the beat did find a home, ending up in the hands of Queens rapper Action Bronson for his song “Actin Crazy” from his 2015 album Mr. Wonderful.
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Drake recorded his third solo album, Nothing Was the Same, between 2012 and 2013, and released it on Sept. 24, 2013. This is relevant information because Kendrick’s “Control” verse in which he called multiple rappers out by name, including Drake, dropped in August 2013.
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Drake talked about said verse twice: once in a Billboard cover story (August 2013) and again during 2013 a sitdown with Elliott Wilson. “I didn’t really have anything to say about it. It just sounded like an ambitious thought to me,” he told Billboard at the time. “That’s all it was. I know good and well that [Lamar]‘s not murdering me, at all, in any platform. So when that day presents itself, I guess we can revisit the topic.” Then about a month later in September, he downplayed Lamar’s verse again, telling Wilson, “That [‘Control’] verse was a moment to talk about. Are you listening to it now, though?”
Those quotes led to Dot responding during TDE’s BET Cypher that aired in October 2013, in which he rapped, “Yeah, and nothing been the same since they dropped ‘Control’/ And tucked a sensitive rapper back in his pajama clothes.”
While Kendrick has remained quiet since releasing the “Not Like Us” video, Drake may have hinted at another round with the Compton rapper in the Stories of his finsta Instagram account @plottttwistttttt.
new posts by Drake’s finsta account alluding to Round 2/Game 2 👀 a picture of ‘A Better Tomorrow’ 1987 movieand the iconic 2004 Pistons Rasheed Wallace interview “yall put it on the front page, back page, middle of the page… we will win Game 2″they went on to beat the… pic.twitter.com/36CfjQcIDA— SOUND (@itsavibe) August 26, 2024
Flavor Flav served as a hype man and official sponsor of the U.S. water polo Olympic teams at the 2024 Games. Now, he’s looking to take his involvement to another level when the 2028 Olympics return to the USA in Los Angeles. The Public Enemy rapper joined iHeart’s Politickin podcast hosted by California’s Gov. Gavin […]
Tinashe has no idea why the zeitgeist has kept her in a “niche category” for more than a decade. The singer who broke big this year with the slow-bubble rise of her ear worm single “Nasty” — her first solo Billboard Hot 100 entry, which peaked at No. 61 in June — tells pal Kaytranada in a chat in Interview magazine that she now feels like she’s in a great position to break big during a summer when the women of pop are all over the charts.
“I have fans that love me, I’m able to tour, I’m able to make the art I want to make. So I’m pretty satisfied,” said 31-year-old Tinashe, who began her career as s child actress in the early 2000s before pivoting to music with her 2012 mixtape In Case We Die. “As much as I want all the success and the accolades, I have such a great career, so I’m thankful. But I don’t know why [it’s taken so long]. It could be the universe. It could be the way society’s set up. Being a Black woman in music is difficult. There’s been a lot of discrepancy over how to market me. In my early days, people were confused by my genre hopping and my lack of commitment to an urban direction.”
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With the Hot 100 chart packed with summer smashes from Billie Eilish (“Birds of a Feather”), Sabrina Carpenter (“Espresso,” “Please Please Please”), Chappell Roan (“Good Luck, Babe,” “Hot To Go”) and Charli XCX (“Guess” remix with Eilish), Kat asked a very crucial question: “are pop-girl rivalries a real thing?”
Tinashe said yes, but also no. At least not for her.
“Absolutely. I don’t have any rivalries. I love all the girls. But it’s classic. It’s an extremely competitive place to be in the music industry as a woman, because we’re taught that there aren’t enough seats at the table for everyone, so that creates a lot of competition,” she said. “There’s a lot of sneaky animosity, little things behind the scenes, people not supporting each other the same way that maybe male artists do. I’ve definitely felt that way over the years.”
Asked if seeing the successes and failures of other artists sometimes gets in her head, Tinashe said when she was younger and newer to the game it definitely had more of an effect on her. “Because part of the human condition is that we tend to compare ourselves to other people. And so, when you see the success of people that you consider peers, sometimes it can be hard,” she said. “I’ve definitely gone through eras where I’ve felt like, ‘Damn. Everyone who I consider peers are killing me off right now. Everyone’s doing so much better than me.’ So it’s a practice to not compare myself and focus on my own path.”
Plus, after a decade of grinding in the music business and releasing seven albums — including this year’s Quantum Baby — some of that pressure to look around and compare has gone away thanks to a legacy of work she can be proud of. “I feel like my work speaks for itself,” she said.
The pair also delved into whether Tinashe believes the myth of industry plants is a real thing. The answer again was yes — some people are “gassed the f–k up by the machine,” — but also no to the “full plant narrative” in the talk that also touched on the items on Tinashe’s tour rider and her wish list of A-list collaborators.
“My big bucket list items are, like, André 3000 — that would be a dream. Janet [Jackson], of course. James Blake, SZA, I think we could make something really amazing,” she said. “Rosalía, I think we’d make something really dope together. I like to collab with the girls. There’s not very many collabs with female artists, so I definitely want to do more of those.”
And finally, because of course he had to ask, is there anyone who matches Tinashe’s freak?
“I don’t know who matches my freak. Honestly, when it comes to romance and stuff like that, nobody,” she said to the likely disappointment of potential freakmates. “I’m out here dolo as f–k, doing my own thing. I’m having a fun-ass summer though, so I’m not mad in that regard.”
In a sweet second consideration, though, Tinashe said if pressed she’d have to say that her loyal fans match her freak. “They have been so supportive of this era and have been there for me throughout the highs and lows,” the singer said. “I just really, really appreciate everyone who’s held me down throughout every chapter of my career, because I wouldn’t be here without that support.”
Tinashe announced the dates for her Match My Freak tour earlier this month, a 23-date outing slated to kick off on Oct. 14 at the House of Blues in Anaheim, Calif. before winding down in Sacramento on Nov. 25.
The wait is over: Kehlani dropped her While We Wait 2 mixtape on Wednesday (Aug. 28) via TSNMI and Atlantic Records. They released the “When He’s Not There” single, featuring Lucky Daye, earlier this week — four years after they featured him on “Can You Blame Me” from her 2020 sophomore studio album, It Was […]
Not many high-school reunions boast a Grammy-winning superstar, but Lauryn Hill popped out at her Columbia High School reunion in Maplewood, N.J., earlier in August.
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But according to videos shared by her former classmates, not only did Hill show up, she even picked up the mic and delivered an impromptu performance, during which the New Jersey native ran through classic hits from her discography.
She performed anthems such as The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill‘s “Ex-Factor” as well as the Fugees’ “Ready or Not,” which saw her tweak lyrics with a salute to her old stomping grounds on campus. “CHS taking over/ Buffalo soldier/ Dreadlock Rasta,” she raps.
“God bless y’all. I love you so much,” she concluded.
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Hill’s classmates shared their excitement on social media about seeing the superstar show up and show out for them in such an intimate setting. One of her classmates said she was even left “speechless,” while another thought she was “dreaming.”
“People traveled from out of state to love up on their village. It was simply amazing. Still speechless from @mslaurynhill giving us an impromptu performance,” one person wrote to Instagram. “This reunion was SO good for the soul.”
Another classmate added: “I’m just waking up from last Saturday night….. Was I dreaming orrrrrrr????Did this really happen???? Ms. Hill is undoubtedly a gift from the heavens.”
Lauryn Hill and the Fugees were slated to head out on tour this summer, but quietly canceled the trek just prior to it lifting off earlier in August. Hill blamed a “narrative” that impacted ticket sales, but the tour’s U.K. and European shows are moving forward as planned.
“Last year, I faced an injury that necessitated the rescheduling of some of my shows. Regrettably, some media outlet’s penchant for sensationalism and clickbait headlines have seemingly created a narrative that has affected ticket sales for the North American portion of the tour,” she wrote in a statement posted to Instagram. “The trust and faith I have in my intentions and my commitment to my art seem to have been overshadowed by this unfortunate portrayal.”
Watch Lauryn Hill’s performance at the high school reunion below.
BigXthaPlug’s 2024 campaign just added another Texas-sized accolade to the mix of what’s been a banner year for the breakout rapper: BigX was named Amazon Music’s next Breakthrough Artist on Wednesday (Aug. 28).
Amazon Music looks to amplify emerging artists with its Breakthrough Artist program, which will allow BigXthaPlug to receive more visibility across Amazon’s playlists, livestream features, as well as marketing and social campaigns.
Working in collaboration with BigX, the United Masters signee will further connect with fans through Amazon’s properties and unique opportunities in the coming months as 2024 comes to a close.
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“BigXthaPlug has been one of the most exciting new voices in hip-hop, with an outsized sound that’s as big as his personality,” Alexis Cueva, artist relations for Amazon Music, tells Billboard. “We’ve already seen our customers respond to his incredible music on Amazon Music, and as our next Breakthrough Artist, we’re excited to help BigX connect with even more fans.”
BigXthaPlug has also been added to Billboard‘s Hip-Hop Live concert slated for Sept. 6. The show will be a celebration of the Hip-Hop/R&B Power Players event, which will take over the Xanadu roller rink in Brooklyn.
The 26-year-old joins an already loaded Hip-Hop Live lineup that boasts sets from DJ Miss Milan, the inspiring Mr. Pot Scraper himself BossMan Dlow, and headliner Teezo Touchdown. Tickets are still on sale and can be purchased here for $32.
BigXthaPlug made his Billboard Hot 100 debut in October when his “Mmhmm” hit the chart at No. 93, and eventually reached a peak of No. 63.
He continued his ascension in August with the braggadocios “The Largest,” on which he teases his anticipated sophomore album. “Album done, finna drop me another one,” he raps.
BigX’s co-manager Brandon Farmer raved about the rapper’s ability to connect with his fans while on stage. “Stage presence, you just don’t really see that,” Farmer told Billboard earlier this year. “You can tell when somebody is a star. X is a star.”
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