R&B/Hip-Hop
Page: 295
As the lights dimmed for the 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show in Las Vegas, the San Francisco 49ers led the Kansas City Chiefs 10-3, but that facedown took a 15-minute backseat to a bombastic celebration of one of the most staggering careers in pop history — Usher‘s.
Decked out in a white diamond-studded blazer and pants, Usher ushered in a maximalist ode to Las Vegas, Black performance history and his hometown of Atlanta. Throughout his set, the “Burn” singer incorporated flappers, Cirque du Soleil-esque dancers and roller skaters as he tore through his timeless discography. Performing both on the field and in an elevated stage — which was surrounded by a marching band that spelled out his name — Usher dominated every inch of Allegiant Stadium.
Beginning with “Caught Up,” Usher rolled through decades of hits including “Nice & Slow,” “U Don’t Have to Call” and “Love In This Club.” Armed with an arsenal of solo hits and collaborative smashes, Usher also trotted out a number of eye-popping surprise guests. As heavily rumored, Grammy-winner Alicia Keys indeed made an appearance during the halftime show, and she sported a sultry rhinestone-encrusted red corseted bodysuit for the occasion.
The two R&B icons performed a brief snippet of Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You” before delivering a heartwarming rendition of “My Boo,” their 2004 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit. Other guests included Oscar-winning R&B singer-songwriter H.E.R. — who delivered a Prince-esque guitar solo during Usher’s show-stopping “U Got It Bad” performance before playing the opening licks of “Bad Girl” — as well as Jermaine Dupri (who introduced “Confessions, Pt. II”) and Ludacris, who flawlessly delivered his iconic “Yeah!” verse.
Gracing the halftime show just a few months after closing one of the most successful and buzzed-about Las Vegas residencies in history — his My Way show grossed $95.9 million — Usher also made good on his promises of shirtlessness, precise choreography and gyration. The “Climax” singer underwent several outfit changes, going from his white ensemble, to a bare chest, before closing with a leather jacket and pants combo in the blue-white-black color palette. Needless to say, the show was a feast for the eyes on all artistic fronts.
As just the second performer to headline the Apple Music era of Super Bowl Halftime shows, Usher delivered an outstanding follow-up to Rihanna‘s two-time Emmy-winning 2023 show. While “Yeah” and “OMG” unsurprisingly drew the loudest reactions across Allegiant Stadium, the crowd also went wild for cuts such as “Love In This Club.” None of this is too shocking, however, considering Usher’s jaw-dropping success. The eight-time Grammy winner boasts nine Hot 100 No. 1 hits and four Billboard 200 No. 1 albums, including Confessions, which recently earned a 14x platinum certification from the RIAA.
By the end of his performance, Usher presented the ultimate case for not only his King of R&B title, but also the necessity of seeing him on his forthcoming Past Present Future tour. The 44-show trek is set to launch on Aug. 20 in Washington, D.C., and includes multi-night runs at Brooklyn’s Barclay Center (Sept. 6-10), Atlanta’s State Farm Arena (Oct. 17-20) and the brand-new Inuit Dome (Sept. 17-24) in Inglewood, Calif.
Here’s Usher Super Bowl Halftime Show setlist:
“Caught Up”
“U Don’t Have to Call”
“Superstar”
“Love In This Club”
“If I Ain’t Got You” / “My Boo” (with Alicia Keys)
“Confessions, Pt. II” (with Jermaine Dupri)
“Nice & Slow”
“Burn”
“U Got It Bad” / “Bad Girl” (with H.E.R.)
“OMG” / “Turn Down for What” (with Lil Jon)
“Yeah!” (with Ludacris)
Breakups are hard — just ask Ice Spice. Teaming up with PepsiCo’s burgeoning lemon-lime soda brand Starry for a new Super Bowl commercial that aired Sunday (Feb. 11), the “Munch” rapper gave a masterclass to moving on. Sipping on a glass of Starry as an animated lemon and lime shower her cheeks with sweet smooches, Ice Spice […]
Andra Day has officially added herself to a historic line of annual pre-Super Bowl performances by singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” at the 2024 Super Bowl, this year held at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Taking to the field just minutes ahead of this year’s kickoff between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco […]
Kanye West‘s album listening parties have become one of the more interesting music events in the last eight years. As a Kanye fan, given the mystique surrounding the iconic rapper, we always flirt with the idea of attending these events. However, we know to always expect the unexpected from him.
Back in 2016, Ye threw the first of his big listening parties at the world-famous Madison Square Garden in New York for The Life of Pablo, and it was one that I’m still upset I missed. Kanye has been a part of my life since he debuted as an artist with The College Dropout in 2003 when I was 12 years old. As hard as it is to say these days, I’m an OG fan of the Chicago rap legend and will make every attempt to attend a show or listening event.
The Pablo listening had Kanye smiling from ear to ear while partying with other rappers such as Pusha T and Kid Cudi, letting Young Thug get some shine on the auxiliary cord, and more. It was a moment all Kanye fans cherished. Little did we know it would be the last such event we’d get from the troublesome multihyphenate. The listenings for his non-gospel albums, Ye and Donda, were marred by several issues, including late start times and incomplete albums.
Being an older fan of Kanye, the desire to attend or even check for his events has slowly dwindled, especially as he’s become known more for his controversial actions than his music lately. When the 46-year-old announced he would host a pair of listening parties in Chicago and New York for Vultures, his collaborative project with Ty Dolla $ign as the group ¥$, I wasn’t clamoring to go. There was a good chance it wouldn’t even happen. Before he and Ty performed the album in Miami during Art Basel, he attempted to host a big listening event in Italy. It never happened. Still, a sense of intrigue pushed me to see where Ye was going in this new chapter of his career.
I went into the Vultures New York listening on Saturday (Feb. 10) wondering what to expect. Was the album finished? Would Ye go on a wild rant? Will the listening start on time? How would people react to Kanye this time after all the antisemitic comments and odd behavior? There were no true answers to those questions until I began my trip to the grounds of the UBS Arena.
Like a regular New Yorker, I took public transportation. Droves of fans bolted through Grand Central Station in Midtown Manhattan to catch the iron horse that brought guests directly to the arena. People were hyped over what they could hear from Kanye and Ty Dolla, but there was also a universal feeling that something could make this whole experience go haywire.
“We don’t even know what’s going to happen! Is he even done with the album? This IS Kanye,” someone a few rows over told their group of friends on the train. Another person didn’t even know why they were making the trip but said, “F— it, it’s Kanye.” Others were shameless and admitted they passed on sex to see Mr. West.
Postponing romantic dates for a Kanye event is insane, but knowing I wasn’t the only one unsure of this listening was a good feeling. Little did we know, though, that Ye was about to flip the switch on us again.
Various chants of “We want Yeezy” and “Kanye” filled the air inside UBS Arena as people made their way to their seats and a DJ spun various tunes. Doors had been open since 8 p.m., and people grew restless as minutes turned into hours with no sign of ¥$ in sight.
In my mind, I already felt things were going south. I saw people yawning in their seats while others scrolled through their phones with barely a flair of excitement on their faces. Some were reminiscing about the “old Kanye” and his most legendary tours, including 2008’s Glow in the Dark tour and 2013’s Yeezus tour, possibly to reassure them that Ye is indeed capable of putting on a memorable show. The event in Chicago Thursday night (Feb. 8) had fans upset as it started late and lasted all of 45 minutes before ending abruptly.
People seemed to be over Ye’s antics and the whole experience before it even started. However, all those initial thoughts were squashed once the clock hit 11 p.m. and “Carnival” rang out through the UBS Arena speaker system. As the bass rattled the venue, Kanye and Ty Dolla showed up on the hazy stage to a roaring crowd with guests like Rich That Kid in tow.
From there, Ye and Ty took the crowd on a journey filled with hard-hitting anthems and head-bopping tunes. At one point, I forgot I was at a listening and thought this was a full-fledged concert with people screaming at the top of their lungs while bopping in their seats, a far cry from the tired and bored faces that walked through the doors of UBS at 8 p.m.
Kanye is known for teaming up with other artists on his albums and Vultures is no different. Although North West wasn’t in attendance, the crowd burst into cheers at her feature on “Talking.” Quavo’s appearance on “Paperwork” got a warm response, as did YG’s verse on “Do It” and Freddie Gibbs’ lyrical assault on “Back to Me.” However, no one got a more fiery response than the enigmatic Playboi Carti, who actually joined ¥$ on stage, rapping on “F-k Sumn” and “Carnival.”
Initially, I was shocked to hear how good the album sounded, and I wondered if Kanye had actually finished an album before playing it for the public rather than continuing to work on it until the deadline as he has in the past. The production was on point, and although his bars were incoherent and juvenile at times, Ye’s verses felt complete and Ty’s vocals sounded immaculate.
Ye isn’t the most lyrically gifted rapper on the planet, but we know he can put more effort into his rhymes. Bars such as “She fell in love with the sword, I sliced, I diced, I hit it from the back/ Whore, whore” on “Hoodrat” or “Wish somebody woulda warned us/ When I was 15, my soulmate wasn’t born yet” and “We got multiple wives too, just at different times/ Picture this, if every room got a different b—-/ Do that make me a porn-gga-mist?” on “Problematic” are just plain bad.
Kanye clearly can’t help himself and his controversial rhetoric with various mentions of being antisemitic and committing acts against Jewish women on tracks such as “Vultures” and “King.” He also didn’t stray away from comparing himself to controversial figures accused and/or found guilty of sexual assault on “Carnival,” where he raps, “Now I’m Ye Kelly, b—-/ Now I’m Bill Cosby, b—-/ Now I’m Puff Daddy rich/ That’s Me Too rich.”
We’ve heard Ye and Ty Dolla’s collaborative brilliance on tracks such as “Real Friends” and “Fade,” but Vultures has these guys showing more of their raw chemistry. The two are giving a convincing argument that they’re a formidable one-two punch with their new joint effort.
After about an hour, the listening was over, and fans were left satisfied. “Kanye is the GOAT, are you f—ing kidding me?” one person was heard yelling on their way out of the arena. Others shouted they needed the Chicago native to drop the album and that “he’s done it again,” proving people approved of his and Ty Dolla’s efforts.
Being a Kanye fan who’s seen it all, this listening was a welcomed surprise as Ye seems as if he has a clear vision for the music for the first time in years. He appeared to be so focused that Vultures 1 was released early Saturday morning, a day after the listening, which is a shocker given he’s delayed this album and other projects several times in the past.
Despite his best efforts to destroy it with controversial and offensive statements, Kanye’s musical legacy is already cemented. Vultures isn’t a make-or-break moment for the enigmatic rapper. But it is a bright spot in what has been a dark and gloomy few years. With Vultures reportedly being a trilogy and the first sounding as good as it does, I’m hoping Kanye can keep this momentum going into the next two parts. When he’s on, he can create something worthwhile.
As a follow-up to his last official release, Donda, which won two Grammys, Vultures has the potential to see the same success with heat-seeking tracks such as “Hoodrat,” “Do It,” “F-k Sumn,” “Carnival, “Burn,” and more propelling it. Do we need another album from Kanye West? No, not really. But with the ever-evolving hip-hop landscape and his ability to connect with different generations, Ye won’t be leaving the culture anytime soon. He just needs to stay focused on the music and drop on time.
Kanye West has finally delivered his elusive album Vultures 1 alongside Ty Dolla $ign. The much-delayed joint project arrived early Saturday morning (Feb. 10) follows the pair’s listening party at New York’s UBS Arena. It includes features by Future, Lil Baby, Playboi Carti, Freddie Gibbs, North West and more. The set appears to be released […]
02/10/2024
Ye returns with help from Playboi Carti, Travis Scott, Quavo and more.
02/10/2024
This year, rap beef is at an all-time high on the female side, with Nicki Minaj and Megan The Stallion sparring along with the newest feud between Latto and Ice Spice. While appearing on Shannon Sharpe and Chad Ocho Cinco’s Nightcap podcast in Las Vegas on Thursday (Feb. 9), Saweetie spoke on the rise of beefs in hip-hop.
“When the men have their beef, it’s like, ‘Oh OK, it’s a sport.’ But when the women do it, it’s not seen as a sport. I feel like when there’s beef, it’s a sport,” she told Sharpe. “You’re seeing who’s the most witty and clever.”
Minaj took offense at Megan’s Hot 100 chart-topper “Hiss,” which many assumed were shots directed at her. “These h–s don’t be mad at Megan, these h–s mad at Megan’s Law/ I don’t really know what the problem is, but I guarantee y’all don’t want me to start/ B—h, you a p—y, never finna check me/ Every chance you get, bet your weak ass won’t address me,” Thee Stallion spewed, allegedly targeting Nicki and her husband, Kenneth Petty.
In response, the Queens MC penned a scathing rebuttal titled “Big Foot” and targeted the Houston rapper on social media. She referenced Meg’s late mother, her rapping skills and the 2020 Tory Lanez shooting.
“What you’re seeing right now is battle rap, just singles,” relayed Saweetie. “If they were battle rapping, then it wouldn’t be beef; they would be going on stage like this, but now that it’s singles, it’s bringing a bigger audience.”
When asked if she would respond to a record directed at her, Saweetie said it depended on “what was said” and “who sent it.”
Last year, confusion surrounded Saweetie and the sampling of Aqua’s 1997 hit “Barbie World” when she first teased her rendition “Icy Girl, Icy World” on Instagram Live. According to Problem — one of the writers on Saweetie’s version — he claimed they sent the record to Minaj’s camp to consider for the Barbie movie, which she declined. Later, Minaj would work with Ice Spice on “Barbie World,” using a similar sample, and the song became a hit, earning a Grammy nomination this year.
Saweetie addressed the issue and seemed unfazed during her interview with Power 106. “I love to inspire; that’s my purpose here, and they look bomb as f-ck in the video. So it’s just like, ‘OK, b—h, I see you!’ Mine still coming out, though. Stay tuned. I’m saving it for a very special moment.”
Watch Saweetie’s interview with Shannon and Ocho below.
[embedded content]
Usher is firmly in his zone on his long-awaited ninth album, Coming Home. The 45-year-old R&B veteran who is gearing up to take the stage for the halftime show at Sunday’s (Feb. 11) Super Bowl LVIII dropped the 20-track, guest-packed collection on Friday morning (Feb. 9) and it is everything you’d want from the “Yeah!” singer.
On his first studio album since 2016’s Hard II Love, Usher serves up all the low-boil seductive jams you’d expect, from the simmering not-together-but-it’s-fine single “Good Good” with Summer Walker and 21 Savage to the bubbling miss-you-much ballad “Kissing Strangers,” on which he croons, “How we go from strangers kissing to kissing strangers?”
After opening with the finger-snap, Michael Jackson-meets-Afrobeats Burna Boy collab “Coming Home,” Usher shows love to his hometown in the Billy Joel-interpolating, Latto-featuring “A-Town Girl,” which flips the Piano Man’s tony East Coast-repping 1983 hit “Uptown Girl” into a dirty south homage to a woman who knows how to twerk and skate.
There is, of course, plenty of heartbreak (the brooding “Cold Blooded” with The-Dream), disco-fueled confident swagger (“Big”), Eurosynth midtempo exhortations to keep the party going (“Keep on Dancin’”) and straight-up all-night-long sex jams (“Stone Kold Freak”).
The collection is packed with a parade of guest vocalists and rappers, from the meditative H.E.R. collab on “Risk It All” from The Color Purple soundtrack, to the seductive “Ruin” with Nigerian rapper/producer Pheelz, on which serial seducer Usher laments that his ex “ruined me for everybody,” even as he boasts that other women keep blowing up his phone. The album ends with the remix of Usher’s collab with K-pop icon Jung Kook from BTS on the latter’s earworm single, “Standing Next to You.”
And, not to worry, Ush has plenty of slow jams for those couple skates (“I Love U,” “Please U,” “Luckiest Man”) on the collection as well. Super Bowl LVIII will take place on Feb. 11 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and air on CBS and stream on Paramount+, Sling TV, Hulu+Live TV and FuboTV.
Stream Coming Home below.
On Monday night (Feb. 5), Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign shared a vague post on social media that hinted at a listening event in Chicago for Vultures, the artists’ first joint project as hip-hop duo ¥$. “Vultures United Center Chicago 02 08 24,” the post read without any additional details.
It was at first met with skepticism, given that the United Center did not have the event listed on their schedule and the multiple times the album’s release date has shifted. But once it was listed on the venue’s website first thing the following day — with tickets going on sale at 3 p.m. local time — fans were eager to get their hands on a golden ticket. Before 6 p.m., the album release party, dubbed Vultures Listening Experience, had officially sold out.
Anticipation was high among fans, excited for an early listen of the long-awaited album, which was initially supposed to be released Dec. 15 and was then moved to Dec. 31, then Jan. 12. While it was expected to drop midnight Friday (Feb. 2), as of press time, the album has yet to drop.
Around 7 p.m., fans — mainly young teens who opted for oversized, dark-hued hoodies or a puffer, cargo pants and their favorite sneakers — crowded around the United Center just as rain and thunderstorms cleared. Before doors opened, Billboard spoke to a trio of friends who drove to Chicago from Virginia. Mauricio, the group’s de facto spokesperson, had a one-word response when asked what his expectations were for this event. “Visuals,” he said categorically. “This guy (Kanye) is really about portraying an image and aesthetic and vibe. The music is just kinda the background.”
Next to Mauricio and his buddies was Sterling from New Hampshire. “As soon as the event went on sale on Tuesday, I was able to buy a $235 ticket but it was a battle with Ticketmaster because the site would go down,” he explained. “My jaw would hit the floor but I eventually got in. Then, I bought a Greyhound ticket, took the bus, booked a hotel and spent almost $1,000. I’ve been waiting to see Kanye for 10 years. I’m just happy to be in the same building as him.”
A little past 8 p.m. gates finally opened and people were allowed inside the venue where official merchandise — black tees and white sweatpants and shorts stamped with a Vultures logo — was sold. Once you made your way inside, you were hit with a foggy view of the barely visible stage erected from an open space surrounded by white flags with the Vultures logo.
Chance the Rapper was in attendance and made a grand entry with an entourage in tow waving at the fans who recognized the hometown hero. Once settled in, he, like everyone else there, patiently waited for the listening session to begin. And it did around 10:10p.m., an hour after it was scheduled to start.
The crowd roared at the sight of Ye and Ty who walked up on the stage. Some of the songs that played throughout the night included “Burn,” “Paperwork,” “Everybody,” “Carnival,” “Vultures,” “Hoodrat,” “Paid” and “Talking/Once Again,” which featured a special performance by North West. Undoubtedly, the 10-year-old’s appearance onstage was one of the best moments of the night with the entire venue cheering her on as she rapped alongside her superstar father.
While the 12 songs that were played throughout the listening session were met with rave and approval by fans who nodded along to every beat, they were in disbelief when the music ended and lights at the venue went on signaling that the show had ended. As if on cue, the confused crowd checked their phones once the event was over. To their surprise (or perhaps not), the album hadn’t been released.
Ye and Ty are expected to host another listening event today in New York’s UBS Arena. Below, a list of the takeaways from Chicago’s Vultures Listening Experience event:
A Nod to Chicago
On Wednesday around midnight, a new song showed up on RapCaviar, Spotify‘s premier hip-hop playlist: “All Falls Down,” Kanye West’s second hit single ever, which came out almost 20 years ago. While RapCaviar is mostly focused on new releases, it does occasionally feature throwbacks. Still, the addition felt notable, because a new release from West and Ty Dolla $ign is expected to arrive at midnight tonight and executives around the music industry are curious how streaming service gatekeepers will respond.
Will they support the renowned artist who now goes by Ye, despite the fact that his repeated antisemitism and conservative trolling has caused a widespread backlash, leading most of his prominent business partners to sever ties since 2022? Or will they just ignore the new album all together?
“It’s going to be complicated,” says one former Spotify employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “There’s going to be a difference of opinion within those places on how to handle it. Some people in leadership positions will want to be harsh on Kanye for the nasty antisemitic things he has said. There will also be another side, the hip-hop teams, who will say, ‘No, it’s Kanye, people say crazy shit all the time, plus he apologized. We don’t care. We’re playlisting because it’s Kanye.’”
A digital marketer who helps artists with streaming strategy was more skeptical. “Streaming services didn’t support ‘Vultures’ [Ye’s previous song], so I would be very shocked” if they support the rest of the album, he says. “Even though Ye did his apology, it felt like that came and went so fast.”
Reps for Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music did not respond to a request for comment.
Streaming services mostly avoid trying to wade into moral debates about artists’ character. One exception came when Spotify announced a new policy in 2018, writing on its blog that “in some circumstances, when an artist or creator does something that is especially harmful or hateful (for example, violence against children and sexual violence), it may affect the ways we work with or support that artist or creator.”
The backlash against this announcement was swift. Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, CEO of Top Dawg Entertainment, told Billboard, “I don’t think it’s right for artists to be censored.” Others felt similarly, and a few weeks later, Spotify said “we are moving away from implementing a policy around artist conduct.”
That said, two former employees say Spotify still occasionally flexes its muscles around playlisting. When Megan Thee Stallion was shot by Tory Lanez in 2020, “his songs weren’t getting in any playlists after that,” according to a former employee. (Lanez was found guilty in court in December 2022.)
But Ye is not on trial, and he also has more than 140 Hot 100 hits to date. Many of these are still in regular rotation: His catalog has earned more than 480 million on-demand streams already this year in the U.S., according to Luminate.
Even so, his newest song sank like a stone. When Ye and Ty Dolla $ign released “Vultures” in November, it failed to crack the Hot 100, and it has amassed only around 33 million Spotify streams, a flop by Ye’s high-flying standards. (He released a video for the track “Talking/Once Again” with Ty earlier this week, but it is not yet available on streaming services.)
Two sources familiar with Ye’s search for a distribution deal say several streaming services signaled to them that they were unlikely to support new music from the star due to widespread outrage over his antisemitic comments. “For an artist as big as Kanye to release a new track and receive no major editorial placements is quite an outlier,” notes Nicki Camberg, a data journalist at the company Chartmetric, which tracks data on playlisting, social media, and streaming for artists. (“Vultures” was released through Label Engine, a distribution company owned by Create Music Group, according to identification information in YouTube’s Content Management System.)
“Vultures” has fared slightly better on the airwaves than it has on streaming services. The song has received airplay from around 30 stations, according to Mediabase. Two stations in Ye’s hometown of Chicago played the song the day it came out, and they’ve played it far more than anyone else: 199 spins so far in 2024 from WGCI and 181 from WPWX. The station that played “Vultures” third most this year, KVEG in Las Vegas, has played it 50 times.
Aside from the iHeart-owned WGCI, it’s noticeable that the stations playing “Vultures” are mostly owned by smaller radio companies, not the behemoths like iHeart, Audacy and Sirius. The track has received 2,144 spins overall, with 6.187 million audience impressions.
In the mid-2010s, radio was eclipsed by streaming services as the most important driver of listening behavior. Now a similar thing has happened to streaming services: Young fans are increasingly likely to discover music on short-form video platforms like TikTok. (Though they can’t find Universal Music Group songs there at the moment.) As a result, executives told Billboard in 2022 that “Spotify and Apple editorial playlists don’t have as much punch” as they used to.
Even on an earnings call on Thursday (Feb. 8), Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl noted that “the data discovery and consumption trends” in music “are driven by the algorithms of the larger platforms and users sharing playlists with each other” — not playlists controlled by the various platforms. “The guys who do playlists had a lot of power four or five years ago,” says one longtime A&R. “Now their power is dwindling, because it doesn’t matter what they say. The kids choose at the end of the day.”
This could work to Ye’s advantage. If he’s able to luck into a viral moment, it won’t matter much whether he’s put on editorial playlists initially; listeners will find the music and play it, and the audience response will impact streaming services.
So far, “Vultures” hasn’t generated this kind of enthusiasm. “From a fan perspective, if it was going crazy and everyone was talking about it, that would push it,” the digital marketer says. “But I haven’t seen that anywhere.”