R&B/Hip-Hop

19 May 2023

Beyoncé Calls on Kendrick Lamar for ‘America Has a Problem’ Remix

You can’t get no higher than this! Beyoncé has reunited with Kendrick Lamar for a sleek remix of her Renaissance hit, “America Has a Problem.”

In the new iteration of the track released on Friday (May 19), Lamar comes in blazing with a powerful, minute-long opening verse. He flows at his characteristic lightning speed, proudly proclaiming himself “honorary Beyhive” as he raps, “My momma told me that the money outgrew you / My horoscope said I’m really out my noodle / I’m troublin’, I’m puzzlin’, it’s sudoku / Say B, yes, America got a problem / Kicked up, choosing love, well, they chose violence.”

It’s hardly the first time the beloved duo have teamed up musically. Lamar was previously featured on the soaring “Freedom,” off Bey’s 2016 Billboard 200 chart-topping album Lemonade, and he took the stage with her at the BET Awards that year to perform the track. The rapper also joined the “Alien Superstar” performer on her closing Formation tour show, surprising the crowd with another performance of “Freedom” at New Jersey’s Metlife Stadium.

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For his 2017 Rolling Stone cover, Lamar opened up about what he has learned from working with Beyoncé. “How particular to be about your music,” he shared of her work ethic, adding, “She’s a perfectionist. Think about the BET performance. She was very particular – the lighting, the camera blocking, the transition from the music to the dancing. It was confirmation of something I already knew.”

The new remix of “America Has a Problem” featuring Kendrick Lamar is available to purchase on Beyoncé’s website here. Listen below.

19 May 2023

Aaliyah, New Edition & More Headed for National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame

Aaliyah, New Edition and Daryl Hall & John Oates will be enshrined in the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in September, along with 20 other R&B stars

Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22, was the top vote-getter in the singers category. New Edition and Hall & Oates were the top vote-getters in the singing group category.

Aaliyah had five No. 1 hits on what is now called Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. She first led the chart with “Back & Forth” in May 1994, when she was just 15. She returned to the top spot with “If Your Girl Only Knew,” “One in a Million,” “Are You That Somebody?” and “Miss You.” The latter song topped the chart in January/February 1993, more than a year after Aaliyah’s death.

New Edition also amassed five No. 1 hits on that chart. The group first headed the chart with “Candy Girl” in May 1983, followed by “Cool It Now,” “Mr. Telephone Man,” “Can You Stand the Rain” and “Hit Me Off.”

Daryl Hall & John Oates topped the chart, then called Hot Soul Singles, in January 1982 with “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).”

Hall & Oates aren’t the only “blue-eyed-soul” act to be inducted this year. The late Dusty Springfield, whose classic hits included “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” and “Son of a Preacher Man,” will also be honored.

Hall & Oates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Two of this year’s other inductees into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame — Clyde McPhatter and Sam Moore (as half of Sam & Dave) — are also in the Rock Hall.

Other inductees in the 2023 class are Jermaine Dupri, Peabo Bryson, Thelma Houston, Gerald Alston, Dee Dee Sharp, Dee Dee Warwick, Brook Benton, The Stubbs Girls, Sweet Boogie Productions, King Arthur, Ronnie Nelson, Gwen Foxx, Linda Jones, Ruby Andrews, The Debonaires, G.C. Cameron and Priscilla Price.

The induction ceremony will take place on Sunday, Sept. 24, at the Bridge Center in Detroit. Doors open at 3 p.m. Tickets are available at the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame’s website.

19 May 2023

Miguel’s ‘Sure Thing’ Tops Pop Airplay Chart More Than a Decade After Its Original Release

More than 12 years after its release and its original chart run, Miguel’s “Sure Thing” hits No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart (dated May 27).

The song, on ByStorm/Black Ice/Jive/Legacy/RCA Records, completes the longest ascent to the Pop Airplay summit from a title’s release, having first hit Billboard’s charts in February 2011, following its November 2010 release on Miguel’s debut LP, All I Want Is You. An R&B/hip-hop radio hit in its original run, “Sure Thing” crowned the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, as well as R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, for a week in May 2011.

On the all-genre, multimetric Billboard Hot 100, “Sure Thing” reached No. 36 over a 23-week stay in March-August 2011.

In 2022, the song resurged thanks to newfound attention on TikTok, where a sped-up version has soundtracked more than 4 million clips. It debuted on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart this January and ranked at No. 30 on the most recently published, May 20-dated chart with 10.6 million official streams in the United States May 5-11, according to Luminate.

On the May 20-dated all-format Radio Songs survey, “Sure Thing” rose 7-6, up 6% to 51.6 million in audience. On the Hot 100, it pushed 15-14, reaching a new best – as well as a new career high for Miguel, surpassing the No. 15 peak of Mariah Carey’s “#Beautiful,” on which he’s featured, in 2013.

(Helping maintain familiarity with top 40 radio listeners, Miguel tallied six Pop Airplay hits in 2012-22, rising as high as No. 12 as featured on Kygo’s “Remind Me to Forget” in 2018, his best career rank prior to the revival of “Sure Thing.”)

Meanwhile, the comeback to new heights for “Sure Thing” has been historic, as the single broke the record for the most weeks ever spent on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: 78 (through the latest, May 20-dated survey, where it placed at No. 5, marking its first appearance in the chart’s top five since September 2011).

“We were keeping a close eye on the metrics,” says RCA head of promotion Keith Rothschild about the decision to promote the song to pop radio after TikTok sparked new interest in it. It debuted on the Pop Airplay chart dated Feb. 25, at No. 40, and hits No. 1 in its 14th week on the chart, up 7% in plays May 12-18.

While “Sure Thing” is far removed from its original release, “programmers were not hesitant at all,” Rothschild says, especially with other catalog songs recently finding new life on radio, whether from TikTok or synchs, including Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God),” Lady Gaga’s “Bloody Mary” and The Weeknd’s “Die for You.”

Until “Sure Thing,” “Die for You” — originally from 2016 and remixed this year with Ariana Grande, as it, too, received new radio promotion by Republic — briefly held the record for the longest wait to hit No. 1 on Pop Airplay from a track’s release, as it topped the tally for two weeks this February.

“We knew the song was a hit, as it was a No. 1 R&B/hip-hop record when it was originally out,” says Rothschild of “Sure Thing.” “It was never worked at pop, so we asked programmers to put it into callout. The numbers came back massive, and we knew it was game on.”

19 May 2023

Coi Leray Announces Sophomore Album ‘Coi’ & Teases New Song ‘Make My Day’

After the scorching success of her Billboard Hot 100 hit “Players,” Coi Leray is poised to make more noise with her upcoming sophomore album. Slated to drop June 23, Coi will serve as the follow-up to her 2022 effort Trendsetter, which included “No More Parties,” “BIG PURR” and her Nicki Minaj-assisted “Blick Blick.”

According to a press release, Coi will include 15 tracks across different genres, and will have features from David Guetta, Saucy Santana, Giggs, Lola Brooke and Skillibeng.

The success of “Players” increased the star power of Leray after garnering several big-name remixes with the likes of Busta Rhymes and Tokischa. Because of the song’s popularity on TikTok, “Players” reached the top 10 on the Hot 100, peaking at No. 9 on the April 1-dated chart. 

“The best thing about this industry is there’s room for everybody. That’s why it’s no competition,” she told Billboard at the top of the year. “B—h, I could be here, and you could be here right with me. At the end of the day, even if we at the top of the mountain, I’m a be Coi and you gonna be you, and we could trade places or I could become someone else. I’m gonna determine my greatness, my destiny and my future. What’s for you is for you, while we’re at the top together. Steel sharpens steel.”

Since the release of “Players,” Leray has dropped a slew of follow-up singles, including “My Body” and “Bops.” She also previously worked with David Guetta on his “Baby Don’t Hurt Me” single with Anne-Marie, while recently teasing her forthcoming Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse collaboration with Metro Boomin’ titled “Self Love.” 

Along with announcing the album, Leray also teased “one of her favorite songs” — “Make My Day,” which samples the 1989 classic “Pump up the Jam” by Technotronic.

Coi drops June 23. Check out the cover art and “Make My Day” teaser below.

19 May 2023

Travis Scott’s Bodyguard Seen With ‘Utopia’ Briefcase Handcuffed to His Wrist

Travis Scott’s Utopia album may be inching closer to a release date. On Thursday (May 18), photos surfaced of Scott walking alongside his bodyguard, who was spotted holding a briefcase with Utopia written on it. To increase security measures, the guard had the briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. 

Billboard has reached out to the rapper’s rep for comment.

Rumors have been swirling regarding the release date for the hotly anticipated album. Epic Records CEO Sylvia Rhone told Billboard earlier this year that Utopia is “expected to come in June.” Scott’s last album arrived in 2018 when he released his astronomic effort Astroworld. The collection bowed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in its debut week, reeling in 537,000 album equivalent units. It included features from Drake, Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and more. It also received a Grammy nomination for best rap album the following year, but lost to Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy. 

Earlier this week, Scott was at a Houston Astros game when he previewed Utopia ahead of the team’s showdown against the Chicago Cubs. Speaking to Fox 26’s sports director Mark Berman, Scott said he was “fresh from Utopia … it’s on the way now.” He added, “I had to come here to play Utopia for the boys down in the locker room. Had to get them right for the game.”

In 2021, Travis released one-off singles in “Mafia” and “Escape Plan” ahead of his Astroworld Festival, which turned tragic when 10 people died and nearly 5,000 were injured in a crowd surge. It has since led to a $750 million class-action lawsuit.

Scott looks to make another return to Rolling Loud Miami this year, where he’ll serve as a headliner and perform alongside A$AP Rocky, Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, 21 Savage and more.

19 May 2023

Lil Wayne Speaks on Ja Morant’s Second Gun Incident: ‘You Expect Him to Be Responsible?’

NBA superstar Ja Morant continues to be under fire after being caught waving a gun on social media for the second time in three months. The debacle has again entered hip-hop circles, as Lil Wayne recently spoke on Ja’s turbulence in a new interview with Showtime’s All The Smoke podcast. 

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“If I was going through something at that point in time, something public like what Slime was going through, I can imagine the rebellious attitude if my homies are egging that attitude on,” said Wayne about the Memphis Grizzlies point guard. 

Tha Carter MC also explained how it would be hard for Morant to receive and digest the messages from sports pundits demoting his superstar status because he’s “the breadwinner.” “I wish a n—a would tell me something. I look at like [NBA superstar] Zion [Williamson]. People begging him to lose weight and get in better shape, ‘I wish a n—a would tell me something. You know how much money I got, boy? Just like this,” relayed Wayne.

He added: “[Ja] come from a town of 3,000 people. What y’all expect? You gave him $200 million. I just said a town of 3,000 people. You expect him to be responsible? Now we trippin’. That’s magic. Because I can tell you I come from a real well-raised beautiful mother. My mama bust her ass to make sure everything around me was nice, and I still was a knucklehead. I shot myself.”

In an interview with ESPN this week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that he was “shocked” by the Morant incident and labeled his conduct as “irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous.”

“He has an incredibly huge following, and [we discussed] my concern — and I thought he shared with me — that millions, if not tens of millions, of kids globally would have seen him do something that was celebrating in a way that act of using a firearm in that fashion,” Silver said regarding Morant’s first suspension following his initial Instagram Live incident in March. Silver suspended Morant for eight games after Morant was on social media holding up a handgun while intoxicated at a Denver-area club. 

You can watch Wayne’s thoughts on Morant below. 

18 May 2023

Kaytranada & Aminé Release ‘KAYTRAMINÉ’ Album: Stream It Now

Summer might technically begin on June 21, but Kaytranada and Aminé made it arrive earlier with the release of their joint album KAYTRAMINÉ Friday (May 19).

The Canadian DJ/producer and Ethiopian-American rapper gave fans a first taste of KAYTRAMINÉ last month with the Pharrell-assisted “4EVA” single. The 11-track project also features collaborations with Freddie Gibbs (“LETSTALKABOUTIT”), Big Sean (“MASTER P”), Amaarae (“SOSSAUP”) and Snoop Dogg (“EYE”).

The new KAYTRAMINÉ duo made its festival debut during Kaytranada’s weekend one Coachella set in April, but the two have been working together for nearly a decade on songs such as “La Danse,” “YeYe,” “Not At All” (Aminé’s remix of Kaytranada’s “At All” from his 2015 EP At All / Hilarity Duff) and “Egyptian Luvr” from Rejjie Snow‘s 2018 album Dear Annie (that features Aminé and Dana Williams and was produced by Kaytranada).

“I was broke as f–k working on music everyday in 2014 looking for a north star. i was kinda thinking about giving up cuz sh– wasnt really workin out for me then kay hit me back & sent me beats for free.. that put a extra battery in my back & really made me feel confident again,” Aminé tweeted earlier this week. “Who tf know where i’d be right now without that little push from kay that early in my career. the love you show people sometimes can really affect them in ways you couldn’t imagine. kaytraminé ain’t no industry play, this been 9 years in the making.”

He also shared a DM exchange between the two dating back to July 27, 2014, showing Aminé thanking Kaytranada for following him back on Twitter and expressing his interest in working together sometime.

Listen to their KAYTRAMINÉ album below.

18 May 2023

Summer Walker Releases ‘Clear 2: Soft Life’ EP: Stream It Now

Summer Walker dropped her highly anticipated Clear 2: Soft Life EP on Friday (May 19) via LVRN and Interscope Records.

Earlier this week, she partnered with Spotify’s RapCaviar to tease her new project in a sitcom-style promo video starring herself, Sukihana and Sexyy Redd, where the three women are just living their best lives and eating caviar, or as they like to call it, “cavinar.”

The nine-track project features collaborations with Childish Gambino (“New Type”) as well as Solange, Steve Lacy and John Kirby (“Agayu’s Revelation”).

Summer Walker

Summer Walker Announces New EP ‘Clear 2: Soft Life’ at Dreamville Festival

Clear 2: Soft Life serves as the follow-up to 2019’s Clear, which featured four songs: “Riot,” “Grave,” “Wasted” and “Settling.” Clear arrived months before her debut studio album, Over It, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. At the time, it earned the biggest streaming week ever for an R&B album by a woman with 154.7 million on-demand audio streams for the LP’s songs, surpassing the debut week of Beyoncé’s Lemonade, which had 115.2 million.

In an interview with Billboard, who gave Walker our Chartbreaker Award during Women in Music 2022, she talked about being “hella excited for Clear 2. The last one was like four songs. This one — I want it to be a lot longer so I can really get that sound out. That’s my favorite type of sound,” she said at the time. “I make what I got to make for the radio, but I’m very excited for [Clear 2]. Hopefully, my budget will be permitted. [If not], we got to protest.”

Listen to her Clear 2: Soft Life EP below.

18 May 2023

Tems’ ‘Free Mind’ Breaks Female Record for Most Weeks at No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay Chart

Tems’ “Free Mind” captures a 17th week at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, a new record for the most weeks atop the list for any song by a lead female artist. The achievement continues the sleeper hit’s success story, which saw the 2020 EP deep cut work its way to becoming a fan-pushed streaming hit in 2022 and, now, a record-setting radio smash.

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The historic week for “Free Mind” is on the chart dated May 20, where it wins a 17th frame on top after a 1% bump to 19.2 million audience impressions made it, yet again, the most-heard song from a combined slate of U.S. monitored adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations in the week ending May 11, according to Luminate.

Now with 17 weeks, “Free Mind” surpasses Ella Mai’s “Boo’d Up” for sole possession of the record for the longest-leading No. 1 by a lead female artist. The former champ reigned for 16 weeks in 2018. As “Free Mind” shakes up the leaderboard, here’s a look at the songs by women in lead or co-lead roles with the most weeks at No. 1 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay since the chart launched in 1992:

  • 17, “Free Mind,” Tems, 2022-23
  • 16, “Boo’d Up,” Ella Mai, 2018
  • 15, “Be Without You,” Mary J. Blige, 2006
  • 14, “We Belong Together,” Mariah Carey, 2005
  • 13, “You’re Makin’ Me High,” Toni Braxton, 1996
  • 13, “Trip,” Ella Mai, 2018-19
  • 12, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” Beyoncé, 2008-09
  • 12, “Un-thinkable (I’m Ready),” Alicia Keys, 2010
  • 11, “Work,” Rihanna featuring Drake, 2016
  • 11, “Please Me,” Cardi B & Bruno Mars, 2

Expanding to women in both lead and featured roles, Tems still holds the record for the song with the most weeks at No. 1. She featured on Wizkid’s 27-week champ “Essence” in 2021-22. The breakthrough Afrobeats hit is tied as the second-longest-leading No. 1 in R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay history with Chris Brown’s “No Guidance,” featuring Drake. Both songs trail only another Brown track, “Go Crazy,” with Young Thug, which posted 29 weeks at the summit in 2020-21.

Though “Free Mind” was released in 2020 on the EP For Broken Ears, the song generated its earliest significant attention only after Tems’ breakthroughs on a trio of other high-profile songs. In addition to “Essence,” she featured on Drake’s Certified Lover Boy cut “Fountains,” and, with Drake, on Future’s No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Wait for U.” Thanks to the triple play of hits, her own material experienced renewed interest and streaming gains, with “Free Mind” as the leading beneficiary, which sparked an official radio promotion push soon after. The track climbed to No. 1 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay in November 2022, and later crossed over onto the Adult R&B Airplay chart, crowning that for nine weeks beginning in February 2023. The one-two punch put Tems in rare, and enviable, company. Such dual coronations on both radio charts occurred only twice in 2022, with Silk Sonic’s “Smokin’ out the Window” and Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul.”

18 May 2023

Lady Gaga Looks Fierce Dancing to Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice’s ‘Princess Diana’ in Haus Labs

Lady Gaga is looking like a queen while dancing like a princess. In a new TikTok, Mother Monster got down to Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice‘s collaboration “Princess Diana” — which Gaga says she loves, by the way — and showed off some of her favorite Haus Labs lip products.

Twirling in a circle and flipping her platinum hair over her shoulders, the pop star looks effortlessly regal in her Wednesday (May 17) video. On her lips, she wears one of her new Le Monster lip crayon shades, and holds four of the products up to the camera.

All the while, Gaga dances fiercely along to Minaj’s verse on the “Princess Diana” remix: “I-I-I be eatin’ my spinach/ They tried to clone my image/ They burned they London Bridges/ None of them b—-es British.”

“These NEUTRALS are HOT LIKE THIS RECORD,” the “Rain on Me” singer captioned the TikTok, noting that she wears the shade “maple matte” on her lips in the video.

Gaga isn’t the only one who’ve loving the team-up between Ice — Billboard‘s latest cover star — and her longtime idol, Minaj. The track debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 last month, became the first ever No. 1 on Hot Rap Songs by two co-billed women and has been used in hundreds of thousands of other TikToks.

Meanwhile, Gaga wrapped filming on the Joker sequel in early April. The film stars the Grammy winner as Harley Quinn opposite Joaquin Phoenix in the title role, and will arrive late next year.

Watch Gaga dance along to “Princess Diana” below: