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Cardi B has big plans for 2025, from a new album to a romantic conquest.
In a clip from a recent Instagram livestream hosted by the rapper, Cardi tells fans that she’s been “wilding out lately” but wants to “get [her] f–king life together.” “I have so much things coming next year,” she continued. “I know next year is gonna be my f–king year.”
The Bronx native went on to share her to-do list for the new year: “My album will be out. My secret businesses will be out. Hopefully next year I get a little boyfriend.”
Billboard has reached out to Cardi’s rep for comment.
Fans have been waiting on a new LP from Cardi for well over half a decade at this point, with 2018’s Billboard 200-topping debut album Invasion of Privacy remaining the entirety of her discography six and a half years later. She previously teased in October that her sophomore effort was “coming really, really soon” and confirmed that she was actively working on it in the studio.
But, as Cardi pointed out in her livestream, she’s been quite busy these past few years — 2024 in particular. On the personal front, she welcomed her third baby in September, just a couple weeks after filing for divorce for a second time from Offset. The exes — who have put each other on blast on social media multiple times since their spit — are also parents to daughter Kulture and son Wave.
On the professional front, the “WAP” artist has been spearheading her Whipshots business in between releasing a number of singles this year, including “Like What (Freestyle),” “Enough (Miami),” “Puntería” with Shakira and “Wanna Be” with Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla.
“This has been the most rudest year I’ve ever experienced,” Cardi summarized on her Live. “I don’t know what the f–k happened this year. I can’t even tell you. A b—h got knocked up, a b—h f–king fell in love, then fell out of love, then got a divorce … I’m going through a very different transition in my f–king life.”
Cardi has also been active in politics this year, championing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election and speaking at one of the VP’s final campaign rallies Nov. 1. When Harris ended up losing to Donald Trump, the rapper shared a lengthy message on Instagram, writing, “To Vice President Kamala, no matter what they’ve said to bring you down or belittle your run for presidency they can never say you didn’t run your race with honesty and with integrity!”
“This may not mean much but I am so proud of you!” she added at the time. “No one has ever made me change my mind, and you did! I never thought I would see the day that a woman of color would be running for the President of the United States, but you have shown me, shown my daughters and women across the country that anything is possible.”
Denzel Curry will spend most of 2025 on the road. The “Hot One” MC announced the dates for his extensive Mischievous South 2025 world tour on Monday (Nov. 18), which will kick off in Australia and New Zealand in February, beginning with a Feb. 21 show at the Tivoli in Brisbane before moving on to Sydney and Auckland, NZ, then on to Wollongong and Melbourne, Australia before winding down in Perth at Metro City on March 4.
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The outing with support from Kenny Mason, 454 and Clip will then move over to North America, kicking off on March 31 at the Van Buren in Phoenix, before hitting Albuquerque, Dallas, Tampa, Atlanta, Nashville, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, Seattle, Vancouver and Oakland and winding down on May 9 at the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles.
The rapper will keep the party going in Europe next summer when he takes the stage at Melkweg Max in Amsterdam on June 3, then hitting Barcelona, Prague, Munich, Berlin, London, Dublin and Vienna and wrapping up in Hamburg, Germany on July 9 at the Grosse Freiheit.
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Tickets for the tour in support of Curry’s new album, King of the Mischievous South, Vol. 2, will go on sale on Friday (Nov. 22); click here for details on North American dates. Check out Curry’s tour announcement here.
Check out the dates for the 2025 Mischievous South world tour below:
Feb. 21 — Brisbane, AUS @ The TivoliFeb. 22 — Sydney, AUS @ The Hordern PavilionFeb. 27 — Auckland, NZ @ Shed 10March 1 — Wollongong, AUS @ Yours & Owls FestMarch 2 — Melbourne, AUS @ Palace ForeshoreMarch 4 — Perth, AUS @ Metro CityMarch 31 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van BurenApril 1 — Albuquerque, NM @ El Rey TheaterApril 3 — Houston, TX @ Bayou Music CenterApril 4 — Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek AmphitheaterApril 5 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory in Deep EllumApril 8 — Tampa, FL @ Jannus LiveApril 10 — Atlanta, GA @ The EasternApril 11 — Raleigh, NC @ The RitzApril 12 — Nashville, TN @ The PinnacleApril 14 — Washington, DC @ The Fillmore Silver SpringsApril 16 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5April 17 — Boston, MA -@ RoadrunnerApril 18 — Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music HallApril 20 — Toronto, Ontario @ HISTORYApril 21 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AEApril 22 — Columbus, OH @ KEMBA Live!April 24 — Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music TheatreApril 25 — Chicago, IL @ The Salt ShedApril 26 — Minneapolis, MN @ Fillmore MinneapolisApril 28 — Kansas City, MO @ Uptown TheaterApril 30 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The ComplexMay 2 — Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDoMay 3 — Vancouver, British Columbia @ PNE ForumMay 4 — Portland, OR @ McMenamins Crystal BallroomMay 6 — Oakland, CA @ Fox TheaterMay 9 — Los Angeles, CA @ Shrine Expo HallJune 3 — Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg MaxJune 5 — Barcelona, Spain @ Primavera SoundJune 9 — Prague, Czech Republic @ RoxyJune 10 — Munich, Germany @ TheaterfabrikJune 11 — Berlin, Germany @ HuxleysJune 18 — London, England @ O2 Academy BrixtonJune 20 — Glasgow, England @ O2 Academy GlasgowJune 23 — Dublin, Ireland @ National StadiumJuly 1 — Frankfurt, Germany @ ZoomJuly 2 — Cologne, Germany @ Carlswerk VictoriaJuly 3 — Vienna, Austria @ GasometerJuly 7 — Vilnius, Lithuania @ Lukiskes PrisonJuly 9 — Hamburg, Germany @ Grosse Freiheit
J. Cole is taking y’all back, man, as he does so well. Cole surprised fans with the release of his debut mixtape The Come Up hitting streaming services for the first time on Tuesday (Nov. 19). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Hosted by DJ OnPoint, The […]
11/18/2024
Read about the most star-studded moments from Camp Flog Gnaw 2024.
11/18/2024
J. Cole has announced a new podcast series edited from conversations he had with his right hand Ibrahim Hamad and flimmaker Scott Lazer that will tell his story while also including unreleased music.
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The North Carolina rapper and businessman took to Instagram to make the announcement with a trailer and a lengthy caption attached. “It’s hard to write a caption to describe what this is,” he began. “I really don’t even know what to call it. We settled on calling it an ‘audio series’ but to me it plays like a movie in the form of a conversation. First, me and Ib spent mad days talking to Scott, recapping the whole journey up to present day. Front to back. It was new, it was fun, it was emotional and more than anything, it was therapeutic.”
Adding, “After that Scott took the conversation and did his thing with it… then it was time to listen back. When I heard it with fresh ears, I was glued to the story as if it was somebody else’s. At times I could feel my adrenaline rush when hearing about the ups and the many downs and how it all played out in the end.”
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He then continued on about how the process gave him a renewed perspective, writing, “I got so much clarity from it, and I understood more than ever the power of having a dream, the power of fueling that dream with strong vision, the magic that happens when we stay in alignment with God, and the darkness that can come in the times that we don’t.”
Cole then talked about his reclusiveness over the years when it came to interviews and social media. “As the years of my career grew I found myself much more hesitant to share details of my life with the world,” he admitted. “Even as I type this, I feel the last little bit of resistance. ‘You sure you want to do this?’ But if I was a younger version of myself, I know that I would get so much fuel from hearing this from somebody that went for theirs and ‘made it.’ For that reason, I think it’s worth sharing.”
Finally, he said he hopes this new audio series will inspire people to continue chasing the things that they’re passionate about. “So, if you rocked with me at any point so far on my journey, I hope this will give you even more perspective and fill in a lot of blanks,” Cole wrote. “If you have your own dream in life that you hope to achieve, in any field, I hope that this will feed your spirit, giving you confidence to believe in that dream and the encouragement to push through the tough times. To go for it even when you may be afraid to.”
Season 1 of Inevitable will be available starting today (Nov. 18) at 6 p.m. ET. You can find the series here.
Rapper-turned-politician Shyne is on a media blitz promoting his Hulu documentary The Honorable Shyne. He sat down with The Breakfast Club and spoke on the time his former boss Diddy attempted to make things right by giving Shyne money back in 2012. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]
It’s not Ryu or Chun-Li, but Slim Shady. Eminem returned Monday (Nov. 19) to deliver the Street Fighter-themed “Fuel” lyric video featuring J.I.D. The animated clip follows both artists on their journey through the game, as J.I.D takes the baton and heads to an arcade to hop on the sticks. Em joins the party for […]
André 3000‘s revealed an interesting tidbit about his instrumental album New Blue Sun. During a recent appearance the Toure Show podcast, the Atlanta rapper said his debut solo album doesn’t count towards his current deal with Epic because it’s not a rap project. “They congratulated on the process, they congratulated on what the work was, […]
Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre’s anticipated Missionary album is set to arrive in December, but the legendary West Coast duo have given fans a taste of what’s to come. While doing an interviewed for a special Drink Champs episode at ComplexCon in Las Vegas over the weekend, Snoop and Dre previewed some hard-hitting tracks off […]
Between the ten-year anniversary of Tyler, The Creator‘s Camp Flog Gnaw festival and Netflix’s announcement that Beyoncé would headline the Christmas Day NFL halftime show in Houston, this was a prime week for those who love the medium of live performance.
Featuring performances from the likes of SZA and Doechii, a shade-throwing DJ set from Mustard and fiery renditions of nearly every song from his Billboard 200-topping Chromakopia LP, Tyler enjoyed a much-deserved victory lap at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday (Nov. 16). Over in Las Vegas, another Billboard chart-topping rap superstar was headlining a festival. Travis Scott played ComplexCon on Sunday night (Nov. 19), which birthed Netflix’s announcement that he would provide new music as the theme song for RAW’s new era on the streamer. Of course, Netflix then one-upped itself with the announcement of Beyoncé’s forthcoming halftime performance, which is expected to feature the live debut of tracks from her historic 11-time Grammy-nominated Cowboy Carter album.
Although live performances dominated the news cycle, new albums from FLO (Access All Areas), Cordae (The Crossroads), Maxo Kream (Personification), Young Nudy (Sli’merre 2), Kash Doll (The Last Doll) and Mary J. Blige (Gratitude) kept the worlds of hip-hop and R&B well-fed.
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With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Destin Conrad’s soul-baring “Nosebleed” to Cordae and Ye’s latest team-up. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: Destin Conrad, “Nosebleed”
Destin Conrad kicked off 2024 with his Submissive2 project, and now he’s closing out the year with a new single titled “Nosebleed.” Co-produced by Louie Lastic & Astyn Turr, “Nosebleed” finds Destin crooning of the innately conflicting feeling of being perceived amid love completely overtaking your every thought. “It happens all the timе, your world and mine collide/ And the memory of you stays on my skin/ It doesn’t fade, it gets stronger than it seems/ Creeps into my bloodstream, please, don’t look at me,” he coos over little more than dry, acoustic guitar, his voice taking on the slightly hoarse feel of a person recovering from a fit of tears. Concealing emotions is a deceptively difficult thing to do, and Destin beautifully captures the moments of bargaining when the mask begins to slip. — KYLE DENIS
070 Shake & Courtney Love, “Song to the Siren”
Who expected Courtney Love to pop up on 070 Shake’s Petrichor album? If anyone answered yes then it’s time to play the lottery. Shake and Love pay homage to Tim Buckley with a dark cover of his oft-revisited 1970 classic “Song to the Siren.” The intoxicating collab with the Hole lead vocalist came as a pleasant surprise on the LP, as listeners are left floating to space while simultaneously feeling paralyzed and sinking to the depths of the ocean. “Here I am, here I am/ Waiting to hold you,” Love sings to close out the woozy cover. — MICHAEL SAPONARA
FLO, “Soft”
AAA, British girl group FLO’s debut studio album, has been many years in the making, and tracks like “Soft” prove that sometimes taking your time really does yield stronger results. Under the soulful rule of R&B architects Camper and MNEK, “Soft” finds the trio capturing the ’90s R&B-informed sultriness they spend most of their debut chasing. Airtight, melismatic harmonies smartly contrast with raunchy lyrics like, “‘Bout to make a movie, Spike Lee/ Try me, it’s godly/ That’s why you wanna be inside me.” Titillating start-stop production, rousing string arrangements and sexy snaps and guitar all combine for one of the best R&B deep cuts of the year. — K.D.
Cordae & Ye, “No Bad News”
The Crossroads is all about Cordae pushing his pen like it’s a fan’s first time hearing him rap. When the DMV native revealed Kanye West was on a song called “No Bad News,” some thought it would just be a sample of 808s & Heartbreak deep cut “Bad News,” but that wasn’t the case as Ye helmed hook duties on the joyful track. Cordae takes the baton referencing conversations with an incarcerated childhood friend who’s remaining upbeat even with an extensive sentence. He gives a rare glimpse into his family life while gloating about his daughter being “fly” but keeping the humbleness of her tennis superstar mother Naomi Osaka. Cordae has long looked up to West and “No Bad News” checks off another bucket list item for him. — M.S.
Odeal, “Blame U”
“Gorgeous, gorgeous girl, but you ain’t happy/ Channel all them words of affirmation at night/ ‘Cause someone somewhere’s hoping you ain’t happy/ And that’s me,” proclaims Odeal at the very beginning of “Blame U,” the closer from his latest project, Lustropolis. Co-produced with Ezra Skys, “Blame U” combines understated bass, haunting layers of falsetto, subtle synths and Afrobeats-nodding percussion to soundtrack Odeal coming to terms with the helplessness and hopelessness feels in the aftermath of his relationship’s demise. More of a SAD (seasonal affective disorder) anthem than a cuffing season heater, “Blame U” relishes its coldness, making it all the more alluring. — K.D.
Mudbaby Ru, “Button”
Come for Mudbaby Ru and stay for the Brandon Buckingham cameo. The Arkansas rapper is getting sharper with every song he drops as he continues to hone his skill set that feels like a savvy veteran who’s been at this for much longer than he’s been in the game. A warning message pre-empts the ominous clip featuring Ru with his crew brandishing weapons on the block. “I don’t give a f–k if we cousins/ Everybody in that b—h getting hit,” Mudbaby promises in menacing fashion. “Button,” he shouts like an exclamation point, to make certain bars hit harder and the formula works for Ru again within the addicting tune. The Geffen Records rapper is a definite artist to watch in ‘25. — M.S.
