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Between Vybz Kartel‘s blockbuster Freedom Street homecoming concert, Machel Montano‘s historic NPR Tiny Desk set and the slow-burning crossover of new soca anthems like Kes‘ “Cocoa Tea” and Yung Bredda’s “The Greatest Bend Over,” Caribbean music has gotten off to an excellent start in 2025.
On Sunday (Feb. 2), music’s biggest stars will convene in Los Angeles for the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, which will be turned into a fundraiser for relief efforts in the wake of several devastating fires in the greater Los Angeles area. At this year’s ceremony, Kartel (Party With Me), Shenseea (Never Gets Late Here), The Wailers (Evolution), the Bob Marley: One Love soundtrack, and Collie Buddz (Take It Easy) are the nominees for best reggae album. Kehlani‘s “After Hours,” which samples Codell “Skatta” Burrell’s Coolie Dance riddim, is nominated for best R&B song. Just three weeks later, Popcaan, Shenseea, Skillibeng, Spice, Valiant and YG Marley will duke it out for best Caribbean music act at the MOBO Awards (Feb. 18), while the Bob Marley: One Love film will compete in six categories at the NAACP Image Awards (Feb. 22).
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As these ceremonies celebrate the best of 2024, the new year is already heating up with new earworms to soundtrack the forthcoming Carnival season. Naturally, Billboard’s monthly Reggae/Dancehall Fresh Picks column will not cover every last track, but our Spotify playlist — which is linked below — will expand on the 10 highlighted songs. So, without any further ado:
Freshest Find: Kranium & Masicka, “Cut the Link”
“You give dem everything dem ask for/ And dem end up turn dem back yeah/ Now I know/ Mankind, you can’t tame them/ Dem wah you die, mi realize/ Dem wah fi own di place where you reside/ Mi cut the link, I know the deal,” Kranium croons in the opening verse of “Cut the Link,” a somber rumination on overcoming leeches and detractors. Produced by TJ Records and featuring an assist from Masicka, “Cut the Link” delivers a dancehall track that deals with raw emotion and real-life struggles, topics that are always welcome and cherished in a sea of gun and gyal chunes. “Cut The Link” marks the third collaboration between Kranium and Masicka, following 2016’s “Beach House” and 2017’s “Fire in the Rain.”
Shenseea, “Puni Police”
In a few days, Shenseea could become a first-time Grammy winner, but her current focus is lambasting the “Puni Police.” “Hot gyal a nuh fi everybody, my yute/ Comment pon mi picture dem, a that a mad you/ You too insecure, so you lose/ That’s why I’mma need you to/ Gimme some room to breathe,” she spits over Di Genius’ siren-evoking riddim. Her self-assured lyrics of self-respect in the face of an overly possessive partner add beautiful color to the ever-evolving portrait of woman-helmed dancehall songwriting. Shenyeng and Di Genius last linked up for two Never Gets Late Here tracks: “Neva Neva” and the Masicka-assisted global hit “Hit & Run.” Clearly, the two artists have A1 chemistry.
Lu City & Didi B, “Petit Bonon”
St. Lucia’s Lu City and the Dominican Republic’s Didi B are a match made in heaven on their sultry “Petit Bonbon” single. A slinky mélange of Afrobeats-inflected dancehall and slight notes of soca drums, “Petit Bonbon” finds the cross-Caribbean collaborators joining forces to tribute an eye-catching young lady who’s reigning over the club on a given night. With a greater emphasis on melody and feeling over rapid-fire wordplay, “Petit Bonbon” is a nice conduit to bring the evening into a slower, more seductive place.
Hector Roots Lewis featuring Johnny Cosmic, “Celebration”
After spending last year basking in the success of the box office-topping Bob Marley: One Love soundtrack, Hector Roots Lewis is back with a brand new single. A modern roots reggae tune produced by Johnny Classic, “Celebration” serves as the fifth single from Lewis’ forth-coming project. “To my brothers in the streets/ To my sisters in the streets/ Leave the guns and leave the knives/ We don’t want no fuss or fight,” he implores over the easy-rocking reggae guitars and breezy percussion, maintaining the peaceful proclamations that decorated Marley’s catalog. Lewis’ voice is incredibly charismatic on “Celebration,” seamlessly switching from warm sustained notes in the verses to more staccato delivery in the outro.
Machel Montano, “Pardy”
After making history by bringing soca music to NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series for the first time ever, Machel Montano hopped on a few more riddims in anticipation of Carnival season. Among his new drops is “Pardy,” a reminder that we all work hard, so we all deserve to party. “All work and no play/ Mi seh, ‘No way’/ We don’t want no part of that/ I need a stress reliever, two drinks in mi hand a gyal in the middle,” he sings in the opening verse, expertly setting the scene for an explosive release in the chorus soundtracked by Badjohn Republic and XplicitMevon’s high-octane drums. Packaged with a music video suitable for all ages and generations, “Pardy” is primed to take over the season in due time.
Lyrikal, “Road Anthem”
At this point, is it really a surprise when Lyrikal drops off another road march anthem? With some help from KesKeyz, the Trinidadian artist debuted “Road Anthem,” a song that accomplishes exactly what its title suggests. “Like the government, we go on di road/ Dem go talk about we for centuries/ There’s no other place that is on this Earth/ There’s no other place, there’s no other place/ I never want to miss this feeling again!” he sings, effortlessly invoking the inimitable energy and rejoiceful spirit of the road during Carnival. Like any great soca artist, Lyrikal is a master at pacing, always allowing the verses enough breathing room to stretch out the song’s ascent into a bombastic chorus.
Foreign Dan, Yung Bredda & Venumm, “Cocoa She Want”
After topping Trinidad & Tobaga’s Apple Music chart with his runaway hit “The Greatest Bend Over” late last year (Dec. 30, 2024), Yung Bredda found some time to link with Foreign Dan and Venumm for “Cocoa She Want.” “She don’t want no Lipton, she don’t want no Milo/ All she askin for is the pure cocoa,” Venumm croons over Foreign Dan’s jaunty production. When the soundscape opts for a sparser percussion line halfway, Yung Bredda flaunts his versatility, weaving in and out of harmony with Venumm as he delivers his own promises to share his “cocoa.”
Jahshii & Pop Style, “E.G.Y.G. (Every Ghetto Yout Great)”
With his new Pop Style-helmed single, Jahshii uses the gritty template of trap dancehall to craft an uplifting anthem for Jamaica’s ghetto yutes. When his impassioned, Auto-Tuned voice creeps into its upper register to proclaim that “every ghetto yout great,” Jahshii reaches an emotional apex rarely visited by his trap dancehall contemporaries. On this track, perhaps more than any of his previous efforts, Jahshii intricately understands how to find the emotion and humanity in an expressly digitized landscape, and he fills those pockets with the kind of gut-wrenching wails that demand not just attention, but close listening too.
Adam O & ARK Productions, “Ms. Masquerader”
With “Ms. Masquerader,” a tribute to the countless beauties on the road, Adam O makes himself at home in the role of ultimate ladies’ man. The St. Vincent and the Grenadines-born artist incorporates more Haitian and Dominican musical influences than your typical soca anthem, but between his raspy vocal performance and live instrumentation by Chryston Floyd (guitar), Konata (percussion) and Geremi Webb (bass), “Ms. Masquerader” stands as a smashing success. It’s a Carnival jam to keep your waistline moving and facilitate a steamy dance or two on the road.
Nailah Blackman & Skinny Fabulous, “Forever”
Both Nailah Blackman and Skinny Fabulous are likely to have yet another dominant year in 2025, and their new “Forever” collaboration is a reminder of why that’s the case. “Carnival, it is my time/ I wanna catch the spirit, it is high time/ Twice is not enough, I need it five times/ For a lifetime,” they plead in unison on the pre-chorus, personifying Carnival as a being that holds the key to a very special kind of unfettered joy and celebration. With CMungal Music, Keiron “Ogoshhoyte” Hoyte, Anson Pro, David “Millbeatz” Millien, Evolution the Band and Johnny Q all contributing to production, “Forever” has notes of all the different traditional and innovative elements that made 2016 such a beloved soca year.
The Game has planted himself on the front lines of Los Angeles looking for ways to help the community and get the city back on its feet ever since the tragic wildfires began blazing through L.A. County earlier in January.
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Following his inauguration, President Donald Trump paid a visit to California on Jan. 24, but Game took issue with Trump making a quick stop touring the Palisades Fire and not the other areas which were also left devastated.
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“Obviously Trump came to see the Palisades fire and everyone affected needs hearts, but these people are just as important,” Game told TMZ. “I think that President Trump and anybody else that is running the country need to come down here and do their due diligence here as well.”
The Compton native added, per HipHopDX: “I think President Trump went over to the affected areas of Pacific Palisades, but he didn’t make his way to Altadena. I’m not telling President Trump what he has to do or what he should do or nothing like that, but let’s not forget about Altadena.”
Earlier in the month, Game was boots on the ground helping Pasadena firefighters battle the blaze by delivering food, drinks and supplies like blankets.
“Me & my team have been down here with the brave men & women fire fighters on the grown day in & day out assisting anyway I can do make their days a little easier,” he wrote in a heartfelt Instagram post. “The hearts & level of humility in each & every soul down here is a beautiful thing to witness & be a part of. These fighters are coming from all over the city, state & country to help put an end to what has been a long week of catastrophic events caused by these fires.”
Game even shifted his focus to an animal rescue mission where he went around Pasadena and Altadena looking to find pets and reunite them with their owners.
L.A. radio legend Big Boy gave The Game his flowers for being outside during a time like this. “The Game is out there… I was reading the comments and it was so much positivity under that,” Big Boy said. “And if he can get someone else out there — just one more person out there, that’s beautiful.”
L.A.’s FireAid Benefit Concert took place on Thursday night (Jan. 30) with Billie Eilish, Lil Baby, Jelly Roll, Tate McRae, Olivia Rodrigo, Peso Pluma and many more hitting the stages at Intuit Dome and Kia Forum. Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Balmer matched every dollar donated during the concert.
Those wanting to donate to Los Angeles wildfire relief funds are encouraged to visit fireaidla.org.
In today’s episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Trevor Anderson, Kyle Denis, Carl Lamarre and Damien Scott predict who will win big at the 2025 Grammys, discuss Snoop Dogg and Nelly performing during Donald Trump’s inauguration and more. Trevor Anderson: I don’t think Snoop needs a bag that bad. He was just getting paid a […]
Fostering the next generation of music creatives while also supporting relief efforts for those impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires were the twin themes of the Black Music Action Coalition’s BMAC x Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis Music Maker Grants dinner/ceremony. The third annual event (Jan. 29) also doubled this year as the organization’s ReStore […]
01/31/2025
Abel’s final album as The Weeknd is here.
01/31/2025
It’s stadium status once again for The Weeknd. The Toronto crooner announced plans for the North American 2025 After Hours Til Dawn Tour on Friday (Jan. 31) and he’s bringing “Timeless” collaborator Playboi Carti with him. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Along with Carti, Mike Dean is […]
Frank Ocean has begun filming his directorial debut in Mexico City with Alien: Romulus and Industry star David Jonsson. According to Variety, the rising British actor will have top-billing in the currently untitled independent film whose plot has not yet been revealed.
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No other information is available about the latest project from the enigmatic Ocean, who has been mostly out of the public eye since he pulled out of the second weekend of Coachella in 2023 after suffering a leg injury during his first weekend headlining set.
At the time a rep said, “After suffering an injury to his leg on festival grounds in the week leading up to weekend 1, Frank Ocean was unable to perform the intended show but was still intent on performing, and in 72 hours, the show was reworked out of necessity. On doctor’s advice, Frank is not able to perform weekend 2 due to two fractures and a sprain in his left leg.”
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The singer — whose most recent album was 2016’s Blonde — added in a statement at the time, “It was chaotic. There is some beauty in chaos. It isn’t what I intended to show but I did enjoy being out there and I’ll see you soon.”
Since then, he’s released the 48-page booklet Mutations, a 2023 project featuring photos taken by Ocean that was printed on tissue-weight paper, and, in November of that year, a minute-long preview of an unnamed moody track. The latter was the first new music from the enigmatic performer who had not issued any new music since he surprise-dropped two singles, “Dear April” and “Cayendo” in 2020, followed by a never-released, untitled nine-minute song on the Christmas special on his Apple Music 1 Blonded Radio show in December 2021.
Ocean also dropped another unnamed snippet in December 2023, accompanied by a 24-second video in which he enthusiastically danced to a mid-tempo R&B jam. Producer Michael Uzowuru revealed in an interview last year that he’d been in the studio with Ocean in Miami working on new music, after collaborating with him on both Blonde and 2016’s visual album Endless. The singer described their relationship thusly: “Me and Michael’s careers exist post hip-hop — that genre, that culture, informs both of us greatly, but his appetite has grown; his vocabulary, musically, has grown so much over the time that I’ve known him.”
Back in February 2008, Will Smith was among the attendees at ESSENCE magazine’s inaugural Black Women in Hollywood luncheon, honoring the late actress Ruby Dee, industry legend Suzanne dePasse, actress Jurnee Smollett and Smith’s wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith. As he passed by my table, I stopped him and asked, “When might you record a new album?”
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And he politely replied with a laugh, “I think that train has left the station.”
In sharing that memory with him during a Zoom call earlier this week about his new single and album, the Grammy winner breaks again into his signature laugh, noting, “Trains are funny like that.” Then he goes on to acknowledge, “This is a beautiful time in my life.”
That’s because of the formal announcement of Smith’s first album in more than 20 years, Based on True Story, due in March via SLANG Recordings. In tandem with that reveal came the release of his new single “Beautiful Scars” with Big Sean and featuring Obanga. Produced by OmArr and LeXoskeleton, the song was world-premiered during an iHeartRadio Live interview with Smith and is one of four singles preceding the album’s arrival.
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That rollout began last year with “You Can Make It” featuring Fridayy and Sunday Service Choir (his first No. 1 on Billboard’s Gospel Airplay chart: “My grandmother is DJing in heaven right now”), “Work of Art” with Russ and featuring Smith’s son Jaden and “TANTRUM” with Joyner Lucas. All four songs will be included on what is Smith’s most personal and introspective album to date.
That introspection is chief among the subjects that Smith delved into during his Billboard chat, which also touches on his plans to release not one but three albums under the Based on a True Story banner (which Smith describes as “three seasons of a TV musical show”), the writers and producers he’s been collaborating with and performing live over the coming year. He most recently performed two sold-out shows in December in San Diego at The Observatory North Park. And Smith is already booked to headline France’s 2025 Positiv Festival on July 31.
“Getting back out city to city, seeing people and feeling the energy keeps me creatively alive,” says the Philadelphia native and fervent fan of the Super Bowl-bound Eagles (“It’s time for my Eagles; we’re unbeatable”). “Like how they’re doing the kick drums a little different in Chicago than in other places; like what’s happening with Afrobeats. I’m excited to go around the world and meet artists. I’m more artistic than I’ve ever been, a better actor than I’ve ever been, a better poet than I’ve ever been … I’m going to be better on stage than I’ve ever been. I’m just on fire about this next creative phase of my life and career.”
What prompted your decision to record a new album?
It started with [2022 film] Emancipation. It was a drama set during slavery, the first time I really did a deep dive on that period in America. So I go into this character, getting a really profound comprehension of the relationship between God and suffering. People in those circumstances were generally spiritual; you have to be to survive those circumstances. So I’m in this character and it was miserable making a film like that, getting called n—a all day long. Then Covid hit and I had to be in that character, live in that space longer than I thought. Three to four months turned into almost a year. And that had never happened to me as an actor before. I started having dreams as the character.
That’s a long way to say that a well opened up inside of me, a well of understanding of art and pain … all kinds of things that I didn’t even know were in there. Then after the Oscars, that spiritual investigation continued and a whole world woke up inside that I didn’t even know was there. Dreams, visions; parts of my inner landscape that I had no awareness of prior to three years ago. And that opened up this bubbling to share what I’m seeing and experiencing, to explore. A big part of my music now is about that: the ecstatic kind of joy I remember from church when I was growing up; the ability to try to make this place more bearable. You know, I’ve always had a wild imagination; that’s part of who I am. But there’s something new happening with me that’s demanding I explore musically.
Talk about the origin of “Beautiful Scars.”
Sometimes it can seem like the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, that’s completely unsurvivable, can turn out to be one of the most magnificent experiences of our lives. And that was the fun of doing The Matrix-inspired video. That’s one of the beautiful scars of my career that I turned down. There’s also a Japanese art called Kintsugi: instead of throwing away broken dishes, they paint them with gold. And they make the “broken dish” become even more beautiful than the original. That’s the concept of “Beautiful Scars.” That there’s a real process of transformation and alchemy in any situation. Like healing is art and creating a life is an artistic process. Learning to love the parts of ourselves that others might deem ugly. Somebody might call it a scar. But we see it as beautiful, something that will be one of the greatest assets of our lives going forward.
Big Sean and Will Smith
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What were you looking for in choosing the collaborators for these first four songs?
It’s people who were with me during my difficult time after the Oscars. Joyner was one of the first people to reach out and offer whatever help he could. So this first round of collabs are friends and allies.
How did you land on the title Based on a True Story?
I’ve probably recorded 60 songs by now, so I was trying to come up with one name for the whole body of work. I’m talking so many different tempos and energy: there’s a gospel record, then a hardcore hip-hop record. It was about just letting whatever come out in a really wild, colorful and varied way. What I decided to do is separate the material into seasons like a television show. So I’m releasing three seasons of this television musical show and calling the 10 tracks for each season “episodes” instead of songs. The first season is called Rave in the Wasteland. The actual date hasn’t been picked yet, but I’m releasing season one at the end of March. It’s about the idea of learning to dance in your darkest moment. It’s also all the things I wrote directly after the Oscars. The second season is called The Gift of Madness and that’s a Quincy Jones quote. Quincy was doing an interview once where somebody said Quincy, you’ve picked Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey and Will Smith. What did you see in those people in seed form? And Quincy said all three of them have the gift of madness, that they believe impossible shit can happen. So season two’s music lends itself to that: belief and possibilities, much more upbeat and joyful. We’re looking to release that in June. For yet-untitled season three, we’re looking at the end of the year.
On the writing and production side, what other collaborators did you bring on board?
I’m working with two young writers/rappers that were a big part of working with Joyner: Chiller and Symba. They’re sitting with me on every single track, making sure I’m getting my ideas out right, helping me transition to current flows, track selection and all of that. They’re keeping me from going too old school. There’s also my longtime friend OmArrRambert. We grew up on the same block together and he was a dancer for DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince. Then when I did The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, he was a big part of all the wardrobe looks on the show. His first shot at producing was working on [Smith’s 1997 debut solo album] Big Willie Style. The first song that he executive produced was “Men in Black” for which he found The Trackmasters [production duo Poke & Tone]. Now this is the first project that he’s solely executive producing.
When you stepped back into recording, what advice did your children Jaden and Willow give you?
Jayden was like, “Dad, just don’t waste a lot of time thinking about it. Write it, record it, release it. Don’t get so precious that you don’t put it out.” He also said just release singles. That was really hard for me as I like to have a complete thought, a body of work. And Willow kept telling me, “Dad, don’t try to make hits. Just make what you think and feel. And if it’s a hit, it’s a hit. If it’s not, it’s not. Focus on expression and not trying to have it land in a certain way.” What I learned is that that’s how you can start to be contrived as an artist. I want to be free. That was one of the difficulties having a No. 1 gospel record. I was like, “Oh, no. I’m not going to be allowed to do all the other stuff I want to do.” So I’m trying to stay open to explore and create honestly, to give myself the freedom to embrace my full humanity.
Beyond the festival in France this summer, are you planning to tour in support of the new album?
I’ve never done a full tour. Everybody I say that to thinks, “Well no, you must have done a tour before as DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince.” We did do dates on tours. But we had our big single in 1988 [“Parents Just Don’t Understand”] and we won the Grammy in 1989. Then Fresh Prince of Bel-Air started in 1990. I was shooting that for nine months out of the year for the next six years. So I’ve never actually built a stage and done a tour. I am excited about the combination of absolute nostalgia that people feel with songs like “Miami,” “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” and “Summertime,” then being able to make a show, which is the idea for Based on a True Story. So I’m starting outside of the country this summer; my getting in shape. My dream is to work my way into a stadium tour. I’ll probably do arenas this year and next year to see can I build a big enough, exciting enough show to require a stadium run. I have gigantic ideas about staging, using music, acting and screens — I’ve had a show in my mind for almost a decade, So I’m excited, in terms of the new technology, to finally be able to build this thing I’ve been seeing in my head.
Given your musical legacy, what matters most to you as an artist now?
The highest pleasure for me is to watch people listen, clap, cry or be riveted by the creation of a memorable moment. At the end of the day, what you want is people being able to say, “Remember that time when…?” and the recalling of the memory is as ecstatic as the initial experience. Music really has a way to do that. Movies definitely can do it, but not the way music can. When you hit that corresponding vibration in somebody’s heart with a song, it’s a whole different kind of thing.
Will Smith is still wondering about how the trajectory of his career would have changed had he taken the role of Neo in The Matrix rather than starring in Wild Wild West.
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While Keanu Reaves shined in the role, Smith finally gets his shot at the 1999 blockbuster as part of the cinematic “Beautiful Scars” visual featuring Big Sean, which arrived on Thursday (Jan. 30).
“Look, you’ve made some awesome career choices your whole life,” the Detroit rapper — playing a Morpheus-like role — tells Smith before alluding to Will’s infamous 2022 Oscars slap. “There’s only one you truly regret. Well, maybe two. But we’re not gonna focus on that one.”
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If Smith takes the blue pill, he can keep his life as is, while the red allows him to go back in time and take on that Matrix role. “I really like my life right now,” Smith replies before swallowing both pills.
“That wasn’t even an option,” Sean says.
“Fly as an eagle, fresh outta Philly/ Yeah, I still rep the city/ Mirrors on the wall worth half a billi’‘Cause I’m a icon,” Smith brags in the opening verse.
Sean takes the baton following OBanga’s chorus and speeds up his flow while paying homage to Smith’s I Am Legend film. “I’m a livin’ legend, I’ma live and die a legend/ I ain’t tryna get it, b—h, I gotta get it,” Sean Don flexes with his assist.
A closing message from the simulation reads: “Wake up, Will. The matrix has you.”
2025 is shaping up for a busy return to music for Smith, who will be releasing his first album in 20 years as Based On a True Story is slated to arrive in March. The project features previously released singles “You Can Make It,” “Work of Art” and “Tantrum” featuring Joyner Lucas.
Watch the “Beautiful Scars” video below.
Nobody could’ve predicted that Gelo was going to be rap’s breakout star of 2025. Following a deal with Def Jam, Gelo adds to the momentum of his hit “Tweaker” with the release of the official music on Thursday (Jan. 30). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Gelo […]