R&B/Hip-Hop
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For the last few years, Lil Nas X has carefully built up his public persona as a pop provocateur, master marketer and hilarious internet troll. But in a new clip, the rapper is stripping away all the facade and letting fans get to see the person underneath. On Thursday (Jan. 18), Lil Nas X unveiled […]
After a five-year hiatus, Netflix’s popular hip-hop competition show Rhythm + Flow will return for season two later this year.
The show that crowned its inaugural champion, Grammy-nominated MC D Smoke — and featured guest judges Cardi B, Chance The Rapper, and T.I. — has shaken the program’s lineup dramatically with its new judges Latto, DJ Khaled and Ludacris. In addition, Eminem will serve as a special guest judge for the show’s “Battle Round” competition.
“We are taking things up a notch with a new cast of global hitmakers in our judges and a new pool of undiscovered artists,” Brandon Riegg, Netflix’s vp of nonfiction series, said in a statement. “Hip-hop continues to evolve, so it’ll be thrilling to see Ludacris, Latto and DJ Khaled mentoring contestants during their journeys, along with legendary guest judges like Eminem providing their own brand of insight and advice. We saw this type of life-changing mentorship play out with past contestants whose musical geniuses reached massive audiences across our global platform.”
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Jessie Collins and Dionne Harmon, Rhythm + Flow’s executive producers, echoed Riegg’s enthusiasm with their joint statement. “We are so excited to partner with Netflix for the second season of Rhythm + Flow. This season features a powerhouse panel of judges, each with a distinct and influential role in hip-hop culture. In this significant moment for the genre, the focus extends beyond the music alone. We’re seeking unconventional voices and authentic stories that peel back layers and invite fans to immerse themselves in the contestants’ world as we spotlight the continually evolving spirit of hip-hop.”
There is not yet a premiere date for season two, which is expected later this year.
Rhythm + Flow has featured notable guest stars including Miguel, Jhene Aiko, Snoop Dogg and the late Nipsey Hussle. Season one winner, D Smoke, outlasted second-place contestant Flawless Real Talk and won $250,000. In 2021, Smoke nabbed two Grammy nominations, including best rap album.
Check out the trailer below.
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Cori Broadus opened up about a health scare via her Instagram Stories on Thursday (Jan. 18). The 24-year-old daughter of Snoop Dogg shared photos from a hospital bed, writing, “I had a severe stroke this am. I started breaking down crying when they told me.” In a follow-up Story, she wrote, “I’m only 24. What […]
Earth, Wind & Fire, Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary are the first wave of performers being announced for the Super Bowl Soulful Celebration 25th Anniversary special. CBS will broadcast the one-hour special on Feb. 10 (8 p.m. ET). Hosted by Cedric the Entertainer and Tichina Arnold, stars of the CBS series The Neighborhood, the special will be taped on […]
Up-and-coming R&B singer 4Batz is officially a Billboard Hot 100-charting artist thanks to his viral hit “Act II: Date @ 8.” The song, which the Dallas native self-released Dec. 15, debuts at No. 77 on the Hot 100 (dated Jan. 20) — the highest new entry — with 5.3 million official U.S. streams (up 40%) […]
Ice-T may have risen to fame in the ’90s as a rapper and fronting the band Body Count, who courted controversy with their song “Cop Killer,” but these days he’s a cop himself — at least on TV. He’s Sgt. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola on NBC’s long-running police procedural Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which kicks off its milestone 25th season on Thursday, Jan. 18, and it’s the rapper-actor’s 24th season on the Emmy-winning crime drama.
Over the show’s many seasons, it has featured countless entertainers as guest stars before they made it big (Stephen Colbert, Bradley Cooper, Adam Driver and Hayden Panettiere, for example), as well as household names (Carol Burnett, Robin Williams, Angela Lansbury and John Stamos, to name a few). But SVU has also given everything from blink-and-you’ll-miss-it guest spots to pivotal roles to musicians besides Ice, who has become a beloved staple alongside Mariska Hargitay’s Captain Olivia Benson (who one of Taylor Swift’s cats is named after).
Among them? Miranda Lambert, Heavy D, Sabrina Carpenter, Dave Navarro, Questlove (who played a dead body!) and many more.
“The one thing about [creator] Dick Wolf [and production company Wolf Entertainment] is they understand how musicians translate into acting — they have no fear of that,” Ice tells Billboard. “I think Dick Wolf’s theory is, ‘If you could be a star at something, you could be a star at anything.’”
“My whole career doing music and being on SVU, I’ve never had Dick Wolf or any people then try to talk to me about music or anything, like, ‘Oh, Ice-T did ‘Cop Killer” or this that or the other,” adds the actor-musician. “I think from the Wolf perspective, ‘The bigger the star Ice-T is elsewhere, the bigger the star I have on my show.’ So when I go win a Grammy, it’s like SVU now has a Grammy Award-wining actor. He understands power is power.”
As for his run on the procedural, Ice — who’s up for a 2024 People’s Choice Award for drama TV star of the year — tells Billboard it’s not just his acting abilities that keep Fin on the drama. “[Wolf] sits back, he watches not only a performance but what are you bringing — kind of like what I always say is he looks at a show and goes, ‘If anybody’s tuning in to see Ice-T, yes, he stays on the show.’ If you’re on the show and they don’t think they’re tuning into see you, you can get one in the back of the head in the parking lot, you know?” the Grammy winner says. “For some reason, he likes me. I think I’ve done more television with Dick Wolf than anybody in his camp. I’m on five shows; I’ve been on seven, counting crossovers.” (The Law & Order franchise has boasted a total of seven different shows to date.)
As for how much longer Ice can see himself playing Fin, the answer is a long time. “Yeah, I’ll stay on it. I have nothing better to do,” he shares. “Like I said, right now, it’s an easy gig for me. I’m still able to do Body Count, my music, I gig on the weekends; I got a daughter in school — it’s much easier. When you’re touring, you have to do 200 days a year on the road. … I said when Law & Order ends — whenever it does end — I’ll just go out and read for all Samuel L. Jackson’s parts!”
But until then, he’s happy to keep carrying Fin’s shield, and having musicians guest star on SVU alongside him. “I just love it when they bring hip-hop artists on,” Ice tells Billboard. “It’s one of those shows where if you got a fanbase and you throw your name in the hat, they might call you.”
While Ice isn’t sure which musician he’d like to see on the police procedural next, there are a few who have stood out in his mind as some of the most notable guest roles. Read on to see which five musicians are Ice-T’s favorite cameos on Law & Order: SVU.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs on NBC on Thursdays. Catch up on past seasons — as well as other shows in the Law & Order franchise — on Peacock.
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Image Credit: Will Hart/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Walk this way for the kings from Queens! The trailer for Peacock’s three-part docuseries Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Story about the influential hip-hop trio of Joseph Simmons (aka Rev Run), Darryl McDaniels (DMC) and Jason Mizell (Jam Master Jay) has arrived, and Billboard has the first look.
In the teaser for the documentary — which reflects on Run DMC beginnings in the ’80s in New York City’s Queens, the group’s successes, struggles and more — hip-hop heavyweights discuss the impact the iconic act has had on the musical landscape.
“They’re the reason that hip-hop is as big as it is right now,” Ice Cube explains in the trailer of Run DMC, who was the first rap group on MTV.
“They changed the sound of music, the audience for rap music,” Mike D of the Beastie Boy asserts.
And as Run DMC’s Billboard Hot 100 hit “It’s Tricky” — which peaked at No. 57 in April 1987 — plays, rapper-actor Ice-T notes, “That was the moment I knew hip-hop was going to be huge — they brought more people to the genre.”
Other exclusive interviews featured in the Peacock docuseries include LL Cool J, Chuck D, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Questlove, Jermaine Dupri and more. Kings From Queens, Billboard can also exclusively report, will premiere Thursday, Feb. 1, exclusively on Peacock. The series is also executive produced by Rev. Run and DMC. (Jam Master Jay was fatally shot at his Queens, NYC, studio in October 2002.)
“I am very happy that the world is going to see our great story,” Rev. Run said in a statement. “So thankful for all that participated in helping us over the years. I started out as a young DJ Run and ended up impacting the world with my group RUN DMC. I am blessed to have been on this amazing journey.”
DMC also shared his thoughts on the purpose of the project. “This documentary series will reach, teach and educate people on the RUN DMC dynamic,” he said in a statement. “I know people will see themselves in our journey and I am hopefully that the next 50 years of hip-hop will be a movement of positive improvement and creativity, in the same way we changed music and the world.”
Over the course of the group’s career, Run DMC had three albums that reached the Billboard 200‘s top 10: Raising Hell (No. 3, 1986; the album also earned a Grammy nod for best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocal), Tougher Than Leather (No. 9, 1988) and Down With the King (No. 7, 1993). Over on the Hot 100, the trio placed five songs, including the hit cross-genre cover/collab of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” (No. 4) and “You Be Illin’” (No. 29).
Watch Billboard‘s premiere of the Kings From Queens: The Run DMC Story trailer below:
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Nearly four years since Chicago drill rapper FBG Duck was gunned down in the city’s Gold Coast neighborhood, six men were found guilty of his murder by a federal jury on Wednesday (Jan. 17). The jury deliberated for two days, the Chicago Sun Times reports.
The daytime shooting took place in August 2020 when two cars pulled up and the gunmen stepped out and began opening fire around 4:26 p.m. ET, according to an incident report from the Chicago Police Department. Duck — real name: Carlton Weekly — was killed, while his girlfriend and another shopper were wounded in the attack.
Through their investigation, federal officers tied the shooting to a gang war between Duck’s Tookaville faction of the Gangster Disciples and the O Block group of the Black Disciples, the Chicago Sun Times reports. Charles “C Murda” Liggins, who was one of the alleged shooters, was found guilty on five of seven counts. The jury decided that he committed the murder, engaged in a conspiracy to murder Duck, wounded Duck’s girlfriend and used a gun in the incident. However, he was found not guilty of shooting the other shopper in the attack.
Kenneth “Kenny Mac” Roberson, one of the alleged getaway drivers, faced the same verdict as Liggins. Tacarlos “Los” Offerd, another alleged getaway driver, was found guilty of five counts; he was found not guilty of the counts for shooting Duck’s girlfriend. Marcus “Muwop” Smart, another alleged gunman, received the same verdict as Offerd. Christopher “C Thang” Thomas, another alleged shooter, was found guilty of three counts: Duck’s murder, using a gun in the murder and conspiracy to commit the murder. Ralph “Teezy” Turpin, who reportedly signaled the shooters to the location to kill Duck, was found guilty of two counts: murder and conspiracy to commit the murder.
All six men face mandatory life sentences.
“When stuff like that happens to a good person, regardless of what somebody else thinks of them, it ain’t gonna go unpunished,” the rapper’s mother, LaSheena Weekly, who was at the trial, told the Sun Times. “Knowing that they will not do that to another family brings me comfort, knowing they will not terrorize nobody else. They’re done, the whole crew. O Block and everything of it is done.”
Though he’s currently running through the paces of rehearsals for his first go at it, Usher knows the rigors of preparing a Super Bowl halftime show. With just 13 minutes to perform a career-spanning set and eight minutes to set up the stage, the singer told Vogue magazine in a new digital cover story that there he knows there is no room for error.
“It has to be perfect,” said the “Yeah!” singer known for his mind-bendingly smooth dance moves and elaborate staging. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years. I want people who have been a part of that journey to feel like it’s a celebration for everybody, for all of us, from the beginning up until this point.”
Because the pre-game specifics of the halftime show are notoriously tightly-held, there were no details to share about what songs fan can expect to hear, even though Usher did give the magazine a sneak peek about his Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII set. Among the items definitely on the checklist: roller skating, killer choreography, one major costume change and, unlike last year’s performer, Rihanna, some special guests.
“This night was specifically curated in my mind to have R&B take the main stage,” he said, teasing that he’s pulled together a team who represent the architects of the genre to help him compile the set list. “Not just R&B music, but R&B performance, R&B connection, R&B spirit.” The singer who tearfully closed out his 100-show Las Vegas residency in December, said he’s also been thinking about such other legendary Vegas icons as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley while putting together the show.
“I’m literally speaking to every woman. I want to make it feel like that,” the legendarily lusty singer said of aiming for a sensual intimacy in the 65,000-capacity stadium, while also keeping in mind other legendary Super Bowl halftime shows as he celebrates his own history.
“I’m thinking about the fact that I’ve been able to walk through the front door as a result of their sacrifice and ability,” he said of the legacy of such previous Black icons as Michael Jackson and Prince, as well as what R&B means in a country where some of its most famous practitioners had to enter the stage through the kitchen door in the 1950s and 60s due to segregation.
“It’s made me feel joyous. It made me feel like I want to go out there, and I want the world to smile when they look at me. I want them to feel something, and feel my passion, my love, feel like I was the right person to sit in this position, and I was the right person to bring this kind of energy and love and connection to the entire world,” Usher said.
“People will tune in for a football game, but I hope when they look at that halftime performance, I’m hoping they walk away with something that’s healing them,” he added. “Something that makes them feel hopeful, and not just look at the past, but have hope for the future, and have hope for a different type of future than we’re looking at right now in the present.”
The 45-year old singer is gearing up to release his ninth studio album, Coming Home, on Feb. 9, just two days before he takes the stage at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for the big game. It’s a gig that his fans will tell you is a long time coming, but which didn’t materialize until Jay-Z called up to ask Ush to do the honors this year.
“Every day I’m kind of sitting here and I take a moment to just look at where we’re going to be, which is right there,” Usher told the magazine while pointing to the shiny black glass spaceship of a stadium in the Nevada desert.
And, not for nothing, the writer reveals that they have already heard an “afrobeat-inflected earworm” from Coming Home, assuring fans that it is “20 tracks of absolute bangers.”
As Stephen Colbert often says on The Late Show, if you want to truly, deeply peer into the soul of an artist the best way to do it is via his show’s signature “Colbert Questionert” probing list of queries. Nicki Minaj found that out on Tuesday night (Jan. 16) when she sat for the pre-taped segment in which the Pink Friday 2 MC revealed the burning answers behind such soul-searching questions as: “what is the best sandwich?”
There are no wrong answers, even though Minaj’s response was definitely far from standard. “Turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato, salt and pepper, oil and vinegar, jalapeños, mayonnaise, mustard, toasted, hero,” Minaj told her old pal Colbert in her signature rapid-fire cadence.
Her next answer, however, was even more unique. Asked about her first concert, Minaj recalled going to the Hot 97 Summer Jam in 2001 when Jay-Z shocked the crowd by bringing out surprise guest Michael Jackson. “Many, many years ago… and Michael Jackson came out. Yes,” she recalled, rolling her eyes when Colbert asked what MJ sang. “He didn’t perform, he came out of this box and the people went crazy.”
The “Anaconda” rapper also, of course, said the snake is the scariest animal and that the apple is superior to the orange, because it could help feed her and her infant son, affectionately known as “Papa Bear.” In an answer that certainly pleased observant Catholic Colbert, Minaj opined that when we die, the good go to heaven and the bad go to hell, naturally. “Pearly gates, fiery pit, what more do you need to know?” Colbert said.
Nicki added that her favorite action movie is a tie between Gladiator and Black Panther, that she would never be caught dead in an aisle seat on a plane — she doesn’t worry about climbing over someone to get to the bathroom because she “doesn’t fly on those kind of planes” — and her least favorite smell is when the garbage piles up on the streets of New York.
She also noted that her earliest memory is of wanting to go to a chain called Burger Boys in her native Trinidad and when asked which song she could listen to on repeat for eternity, Minaj chose the Whitney Houston classic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”
Check out all of Minaj’s answers below.
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