R&B/Hip-Hop
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Hip-hop turned 50 in 2023, and it’s crazy to think that some artists have been contributing to the culture for more than half of that time.
With Nas’ legendary debut Illmatic celebrating its 30th anniversary on Friday (April 19), time came full circle with Esco reuniting alongside DJ Premier for their “Define My Name” single.
The classic-feeling record is packed with nostalgia and Preemo scratches, which clear the way for Nas to dominate with his lyrical gymnastics. The Queensbridge icon reflects on being able to still rhyme prolifically into his 50s, which he wouldn’t have predicted to be the case.
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“At 20, I said I’d better quit by 30/ Then by 30, I thought by 40 rapping is corny/ How wrong was I/ Never would have thought at 50, new songs by Nas would be hard and live,” he raps.
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Preemo even gets into his rapping bag briefly before Nas playfully tells him to stick to crafting beats, and lets the world know what they’ve been hoping for — that a collaborative project is on the way.
“It’s time, it’s album time, yeah,” Nas says to close out the track in a call back to “N.Y. State of Mind.” While the project is said to arrive later this year, there is still no firm release date listed yet.
Premier produced three records on Illmatic (“N.Y. State of Mind,” “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)” and “Represent”) in addition to sequencing the album. The duo continued to reunite on tracks such as “Nas Is Like” and “N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II,” as well as 2022’s “Beat Breaks.”
Illmatic arrived on April 19, 1994, and debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 with 63,000 albums sold in the first week.
Nas has spent the better part of this week reminiscing on ’94 and how things were surrounding the Illmatic‘s arrival.
“Grainy pictures for grainy times. I had a dream I could get my favorite producers to produce on my debut album. I knew exactly what I wanted and how it should be. But I didn’t know anyone except for Paul, so I asked him would he connect me to them all. The cool soul brother that he is helped me line it up. On April 19th we smashed shit,” he wrote to Instagram alongside a series of grainy photos earlier this week.
“Even tho the album leaked months before the release date we still are apart of music history. Thank you Large Professor (Paul) and Dj Premier who drove into the projects to pick me up a time or two. Qtip , Pete Rock , and my man from The Bridge DJ LES, and my guy AZ who was just coming up himself. And thank you to everyone involved. Friday is the albums 30th. 2 The Listeners- ONE LOVE.”
Listen to “Define My Name” below.
04/19/2024
The Queens MC’s groundbreaking debut turns 30 today.
04/19/2024
NBA superfan Lil Wayne makes a surprise cameo in a new Chris Rock-narrated ad for the 2024 NBA playoffs. The one-minute spot that dropped a day before the play-in tournament round kicked off is premised on the notion that most A-list NBA players don’t even think the playoffs are “a thing.”
It opens with a reporter asking Jayson Tatum if “playoff Jayson” is a thing, with the Celtics forward dropping his head and saying, “nah,” as an on-screen headline reads: “Tatum denies ‘Playoff Jayson’ is a thing” in the spot titled “Playoff Mode.”
“Playoff Jayson is not a thing,” he says sternly at a fake press conference. “Okay, Tatum, we all know it’s a thing,” Rock interjects in his patented clipped delivery over a shot of Tatum throwing down a monster dunk. “Just ask Playoff Spida,” Rock says as Cavs shooting guard Donovan “Spida” Mitchell drops his head and denies it’s a thing.
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Similarly, Rock gets a “not a thing” from Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, Bucks guard Damian Lillard, Nuggets Center Nikola Jokić and Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, who denies the playoffs’ existence while doing pull-ups with a ridiculously heavy weight vest. Lillard is so annoyed at Rock’s suggestion that it’s time to finally see “Playoff Giannis [Antetokounmpo] play with Playoff Dame,” that Lillard angrily rips off the “Playoff” tag slapped up over his locker.
“Not a thing,” Lillard says.
And finally, Rock goes to the man who would know the best if it is playoff season: Lil Wayne. “Playoff Tunechi knows it’s a thing,” the comedian says over a shot of glasses-wearing Weezy concentrating really hard at a claw machine game. “It’s game time!” Wayne says as he tries, and fails, to grab an NBA player plushy from the machine. The camera then swings to a front-row shot of some celebs taking in a playoff game, including chef Guy Fieri and Puerto Rican superstar Anuel AA.
But when Rock says “even Chuck’s playoff jokes are funnier,” NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal shuts that down quickly, as he scribbles a mustache and glasses on a headshot of fellow hall of famer and broadcaster Charles Barkley. “No they are not,” Shaq says pointedly.
The playoffs, a real thing, continue on Friday (April 19) with Chicago vs. Miami at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN and Sacramento vs. New Orleans at 9:30 p.m. ET on TNT, with the first round of the playoffs scheduled to kick off on Saturday (April 20).
Watch the NBA commerical below.
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Nicki Minaj wasn’t messing around when she was teasing bringing the heavy hitters out for her “FTCU” remix. The Barbz leader revealed on Thursday (April 18) that the star-studded trio of Travis Scott, Chris Brown and Sexyy Red would be joining her for the “FTCU (Sleeze Mix).” Mere hours later, Nicki closed out Aries season […]
Kid Cudi is getting hitched.
The 40-year-old “Day ‘N’ Nite” rapper and singer has got engaged to his girlfriend, menswear designer Lola Abecassis Sartore.
Cudi (real name: Scott Mescudi) shared the good news by way of an Instagram post, in which he refers to Lola as his “fiancé.” Look closer at the images in the carousel, snapped at the premiere of the Paramount+ series Knuckles, and the ring finger on her left hand positively sparkles.
“This amazing woman makes me so happy, she is everything to me and I’m so excited to share this news w u all,” he writes. “Life is wild, and right when I felt my future was uncertain, it became crystal clear with Lola. Happy Cud in full effect.”
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Sartore also shared a photo of the pair on her Instagram, writing, “I never thought I could love someone this much! So proud to call you my fiancé Scott. I can’t wait for you all to see this amazing man in the new Knuckles show!”
Cudi climbed into her comments, insisting: “U have me forever.”
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Sartore also reposted the picture on her Instagram Stories and wrote, “The smiles on our faces says it all! Love you to the moon and back Kid Cudi.” He replied, “Love u more my angel baby.”
Cudi is feeling a lot of love right now. Earlier this week, he was tapped for the second weekend of Coachella Festival, joining the lineup on Sunday (April 21).
The Ohio native last performed at Coachella in 2019, during which he ended his set with a run through the 2009 Man on the Moon: The End of Day track “Pursuit of Happiness,” which he dedicated to Mac Miller and Nipsey Hussle. “Insano Boy Is Comin,” Cudi posted Tuesday night when news broke of his date in Indio, CA.
Coachella will provide a launch pad for his Insano World Tour, which will kick off in Austin, Texas, on June 28 and will hit arenas across the country throughout the summer. Cudi will head overseas for a raft of concerts early next year, including visits to Germany, Italy, France and the U.K.
Cudi boasts 27 appearances on the Billboard Hot 100, including a No. 1 for his 2020 collaboration with Travis Scott, “The Scotts,” and 10 appearances on the Billboard 200 chart, including five top 10s.
Ludacris couldn’t contain his excitement in his yearslong grind to finally take home best rap album at the Grammy Awards, which he did when Release Therapy reached the rap Grammy mountaintop at the 2007 ceremony.
Luda let his emotions pour out backstage as he celebrated loudly with his team, which Justin Timberlake apparently overheard in the room next door, as the *NSYNC singer told the Atlanta rapper to pipe down.
The Chicken-n-Beer rhymer joined Sean Evans for an episode on Hot Ones on Thursday (April 18), and he clarified details of the backstage argument with Timberlake after it resurfaced and went viral earlier this year.
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“The Internet went a little crazy with it. He definitely meant it, but it was no cursing out. He was behind the curtain and I was celebrating so openly and I was so loud,” Ludacris explained. “I think it was said more in fun, but there was definitely some truth behind it. Like, ‘OK, show’s not over. Stop celebrating so openly, I haven’t won any yet.’ With a smile on his face type of thing.”
Ludacris pulled up to Drink Champs in February, where he expanded on the mix-up with JT backstage. “At this time, they had all the artists separated by curtains, so motherf—ers weren’t in specific rooms. I say that to say I get back and I’m like, ‘Yeah! F— yeah! I made it! I did it! I won! I literally set out to get a Grammy and I got it!’” he said.
“All of a sudden, I hear this voice from the other side of the curtain. They yell, ‘Shut the f— up! Some of us didn’t win any God—n Grammys today!’ I pull the curtain back and this n—a Justin Timberlake is on the other side of that motherf—er.”
Best rap album wasn’t the only hardware Ludacris took home at the ’07 Grammys: The Pharrell-assisted “Money Maker” won best rap song honors too.
Ludacris reflected on setting a goal to make Release Therapy so undeniable that the Recording Academy had to give him the Grammy trophy.
“The reason was this was for all of these years, I want to say it was a good nine or 10 years, I was in the same category of solo male rap artist as Eminem, 50 Cent, DMX, Jay-Z. So I finally got to a point [where] I was so consistent that I just built up this momentum and I finally had my time,” Ludacris said.
“That was probably one of the — if not the — best times in my career for literally setting out and making sure I had a goal and accomplishing that goal… It meant everything to me.”
Release Therapy debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 following its September 2006 release, with 309,000 albums sold in the first week.
For the record, Timberlake also won two Grammys that year — best dance recording for “SexyBack” (featuring Timbaland) and best rap/sung collaboration for “My Love” (featuring T.I.). JT lost in two other categories that year — album of the year and best pop vocal album, both for his megahit FutureSex/LoveSounds.
Elsewhere in Luda’s Hot Ones test — which he aces — the rapper reveals he’s related to legendary comedian Richard Pryor and recalls Ben Stiller inviting him over for a private screening of Tropic Thunder to get his clearance to use “Get Back” in the film.
Watch the full episode below. Talk of the Timberlake/Luda spat begins around the 8:45 mark.
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Ye has been named as a suspect in a battery case in Los Angeles, according to multiple reports.
TMZ first reported Wednesday night (April 17) that the rapper, formerly known as Kanye West, is being accused of punching another man in the face after he allegedly “grabbed” Ye’s wife, Bianca Censori. According to TMZ, West allegedly responded by striking the man.
Yeezy’s chief of staff Milo Yiannopoulos claimed in a statement to FOX 11 that Censori was “physically assaulted” and “sexually assaulted” by the man accusing West.
“‘Grabbed’ is grossly inadequate as a description of what happened. Bianca was physically assaulted,” Yiannopoulos said. “The assailant didn’t merely collide into her. He put his hands under her dress, directly on her body, he grabbed her waist, he spun her around and then he blew her kisses. She was battered and sexually assaulted.”
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Yeezy and his wife reportedly left the scene of the alleged altercation before the police arrived. The victim did not need treatment for his injuries suffered, according to TMZ.
LAPD officer Drake Madison confirmed to Billboard that officers arrived at a hotel on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood on April 17 around 12:30 a.m. PT for a battery investigation and that a battery report was then completed. However, Madison did not confirm whether Ye is a suspect. As of press time, no charges have been levied against Ye.
Billboard has reached out to West’s reps for further comment.
FOX 11‘s Matthew Seedorff shared on X that he saw detectives investigating outside a Los Angeles hotel possibly tied to the alleged altercation.
BREAKING: Kanye West is being investigated by Los Angeles Police as a suspect in a battery case. We saw LAPD detectives outside the hotel today. TMZ confirms West is accused of punching a man in the face late Tuesday night that allegedly “grabbed or pushed his wife”. pic.twitter.com/tbNFs0d08X— Matthew Seedorff (@MattSeedorff) April 18, 2024
Last year, the rapper was sued by a paparazzo over a phone-throwing incident. Photographer Nichol Lechmanik filed a lawsuit against West for assault, battery, negligence and interference with the exercise of her civil rights following the alleged altercation. She claims in her complaint that on Jan. 27, 2023, the musician threw her phone into traffic outside Sports Academy in Newbury Park, Calif.
On the music side, West is coming off the release of his Billboard 200-topping Vultures album alongside Ty Dolla $ign in February. The Vultures 2 sequel is rumored to be released in May.
Move over, Cowboy Carter! Beyoncé‘s latest Billboard 200-topping album isn’t the only place to find some country-crossover fun. On Thursday (April 18), Billboard chart-topping country star Hardy announced via Instagram that he’s doing a special cover of Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre‘s classic “Gin and Juice” in honor of the two rap icons’ upcoming pre-mixed […]
Big Sean won’t ever suit up in an NFL game, but he’ll have his name called at the NFL Draft and walk across that stage for other reasons. That’s because Detroit’s own Big Sean has been announced as the league’s official headliner for the Bud Light NFL Draft Concert Series when the draft comes to the D next week, from April 25 to 27.
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Sean Don is set to perform ahead of round one of the NFL Draft next Thursday (April 25), when he’ll take the Draft Theater stage around 6:15 p.m. ET to warm up the thousands in the Campus Martius Park audience.
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“With the Draft coming to Detroit, we knew the importance of representing the rich cultural history and music legacy of this city as part of our NFL Draft Concert Series,” Tim Tubito, director of event presentation and content at the NFL, said in a statement.
“With an incredible lineup of headliners who all hail from the region, we’re excited for these great artists to help us create an amazing on-site experience for our fans and prospects.”
The Detroit Youth Choir will hit the stage on day two (April 26), and Michigan native Bazzi will close out the concert series with a performance on Saturday night (April 27). The NFL Draft Concert Series is completely free of charge for fans, and general admission with be on a first-come-first-served basis.
Those seeking entry to the draft festivities just need to sign up for the NFL OnePass app. Attendees can also head to the nearby Hart Plaza for the Draft Experience, which will host player appearances, exhibits, games and more.
The 2024 NFL Draft kicks off at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday night (April 25) with the Chicago Bears on the clock; the team is widely expected to select USC quarterback Calebl Williams with the first pick.
ESPN will be broadcasting wall-to-wall coverage as the home of the NFL Draft all weekend.
As for Big Sean, he ended his hiatus with his comeback single “Precision” in March. Sean Don promised an album “coming soon” during his soulful Tiny Desk concert, and will become an author with his first book, Go Higher, arriving later this year.
See the announcement of Big Sean’s NFL Draft performance below:
It’s been 10 up and 10 down for Travis Scott at the Grammy Awards. Through his 10 nominations over the years, Scott is yet to have his name called to the stage for an acceptance speech, but that doesn’t mean the fight for validation is over.
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La Flame joined HBO’s The Shop alongside a star-studded cast that includes LeBron James as well as guests Ice Spice, New York Jets star Sauce Gardner and former NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco, during which he addressed his snubs. During the program, Scott opens up about the frustration of not being able to break through with the Recording Academy to capture a Grammy.
“A lot of our peers everyone’s like, ‘F–k that award.’ I f–k with it. You play football to win a Super Bowl, you play basketball to win championships. It’s what that Grammy used to mean is the idea I hold on to. I love to create music,” he explained.
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“That award is just like at one point was held up to a higher stature, but I still believe it, in a sense. It’s crazy rap’s not on TV. It’s like, you sit there and they air the rap award at 2 or 1:30, but you gotta perform at 8:30. So imagine losing at 1:30 and having to sit there for seven hours? Like f–k this s–t, you be like, ‘I wanna just dip. F–k this s–t.”
Scott’s last two albums have lost out on rap album of the year. Killer Mike’s Michael took home the win against his Billboard 200 No. 1 album Utopia earlier this year, and Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy claimed victory over Astroworld in 2019.
Even after losing out to Killer Mike, the Houston rager still hit the Grammy stage in February, where he delivered a fiery performance of Utopia cuts “I Know,” “My Eyes” and “Fe!n” with Playboi Carti.
On the music side, Travis Scott will appear on Nicki Minaj’s “FTCU (Sleeze Mix)” alongside Chris Brown and Sexyy Red. The remix hits streaming services on Friday (April 19).
The new episode of The Shop is now available. Watch it below.
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