R&B/Hip-Hop
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Post Malone got the ultimate shout-out this week when his debut breakthrough 2016 single, “White Iverson,” crossed the 1 billion streams mark on Spotify and the man who inspired it gave Austin some love.
“Congrats on 1 billion Spotify streams,” retired 11-time NBA All-star Allen Iverson said in a video tribute posted by Spotify. “The whole world loves this song and I’m honored to be a part of it. Keep that same form, Post.”
According to the commemorative clip, “White Iverson” became the 10th song to cross that magic mark back on April 10, a momentous occasion that was celebrated with a memorial plaque sent to the rapper during his two-night stand at London’s O2 Arena in May.
In the video — which was part of Monday’s roll-out of the second episode of Spotify’s Billion Club: The Series show — we see Malone unwrap his latest shiny honor, and in typical fashion he wonders if he could shotgun a whole beer through it. He then promptly sets up a game of Backstage Plaque Pong, using the Spotify honor as an excuse to play his favorite drinking contest. He also takes time to tell the story behind the music.
“I made the beat and I wrote the song but I didn’t know how to work ProTools and so I took it over to my buddy’s house,” he explains as he, of course, pours a full beer into the plaque after promising to find a “cool spot” for his new hardware in the studio he’s building at home.
“It’s such a cool thing looking at something and saying ‘we did that… the team did that and the people like the music that much enough to play it a billion times,’” he said. “I couldn’t be more… I guess grateful is the word I’m looking for. It feels super cool that the song does connect with people, and I’m just happy to bring joy into anyone’s life when I can. It’s an amazing feeling for me, and that really gave me the confidence and courage to keep attempting to do what I love. I just appreciate all the support, and it’s the most beautiful feeling in the world for me.”
Malone also noted that beloved point guard Iverson’s shooting inspired his own legendary lights-out beer pong game — which AI also gave props to in his message — ending with footage of Iverson miming a jumper fading into Posty arcing a perfect shot into the suds-soaked plaque. “White Iverson” debuted on Malone’s SoundCloud channel in 2015 and then served as the lead single from his 2016 debut album, Stoney.
The singer is currently on tour in support of his Austin album, with the final show on his North American summer tour slated for Saturday (Aug. 19) at Glen Helen Amphitheater in San Bernardino, CA.
Check out the Spotify video below.
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Brent Faiyaz officially launched his own creative agency, ISO Supremacy, on Wednesday (Aug. 16).
Billboard announced back in May that the R&B star and UnitedMasters had struck an unprecedented partnership to start the agency. “Brent Faiyaz is one of the most prolific independent artists today, and we are extremely excited to embark on this new partnership with him,” said UnitedMasters founder/CEO Steve Stoute in an exclusive statement at the time. “It’s been inspiring to watch his journey as an artist over the years, and with this partnership we look to further amplify his creative vision and support his entrepreneurial ambitions.”
ISO Supremacy, which stands for In Search of Supremacy, is a creative network with the mission of executing visual and sonic art. Faiyaz leads as CEO, with Darren Xu as COO, Ashani Allick as head of A&R, Michael Alexander as project manager and Zac Matias as art director.
In other news, Faiyaz released the official video for “Jackie Brown,” which comes from his sophomore album Wasteland that he released on July 8, 2022, via Lost Kids, Venice Music and Stem. The set had an impressive start for the independent artist, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
Partly inspired by the 1997 Quentin Tarantino crime drama of the same name, the “Jackie Brown” visual opens with Faiyaz on a plane, cruising and snoozing through the clouds. Even if “life moves fast” for him, as his famous falsetto heard all throughout TikTok indicates, it’s filled with the finer things, from yacht rides with a woman on either side of him to custom-tailored suits to endless glasses of champagne, and wealth that can’t buy his leading lady.
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“Jackie Brown was one of the movies I was watching during COVID on repeat. Besides the fact that Pam Grier was fine as sh-t in that movie, I also liked the fact that they stay by the beach in L.A., and I stay in Venice,” he told Variety in an interview last year. “Cinematically, I liked the shots and I liked the colors. For whatever reason, when I watch Tarantino films, it just makes me want to make music. Something about the images just puts sounds in my head. Tarantino’s the GOAT. Cold as f–k.”
Faiyaz is currently on his F*ck the World, It’s a Wasteland Tour; the U.S. portion wraps on Sept. 15 in L.A., while the entire jaunt ends on Nov. 20 in London.
Usher and Keke Palmer can’t stop stirring the pot. After teasing the collaboration 24 hours ago, the two stars have debuted the music video for the R&B legend’s new song “Boyfriend,” following some drama with the actress’ alleged ex-boyfriend, Darius Jackson.
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The Wednesday (Aug. 16) visual stars a glowing Palmer having a night out with her friends and hanging with Usher, who taunts in the song’s lyrics: “Somebody said that your boyfriend is looking for me, that’s cool/ He should know I’m pretty easy to find/ Just look for me wherever he sees you.”
Midway through, the video pauses to show the Nope star and her gal pals listening to Usher’s 2001 hit “U Remind Me” in an elevator, during which she exclaims, “I love this song… do you remember where you were when you first heard this?”
After a suave dance break in a casino led by Palmer, who lights up onscreen, the video cuts to her waking up in bed to answer a FaceTime call from (guess who?) Usher. That’s where she drops in the biggest diss toward Jackson: “S–t, I’m so tired… I am a mother, after all,” she says, winking at the camera.
The cheeky line pokes fun at Jackson, with whom Palmer shares a six-month-old son. Last month, Jackson took to Twitter to call out Palmer for a sheer outfit she wore to Usher’s Las Vegas concert, lamenting: “We live in a generation where a man of the family doesn’t want the wife & mother to his kids to showcase booty cheeks to please others & he gets told how much of a hater he is. This is my family & my representation. I have standards & morals to what I believe. I rest my case.”
Reposting a clip of Usher dancing with a swooning Palmer during the show, Jackson also wrote in a now-deleted tweet: “It’s the outfit tho.. you a mom.”
Neither Palmer nor Jackson have commented on the status of their relationship since. Regardless, Palmer seems to be living her best life, taking to Instagram following the music video’s release to thank Usher for “encouraging me and seeing me as the entertainer I am.”
“I know I’m a gUrL but when I watched your videos, I never wanted to be the girl in them, I wanted to be YOU,” she added in her post. “Thank you for making a dream come true.”
See below.
Whether it’s day or night, nothing gets between Kid Cudi and his Calvins. On Tuesday (Aug. 15), the Billboard Hot 100-topping rapper debuted his steamy new Calvin Klein campaign on Instagram. “Vibes in my Calvins,” Cudi captioned a promotional clip of him modeling various Calvin Klein ensembles — from a matching-jeans set with a blond […]
Lauren London took a moment to honor Nipsey Hussle on what would have been his 38th birthday. On Tuesday (Aug. 15), the actress shared a photo to Instagram of the late rapper holding up prayer hands and looking into the camera, with an array of gold chains draped around his neck. Explore Explore See latest […]
Doja Cat has love in her heart and Hollywood on her mind. In the 27-year-old superstar’s new Harper’s Bazaar cover story — one of three “Icons” issues by the publication this month — she opened up about her transition from being a “serial dater” to falling in love with her partner and shared plans to pause her music career someday in order to pursue acting.
“I love love,” confessed Doja, who’s reportedly dating comedian and Twitch streamer J. Cyrus.
“I’m possibly a serial dater,” she continued. “I definitely have had that in me a little bit. But right now I’m in a different place in my life where I am very committed and very much in love in a different way than before. I think I’ve evolved… I feel like a woman who is coming into her own.”
The “Kiss Me More” artist, who’s threatened to quit music altogether multiple times in the past, went on to share her dreams of taking a break from her current occupation to dip her toes into acting — and possibly stand-up comedy. “[Stand-up] is something I’ve definitely considered,” she told the publication. “I actually went onstage recently with Craig Robinson. He’ll get on a piano and just play songs, but he’ll do it in his own Craig Robinson, funny-ass way.”
“I would love to do movies that I believe in,” Doja continued. “I would have to stop the music for a minute. But I would be down to immerse myself in acting for a certain period of time. I love comedies and action films. I want to learn martial arts and be in a film like John Wick.”
Doja is fresh off the release of her second single of 2023, “Paint The Town Red.” The track debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is expected to appear on the star’s upcoming fourth, as-yet-untitled album, along with June’s “Attention.”
She also touched on what’s to come with her next musical project for the Harper’s Bazaar “Icons” trilogy, which also featured cover stars Paul Mescal and Kendall Jenner. “This new album is more introspective, but I’m not leaning so hard into that to where it becomes boring,” Doja revealed.
“So I want to give stories and bops. It’s a nice mixture of both,” she added. “I think this project is a really fun canvas for me to play with my rap skills and talk about what’s going on in my life. But I’m not abandoning who I was and what I know about pop and singing and that aspect of music.”
See Doja Cat grace the cover of Harper’s Bazaar below:
Mario Sorrenti
Travis Scott‘s super-sized roll-out of his Utopia album continued on Tuesday (Aug. 15) with the free YouTube posting of his 75-minute Circus Maximus film, as well as four Utopia music videos.
The trippy film — which played in select theaters on the album’s July 28th release date — opens with a scene in which Scott dreams he is being enveloped by a gigantic sea creature before setting off on a quest across a desolate landscape that brings him to a lavish mansion where he meets up with producer Rick Rubin.
Seen through a keyhole, their interaction initially finds Rubin asking probing questions (“is the house half empty, or completely empty?,” “how are the kids?,” “are you still crying?,” “how about the drugs, are they still working, or are you just tired of them?”) as an exasperated Scott tries to gather his thoughts.
What unfolds over the next hour-plus is a head-spinning film — written by Scot and co-directed by the rapper, Andrew Dosunmu and Kahlil Joseph — that incorporates all 19 tracks from the feature-filled album in a series of colorful vignettes. It bounces from Scott rapping “Hyaena” in an African village, to the MC participating in a Catalan-style human tower build in “Sirens,” all intercut with bits of the Rubin interview.
Elsewhere, there is a futuristic taxi chase set to the Beyoncé-assisted “Delresto (Echoes),” a strobing underground dance party for “Modern Jam” and some fresh footage cued to “Hyaena” and a remix of “Jam” in which Scott stands in front of a massive wall of speakers in Rome’s Circus Maximus, which bleeds into an extended run of footage from the recent album release show in the ancient venue that drew 60,000 fans and a surprise Kanye West cameo.
The break-out videos for “Sirens,” “Modern Jam,” “Hyaena” and “Delresto (Echoes)” are all versions of the clips that appear in the Maximus movie. Utopia has ruled the Billboard 200 albums chart for two weeks in a row, earning 147,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. for the week ending Aug. 10, down 70%, according to Luminate, from its debut the week before with 496,000 units earned.
Check out the Scott videos below.
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Quavo served up an unexpected treat for the 40,000 fans who turned out for Tuesday night’s (Aug. 15) Atlanta Braves game against the cellar-dweller New York Yankees. The hometown team — who have a comfortable 10-plus game lead over the Phillies in the NL East — cleared some room on the top of their dugout for the Migos member to preview his upcoming solo album, Rocket Power, which is due out on Friday (Aug. 18).
Wearing a No. 94 jersey with his album title across the shoulders, Quavo bounced back-and-forth across the dugout shouting the chorus of his new single, “Who Wit Me,” at a packed Truist Park, slipping in an ad-lib shout-out to his hometown on the song that honors his late nephew, Migos member TakeOff.
“My nephew just told me he with it/ Even my sister just tole me they with it/ I’m sayin’, I’m sayin’ who with me,” he rapped along to the track. TakeOff (born Kirshnik Khari Ball) was shot and killed during a private party he attended in downtown Houston with his uncle on Nov. 1, 2022.
“If you ready for the Braves let me get a ‘Yes sir!,’” Quavo shouted to the crowd cheering on the team with the best record in the majors. Quavo’s anticipated second solo venture will follow-up his 2018 solo debut, Quavo Huncho, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart; the rapper also teamed up with Travis Scott in 2017 for the joint album Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho.
Speaking about the loss of TakeOff in a recent interview, Quavo said, “I think about him all the time. Sometimes I cry myself to sleep.” He also described how he had to change his work flow during the making of Rocket Power due to the loss. While he would normally cut the hook and the verse and show it to his Migos bandmates — which also includes Offset — “Now he’s [TakeOff] gone and I don’t have nobody to play the music for… I just try to connect with the earth and just try to hear them like that.”
Quavo said the album — which was first teased back in May — is fueled by his late nephew and partner-in-rhyme’s spirit. “All the pain, all the hard times, all the times I cried and all the times I just made music [to cope with loss],” he said. “And to pull up and try to play songs and he’s not there, and I’m just trying to get this fuel from above and this feeling from the sky and just call it Rocket Power.”
Check out Quavo’s performance below.
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Ahead of the release of Jaguar II, Victoria Monét‘s long-awaited debut studio album, the R&B singer/songwriter has unleashed a flashy new music video for her latest single, “On My Mama.” Featuring a colorful cast including Chalie Boy, whose “I Look Good” is prominently sampled in “On My Mama,” as well as her mother and daughter, […]
Pusha T is a global force. The veteran rapper is currently touring It’s Almost Dry, his acclaimed Billboard 200-topping fourth solo studio album, in venues across Europe, from Norway to the U.K. While his singular brand of coke rap has carried him to worldwide success, the heart of Pusha T’s music and aesthetic finds its anchor in the place he calls home: Virginia.
The “Neck & Wrist” rapper is headed back to the DMV on August 19 to perform for fans at the first-ever free Pepsi Dig In Day Block Party in Washington D.C. at the Sandlot Anacostia. With a focus on celebrating and spotlighting local Black-owned restaurants, Pepsi Dig In Day Block Party attendees can expect to enjoy free food, fun and music performances from a lineup of talented musicians, including Alex Vaughn, Black Alley, DJ Five9 and DJ Money.
Supporting Black businesses and Black art is nothing new for Pusha T. In February 2020, he launched his own record label, Heir Wave Media Group, focused on signing and developing artists from the Virginia area. Last year, he publicly cut ties with Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music due to the “Black Skinhead” rapper’s controversial appearance on an InfoWars episode and subsequent antisemitic remarks. Currently on a 50/50 deal with Def Jam and Heir Wave Media Group for his solo musical endeavors, Pusha T remains steadfast in his prioritization and elevation of Black people and Black art as his global profile continues to soar, even in the face of recent jabs from Drake on Travis Scott’s “Meltdown.”
As hip-hop celebrates its 50th anniversary, Pusha T has enjoyed another banner year. In April, he performed a fiery 17-song set at Coachella, which followed a heated back-and-forth with “We Fly High” rapper Jim Jones regarding Push’s placement on Billboard and Vibe’s Greatest Rappers of All Time ranking. Later this month, Push is set to reunite with his brother, No Malice, for Clipse’s first New York show in over a decade. The performance, which will take place during Genius’ all-day IQ/BBQ, marks Clipse’s second reunion show of the year following their appearance at Pharrell Williams’ Something In The Water Festival earlier this year.
Billboard got a chance to catch up with Pusha-T and talk about the significance of Pepsi Dig In Day, the variety of Hip-Hop 50 celebrations, Clipse’s upcoming reunion performance, and his new album.
How’s life for you on the road right now?
Really good! Pretty hectic, pretty tedious. This first week was about six shows in seven days, and going from Europe to the US, so this is a hell of a way to start off a tour. But that’s what we’re here for!
Why is it important for you to be involved in an event like Pepsi Dig In Day?
I feel like Pepsi Dig In Day speaks to bringing the community together for music and the celebration of black-owned businesses in the DMV area. The DMV has so many different places and black-owned businesses to highlight in the restaurant space. It’s just a good time. It’s a good time for everybody.
Recently we’ve seen a lot of big pushes and initiatives in support of Black-owned businesses across the country, especially since 2020. Why did you choose to partner with Pepsi for this one, and what made you believe in this particular endeavor?
I’m always in the area — I’ve actually moved to the area permanently [laughs] and I’m renovating a house there. For me, I feel like this particular [event] is very special, because I frequent The Sandlot, which is where it’s being held. The Sandlot, for those who don’t know — it’s a historic neighborhood in D.C., where they’ve built out this area where people just have parties and DJs, and it’s always a really good, cool time. It’s where all the cool kids, the creatives, businessmen congregate for many events that I’ve been to. Once I heard about it, it was a no-brainer for me.
What are some of your favorite Black-owned spots in the DMV area?
I would start with some of the first ones that ever frequented, Maketto and KitchenCray. My guy, J.R. [James Robinson] with KitchenCray, and my guy, Keem [Hughley] with Maketto and Bronze, he has two restaurants. (Ed. note: Hughley is the director of sales at Maketto, which is owned by chef Erik Bruner-Yang.) They have a whole food truck culture out there as well. Jerk@Nite is really good, and Horace and Dickies, man, the fried whiting/fried shrimp/seafood swag.
What’s your go-to meal when you’re back home, whether it’s home-cooked or a plate you can get at one of those spots?
I’m going to have to say the jerk wings, rice and peas, and the mac and cheese. It’s a must. You can’t have it every day. It is 1000% something you should not have every day, if you’re being super health-conscious like I am at the moment [laughs], but it’s something that I have to have.
This year, Pepsi Dig In Day happens to coincide with a bunch of Hip-Hop 50 celebrations. How have you felt about the various celebrations so far and do you think that you’ve been included and honored in the way that you deserve?
I’ve been a part of a couple [Hip-Hop 50 celebrations], and I feel like I’ve been included. It’s been super-inclusive to all the subgenres of hip-hop, it’s been great to see. I think that, more importantly, this is a milestone for hip hop, and for people to recognize that hip-hop is really here to stay. You think about all the times that hip-hop wasn’t even included — whether it was award shows, or all of the fighting and political stress that was surrounding hip-hop at one time. To see that we’ve been here 50 years, man, it’s amazing.
What’s it been like touring Europe during Hip-Hop 50?
This is the second part of my Europe tour this year. I had to break it up, because I started working on music. It’s been great to be in Paris and be in London and watch the fans go crazy. The fans are super excited. For me, it’s always good, because I get to see the range of my fanbase — and it’s like, “Man, I’m seeing from 15 to 50!” That’s a blessing. It’s always been amazing to me just to be overseas across the waters and be able to touch the people that really show me support, and have shown me support for all these years.
Clipse is coming back with their first NYC show in over a decade in a couple of weeks. Talk to me about that. Do you guys have anything special planned? How does it feel to be returning to the birthplace of hip-hop for such a momentous occasion?
It’s really good just to be able to come to the birthplace of hip-hop and perform again. Being included in the hip-hop celebration by Genius, it’s awesome that we’re looked at and in such a regard — and I’m talking about Clipse — we’re just looked at for our lyricism, we’re being looked at for what we brought to the genre of street rap, and just being recognized is always a good thing. I mean being onstage with my brother is second to none.
Obviously, rap is a very regional art form, and your hometown and roots have an outsized influence on your music. Now that you’re back for such an uplifting event, do you anticipate that influencing your upcoming music at all? What can you tell us about your upcoming album, which you’ve described as “a special project?”
I personally feel like my music has always been representative of the region that I’m from, meaning that whole Virginia area and the DMV as a whole. The term “DMV” is very territorial to people. I’m from Virginia, 757 area code, which is Southeast Virginia State. You know, when they say “DMV,” it’s usually representative of Northern Virginia and D.C. proper. Me being on the outskirts and having the success that we’ve had, it’s always been like a second home to us, and we’ve always loved and supported the area in any way that we could. I love to come back and give that energy back. I think that we’ll really show the world all the aspects of the DMV.