R&B/Hip-Hop
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Rihanna celebrated International Women’s Day on Saturday (March 8) by sharing a rare glimpse at the two sons she shares with longtime love A$AP Rocky. The candid pics of RZA, 2 and Riot Rose, 19 months, were taken in the hospital after the singer gave birth to the children, a moment she said was the high-point of her life.
“By far the most powerful thing I’ve ever done as a woman… my little miracles! #InternationalWomensDay,” she wrote in the caption to the post, with the first pic depicting RZA Athelston Mayers laying on his mother’s chest for some crucial skin-to-skin time, with RihRih’s face only partially in the frame, her neck adorned with a pair of gold and pearl necklaces.
In the second snap, Rihanna stares at the camera while rocking pink shades and a black bra as Riot Rose Mayers snuggles up to her in the hospital bed. “And yes I gave birth in pearls and sunglasses,” Rihanna wrote. “Don’t ask, a lot was happening.”
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She got support from fellow pop star and mom Katy Perry, wrote commented, “The BEST.”
The singer and rapper have kept their sons out of the public eye for the most part to date, though last month Rihanna opened up to Harper’s Bazaar about being a mom and her boys’ personalities. “Riot, he’s just hilarious,” she said of her second-born. “When he wakes up, he starts to squeal, scream. Not in a crying way. He just wants to sing. And I’m like, ‘Okay, here we go!’ He’s my alarm in the morning! He’s not taking no for an answer from anyone.”
She also revealed that RZA is “just an empath. He’s so magical. He loves music. He loves melody. He loves books. He loves water. Bath time, swimming, pool, beach, anything. And Riot, he’s just hilarious. When he wakes up, he starts to squeal, scream. Not in a crying way. He just wants to sing. And I’m like, ‘Okay, here we go!’ He’s my alarm in the morning! He’s not taking no for an answer from anyone. I don’t know where he came from, dude.”
Doechii joined Ms. Lauryn Hill onstage in Miami over the weekend for a surprise duet of Hill’s 1998 Billboard No. 1 hit, “Doo Wop (That Thing).”
The collaboration took place during Hill’s headlining set at the Jazz in the Gardens Festival at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday (March 8), marking the Fugees icon’s second live appearance of 2025.
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“I want to introduce y’all to another sister” Hill said before welcoming Doechii to the stage. The rising rapper and singer, who has credited Hill as one of her biggest inspirations, shared the moment with fans afterward, expressing her deep gratitude on social media.
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“Thank you Miss Lauryn Hill,” Doechii wrote on X on March 9. “Thank you. My heart is so full. She is my hero. This is the greatest honor hip-hop could give me. Praise God … my entire body is vibrating with joy right now. I’ll never forget this day! EVER!” She added, “I’ve never been so nervous in my life. She is a QUEEN.”
Doechii, fresh off winning her first Grammy for Best Rap Album, becoming the third woman to take home the trophy following Cardi B and Lauryn Hill. The rapper is also set for a massive festival season, including a headline slot on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury 2025—going head-to-head in a much-publicized clash with Charli XCX, who will headline the Other Stage at the same time.
She’s also on the lineup for Rock en Seine in Paris in August, Forwards Festival in Bristol the same month, and Roskilde Festival in Denmark in June.
The 26-year-old rap star is preparing to cement her quantum leap to stardom with her debut album later this year. On March 4, she dropped her “Anxiety” single via Top Dawg Entertainment and Capitol Records, announcing the drop approximately half an hour ahead of its arrival on X with the single’s cover art, which features a mirrored black-and-white image of the TDE rapper being connected by her braids.
“Anxiety” has been trending on TikTok lately, but Doechii performed the original version five years ago on her YouTube channel. The single samples Gotye‘s 2011 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Somebody That I Used to Know,” featuring Kimbra.
“Denial is a River” from her critically acclaimed 2024 mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal became her highest-charting entry on the Hot 100, peaking at No. 21.
While the music world mourns Roy Ayers, the Godfather of Neo-Soul and a jazz-funk pioneer who died at age 84 on March 4, the hip-hop community will always remember him as one of its brightest inspirations.
“Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” the enduring hit from Roy Ayers Ubiquity’s 1976 album of the same name, became the highlight of his legacy — and everybody loved it so much they couldn’t help but borrow a bit of its brilliance. The New York Times‘ obituary for Ayers reported that “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” has been sampled nearly 200 times.
“Well, I have more sampled hits than anybody,” he said in a 2004 interview with Wax Poetics. “I might not have more samples than James Brown, but I’ve had more sampled hits. Oh, man, and there’s a few I don’t know about.”
Mary J. Blige — who sampled “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” for “My Life” from her 1994 album of the same name, which was later interpolated on “MJB Da MVP” featuring 50 Cent, on her 2005 LP The Breakthrough — opened up about the song’s indelible impact on her in her 2021 documentary My Life. “I don’t know what’s in that record, but it was something in it that just cracked open everything in me. That was the first music as a child that stuck with me because it made me forget that we lived where we lived,” Blige said in the film. “‘My life in the sunshine’ was something I wanted.” The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul also heavily sampled Ayers’ 1976 track “Searching” on her 1997 album Share My World.
Like Blige, Dr. Dre, TLC, Juvenile and Joe Budden also have songs titled “My Life,” while Scarface and Naughty by Nature have songs called “Sunshine.” Thirty years after he sampled “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” on “Book of Life” from his 1994 album Resurrection, Common dug back in the crates and dusted off the sample for the Grammy-nominated song “When the Sun Shines,” featuring Posdnuos, from his and Pete Rock‘s 2024 Grammy-nominated joint LP The Auditorium Vol. 1.
Outside of being sampled and interpolated by hip-hop heavyweights, Ayers also collaborated with Tyler, the Creator on “Find Your Wings,” also featuring Syd and Kali Uchis, from Tyler’s 2015 album Cherry Bomb; Erykah Badu on “Cleva” from her 2000 LP Mama’s Gun; The Roots on “Proceed II” from the deluxe version of the band’s 2005 album Do You Want More?!!!??!; and Talib Kweli on “In the Mood,” also featuring Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), from his 2007 album Eardrum as well as on “Something Special” from Kweli and Madlib‘s 2024 joint LP Liberation 2.
“Roy Ayers called me like ‘tyler, hey man, those changes are amazing, your chord selection is just beautiful my man’ OMG MY HEART MELTED,” Tyler tweeted in 2015. The Chromakopia rapper also sampled Ayers’ 1982 track “Ooh” on “Pothole,” featuring Jaden Smith, from his 2017 album Flower Boy. Later that same year, Ayers performed at his Camp Flog Gnaw festival. Questlove hailed him as “the cat who birthed us all in the ‘vibes only’ movement. The Soundtrack that ALL the incense you ever burned was truly made for. Thank You Roy Edward Ayers Jr for EVERYTHING you gave us. taught us. showed us. soothed us.”
Billboard rounded up 21 hip-hop and R&B songs that have sampled and interpolated Roy Ayers Ubiquity’s “Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” in order from newest to oldest.
Common & Pete Rock feat. Posdnuos, “When the Sun Shines Again”
50 Cent is up to his trolling ways again, and he’s still relishing being somewhat responsible for the recent spat between Cam’ron and Jim Jones. The Queens rapper and filmmaker posted and deleted an AI-created video on Instagram of Jim Jones, Cam’ron, and Floyd Mayweather playing characters in a scene from Rocky III. Jones, as […]
Billy McFarland’s Fyre Fest 2 is slated to take place on Isla Mujeres in Mexico from May 30 to June 2, and one artist has announced his appearance on the bill.
Former NFL star Antonio “AB” Brown claimed in an interview with TMZ Sports on Thursday (March 6) that he’s been booked for a performance on May 30.
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“Ayo, this is AB and I’ll be performing at Fyre Fest part 2 in Mexico on May 30. Be there or be square,” AB said while rocking an army helmet. “Make sure you put that sh– on.”
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Isla Mujeres is located in the state of Quintana Roo and is about a half-hour ferry ride from Cancun. Various ticket packages are available, ranging from $1,400 to $25,000, and there’s even a $1 million package for eight people that has access to luxury villas, a private marina and a private jet.
AB is the first confirmed artist for Fyre Fest 2. The festival has yet to release a lineup of talent. Festival organizers reportedly told TMZ that they have booked several artists.
Billboard reached out to two of the biggest booking agencies for music festivals in February, and neither heard from reps for Fyre Fest 2.
Antonio Brown played his last game in the NFL on Jan. 2, 2022, when he famously left the field with no shirt on mid-game and never took another snap on the gridiron.
AB turned to rapping and a friendship with Ye (formerly Kanye West), who executive-produced his Paradigm project, which arrived in 2022 with standouts like “Put That Sh– On” and features from DaBaby, Young Thug, French Montana, Fivio Foreign and Keyshia Cole. He performed at Rolling Loud California in 2023.
The original Fyre Fest took place in April 2017 and is remembered as one of the most disastrous festivals in music history.
Convicted fraudster Billy McFarland is getting a second chance and he’s promising this edition won’t be a repeat of the first. McFarland was sentenced to six years in 2018 after admitting to defrauding investors of millions of dollars. He was released to a halfway house in 2022.
Comedian Hannah Berner is apologizing to Megan Thee Stallion after her interview with the Grammy-winning rapper on the Vanity Fair Oscar party red carpet over the weekend drew backlash from fans. The part of Berner’s interview drawing ire is when she said she listens to Meg’s music “when I want to fight someone.” Megan immediately […]
Cash Cobain makes addictive music. Since he previewed “Trippin on a Yacht” on PlaqueBoyMax‘s stream earlier this year, the snippet has been all over TikTok, as has become a tradition when it comes to music he purposely teases on social media. And when he finally dropped the single, we included it on our Fresh Picks […]
The Blog Era is back? Both J. Cole and Wiz Khalifa have been going back to the fundamentals to start off 2025. They’ve each achieved massive success over the course of their careers and they know that to stay motivated, you sometimes have to do the things that got you there. After releasing his Inevitable […]
Sometimes, artists’ biggest hits are the ones they don’t see coming. Big Sean doubted the commercial appeal of “I Don’t F–k With You” and thought it was “dumb” while nearly cutting it from his 2015 Dark Sky Paradise album.
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Sean Don joined Detroit Lions star Amon-Ra St. Brown and his brother Equanimeous St. Brown on March 5 for an episode of the St. Brown Podcast, which saw the Detroit native recall playing “I Don’t F–k With You” for Beyoncé and Jay-Z at their house ahead of the project’s arrival.
According to Sean Don, Bey thought the brash anthem was “a little disrespectful” and suggested Nicki Minaj as a feature to balance the track, while Hov loved it and implored him to release the song.
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“I went to their house and was playing them songs. Beyoncé was like, ‘It’s a little disrespectful. Maybe you should [get] Nicki Minaj on it for a female’s voice.’ Jay-Z was like, ‘Nah, it’s hard, though.’ He was like, ‘People gonna get it that you just having fun.’”
Sean continued: “Then I remember I was getting texts from Hov. He sent me a text one time that was like, ‘Every day you not putting that song out, you losing.’ I almost didn’t put it on the album. I thought it was a little dumb.”
Billboard has reached out to reps for Beyoncé for confirmation.
Fortunately for fans, Big Sean added E-40 to the mix and kept “I Don’t F–k With You” on Dark Sky Paradise, which went on to reach No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and is nearly diamond at 9x-platinum.
A day before Dark Sky Paradise‘s release (the album celebrated its 10th anniversary in February), Big Sean paid homage to one of his favorite Bey tracks with a freestyle over 2003’s “Me, Myself and I.”
Watch the full clip below.
Nobody could’ve predicted that GELO would have notched the first rap hit of 2025 with his viral “Tweaker” anthem. Now, the middle Ball brother has returned two months later on Friday (March 7) with his follow-up single, looking to keep the momentum going with “Can You Please.” GELO headed to Memphis to bring some firepower […]