R&B/Hip-Hop
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Doggystyle, Snoop Dogg’s landmark debut album, celebrates its 30th anniversary in just four months, but the Grammy-nominated West Coast rap legend will no longer be marking the occasion with his two previously announced Hollywood Bowl shows. On Tuesday (July 25), the rapper and actor took to Instagram to share a statement regarding the status of […]
SZA reaffirms that she’s in a league of her own in the R&B world as the hitmaking singer-songwriter replaces herself at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Songs chart as “Snooze” ousts her own “Kill Bill” on the list dated July 29.
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With “Snooze,” SZA captures her fourth Hot R&B Songs No. 1. She first led with “The Weekend,” a one-week champ in 2018, and followed with another single-week leader, “I Hate U” in 2021, and “Kill Bill,” which dominated for 30 weeks in 2022-23. Thanks to that juggernaut’s reign, SZA has ruled the Hot R&B Songs chart all but one week in 2023 thus far, when The Weeknd and Ariana Grande’s “Die for You” remix release pushed the track to the summit for the list dated March 11.
“Snooze” ascends to No. 1 as radio airplay continues to grow for the song. In the latest tracking week, July 14 – 20, “Snooze” registered 58.8 million in total audience impressions across all formats, up 4% from the prior week, according to Luminate. Thanks to the boost, the single climbs 7-6 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart. (All radio airplay, regardless of format origin, contributes to a song’s rank on the Hot R&B Songs chart.) The track is still tops on its home format, as it logs a fifth week at No. 1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart and, at 19.4 million impressions, remains essentially even with the prior week’s total.
In addition to the radio strength, “Snooze” registered 10.4 million official U.S. streams, a 2% rise from the previous week, and enough to retain its No. 2 rank on R&B Streaming Songs. For song sales, the track sold another 1,000 downloads, a 3% slide from the prior frame; it holds at No. 5 on R&B Digital Song Sales, after having previously reached a No. 4 best.
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In addition to SZA, “Snooze” also brings another R&B luminary to the summit – Babyface. The legend is one of five co-writer and four co-producers on the new chart-topper: He, Khristopher van Riddick-Tynes, Leon Thomas III and Blair Ferguson all contributed in both roles, while SZA also shares writing credit. With the new champ, Babyface earns his first writing and producer No. 1s on the Hot R&B Songs chart, which began in 2012. Prior to the chart’s launch, Babyface had a hand in dozens of R&B classics, including hits such as Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road” and Whitney Houston’s “Exhale (Shoop Shoop).”
Elsewhere, “Snooze” advances 4-3 to a new peak on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and repeats at No. 12 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, having previously made it to No. 11.
The arrival of Travis Scott‘s newest album and a film are imminent. The “Sicko Mode” rapper took to Instagram on Tuesday (July 25) to share five album covers for Utopia, his fourth studio album, and his movie announcement. “THIS IS ONE OF THE COVERS FOR MY 4TH ALBUM UTOPIA. SHOT BY PIETER HUGO,” the rapper […]
Monica came to a fan’s defense in Detroit on Saturday (July 22) when she saw a man allegedly hit a woman in the crowd. Videos circulating social media show the R&B singer on stage shouting, “Don’t you hit her like that!” Monica then climbed off the stage at Riverfront Musical Festival to handle the situation […]
A$AP Rocky season is in full swing. On Tuesday (July 25), the two-time Grammy-nominated rapper dropped off the accompanying visual for his latest single, “RIOT (Rowdy Pipe’n),” just two days after his headlining Rolling Loud set in Miami. Helmed by Rocky himself, the music video finds the Harlem rapper employing highly stylized takes on common […]

As hip-hop moves further away from an era when female rappers seemingly have to be affiliated with a crew of men to secure legitimacy and launch their own careers, the genre’s reigning queens are helping a rising class of female rappers reach new levels of commercial success. While there is merit to the argument that […]
After releasing her debut album, Love & Compromise, in 2019, Mahalia was poised for a breakout, as her penchant for breakup anthems (“I Wish I Missed My Ex” & “What You Did”) resonated with fans who were looking to escape their volatile relationships. However, the pandemic crushed her touring aspirations six months after the album’s release.
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“I found myself in this hole where I didn’t understand what was happening,” she relays. “I didn’t understand why I couldn’t create or why I couldn’t tour for another year. It was a confusing time, and creating in that mess was hard. Seeing people online do more, and the pressure of that was hard. It made me feel like I wasn’t doing anything at all.”
For 18 months, Mahalia struggled to regain her creative touch and questioned if she would ever find her groove again. When studios reopened in late 2021, the 25-year-old singer-songwriter started writing again, and rediscovered her love for music. “I was allowed to go back into the studio and sit with people,” she remembers. “I was allowed to make those connections again, and I think it sparked something in me.” That spark would lead to her sophomore album IRL.
Released this month, the 13-track effort highlights her polish as a songwriter who unabashedly shares her wins and losses during the pandemic. It doesn’t take long for fans to hear the battle-tested artist flex her pen, as the first two songs on IRL (“Ready” & “In My Bag”) demonstrate the swagger that made Mahalia a rising voice in the genre. And when Mahalia isn’t riding solo, her guest features Jojo, Stormzy, Joyce Wrice and Dustin Conrad do a stellar job co-piloting the expedition.
“The whole concept of IRL came from that time,” says Mahalia. “It came from the fact nothing was IRL for two years. We were all staring at laptops, scrolling, looking at phones, and swiping. I desperately wanted to be amongst real things and step outside, be with people, and have IRL experiences.”
Billboard spoke with Mahalia about her new album, turning 25, overcoming criticism, and how her love for 2000s hip-hop helped shape her career.
You’ve mentioned your creative struggles during the pandemic. Was there a track in particular that restored that confidence while cooking up IRL?
Yes, I think it’s the record called “In My Bag.” I remember when I got to that studio and it was summer 2022. I walked to the studio and I went in and I don’t know what it was, but I just felt really great. I felt like I was on a roll. I felt like the album was in full swing. I was writing a lot. What can happen is you do a million sessions and come out with nothing. In this period of time, every session I was doing, I was making a song I was genuinely enjoying. I’m going in the studio and making “In My Bag” and that’s how I felt. That song is reflective of how I felt at that moment. I am in my bag and felt like I could do anything. Nobody has got what I have. That was the moment I felt that confidence.
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You recently turned 25, what does that number mean to you?
It means a lot. When I saw you [earlier this year], I think I was kinda feeling it. First of all, everyone keeps telling me it’s a great age and technically a quarter-life. I had a little bit of a meltdown the weekend before. Going back to the lockdown, we all lost two years. I went into it 21 and I came out 23. Turning 25, I think I maybe had a bit of a meltdown about the fact I thought I would be further along in my career by 25. I think that maybe it was getting to me a bit. I don’t think I’m old at all. I don’t feel like I’m getting old, I just felt a little bit like I thought I’d be somewhere else right now.
I think that feeling can be a little bit hard to digest. It was out of our control, and I felt like there was nothing we could do in that time to go through that any easier or better. Age is a strange thing right now. I think people seem to be getting younger. Every year we’re watching talent go crazy and get bigger and everyone’s five years younger than me. I think sometimes I have it now, but I can have a little complex about the fact I am slightly older. I’m one of the older ones that have been around a bit longer and feeling like old news, I think.
That’s just me being totally transparent. I definitely have moments of not feeling like that, but I do have times where I feel like I am old news.
On Central Cee and Dave’s song “Our 25th Birthday” Dave said a line, “We’re 25 living like this is our second life.” For you turning 25, knowing the pandemic took time we might not get back, are you looking at 25 like your second coming?
Definitely. That’s what this album feels like for me. Which is why I feel like a couple records on the album… there’s the intro “Ready” and the outro called “IRL,” which both focus on reflection. They focus on reflection of my career and where I came from, and how I started to how I got here. It was important to remind myself I’ve been here for 12 years. This is not a game. This has been a lot of work. A lot of people have put time and effort in to make this work. I think it’s so important to focus on that stuff and just remember that. I don’t think anything has ever been overnight. I think everything I’ve ever done in my life since I was a child in school — I always felt like I had to work twice as hard forever.
I do feel like I’m kinda in my second life. I feel like with this record, I’m being reborn — which is maybe slightly clichéd, but that is how I feel. Sometimes it’s nice, because I go on a show and somebody calls me an up-and-coming artist — and to some people that might be offensive, but to me, it’s nice. I’m like, “Thank you, I’ll take that.”
You released the “Cheat” record with Jojo. Tell me how you guys linked up, because I know she was a super fan of “Terms and Conditions.”
I actually DM’d her, which is very unlike me. Every time in the past I’ve messaged an artist, they’ve left me on seen or they just don’t read it. People definitely think that we all talk to each other, and sliding in each other’s DMs is easy, but it’s not. You’re putting yourself out there to basically ask someone to do something with you. It’s a lot. But I love Jojo, and she had shown me love about a year ago on the Gram. I was like, “Oh s–t.” I think I thought in my head she might reply if I message her.
I just really really wanted her. There wasn’t really anyone else that I wanted on that record, to be honest. I think I maybe had ideas of backup plans if she said no, but she said, “Yeah.” I hit her and said, “Would you be up for doing this?” She was like, “Absolutely. Send it to me.” I sent it and we got it done within a few weeks. We weren’t able to get in together. I think she was in L.A. and I was in London. We were WhatsApp’ing, e-mailing, sending voice notes back-and-forth and trying to make it make sense. We had a great time.
It shows in the video. You guys gave us a modern-day version of “The Boy Is Mine.” What sparked the decision to go that route and do a remake?
I am just obsessed with that video and I have always been. I don’t actually watch videos as much anymore. I still do if it’s an artist that I love. Back then, I used to come home from school and my dad would make me take off my school uniform and I’d sit in front of the sofa and I’d put on MTV and watch videos all day. That one used to play all the time. I just loved it. I loved everything about it. I loved them together. I loved the fact they caught him. They showed him coming to the house and them being together. I really enjoyed that image. Sometimes I think now things can be a bit aggressive.
I always [get sent] treatment ideas from directors, and [one was like], “Mahalia and Jojo wrap the guy up and throw him in the car or kill him.” I’m like, “I don’t want to do that. I want to do something funny and playful.” And I think that’s why I had the idea for “The Boy Is Mine” … It just felt like the right feeling. I think I’m quite a nostalgic person, and I enjoy looking at things we all used when we were kids, and I miss a lot about that time and how those videos looked. I wanted to recreate that. I think people like to see what they know or what they miss.
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Speaking on nostalgia, I always thought you had a strong sense for hip-hop – remaking 50 Cent’s “In Da Club” last year. What gets you into that space so much that you try to incorporate it into your music?
I think it’s how hip-hop makes me feel, and probably has always made me feel. I think it’s down to the beats. I think it’s down to the 808s. I think it’s down to the lyricism. I don’t know if I told you, but I think all of my love of hip-hop came from my eldest brother. He’s a dancer and choreographer and he also is someone who tries to always do something slightly different. Most of his dances focus around contemporary dance, which is quite a classical part of the dance world, but he basically takes the movement and puts it to records he loves — and sometimes it’s R&B, sometimes it’s hip-hop, sometimes it’s alternative music. I was just heavily inspired by the s–t he would play in the house. That would kinda be everything from 50 [Cent] to Talib [Kweli] to Lupe [Fiasco].
I think I told you Lupe was my favorite. Growing up, Lupe Fiasco was my absolute – I was a die-hard. I was just obsessed with hip-hop as a kid. The sampling, the beats, the lyricism, and then if they would add a guest vocalist that s–t would go crazy. I remember “Daydreamin’” Lupe. Oh my God. Jill [Scott] was a favorite of mine, so when I would hear her jump on records like that … I’m talking back when I was maybe nine or 10 years old. That was a first time I really heard that gorgeous, huge, soulful voice matched with a rapper. I’ve never really experienced that kinda thing before.
I think it’s really what I said at the beginning. I think it’s how it makes me feel. It makes me feel like I want to move. I’m definitely a head-bobber. I’m not really a dancer in the club. I’m probably more like one of the guys. I’m definitely the person on the train with headphones in, bobbing my head. I feel like hip-hop does that for me. When I hear those kind of beats, or if I go in the studio and someone sampled it, I just get so excited. I can’t help but want to put my own spin on it.
Earlier this year, the “Long Live R&B” jacket you wore to the BRITs sparked conversation. You spoke about the success R&B artists have in the U.S., versus the U.K. there. What changes would you like to see for R&B artists back home to feel more appreciated?
I think fundamentally it’s support. It’s putting us on a level playing field. The reason I wore the jacket was because a couple years ago the BRITs made the decision to basically combine the pop and R&B categories. There’s now a category where you vote for who wins best Pop/R&B act. That really f–king bothered me. I’m like, “How are you combining those two genres?!” Yes, of course there’s a whole genre that is pop/R&B. We also know that R&B can be pop. And we’ve seen R&B be extremely popular music dominating charts. We’ve seen that in the U.S., not in the U.K.
So when they did that I’m like, “That doesn’t make any sense here.” How are you going to put somebody like me up against Dua Lipa and then ask fans to vote for us? Chances are, Dua Lipa’s gonna win that every time… Listen, I f–king love me some Dua. But I don’t want to be in the same category because that doesn’t make any sense to me. If we’re talking about genre-based music, I just think you’re setting R&B artists up to fail. Wearing that jacket was a big deal. I think there were a lot of people that were a bit pissed off about it. I don’t think I did anything to piss anyone off. I strategically chose the slogan to be something that just felt celebratory and not a dig to the BRITs.
I think what we need is support. I think we need people to start listening and to stop f—-g ignoring us. It’s not like it’s just me saying it. Every single R&B artist in the U.K. has said it, posted it, tweeted it. Every single DJ who plays the music has said it, tweeted it and posted it. At some point, you guys have to start listening. I’m so sorry, let’s be f–king real, Carl. R&B artists from the U.K., when they are able to, will go and do shows everywhere in the U.S., Australia, Asia, everywhere. For me, I’m like, “What are we really doing here?” We are doing big things. There are big things happening within the R&B space in the U.K. and you guys are ignoring it. It’s crazy. FLO just went and did their first-ever U.S. tour and played huge venues. And you guys are still gonna really act like U.K. R&B isn’t doing something.
I always thought the wealth of talent you guys have, especially on the women side, is incredible. It’s mind-boggling that your homeland can’t even acknowledge that.
The really frustrating thing is we don’t wanna have to leave. Look, I love being in North America and coming to New York and staying there for long periods of time. I love going to Canada. But it’s not my home. I want to be able to be in my home and be celebrated in my home the same way I’m celebrated somewhere else. I don’t think it’s fair to tell artists, “If you want to be big, move.” It’s not like we’re in a country that doesn’t know music or influence music culture around the world, so why would you not allow us to be part of that? Because we’re already part of it. You’re just blacklisting us from the mainstream.
I don’t think it should be all on us to create our own s–t. Radio stations can do a lot for an artist. Here, it’s very different, because you have the mainstream radio and the extra radio stations. I would say 90 percent of music is played on the extra radio stations, which have a much lower [audience.]
You commented a while ago about people speaking on your body, which is something a lot of other artists have encountered as well. Knowing you’ve dealt with that criticism, how do you prevent the noise from messing with your self-esteem?
Should I give you my media-trained answer, or should I give you my real answer? So my raw, real answer is in my day-to-day life, it doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t bother me, because I already have some of those insecurities myself. We all have our own s–t that we’re dealing with, whether it’s about mental, weight, how your face looks or whatever. I already have that s–t. I’ve already had that s–t and dealt with my kind of insecurities about my body since I was a child so when people comment on those things, I’m like, “Get in the f—-g queue.” I have already thought those things. I already think I need to get in the gym. Not because you think it, but because I can’t breathe when I walk upstairs. I have already had those thoughts and feelings, so when people comment on it, I don’t know if it bothers me.
My skin, hair and body has been commented on since I was four years old, when I started school. Way before being an artist. And that is just because I happened to grow up on the wrong side of Leicester, and kids didn’t understand why I looked the color I was, why my parents didn’t look the same. They didn’t understand why my hair was so big. They didn’t understand the mole above my lip. When I got to high school, they didn’t understand why I had big boobs. Those comments had been coming my way since I was a child so when strangers do it, I feel like you guys need to get in the queue. Get in the back of the queue. This has been going on. I know that might be very singular to me and I might just be able to deal with that s–t, but I think we already have our own insecurities. I think the only danger is that people online can make it worse. They can make you think about it more.
The truth is, yes people comment on it and yes they say things, and yes I sometimes get upset. But do I really care? Am I starving myself? Am I going to the gym a million times a day? No. Fundamentally, I don’t give a s–t. And I think that’s what it is. If I really cared and it really affected to me, you would see it affect me in my day-to-day life. It just doesn’t. Maybe I’m lucky to have that kind of mentality.
The other thing is that people seem to think that being in the public eye means that you should be able to hear that stuff and deserve it. You’re in the public eye, you chose this. But I’m kind of like, “I don’t think we chose this. I think we chose to create music.” None of this chose to have our music do well. I’m sure we hoped, prayed and said our affirmations at night, but none of us chose this. I certainly did not choose to have people talk about my body online. As I said, I think the reason why this has bothered me because I already think about some of those things myself, and they don’t bother me when I think them.
How has Mahalia the person grown to make Mahalia the artist better?
I think my life has changed a lot on the personal level. I took the time to spend time with myself more. And really start to focus on what things about myself I didn’t like anymore. Whether that be silly things like drinking too much, smoking too many cigarettes, that stuff was all in there. Just coming to grips about becoming a healthier person mentally and physically. I would say I think my friends now call me the leveled one — which is crazy to me, because I used to be the kind of crazy one.
I just think that I have done a lot of growing. I’ve obviously been in therapy for a long time and that’s allowed me to do that and given me space to do that. I’ve just become a person who doesn’t allow things to get in anymore. I’m trying to live a good happy, healthy life. I’m not trying to have drama and be involved in drama. If I’m ever involved in drama, I kinda have to run the other way because this isn’t what I’m trying to do with my life. I think those are all things that I was heavily involved in before. I think I’ve had to make an active change to keep myself calm, relaxed and rested and well. Fundamentally, if I do that, I can do my job better.
Less than two months after Megan Thee Stallion said she was taking a break from music to focus on herself, the “Pressurelicious” rapper appears to be back in the lab. According to a screen grab from a recent Instagram Story captured by HipHopDX, on Sunday (July 23) Meg posted a brief boomerang video of herself […]

Doja Cat is beefing with her Kittenz again. The “Kiss Me More” singer reportedly went on a Twitter spree over the weekend in which she slammed members of her feline fan group over her claims that some were using her “government name” as their screen names.
And, according to social media analysis company Crowdtangle it may have already cost her dearly. Figures provided to Billboard by the Meta-owned company report that Doja lost 237,758 followers on Instagram following her string of since-deleted tweets blasting her fans this weekend, with the total number of lost followers nearing 300,000 over the last 30 days; at press time she still had a robust 25.7 million Instagram followers.
Additionally, Crowdtangle said searches for the rapper’s name spiked by 82% following the series of posts in which Doja reportedly lambasted her fans for calling themselves “kittenz,” while telling them to “get a job”; as a number of followers pointed out, Doja is the one who selected the Kittenz name for her fandom in a 2020 Twitter poll.
According to CNN, Doja seemed angry that fans were calling her by her given name, Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, tweeting at one Kittenz, “You making my government name your sn [screenname] is creepy as f—k,” which was reportedly followed by a message to fans to delete their social media accounts if they insist on continuing to use her birth name; at press time Billboard was unable to independently verify the content of the deleted tweets and a spokesperson for the artist had not returned a request for comment.
The star also reportedly claimed that Kittenz was a term dreamed up by an “alcoholic teen,” adding, “My fans don’t get to name themselves s–t.” That harsh comment was followed up by an even more bruising criticism of her followers, in which she allegedly said, “If you call yourself a ‘Kitten’ or f–king ‘Kittenz’ that means you need to get off your phone and get a job and help your parents with the house.”
One fan responded with a reminder to the 27-year-old singer who dressed up as a cat for this year’s Met Gala that her followers were, “??? only using the name YOU gave your fans.” Another quipped, “Doja being mean to her fans for the word kitten like her name isn’t doja CAT and she wasn’t dressed as a cat and meowed her way through an entire interview a few months ago oh she has lost her mind.”
The singer, who has had a tense relationship with the music industry, recently told V Magazine that one of the reasons it’s taken her so long to follow-up her hit 2021 album Planet Her is that she is tired of making music that is “palatable, marketable and sellable,” while admitting that she’s “thrown fits my whole career” because the music she’s made didn’t allow her to have “mental release.”
In May of this year she appeared to diss Kittenz who were fans of 2021’s Planet Her and 2019’s Hot Pink albums by calling them “cash grabs” featuring “mediocre pop” and taunting, “yall fell for it.”
Check out screenshots of Doja’s deleted tweets and some of the Kittenz’s responses below.
Doja Cat slandering her fans is crazy tbh cos I don’t understand why you would attack your fans for just giving themselves a name just like every other fanbase out there. I know what signs like these mean.— BASITO (@itzbasito) July 23, 2023
“my fans don’t name themselves shit. if you call yourself a “kitten” or fucking “kittenz” that means you need to get off your phone and get a job and help your parents with the house.”This coming from doja cat???The same woman who was meowing at met gala..? pic.twitter.com/YyKQSklQJM— ʙᴀɴɢᴛᴀ7 (@bangtantition) July 24, 2023
If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Brooklyn Public Library’s 40,000-square-foot “The Book of Hov” exhibit yet you’re in luck. On Friday, the Library announced that the career-spanning Jay-Z retrospective is now scheduled to run through October. “Stop by any time this summer to see this free exhibit, or plan your visit for the fall,” read a tweet from the institution.
The exhibition opened on July 14 in a splashy premiere that included an A-list group of VIPs, including Questlove, Rakim, Babyface, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, Yo Gotti and Lil Uzi Vert as well as the guest of honor, wife Beyoncé and their daughter, Blue Ivy.
The good news is that even if you can’t make it, the interactive “Book” website has a chapter-by-chapter recap of the items in the exhibit, with New York radio legend Angie Martinez providing the narration for the special collection whose name is inspired by a lyric from Khaled’s 2022 Grammy-nominated anthem “God Did.”
The exhibition features “archived objects, including original recording masters, never-before-seen photos, iconic stage wear, prestigious awards, and recognitions, as well as videos and artifacts from every facet of Jay-Z’s professional life.” Lyrics from Jigga’s “Sweet” and “Encore” are splashed across the building’s facade, which is made to look like the pages of an open book. In addition, a blue LED cube outside the library plays content from the rapper’s career as a greet to fans entering the building.
Spanning eight sections, rooms such as “Hov Did That” contain a huge collection of career curios, including his 2008 Glastonbury Festival guitar, a hand-written 2009 letter from Frank Sinatra’s daughter and Jay’s 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Award. In addition, “Baseline Studios” is a re-imagination of the space where Hov recorded some of his most famous albums, such as 2000’s The Dynasty: Roc La Familia, 2001’s The Blueprint and 2003’s The Black Album.
No library card is needed to enter and the library has created 13 limited-edition library cards that fans can collect, with each one featuring the cover of one of Jay’s solo albums dating to 1986’s Reasonable Doubt.
See the Library’s tweet below.