State Champ Radio R&B/Hip-Hop
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Beyonce gave the Beyhive something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving morning (Nov. 23): a new and final trailer for her upcoming concert documentary, Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce. The two-minute teaser kicks off with a sideways home video before Queen Bey reveals who the cameraperson is when she addresses them: “Rumi, now can I […]
Next year could be a watershed moment for contemporary R&B at the Grammys, particularly in the General Field. With SZA leading all nominees at the 2024 Grammy Awards with nine nods and Victoria Monét (seven) and Coco Jones (five) right on her heels, a new class of R&B powerhouses is looking to make a major splash on Music’s Biggest Night.
At the top of 2023, Beyoncé became the most-awarded act in Grammy history thanks to her triumph in best dance/electronic album for her seismic Renaissance album. That same record — which won three additional Grammys and spawned a pair of Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits — reigned victorious at the Soul Train Awards, where it secured the “Cuff It” singer her fourth album of the year win at the ceremony.
The Soul Train Music Awards launched in 1987 with a star-studded ceremony co-hosted by Dionne Warwick and Luther Vandross. Intended to celebrate the best in R&B, soul, rap, jazz, and gospel music, the Soul Train Music Awards predate any Grammy categories honoring rap and R&B albums. The Recording Academy introduced best R&B album (along with such other “genre album” awards as best pop album, best rock album and best country album) in 1995, with best rap album arriving the following year.
So, just how often do the winners of the Soul Train Music Award for album of the year sync up with the Grammy winners for best R&B album, best progressive R&B album and best rap album? While Soul Train cannot always be used as a proper precursor there is certainly considerable overlap between the two shows.
Every Soul Train Music Awards ceremony since 1995 — barring 2020 — has found the show’s album of the year winner getting, at the very least, a nod in its respective genre category at the corresponding Grammy ceremony. There have been 15 instances in which the Soul Train album of the year winner won the Grammy for their respective genre category. But there’s a catch.
For the the ceremony’s first nine years (1987-1996), album of the year was split into male, female, and group, with additional categories for rap, jazz and gospel albums. From 1997 to 2003, the awards were consolidated into a single R&B/soul or rap album of the year category. In 2004, Soul Train experimented with dropping genre specifications, presenting an award simply titled “album of the year.” They returned to the male, female, group split from 2005 to 2007, ultimately settling on one album of the year category from 2009 onwards.
Here’s some more Soul Train Music Awards lore: the 2008 ceremony was canceled due to the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. Luckily, the 2023 WGA strike ended in time for this year’s Soul Train Music Awards.
This year’s Soul Train album of the year nominees are SZA (SOS), Victoria Monét (Jaguar II), Coco Jones (What I Didn’t Tell You – Deluxe), Babyface (Girls Night Out – Extended), Burna Boy (I Told Them…), Ari Lennox (age/sex/location), Janelle Monáe (The Age of Pleasure) and Summer Walker (Clear 2: Soft Life – EP).
The 2023 Soul Train Music Awards will air on Sunday, Nov. 26, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on BET and BET Her. SZA, Summer Walker and Usher lead all nominees with nine nods each.
Here’s a brief overview of which albums have triumphed at both the Soul Train Music Awards and the Grammys.
1995
Jack Harlow has his third No. 1 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart thanks to “Lovin on Me,” which debuts atop the ranking dated Nov. 25. In the tracking week of Nov. 10-16, “Lovin on Me” earned 22.2 million official U.S. streams, according to Luminate. That’s in its first week of release, though prior to its […]
It’s been years since the infectious kids song “Baby Shark” wiggled its way onto everyone’s computer screens in 2016. And since it went viral in 2018, eventually charting in the Billboard Hot 100 top 40 the next year, the absurdly catchy dance-along hit has gained a number of high-profile fans — including Cardi B. So much so, Cardi […]
Ms. Lauryn Hill has had to push back the 25th anniversary tour celebrating her landmark Grammy-winning The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill album once again. The singer told fans in a statement on Tuesday (Nov. 21) that her ongoing issues with a severe vocal strain mean that she has to push the remaining dates on the outing into 2024.
“Id like to start this off by saying how much I’ve enjoyed being on the road, and how much I appreciate all of the fans who have come out to celebrate this incredible milestone anniversary and history making reunion with us. Being able to tour this album to sold out crowds after 25 years has been an emotional experience!” Hill wrote in an Instagram post accompanied by footage of her straining through a performance of “Ex-Factor,” her voice audibly hoarse and scratchy.
According to a statement from her spokesperson, Hill has been suffering from the side effects of nightly use of the steroid prednisone to treat her vocal condition; common side effects of using prednisone include dizziness, irregular heartbeat, headaches, irritability, rattling breathing, numbness in arms/legs, shortness of breath and labored breathing.
Hill addressed those unintended consequences in the post. “As many of you may know, I’ve been battling serious vocal strain for the past month. I made it through each show by taking prescribed prednisone, but this can be detrimental to the body when taken in large amounts over long periods of time,” she wrote. “In order to prevent any long term negative affect on my voice and my body, I need to take time off to allow for real vocal recovery so that I can discontinue the medication completely.”
Last month, Hill postponed a run of shows to “heal and rest” her voice, including a gig in Philadelphia that was originally slated to take place early in the run of shows that also find her reuniting on stage with her Fugees bandmates Wyclef Jean and Pras. She paid tribute to the pair in Tuesday’s note about the tour postponement.
“I’ve loved sharing the stage again with Wyclef and Pras. The Return of the Fugees has been powerful and amazing — those who’ve witnessed it can testify,” she wrote. “The tour itself reminds us the artists, and the audiences alike of earlier, perhaps less complicated times when ‘It could all be so simple…’ or ‘Ready Or Not, here I come!’ were on repeat on the airwaves. Simply put, classic. Classic music, classic performances with audiences who love those classics has been nothing but…wait for it…EPIC. (I almost said classic again! 🙀).”
The note ended with Hill breaking the news that the remainder of this year’s scheduled gigs — including shows in Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Huntsville, Tampa, Miami and Boston — will be pushed to next year. The exception is Saturday night’s (Nov. 25) already rescheduled gig at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
“The shows that were cancelled this year will be rescheduled for early 2024 AND because of the overwhelming response, we’ll be adding new cities to the tour, including overseas,” Hill added, noting that her team is working on a new calendar of dates that they plan to announce soon.
Check out Hill’s post below.
It’s Chris Brown’s time again on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums chart as his new project, 11:11, debuts at No. 1 on the list dated Nov. 25. The set, released on Nov. 10 through CBE/RCA Records, starts with 45,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Nov. 16, according to Luminate.
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The new champ also achieves a feat that had seemed nearly impossible in the last year, unseating his RCA labelmate SZA’s SOS blockbuster from the No. 1 spot on Top R&B Albums. Since SOS docked at No. 1 on the chart dated Dec. 24, 2022, the album had ranked at No. 1 every week since – a total of 48 frames.
Streaming contributes most of 11:11’s first-week activity. 38,000 units of the album’s 45,000 total are from streaming clicks, equaling 51 million official on-demand audio and video streams of the album’s songs. Traditional album units provide 6,000 units from the remaining sum, with the last 1,000 units from track-equivalent album units. (One unit equals the following levels of consumption: one album sale, 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams for a song on the album.)
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In all, 11:11 gives Brown his fifth No. 1 on the Top R&B Albums chart, which began in 2012.Elsewhere, 11:11 clocks a No. 2 entrance on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 9 on the all-genre Billboard 200. On both charts, the launch secures Brown’s 12th top 10 album – the entirety of his output, sans his collaborative mixtape with Young Thug, Slime & B, which peaked at No. 15 on the former and No. 24 on the latter list.
As 11:11 arrives, eight of its songs appear the Hot R&B Songs chart, including six debuts. The previously released singles “Sensational” jumps 21-7 in its third week on the list, while “Summer Too Hot” re-enters at No. 23 after having achieved a No. 6 peak in August. Here’s a look at the 11:11 placements on this week’s list:
No. 7, “Sensational,” featuring Davido & Lojay
No. 8, “Angel Numbers/Ten Toes”
No. 9, “That’s on You,” featuring Future
No. 11, “No One Else,” featuring Fridayy
No. 12, “Press Me”
No. 17, “Feel Something”
No. 22, “Nightmares,” featuring Bryson Messia
Brown also lands a ninth concurrent hit on this week’s chart. His collaboration with Ciara, “How We Roll,” slides 8-15, in part due to the 11:11 debuts, in its 14th chart week.
Meet Boys Are Rolling. The producing trio of Miles Sugarman, Crosby Spagnoli and Arno Sugarman are making a name for themselves by working with artists such as Joey Bada$$, Gunna, JID and Smino. The trio opens about how they came together, the projects they are working on, how they find artists to work with, the future of the group and more!Crosby Spagnoli:I definitely saw some people at the beginning were like, “Whoa, you guys made this.”
Miles Sugarman:It’s always, “You guys made this?” that’s always … Arno Sugarman:They always thought that we would pull up like somebody else’s beats or something.
Miles Sugarman:I’d say the simplest way to put it is Arno will start something, kind of get a great base idea down, we’ll then give it to Crosby. Crosby will polish it up, make it ready to then give to an artist, have it, like, song ready, and then I’ll get it to the artist. I’d say that’s the simplest way to put it.
Boys Are Rolling:Yeah.
Miles Sugarman:Me and Arno are brothers, so I guess we’ve known each other for quite a long time now and Crosby went to our high school. He and I did a music theory class together, and at the time, Arno was making beats on his computer, which wasn’t that popular, at least in my personal opinion. It didn’t seem that popular. And Crosby one day was like, “Oh, yo, like I make beats too, like, check this out.” I thought he was hilarious. I thought his music was really interesting, and because they were the only two that I personally knew that did that kind of, I guess, producing, I was like, “You guys need to meet.”
I find mostly bubbling artists, mainly through Spotify. I’ll check out artists that I really like, see who they’ve worked with or check their Instagram to see who likes them, and you’ll stumble upon something fantastic. Luckily, we now have, I feel like, enough credibility where I can DM someone who’s not, you know, completely blown up and usually we have a good success rate of who will hit us back. That’s my favorite part of this. It’s been like this is great. We want to work with them and actually have the ability to work with them.Watch the full video above!
Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine” ranks atop the TikTok Billboard Top 50 yet again, while Jack Harlow’s viral hit “Lovin on Me” makes a major move into the Nov. 25-dated tally’s top five.
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The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity Nov. 13-19. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.
“My Love Mine All Mine” appears at No. 1 for the second straight week and fifth overall, extending its standing as the longest-running No. 1 in the TikTok Billboard Top 50’s two-month history. It concurrently lifts 3% to 12.5 million official U.S. streams in the U.S. on traditional streaming services, according to Luminate, begetting its new No. 14 peak on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart.
Checking in on the sound nearly two months after its initial debut on the TikTok Billboard Top 50 (Sept. 30), “My Love Mine All Mine” continues to be utilized in largely the same way, with users uploading videos showcasing love or budding friendships.
Lil Mabu and Chrisean Rock’s “Mr. Take Ya B-tch” remains at No. 2, while Kanye West’s “Runaway” featuring Pusha T vaults onto the ranking at No. 3. The 2010 song, featured on West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, sports a sizable bump on TikTok, led by an upload showing when West changed the lyrics of the song to address his divorce from Kim Kardashian.
Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me” jumps to No. 4 after debuting at No. 23 on the Nov. 18 survey, its first full week of tracking after being released Nov. 10. The viral tune, which was teased on TikTok prior to its release, concurrently debuts at No. 2 on the Hot 100, as previously reported, largely via 22.2 million streams across all streaming services that report to that chart.
Usages of the song on TikTok mostly center on its opening refrain of “I’m vanilla, baby,” with perhaps the most viral upload featuring user quinickle doing a Rubik’s cube while lip synching – with many subsequent videos referencing him, as well as other so-called “vanilla” men.
Rounding out the top five, Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” reaches a new peak of No. 5 after breaking into the top 10 the previous week at No. 6. It’s one of three holiday songs on the latest ranking, with Carey followed by Wham!’s “Last Christmas” at No. 17 and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” at No. 25.
Outside of “Runaway,” the chart’s next highest debut of the week belongs to Colbie Caillat’s “Bubbly,” which bows at No. 12. The 2000s hit has taken off thanks in large part to uploads in which posters use the song to soundtrack other musicians dancing at their own concerts, from Lil Uzi Vert and Justin Bieber to Kiss and NLE Choppa.
“Bubbly,” which peaked at No. 5 on the Hot 100 in October 2007, sported a gain of 29% to 1.5 million streams.
See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.
Cardi B had some pointed words for a commenter on X (formerly known as Twitter), who appeared to take shots at the “Bongos” rapper after a recent post in which Cardi posed at the gym in butt-hugging leggings that showed off her famous backside. “I hate influencers who do this get all the surgery acting […]
50 Cent had a very special, surprise guest for the fans at his “Final Lap” show at London’s O2 Arena on Tuesday night (Nov. 21). During his performance a giant box on stage flashed the message “there’s a monster in this box,” as the familiar strains of Ed Sheeran‘s “Shape of You” filled the arena […]
