R&B/Hip-Hop

25 May 2025

Drake Announces ‘OVO Fest Will Be Back This Summer’ at Central Cee Concert in Toronto

OVO Fest will be back in summer 2025.

Drake made the announcement while making a surprise guest appearance at Central Cee‘s concert in Toronto Saturday (May 24) at History.

“I’ll see you this summer, by the way” Drake said to the crowd, while congratulating the British rapper on his success. “OVO Fest will be back this year.”

He then pointed back at Central Cee and said “we’ll need you there for that.”

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Drake hasn’t hosted his star-studded hometown festival since 2022. At that edition, he reunited with Young Money pals Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj and presented a Canadian extravaganza featuring Kardinal Offishall, Shawn Desman, Nelly Furtado and more.

The 2025 edition of OVO Fest would be his first since his high-profile beef with Kendrick Lamar and his ongoing lawsuit with his label Universal Music Group.

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No other details have been announced yet, but it sounds like Central Cee would be an obvious first guest. Drake praised the rapper before making his announcement, calling “Day In The LIfe” his favourite song. “I can go word for word on that,” he said.

OVO Fest typically takes place in August, around the same time as the Caribbean Carnival (a.k.a. Caribana).

Drake’s announcement came from up on the VIP balcony of History, where he also performed his newest hit “Nokia” from 2025’s collaborative album with PartyNextDoor, $ome $exy $ongs 4 U. Drake has a stake in the venue, along with Live Nation.

Drake has a history of making surprise announcements at other rappers’ shows in Toronto. He initially announced $ome $exy $ongs 4 U in a surprise set with PartyNextDoor at Budweiser Stage last summer.

Drake’s love of surprises is what makes OVO Fest so special in the first place, and this year should be no different.

24 May 2025

Sacha Jenkins, Influential Hip-Hop Journalist and Filmmaker, Dies at 54

Sacha Jenkins, a pioneering hip-hop journalist, author, filmmaker and cultural historian, has died at the age of 54.

Jenkins passed away on Friday (May 23) at his home due to complications from multiple system atrophy, his wife, journalist and filmmaker Raquel Cepeda, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

Throughout his multifaceted career as an author, producer, magazine founder and filmmaker, Jenkins was widely regarded as a key authority on hip-hop culture. Born in Philadelphia and raised in New York City, he moved to Queens in the late 1970s — a formative time when hip-hop, punk, graffiti and skateboarding were all rising cultural forces.

Jenkins was the son of Horace Byrd Jenkins III, an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker who worked on 60 Minutes and Sesame Street. He began his own career by founding Graphic Scenes & X-plicit Language, an early magazine dedicated to graffiti art. Jenkins later co-founded the hip-hop newspaper Beat Down with childhood friend and fellow music journalist Elliott Wilson.

In 1994, Jenkins and Wilson launched the influential hip-hop and skateboarding publication Ego Trip. The magazine ran for 13 issues and spawned two acclaimed books: 1999’s Ego Trip’s Book of Rap Lists and 2002’s Ego Trip’s Big Book of Racism! Alongside team members Jefferson “Chairman” Mao, Gabriel Alvarez and Brent Rollins, Ego Trip also branched into television, producing several shows for VH1, including 2007’s The (White) Rapper Show.

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Jenkins contributed his writing to publications like Spin, Rolling Stone and served as both music editor and writer-at-large at Vibe. He recently held the position of creative director at Mass Appeal, according to Rolling Stone.

As a filmmaker, Jenkins directed and produced a range of projects. His work includes Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues (2022), Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James (2021), Fresh Dressed (2015), All Up in the Biz (2023) and Harley Flanagan: Wired for Chaos (2024). His 2019 docuseries Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men earned him an Emmy nomination.

Jenkins is survived by his wife, Raquel Cepeda, and their two children.

23 May 2025

Jamie Foxx Shuts Down Conspiracy Theory That Diddy Tried to Kill Him

Jamie Foxx suffered a serious medical emergency in 2023, which he later confirmed to be a stroke. During the time of uncertainty surrounding the mystery illness, plenty of rumors swirled on social media, including Diddy’s alleged involvement.

Foxx shut down the rumors that Diddy tried to have him killed during an interview earlier this week for The Hollywood Reporter with Hasan Minhaj, Chelsea Handler, Roy Wood Jr., Seth Meyers and Sarah Silverman.

“I’m in f—ing perfect shape. [I saw things like,] ‘Puffy tried to kill me.’ No, Puffy didn’t try to kill me. When they said I was a clone, that made me flip,” he said. “I’m sitting in the hospital bed, like, ‘These b—h-a– motherf—ers are trying to clone me.’”

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The 57-year-old admitted he was heavily sedated with drugs during his hospital stay — and he says he doesn’t recall weeks of it — and he snuck in a cell phone, which saw him indulging in the salacious rumors around his health.

“I was doing so many jokes in the hospital,” he continued. “That’s the only way I could get through it. I’m a comic, so even when I was heavily sedated, and they gave me OxyContin, Dilantin and morphine at the same time.”

Foxx previously addressed the rumors of Diddy having him killed and his friendship with the Bad Boy mogul during his What Had Happened Was Netflix special in December.

“The internet said Puffy was trying to kill me, that’s what the internet was saying,” he said. “I know what you thinking, ‘Diddy?’ Hell no, I left them parties early.”

Combs’ reps dispelled the rumors of Diddy having any involvement in Foxx’s health crisis in October, which they said were “outlandish, ridiculous and baseless.”

In April 2023, Foxx’s daughter revealed that her father was hospitalized for a “medical complication” while filming the Netflix movie Back in Action in Atlanta with Cameron Diaz.

Jamie Foxx eventually explained that a “brain bleed” led to him having a stroke after only saying he had a “bad headache.” A nurse said he only had a five percent chance of surviving the medical crisis.

The Oscar-winning actor spent nearly a month in the hospital as doctors ran a myriad of tests and watched his condition closely. He told the audience at his Netflix special that he came “within an inch of his life” while battling the health scare.

As for Diddy, Combs is currently on trial for his sex trafficking and racketeering case, which is expected to last into July. He potentially faces life in prison if convicted on all charges.

23 May 2025

50 Cent Mocks ‘Molotov Diddy,’ Blasts Him for Allegedly Traumatizing Kid Cudi’s Dog

50 Cent trolls Diddy over allegedly traumatizing Kid Cudi‘s dog and lighting his car on fire.

On Thursday, Kid Cudi arrived in Manhattan to testify against Diddy in the disgraced mogul’s ongoing criminal trial. As part of his testimony, Cudi said Diddy allegedly threw a molotov cocktail into his car because he was dating Puff’s ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. Cudi also claimed Puff traumatized his dog in the process.

50 Cent obviously dug his teeth into both of these claims, hopping on Instagram to clown his longtime foe.

“Molotov Diddy was doing old-school sh– out here,” 50 Cent captioned a photo shown in court of Cudi’s incinerated car. “Old killer Rat Jimmy threw one them at us. LOL.”

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Fif then shared a photo of himself at the gym with a wide grin on his face, seemingly looking at trial updates on his phone. “What the f— Diddy did to kid cudi Dog? OVER the girl man? LOL,” he wrote.

50 Cent has remained relentless in his taunting of Diddy, who is currently on trial for sex crimes. Earlier in May, the Queens rapper and filmmaker shared a video of people claiming to have been paid to wear “Free Diddy” shirts outside the Manhattan courtroom.

“Diddy paying people to wear Free Diddy shirts is diabolical,” 50 wrote in the caption. “But $20 a hour ain’t bad. I might go throw that on for a hour tomorrow.”

The G-Unit leader had also previously hopped on Instagram after the trial wrapped its third day with cross-examination of Cassie. During her time on the stand, Ventura recounted horrid details about what allegedly transpired during her relationship with Diddy. Clearly what she said swayed 50, who was shook by some of the things he heard.

“After listening to today’s testimony, I think the diddler should have took the plea offer,” 50 Cent wrote. “The sh– they are saying is beyond me, so what do ya think?”

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23 May 2025

How Ye & Playboi Carti Went From Friends to Foes: Here’s the Timeline

The two rap stars are having a very public fallout, but how did they get to this point?

Kanye West and Playboi Carti

Kanye West and Playboi Carti

Bellocqimages/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images; Wagner Meier/Getty Images for Live Nation

While once the closest of collaborators, Playboi Carti and Ye (formerly Kanye West) seem to be having a very serious falling out.

The two rap stars have been tied together since at least 2016, and both have linked for a handful of hits over the years. On March 14, 2025, that streak seemed to be continuing with the release of King Vamp’s third album, MUSIC. Ye had co-produced the song “BACKD00R” featuring Jhene Aiko and Kendrick Lamar, but Ye did not rap on the album.

This may be because — as Ye also speculated — Yeezy has continuously spewed hateful and antisemitic claims. Ye has continuously engaged in hate speech since at least 2022, when he called for “death con 3 on jewish people” and unapologetically rocked White Lives Matter T-shirt at a fashion show. The antisemeitc rhetoric caused him to loose multiple deals collectively worth around $2 billion, and it’s slowly impacted his reputation as an artistic genius.

While Carti never spoke publicly on these actions, Ye theorized after the release of MUSIC that the Whole Lotta Red rapper had been distancing himself from him. After some more spewing on X that even brought Iggy Azalea — the mother of Carti’s son — into the mix, Carti eventually replied.

The back-and-forths have continued since, showing that the once fruitful relationship between Ye and Carti is no more. So how did the two men get to this point? Here’s a timeline of Ye and Carti’s relationship over the years.

23 May 2025

DJ Khaled Runs the Gauntlet With Viral Sensation Ashton Hall in Hilarious Album Promo Video

DJ Khaled is a master marketer. He can turn just about anything into a viral clip, dating back to his thrilling Snapchat voyages that had followers on the edge of their seats nearly a decade ago.

Khaled linked up with content creator Ashton Hall, who has gone viral for his wild daily routine videos, which produced plenty of chatter on social media, whether it’s his Saratoga water ice face washes or banana-peel-spreading skin routine.

Hall, a former college football player, is quite the athlete and also gives fans a look into his rigorous workout regimen, which Khaled joined him for.

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The hilarious clip finds the We The Best mogul shirtless in an open black vest, taped-up legs and Air Jordan 3s running alongside Hall in what appears to be a parking lot. Cinematic effects make the video look like an action-packed scene straight out of a Bad Boys movie.

“ALBUM MODE ! AALAM OF GOD,” Khaled captioned the video on his Instagram ahead of his Aalam of God album arrival, which is expected later in 2025.

Fans and plenty of Khaled’s peers found the album promotion tactic to be amusing, as A$AP Rocky, Busta Rhymes, Swizz Beatz, E-40 and more chimed in on Instagram.

“Nah the cuz fake got some speed he keeping up,” Rowdy Rebel added while giving Khaled props.

Khaled hasn’t released a project since 2022’s God Did, which topped the Billboard 200, so the anticipation is there.

He appeared to kick off the Aalam of God rollout into another gear with a blockbuster movie trailer starring Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Ramos. The album teaser saw him hinting at collabs with Rihanna and Drake.

However, Drake threw cold water on the epic trailer’s momentum when he questioned whether he’d be on the project. “Must be Drake Bell,” Drizzy commented, and Khaled ended up deleting the post on IG altogether.

23 May 2025

Questlove Says He Was ‘Shocked’ to See Kendrick Lamar Pay Homage to The Roots With ‘GNX’ Video

Kendrick Lamar is a student of the rap game, and Questlove was surprised to see the West Coast hip-hop savant pay homage to The Roots with his “Squabble Up” video.

The Roots drummer stopped by The Jennifer Hudson Show on Thursday (May 22), where he opened up about Lamar recreating the scene from the Philly band’s 1999 “The Next Movement” video with the olive open-room set of the GNX visual.

“I was so shocked because the way that people told me — I woke up to 30 K. Dot texts,” Questlove said. “I thought, ‘Oh no.’ He just dissed us. I thought it was something else. And they were like, ‘No, he paid tribute to y’all in this video.’”

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He continued to salute Dot: “It’s an honor, but it’s also a surprise when you see people acknowledging you after all this time.”

While Hudson was surprised to see Quest’s humility when it comes to the band’s influence, he explained that it’s from The Roots being “not super mainstream, but we’re niche, but we’re not overexposed popular.”

Produced by Sounwave and Jack Antonoff, “Squabble Up” arrived as a standout on Kendrick Lamar’s GNX album in November. A Calmatic-directed visual paying homage to The Roots was released just a few days later on Nov. 25.

The Debbie Deb-sampling anthem debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 to give Lamar his fifth No. 1 hit and third of 2024 at the time. GNX brought about a domination of the Hot 100, with Lamar occupying the entire top five. (“TV Off” featuring Lefty Gunplay, “Luther” with SZA, “Wacced Out Murals” and “Hey Now” featuring Dody6 came in at Nos. 2-5).

Watch Questlove’s full interview above, and revisit the “Squabble Up” video below:

23 May 2025

Skilla Baby Shot Multiple Times in Drive-By Shooting

Skilla Baby (real name Trevon Gardner) was the victim of a drive-by shooting in Redford, Mich., on Thursday evening (May 22), Billboard can confirm. A press release from the Redford Township Police Department — who did not identify the Detroit rapper — said a male was transported to a local hospital to have his non-life-threatening injuries treated.

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The lead investigator on the case, Edward French, told TMZ that the suspect pulled up alongside the rapper’s car and fired an estimated 25 times.

The press release noted that he suffered three non-fatal gunshot wounds before crashing his vehicle into a building in the area of 8 Mile and Centralia around 7 p.m. local time. When officers arrived on the scene, they discovered a bullet-ridden vehicle, but Skilla Baby — who was alone in the car, according to the press release — was already being transported to a local hospital.

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Per FOX2, the rapper was grazed in the head and back, and also shot in the hand area. He was alert during his time in the hospital and is expected to recover.

Police are still searching for the unidentified gunman, who fled the scene.

Billboard has reached out to Skilla Baby’s reps for comment.

Last year, Skilla partnered with the Detroit City Council to produce a gun buyback event, aiming to reduce gun violence across his hometown.

“It was successful,” the 26-year-old told Billboard of the event. “We got 300 guns off the street. I think the underrated part of the gun buyback was that it was a job fair and we expunged a lot of people’s records. That was important to me, because I’m a felon, and to help people change their life and the trajectory of their future — people judge you, and it’s hard to be successful when you’re a felon.”

2024 was a busy year for Skilla Baby, who delivered a pair of projects with The Coldest to start the campaign, followed by Crack Music 3 in November.

23 May 2025

Young Thug Labels Kid Cudi a ‘Rat’ for Testifying in Diddy Trial

Young Thug called out Kid Cudi for testifying in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking and racketeering trial on Thursday (May 22), and labeled the Cleveland rapper a rat on X. Thugger quickly deleted the polarizing message, but the toothpaste was already out of the tube.

“Dam cudi a rat lol,” Thug wrote before taking the post down minutes later.

Billboard has reached out to Cudi’s rep for comment.

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Thugger had been locked up for more than two years while fighting for his freedom as part of the YSL RICO trial. He eventually reached a plea deal on Oct. 31, 2024.

However, there is a connection between the YSL trial and Diddy’s, as Thug’s attorney Brian Steel is part of the Bad Boy mogul’s legal defense team. Steel cross-examined Cudi while he was on the stand.

Cudder briefly dated Cassie in the early 2010s, but the romance was ultimately short-lived. As part of his testimony, Kid Cudi recalled Diddy allegedly setting his Porsche on fire in his driveway with a Molotov cocktail. Cudi also tied a break-in of his home around the time of his relationship with Cassie to Diddy.

Cassie named Cudi in her 2023 sexual abuse lawsuit, which lit the fuse against Diddy, claiming Combs attempted to blow up the “Day ‘n’ Nite” rapper’s car. While on the stand on Day 3 of the trial, she explained why she cut the relationship with Cudi short. “Too much danger, too much uncertainty of what could happen if we continued to see each other,” Cassie said.

As for Cudi, he took to social media to reflect on the “stressful situation” after taking the stand, and the Ohio native said he’s “glad it’s behind” him.

“I’ve been seeing all the love and support and I just want to say thank you so much, man,” Cudi said in a video he shared to various platforms. “People been hitting me up the past week just checking in and even today, it really means a lot to me, man. You guys are the best. I love y’all. This is a stressful situation. I’m glad it’s behind me.”

On Thugger’s side, he’s been teasing his UY SCUTI album, which he’s hinted at a June arrival date for. He reunited with Future for his “Money on Money” single in April.

23 May 2025

Rob49 on Viral Stardom, ‘Let Me Fly,’ Collab Album With G Herbo & Making Music With Justin Bieber

In an age of elusive algorithms and viral fame, Rob49 has had an uncharacteristically steady rise for a young rapper. After an uneventful stint in the National Guard and two semesters at Southern University, Rob49 picked up the mic for fun during the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost immediately, he garnered co-signs from industry vets like French Montana, and inked a record deal before the year was out. From there, Rob’s uptick in popularity hasn’t ceased — much to the surprise of everyone, even him.

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“I ain’t never wanna be no rapper. I used to really be looking at rappers like they were lying,” Rob told Billboard of his early days. “Like, ‘Ain’t no way you doin’ what I’m doin and made it out this s—t.’ Now, I feel like all rappers gotta be doing what they’re talking about — because ain’t no way your hood let you [fake] that, let you say what you say and get away with it.”

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Rob49’s latest album, Let Me Fly, is a testament to that relentless hustle, and to the acceptance that clearly he was built to be a rap star. The lighthearted nature behind his inescapable hit “WTHelly” shows that making hit songs, even if the origin of it is rather silly, comes as easily to Rob as breathing.

“I don’t be looking for a catchy record,” Rob says. “I really just be doing what I want.”

Below, Billboard talks with Rob49 about “WTHelly,” linking with Justin Bieber, and the key to making good music.

Let’s set the record straight: Who was the first person to say “what the helly?”

I don’t know who the first person was, but a lot of people are trying to take credit for it in my city. It’s New Orleans slang right now.

How are you feeling about the reception to “WTHelly” so far? Were you expecting it to be a hit from the jump?

I knew it was gonna be good, but I was kinda scared. A lot of the other releases I had, I was kinda thinkin’, ‘Oh this is gonna be it!’ and it was not what it was supposed to be. I was scared [“WTHelly”] was gonna be one of them ones. I’m grateful for it [catching on].

It must be nice to see it starting to get the traction the song is getting.

Did you see it?

Did I see what?

Did you see “WTHelly” on your socials?

I had to search it, it didn’t just pop up for me.

Ah, see that’s why I asked you that. We ain’t go hard enough then.

What’s your favorite “WTHelly” flip?

What the helly-Bron James. I came up with that one, and my friends came up with the rest.

How are you feeling about the reception to the remix? Justin Bieber’s verse seemed to really divide people, and I can’t help but notice you haven’t dropped it.

I was gonna drop the [remix] with [G Herbo] first and add it to the album, but we wound up doing it too late. So it might come out the next day on the album, then we’re just gonna go from there with it.

Do you plan to drop the Justin Bieber remix as well?

I talked to Justin a couple of days ago and he was telling me he wanted to do some more songs. So I don’t know.

How is he feeling about the reception to his verse? It was pretty divisive when it dropped.

It’s funny — when he first did it, he was like, “What you think? You think I can go harder?” I told him like, “Man I love it, bro — if you feel comfortable about it, if you like it, then I love it.” You know?

Were you surprised by people’s negative reaction to Bieber’s verse?

No, not really. I knew it was a possibility, because — it was the same way when he asked me, “Do you think I can go harder?”

What do you think people misunderstood about it?

Probably the singing part. You just never know what it’s gonna be — and fans don’t understand that all the time, that you don’t know what a hit is. Like, it just kinda happens. Some people might’ve been, like, “Oh my god he sung!” and if it would have been a hit it would have been a crazy banger. That be the difference between songs.

Tell me about the work you did with Birdman on this album. What did you learn from working and talking with him?

Just go hard, cause you get a lot of motivation from him like that and I just be accepting it. We don’t really be talking about too much. Don’t let up, don’t take it for granted, stuff like that.

You mentioned New Orleans — what’s your relationship like with your hometown right now?

I love my city, but when I go back there now it just feels like dry energy. There’s nothing really there, in terms of anything. I saw so much stuff traveling the world, it just doesn’t feel like enough for me — and that’s scary. I ain’t never wanted it to be like that because I like going home.

I noticed Skilla Baby’s not on Let Me Fly — is that collab album still coming?

I’m gonna call him and talk to him about that. Right now, I’m working on a collab album with me and G Herbo. I don’t know what we’re gonna name it — one of my close friends be saying, “Ghetto Poet” or something like that. I think I wanna name it that. I was gonna ask [G Herbo] how he feel about that. “Ghetto Poet” sounds great for an album, right?

Absolutely. I’m curious about how you approach dropping music. For a lot of young guys the blueprint has been too flood the streets with as much music as possible, but you’ve been very intentional with the singles you’ve dropped since 4 God II.

I just didn’t wanna drop no bulls—t. But at this point in my life I don’t care. I know if it’s hard, it’s better than yours. They got a lot of people out here dropping stuff that’s not better than mine.

Do you ever worry about losing momentum?

I definitely feel nervous about it. I was nervous this time, but I wasn’t nervous for myself, I was nervous cause everyone around me was getting nervous. I keep tellin’ em we good, but then they keep getting nervous! But you gotta be a strong-minded person, and not let people around you dictate your movements.

How did you creatively approach Let Me Fly differently than 4 God II?

I just wanted to be myself for real. 4 God II, it did good, but I felt like I was listening to the people a lot about the songs I was picking and stuff. This time, no one has say so but me.

Do you feel pressure with this record to take it to the next level?

I don’t feel no pressure, I just feel like we gotta go hard. Right now, we don’t have to come out with a fake roll out. The songs are going up for real — it’s not a game. Right now, I feel like I gotta show you [who I am], because a lot of people hold they nuts. You not gonna be able to hold your nuts this year.