R&B/Hip-Hop
Page: 389
With Fast X looming, one of the franchise’s heralded stars, Ludacris, sat down with Tamron Hall to discuss his upcoming 10th studio album and what fans can expect, and Billboard has an exclusive first look.
“We’re definitely gonna get some music before the end of this year,” revealed the “Southern Hospitality” star on the Tuesday (May 16) episode of the Tamron Hall Show. “I would say an album, probably next year.”
Luda’s last studio album came in 2015, titled Ludaversal. It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and included features from Usher, Miguel, Monica and Big K.R.I.T.
Luda quipped with Hall about the project’s delay, blaming the Fast & Furious franchise’s hectic shooting schedule on the wait. “They keep shooting more movies. What am I supposed to do?” he joked.
Despite his busy schedule, Luda has found time to crank out freestyles on social media. Last year, he caught the attention of his 15 million Instagram followers when he delivered a blistering verse over Armani White’s viral Billboard Hot 100 hit “Billie Eilish.” The post not only sits at a whopping 858,000 views on Instagram, but earned him an invitation to the burgeoning rapper’s “Legends Mix” of the song featuring Busta Rhymes and N.O.R.E. Months later, on April 20, Luda dropped another freestyle, accrued staggering numbers, and neared the 800,000 mark.
“When I was young, I feel like some of my favorite rappers, once they get to a certain point, it’s almost like you wish that they were still kind of hungry and you feel like they don’t have it necessarily like they used to. I never wanted to be that,” he shared. “So it’s extremely important for me to prove to people that even though I’m doing all this other stuff, make no mistake, I still got it, and I’m still as hungry.”
Watch Luda’s interview clip with Tamron Hall above. Check your local listings for airtime.
Hip-hop icon Missy Elliott and Atlantic Records will be honored at the National Museum of African American Music’s Celebration of Legends on June 2 at the museum in Nashville.
Elliott is scheduled to attend, as are Mya, one of the artists on the all-star remake of “Lady Marmalade” which Elliott produced; and Sylvia Rhone, chairwoman/CEO of Epic Records, who became senior vice president and general manager of Atlantic Records in 1986 and who worked with Elliott when she headed eastwest Records.
Previous honorees include Lionel Richie, Chaka Khan, Quincy Jones, Smokey Robinson and the Fisk Jubilee Singers.
Elliott was recently announced as the first female hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2019, she became the first female hip-hop artist/songwriter to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Elliott has amassed nine top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “Work It,” which logged 10 weeks at No. 2. She also reached the runner-up spot as a featured artist on Ciara’s “1, 2 Step.” A four-time Grammy winner, Elliott has won video of the year at the VMAs twice, as a featured artist on “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, Lil’ Kim, Mýa and Pink in 2001 and with her own “Work It” two years later.
Atlantic Records was founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson. Over its first two decades, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most important American record labels, specializing in jazz, R&B and soul recordings by such artists as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Ruth Brown and Otis Redding. Its position was enhanced by its distribution deal with Stax Records. In 1967, Atlantic became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, now the Warner Music Group, and expanded into rock and pop.
The National Museum of African American Music was designed to celebrate and preserve African Americans’ influence on music and provide Nashville-area residents and visitors alike with diverse cultural offerings. The museum opened in 2021.
Happy Mother’s Day to Cardi B! The “I Like It” rapper took to social media on Sunday (May 14) to show off the gorgeous gifts that her husband Offset gave to her to celebrate the holiday. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “I love my man he really […]
After announcing his decision to axe his artist moniker during his interview with W Magazine recently, The Weeknd took a step in that direction when he changed all of his display names on social media to his birth name — Abel Makkonen Tesfaye. The cover story featuring his The Idol co-star Lily-Rose Depp highlighted their upcoming controversial […]
An 18-year-old man who was charged in the 2020 fatal shooting of rising Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke admitted to killing him during a home-invasion robbery at a Hollywood Hills home in juvenile court Friday (May 12), according to City News Service. The man, who was 15 at the time of the crime, admitted to a […]
Lil Nas X showed up to Jack Harlow‘s premiere for White Men Can’t Jump on Thursday sporting a T-shirt specially dedicated to his pal. Emblazoned with the “They Don’t Love It” rapper’s name in bold, white letters, the black tee featured an image of Harlow as well. But that wasn’t all: On the graphic, Harlow […]
Jason Isbell jumped on social media Friday afternoon (May 12) to defend Janelle Monáe and the buzzy music video for her new single “Lipstick Lover.” “Wait there are people who DON’T like Janelle’s video?” the country singer tweeted. “Seriously I don’t know wtf you people want if it isn’t that.” In a follow-up tweet, he […]
Two weeks after her single “Kill Bill” broke the record for the longest running No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart by a woman, SZA adds the corresponding record on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums to her rapidly growing list of accolades: Her SOS album becomes the longest reigning No. 1 by a solo woman in the chart’s 58-year history.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
SOS logs an 18th week at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart dated May 13, breaking the tie it set last week with Aretha Franklin’s Aretha Now for the most weeks on top for an album by a woman. Franklin’s set, which contains classics such as “Think” and her cover of “I Say a Little Prayer,” ruled for 17 weeks in 1968. Notably, Franklin set the record in question three different times. Her 1967 breakthrough, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, was the first set by a woman to land 14 weeks at No. 1. The next year’s Aretha: Lady Soul took that record and extended it by two weeks, but follow-up Aretha Now did even better, setting the 17-week standard that lasted for 54 years, until the SOS era.
For its record-breaking frame, SOS earned 56,000 equivalent album units in the week ending May 4, according to Luminate, a 5% drop from the prior frame, but still 20,000 units ahead of the week’s closest competitor, Jack Harlow’s Jackman.
With SOS overtaking Aretha Now, here’s a look at the albums by solo women with the most weeks at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums since the list’s launch in January 1965.
Weeks at No. 1, Album Title, Artist, Peak Date
18, SOS, SZA, Dec. 24, 2022
17, Aretha Now, Aretha Franklin, July 27, 1968
16, Aretha: Lady Soul, Aretha Franklin, March 2, 1968
14, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Aretha Franklin, April 29, 1967
10, Beyoncé, Beyoncé, Dec. 28, 2013
10, Lemonade, Beyoncé, May 14, 2016
Notably, three albums also deserve a mention: Diana Ross and The Supremes Greatest Hits by the all-female trio spent 12 weeks at No. 1, beginning on Oct. 14, 1967. Sade, fronted by female lead singer and band namesake Sade Adu, earned 11 weeks at No. 1 with Promise beginning on Feb. 1, 1986, and the all-female-performed soundtrack to the film Waiting to Exhale, featuring tracks sung by Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Brandy and others, claimed 10 weeks at No. 1 starting on Dec. 16, 1995.
On the overall count, SOS’ 18 weeks in charge put it in a tie for ninth place for most weeks at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, matching the 18-week runs of The Temptations’ The Temptations Sing Smokey and Michael Jackson’s Bad. The King of Pop’s Thriller, with 37 weeks, tops the leaderboard.
As mentioned above, the SOS era has paid enormous chart dividends for SZA’s career. The smash hit “Kill Bill” has clocked 19 weeks (and counting) atop Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, the longest for any track by a woman and within one week of tying Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, for the most in the list’s history. And five months into its domination, the juggernaut continues to spin off new hits. Current radio single “Snooze” jumps into the top 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, becoming the 10th song from SOS to crack the top 10 barrier.
Janelle Monae isn’t looking for any ordinary lover, as proven by her latest video, “Lipstick Lover,” off her newly announced upcoming album, The Age of Pleasure. The R&B polymath delivers a savory visual highlighting her adoration for women. Whether she’s enjoying kisses on the neck poolside or appreciating the bodacious curves of her muse, Monae is relishing each person’s beauty.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
The new studio album — out June 9 via Wondaland Arts Society / Atlantic Records — will be her first studio album since 2018’s Grammy-nominated release of Dirty Computer.
In an interview with Apple Music One’s Zane Lowe, Monae broke down the meaning behind her latest song, explaining once being the giver and receiver of a “lipstick kiss”. “That song, ‘Lipstick Lover,’ I’m like, ‘Why didn’t I write this song years ago?’ Because if you know me … Today, I don’t have on any red lipstick, but I’m always in red lipstick. And there have been so many instances where I’ve made out with somebody at a party, and it’s dark,” she said. “Nobody notices it. But when the lights come on, whoever I’ve made out with, lipstick all over their face. And then I’ve also been on the receiving end of a human … who’s so attractive. … Or I’ll get home, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God. I have lipstick all over my face.’ And I’ve also been the ‘Lipstick Lover’ where … you know exactly who I kissed.”
Monae also explained to Lowe how the songs from her new album came from honesty.
“All the songs were written from such an honest space,” she began. “And what I’m super excited about with The Age of Pleasure. The Age of Pleasure is that … Listen, I’ve had my age of depression. I’ve had my age of anxiety. I’ve had my age of struggle. And again, it’s not like life is pleasurable every single day, but I think I have actively just sought out … How do I create a space for myself? How do I redirect my mind on how I’m thinking about things? How do I realize that right now, in this present moment, moments that we’ll never get back, this is where you need to find your pleasure? This is your moment. Don’t let it get confused that five minutes later, we’re going to try to go into doing something different. And again, this is just my experience where I’m at; even though, despite what I may be going through, there’s going to be a moment where this bad moment, I won’t even be around to even discuss it. I won’t.”
Check out the “age-restricted” video on YouTube.
Following the release of his Billboard 200 No. 1 album A Gangsta’s Pain, MoneyBagg Yo is ready to return with his upcoming mixtape Hard to Love. MoneyBagg penned a heartfelt letter to his fans explaining his hiatus and decision to return to the music space, with the new music slated for a May 26 release date. […]