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While MGM refuted reports of a $50 million gambling debt compiled by Bruno Mars last year, the superstar still had some fun with the casino rumors.
Bruno hit the jackpot to break a Spotify listener record earlier this week and he took to his Instagram Story on Tuesday (Jan. 28) to celebrate the feat and even joked about taking a chunk out of his alleged debt.
“I’ll be out of debt in no time,” the 15-time Grammy Award winner captioned the post about him becoming the first artist to eclipse 150 million monthly Spotify listeners in the platform’s history.
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NewsNation reported in 2024 that Bruno owed millions to MGM and that number was as high as $50 million from hitting the casino tables. “He makes $90 million a year off of the deal he did with the casino, but then he has to pay back his debt … after taxes (Mars makes $1.5 million per night),” NewsNation‘s source speculated.
However, MGM Grand quickly debunked the report and said that the singer had no debt with the casino.
“We’re proud of our relationship with Bruno Mars, one of the world’s most thrilling and dynamic performers,” a spokesperson from MGM Grand told Billboard at the time. “From his shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM to the new Pinky Ring lounge at Bellagio, Bruno’s brand of entertainment attracts visitors from around the globe.”
They continued: “MGM and Bruno’s partnership is longstanding and rooted in mutual respect. Any speculation otherwise is completely false; he has no debt with MGM. Together, we are excited to continue creating unforgettable experiences for our guests.”
The 39-year-old even mocked the gambling debt reports on stage during a performance last year. “Ever since those articles came out about me owing the casino money you stopped picking up my calls,” he joked. “It’s me baby — I got money.”
Bruno Mars jokes about the rumors of him being in casino debt. “Ever since those articles came out about me owing the casino money you stopped picking up my calls… It’s me baby I got money.” 😂 pic.twitter.com/aWQyd5CGhq— Rap Alert (@rapalert6) September 9, 2024
Bruno added another seven dates to his Las Vegas residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM, where he’ll kick off the summer with shows in late May and early June.
On the music side, Bruno Mars remains atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “Die With a Smile” featuring Lady Gaga holding strong at No. 1. Bruno also delivered his first single of 2025 when teaming up with Sexyy Red for their “Fat Juicy & Wet” strip club anthem.
Newly minted Academy Award nominee and Emmy-, Grammy- and Tony-winning actress Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), actress-director Teyana Taylor (A Thousand and One), Emmy-nominated industry veteran Marla Gibbs (227) and Emmy-nominated creator, writer and-producer Raamla Mohamed (Reasonable Doubt) are 2025’s honorees for the ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards. The 18th annual gala will take place Feb. […]
Things are getting a little uneasy in the Big Easy. According to Nola.com, ahead of Kendrick Lamar‘s anticipated halftime show at Feb. 9’s Super Bowl LIX, a group of 17 Republican Louisiana legislators sent a letter to the leaders of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation and the Louisiana Stadium and Expo District claiming that the state’s taxpayers should have a say in what takes place during the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
Specifically, the note called out what is deemed a “lewd” performance by Rihanna in 2023 and the 2020 halftime show by Jennifer Lopez, during which they said the singer “wore little clothing and was groped by male and female dancers on stage, while the performer made sexually suggestive gestures and performed on a stripper pole.”
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“While certainly a large amount of support exists among many Louisianians who are excited about the Super Bowl coming back to New Orleans, many are also hardworking taxpayers with children who have serious concerns about the fact that past Super Bowl halftime performances have been less than family-friendly,” the letter read.
The note does not specifically name Lamar, instead focusing on some past performances, including the infamous 2004 Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake “wardrobe malfunction,” while devoting half a paragraph to a vivid description of Rihanna’s halftime show. It describes the singer “groping herself while she sang song lyrics that were so offensive that few Louisiana adults could read those lyrics before an audience without shame.”
The signatories to the letter said they refused to repeat the lyrics in their note because they are “so offensive.”
“We realize that these past vulgar performances may have been acceptable to the residents of those states where those Super Bowls were held but, in Louisiana, these lewd acts are inappropriate for viewing by children, objectify women, and are simply NOT welcomed by the majority of Louisiana parents,” they wrote.
This year’s game will take place at the Caesars Superdome in the city known for its generous embrace of all manner of debaucherous behavior, including nearly round-the-clock drunken, boisterous tourists stumbling through the legendary French Quarter and women hoisting up their shirts to expose themselves for beads during Mardi Gras.
And while the lawmakers acknowledged that the contracts for next month’s Super Bowl are already signed, they expressed a wish that future contracts for the use of facilities “funded and paid for by Louisiana taxpayers” ensure, in writing, that any performers’ conduct adheres to “Louisiana’s community decency standards.”
Pulitzer Prize honoree and 17-time Grammy winner Lamar will be joined by four-time Grammy winner SZA for this year’s halftime show.
Read the full letter here.
J. Cole has decided to start a blog. The Carolina rapper posted the first entry to The Algorithm on his Inevitable website, which also hosts his podcast of the same name. “This is just a place for me to share,” he wrote. “I been wanting a lil blog for years. Somewhere to post random sh– […]
Max B and Young Thug spoke over the phone recently, the imprisoned rapper revealed this week. The Boss Don — who is reportedly coming home later this year on Nov. 9 — posted a clip of himself talking to Young Thug over the phone on his Instagram Stories. “Man, I’m in here grinding this sh– […]
Nothing pairs better with football than fried chicken and tequila. That’s why Popeyes is teaming up with Tequila Don Julio to curate a special Championship Lineup menu for the Super Bowl.
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The Popeyes x Tequila Don Julio Reposado Flavored Concha Chicken Sandwich includes a chicken breast fillet marinated in reposado tequila then fried in Popeyes crunchy buttermilk breading, topped with a tequila lime slaw, spicy spread, a barrel cured pickle and sandwiched between a concha roll. Additional items featured on the specialty menu include Popeyes x Tequila Don Julio Reposado Flavored Louisiana Garlic 3-Piece Wings with a specialty sauce and a Spicy Strawberry Hibiscus Flavored Lemonade Mocktail.
For one day only, on January 31, select Popeyes restaurants in New York City, Miami and New Orleans, as well as the hometowns of the teams headed to the Super Bowl — Philadelphia and Kansas City — will feature the collaboration for customers over 21 years of age. In New Orleans, where the Big Game will take place this year, the items will be available at the flagship restaurant on Canal Street for an extended period from January 31 through February 9, while supplies last.
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To celebrate the collaboration, Tinashe will head down to New Orleans to perform at the Popeyes x Tequila Don Julio bash on Feb. 7. “It’s two things I’m a fan of coming together,” she tells Billboard of the collaboration. “It’s fried chicken and tequila. What more could you ask for?”
While drinking tequila, the “Nasty” keeps it simple. “I’m usually taking shots,” she says with a laugh.
It’s also the second Super Bowl she’s attending. “The Super Bowl was always a huge day in my family. We have a ton of big sports fans in the house,” she shares. “The halftime performance is something I always look forward to every year. I’m just so excited to be back and part of the Super Bowl energy. It’s always so much fun.”
Her performance at the Popeyes x Tequila Don Julio bash will be equally as fun. “I always have a lot of high energy in my performances,” she says. “It’s going to be dancing, going to be on your feet. It’s going to be a real fun, high energy vibe and a celebration.”
If you’re unable to get your hands on the Championship Lineup menu, you can still redeem a buy one get one free chicken sandwich when purchasing Popeyes on UberEats, as well as a $5 code to redeem on Tequila Don Julio until Feb. 9.
Flavor Flav has Selena Gomez’s back. The Public Enemy rapper came to Gomez’s defense on X earlier this week in the wake of the backlash she faced following her emotional reaction opposing the mass deportations taking place around the U.S. with Donald Trump in office.
“Team Selena Gomez. Again. That woman is always so brave to share her truth,,, and so many are quick to bully her,” he wrote.
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There was a mixed reaction in Flav’s replies representing both sides. “She is so real and honest! Love her,” one person wrote.
Team Selena Gomez. Again. That woman is always so brave to share her truth,,, and so many are quick to bully her.— FLAVOR FLAV (@FlavorFlav) January 28, 2025
Another fired back: “Nobody loves defending illegals like she does!”
Over the weekend, a shaken-up Gomez posted an Instagram Story crying over the ICE arrests and mass deportations of undocumented immigrants in the United States. “I’m sorry,” she captioned the since-deleted clip with a Mexican flag (Gomez is half-Mexican from her father’s side).
“All my people are getting attacked, the children,” she said while sobbing. “I don’t understand. I’m so sorry, I wish I could do something, but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise.”
After deleting the clip, she posted a follow-up addressing the backlash. “Apparently it’s not ok to show empathy for people,” Gomez added in a follow-up IG Story.
Republican politician Sam Parker even called for the Texas-bred star to be deported in a post on social media. However, Gomez was unfazed by the threat. “Oh, Mr. Parker, Mr. Parker,” she responded, per People. “Thanks for the laugh and the threat.”
Selena Gomez previously served as a producer on Netflix’s Living Undocumented documentary in 2019, which showcased the state of undocumented immigrant families in the United States.
The Emilia Pérez star also penned a Time essay in 2019 addressing immigration issues. “Undocumented immigration is an issue I think about every day, and I never forget how blessed I am to have been born in this country thanks to my family and the grace of circumstance,” she wrote.
It’s far from the first time Flavor Flav has shown love to Gomez. Back in November, he praised her for opening up about her mental health.
“I don’t know her personally,,, but Selena Gomez is one of the STRONGEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL people inside and out,” he gushed. “I applaud her for being so open about her health and mental health. And I applaud her even more for clapping back at haterz,,, but she shouldn’t have to.”
With a handful of exceptions, the era of rap’s six-figure super producer – when Scott Storch, Just Blaze, and Timbaland instrumentals effectively guaranteed radio hits – is over. The internet has made beat making more accessible than ever, and that diffusion means a Dutch teenager could craft one of the biggest records in music history for an unknown internet-savvy rapper dabbling in country tropes, or that a Romanian musician could become one of the go-to producers for Atlanta ragers Playboi Carti and Ken Carson.
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But even these seismic developments pale in comparison to what we’re seeing now: the beginning of generative AI in production and songwriting.
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Given its technical nature, production has always been a component of music-making ripe for new developments, from the introduction of DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) in the late 1970s by Soundstream to the advent of the MIDI digital composition format all the way to the rise of downloadable sample packs and eventually, the integration of AI. A July 2024 survey conducted by Tracklib found that 25 percent of producers were using AI in some capacity. The majority of those AI adopters were using it for either splitting stems or mastering, but more than 20 percent of them were also incorporating it into their records.
That 25 percent isn’t just beginners – it includes some of the genre’s most successful producers. In October, Timbaland was announced as a strategic advisor for Suno AI, a generative musical tool with some controversy around its use of copyrighted material to train its model. He even told Rolling Stone he spent 10 hours a day experimenting with the platform and writing text prompts to recreate some of his own legendary records.
But the star producer who has most emphatically embraced AI is probably Illmind, a Grammy winner with credits for J. Cole, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z. Illmind has always been particularly ambitious when it comes to emerging technologies. He launched Blap Kits, his own sound sample platform, back in 2010, and started the AI-based LoopMagic earlier in 2024. With LoopMagic, musicians enter prompts into the interface for what sounds they want, and those are downloadable. (Subscriptions range from $25 a month up to $250.) They then own those sounds fully, per Illmind, though those in the lower-membership tier cannot package generated sounds as part of their own purchasable sample packs.
Illmind says that he was first introduced to AI as a musical tool back in 2016, when he experimented with a VST (virtual studio technology) plug-in that created MIDI chords and melodies. “I realized how powerful that was, because it was generating ideas from scratch that I musically wouldn’t normally think of,” he says.
While AI’s depiction in the media could lead some to believe it is entirely autonomous, these programs need to be trained on something, and that’s one of the biggest ethical concerns in its widespread musical implementation. In September, a bill in California passed necessitating transparency with generative AI, and the Federal Trade Commission has targeted “unfair or deceptive practices” in the medium through its Operation AI Comply. Suno and another company called Udio have been sued by the three major labels, alleging “mass infringement of copyrighted sound recordings,” igniting a debate around whether AI model training should fall under the category of “fair use.”
Illmind’s LoopMagic was “only trained with permissioned data,” per its website, which includes Illmind’s sprawling catalog. The company Musical AI lists its manifesto as “Ethical Attribution in Generative AI Music Models,” and founders Sean Power and Matt Adell say that they’re taking their extensive history in music and tech and applying it towards creating a fairer world of generative AI. (Adell, the company’s COO, was an executive at Napster, so he’s certainly familiar with disruptive technology in the musical world.)
“Very quickly things balloon into needing a tremendous amount of data and we care for that a lot – because that data to be able to train on that vastness of information requires inputs, requires objects that you can’t possibly do without including copyrighted content,” Power says.
Musical AI is trying to bridge the gap between existing musical creators and rights holders and AI companies, creating an ecosystem where artists are aware of any time their music is used to train AI and be financially compensated in those instances. Having worked through the period of illegal online downloads moving to paid downloads and eventually streaming, Adell says he thinks that the powers that be are comparatively responding much more quickly to the rise of AI, recognizing its urgency and transformational power for the music world.
“I actually think that industry agreements and government regulation are moving quite quickly compared to as they have in the past,” says Musical AI’s Adell. “When Sean and I started, we thought it could be five[-plus] years before all these mechanics get worked out – it [seems to] us now they’re going to get worked out in the next 18 months.”
Opinions on using generative AI to assist in music-making are decidedly split. Many defenders of the technology stress their belief that there will always be some human involvement in production and songwriting. Some artists, like Bay Area producer-vocalist Warren Long (a.k.a. Larrenwong) have embraced it, using programs like ChatGPT to help with lyrical ideas as well as the occasional musical program to aid in production, though he says the latter is often underwhelming and hasn’t frequently made it into his finished work. Still, he talks about AI in music creation with an emphatic pragmatism.
“I’m the first person to tell somebody to use AI for anything,” Long says. “I’m a proponent of it. We always read back and hear the case studies of people, they don’t take advantage of [emerging technology] and then they get left behind.”
Long says he has minimal “ethical qualms” around the use of AI in his own music. “At this point? If it sounds good, f–k it,” Long explains – though he says he’d be unlikely to use an AI program that took a percentage of his rights and royalties. So much of tech innovation has been driven by financial shrewdness, and in this brutal creative economy, the allure of a cheap tool for production or songwriting is similar to the appeal many industries are navigating with AI-led automation.
All of this connects to a kind of existential question in production and songwriting: how much conventional musical work should a music-maker be doing? Rap producers have always faced criticism on this front, from those who derided sampling, to critiques of using premade loops, to now this discussion around AI. A rap producer who advocates for AI could easily make the argument that critical resistance to generative AI is the modern equivalent of traditionalist listeners balking at Grandmaster Flash or the Beastie Boys building now-iconic records through sampling.
The difference here is that human artists were flipping those samples into new songs themselves, whereas these AI platforms are algorithmically combing through musical data with the only real input typically being a written prompt. Cam O’bi, best known as a producer for Chance the Rapper and Noname, addresses the question of whether software that’s trained on existing music without the ephemeral secret ingredient of human creativity can ever create anything truly new or innovative. His skepticism comes in part from a belief that the generative AI software can’t truly innovate, and will instead come up with simplistic regurgitations of the music that it intakes, not unlike how a green musician often struggles to create novel sounds and styles from what they’ve learned.
“When a person is learning how to make music or play guitar and they just keep f–king sounding like Jimi Hendrix, that just means that they still have learning to do,” says O’bi, who also has a budding solo career. “They have to get better, so that they can figure out how to incorporate Jimi Hendrix into their playing without just becoming a cheap imitation of him.”
O’bi explains that he has tried out different AI tools in his work, specifically for stem separation and to craft character voices that would appear on skits throughout one of his albums. (Attempting to combine his own voice with a pirate voice from the video game League of Legends, he found the results “unusable” due to poor audio quality, and the inability to direct the line reading. O’bi says he’s experimented with using ChatGPT like a rhyming dictionary to help move ideas forward, but has been consistently underwhelmed.
“ChatGPT is not a great writer,” O’bi says simply.
Illmind has used his LoopMagic AI program in sessions with other producers, including a widely circulated clip of himself and producer Dunk Rock (Gunna’s “fukumean” and “Cooler Than a Bitch”) generating a “Mysterious sample in F minor.” Even in that video, he does clarify that the software “was ethically trained by me,” and seems a little sheepish about the whole process, though perhaps just for comedic effect. Where it counts though, he’s all-in on the generative AI musical revolution, saying his goal is for LoopMagic to be the “ultimate co-producer.”
“There’s this quote that I read recently and it said, ‘AI won’t replace your job. The human beings that use AI will,’” Illmind says.
It’s not hard to picture a world where stem splitting and other rote, tedious tasks a producer must do for themselves are outsourced almost entirely to AI. Stem splitting, the act of separating the individual audio tracks of a song, typically to isolate vocals or a single instrument part, doesn’t fall under generative AI, but the more conventional use of the technology. It’s an important part of hip-hop production, but it has a different level of sacredness than the process of taking your blank screen and turning it into a track. Being able to use a generative AI tool is absolutely a skill, but it doesn’t seem like one that will make its way into every producer’s toolbox.
Obi says that he’d rather hire another co-producer to help with the workload – like a Dr. Dre or Kanye West has in the past – than to outsource key elements of his production work to AI technology: “Creating the music is really the most rewarding part. And the most fun part.”
Kendrick Lamar went Super Saiyan on his GNX album as Mustard revealed that K. Dot channeled his inner-Goku while recording “Hey Now.”
Mustard caught up with the Recording Academy earlier this week ahead of the Grammy Awards, where he opened up about some of his conversations with Lamar surrounding GNX, who took things to Dragon Ball Z.
“I had heard ‘Hey Now’ during the ‘Not Like Us’ video shoot; he played me a snippet. I asked him, ‘Man, what made you do that,” Mustard recalled asking Lamar. “And he said, ‘When I heard the beat, I just felt like Goku or something.’ I was like, ‘What?’ And he explained, ‘Yeah, when I hear certain s— on your beats, it brings out something else in me, so I just did whatever I felt.’ I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’”
“Hey Now” features fellow L.A. rapper Dody6 and serves as one of the album’s highlights with a snarling Kendrick at the helm having fun on the mic while powering up like Goku. The Mustard-produced track ended up reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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In a separate interview with People, Mustard revealed that plenty of stars previously passed on the “Hey Now” beat, including close friends Ty Dolla $ign, YG and Quavo. The producer explained he was trying to make a “West Coast version of [Clipse’s] ‘Grindin.’”
“That’s why it’s so empty like that. That’s why it’s just weird sounds,” he explained. “[YG] didn’t end up doing it … I played it for Quavo, and I’m like, ‘Quavo man, if you get this if you can connect to this song, I’m telling you,’ he’s like, ‘What the hell you want me to do to it? You want me to whisper on the beat?’ And I’m like, ‘Alright.’ So I didn’t force it on him.”
Mustard is up for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical at the 2025 Grammy Awards, while K.Dot boasts seven nominations in total ahead of Sunday’s show (Feb. 2).
Coming off the release of his acclaimed debut album, Central Cee is hitting the road for the Can’t Rush Greatness World Tour.
Kicking off in Norway on April 1, Cench revealed the complete 39-date global trek on Tuesday (Jan. 28). A first leg will run through Europe/U.K. which will be followed by the U.S. and then Australia.
General tickets will go on sale starting on Friday (Jan. 31) at 10 a.m. local show time while artist pre-sale begins on Wednesday (Jan. 29) on his website.
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“CAN’T RUSH GREATNESS WORLD TOUR,” he wrote in a post on X. “TICKETS ON SALE THIS FRIDAY 10AM WHEREVER YOU ARE.”
European stops for the tour include Norway, Denmark, Milan, Paris, London, Ireland and more. The North American leg starts in Portland on May 2 and will hit Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, Toronto, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Montreal.
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Cench delivered his Can’t Rush Greatness debut album on Friday (Jan. 24) which features 21 Savage, Young Miko, Lil Durk, Lil Baby, Skepta and more. The 21 Savage-assisted “GBP” debuted at No. 92 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Cee sniped at Aitch on “5 Star,” calling out how the British rapper won an award over him at the 2023 BRITs. Aitch didn’t waste much time firing back at Cench earlier this week with his “A Guy Called?” diss track.
Cench is up for a trio of 2025 BRIT Awards for Best U.K. Artist, Best Song (“Band4Band”) and Best Hip-Hop & Grime.”
Find all of the 2025 Can’t Rush Greatness World Tour dates below.