State Champ Radio R&B/Hip-Hop
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Hit-Boy unleashes his latest single, “2 Certified,” alongside British rapper Avelino. The track closes out the year for the three-time Grammy award-winning producer who is gearing up to release his sixth studio album in early 2023.
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“I told Hit-Boy he needs to rap more,” begins Avelino over synthy chords and rapidfire hi-hats with drill elements. The 35-year-old producer takes Avelino’s advice, proving his rapper chops and delivering a masterful verse of his own. “Out there with envy and out there with jealousy / Play with your bitch, don’t play with my legacy,” he asserts.
Directed by THIRDEYERAZ, the track’s visual shows the two multi-hyphenates interacting cooly with paparazzi and the press, in one scene mimicking a TMZ-esque moment. In another scene, the pair are huddled around a beat pad situated in the woods, as Hit-Boy presses all the right buttons. “My engineer David Kim, who was mixing the Nas album, was also mixing Avelino’s album down the hall,” Hit-Boy tells Billboard. “So Avelino came through and by the end of the night we had this record done.” He added that the dynamic between the two artists was “effortless and natural.”
The frequent Nas collaborator has kept busy this year, working on the legendary rapper’s critically acclaimed 15th solo album, King’s Disease III. The project arrived at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 chart with 29,000 album-equivalent units according to Luminate, marking Nas’ 16th top ten album on the chart.
Hit-Boy also served as Madden NFL ’23’s soundtrack curator, and worked Beyoncé’s seventh studio album, Renaissance, producing the track, “THIQUE.” Watch the video below.
SZA dropped a teaser on Thursday (Dec. 29) for the upcoming visual for her new single “Kill Bill.”
In the 20-second clip, the R&B star appears to suit up for revenge, zipping up a red-and-black moto jacket, sheathing a katana and jetting off on a motorcycle before “SZA…Kill Bill…A film by Christian Breslauer” flashes across the screen in bold, red lettering.
After promising the full-length music video is “coming soon,” the teaser ends with a ferocious tag, in which SZA twirls around to decapitate a fighting dummy with her sword. “It’s what y’all deserve,” she tweeted alongside the video using a saluting emoji, SOS sign and white heart.
“Kill Bill” instantly became a fan favorite when the recent Billboard cover star released her long-awaited sophomore album S.O.S in early December and eventually reached No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart (dated Dec. 24). On the murderous psychedelic-tinged bop, she admits, “I might/ I might kill my ex, not the best idea/ His new girlfriend’s next, how’d I get here?/ I might kill my ex, I still love him though/ Rather be in jail than alone.”
The 23-track studio set also contains singles “Good Days,” “I Hate U,” “Shirt” and “Nobody Gets Me” as well as collaborations with the likes of Don Toliver (“Used”), Phoebe Bridgers (“Ghost in the Machine“), Open Arms (“Travis Scott”) and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard (closer “Forgiveless”). Upon its unveiling, S.O.S bowed atop the Billboard 200, becoming the very first No. 1 album of SZA’s career.
Watch SZA’s teaser for “Kill Bill” below.
Travis Scott returned to his native Houston on Saturday (Dec. 24) to hold the third annual Winter Wonderland and Toy Drive through his Cactus Jack Foundation.
For the Christmas Eve event, the rapper, his team and several members of his family gave out toys to one thousand families and children in need in the neighborhood of Sunnyside. Additionally, the Cactus Jack Foundation gifted Roku TVs and pairs of Scott’s Air Jordan 1 Low OG SP ‘Black Phantom’ sneakers.
In a statement, the superstar said he was “grateful” to be able to hold the event in his hometown. “The holiday season was my favorite as a child and I know some families are having a tough time in our community this year,” he continued. “We wanted to do our part to ensure we still spread the Christmas joy to area children. Sometimes even Santa needs a helping hand to deliver.”
The “Sicko Mode” rapper’s ‘Black Phantom’ shoes are just one element of his latest collaboration with Nike, which also includes a six-piece apparel collection featuring hoodies, cargo pants and shorts in both black and green.
As the year draws to a close, Scott was also tapped by Future to direct the music video for his pal’s single “712PM” and headlined the tribute to the late Virgil Abloh at Art Basel Miami. However, any hope for THE SCOTTS, his long-planned full-length follow-up with Kid Cudi to their 2020 No. 1 hit of the same name was officially dashed when Cudi declared the project dead in the water earlier this month.
Get a look at Scott and his family at the Winter Wonderland and Toy Drive below.
Jordan Webster, grandmother Miss Sealie, Jordan Webster and parents Wanda and Jacques.
Crayton Gerst
Just hear her out. In a candid video posted to her Twitter Thursday (Dec. 29), Cardi B shed some light on one her more controversial lyrics by explaining which circumstances would definitely compel her to fight “a b—h” over a man if it came to it.
“Don’t mind me, I’m drunk,” smiled the “WAP” rapper, chilling in bed with a super glitzy Playboy bunny necklace on as the video begins. “Nah, I don’t give a f–k. I’ll say it if I’m drunk or not.”
Cardi went on to say that she’d been seeing a lot of tweets from fans sharing that they disagreed with her over a lyric in “Tomorrow 2,” her September-released song with GloRilla. The line in question? “I fight for my b—-es and I’m fightin’ over d–k too.”
“If a b—h goes through your purse and she steals some of your money, you not gonna fight that b—h?” posited the Bronx native in her new video. “Yeah, b—h, you gonna fight for your money, right? So if a n—a is providing for you, giving you money, paying your bills, doing all that s–t, and a b—h go take him from you — you not gonna fight over that d–k?”
“That’s your money,” she added. “You not gonna fight for that? B—h, cause I’m fighting with teeth.”
Then, echoing the sentiment of one of her lyrics in 2021’s “Up” — “Broke boys don’t deserve no p—y” — she concluded the video by saying, “Now if it’s a broke n—a, b—h, I can’t help you. You deserve charges on you. You deserve a whole restraining order.”
“Don’t drag me !!!” Cardi captioned the video.
The Cardi Tries star’s PSA comes on the heels of a trio of throwback photos she tweeted out the day prior. The pictures, as she explained, were taken to promote her 2016 debut mixtape Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1.
And, speaking of that particular mixtape, Cardi also received good legal news on Thursday. A federal judge refused to overturn her triumph earlier this year in a lawsuit filed against her by a man who claimed he’d suffered harm after his tattoos had been Photoshopped onto the male model on the cover of Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1.
Watch Cardi B explain what she meant on “Tomorrow 2” below:
A Houston judge sided with Megan Thee Stallion on Wednesday in an early skirmish in her legal war with record label 1501 Certified Entertainment, refusing to grant the company a quick victory and ordering the case to instead be decided by a jury.
Megan has long been at odds with the label over a record deal she calls “unconscionable,” but the current battle was filed earlier this year over claims that 1501 was unfairly refusing to count her 2021 Something for Thee Hotties as an “album” to keep her locked into the deal for another release.
In September, 1501 asked a judge to quickly decide that dispute himself — arguing Megan’s contract had a clear definition of “album” and that Thee Hotties obviously didn’t meet it. Megan’s lawyers fought back, saying there were key disputes that need to be decided a jury and that the rapper must be “allowed her day in court.”
On Wednesday, Judge Robert Schaffer sided with Megan in that dispute, denying 1501’s motion and allowing the “album” question to proceed to a jury trial. The ruling came no written explanation, simply saying Schaffer was “of the opinion that the motion should be and hereby is denied in its entirety.” A trial date has not yet been set.
A rep for Megan declined to comment on the ruling. Steven Zager, lead attorney for 1501, told Billboard he disagreed with the judge’s decision but stressed that the ruling had not resolved any issues in either side’s favor.
The star rapper (real name Megan Pete) has been fighting with 1501 for more than two years now, claiming the company duped a young artist into signing an “unconscionable” record deal in 2018 that was well-below industry standards. She says that when she signed a new management deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2019, she got “real lawyers” who helped her see that the deal was “crazy.”
She filed the current case in February, claiming 1501 had wrongly classified Thee Hotties as something less than an album — a key distinction, since she owes a set number of albums under the record deal. 1501 quickly countersued, arguing that Thee Hotties contained just only 29 minutes of original material and was obviously not an “album.”
The two sides then escalated the case last summer. Megan filed a new complaint seeking more than $1 million in damages over claims that 1501 had “systematically failed” to pay enough royalties. 1501 then fired back with new accusations of its own, claiming it’s actually Megan who owes “millions of dollars.”
With those other issues still pending, 1501 asked the judge in September for so-called summary judgment on the core dispute — meaning a quick ruling about whether Thee Hotties counted as an album. The company argued there was nothing ambiguous about the contract, and that the judge himself could decide the issue without further proceedings.
“There is no amount of discovery that will change the answer to that question,” 1501’s lawyers wrote at the time. “The court can compare the recording to the contractual requirements for an album and determine that ‘Something for Thee Hotties’ is not an album as a matter of law.”
Megan’s lawyers sharply disagreed. In a response this month, they cited supposed disputes over basic facts, like whether or not 1501 gave approval prior to the release of Thee Hotties, and said those disagreements would need to be sorted out by a jury, not a judge.
“Pete should be allowed her day in court to present evidence and testimony to the jury demonstrating that she has done all that was required of her in the delivery and release of her albums,” her lawyers wrote.
A federal judge is refusing to overturn Cardi B’s courtroom victory in lawsuit over a man who was unwittingly photoshopped into a “raunchy” album cover, ruling that he would not “second-guess” the verdict handed down by a jury.
Kevin Brophy had asked the judge to toss out an October jury verdict clearing Cardi of wrongdoing over the bawdy cover of her 2016 mixtape Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1, which Brophy claimed had “humiliated” him by making it appear he was performing oral sex on the superstar rapper.
But such rulings are reserved for rare situations where a jury clearly got something wrong — like a verdict that flies in the face of the evidence that was actually presented in court. And in a ruling on Wednesday, Judge Cormac J. Carney said there were plenty of reasons why the jury had sided with Cardi.
“In short, reasons abound to sustain the jury’s verdict,” the judge wrote. “It is not for this Court to second-guess the verdict now.” Notably, the judge also ordered Brophy to repay the legal bills that Cardi incurred defending the lawsuit, which can often amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Among other reasons for siding with Cardi, Judge Carney said jurors could have been swayed by evidence and testimony that Brophy had not actually suffered any harm – none at all – as a result of Cardi’s supposedly humiliating album cover.
“Brophy testified that neither he nor any member of his family sought treatment from a psychiatrist or psychologist or marital or family counseling for the alleged humiliation, embarrassment, and mental distress,” the judge wrote, adding that Brophy had also seen no adverse impact on his professional career. “He is happily married to his wife, Lindsay, who also testified to the strength of their relationship, and their eldest child, who saw the mixtape cover once, never mentioned it to Brophy again.”
Released in 2016, the cover image of Gangsta Bitch featured the then-rising star is seen taking a swig of a large beer, staring directly into the camera with her legs spread wide and holding a man’s head while he appears to perform oral sex on her.
The actual man in the image was a model who had consented to the shoot, but a giant tattoo on the man’s back belonged to Brophy. Unbeknownst to Cardi, a freelance graphic designer had typed “back tattoos” into Google Image, found one that fit (Brophy’s), and Photoshopped it onto the model’s body.
Brophy sued in 2017 for millions in damages, claiming he was “devastated, humiliated and embarrassed” by the cover. He claimed Cardi and others violated his so-called right of publicity by using his likeness without his consent, and also violated his right to privacy by casting him in a “false light” that was “highly offensive.”
Cardi’s lawyers called the allegations “sheer fantasy” and “vastly overblown,” arguing that nobody would have recognized a relatively unknown man based merely on his back. And after a four-day trial in which the star herself demanded “receipts” to support the allegations, a jury agreed – clearing Cardi of all Brophy’s claims.
In Wednesday’s decision upholding that verdict, Judge Carney said jurors had an “ample basis” to reach that decision. Among other things, he cited testimony about how the model in the image appeared to be a Black man, while Brophy himself is white.
“The jury could have reasonably concluded that the back tattoo on the model on the mixtape cover at issue in this suit was not sufficiently identifiable with Brophy,” the judge wrote. “Because the model’s face is not visible, identification based on facial appearance is impossible.”
The judge said jurors also had good reason to believe the cover represented a “transformative fair use” of the image – meaning it was legal for Cardi to use it to create her own new image on the cover.
“Brophy’s tattoo played a minor role in what was a larger visual commentary on sexual politics,” the judge wrote. “Brophy’s tattoo was but one tattoo on the back of the model, who was himself but one part of a suggestive portrayal of a man with his head between Cardi B’s legs.”
“The purpose, Cardi B testified, was to show her in control, reversing traditional gender roles,” the judge concluded.
Wednesday’s is likely not the end of the road for Brophy’s lawsuit, since he can still take the case to a federal appeals court to seek a reversal of Judge Carney’s decision. Brophy’s attorney declined to comment on the ruling when reached by Billboard.
Everyone starts somewhere. Now a Grammy-winning global sensation with five No. 1 singles to her name, Cardi B just shared a throwback to what she was doing about seven years ago: posing for some promo photos for her first mixtape, 2016’s Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1.
“My first mixtape promo photos ….I had a dream,” the rapper tweeted Wednesday (Dec. 28), captioning a trio of snaps taken leading up to the mixtape’s release.
In one of the photos, she pours a cup of detergent into a washing machine at a laundromat while wearing a black underwear set that shows off the majority of the signature peacock tattoo on her thigh. In another, she stands at a stove wearing a red bikini top and bandana in her blue hair, stirring a pot with her tongue sticking out.
“’I don’t cook I don’t clean’ back in the day when you cooked and cleaned,” joked one fan in the replies, referencing one of Cardi’s “WAP” lyrics.
Each of the photos is labelled with a reminder to pre-order her debut mixtape. Over a photo of the Bronx native posing on top of a graffitied blue mailbox reads the message, “Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1 2 DAYS LEFT to pre-order. Free copy call 718.215.0159.”
Though Cardi has released two more mixtapes and a debut studio album since Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1, the mixtape was once again at the center of public focus this year. In October, the “Up” artist won a lawsuit filed against her by a man who claimed his rights were violated after his tattoos were Photoshopped onto the back of a male model on the cover of the mixtape.
The Gangsta Bitch promo photos aren’t the first time that Cardi has looked back fondly on past career moments. On Monday (Dec. 26), she retweeted a clip from her 2017 “Lick” music video featuring Offset, the Migos star whom she would marry later that year.
“I couldn’t even breath doing this video,” she wrote. “I was crushing hard on Set.”
See Cardi B’s throwback tweet below:
One of the hottest New Year’s Eve parties of 2023 is available to attend from the comfort of your living room. On Dec. 31, at 3:30 p.m. PT, noted music fan and party purveyor Shaquille O’Neal is appearing in virtual reality with a gaggle of high caliber pals — Cardi B, Ludacris, Lil Yachty, Rob Gronkowski and his girlfriend Camille Kostek, Killer Mike, Whipped Cream and, of course, Shaq’s DJ alter-ego DJ DIESEL — for an hourlong rager to ring in 2023.
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And because VR offers no limits on the type of fete one can throw, this bash — The Shaq’tacular Spectacular — will include a rollerskating rink, a marching band, a basketball court and a lot of other bells, whistles and assorted confetti blasts. The show will premiere exclusively in VR in Meta Horizon Worlds, on Meta Quest TV, on O’Neal’s Facebook and Instagram pages, and Messenger’s Watch Together. (Attendance requires a Meta Quest 2 headset, so hopefully, you got one for Christmas.)
Here, Shaq shares the secrets to a blazing hot lineup, who will be playing when the ball drops, and why his New Year’s resolution is to “be sexy.”
This party, like all your parties, has a really stacked lineup. How do you assemble a collection of high-caliber artists like this?
I’ve been in the business for a long time and I meet a lot of people, and if I’ve noticed you are just nice to people, people are nice to you … When I meet superstars and they do something for me, I just tell them thank you. Hopefully I do the same for them, or I continue to do the same for them. It’s about mutual respect. It’s about showing love and receiving love, and I’m just grateful that they’re part of the Shaq’tacular Spectacular.
You’ve said before that you love the energy of live music — and dance music specifically obviously with your DJ Diesel project. How do you make sure an event in VR has that same massive energy that you so love?
You just have to have the right people there. Ludacris, from Atlanta — hot. Lil Yachty has one of hottest songs of the year — hot. Cardi B, beautiful, gorgeous — hot. DJ Diesel — hot. Rob Gronkowski — hot. I’m not going to say his girlfriend’s hot because I don’t want to have problems with him, but she’s hot. And Whipped Cream — hot.
If you put all hot ingredients in front of people, they can’t do nothing but enjoy it. It’s like a hot meal. There’s not really any rocket science. A lot of people would overthink, but when you’ve got 10 hot people, you just let ‘em do their thing and you put it together.
So a hot menu is the secret.
Exactly.
Tell me about making live events more a part of your business and how this has been a progression for you.
It’s just something that I wanted to be involved with, especially on the new year. I wanted to bring my friends and have it be a one-hour special, custom made for VR. And don’t worry if you’re not able to join right away, because the show will be on loop throughout the evening and you join at anytime from the start of the celebration.
The Shaq’tacular Spectacular
Courtesy Photo
Who’s going to be playing when the clock strikes 12?
I’m not going to tell you that! But it’s going to be hot! Oh wait … I think it’s me!
So what song are you going to play at midnight?
I’m not going give you that information. Just be ready to put your hands up.
What’s your best New Year’s Eve memory?
I have a lot of them, but just being able to celebrate with family and friends. I remember all the way back to when I was 19, and I’m going to be 51 after this New Year’s, so time is going by too fast. I kind of want it to slow down.
What’s your New Year’s resolution?
Just continuing to be healthy. I want to get sexier. I’ve already lost 40 pounds and I need to lose about 30 more pounds, then I’m going to start taking my clothes all the way off. I want to be the Black Mark Wahlberg. Show my nine-pack, all that stuff.
Rapper Theophilus London is missing, according to a statement released by his family on Wednesday (Dec. 28). The 25-year-old artist from Trinidad and Tobago was last spoken to in July 2022 in Los Angeles, according to the statement received by Billboard.
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London’s family members also revealed that they traveled to Los Angeles on Tuesday (Dec. 27) after trying to “piece together his whereabouts,” and went on to file a missing persons report with the LAPD. They ask that anyone with information about London to contact the LAPD or London’s cousin, Mikhail Noel, on Instagram at @iamdjkellz.
“Theo, your Dad loves you, son. We miss you. And all your friends and relatives are searching for you. Wherever you are send us some signal. No matter what we will come get you son,” the rapper’s father, Lary Moses London, wrote in the statement.
Throughout his decade-long career, London has released three studio albums and worked with high-profile artists like Kanye West, Travis Scott, Tame Impala, Ellie Goulding, Big Boi and more. His most recent album, Bebey, was released in January 2020.
Read London’s family’s full statement below.
Over the last few weeks, friends and family of Theophilus London have been working together to piece together his whereabouts. The last time someone spoke with him reportedly stretches back to July 2022 in Los Angeles.
On December 27th, family members of Theophilus London traveled to Los Angeles to file a missing persons report with the LAPD. They are now seeking the public’s help with any information as to London’s whereabouts:
“Theo, your Dad loves you, son. We miss you. And all your friends and relatives are searching for you. Wherever you are send us some signal. No matter what we will come get you son.” – Lary Moses London, father of Theophilus London
London is 35 years old, Black, 6’2″, 175 pounds, with dark brown eyes. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts or well-being, please reach out to his cousin Mikhail Noel at his instagram account @iamdjkellz, or the LAPD.
Dionne Warwick used her title as the unofficial queen of Twitter to say she still wants a meeting with Elon Musk in a new interview on Wednesday (Dec. 28).
“I’m going to find out what Mr. Musk has in mind,” she told The Los Angeles Times when asked about the social platform’s recent controversial changes. “I’m hoping to have a meeting with him. I want to ask him, ‘Where’s your head? Where are you going with this?’ Lots of people have jumped off, and I want to find out what he’s thinking before I decide to stay on. Or leave.”
The vocal legend, who has more than 610,600 Twitter followers, further elucidated that her primary concerns with how the billionaire has been running the site since his takeover include “inviting everybody who was crazy to come on back, the disregard for what social media is all about.”
Later in the interview, Warwick also reflected on the changes she’s witnessed in former friend Donald Trump. “Oh, my goodness. I don’t know who this man is. He’s not the person I met many, many years ago, the one I knew when I performed at his casinos or his houses,” she told the paper. “I don’t know what happened to him. To me, he’s a frightening entity. I distance myself from people like that.”
Meanwhile, the singer’s new documentary, Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over, is set to debut on CNN Sunday (Jan. 1), and will tell the story of her life and career from the days of working with Burt Bacharach and Hal David to the present. Quincy Jones, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, Olivia Newton-John and former president Bill Clinton are among the talking heads who offer their perspectives on Warwick’s legacy throughout the film.
