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One of Coolio‘s last known interviews took place on a lark in an airport departure gate when the host of a crypto podcast happened to spot the rapper chilling out while waiting for a flight. In the new episode of PJ Vogt’s Crypto Island pod, the host describes his surprise at seeing someone who had the “incandescent shine” of a likely famous person casually sitting at a gate in New York’s JFK airport.
Wearing a green track suit and matching baseball hat with two slots cut in the top to make room for his signature at-attention braids, Coolio was friendly when Vogt asked him to introduce himself and a young fellow passenger named Grant whom the MC had befriended.
Waiting to board a flight to Copenhagen, Coolio explained to Vogt that he’d done his crypto research. “I am actually heavily invested into the metaverse,” said the “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper who died on Sept. 28 in Los Angeles at age 59 of suspected cardiac arrest. “I have a nice swath of land in the metaverse and barring the internet crashing or somebody dropping an EMP (electomagnetic pulse) on the whole world and there being no power, this would be a good deal.”
Given the tremendous amount of energy needed to power crypto in the midst of what climate scientists have warned is a make-or-break moment for the rapidly warming Earth, Vogt asked Coolio to share his thoughts on the climate crisis. “I’m not so much worried about it,” Coolio said in a hoarse voice. “By the time it gets to be a serious problem I’ll be long dead.”
Though Vogt said Coolio understood the dangers of sea level rise and global warming, the rapper said he had “so many other things” to worry about right now that impending climate apocalypse was not on the list. Among them, Grant chimed in, was how they were going to get to Denmark. “Exactly, because I got a show tomorrow,” Coolio said. Though he’s more likely to suffer the ravages of climate catastrophe because of his age (20), Grant agreed about fretting in the right now versus worrying about our hothouse future.
And then Coolio dropped a serious bombshell. “I’m gonna tell y’all another thing that nobody will never tell you,” he said. “There’s another continent that they’re hiding from us.” Vogt, confused but intrigued, asked Coolio to elaborate. And so the rapper born Artis Leon Ivey Jr. explained that if you travel 50 miles out into the Antarctic Ocean — whether on a ship, plane or helicopter — you will be told by the military to turn back or face annihilation.
Grant said he’d also heard this conspiracy theory, and then doubled down with another one about hidden pyramids in Antarctica. “There are pyramids in the Grand Canyon,” Coolio noted. Vogt said he would save the rest of the chat for a later episode, but summarized a discussion with Coolio and Grant that involved them getting excited about what they described as an ancient race of aliens who were protecting part of the planet from marauding, fossil-fuel addicted humans.
The trio then boarded a plane — a sleepy Coolio in first class, Vogt in coach — with the host musing that as far-out as Coolio and Grant’s notions were, in a world where everything feels like it’s falling apart all the time, “it points to the allure of literally any distraction… any problem shinier than the big one: that we’ve accidentally created a world where our consumption is gradually killing us.”
Listen to the episode below (Coolio appears around 4:10 mark).
Love was an overriding theme in R&B in 2022 — and given what people have been enduring over the last several years, between the pandemic, incessant social and political issues as well as economic uncertainty, it’s not surprising. The various iterations of the emotion were rhythmically and lyrically dissected: from new love, spiritual love, toxic love and love lost to, above all, self-love.
Established and emerging stars alike embraced the oftentimes complicated subject in refreshing and illuminating ways. Songwriter Muni Long staked her claim to a solo career with “Hrs and Hrs,” her sensuous, no-time-limit take on lovemaking. On the other side of the clock — against an infectious two-step track — The Weeknd grappled with being out of time when his lover calls quits on their relationship.
Beyoncé took fans on a liberating course to self-love via the anthem “Break My Soul,” then extolled the exhilarating feeling of falling in love and enjoying life with abandon on “Cuff It.” Rihanna, also marking her long-anticipated musical return, addressed the spiritual power of enduring love on “Lift Me Up.”
Here are R&B’s most memorable songs of 2022:
It’s that time of year! Yes, the holiday season, but also when we look back and take stock on the best music of the year. And in the countdown to Christmas, we want to know which R&B album released in 2022 was your favorite.
On Tuesday (Dec. 20), Billboard staffers ranked their ten picks for the year’s best R&B studio sets, starting with Brent Faiyaz‘s Wasteland. Calling it the indie artist’s “most transparent project to date,” the sophomore follow-up to 2017’s Sonder Son was led by singles “Dead Man Walking,” “Gravity” with DJ Dahi and featuring a guest assist from Tyler, the Creator, and “Wasting Time” featuring Drake before finally debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in July.
Of course, it wouldn’t be the year in R&B without considering Beyoncé‘s mammoth Renaissance, even if the Beyhive is still waiting for any hint of visuals from Queen Bey’s house-inspired opus, which includes fan favorite cuts like “Alien Superstar,” “Cuff It,” “Pure/Honey” and hit single “Break My Soul.”
Steve Lacy also made major waves in the genre thanks to his major-label solo debut, Gemini Rights, and its No. 1 hit “Bad Habit,” and Ari Lennox shared many a personal detail with her unapologetic sophomore album Age/Sex/Location.
Other powerhouse contenders that made Billboard‘s top 10 list included The Weeknd‘s radio broadcast-inspired Dawn FM, Ella Mai‘s vulnerable Heart on My Sleeve, Giveon‘s Give or Take and Lucky Daye‘s Candydrip. Plus, Kehlani and Mary J. Blige proved once again to be masters of their craft on their stellar respective albums Blue Water Road and the Grammy-nominated Good Morning Gorgeous.
Vote for your favorite R&B album of 2022 in Billboard‘s year-end poll below.
On Wednesday (Dec. 21), Kid Cudi shut down the idea of a collaborative album with Travis Scott.
A fan posed the question directly to the rapper on Twitter, asking, “Is The Scotts album still on the cards?” after Cudi tweeted that he was “workin on something special” for his fans and promised he’d have “more news next year!”
“Naw I’m not doin that,” Cudi said in reference to The Scotts album, adding, “The moment has passed.”
The super-duo first dropped their single “The Scotts” back in spring 2020. With the track debuting atop the Hot 100 upon its release, Cudi earned his first-ever No. 1 on the chart, while Scott notched his third after “Sicko Mode” and “Highest in the Room.”
More than a year later, Cudi confirmed via Twitter that he and Scott were planning to record a full album under their new moniker, claiming it would happen eventually though he wasn’t sure when.
Of course, since then the “Day N Nite” rapper has released his long-awaited album Entergalactic, embarked on his career-best To the Moon Tour across North America, and hinted that he’s nearing the end of his music career — though not before recording one final album for his fans.
Scott, meanwhile, has remained embroiled in the legal fallout from the deadly crowd crush at his 2021 Astroworld Festival, which left 10 attendees dead and hundreds more injured. He also recently dropped a new Nike collaboration and directed Future’s “712PM” music video.
Read Cudi’s tweet putting The Scotts’ album to pasture below.
Over the course of Ab-Soul’s sprawling 12-year career, the California rapper has examined numerous theologies in his quest for what he calls “the truth, if there is such.” The “Black Lipped Pastor,” as his devout followers call him, has long served as a beacon of hope for those unfulfilled with mainstream America, and it all started with his sophomore album, 2012’s Control System.
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With its intriguing mix of bravado and philosophical parables, the album has remained so beloved among alternative rap fans that at this point it’s practically scripture for Soul’s supporters. Control System took on an identity of its own; so did Ab-Soul, who leaned further into the murky waters of conspiracy with his subsequent releases, 2014’s These Days… and 2016’s Do What Thou Wilt. The latter being so bogged down in far-flung teachings that it was hard to pinpoint where one thought ended and another began.
Then, Soulo seemed to vanish. One year off turned into six, as he disappeared down what he called a conspiracy theory “rabbit hole” that ultimately separated him from his family and friends. The immense popularity of Control System was partially to blame.
“I’ve been trying to beat Control System, and I think that’s a big part of the reason why the [new] album is called Herbert – it’s about getting back to self,” the rapper born Herbert Anthony Stevens IV tells Billboard as he chews on a Starburst inside his New York hotel room. “I was riding with one of the big homies once and he said, ‘Man you’re always playing this character like you’re Batman or something. You’re from the hood bro. Why can’t you just talk about some of that sh-t?’”
Herbert, which released on Friday (Dec. 16), is by far the most personal project Soul has ever made. Throughout the album’s 18 tracks, Soul ruminates on his family, a past suicide attempt, as well as the state of rap and his place in it. As a rapper known for having answers, he spends the majority of Herbert asking a lot of questions – on “Moonstruck,” he plainly raps, “I don’t know what to think.”
As his search for a definitive truth morphed into an addiction, Soul says that he had to come to a place of acceptance surrounding the unknown. To do this, he offered himself up as more of “an instrument” for others. DJ Premier, Sounwave, James Blake, DJ Dahi, Hit-Boy and Boi-1da all flooded him with beats, and he asked his close friends and family for help in constructing the record. He allowed the people he loved to be the foundation for what Herbert would ultimately become.
“I was asking my guys, ‘What do you want to hear me on?’ I was challenging myself in that regard,” Soul says. The process not only birthed some of Soul’s best music in a decade, it helped him let go of the steering wheel, and not get so caught up in the “absolute truth” idea.
“Look, I’m in God’s hands now. God is good all the time,” Soul says. “I’ m just keeping it like that. I’m keeping the faith.”
When I was listening back to Do What Thou Wilt versus Herbert, the first thing that struck me was how transparent and clear your songwriting has become. How did your approach to songwriting change with this album?
For me, it’s more difficult to be simple than it is to be complex. It was challenging to simplify, and I wanted it to be an easy listen, because my last album in particular was very dense and very dark also. I almost even confused myself with that one. That wasn’t an album that was an algorithm. So this time around I just wanted it to feel good first, and I just wanted to be an instrument versus have it be about what I’m saying.
At what point did Herbert and those ideas really start to come together?
So I took a year and a half off from my last album, and I went in saying, “I’m not gonna have a concept this time, I’m just gonna be pure, be open and just try to speak from within.” It was fuzzy at first, to be vulnerable, organic, but I tell everybody that once I made “Fallacy,” I felt like I was on the verge of something and that I had a direction.
“Moonshooter” also feels like a pivotal moment on the album, because you seem to come clean and say “I don’t know what to think.” This unease feels like uncharted territory for Ab-Soul. When did that start to creep in, and have you been able to come to a place of acceptance around it?
I honestly feel like it’s liberating. “A wise man knows he knows nothing.” But anyways, I found myself becoming a critic of the new artists coming in. So I kind of came to this place of, “I ain’t got no gavel, who am I to judge?” Plus just being older now, we got a lot of new young artists that are amazingly talented and skilled and are bringing new flavor to the table. It’s inspirational. I really love Kembe X, and Doechii, Reason, to name a few. Those are my guys.
Was there a moment in particular where you caught yourself being a critic?
There was literally a moment with Lil Uzi Vert early, early on. He said something about passing on a Preemo beat. I think Preemo wanted to work with him or something, and I felt a need to speak up. I obviously cleared the air with him, but that was a moment where I was like: “Hold on. He has his own sound. Who am I to speak up on any young man out there trying to make something of himself?”
Jackson Pollack was just throwing paint and he was f–king Jackson Pollack. Some thought that was ridiculous. Others thought it was genius. Like, who am I? Let me just focus and make sure I’m creating the best product I can create.
Interestingly enough, you ended up working with Preemo on “Gotta Rap.”
That was a dream come true. I always wanted that and he made me work for it. I had to do it about five or six times before he felt the frequency. I respect his craft and what he’s brought to the culture. It was an honor. Even before Ab-Soul was my name I wanted a Preemo beat. It was a milestone.
On that note, we have to talk about “Do Better.” What do you hope that record will do for the legacy of Ab-Soul?
That’s one of the most organic songs I’ve ever made. Sounwave brought me the record and I immediately was drawn to it. Like I said I was just taking production, and I wanted it to motivate. I want us to try to be better at all things. To be your best self, and that was me talking to myself. I was trying to motivate me to be better. It was a conversation with myself.
Another record that stuck out to me in that regard was “Be Like That.” The song feels like you’re experiencing rock bottom, but also seeing the light simultaneously.
Absolutely. “When it feels like hell, heaven’s around the corner.” That was the hardest record to make, and it’s so important because that’s probably the most simplified [I’ve been]. I was like, “I don’t want no metaphors in this. I don’t want no punchline. Not one simile, I just want to speak,” and that was so hard for me to do. I don’t believe in forcing anything either, so I had to get into the spirit of it.
You’ve been working extensively with Jhené Aiko for years now. Tell me about the creative dynamic you two share and what you feel she brings to your music.
I saw one time somebody asked her if she was a rapper who she’d be and she said Ab-Soul. Jhené was with us in the trenches, in the beginning. She was with us early. A beautiful voice, beautiful writer, beautiful spirit and we just clicked. Also, you know she’s a Pisces, and we have that Pisces thing. Our collaborations are so effortless.
What your relationship is to the “Black-Lipped Pastor” nickname at this point in your career?
I’m still the Pastor! I feel like it’s more suitable now and that it’s tailor-made for me. It was a little baggier back then, but I feel like I’ve grown into it now. At the time I got that nickname I was heavy into theology and getting into the root of things, and it came from asking questions and trying to get to the truth, if there is such.
Tell me more about how being labeled the “third eye guy” impacted you.
Like I said I’m trying to climb out of the rabbit hole man. Let’s stay here. Let’s stay in this realm. Let’s stay on the ground. I was focusing on the unknown and the conspiracy and listen: Learn all you can while you’re here. Knowledge is power, but stay on the ground. Stay here. I felt myself becoming disconnected from my close friends and family in a sense. My way of thinking started to become extra terrestrial. The big homies are just trying to party.
Do you still consider yourself the “Third Eye Guy?”
I’ll always be the third eye guy, and I still believe those things but now it’s a faith. You heard my thoughts on them. I’m not trying to shove these theories down your throat. Once I felt the disconnect between the people that mattered to me most, the people that I trust the most, when I started feeling a disconnect between that and my relationships, I realized something is obviously wrong with me.
You gotta keep your foundation, man. I’m big on family and love and those things. I just started to feel like I was isolating myself. I didn’t wanna hang out as much because I wasn’t interested in what was going on. They’re like, “Yo bro, where you at? Pop out!” And I was, you know, staying inside.
How has Herbert helped your process of climbing out from that rabbit hole?
Oh, I’m back outside, baby! Listen man, I live in the now. I’m living right now. I’m in the now heavy.
SZA is celebrating the success of her sophomore album, SOS.
The TDE singer-songwriter shared her excitement about earning her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 with SOS, and notching two top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the set’s “Kill Bill” (No. 3) and “Nobody Gets Me” (No. 10).
“A number one album and two songs in the top ten is NOT what I expected,” SZA captioned her Instagram post, which included a gallery of photos and chart stats. “I’m bad at celebrating myself but I wanna thank everybody that rallied around me and positively reinforced me these last few years.”
She added, “Thank you to every person that poured into this album. I love my team. Thank y’all for loving and arguing about the album Lmaoo. Imma take another swing at it for the deluxe then shut up for a while. God is excellent.”
SOS earns SZA her third Billboard 200 entry after her debut album, Ctrl, reached No. 3 in 2017, and EP Z peaked at No. 39 in 2014. SOS‘ “Kill Bill” and “Nobody Gets Me” give SZA her sixth and seventh Hot 100 top 10s.
SZA’s celebratory Instagram post included screenshots of the Billboard article boasting her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, along with a screen grab of her Hot 100 chart accomplishments. The carousel also featured a cute snapshot of the artist, whose real name is Solana Imani Rowe, posing with a large foam finger and shiny balloons spelling out “Solana #1,” and a hilarious Saturday Night Live video clip of Bowen Yang quoting her new song “Smoking on My Ex Pack” while dressed as Krampus on “Weekend Update.”
Her post drew numerous accolades in the comments section from fellow music stars Lizzo, Demi Lovato, Busta Rhymes and Benny Blanco.
“Yayy,” Lizzo commented, who also added a second comment praising the “Solana #1” photo. Lovato opted for a pair of flame and raising-hands emojis. And Rhymes added numerous crown emojis, while Blanco wrote, “i swear if u ran for president i would vote for u.”
SZA‘s hotly anticipated 23-track SOS arrived on Dec. 9 after a five-and-a-half year wait. Preceded by lead single “Shirt” and a tease of “Nobody Gets Me,” the set follows the recent Billboard cover star‘s smash 2017 album, Ctrl, which spawned hits such as “Drew Barrymore,” “Love Galore” and “The Weekend.”
See SZA’s post on Instagram below.
After the arrival of Young Dolph‘s posthumous album Paper Route Frank on Friday (Dec. 16), his legacy continues to be immortalized by his Memphis cohorts. His estate, label Paper Route Empire and the Trap Museum announced the DOLPHLAND Pop-Up Museum Tour on Wednesday (Dec. 21).
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Slated to kick off Jan. 13-15 in New York City, the DOLPHLAND Pop-Up Museum Tour “will display original curated art and personal items that reflect Young Dolph’s unforgettable lyricism, personality, entrepreneurial spirit, philanthropy, and historic moments from his legendary career,” according to the press release. In addition, the Museum Tour will touch down in several cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and Dallas. Fans of Dolph can purchase exclusive merchandise available only through the Museum Tour.
“The goal of the pop-up museum is to showcase the character of a leader and businessman, and to highlight the journey of someone whose early beginnings may mirror that of many young kids and entrepreneurs starting so that they may draw inspiration to keep pushing on their own endeavors,” Paper Route Empire CEO Daddy-O said in a statement.
“Dolph has a great base of fans, and he loved going out and engaging with them. We wanted to do something that still provided a way for that engagement beyond just the music,” added Young Dolph’s manager and Street Execs Co-founder Allen Parks. “We brought the idea to the Trap Music Museum, and they were excited to help bring a dope experience to life for all who will attend.”
Fans who purchased tickets to the Museum Tour will automatically be entered into a contest to win $100,000. The winner will be announced at the end of the tour.
Tickets for the upcoming NYC tour will be on sale on Dec. 26, and can be purchased on the DOLPHLAND Museum’s website.
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Janelle Monáe is set to receive the SeeHer Award at the 28th annual Critics Choice Awards, which will be held at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles on Jan. 17.
Monáe, who received a past Critics Choice Awards nomination for best supporting actress in the Oscar-nominated 2017 film Hidden Figures, is also nominated this year for a best supporting actress for her performance in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Her other acting credits include Lionsgate’s Antebellum, Focus Features’ Harriet, Disney’s Lady and the Tramp, Amazon’s Homecoming and A24’s Oscar-winning film Moonlight. In 2018, Monáe’s album Dirty Computer was also nominated for two Grammy Awards for album of the year and best music video.
According to the Critics Choice Association, the SeeHer Award honors a woman who advocates for gender equality, portrays characters with authenticity, defies stereotypes and pushes boundaries. Recently, Monáe was honored as the suicide prevention advocate of the year by The Trevor Project. She is also co-chair for the nonprofit When We All Vote and started her Fem the Future initiative.
Past SeeHer Award recipients include Viola Davis, Gal Gadot, Claire Foy, Kristen Bell, Zendaya and Halle Berry. Actor Jeff Bridges has also been tapped to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the upcoming awards ceremony.
The Critics Choice Awards will air live on The CW on Jan. 15 from 7-10 p.m. ET (delayed PT). The show will be hosted by Chelsea Handler, and executive produced by Bob Bain Productions and Berlin Entertainment. Find the 2023 Critics Choice Awards film nominations here and the TV nominations here.
This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.
It’s been a banner year for hip-hop and Billboard recently rounded up our critics’ picks of the genre’s 15 best tracks of 2022. But now that we’ve run through our favorites, we want to know which hip-hop song you loved the most.
The past twelve months have seen newcomers like GloRilla and Ice Spice explode onto the scene and rising stars like Latto finally break through, while hitmakers such as Kendrick Lamar, DJ Khaled, Cardi B and more continued to successfully crank out smash singles and fan-favorite album cuts.
In fact, not one but two tracks by GloRilla have landed in Billboard‘s top 10 picks of the year — “F.N.F. (LET’S GO),” her debut release, at No. 1 and its Cardi B-assisted follow-up “Tomorrow 2” at No. 6. Lamar is another artist who delivered multiple hits this year: “N95” and “Rich Spirit,” both off his fifth studio album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.
While they’ve both been indicted in the sprawling RICO case against YSL, Gunna and Young Thug collaborated with Future on “Pushin P,” which became the highest-charting single off the former’s third studio album, DS4Ever.
Meanwhile, DJ Khaled enlisted an entire entourage of A-listers, from Jay-Z and Rick Ross to Lil Wayne and John Legend, for “God Did,” the title track off his stacked thirteenth studio album that peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 upon its July release.
Other songs that made our list of favorites include Latto’s Tom Tom Club-interpolating “Big Energy,” Vince Staples‘ “When Sparks Fly” and “Hotel Lobby,” the grimy single released by Quavo and Takeoff just one month before the latter’s tragic murder.
Vote for your favorite hip-hop song of the year in Billboard‘s poll below.
Pusha T seems to be cutting all ties with Kanye West.
The Virginia rapper revealed in an interview with XXL, published on Monday (Dec. 19), that he is no longer president of Ye’s G.O.O.D. Music Inc. imprint with Def Jam. Pusha had served in the leadership role since 2015.
“At the end of the day, s— is being said today that’s beyond disappointing,” Pusha said of Ye’s ongoing antisemitic remarks. The former Clipse rapper — who worked with Ye on his 2022 album, It’s Almost Dry, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — told XXL that he will continue releasing music through Def Jam and his own label.
This isn’t the first time Pusha has spoken out against Ye, who has been spreading hate speech against Jewish people on social media and during interviews in recent months. “It’s definitely affected me. It’s been disappointing,” Pusha told the Los Angeles Times in late November. “As a Black man in America, there is no room for bigotry or hate speech. So yeah. It’s been very disappointing.”
After receiving backlash for wearing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt in early October at Paris Fashion Week, Ye tweeted that he was going to go “death con 3” on Jewish people on Oct. 16. This began a string of hate-speech-filled interviews, which reached an even more disturbing level when he appeared on Alex Jones’ InfoWars and said “I see good things about Hitler,” among other hateful rhetoric.
Pusha, whose history with Ye dates back to 2010, told XXL that he and his former collaborator are no longer on speaking terms.
“If you ain’t with it, you ain’t down,” the rapper said. “And I ain’t with it. I’m not budging on that. I’m not with it. I heard about this new stuff [on InfoWars]. I don’t know. It’s something that just sort of tells me he’s not well, at the same time. I will say that. It’s going to places where it’s no way to move around it.”
