State Champ Radio R&B/Hip-Hop
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Usher took the stage at the 2025 Billboard Live Music Summit Monday afternoon (Nov. 3) to reflect on all of the stages he’s taken over during his 28-year touring career.
The R&B superstar and Gail Mitchell, Billboard executive director of R&B and hip-hop, walked out to his 2001 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “U Got It Bad” at the 1 Hotel in West Hollywood, Calif., which Mitchell reminded he previously said in his 2024 Billboard cover story that it was his favorite song to perform live. “I think because of the connection between me and the audience,” he said at the time. Today, he added: “I want to impress them. I would like to be as theatrical and use my imagination as much as I possibly can to lift the song higher than what it was when I delivered it as a piece of intellectual property.”
Following his two Las Vegas residencies from 2021 to 2023 and his Super Bowl LVIII halftime show performance (also in Vegas) last year, Usher embarked on his most recent Past Present and Future Tour. The 83-date international jaunt became his highest-grossing and best-selling tour yet, according to Billboard Boxscore, by grossing $183.9 million and selling 1.1 million tickets over 80 shows. He has a reported career gross if $422.6 million from 3.3 million tickets over 334 shows.
But before becoming a marquee act, Usher served as an opener for Diddy‘s 1997 No Way Out Tour, Mary J. Blige‘s 1997-98 Share My World Tour and Janet Jackson‘s 1998-99 The Velvet Rope Tour. “I had another notch on my belt in terms of what I was capable of being able to handle, so that when I went to try to headline my own tours, we knew that we had the ability to hold a crowd,” he explained.
He told industry audience members a story about his time opening for Diddy: As his 1997 hit “You Make Me Wanna…” was steadily climbing the Hot 100 (where it eventually peaked at No. 2), the crowd coming to see Usher gradually grew from 10 people to a packed house. Diddy told Usher he wanted him to come out during his headlining set, but Usher recalled saying, “Nah, I’m cool. I’m gonna stay right where I’m at because I wanna earn my keep. I’m here for a reason. I want to someday be where you are.”
By the time Usher embarked on his debut headlining tour, the 8701 Evolution Tour in 2002, he remembered “the importance of paying tribute” during those shows. “I’m an artist who was inspired by the legends. If I study the legends, then hopefully one day, I will be one,” he said, adding that he performed covers of Bobby Brown, Babyface and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis because he didn’t have enough of his own hit records at the time and wanted to still captivate his audiences.
The Coming Home artist also teased “something coming. I’m in the midst of working on something that may shine a light on a very specific period of my life and around performance. Just stay tuned. There is true value in live,” he said. He later argued that there’s also true value in R&B. “I want people to continue to celebrate the music and legacy that is the foundation that I am. It comes from soul music, it comes from the South. It comes from a very wide collective of being exposed to many different artists from many different genres, but most importantly, R&B.
“In the same way that I think all other industries have managed to monetize what they are — whether it’s hip-hop, rock & roll, country — I want the same thing for R&B,” he continued. “That is the thing that I haven’t done yet. I want us to celebrate the legacy of what it is that we created, not just look at these nostalgic things that have come and gone, but be able to savor them and savor their legacy.”
Mitchell later presented Usher the Legend of Live Award following the panel. He isn’t the only superstar panelist during the Live Music Summit. Billboard cover star Rauw Alejandro and Hans Schafer, senior vp of global touring at Live Nation, will sit down with Billboard Español/Latin chief content officer Leila Cobo later this afternoon to discuss the reggaeton artist’s emergence as one of the live sector’s most sought-after stars.
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Zohran Mamdani is a known Kendrick Lamar fan, and showed his support for the rapper over Halloween weekend. With New York City’s mayoral election set for Tuesday (Nov. 4), Mamdani — who is running to lead the city — made campaign stops at various night clubs around the city over the weekend. One video making […]
Trending on Billboard Drake stepped out in full hometown hero mode on Halloween night (Oct. 31), attending Game 6 of the 2025 World Series at Rogers Centre in Toronto as the Blue Jays attempted to clinch their first championship since 1993. Explore See latest videos, charts and news The rapper, who has been trolling Los […]
Trending on Billboard The Alchemist has added his two cents on the topic that had Rap Twitter in a frenzy this week. On Wednesday, Billboard reported that, for the first time since 1990 — when Biz Markie‘s signature song “Just a Friend” was at No. 41 on Feb. 2 — there were no rap songs […]
Trending on Billboard NLE Choppa, who’s now going by NLE the Great, came out guns blazing on Halloween with his bristling “KO” diss track, and it appears he’s looking to make things spooky for NBA YoungBoy. Explore See latest videos, charts and news Choppa released an accompanying video that’s equally inspired by 2Pac and Michael […]
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Megan Thee Stallion and Jennifer Hudson said they often get mistaken for each other, and that once Hudson’s security even tried to protect the Texas rapper instead of her.
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Meg stopped by The Jennifer Hudson Show for the episode airing Friday (Oct. 31) to talk about her new single, “Lover Girl,” and at one point revealed she’s often mistaken for the talk-show host. It turns out, Hudson could also relate, and admitted Meg’s fans sometimes mistake her for the rapper too.
“Remember that time we was in Italy for the Dolce thing?” Meg asked. “Jennifer’s security kept snatchin’ me up! They was like, ‘C’mon, we gotta move, we gotta move.’ I’m like, ‘I’m not with you! It’s not me, I’m not her, I promise! But I’ll go with you if you really want me to.’ Your security kept snatchin’ me up, and I was like, ‘Where is my security?’ … Jennifer’s security wanted me to be her real bad that day.”
Hudson replied, “It’s really bizarre cause we were at the Super Bowl. I was leaving the event, guys, and they was like, ‘Megan!’ I was like, ‘Are you serious?’”
Hudson clarified that she’s flattered to be mistaken for the Houston rapper.
Meg’s appearance comes after Queen Latifah stopped by the talk show to praise the rapper earlier this week, calling her the future of hip-hop.
“She’s so cool, she’s so fun, she’s so very talented and strong in her spot,” she told her The Secret Life of Bees co-star about Meg. “I love that energy carrying hip-hop into the future, of course.”
Check out a clip of Meg’s interview with Jennifer Hudson below.
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Cardi B hopped on Spaces early Friday morning (Oct. 31) to address the “hate coming from different angles” in her life.
The Bronx native rehashed the “dark energy” she was feeling being sent her way throughout the pregnancy, and while she’s been laying relatively low and says she’s “at peace,” Cardi had some words for the haters on Halloween.
“Remember when I said at the meet-and-greet that I felt like a lot of dark energy and weird things coming on my pregnancy,” she recalled. “I felt a lot of hate coming. I felt like there was a lot of hate coming from different angles, and today, I see that I’m still proving that.”
Cardi continued: “And there’s hate that was coming from bloggers. There’s hate that was coming from women that my baby dad dealt [with] in the past. There was hate that’s coming from f–king enemies that I have, rappers wishing all type of f–king STDs on me while I’m pregnant, and clearly partners that I dealt with.”
The “partners” she’s referencing could possibly be tied to her ex Offset, who appeared to blast Cardi and her boyfriend, Stefon Diggs, on his Haunted by Fame project, which arrived on Halloween.
“How the f—k you leave Jordan for Rodman/ You a fool if you think that I’m hurt/ You ain’t happy, I know how it work/ How you married and still giving birth/ Get some help, b—h, you going berserk,” he raps on the Coupe-produced “No Sweat.”
While Cardi kept Friday’s response more general and didn’t address Offset by name, she had a message for those praying on her downfall. Cardi believes she’ll be the one having the last laugh, as she’s convinced God typically punishes those who hate on her.
“However, one thing I notice, I swear to God, and it’s so real … anybody that messes with me while I’m at my most vulnerable — and my most vulnerable is always when I’m pregnant — God always punishes them,” she shared. “Two three years might pass … and God goes and punish them the worst way.”
Cardi B’s heading into the final months of pregnancy before giving birth to baby No. 4, which will be her first child with her NFL player boyfriend. She’ll then hit the road for the Little Miss Drama Tour in February.
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About three decades later, Common is thanking Fat Joe for saving his life. The Chicago rapper joined Joe & Jada earlier this week, where he recalled shooting a commercial in the mid-’90s on the West Coast when an altercation nearly broke out amid his feud with Ice Cube and Mack 10.
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“That man really saved my life. I was out on the West Coast with one of my guys I knew and he just wasn’t happy with the whole Mack 10 [and] Ice Cube beef that we had,” he said.
Essentially, one of Common’s friends escalated a situation, and before it crossed the line, Fat Joe stepped in to smooth things over — at least for Common.
“It’s not cuz Fat Joe is tougher than anyone. I literally begged for your life. I literally got in the middle, ‘He’s my friend, he’s my brother,’” Joe recalled. “They finally saw him on their soil and they was talking crazy and I was like, ‘This is literally my brother and I was begging them.’ It was the serious ones … Basically, I stood in the middle. It was over after that day.”
Common confirmed the beef was squashed from his side from that point forward and compared Joe’s intervention to a scene straight out of a movie.
“You settled that. I’m like, ‘Man, we in California, don’t start nothing.’ They already wanted a piece on me no matter what,” he explained. “My guy out there going off. I knew it was [Joe] that said, ‘This can’t happen.’ … That’s when Fat Joe the gangsta, this n—a here because he was straight up like, ‘You can’t do that to my man.’ It was like one of them movies, Goodfellas.”
Common etched his name in rap history with his acclaimed and scathing diss track “The Bitch in Yoo,” which was released in 1996 and took aim at Ice Cube, raising tensions with the West Coast.
During a 2020 interview with DJ VLAD, Mack 10 rehashed the near-altercation with Common and reiterated that Fat Joe stepped in to smooth things over. “Common is all right. Ain’t nobody got no issues,” Mack said. “Everybody grown. We done seen each other a million times since then.”
Watch the Joe & Jada episode with Common below. Talk about saving Common’s life begins just short of four minutes.
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Offset unleashed his surprise Haunted by Fame project on Friday (Oct. 31), which appears to find him addressing Cardi B and Stefon Diggs’ relationship, along with his estranged wife’s pregnancy.
The not-so-subliminal shots at Cardi and the New England Patriots wide receiver come to close the first verse of the Coupe-produced “No Sweat.” Set essentially implies Cardi downgraded by trading Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan for Dennis Rodman, who was more of a caffeinated role player.
“How the f—k you leave Jordan for Rodman/ You a fool if you think that I’m hurt/ You ain’t happy, I know how it work,” he raps.
He seemingly continues to blast Cardi for getting pregnant by the NFL player while their divorce still isn’t finalized. “How you married and still giving birth/ Get some help, b—h, you going berserk,” Set spews.
Billboard has reached out to reps for Cardi B and Offset.
Cardi B filed for divorce from Offset for a second time in July 2024. The Grammy-winning rapper and Migos member share three children. Cardi began dating the NFL star earlier this year, and went public with her relationship while sitting courtside at a Knicks game with Diggs in May.
“I fell in love. I got two rings [on] my finger. I lasted seven years,” she said of the relationship with Offset in September during an X Spaces. “Seven years that I didn’t have to last with somebody. I lasted seven years in a marriage. Stop saying, ‘Oh, but you’re still married.’ No, I’m legally separated.”
She also alleged at the time that it was her estranged husband’s demands holding up the divorce. “Y’all wanna know the tea?” Cardi said. “The only way I can get out of my marriage is if I pay for somebody else’s taxes — even though I pay for my own — and give them one of my properties.”
The Bronx native is expected to give birth to baby No. 4 in the coming months, and then she’ll be hitting the road for the Little Miss Drama Tour in February.
As for Offset, Haunted by Fame is his second album of 2025, after dropping Kiari in August. Releasing music on Halloween isn’t new for Set, who released Without Warning alongside Metro Boomin and 21 Savage in 2017.
Listen to Offset’s “No Sweat” below.
