R&B/Hip-Hop
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Travis Scott was just three dates into his just-launched Utopia — Circus Maximum Tour when he postponed a date on the outing at the last minute. According to the News-Observer, Scott played a sold-out show at the PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C. on Friday night, but when fans arrived at the arena for what was […]
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign are shopping for a partner to distribute their forthcoming collaborative album — and sources tell Billboard they are considering five different offers. West “will make a decision soon,” says one source. And while sources say the album release was originally planned for Friday (Oct. 13), it was pushed back and is expected to land in the coming weeks.
The project has record industry executives weighing the risks and rewards of releasing what some who’ve heard the music say is West’s best music in at least five years, since 2018’s Ye, but at an especially fraught time as the conflict between Israel and Hamas intensifies following the surprise attack on the Supernova Sukkot Gathering music festival on Oct. 7.
Some label leaders have passed on the opportunity to distribute the project given the antisemitic comments West began making almost exactly a year prior, beginning Oct. 8, 2022 — even though the music itself isn’t controversial lyrically, sources say. But there are a multitude of smaller distributors in fierce competition for whom such a release could be game-changing, given the two artists’ streaming histories. One such possible company is Too Lost, the music distribution and publishing company that launched in 2021 and currently represents West’s rights on YouTube. (When reached for comment, Too Lost CEO Gregory Hirschhorn declined to comment.)
The last time West and Ty Dolla $ign released a collaboration was “Junya Pt 2” on Ye’s 2021 album, Donda. Before that, they worked together on Ty Dolla $ign’s “Ego Death” (2020) and on West’s “Everything We Need” (2019), “Real Friends” (2016) and “Only One” (2014).
After releasing 10 albums on Def Jam, Donda was West’s last release with the label. His 2022 album, Donda 2, was exclusively released on the Stem Player, and later that year, following West’s antisemitic comments, a spokesperson for Def Jam parent company Universal Music Group denounced his rhetoric and distanced the company from the artist. “Def Jam’s relationship with Ye as a recording artist, Def Jam’s partnership with the GOOD Music label venture and Ye’s merchandise agreement with Bravado all ended in 2021,” the rep said.
West has not officially released any new music since then, and industry watchers have wondered what kind of route he might take when he decided to make his return. Owning all his copyrights, West also has the option to self-release his music through a do-it-yourself service such as Distrokid or Tunecore for a modest one-time fee, but may favor a boutique distribution service that would pay an advance for the deal, provide a more personalized approach and work directly with streaming services for promotion and editorial placements.
Metro Boomin stopped by Billboard News during his Billboard cover story shoot to talk about working alongside superstars like Future, 21 Savage and more. But the hitmaker encountered a slight hiccup when he was cooking up beats for Pluto, presumably for their highly anticipated joint album. “They was beats I was making for the next […]
The Kansas City Chiefs vs. Denver Broncos game might’ve brought out Taylor Swift Thursday night (Oct. 12), but Metro Boomin brought out even more stars during his Amazon Music Live show. Billboard‘s current cover star invited Nav, Post Malone and Offset on stage with him during his nearly hour-and-a-half-long set. While his surprise guests ran […]
Megan Thee Stallion is taking her music back into her own hands amid a grueling legal battle with her record label 1501 Certified Entertainment. During an Instagram Live on Thursday (Oct. 12), the rapper revealed that she’s not signed to a label and will be funding her own music projects moving forward, as seen in […]
This year will end as it began, with an all-star Grammy salute to hip-hop. On Sunday, Dec. 10, CBS will air the live, two-hour concert special A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop. An extended “50 Years of 50-Hop” segment was one of the highlights of the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5. That kicked off a year of hip-hop celebrations that has underscored the importance and dominance of the genre.
The lineup includes Black Thought, LL Cool J and Queen Latifah, all of whom were also part of the Grammy telecast salute, as well as Bun B, Common, De La Soul, Jermaine Dupri, J.J. Fad, Talib Kweli, The Lady of Rage, MC Sha-Rock, Monie Love, The Pharcyde, Questlove, Rakim, Remy Ma, Uncle Luke and Yo-Yo. More performers will be announced in the coming weeks.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson of Two One Five Entertainment and LL Cool J will also serve as executive producers of the special, which tapes Nov. 8 at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles. The show was originally set to tape on Aug. 11, which was the 50th anniversary (to the day!) of a back-to-school party in The Bronx that many point to as the beginning of hip-hop culture.
A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop is produced by Jesse Collins Entertainment. Collins, Shawn Gee, Dionne Harmon, Claudine Joseph, Fatima Robinson and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay also serve as executive producers. Marcello Gamma serves as director.
Questlove curated the 15-minute spot on the Grammy telecast, which featured three dozen rap acts. Collins, Robinson and Gee (Questlove’s manager and president of LNU) were also among the producers of that segment.
The segment drew universal praise. Billboard’s Joe Lynch pegged it as the best performance on the 2023 Grammys telecast. “While it’s an impossible task to sum up 50 years of any genre (much less one that fought for decades to get a modicum of mainstream respect and eventually became the dominant genre in American music), this electrifying medley brought to vivid life the charged personalities, thumping grooves, deft deliveries and unpredictable flourishes that make hip-hop a global force.”
While many will assume that the success of the spot on the Grammy telecast led CBS to hurry a special into production, the special was in the works before anyone knew there would be a segment on the telecast, according to a source.
Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, hinted at the upcoming special in a statement announcing the telecast segment. “For five decades, Hip Hop has not only been a defining force in music, but a major influence on our culture,” he said. “Its contributions to art, fashion, sport, politics, and society cannot be overstated. I’m so proud that we are honoring it in such a spectacular way on the Grammy stage. It is just the beginning of our year-long celebration of this essential genre of music.”
The Grammys have not always been hip-hop supporters. The awards show didn’t have a dedicated category for rap or hip-hop until the 1988 awards, which were presented Feb. 22, 1989. D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s genial pop hit “Parents Just Don’t Understand” was the first hip-hop recording to win a Grammy (best rap performance). But they weren’t invited to perform on the show that year.
A year later, on Feb. 21, 1990, the duo became the first hip-hop act to perform on the Grammys. “We’d like to dedicate this performance to all the rappers last year that stood with us and helped us to earn the right to be on this stage tonight,” Will Smith said before he and D.J. Jazzy Jeff launched into “I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson.”
CBS, which has broadcast the Grammy telecast since 1973, aired another Grammy-branded special – A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys – on April 9. That special was taped on Feb. 8 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop airs Dec. 10 from 8:30-10:30 p.m. ET/8-10 p.m. PT on CBS. It streams on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).
Chxrry22 will release her new EP Siren on Oct. 27 via XO Records/Republic Records, she announced Friday (Oct. 13). Ahead of Siren, she dropped the single “Never Had This,” featuring Vory, on Friday. “This song was already one of my favorites on the project, and Vory and I had already been talking about working together […]
Cardi B knows the value of a good background. After husband Offset flooded their home with rose petals, lavish flower arrangements and balloons to celebrate Cardi’s 31st birthday earlier this week, on Thursday (Oct. 12) the “Bongos” rapper made good use of the ephemeral gifts by making them a backdrop for a song tease. Lounging […]
We know Megan Thee Stallion loves spooky season because we’ve already gotten this year’s Pumpkinhead Meg picture of the rapper with a carved gourd on her melon. But in a tweet on Thursday (Oct. 12) fans thought the “Bongos” MC was scaring up some more than just Hottieween vibes and was possibly teasing news about her next era with a Halloween-themed teaser in which she appeared to be baring her vampire fangs.
The post in question featured the cryptic message “Let’s begin…” accompanied by a sliver of a picture with a slime green filter that animated into a 3-second video in which Meg bared her sharp teeth. The clip did not have any sound, but it appeared that Meg had more to say in a series of Instagram posts with more scary scenes.
A trio of posts revealed the words “Act One” with the O comprised of a red snake swallowing its own tail. The caption on the first was a snake emoji and when you clicked through it revealed a video of a white snake coiled on someone’s hand, a close-up of Megan’s face and a third of her wrists covered in dangerously thorny bracelets. The second added the caption “Begin [snake emoji],” as well as a sliver of a shot in which a green-skinned Megan was seen reclining on a blood red divan, her long nails sharpened to murderous points.
It also appeared to reveal more of what looked like a music video, with sections of a shot in which Meg bared her vamp fangs again, before repurposing the X (formerly Twitter) vamp video and adding an image of a bowl of fruit and other totems on some kind of altar.
The final slide’s message was “Lets [snake emoji],” followed by the reveal that it was Megan holding the snake, along with a zoom in on her impressive diamond link bracelets, what looked like a bespoke pair of custom fangs and, yes, another snake picture.
The comments said it all: “m idk idk idk it’s a single or her costume!!!!,” “wait music or hottieween! I’m fine with either” and “wait music or hottieween! I’m fine with either.” Fans have been patiently awaiting the rapper’s follow-up to her cathartic 2022 album Traumazine.
At press time, however, Megan had not announced any new music, though she has been easing her way back into the game following the end of the trial of Tory Lanez, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in August for shooting Megan in the feet in July 2020. Since then she has released her hit Cardi B collab “Bongos” and the “Out Alpha the Alpha,” the lead single from the A24 move Dicks: The Musical, in which she also co-stars.
And, in keeping with the tenor of the szn, she will also play a sexy hormone monstress in the upcoming seventh season on Netflix’s animated series Big Mouth, which returns on Oct. 20.
See Meg’s posts below.
Today (Oct. 13), Offset is back with his long-awaited sophomore album Set It Off, marking his first solo album in four years.
The 21-track effort is a star-studded affair, as the Migos MC enlists Cardi B, Future, Travis Scott, Latto, Don Toliver, and more for his highly personal offering. To warm fans up, Set released two singles in “Jealousy” featuring Cardi and his “Fan.” His debut effort, Father of 4, spawned his multi-platinum single “Clout.”
Since his first solo effort, Offset experienced the passing of TakeOff, who was shot and killed in Houston last year.
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“Even on my own journey, I still feel his presence and his energy like, bro, ‘We got to go hard. We got to win. We got to win. This ain’t the end of it. We got to win,’” the “Clout” rapper told Apple Music in a new interview. “So that’s another thing that pushed me through is my boy, Take, man. He didn’t care that he didn’t care about the numbers, nothing. He like, ‘Bro, y’all’s s–t hard.’ He’s just very supportive in that. I just keep that in the back of my mind and just keep pushing.”
He also spoke about TakeOff’s temperament and what made him uplifting.
“Take had that… he just had good character. He just was like, ‘I make music with people that love my music and I love everybody.’ He’s a loving person, man,” he told Zane Lowe. “It was just a tragedy my boy had to go like that, man. But I’m pushing for him too. Legacy, the group thing is it can’t be a group because our main member is missing.”
Listen to Set It Off below.
https://open.spotify.com/album/1D1hLipjrdB6pnxurMtC3E?si=lxmvrITTQ3aE2GxASMqw5A