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Here’s a holiday gift that Jill Scott fans have been waiting for: The Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter announced Monday (Dec. 5) that the tour on behalf of her Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 debut album will resume beginning Feb. 28, 2023. Launched in 2020 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Scott’s critically acclaimed July 2000 bow, the anticipated tour was cut short owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“My band and I were so excited three years ago,” said Scott in a statement, “but that d–n COVID shut us down. Now we outside! Come see me. Come feel again. Relive your favorite moments. Ya’ll ready to settle down and get with this?!? It’s a lot of love here.”
As with the initial tour launch, Scott will perform all 18 tracks from the debut album. The double-platinum project includes career-defining hits and fan faves such as “A Long Walk,” “Gettin’ in the Way,” “He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)” and “The Way.”
Now celebrating the album’s 23rd anniversary, the 20+ market Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 tour is being produced by Live Nation/Shawn Gee. It will play in auditoriums, theaters and music halls across the country. Pre-sales begin on Dec. 6; tickets become available to the public on Dec. 9 at 10 a.m. local time. Visit missjillscott.com for more details.
Here is the tour itinerary, with additional dates to be announced:
Feb. 28 — Augusta, GA — Bell Auditorium
March 2 — Macon, GA — City Auditorium at Macon Centreplex
March 4 — Columbia, SC — The Township Auditorium
March 7 — Jacksonville, FL — Moran Theater
March 16 — Philadelphia — The Met
March 18 — Philadelphia — The Met
March 23 — Brooklyn, NY — Kings Theatre
March 27 — Newark, NJ — New Jersey Performing Arts Center
March 29 — Boston — MGM Music Hall at Fenway
March 31 — Detroit — Fox Theatre
April 1 — Cleveland — MGM Northfield Park
April 23 — Nashville — Nashville Municipal Auditorium
April 26 — Memphis — Orpheum Theatre
April 28 — Chattanooga, TN — Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Auditorium
May 3 — Savannah, GA — Johnny Mercer Theatre
May 5 — Greensboro, NC — Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts
May 6 — Atlanta — Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
May 11 — Washington, D.C. — The Theater at MGM National Harbor
May 14 — Washington, D.C. — The Theater at MGM National Harbor
June 22 — Los Angeles — The Hollywood Bowl
Milo Yiannopoulos is no longer onboard Kanye West‘s presidential campaign, the far-right political personality confirmed in a Sunday (Dec. 4) statement to The Daily Beast.
“Ye and I have come to the mutual conclusion that I should step away from his political team,” said Yiannopoulos, who previously worked as an intern for Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. “I will continue to pray for Ye and all his endeavors.”
Billboard has reached out to Yiannopoulos for comment.
The split comes just a couple weeks after after Kanye — who now goes by — confirmed his intent to run for president in 2024 following his failed White House bid in 2020. Yiannopoulos’ involvement in the campaign was also announced at this time, with the rapper introducing him to paparazzi as someone who was “working on the campaign.”
A few days after Ye confirmed that Yiannopoulos was part of his political team, the Yeezy founder was spotted dining in Mar-A-Lago with former President Donald Trump and another far-right commentator, Nick Fuentes. Fuentes has become known for his extreme antisemitic and white nationalist views, making him an unsurprising companion for Ye, who’s been repeatedly making antisemitic comments as of late.
Just last week, Ye praised Hitler and said he loved Nazis. “Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler,” he told Alex Jones on InfoWars Thursday (Dec. 1). “I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis.”
The interview and his continued hate speech sparked outrage on social media. President Joe Biden also spoke out after Jones’ chat with Ye, condemning antisemitism and Holocaust denialism in a strongly worded statement on Twitter. “I just want to make a few things clear: The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure,” the president wrote. “And instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should be calling out and rejecting antisemitism wherever it hides. Silence is complicity.”
Mad Cool Festival announced its 2023 lineup on Monday (Dec. 5) with headliners including Lizzo, Lil Nas X, Machine Gun Kelly and more.
The three artists will hit the stage in Madrid on the festival’s opening day, July 6, along with Robbie WIlliams, while Sigur Rós, The 1975, Franz Ferdinand, Rina Sawayama and Paolo Nutini help round out the Thursday roster.
Headliners for the following two days include Queens of the Stone Age, The Black Keys, Sam Smith, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Liam Gallagher and The Prodigy, with one slot each on Friday, July 7 and Saturday, July 8 yet to be announced. Additional artists across the second and third days of the festival will include the likes of Rüfü Du Sol, Jacob Collier, Angel Olsen, The Driver Era, Jamie XX, Years & Years, Sylvan Esso and more. Honey Dijon, The Blessed Madonna, Anfisa Letyago are among the DJs slated to take over The Loop for non-stop dance sets on each day.
Three-day passes for the fest go on sale to the general public on Dec. 15 with single day tickets available for purchase starting Dec. 29. A presale for each by Santander SmartBank will begin three days prior on, respectively, Dec. 12 and 26.
Last year’s fifth anniversary of the Spain-based event brought Metallica, Imagine Dragons, Twenty One Pilots, Muse, Kings of Leon and Pixies to the capital city after two years of the festival being cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Check out the entire Mad Cool Festival 2023 roster below.
After getting booted from Twitter again last week for posting an image of a swastika, Kanye West uploaded his latest bizarre, racially charged statement on Instagram on Sunday (Dec. 4), in which the embattled artist who now goes by Ye questioned Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s heritage while suggesting he’s possibly a “genetic hybrid.”
“Am I the only one who thinks Elon could be half-Chinese?,” West asked. “Have you ever seen his pics as a child?” Musk was born in South Africa to a Canadian mother and South African father and it was unclear what West was referring to in questioning the billionaire Space X/Tesla founder’s ethnicity. The racially charged comment from the disgraced MC whose once-massive music and fashion portfolio has gone into free-fall since he began a now month-long spree of spouting antisemitic and racist statements continued with another bizarre suggestion about Musk’s genetic makeup.
“Take a Chinese genius and mate them with a South African super model and we have an elon,” Ye added. “I say an Elon because they probably made 10 to 30 Elon’s and he’s the first genetic hybrid that stuck.” Musk, whose chaotic tenure atop the Twitter org chart has seen an exodus of some prominent users and his re-platforming of formerly banned one-term president Donald Trump and accounts that promote white nationalism and neo-nazi causes, treated the West post as the kind of edgelord provocation he relishes.
“I take that as a compliment!” Musk responded of the seeming accolade to the norm-busting billionaire who has long been obsessed with artificial intelligence and exploring the limits of the human form.
West also tacked on another provocative statement, adding, “Let’s not forget about Obama.” At press time it was unclear what the latter was referring to, though he did double-down on mentioning the former president by adding, “I’m sorry for using curse words in church but I don’t have another word for Obama yet.” The post ended with a promotion for Ye’s second presidential bid.
Alongside the Insta slide, West appeared to be mocking his race-baiting in the comment to his post, writing, “On Jay Zs birthday Future president of the United States Ye uses Mark Zuckerberg’s platform to incite a mass investigation of Elon Musk’s childhood photos in the midst of Balenciagagate. I call this The theory of everything Problem solved Praise God.”
West was booted off Musk’s Twitter again last week for posting the Nazi symbol inside a Jewish star, which capped a week in which he repeatedly stated “I like Nazis” on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ talk show while praising reviled Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. West — who does not appear to have any new music or fashion projects to promote in the wake of his business empire’s crash — has been on a month-long media tour in which he has sparked widespread condemnation for his endless stream of antisemitic comments.
Without mentioning Ye by name, President Joe Biden issued a pointed statement on the dangers of antisemitism and the embrace of Nazis on Friday. “I just want to make a few things clear: The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure,” Biden tweeted in a statement. “And instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should be calling out and rejecting antisemitism wherever it hides. Silence is complicity.”
The strongly worded statement from Biden starkly contrasted with the recent scene at Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort, where the twice-impeached president hosted Ye as well as far right activist and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who is also known for spewing antisemitic rhetoric. Also present at the lunch that Trump hosted on the high-visibility patio at his golf club was Ye’s apparent 2024 presidential campaign manager — who has reportedly since been fired — professional right-wing troll Milo Yiannopoulos, who has been blocked from most major social media platforms for his slurs against Islam and feminism, and his embrace of antisemitic figures.
West’s repeated amplification of antisemitic tropes and insults comes amid a rising tide of such toxic rhetoric in the nation. In April, the Anti-Defamation League, which tracks anti-Semitic behavior nationwide, reported a 34% rise in anti-Semitic incidents in 2021 (to 2,717), which averaged out to more than seven such incidents per day.
It’s a weekend at A$AP’s. On Monday (Dec. 5), A$AP Rocky dropped an eclectic music video for his new song “Shittin’ Me,” and it features references to everything from his viral Rolling Loud mosh pit meme to the 1989 dark comedy Weekend at Bernie’s.
The Grin Machine-directed video begins with the 34-year-old rapper feeling on top of the world, wearing a flashy suit as he gives orders to an office of employees, leafing through stacks of dollar bills and dodging paparazzi camera flashes. Things take a turn for the worse, though, when he dives into a mosh pit and gets buried in a sea of fans — just like that viral, meme-generating moment from his Rolling Loud set earlier this year.
Rocky then collapses and dies in an empty room, but that doesn’t stop his “friends” in the video from puppeteering his dead body around town à la Weekend at Bernie’s. They continue benefitting off his fame and fortune, and film a video with him rigged to marionette strings.
Both the Krash-produced song — which dropped Friday (Dec. 2) — and the video were released in collaboration between Rocky’s creative agency AWGE and EA’s new video game Need for Speed Unbound. “Shittin’ Me” is featured in the game, as is the “F–kin Problems” rapper himself; he appears in-game as the leader of a new precision-driving mode called Takeover Events, where players can beat Rocky to win his custom-designed Mercedes 190 E.
“It has been a pleasure getting to be a creative collaborator with EA on the new Need for Speed game,” Rocky said in a statement. “’Shittin’ Me’ serves as the lead track from the game soundtrack and with so much excitement around it, it was only natural to also do a music video. Grin Machine did a great job paying homage to the game collaboration with AWGE with the fun wacky aesthetics, and shout out to krash and hec for the music as always.”
Watch A$AP Rocky’s new music video for “Shittin’ Me” below:
After previously postponing his performance at New York City’s Apollo Theatre to mourn the death of Takeoff last month, Drake’s concerts have been pushed back again to January 2023, according to SiriusXM.
Originally slated for next Wednesday and Thursday night (Dec. 6-7), Drake’s forthcoming shows will now arrive Jan. 21 and Jan. 22, Billboard has confirmed.
According to a statement credited to Drake, SiriusXM and Sound 42, production issues derailed Drake’s NYC shows. “We as a team have been working around the clock not just putting together a concert but an experience our fans deserve,” the statement reads. “With that said, we are up against some production delays that are just out of our control.” The statement also said that “these upcoming shows for SiriusXM are so incredibly special for us. If you are going to play the world-famous Apollo Theater, it has to be a world-class production.”
The news comes on the heels of Drake being crowned Billboard‘s Top Dance/Electronic Artist of 2022 on the strength of his chart-topping effort Honestly, Nevermind. The dance-laden album spawned eight Billboard Hot 100 entries, including “Massive,” “Texts Go Green” and his first Hot Dance/Electronic Songs No. 1 “Falling Back.” The album also handed him another Hot 100 No. 1 in “Jimmy Cooks,” alongside his new rap tag-partner 21 Savage.
The record ushered in the twosome’s unexpected collaborative album Her Loss, which debuted atop the Billboard 200 last month.
Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner announced during a news conference on Friday (Dec. 2) that a man has been arrested and charged with murder in connection to the Nov. 1 killing of Migos rapper Takeoff.
33-year-old Patrick Xavier Clark was arrested on the east side of Houston, Texas, on Thursday (Nov. 1), and charged with murder, while another man, 22-year-old Cameron Joshua, was arrested and charged with the unlawful carrying of a weapon.
Takeoff (born Kirshnik Khari Ball) was just 28 years old when he was shot and killed Nov. 1 during a private party at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston with his uncle, Quavo. The musician was killed by “penetrating gunshot wounds of head and torso into arm,” according to a report from the Harris County coroner’s office.
Houston PD’s Sgt. Michael Burrow said during the news conference that Takeoff was an “innocent bystander” of the argument at the party that led to the shooting. “The event was a private party, there was a lucrative dice game that went on at the event, there was an argument that happened afterwards outside the bowling alley which led to the shooting,” he explained.
Burrow continued, “I can tell you that Takeoff was not involved in playing the dice game, he was not involved in the argument that happened outside, he was not armed. He was an innocent bystander.”
Watch the full news conference below.
At nightclub E11EVEN Miami’s “The Art of Nightlife” lineup for Miami Art Basel, Offset performed on Thursday (Dec. 1) for the first time following the death of his cousin Takeoff.
One month following his Migos bandmate’s passing, Offset arrived at E11EVEN with wife Cardi B — clad in a black see-through bodysuit and sporting long brown tresses — by his side. During his set, the 30-year-old rapper threw fistfuls of $1 bills into the crowd alongside his hype-men, dedicating the performance to his late cousin. “We are going to go Takeoff crazy in here tonight,” he told the crowd.
Performing a 30-minute set with career hits such as “Fight Night,” “Ric Flair Drip” and “Bad and Boujee,” Offset continually kept Takeoff in mind, at one point performing the late rapper’s 2018 single “Last Memory.”
He showed love to his wife too, asking the DJ to play GloRilla and Cardi’s viral “Tomorrow 2,” which the Bronx-bred rapper sang along to from their booth.
Takeoff died Nov. 1 of gunshot wounds while in Houston with uncle and fellow Migos member Quavo. The pair were gathered with a group of around 40 people outside 810 Billiards & Bowling when an argument escalated and led to stray bullets taking the 28-year-old rapper’s life. On Dec. 2, Houston police announced that a suspect in Takeoff’s murder had been arrested.
Following the 28-year-old’s death, Quavo and Offset remained relatively tight-lipped, privately mourning their massive loss, but both spoke at a three-hour ceremony honoring Takeoff held at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena. Offset also posted a statement to his Instagram account, addressing his loss through an open letter to his late cousin, whom he lovingly referred to as “Take.”
“Every time you would see me, you didn’t give me a dap you gave me a hug. I wish I could hug you one last time,” he wrote. “I know someone with a soul like yours is in heaven now. I hope you can see how much we love you and miss you. You have left a hole in my heart that will never be filled.”
GloRilla and Cardi B both return to No. 1 on Billboard’s Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart as “Tomorrow 2” races 5-1 to lead the list dated Dec. 3. The coronation traces to the song’s 8% jump in spins that made it the most played song of the week at U.S. monitored R&B/hip-hop radio stations, according to Luminate.
As “Tomorrow 2” seizes the top slot, GloRilla goes two-for-two in terms of having her first two chart appearances both reach No. 1 on the radio ranking. Her debut entry, “F.N.F. (Let’s Go),” with producer Hitkidd, topped the list for one week in August. With the feat, she’s the first artist to do so since Tems, whose first three appearances – a featured turn on Wizkid’s “Essence,” another guest spot alongside Drake on “Wait for U” and her own “Free Mind” – all reigned on the list. Among lead acts, GloRilla is the first to open her Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay account with two No. 1s since Ella Mai in 2018. That year, the R&B singer-songwriter sent both “Boo’d Up” and “Trip” to the top of the list.
For Cardi B, “Tomorrow 2” is her 10th No. 1 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and grants her entry as the ninth member of a select club of acts with double-digit career totals. Here’s a refreshed leaderboard of the artists with the most No. 1s on the list since it launched in 1993:
43, Drake
20, Lil Wayne
17, Chris Brown
16, Usher
13, Beyoncé
11, R. Kelly
10, Cardi B
10, Jay-Z
10, Rihanna
And as “Tomorrow 2” joins the roster, here are the rapper’s 10 No. 1s on the radio ranking:
Song Title, Artist (if other than Cardi B), Weeks at No. 1, Peak Date
“Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” nine, Sept. 16, 2017
“No Limit,” G-Eazy featuring A$AP Rocky & Cardi B, five, Dec. 9, 2017
“I Like It,” with Bad Bunny & J Balvin, one, July 28, 2018
“Ring,” featuring Kehlani, one, Nov. 17, 2018
“Money,” five, Feb. 2, 2019
“Backin’ It Up,” Pardison Fontaine featuring Cardi B, one, March 9, 2019
“Please Me,” with Bruno Mars, six, April 13, 2019
“Up,” one, March 27, 2021
“Wild Side,” Normani featuring Cardi B, three, Jan. 1, 2022
“Tomorrow 2,” with GloRilla, one (to date), Dec. 3, 2022
Elsewhere, “Tomorrow 2” pushes 5-2 on Rap Airplay after a 14% burst in audience in the week ending Nov. 27 and steps 6-4 on R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay with a 15% hike to 15.2 million in weekly audience. Plus, it rises 15-14 on Rhythmic Airplay, following a 6% gain in weekly plays at the format.
Lil Uzi Vert flies to his first top 10 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in two years as “Just Wanna Rock” rallies 19-8 on the list dated Dec. 3. The jump comes as the song surges in streaming with residual gains in the week after its music video release.
“Rock” registered 18.1 million official U.S. on-demand streams in the week ending Nov. 24, according to Luminate, up 43% from 12.7 million in the week prior. The new total pushes the track 13-3 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales chart and 22-10 on the all-genre Streaming Songs list. Consumer gains also happen in the sales realm, with “Rock” having sold 1,000 downloads in the same period. Thanks to the purchases, the tune debuts at No. 14 on R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales.
In the airplay market, the third and final metric that contributes to the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, “Rock” arrives on its first radio chart. The single debuts at No. 37 on Rhythmic Airplay after a 72% improvement in plays in the week ending Nov. 27 compared with the prior week. It’s moving toward making landing on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, as it climbs 33% in weekly plays on that format. (All airplay, regardless of format origin, contributes to a song’s ranking on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.)
With “Rock,” Lil Uzi Vert secures his 12th career top 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. He first visited the tier as a featured act on Migos’ “Bad and Boujee,” and last appeared in the area nearly two years ago, in November 2020, on “Drankin n Smokin,” with Future. Here’s a look at his dozen top 10 successes:
Song Title, Artist (if other than Lil Uzi Vert), Peak Position, Peak Date
“Bad and Boujee,” Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert, No. 1 (10 weeks), Jan. 21, 2017
“XO Tour Llif3,” No. 5, April 29, 2017
“Watch,” Travis Scott featuring Lil Uzi Vert & Kanye West, No. 9, May 19, 2018
“Futsal Shuffle 2020,” No. 2, Dec. 28, 2019
“Baby Pluto,” No. 4, March 21, 2020
“Lo Mein,” No. 6, March 21, 2020
“Silly Watch,” No. 7, March 21, 2020
“P2,” No. 9, March 21, 2020
“Myron,” No. 7, March 28, 2020
“Bean (Kobe),” No. 10, March 28, 2020
“Drankin n Smokin,” with Future, No. 10, Nov. 28, 2020
“Just Wanna Rock,” No. 8 (to date), Dec. 3, 2022
Elsewhere, “Just Wanna Rock” races 15-3 on the Hot Rap Songs chart, supassing its previous high of No. 7, while rocketing 47-21 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.
