R&B/Hip-Hop
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Up-and-coming rapper BossMan Dlow hits the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time with his breakthrough single, “Get In With Me.” The song, released Jan. 19 on Alamo Records, debuts at No. 68 on the Feb. 17-dated chart with 8.4 million U.S. streams (up 89%) and 367,000 radio airplay audience impressions in the Feb. 2-8 […]
Usher’s high-energy Super Bowl Halftime performance featured an entire roller skating choreography section — but the skill slipped the singer’s mind in an Uber Eats ad that dropped on Monday (Feb. 12). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In the 30-second clip, Usher is seen trying to […]
Last night (Feb. 11), not only did Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj‘s beef seemingly come to an end — the H-Town Hottie’s “Hiss” debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 — the duo’s war of words took a backseat to a much more daunting showdown: the San Francisco 49ers v. the Kansas City Chiefs.
Ultimately, the Chiefs — led by star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift‘s loverman Travis Kelce — pulled out a last-minute win over the 49ers. As thrilling of a game as the Super Bowl was, all eyes in the hip-hop and R&B worlds were squarely fixed on Usher‘s dazzling halftime performance. A flashy, maximalist ode to Black performance history and Las Vegas iconography, the King of R&B sprinted through his hit-packed catalog, including anthems such as “Superstar,” “U Got It Bad,” “OMG,” “Nice & Slow” and “Yeah!”
Of course, the top-level entertainer was in prime form, showing off intricate footwork and boundless sex appeal as he trotted out surprise guests such as Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Lil Jon, Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris. Between a major Grammy night for Victoria Monét and SZA — both ladies took home three trophies — and Usher’s three-pronged blitz of a killer halftime show, a star-studded new LP and a massive forthcoming headlining arena tour, R&B and hip-hop are starting off Black History Month with a bang.
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Honey Bxby’s blunt Other Woman™ anthem to Nardo Wick and Sexyy Red’s meme-interpolating “Somethin’.” Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: Honey Bxby, “Fkn Him Too”
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While some of her contemporaries would rather cry over a toxic situationship, Honey Bxby is relishing the innate messiness of being the Other Woman™ on her new single. “I’m f—kin’ him too!/ I don’t know what you’re gonna do/ It’s time you heard the truth/ That he don’t belong to you,” she proclaims in the chorus. Reverb-drenched backing harmonies and a booming 808-laden trap&B beat provide the song’s foundation, and Honey paints across the soundscape with a tongue-in-cheek tone that highlights the jauntiness of the track’s “F—k You Tonight”-evoking melody.
Jermaine Dupri feat. Nelly, Ashanti & Juicy J, “This Lil’ Game We Play”
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Reuniting Nelly and Ashanti for their first song together since 2008’s “Body on Me,” Jermaine Dupri delivers a joint that perfect captures the essence of the two stars’ era of R&B/hip-hop crossover collaborations. Assisted by Juicy J, Nelly and Ashanti contour Dupri’s Miami bass-inflected beat with heated lust as they wax poetic about the cat-and-mouse courtship game. To his credit, Juicy adds some of his trademark sexual brazenness to balance out the couple’s reliance on innuendo. “Don Julio, ass so fat, I might lose composure/ Take you back to my penthouse, see if you can squirt like a Super Soaker/ Gon’ head, touch your toes, baby, maybe we can do a little roleplayin’/ Maybe we can have us a night cap, maybe you can be my throat baby,” he rhymes.
Nardo Wick feat. Sexyy Red, “Somethin’”
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If you’re a late Millennial or early Gen Z, you know the glory days of IceJJFish’s social media reign. On their new track, Nardo Wick and Sexyy Red team up for a hood love song that hinges on a sample of one of IceJJFish’s viral tracks. “It’s somethin’ ’bout my b—h I love, I can’t put my finger on it,” Nardo chants in the chorus, riffing on decade-old “On the Floor.” Over an ominous, piano-anchored beat, the two rappers trade vulgar, no-holds-barred verses about the things they love about their significant other. Sexyy maintains her hot streak of enjoyable guest verses, finessing some hilarious onomatopoeia-centric rhymes in the process. “Have a hood n—a singin’, “Fah-la-la”/ Let him hit the c—chie like grrah, grrah, grrah/ Swervin’ all in traffic, gettin’ freaky in the car/ If he try to leave me, then it’s bah-bah-bah,” she spits.
GloRilla, “Yeah Glo!”
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It’s been some time since her dominant run of “F.N.F.,” “Blessed” and “Tomorrow 2” (with Cardi B), but GloRilla is back in top form with her latest single, “Yeah Glo!” A return to focusing on straightforward, unvarnished Memphis rap over too-obvious ploys for pop crossover success, “Yeah Glo” finds the Grammy nominee getting real busy over a rattling beat crafted by B100, Go Grizzly & Squat Beats. “Yeah, Glo! Stomp a lil’ p—y ho with some shell toes/ Slappin’ rap b—hes and makin’ bail, ho/ Two-tone Cartier match the nails, ho/ No competition, these b—hes stale, ho,” she chants in the chorus. Although she never specifies who exactly she slapped, her gruff Gangsta Boo-esque tone provides the perfect vehicle for her rambunctious rhymes.
Latto, “Sunday Service”
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Not even a week after “Hiss” vs. “Big Foot,” the rap ladies are now treating us to… “Think U the S—t (Fart)” vs. “Sunday Service?” Although Latto has skirted around plainly labeling “Sunday Service” as a diss record, there are enough likely shots at fellow ascendant rap star Ice Spice to warrant that label. Across a trap-rooted beat courtesy of Go Grizzly, Pooh Beatz & Bankroll Got It, Latto spends her first verse rapping about her wealth and looks, but by the second verse, she’s focused on addressing those that would rather tweet than rap. “Do you rap or do you tweet? ‘Cause I can’t tell, get in the booth, b—h/ Stop all that motherf—n’ yellin’, ho/ ‘Cause I ain’t buyin’ what you’re sellin’, ho/ Think I’m the s–t? B—h, I know it, ho / Jesus walked on water, I got ice boilin’ though,” she spits.
Kith, Cam’Ron & Swizz Beatz, “Last Stop”
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For the first-ever track under Kith Records, New York rap icons Cam’Ron and Swizz Beatz team up for a rousing new single titled “Last Stop.” Anchored by hearty drums and funky guitars, the Dipset frontman delivers several cocky couplets about his legacy, his sexual prowess, his rap skills and his unshakeable position as an elder statesman in the rap game. Even when he gets especially dirty — “Brought her friend with her, watch em eat each other out/ The way I f—ked her face, man, she gon’ need another mouth” — he makes sure to balance that out with more tasteful bars of good old fashioned New York braggadocio. “Different leader, same habits/ I know I’m what you want but you can’t have it/ You got bad habits, me I’m a bank magnet/ And the coupe roof missing like Frank Mathis,” he raps.
Usher, “I Am the Party”
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A new cut from the R&B maestro’s Coming Home album — released the Friday before his Super Bowl halftime show (Feb. 9) — “I Am the Party” finds Usher in a familiar gear: dirty macking as the top player in the game. Through lyrics that run the gamut from corny to cheeky (“Club in my house, I call it G-spot”), Usher paints, alongside longtime collaborators Jermaine Dupri and Bryan Michael-Cox, gently toes the line between dated slogs and enjoyable throwback pastiche. As per usual, Usher’s voice is the main attraction; he delivers a vocal performance so committed to the song’s eternal bachelor bit that you can’t help but be overwhelmed by his melismatic charisma. Oh, and who can resist, a nice warning shot to the competition: “N—as talmbout Verzuz with me, please stop/ Know you think he is, but baby, he’s not,” he croons.
Beyoncé formally ended long-rumored speculation about the second act of her Renaissance trilogy during the Super Bowl festivities Sunday (Feb. 11) with the release of not one but two country songs: “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em.”
The former is a vulnerable yet empowering autobiographical ballad that finds the singer-songwriter’s melodious vocals riding along to a spare track. It’s punctuated by a hard-charging guitar during what will no doubt become another sing-along chorus for Queen Bey fans: “Sixteen carriages drivin’ away/ While I watch them ride with my dreams away/ To the summer sunset on a holy night/ On a long back road, all the tears I fight.”
That number 16 is significant: It’s how old Beyoncé was when girl group Destiny’s Child signed with Columbia Records and released its breakthrough single “No, No, No.” The song’s lyrics also carry other biographical references, such as “I saw Mama prayin’, I saw Daddy grind” and “Goin’ so hard, gotta choose myself …/ Still workin’ on my life, you know/ Only God knows.” All in all, the song paints a very visual picture of Beyoncé’s dreams and ever-evolving career and life pursuits.
On “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the Houston native turns playful alongside an uptempo, banjo-driven and folk-vibed track — accompanied by whistling at one point — for “a real-life boogie and a real-life hoedown” as she and her crew head “to the dive bar we always thought was nice.” It’s about running out for a fun night on the town in lieu of sitting back and worrying about all of life’s problems. “This ain’t Texas/ Ain’t no hold ‘em/ So lay your cards down,” Beyoncé proclaims. “I’ll be d–ned if I cannot dance with you/ Come pour some sugar on me, honey, too.”
This isn’t the 32-time Grammy Award winner’s first rodeo. She presented a peek inside her country alter ego in 2016 with “Daddy Lessons.” Appearing on Lemonade, her sixth studio album, the song also featured country icons The Chicks on its promotional remix, which both acts performed live on the CMA Awards in 2016. Submitted for inclusion in the country category that year for the next Grammy Awards, “Daddy Lessons” was rejected by The Recording Academy’s country music committee.
Given that song plus Beyoncé’s Texas roots (for some, another tip-off was the cowboy hat she wore at the recent Grammys), this move across the genre aisle shouldn’t be a surprise. On Renaissance: Act 1, she reclaimed house music, a genre that Black musicians and artists had a major hand in building. And now the same for country, whose longstanding foundation was laid by Black musicians and artists as well. And before Beyoncé, R&B stars Lionel Richie and Ray Charles (another multi-genre aisle-crosser who’s also a Country Music Hall of Fame member) made their own popular, top-charting forays into country. So why not Beyoncé?
Listen to her two latest singles below:
Killer Mike’s Grammy night on Feb. 4 was bittersweet after being placed in handcuffs by LAPD following an alleged altercation with a security guard earlier in the day. Mike spoke to the cast of The View on Monday (Feb. 12), following his Grammy trifecta, where he won best rap album and song, and best rap performance.
“All of my heroes have been in handcuffs – Malcolm, Martin, Mandela, Medgar,” he said reflectively. “I walked out with the same dignity and respect that I walked in with, and I would implore people to just take that from it.”
He also noted that the backstage area was jam-packed, and caused security to behave more rashly than usual. “Backstage was overcrowded, the winners were exuberant, and I think security got a little overzealous,” he relayed to the panel.
Detained for several hours following his arrest, Mike received a misdemeanor charge and was released. Then, he met his wife, Shana, and quipped about their encounter, saying: “I walked out to my wife in the rain,” he said. “It was like a romance movie. It was dope.”
After his arrest, the rapper released a statement about the incident. “As you can imagine, there was a lot going and there was some confusion around which door my team and I should enter,” he said in part. “We experienced an overzealous security guard, but my team and I have the utmost confidence that I will ultimately be cleared of all wrongdoing.”
Mike’s whirlwind of a night didn’t end there. He later discovered that his 21-year-old son had finally found a kidney donor after waiting for three years. In an interview with GQ, he spoke about his initial reaction to hearing the news.
“The very next morning, I got a call that my child, after being on the list for three years, finally got his kidney. And I can just truly tell you that God is real. And the same way Christ gave us an example of being by himself, of being tempted by Satan, I understand that a lot better now because I could have succumbed to anger or evil and talked s–t. But I’m just grateful.”
Watch Killer Mike’s interview with The View below.
Rapper @KillerMike discusses his historic Grammy wins and addresses the night ending in controversy after an incident with “overzealous” security led to his arrest: “All my heroes have been in handcuffs.””I walked out with the same dignity and respect that I walked in with.” pic.twitter.com/JX2Yjfx9L4— The View (@TheView) February 12, 2024
Swizz Beatz has seen all your concerned comments about Sunday’s (Feb. 11) explosive Super Bowl LVIII halftime show and the hip-hop producer/rapper thinks you might need to calm down. “Y’all talking about the wrong damn thing !!! y’all don’t see that amazing dress covering the entire stadium ⚡️🚨😂😂😮💨😮💨😮💨😮💨,” he wrote of wife Alicia Keys‘ eye-popping, […]
After Usher electrified Allegiant Stadium on Sunday (Feb. 11) at the 2024 Super Bowl with his dazzling footwork and guest surprises such as Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Ludacris and more, fans are speculating as to who will be next up to grace the halftime show in New Orleans in 2025. Of course, the first name that […]
Conservative talking head Megyn Kelly was counting her blessings while watching Usher‘s glitzy halftime show during Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The former Fox News staffer and current podcast host weighed in on the “Yeah!” singer’s high-energy performance during the championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in a pointed tweet just as Ush was wrapping things up.
“Not into Usher or this halftime show,” wrote Kelly, mother to three children, Edward Yates (14), daughter Yardley Evans (11) and youngest son Thatcher Bray (10). “However I do appreciate that my kids haven’t had anyone’s vag exposed to them on screen as they innocently wait for the football to start. (Hi J-Lo, Shakira.)”
While the former was the personal takeaway from the host of the daily SiriusXM Megyn Kelly Show, the latter appeared to be an erroneous reference to Jennifer Lopez and Shakira‘s historic 2020 Super Bowl halftime show — during the Chiefs and 49er’s last championship showdown — which drew more than 1,300 complaints to the FCC from parents, many of whom thought the suggestive dancing was inappropriate for children.
While some of the complaints about the first all-Latin SB halftime performance mentioned twerking and skimpy costumes, at no point did either singer — both of who were wearing nude hose and bikini-style bottoms — expose any private parts during the joint set that featured Hustlers star Lopez spinning on a stripper pole while wearing a skin-colored bodysuit with strategically placed strips of sparkling gems.
The responses to Kelly’s tweet seemed to suggest the that a number of commenters didn’t agree with the right wing talker, with one saying, “I’m glad my kids aren’t exposed to you” and another explaining, “J Lo & Shakira were wearing nude bodysuits. Do you also shame figure skaters & gymnasts this way? Do you not let your kids watch those sports? They’re wearing the same thing that J Lo & Shakira wore.”
One even wondered, “So you knew it was a possibility after the J.Lo and Shakira show, and you subjected your kids to the Halftime Show anyway? Sounds like bad parenting to me.”
Usher’s career-spanning set included the singer running through a glamorous, Vegas-themed set of hits, with assistance from Alicia Keys, Will.i.am, Jermaine Dupri, H.E.R., Ludacris and Lil Jon.
Check out Kelly’s tweet below.
Not into Usher or this halftime show – however I do appreciate that my kids haven’t had anyone’s vag exposed to them on screen as they innocently wait for the football to start. (Hi J-Lo, Shakira.)— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) February 12, 2024
After paying homage to hip-hop and its 50th anniversary last year, New York restaurant Sei Less will give flowers to the romantics and R&B lovers with its special Valentine’s Day-themed menu.
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Beginning Monday (Feb. 12) and throughout February, The Lovers Menu will name its specialty dishes after singers’ classic records, drawing inspiration from renowned R&B acts including SZA, Ashanti, Ne-Yo, Babyface, Alicia Keys and more. In some instances, the dishes also double as some of the act’s favorite meals from the restaurant. The “Boo’d Up,” named after Ella Mai, is a shrimp fried rice meal that, according to owner Dara Mirjahangiry, the singer enjoys when in town. At the same time, the “Rock With U,” an Ashanti favorite, is an appetizer consisting of edamame dumplings and miso truffle.
“Introducing the Lovers Menu is our way of celebrating the season of love and the talented musicians that make the romantic soundtracks to our lives,” Mirjahangiry tells Billboard. “We wanted to honor these artists in a unique way, especially given their longstanding support of Sei Less. At the end of the day, there’s no better holiday to express our love and gratitude for these icons than Valentine’s Day, and it will make for a special experience for our clientele coming into the restaurant all month long.”
Last year, during its special ode to hip-hop, Sei Less named its dishes and cocktails after iconic songs and albums by Jay-Z, Nas, Ja Rule and more. Since opening in 2022, the restaurant has opened its doors to Cardi B, Clive Davis, Kevin Hart, Mark Wahlberg, Latto, Travis Scott, Lil Baby, Future, Fat Joe, and many more.
See the menu below.
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The last time Will.i.am shared the stage with Usher during the Super Bowl was when the Black Eyed Peas headlined the halftime show in 2011. But on Sunday (Feb. 11), it was Will’s turn to be the special guest, when he hit the stage at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas as Usher’s special guest during […]