R&B/Hip-Hop
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Drake has given DDG his flowers for his new album Blame The Chat and clowned Adin Ross for having not listened to it. In DDG’s latest Twitch stream on Monday (May 12), DDG and Adin Ross spent the day together, culminating in a video call with The Boy. “Congrats on your album,” Drake told the […]
Usher has been honored with Diamond plaques from the RIAA during his decorated career, and now, he’ll be celebrated on the baseball diamond. The Atlanta Braves announced on Tuesday (May 13) that the first 15,000 fans in attendance of June 18’s game against the New York Mets at Truist Park will receive a limited-edition collectible […]
That Mexican OT might be able to add bullfighter to his resumé. The Texas rapper served as a guest coach at the Ultimate Bullfighters Midnight Bullfight Saturday (May 10) at Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth, Texas, and decided to step into the arena to try his hand at freestyle bullfighting. Armed with just a […]
Qidere “LGP QUA” Johnson was shot and killed in Philadelphia on Mother’s Day in what authorities are saying was a robbery gone wrong.
The Philadelphia Police Department confirmed to ABC News that the 30-year-old artist, who was also outspoken about gun violence and promoted positivity, was shot multiple times a little after 4:40 p.m. in the Juanita Park neighborhood. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital shortly before 5 p.m. Law enforcement is currently searching for three men who may be linked to the fatal shooting, and is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and a conviction in the case.
“His life will never be in vain with me,” QUA’s publicist, Nikki Bagby, told ABC 6 Action News. “I am heartbroken because people knew QUA as a rapper, but people didn’t know him as a community advocate. Literally, he was the voice of the youth.”
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The young rapper was known as the “Voice of the Youth” because of the honest way he approached street life in his music. The rapper decided to rebrand himself as a positive influence after spending time in prison.
Media personality Mina “SayWhat” Llona, who has interviewed LGP multiple times, spoke with ABC 6 Action News about Johnson’s death. “It’s heartbreaking, it’s just not enough words and I think people are just tired,” she told the news outlet. “You know, we’re tired of saying ‘rest in peace,’ we’re tired of it being the same story and the same narrative. We’re losing young people that are very talented.”
She noted that it’s unfortunate that even someone as positive as Johnson is vulnerable to gun violence. “A young guy not saying those things, being positive,” she said. “You know, giving people inspiration and even he is susceptible to some of the things that our youth are dealing with right now, and it’s just sad.”
Meek Mill was also disappointed when heard the news, taking to his Instagram Stories to make a statement. “Killing ambitious young bulls like this on Mother’s Day is a Philly type of thing,” the Philly rapper said. “S—t will make you different. Prayers to your family, and let’s collect some of them guns. S–t sad out here.”
In 2018, LGP QUA was honored by the city and state at his former school, Edward T. Steel Elementary, where he and Puma also donated $10,000.
“Whoever is looking at me getting these awards and certificates, is like, ‘There is hope,’” the rapper said at the event. “They see someone who was on the negative side change and is on the positive side now.”
The school’s principle Jamal Dennis added at the time, “It’s very hard to do a lot of things if you never seen it, Bringing someone in that they can actually see and hear from, that the road is going to be bumpy — things happen in life.”
For the past few months, The Weeknd has been teasing that his sixth album and upcoming movie of the same name, Hurry Up Tomorrow, could mark the end of the unpredictable stage character that has taken over singer Abel Tesfaye’s life for more than 15 years. After suggesting to The New York Times recently that the film à clef he wrote, stars in and produced — which eerily matches some of his own career high, and low, points — likely marks his last release as The Weeknd, he told EW that the door is still cracked.
Speaking to the magazine at the recent CinemaCon festival alongside director Trey Edward Shults and co-star Jenna Ortega, Tesfaye said the movie (which opens on Friday) feels like the final nail in the coffin of the complex Weeknd character.
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Or, perhaps, it could be the kick-off to a second life?
While he has been adamant that he plans to keep making music, Tesfaye told EW, “It feels like it [the end of the Weeknd]. I mean, I’ve kind of toyed with the idea in the past with albums,” he added, noting that this isn’t he first time he’s considered doing away with his sometimes swaggering, sometimes beat-to-a-pulp alter ego. “But it could also just be a rebirth. Who knows?” he said.
In January, Tesfaye, 35, said that he planned to retire his alter ego following the conclusion of the album trilogy that began with 2020’s After Hours and includes 2022’s Dawn FM and wrapped up with January’s Hurry Up Tomorrow. “It’s a headspace I’ve gotta get into that I just don’t have any more desire for,” he said of his stage name at the time. “You have a persona, but then you have the competition of it all. It becomes this rat race: more accolades, more success, more shows, more albums, more awards and more No. 1s. It never ends until you end it.”
The Weeknd entered the public consciousness in 2011 when he put out the House of Balloons mixtape and worked to keep his face and identity secret at first, finally revealing himself to the wider world at Coachella in 2012. Flash forward billions of streams and four Grammys later and he’s one of the biggest acts on the planet.
The movie was inspired by what should have been a triumphant moment that went sideways. Tesfaye has described becoming undone when he suddenly lost his voice completely during a stadium show in L.A. in 2022. In the film, he plays a fictionalized, insomnia-wrecked version of himself, also named Abel, who is taken on a wild ride by alluring stranger Anima (Ortega).
“I tried to make the movie in a way where, for his fans and people who want to approach it at that level, I hope it’s very satisfying and you get a good meal out of it,” Shults, who co-wrote the psychological thriller’s screenplay with Tesfaye and Reza Fahim told EW in February. The director said that it was an “absolute possibility” that the project would be the Weeknd’s final chapter, adding “And for people that aren’t his fans and don’t know anything about him or even care about the final capping of the Weeknd, I think you still have a great movie to go through.”
Tory Lanez is recovering after being stabbed 14 times in prison on Monday morning (May 12), according to the statement shared on his Instagram. The positive update confirmed the singer, born Daystar Peterson, was “in good spirits” following the attack. “Tory was stabbed 14 times, including seven wounds to his back, four to his torso, […]
Dating rumors got a bit of a boost on Monday night (May 12) as Cardi B and NFL star Stefon Diggs enjoyed their first public date night cheering on the New York Knicks during the team’s game five win over the Boston Celtics. The two have been rumored to be an item on social media […]
“I don’t like saying it in my accent,” PinkPantheress timidly says of her mixtape title, which was later revealed to be Fancy That, during her late March visit to Billboard.
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Rocking a plaid top dress, dark navy jeans and black flats that could’ve been on an Aeropostale mannequin circa ’07, the U.K. native gushes about house artists like Basement Jaxx and early Calvin Harris influencing her nine-track mixtape.
“I feel like nobody’s really tapped into these fully since the eclipse of [their] genre. I was like, ‘Let me try to do it and see what I can do here,’” the 24-year-old says. “Just because I’m such a fan of it and I was very inspired by it. I haven’t felt really inspired in a long time.”
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Holed up in her London home, PinkPantheress got to work as the project began to take shape over the course of two months. After some back-and-forth file transferring and tinkering with producer Axsel Arvid, Pink’s skittering production met her plush vocals while still maintaining her signature DIY raw experimentation.
She dug through the crates while pulling on samples from the aforementioned Basement Jaxx to Panic! at the Disco and even Nardo Wick’s “Who Want Smoke??” for her most sonically potent work to date. “I made something that kind of incorporated my two projects into one super project,” the Billboard Women in Music 2024 Producer of the Year adds.
PinkPantheress is reserved yet charming in conversation as she opens up about learning she wasn’t “an arena artist” after touring with Olivia Rodrigo, being the subject of plenty of memes, her global crossover appeal and acting aspirations.
How did you end up in Jack Harlow’s “Just Us” video?
Jack messaged me and asked me if I could be in the video. I asked if I could hear the song and he was like, “No, you can not.” I don’t really do cameos or anything, especially not for bigger artists because I get worried and scared of public perception. But he was like, “You need to trust me that I’ll make you look cool.” Then I just did it and it was really fun.
How did you get in the zone for this mixtape? What did you set out to do?
I wanted to create a project that reflected my progress as a producer. I made something that kind of incorporated my two projects into one super project. I produced a lot of it in London in my house. I listened to a lot of U.K. music. A specific era, a lot of Basement Jaxx, a lot of Calvin Harris.
I created the beats on my laptop and then I sent them to this producer I was working with from Norway called Axsel [Arvid]. We went back-and-forth and made the beats and I recorded really quickly. It was done in like two months.
Being a perfectionist in the studio, do you have to go back in and tweak stuff or once it’s done, it’s done?
Figuratively and physically and always literal, I am a tweaker. I am always going back and [asking], “What can I do here that I want to change?” I was actually fairly chill on this project because the more you perfect something, for me as an artist, people definitely prefer when I sound more DIY and raw. So I was trying to keep it as raw as possible.
I love how you flipped Nardo Wick’s “Who Want Smoke??” on “Noises.”
I love that song. I really like Nardo Wick and 21 Savage. I wasn’t even trying to use it until I was writing my song. I was like, “Oh, it would be cool to have a break in the beat where it’s the bass going [hits table].” They do the same thing. I was like, I might as well pay homage and put his voice in it. I actually wonder if he’s heard it and I wonder what he thought. He probably thought it was ass. I wanna know what he thinks. I wanna personally find out what he thinks. Obviously, it’s drum and bass now. It’s a whole different genre.
What do you think about your crossover popularity? How do you gauge it as far as your fans in the U.K. and your fans in the U.S.?
Even though my music is more genre-based in the U.K., I’d say I have more fans in America. I think in a weird way, the U.K. is more hip to drum and bass and the music I make, so me coming out after we’ve had a history of women that I’m influenced by — like Lily Allen and Imogen Heap, that’s where they were most respected and adored. I’d say the majority of British people are more used to my sound, so it’s probably not as much, “Whoa, what is this!,” as Americans are. [American] People in general speak of me as more an innovator or pioneer, whereas people in the U.K. will celebrate the fact I’ve been able to cross over and get the features I have. America’s just different.
I feel like the internet has kind of united all nations. It’s not as clear to me these days who’s British and who’s American, because the culture is the same amongst the internet. We all watch the same streamers and listen to the same music, so there’s not much of a divide anymore. You’re big everywhere these days.
How does having hearing loss in one ear affect your creative process?
I can’t mix anymore. I struggle with the high end of some of the instruments. I have to get someone else to mix and master now, which I used to do myself.
Will Fancy That lead up to an album later this year, or does it exist in its own universe?
I feel like it’s [the latter]. I want it to exist, but it’s weird because I feel like any body of work these days [is overlooked]. For me, personally, a body of work is a body of work. I’ll call it something different, but realistically, I want it to do the same thing. I want it to impact the same — even though technically it’s not an album, I still want to treat it as such.
I saw a tweet going viral saying, “u a boy turn that PinkPantheress off.” What do you think about that? The guys can’t listen too?
Everyone can enjoy my music. Honestly, I need those streams, so I’ll take whatever gender you are.
u a boy turn that pinkpantheress off— nani (@charredapple) March 23, 2025
When you’re making music, is it ever toward a specific gender?
When I make music, I make music for people that look exactly like me. I’m not even just talking about being a girl. I make music for people that are East African, I make music for people that live in these cities who dress like me and have the same hairstyle as me. When I’m making music, I’m thinking of somebody that looks identical to me. I’m talking about the wig down to the clothes. Everything. I visualize myself listening to my music first before I think about anybody else.
I literally am so at my demographic of fans. There’s gamers, K-Pop fans, people that are full of themselves, street n—as and people who call themselves cutesy girls and emos. It’s really such a reach of people. I never thought to myself, “Oh, this is what my fans are gonna like.” When I go to my shows and I see a diverse crowd and different races, I’m very happy. I always felt when I was younger that I was always the only person of color in that room. I especially love having Black people in my crowd. It’s so important to me, because when you’re making drum and bass, people aren’t expecting certain people to enjoy it. When I see those people there, I’m like, “Yeah.” It got through. It’s really cool to see.
How was meeting André 3000?
It was really brief, but really sick. I was in Paris, and it was coming out of the Alexander McQueen show. Oh my God, he was with Laura Roach as well. I was like, “Oh my God, this isn’t real life.” I wasn’t gonna take a photo with him, but my publicist was like, “You need to do this for your future self.” It was very crazy. He didn’t know who I was, which is perfectly fine, but just the fact he still stopped for a photo was really nice. I thought he was gonna be like, “F–k off.” Him and his flute. I actually didn’t come out with words like, “Can I get a picture?” Just the fact that he was so willing. Someone like him doesn’t need to stop. He was with Laura Roach, but they were by themselves, no security.
I saw another photo of you at the Vivienne Westwood show at Paris Fashion Week next to Ice Spice and Chappell Roan. What are those conversations like? Was that the first time you’ve seen Ice in a while?
It actually was. When we both up like, “Oh my God, you’re here, yay!” When you see someone you’re friends with at one of these things, it’s like being back at school and being sat next to your friend that you really have fun with, because it can be so daunting.
That was the first time I met Chappell, and she’s so nice and cool. She’s really friendly. I actually think we’re quite similar in those situations. Being at the Vivienne Westwood show front row is one of the most magical things ever. There are some elements that can make it really daunting. Then you have photographers fighting over stuff. No one’s gagging to be part of that experience but at some point you have to get a bit stoic. I was definitely breaking into stoicness.
Could we ever get another collab with Ice Spice?
I’d do it for sure on the right song.
What did you think about Usher’s son taking his phone and DMing you?
He’s funny. I actually have met him twice now. He’s a really huge fan. He’s always at my shows. Whenever we’re close to Atlanta, he’s always coming. He’s really cute and when that happened, I don’t know what my reaction was. I was like, “Is this a joke?” I was sure of it. I kinda feel like I knew about him before I saw a message, but he’s a really funny guy. If your dad was Usher, I might do that, if I were a big fan of someone. I actually probably would. Usher’s so sweet, too. I met him on FaceTime.
You’re very online and adept with online culture. Do you see a lot of these tweets and stuff about you going viral?
Not always, but recently I’ve been really on top of it because I just downloaded Twitter. Only to speak with my group chats because that’s where they are. Sometimes I scroll the timeline. I feel like I’m now part of these and I get jokes now. Whereas before, I felt like I was alone.
How was opening up for Olivia Rodrigo, and what’s one thing you’ve taken from her and incorporated?
I did six or seven shows I think. It was definitely very difficult for me. I enjoyed it a lot — because, one I got to see her perform live, and she’s amazing. She’s an actual force. Watching her and how she combats an arena and how she actually does the arena, made me realize, “Wow, some people are arena artists and some people are not.” I’m not an arena artist. That’s something I learned about myself. What I learned from her is there are ways you can approach an arena and interact with people in the up theres or the far backs. She did that and is amazing at it.
What happened when I watched her was, I saw my own failing and my own incapabilities, and I was like, “I’m not an arena artist.” That’s not for a lack of trying. It just made me realize there are some things in life as an artist you’re told you should try one day — but for me, I think I’m one of those artists where I’m comfortable is where I always strive. When I’m pushed to do something because it’s the right thing to do as an artist, because it’s an arena, I feel like the opportunity is the most amazing thing I had and I’m so happy I did it. It made me realize like this whole thing is not for me to do. It’s for powerhouses like her. I’m not a powerhouse artist, I’m very much on my chill s–t. I’m not a performance-based artist.
So it made me realize that difference. It distraught me that there were any sufferings to that leg of the tour for her because of my shortcomings. I wish I could do have done it the whole way through, but I feel like I was gonna be detrimental to myself.
It was interesting you said you learned that about yourself, not being an arena artist. I don’t think I’ve ever heard an artist say that.
I’m not an arena artist, I’m not a stadium artist. I feel like there’s obviously ways I could make myself an arena artist. You can get the dancers, do the training, get the stage presence. I can go through training from now until two years later and see where I’m at. But I still don’t think my music belongs in an arena. I think my music belongs in a more intimate setting. As an artist, I think my fanbase appreciates more intimate settings.
Is there anything outside of music that you’d like to accomplish?
I’d like to do acting one day. I’m really meek, so we’ll see one day. I need to get more confident.
What do you hope fans take from this mixtape?
Sonically, I genuinely feel it’s my best work, so I hope that is the most obvious thing to come out of it. I think my fans are kind of divided about what their favorite projects are. I feel like a lot of people prefer my first project, while a lot of people prefer my second. This is kind of like a blend of both.
Latto really needs “Somebody,” and she announced on Monday (May 12) that she’s dropping her new single with that name on Friday. “Greetings from Jamaica,” she wrote on Instagram under the island-inspired artwork. She first teased the single on X back in March with a one-minute clip of her playing it in the car. “I’m […]
A slimmed-down Lizzo joined The Breakfast Club on Monday (May 12), and the “Truth Hurts” singer opened up about her “weight release” process, which began with cleansing her mind and clearing out the negative energy from her life.
“I think I had to start with cleaning out my mind and my energy and clearing out all of the negativity around me. And I feel like I released so much I was holding on,” she said. “I do call it a weight release because [when] it started, I got snatched here first. And then my body just followed suit so I do feel amazing.”
Lizzo credits workouts like pilates and yoga sculpting as well as pickleball and going on hikes as part of her exercise regimen.
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The Detroit native pushed back when co-host Charlamagne Tha God said he doesn’t consider her “big” anymore. “I am big,” she said. “What we talking about? Baby, I’m big.”
Lizzo added: “The Internet is like, ‘Oh Lizzo’s skinny now,’” she said. “I am well over 200 pounds, do you know what I’m saying? I’m 5-foot-9. I got double-numbered pants on now.”
While Lizzo said she reached her weight loss goal in January, a number she hasn’t seen on the scale since 2014, the singer still looks in the mirror and sees her 2023 self, and even at her heaviest, Lizzo says she still felt mentally skinnier back then compared to now.
“Put me next to any pop star right now, I’m still bigger than them,” she explained. “I didn’t realize how much my body changed until I was filming the ‘Love in Real Life’ music video. I was in shock. It shocked me, because the way that I’m releasing weight has been a long slow process,” she added. “People may not have seen me or been keeping up with me, but I’ve been posting about it, and I’m in a calorie deficit, so that’s the one that sneaks up on you.”
Lizzo continued: “When I was bigger, I felt skinnier than I do now. When I was in my string bikini and I was at my heaviest weight, I was like, ‘Skinny bi—.’ That’s when I realized skinny was a feeling and not a look.”
While she’s feeling “Good as Hell,” Lizzo is gearing up for a new album. She returned with her “Love in Real Life” and “Still Bad” singles earlier this year.
Watch the full interview with Lizzo below.