R&B/Hip-Hop

02 Jun 2023

Gunna Pans Critics on Snitching Allegations in New Song ‘Bread & Butter’

Though Gunna has remained mum since his release from jail last December, on Friday (June 2), he finally addresses his skeptics in his new song, “Bread & Butter.”

The black-and-white visual gives the song an ominous tone as Gunna candidly speaks on his plea deal and the snitching allegations pinned against him. “Never gave no statement or agreed to take no stand on’ em /Whatever you n—as on, then trust me, I’mma stand on it/ Lawyers and that DA did some sneaky s–t, I fell for it/ On my P’s and Q’s because this time I be prepared for it,” he raps.

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Gunna continues to stand tall amid the drama and doesn’t relent under the pressure by further skewering his detractors, saying, “You bitch a– n—as got me the topic of the chat/ You switched on me when you know you in business with a rat/And the boy, that’s like your brother, ain’t nobody speak on that.”

“Bread and Butter” is Gunna’s first song post-jail after accepting a plea deal last year. Though his YSL counterpart Young Thug remains incarcerated over charges that include allegations of murder, carjacking, armed robbery, drug dealing and illegal firearm possession over the past decade, Gunna continues to insist he did not snitch on the “Hot” rapper.

“While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have NOT made any statements, have NOT been interviewed, have NOT cooperated, have NOT agreed to testify or be a witness for or against any party in the case and have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way,” the rapper wrote in a statement after his release last December.

Several rappers have been critical of Gunna’s release, including Lil Durk, who recently spoke to Akademiks about his thoughts on his “What Happened to Virgil” collaborator. “[You] should’ve went in there and kept your mouth closed,” he said. “If you a rat, I f–king hate you ’cause I love Thug.”

Watch the “Bread & Butter” video below.

02 Jun 2023

Frank Ocean’s ‘Mutations’ Photo Book Is Definitely Something to Sneeze At

Frank Ocean seems to relish being hip-hop’s biggest enigma. The reclusive singer proved it again this week when he announced a new project that once again pushes the envelope. Ocean’s Homer company is offering up the 48-page booklet Mutations, which is described as a “retrospective of artwork from October 19 to December 22, 2022” featuring photos taken by Ocean.

The most intriguing part? The $75 book is described as being “offset printed on tissue-weight paper.” The cover image is of a shirtless man in yellow pants and a matching baseball cap in front of a series of blurry photos of another man wearing sunglasses.

The book announce is the first new project form Ocean since his controversial headlining set at this summer’s Coachella Festival, during which he took the stage an hour later than scheduled, did not offer up any merchandise and performed in a small space in front of a giant screen that rendered the singer hard to spot.

Following the confusing set, Ocean’s reps issued a statement revealing that he’d suffered a serious injury earlier in the week that led to a radically reworked production that did not invovle the full-sized ice skating rink he’d originally envisioned on stage.

“After suffering an injury to his leg on festival grounds in the week leading up to weekend 1, Frank Ocean was unable to perform the intended show but was still intent on performing, and in 72 hours, the show was reworked out of necessity,” it read. “On doctor’s advice, Frank is not able to perform weekend 2 due to two fractures and a sprain in his left leg.”

Ocean was replaced by the reunited Blink-182 on the second weekend. Ocean has not released a new full-length album since 2016’s Blonde; his most recent music came in the form of the singles “Cayendo” and “Dear April, which came out in March 2020.

02 Jun 2023

Keyshia Cole Talks Survival In Official Trailer For ‘This Is My Story’: Exclusive

What better person to star in and guide a biopic on Keyshia Cole than the R&B artist herself.

That’s how it’s playing out for Keyshia Cole: This Is My Story, an upcoming biopic on the Grammy Award-nominated artist, set to premiere June 24 on Lifetime.

Cole takes executive producer duties and makes her acting debut in the film, part of the channel’s celebration of Black Music Month.

But first, the official trailer which Billboard exclusively premieres today (June 2). In it, Cole explains, “as a young girl, I survived so many different situations.” She continues, “I always wanted to make a movie about my life.”

Helming the biopic is D’Angela Proctor (Line Sisters) and Manu Boyer (Girl in the Basement), while Cole’s musical collaborator and A&R Ron Fair supervised the music and Grammy winner Warryn Campbell composed the original score.

According to a statement, the dramatization traces Cole’s “early days in Oakland honing her musical talents to her rise to a multi-platinum selling recording artist and television personality, to her complicated yet warmhearted relationship” with her mom Frankie Lons, played by Debbi Morgan.

The film will also feature a new song recorded by Cole.

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“This is a story of a daughter’s love for her mother and although my heart remains broken from her untimely passing I am honored to be sharing it with the world,” she explains in a statement. “Playing the role of myself was a unique opportunity to re-live special moments in my life that also gave me the chance to process her loss in ways I did not expect. I miss her every day and even though she is not here, her presence was felt throughout this film. Mom, I love you.”

Keyshia Cole: This is My Story is produced for Lifetime by Swirl Films and Big Dreams.

Watch the trailer below.

02 Jun 2023

Watch Cardi B Get ‘Summer Jam Ready’ With Impressive Yoga Moves

Cardi B knows it takes stamina to headline a festival, which might explain why the “Up” rapper shared a video earlier this week of her prep for Sunday’s (June 4) Summer Jam festival at UBS Arena in New York. In an Instagram Story captured by HipHopDX, Cardi worked on getting her mind and body right with the help of a yoga instructor.

Doing a deep back bend on a mat while wearing a blue sports bra and grey shorts, Cardi listened as the yoga teacher said, “I want you to press your hands into the floor and I want you to move your butt back just a little bit. Don’t move your hands!”

Cardi will headline the Hot 97 festival in Belmont Park, N.Y. on a bill that also includes GloRilla, Ice Spice, Coi Leray, Fivio Foreign, French Montana, Lil TJay and Lola Brooke, as well as a celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary featuring the Lox.

Last month, Cardi told Rolling Stone that fans can “expect a lot from me this summer,” as a tease about new music and other projects. She made good on that promise on Friday (June 2) when she teamed up with Latto on a remix of her single “Put It On Da Floor.” Cardi brings it in her verse, rapping, “Put a ribbon on me, I been actin’ brand new/ I ain’t smokin’ on no za’, lil’ b–ch, I’m smokin’ on you/ Put your bestie in a pack and now I’m smokin’ her too/ I been ballin’ so damn hard, could’ve went to LSU/ Got so many chains on, I can’t even see my throat.”

Watch Cardi get her yoga on below.

01 Jun 2023

Moneybagg Yo Drops ‘Hard to Love’ Mixtape: Stream It Now

Following the Billboard Hot 100 success of his GloRilla-assisted “On What U On” and a minor delay to avoid the splashy release of Taylor Swift’s Midnights (The Til Dawn Edition), Moneybagg Yo has finally unleashed his Hard to Love: Heartless Edition mixtape.

Originally slated for a May 26 release, Hard to Love boasts pre-release singles such as “Quickie,” “Ocean Spray” and the aforementioned “On What U On,” which peaked at No. 56 on the Hot 100. Hard to Love serves as Moneybagg Yo’s first project since 2021’s A Gangsta’s Pain. The Memphis rapper’s fourth studio album became his first to top the Billboard 200, and boasted several Hot 100 hits, including “Wockesha” (No. 20), the Future-featuring “Hard for the Next” (No. 49) and “Time Today” (No. 31).

In an intimate letter to fans, Moneybagg wrote on Instagram May 10, “I gained and lost more than I ever thought I would and had no other safe outlet for all the emotions and dark thoughts that came with that other than making music.”

The Grammy-nominated rapper has always been a vulnerable lyricist, and fans can expect even more depth on Hard to Love. In an Instagram caption, the “Said Sum” rapper stressed that Hard to Love is “for [his] core fans, the streets! Not the industry.”

Hard to Love: Heartless Edition also features collaborations with some of Moneybagg’s “favorites,” including Future, Lil Durk, GloRilla and Fridayy, among others.

Moneybagg Yo has earned 27 Hot 100 hits, and five of his projects have reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200.

Stream Moneybagg Yo’s Hard to Love: Heartless Edition in full below.

01 Jun 2023

Metro Boomin Unveils ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Soundtrack: Stream It Now

Metro Boomin assembles his own superstar Avengers for the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack, which was released on Friday (June 2).

As the soundtrack’s executive producer, Metro has threaded together the who’s who in hip-hop in a sonic web of his own design, including Future, Don Toliver, 21 Savage, Offset, Coi Leray, Lil Uzi Vert, Swae Lee, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, A$AP Rocky, Nav, J.I.D., James Blake and Wizkid, among others. Over the last week, the super-producer has been cleverly confirming the soundtrack’s stars by unveiling their Spider-Man-inspired illustrations one by one.

The Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack arrives on the heels of Metro’s third Billboard 200 No. 1 album, Heroes and Villains. The project features many of the aforementioned artists, and its hit single “Creepin’” with Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye and 21 Savage (as well as Diddy on the remix) has been a mainstay in the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 for all of 2023 so far.

“I can’t say this about a lot of songs because I just try to make stuff that I love and hope it resonates with other people, but it’s really a rare occasion to where even after we made [“Creepin’”], it was like, ‘OK. I know this is gonna go up,’” he told Billboard in January. “Not just because of me or because of The Weeknd, but also with it halfway being a cover of a song that I loved so much growing up, and just know how much it worked before [and] it getting a new spin for the next generation.”

Listen to the Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse soundtrack below.

01 Jun 2023

Latto and Cardi B Join Forces for ‘Put It On Da Floor’ Remix: Stream It Now

Latto is putting it on the floor (again), and bringing Cardi B along for the ride.

After quite literally ripping Cardi out of plastic in a video posted to Instagram on Wednesday (May 31), Latto used the opening line of her bouncy single “Put It On Da Floor” to announce a revamped remix with the “Bodak Yellow” rapper that dropped at midnight (June 2).

Following its April 20 release, the original track amassed over 100k video creations on TikTok, and came as a follow up to Latto’s pop-centric “Lottery.” Now back in her rap bag, the Atlanta-made wordsmith is off to a good start, enlisting Cardi for what may become the song of the summer.

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While some fans attribute the choice to Latto’s recent beef with Cardi’s arch nemesis Nicki Minaj, the “WAP” rapper has proven to be a no-brainer feature, most recently catapulting GloRilla’s “Tomorrow 2,” the single exploding thanks to Cardi’s iconic verse.

“Big Latto Big Bardi ISSA REAL BTCH PARTY!!!” Latto wrote on an Instagram post sharing the single’s cover art which shows a denim-clad Cardi and Latto striking a handful of playful poses, donning matching blonde hairdos.

Latto has had quite the year, being honored as Billboard’s Women In Music Powerhouse, launching her 777 Radio podcast with Apple Music and putting on an acclaimed set at Coachella in April, creative directed by Teyana Taylor. Latto was also nominated for best new artist at the 2023 Grammy Awards and hopped on a few remixes herself, including Tia Corinne’s “Freaky T” and Mello Buckzz’s “Boom Pt. 2.”

Stream “Put It On Da Floor Again” here:

01 Jun 2023

Kanye West Hit With Assault Lawsuit by Photographer Over Alleged Phone-Throwing Incident

A paparazzo is suingKanye West over an alleged incident in which the rapper grabbed her phone and threw it into traffic, according to court documents obtained by Billboard.

Photographer Nichol Lechmanik is suing West (sometimes known as Ye) for assault, battery, negligence and interference with the exercise of her civil rights following the alleged altercation, which occurred on the afternoon of Jan. 27 outside Sports Academy in Newbury Park, Calif., per the complaint filed in California Superior Court in Ventura County on Wednesday (May 31).

Lechmanik alleges that while driving her car and filming Ye’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian as she exited the facility, she noticed that West was “angrily confronting” another photographer on the street outside. “Given Defendant Ye’s reputation for violence against photographers, his history of physically harming them, and based on his threatening body language, Plaintiff became fearful for the photographer’s safety,” the complaint reads. It states that Lechmanik then began filming the incident on her phone from inside her car with the window open.

Lechmanik alleges that Ye then walked up to her car and “aggressively” said, “You all ain’t gonna run up on me like that,” and when she replied that she wasn’t, he became “enraged,” reached into her car and “ripped her phone out of her hands” before throwing it “onto the street towards oncoming traffic.”

According to the lawsuit, Lechmanik said the incident caused her “great mental, and emotional pain and suffering” and that she “anticipates incurring medical and related expenses.”

Lechmanik is requesting general and special damages, punitive and exemplary damages, civil penalties and costs of the suit. Additionally, she’s asking for an order enjoining West and “all persons acting in concert with him or acting on his behalf, from touching, striking, annoying, contacting, molesting, attacking, threatening, or otherwise interfering with…the Plaintiff, and all persons similarly situated, to pursue the occupation of photographer.”

West has a long history of legal scuffles with paparazzi that stem all the way back to 2008 when he was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after breaking the flash of a paparazzo’s camera.

01 Jun 2023

Walt ‘Baby’ Love, Nelson George & More to Be Honored by Living Legends Foundation

Walt “Baby” Love, a 2022 inductee into the Radio Hall of Fame, will receive another honor in October as he’s one of eight individuals slated to be recognized by the Living Legends Foundation at its annual awards dinner and gala. Love will receive the Ray Harris Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s event.

Love has hosted three long-running radio programs — The Countdown with Walt “Baby” Love, Gospel Traxx and The Urban AC Countdown. For 21 years, Love worked at Radio & Records as its urban radio and music editor while simultaneously hosting his syndicated radio shows.

Nelson George, who likewise first made his mark in music trade journalism before broadening his focus, will also be honored. George, who wrote for Billboard in the 1980s before becoming a noted author and filmmaker, will receive the Media Icon Award.

The other honorees are Ed Lover, star of The Ed Lover Show with Monie Love (Jerry Boulding Radio Award); Lionel Ridenour, founder/CEO of Anchor Promotions (Music Executive Award); Tracey Jordan, partner of Lazin/Jordan Productions (Mike Bernardo Female Executive Award); Rocky Bucano, executive director of the Universal Hip Hop Museum (Hip Hop Visionary Award); Vernon Brown, Esq., founder of V. Brown & Company (Entertainment Advocate Award); and Shanti Das, former music executive and founder of Silence The Shame (A.D. Washington Chairman’s Award).

“This year is particularly special because, in addition to our annual awards ceremony, we are also celebrating 50 years of hip-hop,” said Living Legends Foundation chairman David C. Linton in a statement. “We are the first generation of music executives to help break and recognize hip-hop as a global music art form. Most of our board and advisory members were responsible for signing many of today’s hip-hop legends and icons to recording contracts and record label imprint deals, ultimately creating the phenomenon known to the world as ‘hip-hop culture.’ Additionally, for the past three to four decades, many of our board members have guided the careers of these legends and icons via management, marketing, radio promotions, publicity, sales, and A&R.”

This year’s awards dinner and gala will be held on Friday, Oct. 6 at Taglyan Cultural Complex, 1201 N. Vine Street, Hollywood. The red carpet and cocktail reception begin at 6:30 p.m. with the awards dinner starting at 7:30 p.m.

This year’s dinner chairs are Skip Dillard, brand manager and program director for Audacy’s WXBK/94.7, the Block, New York City; and Lady B, on-air personality at Classix 107.9 in Philadelphia.

Founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1992, the Living Legends Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt organization and has been funded primarily by corporate contributions and individual donations. The organization has expanded its mission to assist those who have served the music industry and who have what it calls “a confirmable need.”

Over the past 30 years, the foundation has honored more than 100 leaders in the areas of broadcasting, film, recorded music, media, publishing, radio, publicity and marketing.

For more information, visit the organization’s website.

31 May 2023

Tupac Shakur Is Finally Getting His Own Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Rose That Grew From Concrete is finally receiving his own sidewalk honor: a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On June 7, legendary rapper, poet and actor Tupac Shakur will receive his star in the recording category during a public ceremony at 6212 Hollywood Blvd.

“Tupac Shakur was a rapper, actor, activist, poet, and revolutionary,” says Ana Martinez, producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “This iconic artist has continued to be part of the zeitgeist for decades after his passing and will continue to be an important cultural figure for many years to come. Surely, as one of L.A.’s own, Tupac’s star will be added to the list of most visited stars.”

Born in New York City but spending his formative years in California, Shakur is revered as a West Coast legend and a cited inspiration to artists across the globe, including Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, J. Cole, Drake, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber and countless others.

At the Baltimore School for the Arts, Shakur studied acting, poetry, jazz and ballet. In his early career, Shakur was known as MC New York before taking on the moniker 2Pac during his time with rap group Digital Underground.

As a solo artist, Shakur released his debut album 2Pacalypse Now in 1991 via Interscope Records. He went on to share three more albums before his fatal shooting at age 25 — all of which charted on the Billboard 200, with All Eyez on Me and Me Against the World topping the chart. Following his death, six posthumous studio albums were released through Amaru Entertainment, started by Shakur’s mother, and Interscope Records.

Both All Eyez on Me and Shakur’s greatest-hits collection are RIAA-certified diamond, surpassing the 10-million mark. In 2017, the rap icon was the first solo hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. As an actor, Shakur starred in films including Juice, Poetic Justice, Above The Rim, Gridlock’d and Gang Related.

The Walk of Fame star unveiling will be hosted by L.A. radio host Big Boy and guest speakers will include director Allen Hughes (Hulu documentary series Dear Mama), writer Jamal Joseph and Tupac’s sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, who will accept the star.

The ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. PT and will stream live here.