R&B/Hip-Hop
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Jack Harlow is giving back to Kentucky in a big way. On Wednesday (May 3), the Jackman MC announced The Jack Harlow Foundation will serve as the Louisville, Ky. native’s primary philanthropic vehicle to “reinvest, uplift and support organizations aiming to make the city that raised him a better place.”
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“The launch of my foundation is represented by gifts to 4 organizations that I believe are doing the work of making Louisville a better place; helping under resourced families remove obstacles to higher education, supporting a new start in a neighborhood that has been lacking investment, giving hands on assistance to the poorest of the poor, and making safe housing affordable for families,” Harlow said in a press release.
The four Kentucky-based organizations that will receive aid from Harlow’s foundation include Adelante Hispanic Achievers, Centro Latino, Russell: A Place of Promise and Sponsor4Success. “With all I have done and will do in my career, my home is where my heart is, my refuge, and the place that shaped me,” added Harlow. “Giving back to Louisville represents the dream I have of making a difference. My vision is to make Louisville a better place. Know that this is just the start of my philanthropic legacy and I look forward to transforming our community and, as a result, the success and happiness of its citizens.”
Later today, Harlow will be presented with the Hometown Heroes banner in Louisville, celebrating hometown stars who have used their national platforms to give back to their communities. Last week, Harlow released his third studio album Jackman, followed by his new visual, “They Don’t Love It,” on Monday (May 1).
On Wednesday (May 3), Missy Elliott reveled in her triumphs after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The hip-hop polymath celebrated the news on Twitter, crediting her “Supafriends” on her latest feat.
“I want to say this is HUGE not for just me but all my Sisters in HIPHOP this door is now OPEN to showcase the hard work & what many of us contribute to MUSIC,” she tweeted. “I have cried all morning because I am GRATEFUL thank you @rockhall & all on the committee & Supafriends.”
Missy continued sharing her gratitude by highlighting her early beginnings as a young star coming from Portsmouth, Va., saying: “I can’t stop crying I am from Portsmouth Virginia aka P-Town.. #757 to 804 I send my love You day dream of these moments but today it’s Real VA 2 up 2 down the 7 Cities all my folk I am GRATEFUL.”
Elliott didn’t mince her words; she also addressed her detractors who once dubbed her “irrelevant.” “It’s times I have gotten on line & seen your irrelevant your a flop your [sic] washed up & it would crush me at times BUT God you made me STRONG I kept going & you allowed my decades of WORK to SPEAK 4 itself I am HUMBLED thank you all my Supporters I LOVE YOU,” she wrote.
Mona Scott-Young, CEO of Monami Entertainment and Elliott’s 25+ year manager shares: “Missy receiving this honor – of not only being the first female Hip Hop Artist to EVER be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame AND being one of only three women to be inducted in their first year of eligibility – is a penultimate moment in a stellar career defined by record breaking, ceiling shattering firsts! From mind-blowing musical contributions to iconic mind-bending visuals, Missy continues to shift pop culture and elevate what is possible. I could not be prouder or more honored to be a part of her incredible journey.”
Elliott’s storied career includes noteworthy chart wins, such as her nine Billboard Hot 100 top 10hits and five top-five Billboard 200 albums. Elliott joins a heralded Rock Hall Class with Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, Sheryl Crow, Kate Bush, Chaka Khan, and more. The 38th Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place Nov. 3, 2023 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Check out Missy’s tweets below.
I want to say this is HUGE not for just me but all my Sisters in HIPHOP this door is now OPEN to showcase the hard work & what many of us contribute to MUSIC. I have cried all morning because I am GRATEFUL thank you @rockhall & all on the committee & Supafriends💜 https://t.co/agHv7puauj— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) May 3, 2023
I can’t stop crying😩😩😩 I am from Portsmouth Virginia aka P-Town.. #757 to 804 I send my love💜You day dream of these moments but today it’s Real😩🙏🏾💜 VA 2 up 2 down the 7 Cities all my folk I am GRATEFUL💜🙏🏾 https://t.co/7PypwZQOxR— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) May 3, 2023
I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to all the other LEGENDARY artist who will now be inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame👑 They have committed DECADES of hard work and IMPACT on music I thank you for the TIMELESS music you have shared with the World🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾💜 https://t.co/w1NbHM7oVM— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) May 3, 2023
It’s times I have gotten on line & seen your irrelevant your a flop your washed up & it would crush me at times🥺BUT God you made me STRONG I kept going & you allowed my decades of WORK to SPEAK 4 itself🙏🏾 I am HUMBLED thank you all my Supporters💜 I LOVE YOU💜 pic.twitter.com/gkHUttWoU5— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) May 3, 2023
SZA was so excited to have earned her first ever Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, she needed a whole week before she was ready to celebrate publicly.
And even though her career-defining smash “Kill Bill” has since been overtaken by Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” in the top spot, the 33-year-old R&B pop star still took a moment to gush about the accomplishment on Twitter. “took me a over week to process cause I dreamt of this my entire career,” she wrote in an emotional early Wednesday morning (May 3) post. “didn’t feel real lol, still doesn’t.”
“but I wanna say THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS,” SZA continued. “Every person ,every fan base every ear that listened and pushed for me .”
“Can’t believe we have a number 1 record,” she added.
The milestone has been a long time coming for “Kill Bill.” Since the December 2022 release of SZA’s sophomore album, SOS, its standout track spent a total of 18 weeks charting on the Hot 100 — 17 of them in the top 10, and eight of them at No. 2 — before finally pulling ahead to first place in its 19th week, on the chart dated April 29.
Helping to give “Kill Bill” the boost it needed, Doja Cat jumped on a remix of the track released April 14. However, Doja is not billed under the song on the Hot 100 because the remix did not account for the majority of the song’s overall consumption during the tracking week. According to Luminate, the song drew 86.5 million radio airplay audience impressions and 28.3 million streams, and sold 5,000 downloads in the April 14-20 tracking week.
And while its prowess on the Hot 100 broke a personal record for SZA, “Kill Bill” is also breaking chart records elsewhere. In April, it became the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart’s longest-running No. 1 track, surpassing Mary J. Blige’s previous record of 15 weeks at the top of the list.
See SZA’s belated reaction to scoring her first ever Hot 100 No. 1 below:
took me a over week to process cause I dreamt of this my entire career🥹.. didn’t feel real lol, still doesn’t. but I wanna say THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS. Every person ,every fan base every ear that listened and pushed for me . Can’t believe we have a number 1 record😢 🩸🆘 🔪🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/mpk9ZEXNpR— SZA (@sza) May 3, 2023
Kool & the Gang still knows how to party. In fact, the Grammy Award-winning group is preparing for its biggest party of all to date: its 60th anniversary in 2024. Following its April 13 performance on Good Morning America and the release of its latest single, “Let’s Party” featuring Sha Sha Jones, the R&B, soul and funk band is now announcing the arrival of its 34th studio album, People Just Wanna Have Fun.
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Helmed by the group’s founding namesake Robert “Kool” Bell and original member George “Funky” Brown,” Kool & the Gang recorded a lively 15-track album that will arrive July 14 through Astana Music Inc, distributed by BFD/The Orchard. The set features some of the last studio work from the group’s stellar founding horn players: Kool’s brother Ronald “Khalis” Bell and Dennis “D.T.” Thomas, who passed away in 2020 and 2021, respectively. In addition to Sha Sha Jones, lead vocals on the album include Shawn McQuiller, Lavell Evans, Dominique Karan, Rick Marcel and Walt Anderson, plus rappers Ami Miller & Ole’.
People Just Wanna Have Fun is a fitting next chapter in the Kool & the Gang legacy. Founded in 1964, the band is behind a string of timeless hits that include “Celebration,” “Ladies Night,” “Get Down on It,” “Summer Magic” and “Hollywood Swinging.” A release announcing the new project also notes the group being “the most sampled R&B band of all time” by stars such as Madonna, Jay-Z, Beastie Boys, Janet Jackson, Cypress Hill and Diddy. Their music has also been featured on various film soundtracks including Rocky, Saturday Night Fever, Pulp Fiction and Wreck-It Ralph.
“You’ve got the funk, the jazzier tracks; we have a few ballads on there,” said Bell in the release about the new album. “Then there are songs that cross over to a pop sort of thing. We go from the ‘70s, the ‘80s, right into now. It’s old school, it’s new school — we kinda captured it all here. With all our music over the years, people have had fun. So I’d say this album just about sums it all up.”
Kool & the Gang are also hitting the road this summer on the Kool and the Gang Rock the World Tour. Sponsored by Bell’s own Le Kool Champagne, the tour kicks off May 5-6 in Las Vegas, and wraps in Saratoga, Calif., on Sept. 24. Stops along the way include London (June 1), Cambridge, Great Britain (June 11), Plovdiv, Bulgaria (June 12) and Los Angeles (July 14-15). More tour information is available on the group’s website.
Keyboardist and drummer George “Funky” Brown produced People Just Wanna Have Fun, recorded at his Alley Cat Studio in Woodland Hills, Calif. He also has a book coming, Too Hot: Kool & The Gang & Me (July 11), in which he shares “my memoirs and cautionary tales.” During a recent phone interview with Billboard, Brown talked about the genesis of the new album, the loss of revered bandmates and extending Kool & the Gang’s estimable legacy.
Getting the recording party started for the project: We started the project five years ago with Sha Sha Jones. Right away, it was like hand in glove and we came up with the “Let’s Party” track. All the original horns are on that track. So we put that away and started coming up with more original material like “We Are the Party,” once again with all the original members. So that’s very special. Also on the 15th track, “99 Miles to JC,” you hear Ronald Bell on a sax solo and [the group’s late trombonist] Clifford Adams; this one has a real jazzy feel. The album also has pop, neo-soul, funk. … It’s a compilation of all the things that we are as Kool & the Gang. We worked on quite a few songs before we got down to the point of naming the album. And People Just Wanna Have Fun is very apropos after the pandemic and with what’s happening in the world right now. In fact, the album has three different sections that we call romance, dance and heart and soul. There’s also a young groove on the album with tracks like “I Want It All” featuring Sha Sha and Shawn McQuiller. Another track, “That’s What I Love About You,” reminds me of Anthony Hamilton, whose work I love. We use a lot of different harmonies on this album too, more than you’ve ever heard from Kool & The Gang in the past.
Shooting the “Let’s Party” video: I have no one favorite song on the album whatsoever. I love them all. I also just love putting together a project that comes together nicely. And you can see that in the video for “Let’s Party.” Everybody’s having a great time in the video, which was shot at my home. But it wasn’t just shoot the video and go home. We had a free bar set up and a catered dinner. So you can genuinely see that everybody’s really grooving and getting into it.
His mindset in the studio while putting the album together: My mindset was about broadening and extending the legacy of Kool & the Gang. We’re a great entity that has put a few rungs in the ladder of musical history. We went from being young jazz musicians to funk then to pop and of course soul. Our music fits in so many genres and that’s fairly rare. But by jumping into other niches, we got more fans. And It’s grown and grown. It worked for us but we didn’t do it purposely. We did it because it was something we wanted to write, something we could feel. It was nothing contrived; it’s about the raw sound philosophy that we have. Our music has truth and a lot of workmanship that we put into it. I’m floored by and happy about the musicianship that’s on this new record. I hope the public worldwide will feel the same. Also, what more can you ask for after a career that’s been so successful — and that’s still growing after all these years. Of course, there’s been plenty of sadness with the passing of group members. Sometimes you get a little weepy in the studio. But we’re keeping the legacy alive and pushing it forward. And when it’s all said and done, we’ve done our job well.
Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Wayne visited the World Series champion Houston Astros on Tuesday night (May 2) before their game against the San Francisco Giants.
The Louisiana-born rapper was in town for a show later Tuesday, but stopped by the ballpark to hang with the Astros before taking the stage.
“It meant the world,” Lil Wayne said. “They showed me way too much love and it seemed like they’re a pretty big fan and I’m a fan as well so it was all good.”
He was thrilled to meet Astros manager Dusty Baker and Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, who now works as a special adviser to Houston owner Jim Crane.
“I just pulled both of them to the side and had a long speech, a long talk with Mr. October and Dusty,” he said. “It was awesome.”
He also came away with a jersey signed by several players that he said he planned to hang on his wall. He was asked where the experience stacked up in his life.
“I don’t rank them, but this is pretty up there,” he said.
G-Eazy is back. The Bay Area artist caught up with Billboard about his time away from the music scene, his come-up and his upcoming album.
“I went through some personal things with losing my mom and there was just a bit of an overall burnout,” he told Billboard R&B/hip-hop reporter Neena Rouhani. “We started aggressively trying to tour and release music independently. That level of grind catches up to you.”
After a soul-searching hiatus, the 33-year-old rapper is back in motion and has no plans of letting up. “I just needed that step back. Once that spark hit it was like, ‘Yeah, it’s over. We found it. Now y’all are in trouble.’”
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His latest single “Tulips & Roses” is all about giving flowers while someone is still here to receive them. The track centers on “human vulnerability,” G-Eazy says, adding, “People put artists on this pedestal where you’re supposed to be the superhero and invincible. But at the end of the day, anybody could have a bad day or catch an L.”
The rapper is pleased with the fan reaction to “Tulips & Roses,” which has over 1 million views on YouTube. “When you make music, you’re making it in the studio with your closest team. When you put it out, all of a sudden, it has this life because it’s impacting all these people,” he says.
G-Eazy reflected on his journey, from a 13-year-old kid who bumped Too $hort, Mac Dre and E-40 in his bedroom to a world-famous artist playing arena shows. “I started making beats and the beats were trash. I started like writing little raps in my notebooks, I didn’t know how to like structure a song or even how to count bars,” he explains of his early years. “I’m just 14 in Oakland, in size 36 jeans and baggy white tees.”
But one day, while listening to Jay-Z’s critically acclaimed The Black Album, everything changed. “I was like, if we’re gonna do this, I want to chase him. I want to aspire to that,” he says today. “If I could go back in time and tell that 14-year-old version of me that we’d be sitting here doing this or that I’ve done these arenas, that’s unfathomable.”
It feels like Hot Girl Summer is just around the corner, and Megan Thee Stallion is kicking the season off with some sizzling selfies.
The “Savage” rapper took to Instagram on Tuesday (May 2) to share a slew of photos in which she’s seen posing in a sleek crochet two-piece set, a colorful maxi dress, a bedazzled cut-out gown, a tropical swimsuit and so much more, all while rocking a gorgeous naturally curly hairdo. The OG Hot Girl captioned the post with a simple camera emoji and, at the time of publication, the post already has more than one million likes.
Back in March, Meg teased a new album at the Vanity Fair Oscar party — much to fans’ excitement. When asked by Entertainment Tonight about the possibility of new music on the way, the rapper replied, “Oh I am, new album, f–k y’all hoes, bye!” before walking away with a laugh.
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A new full-length project would serve as a follow-up to her 2022 sophomore effort Traumazine, which debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and contained hit singles “Sweetest Pie” with Dua Lipa, “Plan B,” “Pressurelicious” featuring Future, “Her” and the Key Glock-assisted “Ungrateful.”
One person who’d be down to collaborate with Meg on upcoming music is Shania Twain, who revealed at the 2023 CMT Music Awards that the two got acquainted when the rapper presented her with the Equal Play Honor at the show. “I love her… what a sweetheart!” Twain said of the “Thot S—” rapper. “I think that [a collaboration] would really work… I love her whole mind.”
Miranda Lambert stopped by Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen on Monday night and dished on her dream collaboration with Beyoncé.
Host Andy Cohen pressed the country star on both who her favorite past collaborator has been as well as who’s still on her bucket list during a game of “Clubhouse Quickie.” For the former, she chose fellow guest Meghan Trainor — the pair performed “All About That Bass” at the CMA Awards back in 2014 — but at first she had a difficult time naming another artist she’d want to work with.
“Everybody!” she insisted. “Everybody brings something different to the table. It’s always fun and, you know, cool to meet somebody new and get some of their creativity and mix it all up.”
It was at that point that Trainor jumped in to shout, “I want Lewis Capaldi!,” which helped Lambert make a decision: “I want Beyoncé.”
Other things fans learned about the “I’ll Be Loving You” singer during the rapid-fire round of questioning included her first concert (Garth Brooks at Texas Stadium when she was just 10), go-to karaoke song (anything by The Chicks), the reality shows she secretly binges (home renovations on HGTV) and more.
While Lambert’s most recent album, Palomino, came out in April 2022, she just released her very first cookbook titled Y’all Eat Yet? In an exclusive interview with Billboard, the singer said the book of recipes came about “so organically” adding, “I’ve never shared some of my personal happy times, and memories and some hard stuff other than in my music. I’ve been in this industry for 20 years, so I feel like this is maybe a side of me that my fans haven’t gotten to see and dig a little bit deeper.”
Watch Lambert talk about Queen Bey being on her wish list of collaborators below.
A$AP Rocky was making headlines before he even arrived to the Met Gala on Monday night (May 1). Hours before he appeared alongside Rihanna on the iconic red carpet of the prestigious event, the rapper chaotically made his way into New York City’s Carlyle Hotel to get ready.
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In a viral clip circulating social media, the “Fashion Killa” star is seen jumping over a barricade at the hotel, pushing a young fan named Maddy in the process and knocking her glasses off. The fan then took to Twitter to share a shocked selfie, in which her hair is messy on one side and her glasses are crooked from the situation. “ASAP Rocky just literally jumped over me,” she captioned the post.
A$AP saw the tweet, and issued a sweet apology on Tuesday morning (May 2). “LOL MY FAULT $WEETHEART,” he wrote, also following Maddy on Twitter to soften the blow.
When A$AP arrived with RiRi at the Met Gala, they dropped jaws with their stunning looks. Paying homage to Karl Lagerfeld’s love of Scotland, Rocky wore a tartan kilt over his jeans, paired with sleek black sunglasses à la the late German fashion designer who was being honored at the event. The Barbados-born superstar, meanwhile, donned a gorgeous all-white Valentino wedding gown with a train, adorned with white roses — and revealing her baby bump.
See their looks below.
Call her Kim Petty! On Tuesday (May 2), Kim Petras unveiled the music video for “Alone,” her new single with Nicki Minaj.
In the clip, the German pop princess steps into a number of provocative roles, from a, err, clarinet enthusiast in a marching-band uniform to a hip-thrusting fitness lover who knows her way around an exercise ball to a full-blown naughty nurse as she sings, “I been tryna give it to you all night/ What’s it gonna take to getcha all alone?/ I just want you here by my side/ I don’t wanna be here, baby, on my own.”
Meanwhile, the queen of the Barbz pops up halfway through the visual to join forces with Petras in matching, all-black latex ensembles as she delivers her signature, swaggering guest verse. “It’s Barbie and it’s Kim Petras/ Main character syndrome, they extras/ We ain’t answerin’ questions/ Click on a bi— ‘fore she finish her sentence,” she raps over the track’s sample of Alice Deejay’s 1999 club classic “Better Off Alone.”
In a recent sit-down on Minaj’s Queen Radio, Petras gushed over collaborating with the Pink Friday star, calling their duet the “biggest thing in the world that could ever happen to anyone.”
“It doesn’t feel real still,” she added in an earlier interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “I love her and I’m so inspired by her always, it’s crazy to me. I don’t know how she does it, but she’s just the greatest ever.”
Debuting at No. 55 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated May 6, “Alone” has already become the trans pioneer’s second career entry on the chart following the success of “Unholy,” her Grammy-winning No. 1 smash with Sam Smith. It’s expected to be included on the tracklist for her upcoming major-label debut album out later this year.
Watch Petras and Minaj in the music video for “Alone” below.