R&B/Hip-Hop
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T.I. appeared on DJ Whoo Kidâs SiriusXM Whooâs House Podcast and naturally pulled out the thesaurus. The Atlanta rap legend called the beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake âprobably one of the more exacerbated beefsâ heâs seen before suggesting the pair should do a tour together. âI got respect for both of them,â he said. […]
Random link ups are everywhere in rap these days â and the latest one sees Lil Baby flying across the pond to connect with Londonâs Central Cee for the song âBAND4BAND.â The UK drill beat â produced by Ghana Beats and Geenaro â is a certified trunk rattler with both Cench and Baby, as the […]
Future, Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamarâs âLike Thatâ adds two more Billboard airplay No. 1s to its collection, rising to the top of the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay tallies dated June 1.
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The coronation of âLike Thatâ on both lists accompanies its continued reign on Rap Airplay for a fifth week and Rhythmic Airplay for a third frame.
âLike Thatâ becomes the first song to rule all four charts since Drake and 21 Savageâs âRich Flexâ in 2023. âRich Flex,â as with âLike That,â also reigned on all four simultaneously (Feb. 4, 2023).
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On Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, âLike Thatâ is the sixth No. 1 for Future and first since âWait for U,â featuring Drake and Tems, led for 16 weeks in 2022. He first led in 2014 as featured, with Chris Brown, August Alsina and Jeremih, on DJ Khaledâs âHold You Down.â âLike Thatâ is Lamarâs fifth No. 1 and first since 2017âs âLove.â; he first reigned with âSwimming Pools [Drank]â in 2012. Metro Boomin leads for the first time as a billed recording artist.
On R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (which blends audience data on mainstream R&B/hip-hop and adult R&B stations), âLike Thatâ leads with 17.5 million in reach, up 9%, May 17-23, according to Luminate. It becomes Futureâs fourth No. 1 and first since âWait for U.â Itâs Lamarâs third (and first since âLove.â) and Metro Boominâs first.
Concurrently, âLike Thatâ debuts on Pop Airplay. While Future charted four titles at the format previously this decade and Metro Boomin reached the list twice in 2023, Lamar makes his first appearance on the ranking since 2018.
âLike That,â from Future and Metro Boominâs collaborative album We Donât Trust You (the pairâs first of two LPs in 2024), debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 6 and led for three frames. It ranked at No. 7 on the most recently published survey (dated May 25, reflecting data May 10-16).
We Donât Trust You debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated April 6 and has earned 809,000 equivalent album units to date.
All Billboard charts dated June 1 will update on Billboard.com Wednesday, May 29, a day later than usual due to the Memorial Day holiday May 27.
I was torn when snippets of Drakeâs new Sexyy Red feature started popping up on X (formerly Twitter) last night. This is the song he chooses to break his silence with? Was that really him rapping over âBBL Drizzyâ? Nah, it couldnât be. Not after Kendrick labeled him âthe colonizer,â not after Kendrick spit those bars about the two rappers on âeuphoria.â In fact, some thought he should distance himself from Sexyy. The block is still too hot, theyâd say. But the more I thought about it and the more I listened to âU My Everythingâ once it dropped, the more I now think it was a smart move on his part.Â
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Why not be in on the joke? Thatâs a classic Drake move if youâve followed his career. Heâs never really been afraid to make fun of himself. Heâs reposted memes of himself and poked fun at his background on SNL. Why not keep relevant while also continuing to show love to one of his favorite new artists? The collabs work both ways. There are times when I give Drake the Larry David stare when he rides certain waves, always remixing the hottest songs. But thatâs his M.O., and he rocks with shorty, so why not come back on a song thatâs directly in his wheelhouse â while still throwing subs and leaving the door open for more battling? This is rap music after all. Drake has no choice but to stand tall. And, not for nothing: This route is more interesting than waiting for Drake to come back with a song he hopes tops the Hot 100.
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We knew a Sexyy Red feature was coming sooner or later; the two have taken multiple pictures together, she was featured on âRich Baby Daddy,â heâs appeared in the âGet It Sexyyâ video, and theyâve been at the center of fan theories about their connection to gamma boss Larry Jackson. One person asked, âare you fâking Drake for features?â to which she sarcastically replied, âyes.âÂ
And Iâm gonna just say it: I like the song. I donât know what to tell you, man. Sue me. âU My Everythingâ shows Sexyy Red at her most charming. The beat is soulful and so is her hook. This is the type of chorus you find yourself singing randomly throughout the day. Iâm willing to bet the Drake stimmy check will get this high on the charts. There are too many factors at play. The St. Louis rapper is a hitmaker in her own right, with âGet It Sexyyâ creeping into the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. Then thereâs the guy in Toronto who has made a home for himself on the charts. Why wouldnât this song do numbers? Itâs fire, and there was already conversation and lore around it just off the snippet.Â
nigga popped back out on a song with the same artist Kendrick mentioned in the diss track while using the âBBL Drizzyâ beat lmao we never seen a bigger troll than Drake https://t.co/C1gbLQAaD0â A ⊠(@adryanashton) May 24, 2024
This is clearly a calculated move by the Toronto MC. He references the beef multiple times. First, he raps, âYou know the timinâ we on when my nâas start lurkinâ and tyinâ they hoodies and sât/ Soon as this shât get resolved, Iâll turn to librarian for you, Iâm bookinâ that shât.â Then thereâs the lines, âMaybe we go to Saint Lucia, I been there, so Iâll introduce you/ Or maybe you go to Saint Martin with me if these nâas take break and quit startinâ with me.â
But then, the beat switches to âBBL Drizzyâ and your ears perk up. You think you canât be hearing what youâre hearing. He then starts going in with a machine gun flow: âBBL Drizzy, they want a new body, they ask me for it/ The last one, Jung, he did it for free âcause I sent over so many past ones for him.â (I Googleâd âjung bblâ and what do you know? Dr. Calvin Jung â @drjungmoney on Instagram â popped up.)
Sometimes you just gotta sit back and laugh. Drake is a smart guy. You gotta love when a rapper leans into villainy like a pro wrestler. Drake is trying to pull a Hollywood Hogan, the beloved institution who turned heel. Can this sât backfire? Of course it can, but I still applaud it. Â
Sean Kingston was arrested on fraud charges in California on Thursday (May 23). A spokesperson for the Broward Sheriffâs Office confirmed to Billboard on Friday morning (May 24) that the âBeautiful Girlsâ rapper â born Kisean Anderson â was apprehended without incident on a warrant from Florida in Fort Irwin, Calif., which is about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
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Kingstonâs arrest came mere hours after his South Florida mansion rental was raided by Davie Police SWAT team members on Thursday, with officers taking his mother, Janice Turner, into custody and hitting the 61-year-old with fraud and theft charges.
The raid allegedly came in response to a lawsuit filed by attorney Dennis Card, who claimed that Kingston demands items and doesnât end up paying for them, says NBC Miami.
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âHeâs got basically a script, he says that he works with Justin Bieber, and that he obviously puts on a big show here, this is a rental house, he doesnât own it, and he lures people using his celebrity into having them release things without him paying for it and then he simply never pays,â Card claimed of the 34-year-old singer.
âThis evening, police in Fort Irwin, CA, arrested Kisean Anderson, aka Sean Kingston (2/3/1990) without incident on a Broward Sheriffâs Office arrest warrant for numerous fraud and theft charges,â read a statement from the Broward Sheriffâs office, which noted that, according to investigators, the singer was slated to be booked into jail in San Bernardino, Calif.
Reporters on the scene at the Southwest Ranches residence in Florida noticed officers loading vans with various items from the artistâs rental home following his motherâs arrest. Kingston attempted to calm fansâ worries in a since-deleted post to his Instagram Story on Thursday. âPeople love negative energy! I am good, and so is my mother! ⌠My lawyers are handling everything as we speak,â he wrote.
Sean Kingston stormed onto the music scene as a teenager when his âBeautiful Girlsâ single topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2007. His most recent project arrived in 2022 with Road to Deliverance. At press time a spokesperson for Kingston had not returned Billboardâs request for comment.
BeyoncĂŠ is teaching her daughter Blue Ivy Carter one of the most important lessons a budding musician can learn: how to turn haterade into Gatorade to fuel your performance. Beyâs mom, Tina Knowles, revealed how the singer helped her 12-year-old daughter with husband Jay-Z deal with negative comments after Blue performed on stage with her mom during the Renaissance tour.
While appearing on this weekâs episode of Vogueâs The Run Through podcast, Tina Knowles described how blown away she and Jay were by Blue Ivyâs dancing onstage during âMy Powerâ and âBlack Paradeâ on her motherâs sold-out Renaissance world tour. She told Chloe and Vogue beauty commerce writer Kiana Murden that Blueâs moves were âthe bestâ and that âevery night her dad and me would get on this platform out there and we would just be screaming our heads off, like, with no shame at all.â
That joy was tempered, however, by some negative comments Blue Ivy read after the shows, which led to BeyoncĂŠ sharing some sage advice for her daughter about brushing that dirt off your shoulder.
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âOne of her friends came back and showed her some negative comments and it was a great life lesson because her mom basically said, âListen, if you let this get you down, then they won. So you should go and work harder. And, you know, just work harder and get your skills together and go out there and blast it,’â Knowles said BeyoncĂŠ told Blue. âSo it actually worked in Blueâs favor because she was only supposed to do it one time. But now her mom was, that mama bear was on to it. It was like, she was like, âYou go out there and kill it,â and she did. She just grew so much from that experience.â
In her Renaissance: A Film By BeyoncĂŠ concert doc, Bey revealed that Blue Ivy fought for her space on the tour after what was supposed to be a one-off appearance. âShe told me she was ready to perform, and I told her no,â Bey said in the movie, in which she also noted that the tween was devastated after reading comments criticizing her initial performance.
Bey added in the film that she was proud of Blue Ivy for training harder for future appearances rather than giving up. That pride (and good advice) clearly soaked in, because Blue was featured alongside her mom in the recently revealed trailer for the upcoming Disney Lion King prequel, Mufasa. Mother (Nala) and daughterâs (Kiara) voices will appear alongside Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison, Jr., John Kani, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, Mads Mikkelsen and Thandiwe Newton in the film.
Listen to the episode here (Blue Ivy bit begins at 39-minute mark).
Music industry legend and Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. has pledged $5 million to establish The UCLA Berry Gordy Music Industry Center. The center  â launched in affiliation with The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music â will open during the 2024/2025 academic year.
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âIâm thrilled to create a center that provides opportunities for students at UCLA to prepare for careers in the music industry,â said Gordy in a news release. âMusic is powerful, inspiring, universal, crossing over political, cultural, social and economic barriers.  It reaches ALL people and has been the guiding force in my life. These students will be the future innovators, artists, and executives that will lead us through the twenty-first century.â
âThis center will position The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music to become the leading music industry program in the world,â stated Eileen Strempel, inaugural dean of the school of music. âIt will help empower us to recruit and attract the best faculty and students, and to conduct research in cutting-edge fields. Thanks to Mr. Gordyâs gift, our program will be the leading force in shaping the twenty-first century music industry.â
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Dedicated to expanding Gordyâs legacy of teaching and mentoring, the center will support the development of new courses and offer a specialized curriculum in songwriting and production. To further raise awareness about careers in the music industry, the center will provide funding to create partnerships with primary and secondary schools. It will also sponsor research for explorations into technology, streaming algorithms and social justice.
âBerry Gordy is an American treasure,â said fellow music industry veteran Michael Ostin who is also a member of the deanâs advisory board. âWhat he created at Motown was truly remarkable as he combined creative and business acumen in a way that it had never been done before. He represents everything we want to embody in our music industry program. He is also known for his generosity. It is no surprise that Berry would make such a benevolent and transformative gift to help educate and train our next generation of industry leaders.â
Under Gordyâs direction, Motown Records became one of the music industryâs most successful and influential independent record companies. Its legendary roster of hitmakers includes Smokey Robinson, The Miracles, Diana Ross, The Supremes, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson and The Jackson Five, among a host of others.Â
âIâve always known Berry as generous and gracious,â commented Robinson. âAt the start of my career, I benefitted from Berryâs mentorship. He was always a teacher at heart. What I love about this center is that it is guided by his philosophy that truly great music comes from nurturing young talent and getting them to think holistically about their art and their careers.â
Drake is embracing Metro Boominâs âBBL Drizzyâ diss. The 6 God flipped the troll against Metro and rapped over the soulful production during his guest appearance on Sexyy Redâs âU My Everything.â
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The Tay Keith-produced Drizzy and Sexyy collaboration arrived as part of the St. Louis nativeâs surprise In Sexyy We Trust project on Friday (May 24).
The OVO boss lists off some of his favorite tropical getaways before leaning into the BBL Drizzy nickname and running with the persona since heâs paying for girlsâ surgery enhancements, but doesnât want Sexyy to cave to the trend.
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âMe and the surgeon got history/ I changed a lot of girlsâ lives for real/ They need a new body, they hittinâ me, ayy/ BBL Drizzy, they want a new body, they ask me for it/ The last one, Jung, he did it for free âcause I sent over so many past ones for him/ But Red, donât even worry about all of that shit/ Just keep it natural for âem, I swear,â he raps.
Fans seemed to salute Drake for embracing the âBBL Drizzyâ diss â which features an AI sample crafted by comedian King Willonius â and lent their stamp of approval for what he did to the comedic beat.
âFlipping BBL Drizzy into him rapping about paying for BBLâs is something even Metro will laugh at,â one person wrote to X.
âU My Everythingâ serves as Drakeâs first offering since the dust settled on the explosive rap war between the 6 God and Kendrick Lamar earlier in May.
Sexyy Redâs 14-track In Sexyy We Trust landed on streaming services on Friday (May 24) with frequent collaborator Tay Keith serving in the role of executive producer. âWe got a genuine brother-sister relationship. I fâ with her heavy,â Keith told Billboard of his relationship with Big Sexyy in April. âWe just continue to keep it going. Every time we get in the studio we make a hit.â
Drizzy and Sexyy Red previously connected on For All The Dogs standout âRich Baby Daddyâ with SZA. Outside of Drakeâs assist, other features on the project include Mike Will Made-it, Lil Baby and more.
Listen to âU My Everythingâ below.
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New Yorkâs Cash Cobain continues his impressive hot streak with a new version of his song âDunk Contest.â Renamed âGrippy,â this new song serves as somewhat of a remix and features J. Cole, making for an unexpected pairing. Cole starts things off rapping about a shorty he put in his phone as Grippy, rapping, âShe […]
PinkPantheress wants fans to âTurn It Upâ just in time for the summer. The British pop star dropped off her first single of 2024 with the starry âTurn It Upâ on Friday (May 24). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Sampling the keys from Selenaâs crown jewel […]