R&B/Hip-Hop

14 Jan 2025

Vince Staples Accuses Developers of Trying to Buy His Land Amid LA Fires

There have already been rumors about real estate developers offering up money to homeowners impacted by the recent fires in the Los Angeles area, and Vince Staples may be one of those people.

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The Long Beach rapper took to X and revealed that he was allegedly offered a million dollars in cash for his land. “White devil offered a M cash for the land,” he wrote. “He must’ve thought I was one of them other n—as.” And just before sending out that X post, Staples shared that his neighborhood burned down. “Whole neighborhood burnt down but we still thuggin,” he tweeted.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently spoke about efforts to stop developers trying to take advantage of people who have been affected by the fires. “I was just talking with Josh Green, the governor down in Hawaii, who had some ideas around some land use concerns he had, around speculators coming in and buying up properties and the likes,” he recently told Fox 11 in regards to potential land grabs. “We are already working with our legal team to move those things forward, and we’ll be presenting those in a matter of days, not just weeks.”

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There’s also a running list on X of landlords who have been accused of price-gouging rent, with some rental prices allegedly being raised upward of 100 percent or more.

Staples also tweeted a link to a fundraiser organized by the city of Long Beach, and he’s not the only rapper to be helping out his fellow California neighbors. The Game has been actively supporting firefighters and animal rescue, while Snoop spoke on helping out via donations and hinting at a benefit concert during a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

14 Jan 2025

BossMan Dlow Reflects on His Breakout 2024 & Debut Album: ‘We Making Boss Moves This Year’

From “Big One” to “Come Here,” Florida rapper Bossman Dlow kept the hits coming throughout 2024. After scoring a string of viral bangers from his mixtapes, Dlow dropped his debut studio album, Dlow Curry, on Dec. 13. For one of his first interviews of the new year, the fast-rising star caught up with Billboard News to break down Dlow Curry and his upcoming tour.

Last year, Dlow earned his first two Billboard Hot 100 entries with “Get In With Me” (No. 49) and “Mr. Pot Scraper” (No. 93), both from his RIAA Gold-certified Mr Beat the Road mixtape. Those two tracks kicked off a run of hit singles — all of which reached the top 50 of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs — including “SportsCenter” (No. 34), the Glorilla-assisted “Finesse” (No. 37), “Shake Dat Ass” (No. 12), “Talk My Shit” (No. 50), “2 Slippery” (No. 29, with Luh Tyler) and the Lil Baby-featuring “PJ” (No. 28).

For Dlow, his breakout hit, “Get In With Me,” remains his “most shocking” success. “I put that one to the side,” he explains to Billboard staff writer Kyle Denis. “I was shooting a video to ‘Finesse’ [at the time], so when I seen the numbers going up on Instagram, I was like ‘Oh!’ But [I was] shooting a video, so I [couldn’t] really watch it, but every time I checked, [the song] was going crazier and crazier.”

“Get In With Me” ultimately finished at No. 38 on the 2024 Year-End Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs ranking, his highest of four entries.

Dlow announced his debut LP through a SportsCenter appearance, playing on his love for sports. In addition to Steph Curry — whose name inspired the album’s title — Dlow’s top five basketball players include Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Edwards. Dlow Curry spun off more hits for Big Za, and that’s because the Tallahassee MC finally perfected his formula. “You gotta really think about what everybody else wanna hear,” he reveals. “It’s what you wanna hear at the same time, but it’s 90% what they wanna hear. Nowadays, it’s about [being] catchy. You wanna say something that they can repeat and remember.”

Dlow has used this formula not just to make “get that motion” music, but also to collaborate with rising stars like Loe Shimmy, who he says is his favorite artist to work with in the studio. In the years ahead, Dlow hopes to collaborate with Future, Usher and The Weeknd; hopefully, his forthcoming Wiz Khalifa collaboration sets the stage for those link-ups.

With goals of going No. 1 and getting Diamond-certified guiding him into the 2025, Bossman Dlow is ready to put on a yet-to-be-announced tour that will also involve the kids.

“I know all the kids like my music,” he says. “So they gon get a chance to win money, prizes, all that. I’m putting on a show everytime.”

14 Jan 2025

Skip Bayless Says Lil Wayne ‘Obviously’ Should’ve Been Super Bowl Halftime Show Headliner Over Kendrick Lamar

Former Fox Sports host Skip Bayless and Lil Wayne have a friendship that runs deep. Less than a month out from Super Bowl LIX, Bayless went to bat for Weezy and his belief that the New Orleans icon should be headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show in his hometown.

“Sorry, Lil Wayne should obviously be the Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans,” he wrote to X on Sunday (Jan. 12).

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Of course, Kendrick Lamar has been tapped by the NFL to headline the Super Bowl Halftime Show in the Big Easy, which drew criticism from a range of Wayne’s rap peers, including Nicki Minaj, Master P and Cam’ron.

“Denying a young black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason but your ego,” Minaj said on X last year while seemingly targeting Jay-Z and Roc Nation, who has served as the league’s live music entertainment strategist since 2019.

Many Kendrick fans flooded Bayless’ replies, citing the recent lawsuit accusing the former host of sexual harassment. “Weird case???? Still around,” a TDE fan account responded while quoting Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”

According to the Associated Press, a hairstylist accused Bayless of repeatedly making unwanted sexual advances against her. She also claimed he offered her $1.5 million to have sex with him. Bayless has yet to address the lawsuit.

After Lil Wayne found out he’d been passed over for Kendrick, he admitted that the news was difficult for him to hear. “It hurt a whole lot,” he said at the time. “I blame myself for not being mentally prepared for a letdown, and for automatically mentally putting myself in that position like somebody told me that was my position. So I blame myself for that.”

However, in the time since, Weezy revealed he and Kendrick had been in contact. “I’ve spoken to him, and I wish him all the best and I told him he better kill it,” Wayne explained to Bayless in December.

“It just makes no sense to me. I don’t get it … their politics played … I don’t know,” Bayless said to Weezy, who replied: “That’s another part of it, there’s things I can’t control.”

Super Bowl LIX is slated for Feb. 9 in New Orleans where Lamar will hit the halftime show stage. Find Skip’s tweet above.

14 Jan 2025

Ye Says He’s ‘Your Favorite GOAT’s Favorite GOAT’ While Quoting His 2005 Grammy Speech

Ye — the artist formerly known as Kanye West — has certainly never lacked confidence in himself. West took to Instagram on Tuesday (Jan. 14) to tout himself as the GOAT while running through his decorated career résumé.

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“YOUR FAVORITE GOATS FAVORITE GOAT,” he wrote alongside a photo of an actual goat.

West continued to quote his famed speech at the 2005 Grammy Awards, writing: “THEY TOLD YOU I WAS DEAD BROKE CLONED DO THIS SOUND LIKE A CLONE I DONT TAKE ADVICE I GIVE IT I DO AND SAY WHAT THE F–K I WANNA SAY WHEN I WANNA SAY HOW I WANNA SAY WHENEVER I WANNA SAY IT EVERYBODY WANTED TO KNOW WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YE NEVER GOT MONEY AGAIN I GUESS WE’LL NEVER FUCKING KNOOOOW WE’LL NEVER EVER EVER FUCKING KNOOOOOOOW I’M RICH FOREVER AND EVER IN EVERY LIFETIME.”

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CyHi Tha Prynce, Rich The Kid, Fridayy and more co-signed Ye’s statements in his comment section.

Kanye also showed off his alleged sales in an Instagram Story, claiming he made over $2 million in a day on YZY-SPLY following the launch of his $20 apparel filled with tees, shorts and hoodies along with the debut of the YZY SL-01 sneaker.

The Chicago native didn’t waste any time following up on IG to emphasize his Yeezy-over-everything stance. “To be specific Any brand other than Yeezy F–k you Close your dirty a– laptops,” he said while taking shots at the opposition’s dusty computers.

Ye is getting active again on social media, as he mobilized his YZY apparel line and has continued to tease his upcoming Bully album. Earlier in the week, West posted photos surrounding his LP hinting at reunions with his cousin WRLDFMS Tony Williams and his longtime producer/engineer Mike Dean, who worked closely with Yeezy from The College Dropout through 2021’s Donda.

14 Jan 2025

Cardi B Uses Hilarious Taylor Swift Meme to Declare She’s Done ‘Acting Nice’

Cardi B might just be in her Reputation era. The rapper posted on X Tuesday (Jan. 14) that she’s had it with “acting nice,” using a hilarious Taylor Swift meme to get her point across.

Cardi told followers, “I was acting nice and nonchalant but today I’m going to violate and show the real me ?”

The “WAP” musician didn’t specify what grievance inspired her post, but to illustrate her point, she did attach a video of the Eras Tour headliner performing at the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge in 2019. Instead of the original audio, however, the clip of Swift is paired with what sounds like a snippet of Beyoncé absolutely going off while riffing during a live performance of “Crazy in Love.”

Cardi’s post comes less than a week after an update to her long-running legal battle with gossip blogger Tasha K, who claimed in a new response motion that the Grammy winner is trying to “sabotage” her career. Weeks prior, Cardi’s legal team had submitted a claim to a federal bankruptcy judge accusing Tasha of hiding money to avoid paying the rapper nearly $4 million in damages, which a federal jury awarded Cardi in 2022 after finding the blogger’s past claims about the star defamatory. In the new filing, Tasha’s attorneys countered by saying Cardi had failed to “identify a cent of undisclosed value.”

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The “Up” musician is also still at odds with Offset, from whom she split in July after seven years of marriage. The two stars — who share three children — were still very publicly hammering out their divorce as of mid-December, with Cardi at one point posting on X at her ex, “F–k off and sign the papers TODAY.”

“When u split the custody I will [sign the papers],” the Migos rapper countered at the time.

As for her thoughts on the subject of her meme of choice Tuesday, Cardi has only had positive things to say about Swift. In 2021, the hip-hop star praised the “Karma” singer’s “All Too Well” short film, and last year, Cardi gushed about the singer-songwriter’s relationship with Travis Kelce.

“I think it’s cute,” Cardi said of the couple last February. “She looks so happy. I feel like she’s really private with her relationships, so I really feel like she likes him a lot because she’s like, ‘I don’t give a f—. I’m going to kiss him. I’m going to touch him. I’m going to kiss him! Yeah, I’m here. Yeah, I’m taking a jet to see my man.’”

See Cardi’s tweet below.

14 Jan 2025

Hot 100 First-Timers: LiAngelo Ball Makes His Chart Arrival With ‘Tweaker’

LiAngelo Ball is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist, as his breakthrough viral hit, “Tweaker,” debuts at No. 29 on the Jan. 18-dated chart.

The song debuts almost entirely from its streaming sum: 12.4 million official streams in the U.S. in the Jan. 3-9 tracking week, according to Luminate. It also sold 2,000 downloads. The song concurrently tips off at No. 7 on Hot Rap Songs and No. 9 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Ball is one-third of the famed Ball brothers, the sons of Big Baller Brand co-founder Lavar Ball. Eldest son, Lonzo Ball, was the second overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft and is now the starting point guard for the Chicago Bulls. The youngest son, LaMelo Ball, was the third pick in the 2020 NBA draft and is now the starting point guard for the Charlotte Hornets — he was voted rookie of the year in 2021 and named an all-star in 2022. LiAngelo, the middle child, played basketball in Lithuania and Mexico, but hasn’t made the NBA. He is, however, the first of the siblings to score a Billboard chart hit.

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LiAngelo released “Tweaker” on Jan. 3 via Born to Ball Music Group, and it almost immediately went viral. The song has already soundtracked nearly 30,000 clips on TikTok. His upward momentum even earned him a slot to perform at Rolling Loud California 2025 in March. The song also helped him, reportedly, sign a deal with Def Jam/Universal Music Group.

LiAngelo isn’t the first basketball star to reach Billboard’s charts. Shaquille O’Neal charted five Hot 100 hits in the 1990s: “What’s Up Doc? (Can We Rock),” with Fu-Schnickens (No. 39 peak in 1993); “(I Know I Got) Skillz” (No. 35, 1993); “I’m Outstanding” (No. 47, 1994); “Biological Didn’t Bother” (No. 78, 1995); and “Men of Steel,” with Ice Cube, B-Real, Peter Gunz and KRS-One (No. 82, 1997). He has also charted four albums on the Billboard 200: Shaq Diesel (No. 25, 1993); Shaq-Fu: Da Return (No. 67, 1994); You Can’t Stop the Reign (No. 82, 1996); and Respect (No. 58, 1998).

Milwaukee Bucks point guard Damian Lillard, who raps under the name Dame D.O.L.L.A., has also charted an album on the Billboard 200: The Letter O reached No. 119 in 2016. During a postgame interview on Jan. 8 with ESPN’s Michael Eaves, Lillard co-signed LiAngelo’s “Tweaker.”

“I rock with it, man,” he said. “I’ve been hearing it a lot, it gives me that 2003, 2004 vibe. … And as an artist, you gotta respect other people’s artistry, and when something is going, it’s going. … I’m happy for him, it’s a big record, you’re hearing it everywhere.”

14 Jan 2025

Mary J. Blige’s ‘You Ain’t the Only One’ Is No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart

Mary J. Blige enters a select club as just the fourth artist to earn at least 10 No. 1s on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart. The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul achieves the feat on the list dated Jan. 18, as “You Ain’t the Only One” rises 3-1 to become her 10th career leader on the radio ranking.

“You Ain’t the Only One” crowns the chart as the most-played song on U.S. panel-contributing adult R&B radio stations in the tracking week of Jan. 3-9, according to Luminate. It improved 22% in plays for the tracking week compared with the prior week. The huge leap earns Blige’s single the weekly Greatest Gainer award, given to the song with the largest gain in plays at the format.

With the new champ, Blige nabs her 10th No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay and ties Charlie Wilson for the third-most leaders among all acts since the chart launched in 1993. The pair trails only Alicia Keys (14) and Toni Braxton (11) on the overall leaderboard. Last November, “You Ain’t the Only One” became Blige’s record-extending 28th top 10 on the radio chart. Keys ranks second in that count, with 24 top 10s, while Gerald Levert and R. Kelly share the third-place mark, at 22 each.

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Here’s a recap of Blige’s No. 1 collection on the Adult R&B Airplay chart:

  • “Not Gon’ Cry,” four weeks at No. 1, beginning March 2, 1996
  • “Be Without You,” 14, Feb. 4, 2006
  • “Take Me As I Am,” one, Jan. 27, 2007
  • “IfULeave,” Musiq Soulchild featuring Mary. J. Blige, eight, Jan. 10, 2009
  • “Thick of It,” 16, Nov. 12, 2016
  • “U + Me (Love Lesson),” three, May 6, 2017
  • “Good Morning Gorgeous,” four, Feb. 26, 2022
  • “Still Believe in Love,” featuring Vado, eight, Dec. 30, 2023
  • “Breathing,” featuring Fabolous, one, Oct. 26, 2024
  • “You Ain’t The Only One,” one (to date), Jan. 18, 2025

Notably, Blige has topped Adult R&B Airplay with her last three appearances on the list. The three-single streak rewrites the personal best for the R&B legend, who previously notched back-to-back winners with “Thick of It” and “U + Me (Love Lesson).”

Elsewhere, “You Ain’t the Only One” repeats at its No. 18 peak for a third, nonconsecutive week on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations. There, the single reaches 6.7 million in format audience, up 24% from the prior week and enough to secure the Greatest Gainer award.

“You Ain’t the Only One” appears on Blige’s Gratitude album, released in November.

13 Jan 2025

Soulja Boy Says Drake ‘Went Out Sad’ in Twitter Rant

Soulja Boy went on a fiery Twitter rant — now X — over the weekend and even managed to sneak in a shot at Drake while tweeting about the devastating fires torching Los Angeles County.

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“Time to disappear,” Big Draco wrote to X. “PS Drake u went out sad.”

The 6 God diss seemingly came out of nowhere as Soulja was ranting about the Los Angeles evacuations and the imminent TikTok ban coming to the United States.

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He continued: “If they really remove tiktok then that means America is fucked… Whole LA burned down like it was nothing… I don’t know who needs to hear this but this world is evil.”

It’s unclear what exactly Soulja Boy saw regarding Drake that set him off but fans speculated in the replies it was related to his “Fighting Irish” freestyle targeting LeBron James, legal action against Universal Music Group or tied to his blockbuster feud with Kendrick Lamar last year.

Drake and Soulja Boy have seen their careers crossover at various points since they teamed up for “We Made It/Trophies” in 2014.

Big Draco went viral during his 2019 The Breakfast Club interview where he claimed Drake copied him “word for word, bar for bar.”

Soulja Boy expanded on his Drake explosion when he later joined Big Boy’s Neighborhood. He claimed Drizzy stole the first bar from his 2007 track “What’s Hannenin” for 2010’s “Miss Me” featuring Lil Wayne.

“You gotta understand the timeline. In 2006 I was 16, an underground artist. [Drake] was still on Degrassi. I was really in the streets dropping fire,” he said. “He was watching me, copying me. So, when he got a deal and came out with his first big single he copied me and ain’t nobody know what he was copying. They thought that was an original Drake bar, quote… He stole my whole s–t.”

13 Jan 2025

Streamer Plaqueboymax Reacts to Fivio Foreign’s Snippet: ‘He’s Dissing Himself’

Streamer, rapper, producer, and engineer Plaqueboymax made news last week when he asked rappers Fivio Foreign and Lil Tjay to stop smoking weed during a livestream, which then led to the NYC rappers leaving early and a back-and-forth online.

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Over the weekend, Fivio posted a snippet on TikTok where he somewhat addresses the situation. “And my real name Max/And I really got plaques/Double digits, no cap,” he raps as Fivio references his real first name Maxie. “I’m the real Plaqueboymax, Plaqueboymax, Plaqueboymax, Plaqueboymax/I’m the real Plaqueboymax/ In the crib, countin’ all my plaques/Tell Kai Cenat react to that.”

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Now, yesterday (Jan. 13), Plaqueboymax reacted to the snippet on his stream and asked whether Fivio was “dissing” him or “shouting [him] out.” However, he smiled and took it in stride, although, he did admit that he would be hitting “not interested” whenever he comes across the song on social media. “Every time I hear this song, I will be hitting Not Interested, reason: other,” he confessed. ‘If they got harassment, I’ll click that sh—t. Y’all make sure y’all get this sh—t going, though. But not on my TikTok. This not For You page. Sorry. Can’t do it. No sir.”

He then grew annoyed by fans in the stream chat suggesting that he should record a song dissing Fivio and Lil Tjay, but he revealed that he wasn’t interested. “Why do y’all wanna bring that side of me out?” he asked. “That’s a super negative side of me. I don’t give a f—k to diss neither of these n—s.” Adding, “The sh—t [Fivio] made, he’s dissing himself. He’s damn near dissing himself.”

You can watch the full stream below.

13 Jan 2025

LiAngelo Ball Signs Label Deal With Def Jam/UMG: Report

Professional basketball player and “Tweaker” rapper LiAngelo Ball has signed a label deal with Def Jam and Universal Music Group (UMG), according to ESPN reporter Shams Charania.

On Monday (Jan. 13), Charania, whose main beat is NBA news, tweeted that the recording deal for Ball, who performs under the name G3, was confirmed by “a representative from” Ball’s label, Born2Ball Music Group. He added that sources said “the deal is worth as much as $13 million, with $8 million guaranteed, and gives Ball full ownership of music and his own record label.”

UMG did not immediately respond to Billboard‘s request for comment on Monday.

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“Tweaker,” which Ball released under the performance name G3, has become a viral sensation since a clip of Ball playing the song for YouTuber n3on took off on social media earlier this month. After Ball dropped the song officially on Jan. 3, the track has racked up millions of streams, memes, and placements during live programs like NBA on TNT. He recently snagged a performance slot at Rolling Loud California 2025 in March. 

Ball — along with his brothers Lonzo and LaMelo — first made headlines in the mid-2010s when all three played basketball for Chino Hills High School in California. Their father, LaVar Ball, taught them how to play the game and proclaimed that all three would eventually play in the NBA. While Lonzo (the oldest) and LaMelo (the youngest) have had varying degrees of success as NBA players, LiAngelo has struggled to earn a permanent spot on a team. However, he’s been able to play professionally overseas. “Tweaker” is his first officially released song under the G3 Gelo name.