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With just over a week to go until the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election and the announcement of the 2025 Grammy nominations, Q4 is living up to its reputation as the most hectic time of the year. To ease us into what’s sure to be a tumultuous next few weeks, stars across hip-hop and R&B have stepped up to keep us entertained and engaged.
Last week, music icon Beyoncé delivered a powerful speech in support of Vice President Kamala Harris‘ bid for the presidency, alongside Kelly Rowland, Tina Knowles, Willie Nelson and Willie Jones. The Oct. 25 rally in Houston activated both the Beyhive and the K-Hive, with around 30,000 people in attendance, according to the Harris campaign.
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Megan Thee Stallion, another H-Town superstar, used last weekend to launch Act II of her Megan LP, which topped R&B/Hip-Hop Albums back in June. Her new release features the breakout hit “Bigger In Texas,” whose hometown-hailing music video features HTX legends like Scarface, Paul Wall and Slim Thug. Opting for an non-traditional Monday release (Oct. 28), Tyler, the Creator dropped off Chromakopia, his seventh studio album, which features appearance from Daniel Caesar, Childish Gambino, GloRilla, Lil Wayne, Teezo Touchdown, ScHoolboy Q, and Sexyy Red.
In more somber news, hip-hop legend DJ Clark Kent — a Brooklyn giant who worked closely with hip-hop heavyweights like Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G. — passed away last Friday (Oct. 25) after a three-year battle with colon cancer.
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Jordyn Simone and Joseph Solomon’s new wedding anthem to Ms Banks’s fiery comeback track. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: Melanie Fiona, “Say Yes”
For the first taste of her forthcoming EP (due next year), Grammy-winner Melanie Fiona is preaching the gospel of saying “yes.” With Thundercat on bass, SiR on backing vocals and longtime collaborator Andre Harris overseeing production, “Say Yes” finds Fiona crooning, “I lay my cards, out on the table / Showing hearts like never before / Tell me will you be ready willing and able / When I come knocking at your door.” As a veteran soul singer, Fiona expertly finds the pockets of groove in the track’s live instrumentation. Inspired by her mental health journey over the past decade and the freedom she internalized after the birth of her son in 2016, “Say Yes” is a gorgeous ode to the perseverance of the human spirit — and the beauty that comes with keeping yourself open when you most want to shut out the world.
Ms Banks, “Boss B—h”
After a two-year break, Nigerian-British MC Ms Banks is back with a fiery new single titled “Boss B—h.” “They tryna rub me out, but I don’t see a b—h fit/ Running up ya lips, but in school you was a prick/ Looking for some shit on me that could get me eclipsed/ But like an Air Force with no tick, it don’t exist,” she spits over a bass-heavy A Class beat that takes a few sonic cues from Detroit rap. Fresh off serving as the opener for the European leg of Megan Thee Stallion’s Hot Girl Summer tour, Ms Banks is poised for a stellar run in 2025 — and “Boss B—h” is a very promising preview.
Dc the Don & Ambré, “Knock Me Off My Feet”
Milwaukee rapper DC the Don’s latest album is finally here, and this Ambré duet is one of the best tracks. Rebirth continues his melding of hip-hop, rock and trap, with “Knock Me Off My Feet” offering an Afrobeats-inflected, romance-minded feel to his musical mosaic. “You was runnin’ ’round the city off no sleep when you met me/ Knock me off my feet when you met me/ That put me on defense/ Back against the curb, now I’m OD, OD,” he croons in the refrain, flaunting an unexpected affinity for slick pop melodies. Ambré’s ethereal tone provides a smart complement to DC’s more grounded delivery that’s filled out by a slightly raspy edge. This link-up arrived in just in time for cuffing season.
Mereba, “Counterfeit”
Buzzy R&B star Mereba has a new project due next year called The Breeze Grew a Fire, and “Counterfeit” is her first offering. Over twinkling, barely-there synths and neo-soul percussion, Mereba’s airy tone soars: “You’re the original/ You never do what they do/ You’re the original/ Don’t let ’em counterfeit you,” she sings in the chorus. For its cinematic outro, the song loses its beat and opts for acoustic guitars wrapped in a swelling string arrangement. “We’re all high, whole function flying/ Look up high, wild sky,” she repeatedly coos, each recitation broadening the expanse that the “original” can claim dominion over.
Jordyn Simone & Joseph Solomon, “I Do”
There’s been some talk about a lack of traditional love songs in modern R&B, but Jordyn Simone and Jospeh Solomon have something to say. A formidable contender for the best wedding anthem released in 2024, “I Do” finds the two vocalists redefining chemistry. “I never thought a love like this would find me/ All on my own, oh, I was just fine when/ You pulled me close, and then I couldn’t fight it/ Deep inside, I knew I couldn’t let go,” they harmonize in the pre-chorus, with Jordyn’s lovestruck timbre blending beautifully with both Joseph’s gentle falsetto and the production’s soulful strings. Love songs about the little things — with a little modulation, to boot! — will never go out of style.
Leo Waters & Kaash Paige, “Smoke + Mirrors (Remix)”
Ever the dependable R&B collaborator, Kaash Paige brings new life to Leo Waters’ “Smoke + Mirrors” with her sultry new remix. Waters dropped the original version of the song last Decemeber, and its plucky piano-inflected groove proved the perfect soundscape for Paige. “Baby, pull up on me/ I’m just tryna feel ya, hear ya/ I’ve been loving you better/ Touching you better than he ever could, ever would/ Now I see smoke and mirrors,” she haughtily promises, blurring the dual metaphors of steamy post-sex mirrors and the lightweight “smoke and mirrors” excuses we lean on to avoid giving into the things we want and fear the most.
As a born aesthete, Tyler, The Creator’s always thought in shapes and colors rather than hard numbers. He leaves that stuff to folks like Silent House president Alex Reardon, a creative director he’s worked with since Igor.
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On Sunday night (Oct. 27), fans in L.A.’s Intuit Dome saw the pair’s synergy unfold for Tyler’s listening event for Chromakopia, his eighth studio album that dropped this morning. With flashes of Kelly Green lights beaming down on a cross-like stage and emanating from square pockets between the seats, it was simultaneously trippy and restrained — as much about functionality as aesthetic.
“We are creating a semi-static lighting and scenic look so that the hearing is the sense that is most activated by the experience,” he explains to Billboard, referring to a lighting arrangement that avoids dramatic fluctuations. “You walk in, you see the thing that looks cool, you take a picture of it and it anchors the experience, but after that, it doesn’t start with massive color change and scenic changes and costume changes and drama and pyros and all the stuff that we would add to his performance because there is no performance underpinning that. And therefore to do that will be visually distracting and therefore detract from the audio or the auditory sense.”
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The set for the project, which began about six weeks ago, is set to be a fixture of his upcoming Chromakopia Tour featuring Lil Yachty and Paris Texas. It’s just the latest entry into a 30-some-odd-year career that’s seen Reardon work alongside everyone from Tyler to Tears for Fears and The Weeknd. Threading all of his creations together is a methodological philosophy his architect father taught him years ago. “A designer has to be as creative as an artist,” Reardon explains. “Except to a specification.”
In a discussion with Billboard, Reardon talks about some of those specifications, his working relationship with Tyler and more.
How would you describe Tyler’s thought process when it comes to merging the aesthetics with the sound of his music?
Each album cycle, he creates a unique aesthetic that goes along with it. Now, if we just look back to Call Me If You Get Lost, when we were at this stage of that album cycle, we started the conversation about the tour and he was like, “Okay, I want video screens, I want rises and I want this sort of stuff.” And I said, “Let’s pause on that for a second and take a slightly higher level look at the album as a whole. What does the album mean to you? What are the underpinning motifs that you think are relevant and don’t think about the stage set? Just talk to me about the album.” And he was referring to travel, global travel, broadening your horizons, getting out of where you’re from, just looking at the world in wonder — but always in luxury.
Wherever he turned up at an event, he always had luggage with him. So I said, “Okay, if I’m hearing you correctly, this sounds like the photography of Slim Aarons. It sounds like a mansion on the banks of Lake Como. It sounds like Riva Powerboats, that kind of vibe. And he went, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s it.” That made my job much easier — because for that tour, we literally built him a mansion on the banks of Lake Como with a Riva powerboat that took him out to a B stage. It made sense, because I asked him what the album was about, not, “What do you want on your stage?”
So with this album, we’ve had those conversations about what’s the central visual iconography that Tyler wants to associate with this album. So we’ve had those conversations and those are the conversations that have spawned the design direction that we’re going in. It’s so refreshing to be able to talk to an artist about the highest level intent of the album rather than, “I want lasers, I want pyro.”
What were some of the logistical challenges that went into putting this whole thing together?
There are three metrics for a successful design in a live production: There’s the aesthetics, logistics and finance. The aesthetics, obviously we’ve been discussing now the logistics are, “Is it going to fit in the venue? Is it going to fit in the trucks to get from A to B, to C to D, and is it going to come in within budget?” And I think that because we Silent House have been doing this for so long, we’re quite good at gut check estimations about, “Okay, this is going to come in around the right amount of budget. This is going to fit in.”
But then what we do is we’ve also been doing this for long enough. We know which questions to ask, and I think if it’s with a new venue, our first questions were, “Okay, we’ve got to A, go down there, B, meet with all the relevant in-house tech people, and then C, come up with a design, a creative that will fit bearing in mind what they tell us we can and cannot do.” I think it would’ve been entirely the wrong way to go by selling this concept, doing this amazing thing, and getting to the venue and realizing he couldn’t do it.
So I think we as designers have to really work out, “Where is this event happening? What can we do [in] there?” We then apply his input, we then apply our input, we mix that up in a big cauldron and then comes the idea which we then refine with his input. So logistically, we have to work very closely with the production management team, with the venue, with the vendors, with everyone. And it creates a huge amount of work.
But because we have been working with all these people for decades, it becomes a kind of shorthand. There’s a hell of a lot that goes into this. Will this element that we are designing fit into the loading dock? Can we get it on a truck? How do we get it onto the floor? How do we do this? We’ve had a lot of meetings on site, a lot of meetings with very helpful people, and I want to give a little shout out to Intuit in the middle of their first Clippers game. They got another gig loading in, and they’re still responding to emails. They’re still engaging with us, they’re still being wonderful and collaborative, and I know they’re under the hammer at the moment.
What is it like to work with Tyler?
He is such a phenomenally pleasant human being. We’ve all got notes from people that employ us. The artist has got notes, and normally that’s received with a slightly sharp intake of breath and “Oh, here we go” — but with him, he’s like, “Cool.” I wonder what he’s going to say. We walk into an award show and he shakes everyone’s hand and says hello to the cable pager and the guy who brought him a coffee. He’s just extraordinary.
He’s very good at storyboard sketches. Sometimes, he’ll actually storyboard loose ideas. “I feel it should do this, then this, then this and like this.” And then we who work behind the curtain, the production team, creative team, video content, everyone, we shuffle off and spin up some different concepts. And he goes, “I like that. I don’t like that. Let’s do a bit more of this and this looks cool.” And then the process continues. But sometimes he’s very specific, sometimes he’s not. Sometimes, he’s like, I feel it should be kind of like this. There’s no real prescribed path per se. It’s just either a sketch or a conversation or however he feels in the moment.
It’s cool Tyler values two-way communication. A lot of artists just have a lot of “yes men” around them, and it shows. They put out some of the most contrived stuff with their visuals.
There is something [to] a lot of great artists where nothing is contrived when they literally open their soul to the people who are listening, watching, absorbing. And we, too, as humans instinctively respond positively to that honesty. Tyler is a man entirely without artifice. I think that that transcends genre of music. I think it works with painting, poetry, music, any form of artist expression. That genuine revelation of the soul is something that the people who are absorbing that music will empathize with and love. And I think that he has always had that being completely without artifice. That’s one of the many reasons he’s so successful.
I’d imagine you’re a “form follows function” kind of guy, being a designer. The lasers and explosions aren’t as important as the big idea.
No, and I think there are a lot of design firms or designers in live event production design that come from the technological background. So they tend to emphasize the new technology or look at this lighting rig. It’s got so many quantities of lights in it, or they look at the physics of it. And that works for some acts. But I think if you have an artist who doesn’t think that way, why force them into getting excited about some technology. Technology needs to serve a higher purpose and the higher purpose should be what the goal of the artist is in making that album.
If you had to compare Tyler’s instincts for aesthetics to anyone in history, who would it be?
That’s a really good question that I may take a lifetime to answer. And I don’t want to sound facetious. I’m not at all because my references to artists would be so different. It is such a subjective answer that I don’t want to set the internet a light with people saying, “Are you kidding? How can you? This guy?” But one of the things, and this is entirely subjective, and just my personal thing, is that obviously having grown up in the U.K., I think Tyler is, to me only, kind of a David Bowie of his generation.
Wow.
He’s an artist of his generation. I don’t think comparisons to anyone else that’s around are really relevant, because they would be derivative and he isn’t. But if I explain why I, from my own humble opinion, think that there’s a David Bowie-ishness to him, it’s because he exists as a musician also with equal amount of strength in visual medium as he does in the auditory medium. He has an ability to reinvent while not losing himself, which I think Bowie and he both have both share. I think neither of them really followed a particular zeitgeist. They just thought, this is what I think is great. And the whole world went, “Yep, I’m on board.”
And I think as a result, I think his career will be as long as David’s, I think there’s absolutely no reason why it wouldn’t. I mean, he will continue to be his honest self for as long as he chooses to do this. And I think whatever form of creativity he chooses to get into, if he will bring those attributes to and be wildly successful in.
Tyler, the Creator released his seventh studio album, Chromakopia, on Monday (Oct. 28) via Columbia Records. He released one single on DSPs ahead of the project, “Noid,” with a music video featuring Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning The Bear actress Ayo Edebiri. Chromakopia arrives three years after his last album, Call Me If You Get Lost, which […]
The battle for East Coast-West Coast bragging rights heads to the baseball diamond with the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers set to battle in the 2024 World Series. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Major League Baseball announced on Friday (Oct. 25) that the league tapped […]
The calendar turned to the fourth quarter and hip-hop is working overtime before the buzzer sounds on 2024. With Rod Wave and GloRilla making their presence felt in the Billboard 200’s top five along with projects on the way from Tyler, The Creator and Lil Uzi Vert, it’s a busy time in the rap world.
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Billboard Unfiltered is back with a new episode breaking down all of the hip-hop and R&B-related chart drama along with plenty of other topics. It’s a full house with all four of the fellas in the mix on Friday (Oct. 25).
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“It’s been an interesting year for female rappers. You didn’t know what she was gonna do,” Deputy Director, Editorial Damien Scott said. “She could’ve done 10,000 or did what she did.”
Glo earned the top debut sales week of any female rapper all 2024 with 69,000 total album units, which put GLORIOUS at No. 5 on the Billboard 200.
“I don’t know if people necessarily saw this coming,” Senior Charts & Data Analyst Trevor Anderson said. “We knew the buzz was really strong, but that doesn’t always turn into the full support… To see what she did showing up with almost 70,000 for the week. A year ago, people were like, ‘Oh it’s a wrap.’”
He continued: “Glo seems to have a huge runway to play with. Especially at a time it’s kinda a surprise we had so many people dropping in the same year… For Glo to come through in [quarter] four and shut that conversation down, I don’t know if a lot of people would’ve had that at the top of the year on the bingo card.”
Deputy Director R&B/Hip-Hop Carl Lamarre took the chance to defend himself after receiving backlash for his viral “big three” picks on social media. On a previous episode Lamarre went with Rod Wave, Travis Scott and Playboi Carti to round out his new “big three.”
“Statistically am I wrong? [Rod Wave’s] had seven top 10s the last five years. The brother’s currently on an arena tour for the third consecutive year,” he said. “How many cats are doing back to back to back arena tours. But they’re not hearing he’s a rapper. What is rap today?”
The 2024 BET Hip Hop Awards went down last week and Staff Writer Kyle Denis wonders about the purpose of the Hip Hop Awards having so much overlap with the BET Awards.
“I think it’s confusing to some viewers what the purpose of the Hip Hop Awards are given how hip-hop-centric the main BET Awards are,” he stated. “Why do we need to circle back four or five months later for another hip-hop show… It kinda feels like the same show twice.”
respected journalists want artists to do interviews with them (makes sense) but heres the issue….1. most journalists don’t have their own platform so that somewhat forces the artist to fund and produce the interview themselves (I’ve done it cuz I see the value in it but I…— SANTIAGO (@russdiemon) October 12, 2024
Last week, Russ and Top Dawg Entertainment president Terrence “Punch” Henderson went viral with their critiques of hip-hop journalism, which led to plenty of heated debates on social media about the state of the industry.
“Is it in a bad place? It’s not in the best place,” Scott stated regarding journalism. “It’s not as good as it was 20 years ago, but it’s not all doom and gloom. I’ll say it’s not that bad.”
Denis vehemently pushed back against Punch labeling “most” of hip-hop journalists as “trash.” “You can not enter the space talking about most of you guys are trash and expect people to engage with you in good faith,” he said. “All of the hip-hop journalists I’ve met and encountered have been some of the smartest people I’ve ever spoken to. I would never call them trash.”
Watch the full episode above.
DJ Clark Kent — born Rodolfo Franklin — has died at 58 years old following a three-year battle with colon cancer. Clark Kent’s family confirmed his death in a statement posted to the superproducer’s Instagram page on Friday afternoon (Oct. 25).
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“It is with deep sadness that we share the passing of the beloved Rodolfo A. Franklin, known to the world as DJ Clark Kent,” the statement reads. “Clark passed away Thursday evening surrounded by his devoted wife Kesha, daughter Kabriah and son Antonio.”
The post continued to touch on Clark Kent’s private battle with cancer. “Clark quietly and valiantly fought a three year battle with Colon Cancer, while continuing to share his gifts with the world,” they added. “The family is grateful for everyone’s love, support and prayers during this time and ask for privacy as they process this immense loss.”
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A touching outpouring of support came from peers, friends and fans of the pioneering producer in his comment section.
“Clark will forever be the culture,” Questlove wrote, while Raekwon added: “Awwww mannnnn. we gon miss this legend. condolences to the loved ones.
There were also tributes from Jim Jones, Dave East, Mickey Factz, Laura Styles, Rob Markman and more.
The Supermen frontman got his start as a DJ in the ’80s before scoring his first major hit in 1995 producing Junior M.A.F.I.A. and The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Player’s Anthem,” which peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and served as Lil’ Kim’s introduction to the world.
Clark Kent connected with Jay-Z and went on to produce a handful of tracks from Hov’s acclaimed Reasonable Doubt debut album in 1996 such as “Brooklyn’s Finest” featuring Biggie Smalls, “Coming of Age,” “Cashmere Thoughts” and more.
Adding to New York rap lore, Foxy Brown is Clark Kent’s cousin. The New York-bred DJ is also credited with discovering Bad Boy rapper-turned-politician Shyne in the late ’90s.
He notched another commercial anthem when teaming up with Mariah Carey for Glitter‘s “Loverboy” in 2001, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Clark Kent was a fixture in sneaker culture and an avid sneakerhead throughout his life. In 2018, he was estimated to have more than 3,500 pairs in his rare collection.
In more recent years, he’s credited as a co-producer on Ye (Kanye West) and Lil Pump’s “I Love It,” which gave him another top 10 hit on the Hot 100 in 2018.
DJ Clark Kent is survived by his wife Kesha, son Antonio and daughter Kabriah. Find the family statement below.
Who knew that Freddy Krueger had good enough taste in rap music to be a Freddie Gibbs fan?
The Gary, Indiana, rapper tapped the notorious Nightmare on Elm Street slasher to help promote a mysterious new project. Apparently, there are billboards around L.A. featuring a picture of Krueger’s eyes with “Freddie’s Back” above them and the phone number (320) 244-5268 under the quote. When you call the number, the Freddy in your nightmares picks up and gives you the message below (or threat, depending on how scared you are).
“Well, hello little rabbits,” the Freddy Krueger voice is heard saying in the message. “Haven’t you missed me? Hmmm? The jagged edge piercing through your mundane reality. Freddie’s back, bi—. I can’t wait to rip through your dreams like a sledgehammer through a Piñata. Oh, what a rush. You’re all my children now. Welcome to prime time, bi—es. No matter where you run, I am omnipresent like a flock of rabid rabbits. You can keep your mind, but your $oul is $old $eparately. After all, they say You Only Live 2wice, but the truth is You Only Die Once. Sweet dreams.”
Freddy mentions three of the other Freddie’s projects: Piñata, $oul is $old $eparately, and You Only Live 2wice. But then he ends the message with, “but the truth is You Only Die Once,” which could be a clue about the name of this mystery tape. This hasn’t been confirmed, just a little speculating based on a video of a cartoon rabbit (Freddie’s nickname is Rabbit) in a Jason mask posted on an IG account with the handle @youonlydie0nce.
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At the top of 2023, Gibbs told XXL that he was working on multiple projects at once. “I’mma hit y’all with some sh– that y’all thought y’all was ready for, but you really ain’t ready for,” he told the outlet. “Alchemist and Madlib ain’t goin’ nowhere, so keep that in mind. And me and Boi-1da in the studio now real, real, real heavy.” He also mentioned that he might make an R&B album, saying, “I’m making the best music of my life, so it’s no reason to stop. And I’m the king of R&B, so I gotta do that album as well.”
Doja Cat is teasing her next era. With as much as a one word tweet, the superstar artist got her fans riled up on Thursday night (Oct. 24).
“Album,” she succinctly wrote without any context to X. She didn’t provide any follow-up so plenty of ecstatic fans flooded her replies with hopes and suggestions for Doja regarding the supposed album.
“WE NEED ARIANA GRANDE ON IT,” one person wrote. Another hopeful fan of King Vamp responded: “PLAYBOI CARTI BETTER BE ON IT.”
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The viral tweet boasts over 100,000 likes as Doja appears to be in album mode. She has remained low on the music side in recent months following the arrival of her Scarlet 2 CLAUDE deluxe edition in May.
Doja Cat’s last album Scarlet followed 2021’s hit-spawning Planet Her. The project was released in September 2023 and reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and hit No. 2 on the Top Rap Albums chart.
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“Scarlet is a very, to put it simply, quite an angry project,” she told Jack Harlow in September. “I think the point of that album was to showcase anger and how it processes through my mind, but also it’s about coming to your own defense and love. It’s sort of my ‘Why I oughta!’ moment of squaring up with everyone and defending myself, telling myself that I’m here for me, and not just for everybody else’s enjoyment.”
Perhaps Doja could link up with LISA. The BLACKPINK star recently opened up about her hopes to team up with the “Paint the Town Red” rapper for her next duet.
“But for now that I can think of, Doja Cat. I love her,” Lisa said of the list of other musicians she’d like to join forces with. “Doja Cat, for sure, is my next goal.”
Doja has still been busy on the performance side. Last month, The Grammy-winning artist headlined New York City’s Global Citizen Festival where she implored fans to use their voice and speak out against injustices around the world.
“Right now, millions of men, women and children in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, the Congo and all across the world, are suffering. In times like this, it is important to remember that we have the power to bring change, love light and hope to those who need it most,” she told the crowd.
Just about every aspect of Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s artistry has been picked apart over the course of the months since their explosive feud in the second quarter of the year. As a hip-hop savant, RZA stopped by Complex, where he talked about the battle and whether he could see a possible reconciliation down the line between Kendrick and Drizzy, with the 55-year-old comparing the foes lyrically.
“Yeah, it just takes time,” he said. “First of all, Kendrick is the natural lyricist, and Drake is a trained lyricist. You could train a fighter and he could be good. Then you got those natural fighters who also then go through training. So that’s a different chamber there. And while Drake got bars forever, Kendrick’s bars’ potency was stronger.”
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The Wu-Tang Clan frontman believes Drake may have underrated K. Dot’s rapping ability coming into the battle.
“The battle bar-for-bar was something that was just not good advising on Drake’s camp in the sense of just getting in that fight without really taking some more training for that,” he added. “When Kendrick wrote the letter to his son or his daughter and to his [mother], Kendrick is going to come like that. Nas, Kendrick, Eminem, Raekwon, certain people are going to break your s–t down to the element.”
However, RZA made sure to give Drake his flowers as one of hip-hop’s trailblazers in the 21st century, crediting him with pushing the genre melodically and raising the next generation.
“[Drake] expanded it with his melodies and he raised a generation too, and you can’t take that away from him. And these two were at the top of the pinnacle at the end of the day. Nas and Jay-Z, that’s another good example, but it was tough,” RZA continued. “It took years for them to swallow that pill and then come and shake hands on it. So hopefully it is not the same. Hopefully this generation can take it as fun like how the beginning generation took it more for fun.”
As far as RZA’s music goes in his own decorated career, he returned in August to release his classical collaborative project called A Ballet Through Mud, which he crafted alongside Australian conductor Christopher Dragon and the Colorado Symphony.
In this episode of Billboard Unfiltered, Billboard staffers Carl Lamarre, Trevor Anderson, Damien Scott and Kyle Denis break down GloRilla’s No. 5 debut with Glorious and Rod Wave’s No. 2 debut Last Lap on the Billboard 200, discussing why they are so successful. They dive into whether hip-hop journalism is dead, if the BET Hip-Hop Awards should continue and more!
Trevor Anderson:Glo had that one year, she had “F.N.F.” she had “Tomorrow 2” and that’s the end of GloRilla. So for her to come back, not only with these songs.
Damien Scott:Which is insane, it was such an insane narrative.
Carl Lamarre:Is it time to put a bow on the BET Hip Hop Awards, which started in 2006, and call it a day? Or what changes would y’all make?
Damien Scott:They want participation, but they don’t, themselves, want to participate.
Carl Lamarre:Hip-hop is back clearly on the Billboard 200 in terms of we got Mr. Rod Wave debuting at No. 2 this week with Last Lap with 127,000 while Ms. Glo, big Glo.
Kyle Denis:Big Glo!
Carl Lamarre:No. 5 this week with 69,000 her debut album, Glorious, doubling her mixtape which came out earlier this year, Ehhthang Ehhthang, so shout out to those two for making their splashes this week. We’ll start with this: What are you guys more surprised about I guess — is it Rod not going No. 1? Is it Glo getting a top five entry? Thoughts.
Damien Scott:It’s got to be Glo because this is just what Rod does, Rod is just nothing if not consistent, and you know I think the idea of him going up against a Jelly … I thought he was going to take it, but you know, especially because I like Jelly Roll, I do. I actually like Jelly Roll. I don’t think this was the album that I would see he would, if I had to play an album for people, this is not the album I would give people to listen to of his.
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