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Latto is officially bringing some big energy to the small screen. The 24-year-old rapper made her acting debut in a new episode of the final season of Grown-ish, playing a wine sales representative named Sloane alongside a number of other musical guest stars. Fans can get a taste of Latto’s character in a clip from […]
Families that make music videos together, stay together. In the self-directed visual for Offset‘s new song “Jealousy” featuring his wife, the one and only Cardi B, one of hip-hop’s biggest power couples works through their issues onscreen while keeping hold of what’s most important: their kids, each of whom makes a cute cameo in the project.
After walking out on a screaming match with Cardi, Offset indulges in some boy time with their almost 2-year-old son, Wave, while playing mini-basketball and riding bikes with his sons Jordan and Kody from previous relationships. Kulture, his 5-year-old daughter with Cardi, and 8-year-old Kalea, whom he shares with Shya L’amour, are later captured giggling adorably together in the front seat of a car.
But just because the video was a family function doesn’t mean it was strictly PG. One scene, for instance, featured Cardi crouching down to mimic a NSFW action on ‘Set, who is leaning against a vintage convertible.
All the while, the two superstars take turns getting things off their chest, both of them using their respective verses to call out haters who speculate on their relationship.
The couple first started teasing “Jealousy” earlier this week, enlisting Jamie Lee Curtis to play a reporter questioning their relationship drama in a spoof on James Brown‘s memorable 1988 CNN interview. Later, Cardi shared a video co-starring Taraji P. Henson, in which the “WAP” rapper rants about Offset’s past infidelity and Henson encourages her to stay with him.
“Jealousy” may or may not be Cardi and Offset’s response to their own recent real-life relationship issues, which went public last month after the Migos rapper accused his wife of cheating on him via Instagram Stories. Shortly afterward, Cardi jumped on Twitter Spaces to emphatically deny the accusations.
But based on a few public appearances in the weeks since, and now, their new collaboration, it definitely seems like the two have resolved the conflict. Plus, an insider tells Billboard that Offset’s family is “his No. 1 priority,” adding, “He’s making sure they are involved.”
Watch the “Jealousy” music video above.
Drake was the topic of conversation on Friday (July 28) after he linked with oft collaborator Travis Scott on La Flame’s fourth studio album, Utopia. Social media hummed when he unleashed shots aimed at Pusha T and Pharrell on the track “MELTDOWN.” Drake fired scathing bars targeting Pharrell’s newly appointed position as men’s creative director for […]
After a five-year album hiatus and a deadly festival tragedy in 2021, Travis Scott is back in the public eye with his long-awaited new album Utopia out today (July 28).
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Scott originally planned a grand entrance for the album via a concert at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, but the event was officially canceled earlier this week (July 26) due to “complex production issues,” according to a statement from Live Nation Middle East. However, Scott took to Twitter to reassure fans that the show will happen at a later time. “Egypt in the pyramids will happen but due to demand and detail logistics they just need a bit a time to set lay on lands. I will keep up posted on a date which will be soon love you alllll,” he wrote.
Between briefcases, billboards, and pyramids (or lack thereof), the 32-year-old showed off his knack for going above and beyond for his album promotion with the Utopia rollout. Earlier this summer, artists like Bad Bunny and The Weeknd (who are both featured on the album’s first single “K-POP”), SZA (who is featured alongside Future on “TELEKINESIS”) and Mike Dean (who mastered the album) had been spotted with brown Utopia-marked briefcases. Cryptic billboards promoting the album were also seen around Los Angeles last month. This past week, Scott also revealed five grainy album covers featuring men wearing white colored contacts — who, fans suspected, might represent song features due to their loose resemblance of Kendrick Lamar, Tyler, the Creator, Juice WRLD, Baby Keem and Lil Baby. (None of these artists are on the album.)
Beginning last night (July 27), Scott premiered an album film titled Circus Maximus in select AMC theaters. Directed by the musician along with five additional directors, Scott “takes his audience on a mind-bending visual odyssey across the globe, woven together by the speaker rattling sounds of his highly anticipated upcoming album Utopia,” reads AMC’s website. “The film is a surreal and psychedelic journey, uniting a collective of visionary filmmakers from around the world in a kaleidoscopic exploration of human experience and the power of soundscapes.”
Billboard attended the film screening last night. Here’s what we gathered.
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Free merch
Fans were gifted free Circus Maximus t-shirts upon checking in at the theater. The shirts are black with the Cactus Jack and film’s logo on the front and back, respectively. Scott also revealed that some of them were hidden in theaters, sending fans on a scavenger hunt.
Scott’s inner thoughts
Circus Maximus begins with Scott being choked by an octopus, before transforming into a new version of himself. He then climbs a mountain to meet with producer Rick Rubin, who engages him in a conversation about his feelings as of late. Rubin tells Scott that he’s come a long way and acknowledges that the rapper has experienced tragedy, seemingly alluding to the deadly crowd crush that killed 10 people at his Astroworld Festival in 2021. At times, Scott seems flustered. He quickly deflects the topic, saying he didn’t visit Rubin to discuss that, though he shows remorse about the situation later on when asked, “How’s home?” “Home ain’t been the same in a while,” Scott replies. “I hear echoes half the day.”
Scott’s conversations with Rubin occur in the first half of the film, and are sandwiched between cinematic music videos of him in different countries. In one clip, he’s a part of what looks like an acrobatic trick, where people are standing on each other’s shoulders to help a child climb out of a hole. The camera shows a close-up of Scott straining under the pressure, a possible metaphor for the weight he’s felt over the past few years processing his grief and figuring out how to move forward with his career. However, other scenes are more jovial: One scene sees him DJing a party to Utopia‘s “MODERN JAM” while in another, he’s seen riding camels and dirt bikes with people in Nigeria to the set’s “HYAENA.”
The world-building and meaning of UTOPIA
Travis Scott has become exceptional at creating worlds around his music. Whereas 2018’s Astroworld was more straightforward in concept, UTOPIA is a bit more loose in meaning and open to interpretation. For Circus Maximus — which he directed, wrote and starred in — the artist traveled to Iceland, Nigeria, Denmark, France and Italy to make sense of his personal utopia. When asked about the album, the Houston artist explains that his concept of a utopian world “is not all that pretty and confrontational,” but rather, he’s trying to transfer his energy without breaking or disrupting it along the journey. He also mentions that he’s trying to find a new way to rage.
Scott seems the most in his element during the last half of the film, when he performs a handful of UTOPIA songs at an amphitheater in Pompeii, Italy. At this point, Circus Maximus pivots from a collection of music videos and Rubin conversations to a concert film. Dressed in white and backed by a wall of speakers, dusk turns to dawn as Scott rehearses some of his new catalog in the empty historical venue.
Special guest appearances
During his performance, special guests — some of whom are also featured on the album — joined Scott to perform. Teezo Touchdown (“MODERN JAM”), Sheck Wes (“FE!N”), Yung Lean (“PARASAIL”), James Blake (“TIL FURTHER NOTICE”) and model Jazzelle all joined Scott and were thanked for their participation in the closing credits. Other artists featured on the 19-track album include Beyoncé, Drake, Young Thug, Future, SZA and Sampha. In conversation with director Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Spy Kids) for i-D in early 2021, the Scott said that with UTOPIA he is “expand[ing] the sound. I’ve been making beats again, rapping on my own beats, just putting everything together and trying to grow it really,” he said. “That’s been one of the most fun things about working on this album. I’m evolving, collaborating with new people, delivering a whole new sound, a whole new range.”
Cactus Jack and gamma?
Circus Maximus is in association with Larry Jackson’s new media company gamma, according to the film’s closing credits. In whatever capacity that is, it doesn’t seem far-fetched, since Scott attended the company’s launch party back in March. gamma is a company that specializes in distribution, creative guidance, marketing and more. Its clientele so far includes Snoop Dogg, Usher and Sexyy Red.
When Quavo discusses TakeOff and making those delicate steps forward in life without his nephew and Migos bandmate, the grief is palpable.
“I think about him all the time,” he explains in a new interview — a “conversation for the fans,” in which he bears his soul in black and white. “Sometimes I cry myself to sleep.”
TakeOff (real name: Kirshnik Khari Ball) was shot and killed during a private party he attended at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston with his uncle and bandmate, Quavo, on Nov. 1, 2022, an action that still weighs heavy on the rapper.
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Grief, when you’re not prepared, and who is, can put you in a “messed up place, in a bad place,” he explains. Everything, from the day-to-day, which now includes therapeutic stints of chilling out, meditating, swimming in the ocean, and gym, to the creative process, is turned upside down.
As a record takes shape, Quavo has a particular style of working. He’d cut the hook and the verse, show it to his bandmates. “Now he’s gone and I don’t have nobody to play the music for,” he recounts. Instead, “I just try to connect with the earth and just try to hear them like that.” Quavo doesn’t “really like nobody else’s opinion.”
Quavo’s forthcoming solo album Rocket Power is slated for release Aug. 4, and it’s fueled by his late nephew and former partner-in-rhyme.
With Rocket Power, his first LP since 2018’s Quavo Huncho, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, he lets it all out in one blaze of energy.
He’s been “bottling all these emotions,” he notes, “all the pain, all the hard times, all the times I cried and all the times I just made music” to cope with loss. “And to pull up and try to play songs and he’s not there, and I’m just trying to get this fuel from above and this feeling from the sky and just call it Rocket Power.”
Quavo also opened up on his favorite song on the album, “11.11,” a date that captures the moment he hit record and got to work (“It felt like it was a sign”), and talked the residual energy of his fallen bandmember.
There’s not just energy floating out there in the ether, there’s a stash of unfinished music. A lot of it, apparently.
“In this phone alone, it’s 150 songs. Every phone probably has 350 songs.” Quavo admits he’s got five phones. TakeOff had three phones. “He’s got songs I never heard, ‘I’m like, bro why you never played me this’.”
One of the standouts, he explains, is called “Put That S— On.” “The Silent Assassin, he saved it for a reason. I got you though. We’re gonna finish strong,” he enthuses, adding, “that’s just in the phone. We’ve probably got like a thousand….we’ve got a lot of songs.“
With the announcement of the new LP back in May, Quavo remarked, “This album is for the Rocket, our true fans, and also this is my therapy. This album is a true reflection of how I feel right now.”
Watch the interview below. Part 2 is said to be coming soon.
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Travis Scott finally dropped his fourth studio album Utopia on Friday, July 28 via Cactus Jack and Epic Records. The highly anticipated album arrives five years after his last studio album Astroworld, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and included the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single “Sicko Mode,” featuring Drake, which […]
On Friday (July 28), Offset and Cardi B fired off rounds during their incendiary collaboration, “Jealousy.” Teased earlier this week, “Jealousy” marks the couple’s latest reunion on wax since their multi-platinum song “Clout,” as they take turns throwing darts at their envious adversaries. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and […]
Offset and Cardi B are reclaiming the narrative surrounding their relationship in their upcoming collaboration, “Jealousy,” and the two enlisted Taraji P. Henson for a hilarious promotional teaser shared on Thursday (July 27). Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In the one-minute clip, Cardi dials up the Girls […]
Grammy-winning jazz pianist Robert Glasper returns to Napa Valley this weekend for his annual Blue Notes Jazz Festival. Headlined by Nas, Mary J. Blige, and Chance the Rapper, Glasper, alongside his superstar cohorts, will provide an enriched Black experience through high-end art, live entertainment, exquisite food, and more during the three-day soiree. Joining Glasper will be three-time NBA Champion and Class of 2023 Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade, who looks to bring his brand of fun and excitement to wine country this Friday (July 28).
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“Last year, I came in with eyes wide open to see what the experience was, and I left there like, ‘When are the dates next year?’” says Wade, the appointed director of culture and vibes for this year’s festival. “I wanted to be back here. I wanted to experience this again, which had nothing to do with me. It had something to do with everybody creating this vibe and putting on for us.”
Attendees will feel Wade’s presence beyond the vibes he intends on setting this weekend as his wine company, Wade Cellars, joins a sea of Black-owned vendors and businesses. “We must show how high-level, sophisticated, and dope we are in this game and all the realms of it,” says Glasper on the importance of highlighting the wealth of talent within the Black community. “It’s important that we do that — from the comedy, the music, the visual arts, the wine, and the chefs — because we’re not represented enough [being] at the high level we are.”
Billboard spoke to Glasper and Wade about the upcoming Jazz festival, empowering Black businesses, and their favorite hip-hop albums.
Rob, what went into your decision of giving D-Wade the title of director of culture and vibes for your festival?
Robert Glasper: He’s given so much to the culture already. He’s a champion, he does everything at a high level — not just at basketball, but doing the wine and fashion. You have a high-level family, man. I’m a fan of the father that you are. Just overall, it’s an honor and privilege just to have you. When you pulled up on us last year, I didn’t know you was coming. I just saw him and [his wife] Gabrielle in a golf cart. [Laughs.] I’ve been a fan for a long time, so i’m just looking forward to this collab.
D-Wade, considering the vibes were already present last year, what more can fans expect with you at the helm for this year’s event?
Dwyane Wade: Man, in life, you just always wanna add, and never take away. I just wanna add to the vibes that are already being created. To me, obviously, it’s in Napa [Valley]. I have my own wine brand. I’ve been in this for nine years as a Black vineyard. So when I looked at into that space last year and we had the VIP sections and I saw all the food, I said, “This is what we do. This is where we lay.” We lay in the middle of food and music. I thought it would be amazing if Wade Cellars can have an imprint and be a part of this in Napa.
First of all, a lot of people were coming up to me in Napa while we were there, and [asking], “Yo. Where can we find your wine at?” I said, “Oh s–t. We don’t have any available.” We weren’t ready. So this year, we’ll be ready. We’re gonna make sure we go in there and we create a vibe. It’s just exposure, bro. This culture needs exposure, so that’s what we’re gonna do with our wine brand — expose them to what we created.
Rob, you’re building a place where Black businesses and vendors can showcase their products. Why was that such a priority for you outside of the music for your festival?
Robert Glasper: Because Black people are high-level in so many different ways. I feel like it’s important we showcase that, because we’re not represented at our highest level in the world in a real way. We’re represented in the things you see on TV, and even on the platforms we provide ourselves — it’s like, ‘Why are you showing this?” We have so much more to offer than what people are seeing.
You guys are pushing the Wine Unify Scholarship. What went into bringing that into the forefront?
Dwyane Wade: You always want to have an element of community or charity. So outside of the Blue Note, there’s other things going on. Wade Cellars will be a part of dinners going on Friday and Saturday, so to be able to tap into the community is what it’s about. We’re gonna have fun, we’re gonna create experiences, but what else can we provide?
I’m looking forward to what goes on at those dinners and what kind of relationships that I can build. The wine industry is like sports to me. If I like a team and you like a team, Carl, we may not know each other and come from two different forms of life — but we can high-five, we can chest bump, we can look at each other to a point, because we love Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors. So the wine world to me is a connected world, that if you love this experience of what wine brings, no matter where you’re from, you’re gonna end up cheering that glass with somebody. You’re gonna end up having a conversation and getting to know somebody.
So we just want to continue to create that vibe and more exposure to things. So to be able to be a part of exposing them to so many things in the Blue Note week, that’s what it’s all about. It’s always great to have that charity aspect to it.
Rob, how has music become that central connector to everything going on in sports, comedy, media and so many other sectors in the world today?
Robert Glasper: I mean, music has been the connector since the beginning of time. It’s how people communicated in many ways. It’s how slaves communicated to each other and let you know where to go and where to be. It’s one of the reasons we have a Martin Luther King Day — songs. Music is literally the universal connector. That’s the one artform where, if you don’t know somebody who doesn’t have a favorite song, you can’t trust them. Period. With music, you don’t have to have a favorite visual artist or favorite dancer — but music is such a communicator in such a way of connecting people within all walks of life all over the planet. You don’t have to speak the language, because music is the language. That is literally the language.
Because it is Hip Hop 50, I need you both to list out your three go-to albums.
Robert Glasper: Three?
Dwyane Wade: Three go-to albums?
Robert Glasper: I’ll go first so I don’t have to think about it. I’m gonna go Chi-Town. I’m gonna go Common, Like Water For Chocolate. Part of the reason because I was there when he was making that in New York. I was at some of the sessions and it’s also nostalgia for me. Two, whew. Midnight Marauders, Tribe. Classic. One more album? My son is giving me the look. [Laughs.] You gotta have this one because it is what it is, Illmatic, Nas.
D-Wade, the pressure is on you now.
Dwyane Wade: Let me go Chicago first. I’m actually gonna go Kanye West, Graduation. I’m a Chicago kid and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” is one of my favorite songs. I feel like you can’t tell me s–t. I love Graduation.
Robert Glasper: Wade, you know I’m on “Touch the Sky.” That’s my first hip-hop recording. I did it in 2004 when Just Blaze called me into the studio. I played on “Touch The Sky.”
Dwyane Wade: Wow. OK. Now, my favorite artist is Jay-Z and it’s so hard to pick, but I’m gonna go with — because at the time of my life it was important — The Black Album. That’s when I got into the league, I just got a little money. You couldn’t tell me s–t boy, I’ll tell you. And the last one? This is tough. I’m playing between 2Pac and Lil Wayne right now in my mind. I’m just going with some of my favorite artists, and I’m trying to think what album of Lil Wayne I would pick.
Were you a Carter II or Carter III guy?
Dwayne Wade: I’m going Tha Carter ’cause that was 2003, 2004 as well. That’s when I was in the Olympics. Matter fact, I’m gonna put that on when I get in the car and go to the meeting.
Go play some “Go DJ”, D-Wade.
Yeah, I’m gonna do that now. That was my s–t. [Laughs.]
As he gears up to release his new album Austin Friday (July 28), Post Malone wants to set the record straight. In his Wednesday (July 26) interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, the 28-year-old singer-rapper opened up about his drug and alcohol usage, emphasizing that — while he may have gone a little wild in the earlier days of his career — it’s definitely not what it used to be.
“I mean, first off, I shouldn’t have to really justify anything to anyone, but I appreciate the concerns,” he began, sitting casually on a couch with Lowe. “But then the rumor starts that I’m doing hard drugs, which I’ve never done in my entire life.”
“Yeah, I take shrooms … I like shrooms,” explained the musician, confirming he made his last album, Twelve Carat Toothache, while taking the psychedelics. “I like shrooms. Not as much as I used to. It’s really affected my short-term memory. … Maybe it was just a stint of habitual overuse. Daily.”
“But now I take a little bar of chocolate with my buddies, a little square chocolate and just laugh and laugh and laugh,” he added. “It’s interesting because it’s improved. It has improved my view on things. Making the last record, I was so, so, so … Well, writing it, I was so, so sad. But now I’m so happy and it’s definitely improved my viewpoint on life.”
The “White Iverson” artist also gave an update on his current relationship to alcohol, which he noted is “very much” a weakness for him. “It’s very frustrating,” Post admitted. “I have a very hard time expressing myself via recording if I’m not a little f–ked up. It’s a good spot now because if I’m not recording or I’m not talking to people or if I’m not doing shows, I really do drink just to have fun. It’s having a beer with my dad or with my bud.”
Posty also acknowledged that family life with his fiancée, with whom he welcomed a daughter last year, has helped to keep him grounded. “I really love hanging out with my baby, hanging out with the lady, playing video games, and in my garage working on projects,” he told Lowe. “That’s what I love to do. And so it hasn’t been that hard, but there’s times to where you have … It’s that one drink that sets you over.”
The interview comes just a couple months after the “Circles” singer took to Instagram to deny he was using drugs, which fans speculated was the reason behind his recent weight loss. “I’m having a lot of fun performing, and have never felt healthier,” he said at the time. “i guess dad life kicked in and i decided to kick soda, and start eating better so i can be around for a long time for this little angel.”
“The difference is I don’t rage in social settings,” Post told Lowe. “It’s usually me and a buddy. And we just stay up super late until the sunrise and we’re just drinking and sitting out on the car and just hanging out listening to music. I used to go nuts, and this is significantly better. There used to be a time, especially at the beginning of our relationship, that I would just disappear and just go for a week. And I was like, oh man, that’s so sh–ty.”
Watch Post Malone’s interview with Zane Lowe above.
