State Champ Radio R&B/Hip-Hop
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As sports journalist Skip Bayless assembled his new all-star cast for his revamped Undisputed show — which premiered on Fox Sports 1 on Monday (Aug. 28) — he called on his friend Lil Wayne to complete the comeback with a new theme song. Titled “Good Morning,” Wayne — who was the cover star of Billboard‘s Hip-Hop 50 […]
Miguel previewed songs from his upcoming fifth studio album, Viscera, on Friday in Los Angeles during an event dubbed the “Viscera Experience,” in which the singer warned the small crowd that the performance would include “boundary-pushing artistry including body manipulation [and] skin piercing.”
According to a description of the show posted by Vibe, after taking the stage at Sony Studios in a white tank, baggy black pants and black rubber boots, the “Sky Walker” singer was joined by two men who pushed metal hooks through the skin on his back, then attached them to wires that lifted him off the ground by the hooks. He then hung for nearly five minutes while singing an unreleased song — featuring the apropos lyrics “I’m hanging onto nothing/ I’m hanging from the ceiling” –before being lowered and having the hooks removed.
On Monday (Aug. 29), Miguel posted a series of pics on Instagram showing the aftermath of the S&M stunt, including the series of holes in his back as well as the white tank top, streaked and spotted with his blood alongside the caption, “What is your relationship to pain? What is your relationship to change?”
The type of suspension Miguel used in the performance is typically referred to as a “suicide suspension” and Miguel isn’t he only one who has employed it as type of body modification that dates back at least 5,000 years to India as part of a spiritual piercing rituals during Hindu festivals. Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro waxed poetic about the therapeutic aspects of putting large-gauge hooks through the skin of your back in a 2013 Guardian interview, saying, “To be honest, at first I just wanted to try it because it was interesting; I didn’t know that there was going to be an experience attached to it. I saw it as just a mind-over-matter thing until I got off the ground the first time. Then a lightbulb went off.”
He said while some people are horrified by the act — admitting that there is definitely pain, and blood, involved — he found it to be “a very intensely gratifying emotional release. Sometimes it’s just fun, but it can also be very meditative.”
Last month, Miguel pushed boundaries as part of Sony’s “For the Music” campaign, scaling a massive skyscraper and breaking through a glass window in a one minute visual that director Liam McRae said symbolized the singer’s next era and Sony’s commitment to supporting artists like him breaking through “creative barriers” and connecting directly with their fans.
Viscera, which does not yet have an official release date, is the follow-up to 2017’s War & Leisure; he released the single “Give It to Me” in April.
See Miguel’s posts below.
It’s getting “Too Hot” out there, even for 50 Cent. The MC who is in the middle of his 20th anniversary Get Rich or Die Tryin’ 20th anniversary tour had to hit pause on tonight’s (Aug. 29) show in Glendale, Arizona at the Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre due to an excessive heat warning. “Due to […]
Fans of Nicki Minaj rejoiced on Monday afternoon (Aug. 28) when the Pink Friday rapper treated them to a snippet of her new record “Last Time I Saw You” via TikTok. The minute-long snippet finds Minaj in a pop-centric lane, leaning more toward her singing prowess than grizzly raps. “Beggin me to stay and then you […]
Temperatures are dropping but the R&B/hip-hop heat still persists. This week we’ve got a collection of songs by genre-benders (Omar Apollo and Tai Verdes), emerging rap stars (Luh Tyler, Audrey Nuna and Big Bratt) and an R&B staple (Kyle Dion) to help you power through this last week of August.
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Don’t forget to share the wealth and check out our August picks in the Spotify playlist, linked below. Stay tuned for September!
Freshest Find: Omar Apollo, “Ice Slippin”
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This week’s freshest find goes to Omar Apollo for “Ice Slippin,” his emotional ballad about the time he came out to his family. “‘Ice Slippin’ is about reliving the thoughts I had passing through my mind the winter I came out to my family,” Apollo shared in a press statement. “Receiving cold judgment as opposed to the acceptance I felt I deserved. This song is a reflection and reaction of all the emotions I had to face before and after I decided to leave the icy streets of Indiana.” “Ice Slippin” will appear on Apollo’s upcoming EP Live for Me (out October 6).
Luh Tyler, “Rapper of the Year”
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“I ain’t never wrote a song, no, I don’t need no pad or pen,” is the boastful intro line to Luh Tyler’s new track “Rapper of the Year.” The Florida teen rapper has been making a name for himself in rap with his witty bars and quivering flow. “Rapper of the Year” is the intro track on his new three-song EP ROTY.
Tai Verdes, “All White”
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Tai Verdes’ “All White” is a bass-forward track inspired in part by what he describes as the “second-generation Black mindset of putting culture on your shoulders and moving forward.” The California artist has mastered making light and airy pop songs, though “All White” arguably slightly crosses into R&B territory with its groovy bass line.
Kyle Dion, “Boyfriend Jeans”
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Leaning fully into R&B is Kyle Dion, whose new single “Boyfriend Jeans” seamlessly infuses his creamy falsetto with funky 2000s R&B elements. After taking a full year off following the release of his 2022 deluxe album SASSY, the L.A.-based crooner is back with a song “about a fling with a girl and getting caught in an ever-endless cycle of toxicity between her and her boyfriend,” he shares in a press release. “Every time they fight and break up, she’d come running back to me.”
AUDREY NUNA, “locket”
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Audrey Nuna samples the late rapper Huey’s 2006 hit “Pop, Lock and Drop It” for her new single “locket.” The New Jersey rapper also pays homage to late French filmmaker Valentin Petit, who passed earlier this year and directed the song’s video. “When it came time to build out the visual universe for my new project, I came across Valentin’s name through my friend and reached out online. After two months of preparing over the phone, we shot ‘locket’ in Paris in April of 2023… it was a surreal week,” she shares in a statement. “Even though I only knew Valentin for a sum of three months, I found in this short time that everything that drew me to his videos clearly stemmed from the blueprint of his soul and who he was at his core.”
Fridayy, “Stand by Me”
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On his self-titled new album Fridayy, the baritone Philly singer is telling his story as well as the story of those around him. “It’s a project for us, by me,” he says. “I want people to connect to their experiences as they hear mine. I’m talking about hope and inspiration as much as I’m talking about trials and tribulations. You can’t talk about the dream without talking about the pain. Those life aspects are universal, so I’m hoping it touches as many people as possible as they see themselves in me.” Standout track “Stand By Me” hears him backed by a choir, crooning about righting his wrongs and wishing for his people to sticky by him through thick and thin.
Big Bratt, “Real Stand Up Bxtch”
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Big Bratt had to “cut them hatin’ b–ches off ’cause they had different visions” — rightfully so. The Chattanooga, Tennessee rapper proved that she’s a “Real Stand Up Bxtch” on her new single which was released under Slaughter Gang Entertainment (21 Savage) and Boominati Worldwide (Metro Boomin).
Cardi B graces the new issue of Vogue México y Latinoamérica and shared an update on her long-awaited sophomore album in the cover story. “I’m not going to release any more collaborations. I’m going to put out my next solo single. Right now, I’m working on the cover art and ideas for the next record […]
Things are looking up for your Labor Day weekend. After months of teasing, on Monday morning (Aug. 28) Timbaland finally revealed the title of his upcoming single with longtime collaborators Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado. The song, “Keep Going Up!,” is due out on Friday (Sept. 1), just in time to get fans hyped for […]
All that Jorja Smith likes to do is write and sing — which makes separating herself from her career “a bit tricky” sometimes. “I’ll have days where I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, I wish I gave myself a different name because I need to switch Jorja Smith off,’ ” she says. “I don’t want to be Jorja Smith all of the time.”
Struggling to find balance not only speaks to her Gemini zodiac sign, says the 26-year-old artist, but is also at the core of her highly anticipated second album, Falling or Flying, out Sept. 29 on her longtime independent label, FAMM. “I don’t really have an in between. I’m either happy or sad, obsessed or completely unfocused, up or down,” she says. “I feel like I’m flying in my career, and then other times, I feel like I’m falling because the pressure can feel [like] too much.”
At 18, Smith left her hometown of Walsall, England, and traveled two-and-a-half hours south to London in order to pursue music full time. Her secondary school yearbook named her most likely to become famous — and she quickly ascended to become one of the United Kingdom’s brightest stars. In 2016, Smith uploaded her socially conscious debut single, “Blue Lights,” to SoundCloud, and it garnered nearly half a million plays in one month. The song eventually appeared on her 2018 critically acclaimed debut album, Lost & Found, which boasted slow-burning songs that blended R&B, reggae, hip-hop, jazz and neo-soul production with a songwriting approach inspired by Amy Winehouse. All the while, Smith earned co-signs from Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Stormzy, as well as acclaim in the form of a 2018 BRITs Critics’ Choice Award and a 2019 Grammy nod for best new artist.
But fulfilling her yearbook prophecy had a disorienting effect on Smith, who became famous in her early 20s. After tiding fans over with the 2021 EP Be Right Back, she moved home to Walsall at the beginning of 2023. “I went back when I finally decided I’ve had enough of London … It’s a bit overwhelming sometimes,” she says with a sigh. “I moved back and I feel a lot more balanced. I feel more myself now.”
On Falling or Flying, Smith soars over sprightly tracks that experiment with acoustic indie-rock production, syncopated basslines and retro synth chords. She enlisted U.K. jungle DJ-producer Nia Archives to remix the album’s second single, “Little Things,” which captured a flirty, feverish energy quintessential for clubbing in its original form. But some songs demand the coziness of a jazz club, where Smith’s lithe, velvety vocals can fill the space on their own — and quiet those around her. While Lost & Found comprised teenage love songs Smith had written when she was 16, Falling or Flying finds the singer stepping “into womanhood” and being more sure of herself than ever before. As she sings on “Backwards,” “I stand here and I look down on myself and I am so proud.” Meanwhile, on tracks like “Broken Is the Man” and “Try Me,” she challenges past lovers and harsh critics.
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Walsall production duo DameDame* — Smith has known one of its members since she was 15 — was responsible for most of Falling or Flying, another sign that returning to her roots better served her music. “We laughed, ate food, sang, cried, jammed some more,” she says. “It wasn’t like, ‘I need to make the album uptempo.’ It was just, ‘Let’s mess around, have fun and see what happens.’ ”
Smith teases that she’ll take Falling or Flying on the road for her first headlining run in five years. “That’s all I want to do,” she says, beaming. “That’s where I feel at home. In Walsall and onstage is where I feel like, ‘OK, I can just be me.’ ”
This story originally appeared in the Aug. 26, 2023, issue of Billboard.
YG’s disdain for former President Donald Trump has reached new levels. The rapper released T-shirts thrashing the controversial figure over the former president’s Aug. 24 arrest in Georgia on felony charges of plotting to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. The $35 merch, announced Friday (Aug. 25), uses Trump’s mug shot with the caption “F—-d” […]
Iggy Azalea had to cut short her headlining set in Saudi Arabia on Friday night at the Gamers8 e-sports event after suffering a wardrobe malfunction. According to People, in a since-deleted X post, the “Money Come” rapper said that local authorities told her she could not finish her show after her pants split mid-performance.
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“Saudi Arabia please know to everyone at the show tonight… I LOVE YOU,” the “Fancy” rapper wrote. “And I’m soooooo sorry I wasn’t allowed to finish my show. It’s not the promoter who put on the show’s fault so show them kindness because they are amazing people and we all wanted to continue but were not allowed by authorities because of my pants splitting.”
In a follow-up, Azalea responded to a fan’s question about why she wasn’t allowed to just change pants by explaining that she did change her bottoms, but then accompanied that with an onstage comment that allegedly “sent authorities over the edge.”
The statement in question, Azalea said, was her imploring, “‘Ladies, make some noise, it’s a woman’s world.’” The rapper assured her fans she was fine either way. “I’m cool I just didn’t want the fans to be sad or angry at the show organizers cause it wasn’t their control or mine it was the police at the side of stage,” she added. According to People, Azalea also briefly shared a clip of the pants splitting on Instagram and an image of the ripped pants.
A video posted by a fan appeared to show the incident, in which Azalea knelt down on the stage on her knees in black vinyl leggings, with the left leg appearing to split from mid-shin to her upper groin. Saudi Arabia’s immigration website states that the official dress code for women in the predominantly Muslim country calls for them to “cover as much flesh as possible to avoid drawing unwelcome attention.” The Visit Saudi Arabia site adds that tourists are not expected to wear the same attire as locals, or to cover up to the same extent, “but it’s highly recommended that you dress modestly.”
The performance came right after Iggy dropped her new single, “Money Come,” which was accompanied by a video in which Azalea and her female cohorts stage a hostile takeover of an office, blasting the male corporate structure and making the men in office mud wrestle for her entertainment.
See one of the tweets below.
I did but I also said “Ladies make some noise, it’s a woman’s world!” And apparently that sent the authorities over the edge. Lol I’m cool I just didn’t want the fans to be sad or angry at the show organizers cause it wasn’t their control or mine it was the police at the side…— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) August 25, 2023
