R&B/Hip-Hop
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Earlier this year, J. Cole made his intentions loud and clear on Lil Durk’s “All My Life”: “Lately, I just wanna show up and body some sh-t.” To his credit, Cole has been living up to his word, treating the rap circuit like a demolition derby. A proven features savant, this is familiar territory for […]
SZA rounded up some of the hottest male stars for her new music video for “Snooze” released on Friday (Aug. 25). In the sultry Bradley J. Calder and SZA-directed clip, the superstar lays in the grass, rolls a joint in bed, plays video games and more with co-stars Justin Bieber, Benny Blanco, Beef actor Young Mazino and Power […]
Polo G was arrested in Los Angeles on Wednesday (Aug. 23) while police raided his home, Billboard can confirm. It all started last week, on August 15, when Polo G’s brother Taurean Bartlett (a.k.a. Trench Baby) was identified as the suspect for a robbery in Granada Hills, Calif. According to LAPD reports, when the victim […]
Sixteen years after notching a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit with “Give It to Me,” the trio behind that track is reuniting for a brand new single. On Wednesday (Aug. 23), Timbaland shared a teaser video announcing a new collaboration with Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado. “WE BACK,” Timbaland captioned the Instagram post, alongside […]
Trippie Redd extends his top-10 streak on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, as his A Love Letter to You 5 debuts at No. 3 on the list dated Aug. 26. The mixtape opens with 37,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 17, according to Luminate.
Of the 37,000 starting sum, 26,000 units derive from streaming, a figure equaling 46.8 million official U.S. audio and video on-demand streams of the project’s tracks. Traditional album sales contribute 11,000 of the remaining units, with a negligible amount of activity from track-equivalent album units. (One unit equals the following levels of consumption: one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams for a song on the album.)
With A Love Letter to You 5, which Trippie Redd stated is the last installment of his popular mixtape series, the rapper-singer banks his eighth consecutive top 10 release on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Here’s a recap of the eight projects’ chart results:
Album Title, Peak Position, Peak Date
Life’s a Trip, No. 4, Aug. 25, 2018
A Love Letter to You 3, No. 1 (one week), Nov. 24, 2018
!, No. 2, Aug. 24, 2019
A Love Letter to You 4, No. 1 (one week), Dec. 7, 2019
Pegasus, No. 1 (one week), Nov. 14, 2020
Trip at Knight, No. 1 (one week), Sept. 4, 2021
Mansion Musik, No. 2, Feb. 4, 2023
A Love Letter to You 5, No. 3 (to date), Aug. 26, 2023
Of Trippie Redd’s 10 appearances on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, only the first two A Love Letter to You chapters missed the top 10. The first edition peaked at No. 32 in February 2018, while its follow-up reached a No. 19 best in October 2017.
Elsewhere, A Love Letter to You 5 starts at No. 2 on the Top Rap Albums chart and at No. 13 on the all-genre Billboard 200.
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As A Love Letter to You 5 launches, three of its tracks debut on Hot R&B Songs: “Take Me Away” with Corbin (No. 16), “Thy Motion” (No. 19) and “How You Alive” (No. 23). The album’s overall arrival helps Trippie Redd score a No. 33 re-entry on the Billboard Artist 100, which measures artist activity across key metrics of music consumption – album and track sales, radio airplay and streaming – to provide a weekly multi-dimensional ranking of artist popularity. The return gives Trippie Redd his first visit to the list since February, when he raced to No. 23 as Mansion Musik debuted.
Latto achieves her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart as her Cardi B-assisted “Put It on Da Floor Again” tops the radio list dated Aug. 26. The track ascends from No. 2 after a 7% gain in plays that made it the most played song on U.S. monitored R&B/hip-hop stations in the […]
Add another entry to the list of events saluting hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. Rap legends Public Enemy and Ice-T will headline The National Celebration of Hip-Hop. The free concert and cultural event will take place in Washington, D.C. — at West Potomac Park on the National Mall — on Oct. 6-7.
Among the two-day event’s highlights will be DJ Hurricane’s Beastie Boys tribute set with special guests. Also joining the aforementioned headliners will be performers Kurtis Blow, Kid ‘n Play, Soulsonic Force, Roxanne Shante, CL Smooth, Melle Mel and Scorpio, The Sugarhill Gang, Peter Gunz, DJ Kevie Kev Rockwell, Mad Skillz, MC Sha-Rock, Busy Bee, Joe Ski Love, Positive K, Boogie Black, Mick Benzo, Gumbo and Donald D.
Additional artists will be announced soon. Rounding out the celebration will be various activities including guest speakers, comedians and public figures, as well as interactive events and exhibits.
The National Celebration of Hip-Hop is presented by executive producers Nathan Parienti and Lauren Bissell of Chasing Live. They’re working collaboration with producer Mickey Bentson’s The Art of Rap, which features Ice-T.
“We are honored to continue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop against the backdrop of America’s capitol with a free event for everyone,” said Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav in a statement. “I can’t wait to get on stage and do our thing.”
Added fellow Public Enemy member Chuck D, “Hip-hop is beyond, not just a musical genre. It’s a cultural movement that has dominated art, fashion, politics, poetry, academia, film and every corner of the world for the past 50 years. This National Celebration brings it all together in one place for the people, by the people.”
Noted Ice-T, “We are coming to the National Mall itself to bring you authentic hip-hop for the 50th celebration!”
VIP pay and travel packages will be available for purchase. And sign-up for free general admission begins Wednesday (Aug. 23). More information can be found on the event’s website.
Courtesy Photo
It’s a sweet gesture familiar to any fan who regularly attends concerts: a star hands their microphone to an enthusiastic audience member who is visibly psyched to show off their knowledge of the artist’s songs by crooning a few lines. And, if they’re lucky, that fan might just surprise them by actually killing the vocal. […]
Babies get wild at concerts too! Flo Rida was performing CelebrateErie festival in Pennsylvania over the weekend, where he’s seen in a viral video posted by TMZ motioning a parent to send their baby over to the stage. Within seconds, the infant is crowd-surfing to the front, with fans gently moving the baby up over the […]
Leave it to Diddy to reassure fans that “R&B is alive.” On Tuesday (Aug. 22), the Grammy-winning producer and rapper announced his latest record, The Love Album: Off the Grid. The new album is slated for a Sept. 15 release.
The Love Album marks Diddy’s first solo studio LP since 2006’s Press Play, which spawned the hit singles “Tell Me” (with Christina Aguilera) and “Last Night” (with Keyshia Cole). Diddy, who currently goes by Love, announced the news with a lavish trailer posted to his social media accounts. “Why am I doing this? Especially with the success that I’ve had, especially where my life, how stressful and treacherous this music business is,” he ponders. “My heart has been broken. I still have that question of, like, ‘Will I ever love again?’”
Based on the rest of the nearly four-minute trailer, it appears that The Love Album: Off the Grid is Diddy’s way of finding answers to those questions. Throughout the teaser, clips of him dancing with his late longtime partner Kim Porter and bonding with the newest addition to his family, daughter Love Sean Combs (10 months, with cyber security specialist Dana Tran), are interspersed with a healthy dose of behind-the-scene footage of the album’s recording process and some doe-eyed R&R with Yung Miami of City Girls. On Instagram, Diddy tagged a number of artists, some of which appear in the trailer, including Justin Bieber, Swae Lee, Mary J. Blige, Babyface, Jozzy, Yung Miami, French Montana, DJ Khaled, Teyana Taylor and 21 Savage.
As much as the trailer provides some glimpses into the creation of The Love Album, the new clip also finds Diddy navigating the pressures of fame and his overwhelming world of entertainment and business. From isolating on a private island without his phone to hitting exercises wherever and whenever he can, themes of health and wellness across the physical, mental and emotional realms loom over the Love Album trailer.
The announcement of The Love Album: Off the Grid comes on the heels of a string of recent singles from Diddy. Last year, he released the Bryson Tiller-assisted “Gotta Move On,” which peaked at No. 79 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the PARTYNEXTDOOR-featuring “Sex in the Porsche.” This year, he teamed up with City Girls and Fabolous for “Act Bad,” and guested on the official remix of Metro Boomin’s “Creepin’” (with The Weeknd and 21 Savage). Both “Creepin’” (best collaboration and best R&B) and “Gotta Move On” (best collaboration and best hip-hop) received nominations at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards.
Watch the trailer for The Love Album: Off the Grid above.