R&B/Hip-Hop

The countdown to Jackboys 2 is on. Travis Scott released a trailer for the Cactus Jack label compilation’s film on Wednesday night (April 30), featuring unreleased music from La Flame.

Directed by Harmony Korine, the two-minute clip finds Scott heading to the countryside as he flexes his purple Lamborghini Aventador in the fields next to a grazing horse. There’s even a baby Stormi cameo.

“Only time we seen results was watching Jerry/ Only time I seen a lake was watching Ricky,” he raps on the track slated to land on JB2.

The excitement for the project is palpable as labelmates Sheck Wes and Don Toliver hopped into Scott’s comment section along with producers Tay Keith and Oz. “JB2 !!!!!!!!! WTF IS WE DOIN,” Sheck wrote.

Being the branding savant he is, Scott’s online shop has been updated to Jackboys 2 everything. He launched a digital pre-order for the album along with a handful of merchandise bundles, a vinyl record and various CD alternate covers.

There also appears to be a full Jackboys 2 film version of the trailer, as fans spotted DVD cases popping up around New York City.

No firm release date has been announced, but the project’s arrival looks to be imminent. Over the course of April, Scott has continued to tease JB2, and he even previewed a pair of unreleased tracks possibly slated to land on the project during his headlining set at Coachella.

The first Jackboys arrived in December 2019, and the label compilation topped the Billboard 200. The offering enlists the late Pop Smoke, Lil Baby, Quavo, Offset, Young Thug, Don Toliver and more.

Get your Nextel i710s out: Quavo has announced a posthumous collaboration with his late nephew TakeOff titled “Dope Boy Phone.”

“Dope Boy Phone” is slated to arrive on Friday (May 2), and follows his “Legends” single with Lil Baby as he jet-sets into his next solo LP.

Huncho set the tone for the new track with a trailer showing how the cover art came to feature an array of Samsung and Nokia flip phones in vacuum-sealed packaging.

Quavo flips the title into a catchy chorus over the thumping trap production, which was a Migos specialty during the ATL trio’s prime. “Dope boy clone, looking for a dope boy loan/ Looking in a dope boy zone, f—ed around and found a dope boy phone,” TakeOff raps.

TakeOff was shot and killed during a party in downtown Houston with Quavo on Nov. 1, 2022. The Harris County coroner’s office confirmed to Billboard at the time that TakeOff’s primary cause of death was “penetrating gunshot wounds of head and torso into arm.”

Momentum feels as if it has stalled for a potential TakeOff posthumous album. However, back in 2023, Quavo estimated that his late nephew had around 1,000 unreleased tracks in the stash.

Just weeks prior to TakeOff’s death, Quavo and Take formed the Unc & Phew duo and released their first collaborative project, Only Built for Infinity Links, in October 2022.

“Blood thicker than friendship. Me and TakeOff — Unc and Phew — this my nephew. When I say run in the blood, it’s deeper than rap,” Quavo told Billboard around the time of the project’s arrival.

Look for “Dope Boy Phone” on Friday (May 2). Listen to a preview of the track below.

Here’s the thing. It’s not Cardi B‘s fault that her long-in-the-works sophomore studio album hasn’t been released yet. At least that’s what Cardi said during an Instagram Live session with fans this week, in which the rapper claimed that the real hold-up is the feature verses she’s waiting on from her guests.

“I really need these f–king features,” she said in a repost of the session. “And it’s like I’m not really trying to press or go crazy on these artists because I love them down. But it’s like come on now! I need that! I need that right now! Helloooo! Y’all don’t want to miss this opportunity. I’ll sing this s–t myself! But I really need y’all and I need y’all to hurry up and I love y’all. I feel like nobody want to miss being on this album.”

In an X Spaces chat on March 31 Cardi said, “the features on my album are really good… I don’t have a lot of features but I’m working with artists, some that I have worked before and some that I haven’t worked before. And the ones that I have not worked before, I feel like it’s gonna really, really surprise y’all.”

In the Insta chat this week, she admitted to fans that she often doesn’t “feel too confident” about a lot of things, but that she’s “very confident” about the unnamed follow-up to her smash 2018 debut, Invasion of Privacy. “These motherf–kers almost cried listening to my s–t,” she said of her team, noting that they told her there were “no skips” on the album.

“It’s iconic! This album is so good!” Cardi raved. “I put my whole p–sy on it! I rapped with the bottom of my p–sy! So hurry up!” While Cardi did not specify who she is waiting on, she again encouraged them to get in the booth because, flipping her hair back and forth across her face she promised, “this album is for the books!… Like, the production, the production, the feelings, the words, the rap… it’s just, it’s really there. Y’all not even understanding.”

At press time no release date or track list for the untitled album had been announced.

Ye’s Donda 2 streaming debut could be short-lived.

Mere hours after the lost 2022 project hit streamers on Tuesday night, Ye (formerly Kanye West)revealed that he received threats of legal action from managers of producers who contributed to the album over financial compensation.

“Free Maiden tried to charge me 3 million dollars for these beats from people I showed how to make beats to now he going to take down Donda 2,” Ye wrote to X. “Managers.”

Free Maiden appears to be the manager of producers BoogzDaBeast and Brian “AllDay” Miller, who worked on Donda 2 tracks including “530,” “Broken Road,” “City of Gods,” “Get Lost,” “We Did It Kid,” “Too Easy” and “First Time.”

“We did not & do not consent to the usage of our work for Donda 2 or ANY Ye project,” an alleged text from Free Maiden read in Ye’s tweet. “He’s owed us $ for almost 3 years now, has refused to pay, yet keeps stealing our work.”

Ye continued to threaten that the tracks would be taken down: “The lawyers are getting this taken down within the hour.”

It’s unclear if the threats have been executed on the streaming side just yet. The project appears to still be present on YouTube Music, Spotify and iTunes.

West premiered the album with a listening party at Miami’s LoanDepot Park in February 2022, but many of the tracks were unfinished and never landed on streaming services, as Ye focused on releasing Donda 2 exclusively through the Stem Player.

The 18-track album is executive produced by Future and features Travis Scott, Playboi Carti, Migos, Baby Keem, Jack Harlow and more.

Billboard has reached out to Ye’s reps and Spotify for comment. This is a developing story.

DDG has an offer for popular streamer IShowSpeed.

While on Twitch promoting his upcoming album Blame the Chat, the rapper and streamer asked Speed how much it would cost for him to make a cameo in a music video for a song of the same name featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Rich the Kid. “Speed, if I wanted to get you in the ‘Speed’ music video, how much is it gonna cost me?” he asked. “How much you gonna charge me, Speed?”

DDG continued by saying that he would be willing to pay upward of seven figures for an appearance. “I know YouTube ain’t got subs, I know they got members. I come in roughly around like $2 million,” he said. “2 million dollars, three-hour shoot, quick little cameo — take you 40 minutes of your time. You let me know, brother.”

DDG works hard for his money too, and he reminded the chat last week that he has to work to be able to afford the lifestyle he’s gotten used to. “I have to make money. Bills are high,” he told his fans. “Did I tell you how much my bills is a month? N—a, my bills high as sh–. If I don’t work, I’mma go broke ASAP.”

Adding, “Like, I have to work. I don’t have a choice. It ain’t ’bout me trying to pocket some money. I have multiple homes, multiple cars. I have family. I have a child. I spend a lot of money.”

Blame the Chat is set to be released on May 2.

You can watch the full stream here.