State Champ Radio R&B/Hip-Hop
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Fat Joe and Jadakiss hosted a Father’s Day luncheon at Sei Less NYC on Wednesday afternoon (June 11) for 70 fathers and their families who have been impacted by the criminal justice system. The Joe & Jada podcast co-hosts shared words of wisdom and traded stories with the families on hand while munching on an […]
50 Cent is never one to shy away from controversy, and he threw himself into the middle of the highly publicized rift between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. 50’s taken his social media game to another level since figuring out how to use AI-generated images, and he posted another two on Tuesday (June 10) […]
06/11/2025
50 has relentlessly trolled the disgraced music mogul for years, Billboard breaks down where it all started.
06/11/2025
06/11/2025
Listen to new must-hear songs from emerging R&B/hip-hop artists like Jon Vinyl and Flee Lord.
06/11/2025
DMX’s “Party Up (Up in Here)” became the biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit of his career at that point in 2000, but many didn’t know the blaring anthem was a response to Kurupt.
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Xzibit, who’s sampled on Kurupt’s “Calling Out Names,” joined DJ HED’s Effective Immediately earlier in June, where he revealed how shocked he was when initially finding out that X’s “Party Up” was a subliminal Kurupt diss, as both rappers had romantic ties to Foxy Brown.
“What was crazy was when I found out that ‘Party Up’ was the answer to ‘Calling Out Names,’” Xzibit said before giving Drake some suggestions for his battle with Kendrick Lamar. “That’s what Drake should’ve did. He should’ve made a ‘Party Up.’ Nah, but he tried to get down and knuckle up with it. I keep telling n—-s, don’t get into fights with n—-s who like to fight.”
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“‘Party Up’ was a response to Kurupt,” Xzibit continued before reciting DMX bars from the track. “You wack, you twisted, your girl’s a ho/ You broke, the kid ain’t yours and everybody know… They were fighting over Foxy Brown. We need to do a hip-hop 101.”
“Calling Out Names” arrived in 1999 and found the West Coast rapper sending several shots at DMX, Irv Gotti and Ja Rule.
“And I’mma start callin’ y’all b–h n—s by name/ Mothaf—k D, Mothaf—k M, only X I know is Xzibit or RBX, extraordinary/ Tryna snatch my b—h/ You can have the b—h,” Kurupt raps.
DMX responded with “Party Up (Up in Here)” on his … And Then There Was X album in December 1999. The Swizz Beatz-produced track became a single in 2000 and went on to reach No. 27 on the Hot 100 and cracked the top 10 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Rhythmic Airplay charts.
Fans of DMX can expect more music, as a posthumous album titled DMX Features from the Yonkers native’s estate is set to arrive this summer.
Listen to Xzibit talk about DMX’s “Party Up (Up in Here)” just shy of the 48-minute mark below.
It’s a Young Money reunion and the remix, baby. After Nicki Minaj was noticeably absent from Tha Carter VI, the Queen reunited with Lil Wayne for the “Banned From NO (Remix)” on Wednesday (June 11).
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Fans were disappointed after a rumored C6 collaboration didn’t come to fruition, but the latest chapter in the Nicki-Wayne lyrical marriage arrived less than a week later, while Minaj emptied the clip with a fiery verse on “Banned From NO (Remix).”
Nicki crafts a delectable chorus with short-stopping bars, using NBA teams as double entendres for the Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks, and Los Angeles Lakers.
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The Queens icon then dives head-first into her bristling verse, which finds her sniping at NFL player-turned-podcast host Shannon Sharpe, who has been critical of Minaj in the past.
“If I send a pic of Shannon you ain’t that Sharpe/ Cause you still can’t spell Prague and that’s horrible,” she raps.
Minaj then salutes a classic Wayne bar from the Pharrell-produced “Yes.” “Weezy F Baby and the F is for Phenomenal,” she mimics.
Before leaving the burning booth, Nicki wasn’t done and she sent a shot at the NFL about their choices for the Super Bowl Halftime Show, which overlooked Wayne in his hometown earlier this year. “NFL, fire some n—s and then call us,” she spews in defense of the Young Money boss.
Tha Carter VI arrived on Friday (June 6) filled with 19 tracks and features from Kodak Black, MGK, Bono, BigXthaPlug, Jelly Roll and Big Sean. The “Banned From NO (Remix)” marks the first Weezy-Minaj collaboration since 2023’s “RNB” from Pink Friday 2.
Listen to the “Banned From NO (Remix)” below.
RAYE has a pair of collaborations coming out with Mark Ronson, and the British singer nearly shied away from working with the esteemed producer due to his connection to the late Amy Winehouse, whom RAYE has drawn comparisons to.
The first collab is titled “Suzanne” and is slated to arrive on Friday. People caught up with RAYE backstage at Governors Ball in NYC over the weekend, where she opened up about her initial hesitancy to team up with Ronson, who predominantly produced Winehouse’s final album, Back to Black, alongside Salaam Remi in 2006.
“Honestly, I’m not gonna lie, I actually was quite nervous and scared to work with him,” she admitted. “I just do want to say that I know I can never, ever, ever, ever, ever attempt to replace or imitate Amy. I’m in awe of her. We all are, and we miss her.”
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RAYE continued: “It’s quite a tough thing to even allow myself to create so freely with him,” she says. “But I really just wanted to be like, ‘Do you know what? I just need to forget what anyone else is gonna say about this.’ I absolutely love this producer. I’ve always wanted to work with this producer since I was a little girl.”
Their second collaboration is set to be released later in June, with “Grandma Calls the Boy Bad News” slated to land on the F1 soundtrack.
“We’ve made music together that I’m so proud of, and I love,” she gushed. “I play it, and it makes me happy and joyful, so I’m proud.”
The “Escapism” singer’s next album is starting to take shape, but she’s stuck without a title for the project, which follows her acclaimed 2023 LP, My 21st Century Blues.
“I don’t have an album title,” RAYE said. “I’m like, ‘What is it gonna be called?’ It’s stressing me out right now, I can’t lie, because I’ve got the music starting to really come there. I just don’t know what this album’s gonna be called. In my humble opinion, My 21st Century Blues is such a fire album title, and I can’t hand in an album title that’s less good than that.”
The Alchemist could’ve had a beat on Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter VI. HipHopDX caught up with the living legend outside the 2025 BET Awards and asked if he and Lil Wayne have ever been in the studio together. “Not lately,” he answered before revealing that he often keeps in touch with Wayne’s camp and was […]
15 years ago, Wiz Khalifa solidified his mixtape legacy with the release of Kush & Orange Juice, and he returned with a sequel to the classic project earlier this year. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The Pittsburgh native traveled to the NPR offices to make his […]
Ice Spice is taking a trip to Bikini Bottom soon, with the rapper officially securing her spot in an upcoming SpongeBob Squarepants movie. Per Deadline, Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation announced on Tuesday (June 9) the new cast for the upcoming film The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants. Spice was announced alongside Regina Hall, Sherry […]
