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E-40 called his superstar friends to flaunt their “Bands” for his new video, which dropped on Friday (March 24). Shot at the renowned HBCU Grambling State University, E-40 shined over the truck-rattling anthem alongside the marching band.
“Most people don’t know that I was part of a marching band for most of my childhood, so I definitely connected with this beat,” 40 tells Billboard. “But I just wanted to create another slap for my fans sprinkled in with a double entendre for everyone working hard to earn those bands. Shout-out to everyone at Grambling involved in making this video come to life.”
The star-studded cast features Floyd Mayweather, Future, Lil Baby, 50 Cent, Meek Mill, Offset, Gucci Mane, Lil Durk, Moneybagg Yo, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, and Kodak Black flexing their exorbitant bands of wealth. While on campus, the Bay Area artist also showed off his altruism when he donated $100,000 to bolster the university’s marching band and build a recording studio. Grambling State then named the studio in his honor: Earl ‘E-40’ Stevens Sound Recording Studio.
Earlier this year, Billboard named E-40 one of the 50 Greatest Rappers of All-Time. Billboard credited the West Coast polymath, who clocked in at No. 41, for his longevity, noting, “His flamboyant rhymes helped him become one of the first West Coast rappers to sign a major deal when he signed with Jive Records in the early ’90s. And he hasn’t gone more than four years without releasing an album since 1993. E-40’s contributions, including his 2006 top 10 rap hit and hyphy movement anthem ‘Tell Me When to Go,’ helped bring the Bay Area into the hip-hop’s mainstream.”
Watch the music video for “Bands” below.
Coi Leray has a new player on her hit song — Busta Rhymes.
The veteran rapper jumps on board “Players,” and injects some of his special sauce — and a new verse –into the remix.
Busta brings his energy and flow to the fresh cut, which dropped in the small hours, and busts out the lyric, “It never ends, the way we doing it and how we fucking them up again/ Look how we got them, DJ Saige killing them with the blend.”
It’s something of a full-circle moment, as “Players” already enjoyed a blast from a handful of remixes, including DJ Saige’s mashup of Busta Rhymes’ 1997 classic “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See”.
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Powered by TikTok virality and its epic sample of Grandmaster Flash’s seminal 1982 hip-hop track “The Message,” “Players” is Leray’s fourth entry on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. It’s currently sitting at No. 12, as of March 25, 2023, and is a top 10 hit in both the U.K. and Australia.
With “Players” working its way up charts around the globe, Leray’s career is on the rise, too.
Earlier this year she summited the Emerging Artists Chart for the first time, thanks to the hit, released in November via Uptown/Republic Records, and she present SZA with Woman of the Year at the Billboard Women In Music Awards 2023.
Busta most recently appeared as lead-man on 2023’s “Murda” featuring Bilal, and a string of singles before that, including 2022’s “Slap,” with Big Daddy Kane and Conway the Machine.
“Players (Busta Rhymes Remix)” follows the David Guetta remix, which was released last week.
Stream it below.
Tony! Toni! Toné! will reunite for a tour in 2023.
The announcement came by way of Instagram posts from members Raphael Saadiq, D’wayne Wiggins and Timothy Christian Riley that read, “Raphael Saadiq revisits Tony! Toni! Toné! Just Me And You Tour 2023” — with an influx of fans including John Legend, Questlove, Keri Hilson, Common and Bun B commenting their excitement on Saadiq’s post.
While no dates have been announced yet, Saadiq included a phone number for fans to reach him via Instagram Stories, linking to his Community.com texting list, which will presumably include more information about the tour.
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Tony! Toni! Toné! is comprised of brothers Saadiq and Wiggins and their cousin Riley, who joined together in 1986 and had a monumental run. Their first album, Who?, was RIAA-certified gold and produced hit singles including “Little Walter,” which reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The group’s second album, The Revival, was met with critical and commercial acclaim, spending 64 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart and going platinum, in addition to boasting a slew of hits, including the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 “Feels Good.”
The “Anniversary” group went their separate ways following the 1996 album House of Music, with Saadiq going on to produce music for Stevie Wonder, Mary J. Blige, En Vogue, D’Angelo, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Whitney Houston, John Legend and Beyonce. This year, he won his second Grammy for best R&B song for his work on Beyoncé’s “Cuff It.” Wiggins, who helped develop R&B supergroup Destiny’s Child, entered the film world following the group’s hiatus, working as an executive producer and actor.
Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni & Tupac Shakur is set to arrive on FX in April, and ahead of its release, the television company dropped a second trailer for the docuseries on Wednesday (March 22), which further details late hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur and the relationship he had with his activist mother, Afeni Shakur, who died in 2016.
Early footage of a teenage Shakur plays in the trailer, and highlights him talking about his mother’s teachings. “My mother taught me to analyze society and not be quiet. My mother was a Black Panther and she was really involved in the movement,” he said.
Baby photos of the rap great and black-and-white shots of Afeni sharing knowledge of the Black Panther’s message to crowds, being escorted by police and sitting in for hearings are also included. “It was very difficult for me to be a mom, but I knew very well how to protect my children,” she explains, adding that she did not want him to know what it was like to go to jail, as she’d been many times herself. “I think my mother knew that freedom wouldn’t come in her lifetime, just like I know that it won’t come in mine,” Tupac says, shortly after.
Afeni’s Black Panther work resulted in her and Tupac having an awkward relationship at times, the rapper shared as a teen: “We never spent time together because she was always speaking and going to colleges. And then after that was over, it was more time spent with me. And we were both just like ‘You’re my mother,’ and she was like, ‘You’re my son, and what do we do?’”
Ultimately, Afeni moved her family out to Baltimore in 1984, where Tupac’s life took a rough turn. “My mama was a crack addict. I ended up in Baltimore on welfare with no lights on,” adult Tupac angrily tells a crowd of people.
Dear Mama is “told through the eyes of the people who knew them best,” a previous news release from FX stated. “An intimate wide-angle portrait of the most inspiring and dangerous mother-son duo in American history, whose unified message of freedom, equality, persecution and justice are more relevant today than ever.”
The documentary series, which was announced in 2019, is scheduled to arrive on April 21 on FX, and will later stream on Hulu.
Watch the new trailer for Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni & Tupac Shakur above.
From across the pond, Renée Downer of FLO, the buzzy, new U.K. R&B trio, says, “We’re still little fish in the big fish industry,” causing her groupmate Jorja Douglas to giggle at the metaphor. But for three “little fish,” Downer, Douglas and Stella Quaresma have made quite a massive splash over the last year they’ve started releasing music together as a group — which was years in the making.
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Quaresma was born in Kingston upon Thames in southwest London and moved to Mozambique as an infant before returning to London at age five. She and Downer, who was born and raised in North London, both attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School, a performing arts school that boasts all-star alumni including Amy Winehouse, Dua Lipa and Jesy Nelson and Leigh-Anne Pinnock of Little Mix, the British girl group that rose from X Factor favorites to one of the best-selling girl groups of all time – before Nelson announced her departure in 2020, and the remaining members announced Little Mix’s hiatus two years later.
Fans mourned the loss of yet another beloved U.K. girl group that came and left their mark — while behind the scenes, three girls in their late teens were just starting to find their flow… literally. Rob Harrison, the Island Records A&R and founder of independent record label Listen Generously who currently manages FLO, was on a mission to discover the next big girl group. When Downer arrived at UMG’s office to meet with Harrison, she ran into Douglas, whom she had discovered on social media after the then-14-year-old Douglas won the British singing competition series, Got What It Takes?, with a cover of Adele’s “When We Were Young.”
“The next step was to try different combinations of girls. So Jorja and Stella were together with two other girls for a day, and I was with two girls for a day,” Downer recalled. “We were just getting to know each other, singing together, seeing how we connected and it was not a vibe at all. But Jorja and Stella gravitated towards each other, and then the next combination was us three …. And the rest is history.”
Over the next three years, Douglas, Quaresma and Downer worked with British super-producer MNEK on harnessing the nostalgia of the noughties and the decade prior while still sounding fresh. On March 24, 2022, FLO released its debut single, “Cardboard Box,” a delectable kiss-off anthem that dusts off the “to the left, to the left” sentiments of Beyoncé’s 2006 smash “Irreplaceable” and repackages ’00’s R&B for today’s consumption. While FLO’s songs have since generated 162.1 million on-demand official streams globally, according to Luminate, “Cardboard Box” accounts for 61.5 million of those streams (through March 2).
“Cardboard Box” arrived ahead of their debut EP The Lead, which further cemented their position as the new classic R&B girls, because of how closely they’ve studied the game. FLO’s second single, “Immature,” implements a wailing baby sample that sounds straight out of Timbaland’s playbook (not to mention, the “Say you want my body, body” chorus line hints at yet another Bey track, her 2006 B’Day cut “Kitty Kat”). Meanwhile, the slinky, yet soulful promotional single “Not My Job” shuts down dudes with little-to-no game à la TLC’s “No Scrubs.”
But when it comes to FLO’s job, says Downer, “We wouldn’t [want] to have any other career.”
Billboard spoke with March’s R&B/Hip-Hop Rookie of the Month about how FLO knew they were the right fit, what it means to carry the legacy of girl groups they grew up, and whether they’ll be opening for Queen Bey’s Renaissance Tour.
Who did you grow up listening to?
Douglas: I grew up listening to a lot of late-‘90s R&B, early-2000s R&B — just loads of old-school R&B like Usher, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Whitney [Houston] … all of the greats. Those are my biggest influences.
Quaresma: Similar vibes.
Downer: Similar vibes – people like Ciara, Rihanna, those type of ladies.
Stella and Renée, you attended Sylvia Young Theatre School together. What is it about that school that allowed you two, but also your famous predecessors, to succeed in the music industry?
Quaresma: I feel like it was the worth ethic you had to have. They just kind of drilled that into you – being professional, being places on time.
Downer: Yeah, they definitely did. They taught you about the industry, so that was nailed into us for years on how to conduct yourself and how to work with different people.
Jorja, you won the British singing competition show, Got What It Takes?, when you were just 14. Looking back at that moment, where did you believe your career was going to go?
Douglas: I don’t know. It was just a bit of fun for me. And then I won, which was just extra fun. That kind of helped me put myself out there a bit more. Following that, I knew being in a girl group was, like, the best thing to do. There was no girl group. So I saw an opportunity, and I took it. [Laughs.]
What is everyone’s special ingredient that they bring to the table? Outside of the music, what’s your favorite personality trait about one another?
Douglas, Downer and Quaresma [in unison]: Hmmmm.
Douglas: In terms of music, we just bounce off of each other. And because we all have those same influences, we all enjoy the same R&B melody, so we’re just pretty in sync with each other. And then personality-wise, we’re like the same, but in different fonts.
Downer and Quaresma: Yeah. Yeah.
How did you work with MNEK on crafting your signature sound?
Downer: The great thing about MNEK is he grew up around our influences, and when that type of music was a thing. He learned about it so early on, and he really crafted that and worked on it. We’re young girls who can learn so much from him. He honestly knows like everything. He’s one of those crazy-talented people. He took time to get to know us and know our influences, and we just connected on that vibe.
I saw you met Kelly Rowland while you were recording in an LA studio with MNEK. How memorable was that for all of you?
Douglas: With Kelly Rowland, I mean…
Quaresma: … I mean, it’s just like …
Douglas: … Surreal.
Downer: Too stunned to speak.
Quaresma: It’s just crazy that they’re actually real people. And also, it’s nice because she’s lived a similar situation that we’re going through, and she’s still alive! She’s still here! [Laughs.]
Is there anyone else you’re dying to meet or collaborate with?
Downer: Victoria Monét. I’m really excited for when we get in the studio with her. We can learn a lot [about] songwriting as well.
What surprised you most about the success of “Cardboard Box?”
Quaresma: I feel like we knew it would do quite well. We pushed for that song to come out first. We knew to put our best foot forward. But it was a really amazing shock how well it did. It just worked!
I’ve read in some of your interviews that you convinced your label to make “Cardboard Box” your debut single, and you made a presentation about how involved you wanted to be in the rollout for your debut EP The Lead. What advice do you have for other artists, especially young Black female artists, who also want to advocate for themselves to their teams?
Quaresma: No one knows your music and your craft better than you. Just remember that. Nobody can try and shape it to be something that’s not genuine. It’s just not going to be as good, so just trust that what you’re about is good enough.
You made history by becoming the first group to win the BRIT Awards’ Rising Star award, and you also won Radio 1’s BBC Sound of 2023. Both honors are decided by separate panels made up of music industry leaders. How does it feel that the U.K. music business is rooting for you so early in your career?
Douglas: We’re very, very grateful, because we just feel like we’re being put in a really good position. It makes us feel really empowered — like, the stage we’re in, we feel really in control of what we want to do and the direction we want to go in. And we feel like, because we’re being given these awards, they’re making us more … what’s the word, like when [what] we’re saying has actual weight to it now?
Quaresma: Credibility.
Douglas: Yeah, exactly!
How has the legacy of British girl groups impacted you three as the U.K.’s newest edition, and what does it mean for you three to be carrying the torch?
Downer: It means a lot to be carrying the torch, because girl groups are so powerful — and to have the people that we grew up watching recognize us and be like, ”You guys have got this. You can go where we’ve gone and further,” is the biggest accomplishment ever. It’s just so deep to us.
Stormzy tapped you for one of the “Hide & Seek” remixes from his latest album, This Is What I Mean. What did recording with a U.K. superstar like him mean for you three?
Downer: He just asked us if we wanted to do it. And we were like, “Yeah, let’s do it.” But we didn’t get in the studio with him. It was a bit different, because we’ve never been featured on somebody else’s track — so we really had to get into a different vibe and think how we can add to that song. It was a nice vibe to experiment with.
Describe the process of prepping for your first North American tour, which starts this April. How did you know was the right time for you to embark on your first tour in the States?
Quaresma: Well, we got told this is what we’re doing. [Laughs.]
Douglas: Most of all, it made sense, because most of our fans are in America. And obviously, R&B is just so much more appreciated in America as well. So it’s like: Go where you’re wanted, don’t try and force it. Obviously, there’s still a love for R&B here, but it’s just something completely different in America. Majority of our fans on Twitter, they’re American. We would have been abused if we didn’t go. They would’ve cussed us out!
Speaking of tour, there have been some reports going around that you could be opening for Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour. Can you confirm or deny at this time?
Quaresma: Honestly, I wish we knew.
Douglas: I think it might be Doechii.
Downer: Oh! Imagine if it’s Doechii! That would be amazing.
Douglas: [Beyoncé] knows who we are. But that was just a rumor.
What can you tell me your upcoming debut album, and when can fans expect it to come out?
Downer: I don’t think we can say yet…
Douglas: …because we don’t have the answer.
Downer: We’re still figuring it out.
Quaresma: Just more elevated, different. We’re just growing up, basically, so our music’s just growing with us.
Def Jam continues to stockpile their roster with burgeoning talent. Today (March 23), the label announced that New York MC Lady London has signed to High Standardz / Def Jam Recordings.
“There are artists who challenge you to disregard everything you know and just follow them into the future,” Def Jam chairman/CEO Tunji Balogun said in a statement. “Lady London is one of those artists. She’s a force on the microphone, a savvy visionary and just the kind of star we need right now. I’m honored and excited to welcome Lady London to the Def Jam family.”
Over the last two years, London has garnered acclaim for her lyrical prowess and innate storytelling abilities. Last year, she released “Lisa’s Story,” her reimagination of Foxy Brown‘s 1996 single “Get Me Home,” which helped her earn a slot as one of Billboard’s R&B / Hip-Hop Artists to Watch. Her red-hot streak continued when she unleashed her viral freestyle “Pop Ya Sh–” over Baby and Clipse‘s 2002 collaborative anthem “What Happened To That Boy.” “The journey has been a beautiful one,” London said regarding her signing. “Even the obstacles. I stayed true to myself. Did it my way. I’m happy to have a place to call home now.”
High Standardz founder/CEO Jeremy “J Dot” Jones added, “Since the beginning, High Standardz has been cultivating an environment where a certain caliber of artists can find a creative home for expression and growth. Lady London personifies everything that we’re about here. From her unique approach to crafting epic music, how she’s built a massive community of engaged and loyal fans, to the intelligence and elegance with which she carries herself. We are proud and excited to partner with her in bringing her artistic visions to the world.”
Check out London’s post about Def Jam’s newest addition below.
By the time SZA reached the last stop on her sensational arena tour — performing two final shows at Los Angeles’ The Forum on March 22 and 23 — most fans in attendance knew what to expect.
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Opener Omar Apollo has been consistently filling venues across the country — proving he’s the kind of act worth showing up on time for by delivering a headline-worthy show himself. Meanwhile, SZA first revealed to Billboard in her Women In Music cover story that she wanted her concert to feel like a Broadway show, saying “I am deeply excited to pop ass and cry and give theater.”
She (almost) did all three.
On Wednesday (March 22), SZA delivered one of the most compelling and detailed live shows in recent memory — and with the energy and conviction of opening night. Plus, she did so with a star-studded crowd watching, which included everyone from Justin and Hailey Bieber to Adele and Kim Kardashian (who earlier in the day revealed a new “SZA for SKIMS” campaign) and many more.
It’s hard to pinpoint what aspect of SZA’s show is most impressive, and that’s likely what makes it so strong. Throughout the near 90-minute set, the chart-topper served a series of looks with the speed of a quick-change artist (the set seemed to shift just as rapidly), performed intricate and interpretative choreography, sailed over the crowd in a lifeboat and all the while perfectly blended her two albums — CTRL and SOS — into one cohesive setlist that guided her introspective story from one act to the next.
From the moment the show began — with SZA recreating the SOS album art — it was clear that water was just as much a main character as she. As such, it became a metaphor throughout, mirroring the rocky waves that too often accompany love or one’s career (particularly in the music industry) but ultimately proving an artist like SZA can survive any storm.
After performing “Broken Clocks” from a makeshift loading dock, SZA boards a weathered boat that reads CTRL FISHING CO for “All the Stars,” her collaboration with former TDE labelmate Kendrick Lamar. It’s smooth sailing on songs like “Garden (Say It Like Dat)” but then, during the assertive “Low,” lightning breaks out as the boat begins to rock, during which SZA falls into an epic split with impressive ease.
The now iconic rescue boat — as seen on social media — is then unveiled as a lighthouse emerges from the center of the arena’s floor, becoming a beacon as SZA sails above the crowd singing “Supermodel” and “Nobody Gets Me.” She introduces the latter as a song about starting her life over, during which Kim K sings along while recording a selfie video with sister Kylie.
A new act is revealed when SZA returns to the stage, and this one takes place underwater, with a giant anchor taking the spotlight. She performs the Grammy-awarded Doja Cat hit “Kiss Me More,” on which she features, and soon after an alarm blares as a strobe flashes — leaving viewers uncertain if she’s being rescued or sinking deeper into trouble.
The next song makes it a bit more clear. The stage is reset yet again as SZA emerges with a deadly flail for “Kill Bill,” which leads into “I Hate U” and “The Weekend” (all of which Hailey Bieber passionately sings along to without missing a word).
SZA pulls off a final quick change for her one-song encore, the melodic “Good Days,” which she performs much like how she started the show, with her feet dangling over a ledge. And just like that, a screen descends that reads “The End” written in stars, followed by rolling credits that begin with, in all caps: CREATIVE DIRECTION BY SOLANA ROWE.
And as fans float to the exits, much like a director would following a screening, Solana herself appears one last time to deliver a humbled message of gratitude. “Genuinely, thank you,” she says so casually it almost goes unnoticed. “I never thought I would be here.”
From the outside looking in, though, the path here has been nothing short of a perfect storm, one that SZA survived by being in the eye of. And as her victorious headlining tour proved, no matter how much time passes, she will forever remain the center of it all.
Sure, Cardi B shows off her impressive dance moves and twerking skills in music videos like “Up,” but she admits that her talents do have some limitations.
The rapper took to Twitter on Wednesday (March 22) to respond to a fan who suggested that she and her husband Offset recreate the high-energy dance breakdown in Michael and Janet Jackson’s 1995 hit, “Scream.”
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“Offset YES…..Me? …..my knee already broke,” Cardi jokingly replied, retweeting the video.
It’s been an exciting year for Cardi, who recently released a personalized Valentine’s-ready McDonald’s meal with the Migos rapper, featuring Quarter Pounder with cheese, a cheeseburger, side of BBQ sauce, a large fry and apple pie to share, and two large drinks.
Along with the McDonald’s meal, Cardi and Offset also released a full merch collection filled with T-shirts, hoodies, booty shorts and beanies emblazoned with plenty of puns (“nice buns”), signature catchphrases (Cardi’s famous “ok uu rr rr rr”) and more.
In February, Cardi surprised an ecstatic crowd as a special guest at GloRilla’s New York City concert, where the pair teamed up to perform their hit collab “Tomorrow 2,” just weeks after the former and her husband dazzled with a pre-Super Bowl set in Arizona attended by Serena Williams, Tiffany Haddish and more.
Migos fans should be pleased to know that Offset has a new record with Icewear Vezzo and his late bandmate/cousin Takeoff potentially on the way.
Earlier this week, Set teased the trunk-rattling track on his Instagram Stories, which drew elation from fans on social media. The 56-second snippet finds Vezzo and Takeoff exchanging bars before Offset bursts through the song with fiery lines of his own.
The path to Set’s sophomore album has been arduous. Last August, he sued his former label Quality Control to reclaim ownership of his solo material. Then, in November, he lost his cousin Takeoff, who was shot and killed in Houston, further delaying the album. He was also involved in a fistful of skirmishes, including a verbal spat online with J. Prince and allegedly feuding with his Migos bandmate Quavo at this year’s Grammy Awards.
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Musically, Offset has released several one-off singles to keep fans intrigued. Last August, he released “5 4 3 2 1” before following up with “CODE” featuring MoneyBagg Yo. Offset’s 2019 debut album Father of 4 netted a top-five entry on the Billboard 200 with 89,000 album-equivalent units. The offering also spawned his triple-platinum single “Clout” featuring his wife, Cardi B.
On the posthumous side, this is the latest offering from Takeoff after fans first heard The Last Rocket MC on Metro Boomin’s Heroes and Villians standout “Feel the Fiyaaaah” featuring him and A$AP Rocky.
Listen to the snippet featuring Offset, Takeoff and Vezzo below.
Back in her own little corner… or make that kingdom! Brandy revisited her role as Cinderella in a new teaser for Descendants: The Rise of Red released on Wednesday (March 22).
The clip features the R&B legend — who originally graced the screen as the iconic princess in the 1997 TV movie Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella — wearing a regal, voluminous gown of baby blue and matching overcoat with her hair in a long, blue braid. She even reunites with her co-star Paolo Montalban, who’s now graduated from Prince to King Charming.
Brandy’s casting was first revealed back in November when the project was announced as a Descendants spin-off titled The Pocketwatch. At the time, the movie musical was purportedly centered around Red, the daughter of the Queen of Hearts, and Chloe, the daughter of Cinderella and Charming — but there’s no word yet on whether any plot points may have changed along with the new title.
The artist known as the Vocal Bible last returned to her Disney princess roots in summer 2022 for the original film’s 25th-anniversary reunion special, which also featured interviews with Montalban, Whoopi Goldberg, Victor Garber, Bernadette Peters, Jason Alexander and more. “I remember like it was yesterday,” she said of working with the late Whitney Houston on the beloved movie.
She also performed a medley of Cinderella tracks such as “The Sweetest Sound,” “In My Own Little Corner,” “Impossible,” “A Lovely Night” and “Ten Minutes Ago” for one of Todrick Hall’s viral videos during the pandemic.
Get a first look at Brandy’s on-screen reunion with Montalban as Cinderella and King Charming below.