State Champ Radio R&B/Hip-Hop
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Just hours after Migos rapper Takeoff was shot and killed early Tuesday morning (Nov. 1) in Houston, Texas, the city’s police chief, mayor and investigation committee held a press conference to give an update on what they know so far.
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Chief Troy Finner explained that much of the situation is currently under investigation, and that all they know at press time is that the late rapper (born Kirshnik Khari Ball) — who was one third of the Migos trio alongside his uncle, Quavo, and cousin, Offset — was at a private party at 810 Billiards & Bowling in downtown Houston with Quavo around 2:35 a.m. when investigators say shots rang out during an afterparty attended by around 40 people. Takeoff was pronounced dead at the scene, and two other victims — a 23-year-old male and 24-year-old female — checked themselves into a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
However, many of those in attendance fled the scene, prompting Finner to urge witnesses to come forward with any information to help authorities solve the case. “Anyone who has information on the shooter, let us bring justice to this family,” Mayor Sylvester Turner added during the conference. “We will solve this case. We will find the shooter.”
Finner added, “Someone knows exactly who it was and I feel confident in it.”
During the press conference, Turner also urged young people to stop killing each other through senseless violence, and to keep families in their minds before pulling the trigger. Watch the press briefing in its entirety below.
Mayor Sylvester Turner joins Police Chief Troy Finner to brief the media on the fatal shooting of rap artist at 1199 San Jacinto Street on Nov. 1 about 2:30 a.m. https://t.co/eq9nDdp1Kw— Houston Police (@houstonpolice) November 1, 2022
Another week, another must-hear round-up. As we inch closer to the most wonderful time of the year, we’ve got all the heat to keep you warm and cozy for this year’s cold-weather season. From Rini and Nathan Archie’s goosebump-inducing falsettos to another drill banger from Ice Spice, our list has a little something for every moment of the rest of your week.
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Don’t forget to share the wealth with our playlist linked below!
Freshest Find: Nathan Archie, “Hurt Me Enough”
Indiana-based artist Nathan Archie makes his debut this week with his breathtaking first single “Hurt Me Enough.” The alt-R&B/pop song is spellbinding with its personal songwriting and goosebump-inducing vocals, as Archie sings about escaping a toxic relationship. The rising singer-songwriter has also garnered over a million TikTok followers, which is where he first teased the song back in July.
Ice Spice, “Bikini Bottom”
Since the release of her hit song “Munch (Feelin’ U)” back in August, Ice Spice has been riding the wave of virality. Last week, the Bronx rapper continued her lighthearted take on drill with her new song “Bikini Bottom” — which, of course, sounds like it could be used during frantic scenes in Spongebob Squarepants.
Latir, “Am I Allowed to Say I Missed You?”
On “Am I Allowed to Say I Miss You?,” Latir wonders just that. The London-based singer and poet blended his tender vocals with ’80s synths for an alt-R&B song about a breakup and the cycle of grief and wonder that comes following a lost love. “This song acknowledges the fact that our most beautiful moments have passed, but questions whether we’re able to look back and appreciate the good moments we had, rather than acting like they never happened,” Latir says of the song.
Rini, “Haunt Me”
Rini is back with another single titled “Haunt Me.” The second track off his upcoming EP UltraViolet, the Australian singer-songwriter flexes his sultry falsetto once again, detailing his emptiness and cravings for his fleeting lover.
Gidi feat. Merlyn Wood and SoGone SoFlexy, “Chains”
Rising Baltimore artist and producer Gidi is ushering in a new sound with his new single “Chains.” The 23-year-old recruits Brockhampton associates Merlyn Wood and SoGone SoFlexy here for an ambitious record that blends blues, 90s R&B and early aughts pop. “This is the start of the GARÇON era, a new sound, a new texture,” says Gidi in a press release. “Being from Baltimore, I’m pulling inspiration from DMV legends like The Neptunes & Timbaland but tryna push the sound forward.”
Akinyemi & Johan Lenox, “Phone Down”
Akinyemi and Johan Lenox want you to put your “Phone Down.” The two linked for a single urging listeners to prioritize their mental health and live in the present as much as possible, the former being a common theme in Akinyemi’s music.
Pivot Gang, “Aang”
“Aang” marks Pivot Gang’s first single as a group since they released their debut album You Can’t Sit With Us in 2019. Produced by Saba, the mellow track flips original vocals and guitar by Gaidaa and Maria Sanchez, respectively. The visualizer for the new track also acts as a tribute to late member squeakPIVOT, who died in a shooting last year. The Chicago collective is back in their bag as they gear up for the fifth anniversary of John Walt day at the end of November.
Baby Rose, “Go”
Baby Rose’s “Go” ushers in a new era personally and sonically for the singer-songwriter. Bold in nature, the new single was released alongside another song called “Fight Club” featuring Georgia Anne Muldrow, and both are rooted in authenticity and a newly found sense of self. “‘Go’ is about fighting to hold onto past love by any means necessary. The record is nostalgic. It finds me in a space fighting for the familiar and fading,” she says in a press release. ‘This record was created in Nashville while I was in a state of peak blessings, but at the time felt fearful in the back of my mind because I knew nothing lasts forever. That is a beautiful and equally painful fact of life.”
Jaylon Ashaun, “Full Time”
The second song in his “Rough Draft” series, Jaylon Ashaun drops a colorful new single called “Full Time.” The Houston native describes the song as “a theme song for the people” and “a fun reminder to treat your dreams like a full time job because results take time.” At a minute and a half in length, “Full Time” fuses R&B, pop and hip-hop to create a bouncy, upbeat track that adds to Ashaun’s vision of pushing the envelope.
Allyn feat. Dom Kennedy, “One Time”
On “One Time,” Allyn knows her worth. The L.A.-via-Sacramento singer-songwriter links with Dom Kennedy to let it be known that she’s quick to cut a man off if need be. “It only takes one time to feel how you movin’/ to see what you doing/ it only takes one time to know I wasn’t wrong/ I seen what time you’re on,” she sings for the song’s chorus.
North West spent her Halloween recreating TLC‘s “No Scrubs” with her friends, right down to lip syncing the track’s famous lyrics.
In a TikTok posted to her joint account with her mom Kim Kardashian, the nine-year-old wears a black halter top and pants with latex detail as Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas while her pals round out the adorable group costume as Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and the late Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes.
“And no, I don’t want no scrubs/ A scrub is a guy that can’t get no love from me/ Hangin’ out the passenger side of his best friend’s ride/ Tryin’ to holler at me,” the miniature versions of TLC lip synch as North grooves enthusiastically to the song’s beat.
A second video shows the elementary schoolers getting glammed up for the performance, with North responsible for taking plenty of mirror selfies with her besties. Kardashian, meanwhile, makes a cameo in a third video, dancing around with her oldest child as Northie lip syncs to “Waterfalls” after the impromptu shoot.
The trio’s TLC costume got love from T-Boz and Chilli on Instagram, with T-Boz sharing the video to her page and writing, “Ayyyyyyyeeeee. Okayyyyyy PrettyGirls … #NorthWest And Her Girls Smashed #TLC This Halloween @kimkardashian #demTLCGirls #DemTLCbabies Love The Love.” Chilli expressed a similar sentiment in her repost: “#demtlcbabies nailed it!!!@kimkardashian @the.orji.family,” she gushed on Instagram.
North’s TikTok account has been a source of parental contention between Kardashian and Kanye West in the past, with the embattled rapper lashing out in a since-deleted Instagram post that his daughter was on the social platform “against [his] will.”
The SKIMMS mogul then responded to her ex’s dig by issuing a statement on her own social media pointing out that she is the “main provider and caregiver” for the couple’s four children and lets North express her creativity on the platform only with careful and conscientious “adult supervision.”
Watch North and her pals’ adorable performance as TLC below.
Takeoff, born Kirshnik Khari Ball, was shot and killed on Tuesday (Nov. 1) in Houston, Texas. According to a spokesperson from the Houston police department, Takeoff was at a private party at a bowling alley in downtown Houston when shots rang out around 2:35 a.m.
As one third of Migos (alongside his uncle Quavo and cousin Offset), the rapper was an influential force on the mic and on the charts for the last decade. Migos’ 2013 single “Versace” just scraped the Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at No. 99) but set the tone for the next several years of hip-hop. By early 2017, the trio topped the Hot 100 with their Lil Uzi Vert collab “Bad and Boujee,” hailing from the group’s Billboard 200-topping album Culture. Overall, Migos has earned 9.39 million equivalent album units in the U.S. for their catalog of albums, per Luminate, and 14.09 billion on-demand official streams of their songs.
Takeoff himself netted 558,000 in equivalent album units for his solo albums, including the recent collab set with Quavo, this year’s Only Built for Infinity Links.
“There are so many artists,” Takeoff told Billboard in a 2017 Migos cover story. “You got to keep coming like bow! bow! bow!, making so much music that they wonder, ‘Who are the Migos?’ We play a beat for 15, 20 seconds and know if we want to get on it. When we record a verse, it’s no more than 15, 20 minutes. We don’t have a pen and paper. We bounce off each other.”
“I try not to be cocky,” Takeoff continued. “But hey, we the sh-t, man.”
The fallout from Kanye West‘s recent spate of antisemitic remarks has once again impacted the students at the rapper’s private Christian K-12 Donda Academy school. Atlanta’s historic HBCU Morehouse College announced on Monday (Oct. 31) that it was canceling a basketball tournament slated for Nov. 6 at the city’s Forbes Arena between the Donda Doves and The Skill Factory due to Ye’s “divisive and unproductive” statements.
“Throughout its history, Morehouse College, perhaps more than any other institution, has stood for social discourse which advances equity and healing, particularly in areas involving race, culture, and socio-economic disparities,” the university said in a statement. “We therefore cannot condone, in perception or implication, the recent divisive and unproductive statements by Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.”
This is the second event the Donda team has been kicked out of recently, coming on the heels of the squad being uninvited from the Dec. 11 Scholastic Play-By-Play Classics tourney in Louisville. West (who now goes by Ye) had his Instagram account restricted again on Monday following his latest reported violation of the platform’s policies. This 30-day lockdown comes after Instagram and Twitter both placed temporary restrictions on his social media accounts after he posted antisemitic comments earlier in October.
Billboard has not been able to reach a spokesperson for West. While Instagram parent company Meta did not specify what caused West to be locked out again, the move came as Ye continued to amplify hateful antisemitic tropes in a series of interviews and social media posts, actions that have resulted in many of the former partners in his once-sprawling fashion and music empire cutting ties with the rapper.
Ye appeared to react to the news that the Donda Academy has shut its doors on Sunday by sharing a graphic photo of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black teen who was tortured and lynched after being accused of offending a white woman in 1955. He also posted a series of photos of Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, who wrote in an op-ed for the Financial Times last week that West’s business partners, including companies that profit off his music — such as Apple, Spotify, Adidas and his touring partners — should stop working with the star.
“Can you find a place for the Donda Academy kids to go to school that’s properly zoned for a school? I got about 60 children that have no place to be as they look to transfer,” West wrote in an Instagram caption on Sunday before his account’s restriction. He also referenced the Donda basketball team’s freeze-out, writing, “They tried to dismantle our basketball team. Those boys are being penalized without reason. Even professional athletes were threatened by their owners to disassociate.”
See the Morehouse statement below.
The shocking death of Migos‘ Takeoff, 28, early Tuesday morning (Nov. 1) has elicited a flood of response from the hip-hop community. The youngest member of the rap trio was shot and killed at a Houston-area bowling alley according to the Houston Police Department.
A Houston PD spokesperson said the rapper (born Kirshnik Khari Ball) — who was one third of the Migos trio alongside his uncle, Quavo, and cousin, Offset — was at a private party at a bowling alley in downtown Houston with Quavo around 2:35 a.m. when investigators say shots rang out during an afterparty.
KHOU reported that police said someone started shooting at the gathering of around 40 people, sparking guests to flee the area with one victim, Takeoff, shot in the head or neck. Two other unidentified victims were reportedly transported to a local hospital in private vehicles.
Ja Rule echoed the thoughts of many commenters in his memorial for the slain rapper. “Rip Takeoff.. this s–t has to STOP… sending love to friends and family,” he tweeted, while producer London On Da Track said, “Long live Takeoff s–t krazy out here.” Lecrae was at a loss for words about Takeoff’s death, which came just hours after the rapper and his uncle, Quavo, released the Halloween-themed video for their Unc & Phew single “Messy.”
“No hot takes. No profound thoughts. Just sad that another rapper, son, brother, and friend has been killed. God be with all those who feel the loss,” Lecrae wrote, with producer Mike Will Made It writing, “RIP TAKE, DAM LIL BRO,” along with crying face, praying hands, broken heart, crown and flowers emoji. Gang Starr’s DJ Premier decried the senselessness of the death. “Condolences to Takeoff’s family,” he wrote. “This is beyond sad to be killed in a senseless situation with so much success.”
At press time a spokesperson for Offset had not returned requests for comment on the incident and a Houston PD spokesperson said there was no additional information on the injured and no suspects in custody or motive for the shooting; it also appeared that Quavo and Offset had not yet commented on Takeoff’s death.
See some of the reactions to Takeoff’s death below.
RIP TAKE , DAMN LIL BRO 😢🙏🏾💔👑💐— MADE-IT (@MikeWiLLMadeIt) November 1, 2022
Long live takeoff shit krazy out here— WeGotLondonOnDaTrack (@LondonOnDaTrack) November 1, 2022
Rip Takeoff… this shit has to STOP… sending love to friends and family 🕊🙏🏾— Ja Rule (@jarule) November 1, 2022
Sending our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and fans of Takeoff 🙏🏾— Def Jam Recordings (@defjam) November 1, 2022
No hot takes. No profound thoughts. Just sad that another rapper, son, brother, and friend has been killed. God be with all those who feel the loss. #TakeOff #MIGOS— Lecrae (@lecrae) November 1, 2022
Condolences to Takeoff’s Family. This is beyond sad to be killed in a senseless situation with so much success.— DJ Premier (@REALDJPREMIER) November 1, 2022
We send our condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of artist Kirshnik Khari Ball, also known as Takeoff from the successful rap group, Migos. pic.twitter.com/vgq1L322U9— NAACP (@NAACP) November 1, 2022
Migos rapper Takeoff, 28, was shot and killed early Tuesday morning (Nov. 1) in Houston, Texas. According to a spokesperson for the Houston Police Department, the rapper (born Kirshnik Khari Ball) — who was one third of the Migos trio alongside his uncle, Quavo, and cousin, Offset — was at a private party at a bowling alley in downtown Houston with Quavo around 2:35 a.m. when investigators say shots rang out during an afterparty attended by around 40 people.
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KHOU reported that police said someone started shooting, sparking guests to flee the area with one victim, Takeoff, shot in the head or neck. Two other unidentified victims were reportedly transported to a local hospital in private vehicles.
At press time a spokesperson for Offset had not returned requests for comment on the incident and a Houston PD spokesperson said there was no additional information on the injured and no suspects in custody.
According to TMZ, Takeoff and Quavo were at 810 Billiards & Bowling Houston playing dice at the afterparty when someone opened fire, with the site posting stills and video of Quavo and others gathered around Takeoff as Quavo yells for someone to help them; Quavo was not injured in the incident and at press time did not appear to have posted about the shooting.
The shocking killing came just hours after Quavo and Offset, under their side project duo name Unc & Phew, released a new Halloween-themed video for their song “Messy.” Billboard will update this story as more information is available.
She’s got a princess face, a killer body, samurai mind. Nicki Minaj showed off her Disney princess fantasy in a new social media post on Monday (Oct. 31).
For Halloween, the rapper decided to dress up as a high-fashion Cinderella… or Chunderella, according to her fairy tale rewrite of a caption. “And as she heard the whispers…Chunderella snickered,” she wrote. “The ugly/evil step sisters had EVERY RIGHT to bicker (through their blisters!) After all, deep down inside…they knew…they’d never fit the glass slippers… The END.”
In the slideshow, Minaj poses in a blond wig, tiara and an architectural take on Cinderella’s classic blue gown. However, the Harajuku Barbie proved once she turned around that her version of the princess is quite the “Super Freaky Girl,” complete with two rather NSFW cutouts carved out of the backside of the dress.
Earlier this month, Nicki linked up with NBA YoungBoy on their new collaboration “I Admit,” which is featured on the latter’s brand-new album Ma, I Got a Family.
Meanwhile, she’s also been bumping heads with the Recording Academy over “Super Freaky Girl” being moved from the rap category into the pop category for voting at the upcoming 2023 Grammy Awards — that is, when she hasn’t been busy feuding with Latto on Twitter over whether her own “Big Energy (Live)” should (or shouldn’t) be facing the same categorization at the awards show.
In other awards news, Minaj recently landed five nods at the MTV EMAs, including best artist, best song and best video (both for “Super Freaky Girl”), best hip-hop and biggest fans.
Get a look at Nicki as “Chunderella” below.
Kanye West‘s Instagram account has been restricted again following the rapper’s latest reported violation of the platform’s policies. Instagram’s parent company, Meta, confirmed the restriction to Billboard on Monday (Oct. 31).
While the spokesperson did not highlight specific posts that led to the latest lock on West’s account, the rep said IG had deleted content from the rapper’s Instagram feed due to the unspecified posts violating the platform’s standards. The rep also noted that the social media platform can restrict accounts that repeatedly break its rules, with those restrictions including limiting a user’s ability to post, comment or send direct messages.
The Meta rep also confirmed that the rapper’s account has this time been locked for 30 days.
This latest lockdown comes after Instagram and Twitter both placed temporary restrictions on his social media accounts after he posted antisemitic comments earlier in October.
Billboard has not been able to reach a spokesperson for West.
Complex, who was first to report Instagram’s latest action against the rapper’s account, added that Ye appeared to address this new restriction on the right-leaning Parler social media site he recently said he plans to purchase.
According to the publication, a screenshot purported to be of that Parler post shared on Twitter found West reportedly writing, “Got kicked off Instagram for 30 days for telling Russel Simmons that I was going to make ‘you know who’ have better contracts and business practices. Jesus is king.”
West had just returned to Instagram days ago after the social media platform first restricted his account.
The list of wealthiest hip-hop artists has gotten a pretty major shake-up, with a new face storming into the top 5 thanks to a burgeoning legal weed business even as former billionaire Kanye West slips to No. 3 after losing his 10-figure status following his recent string of antisemitic comments.
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Longtime Forbes writer Zack O’Malley Greenburg recently posted his “remix” of the Hip-Hop’s Wealthiest Artists list on his Zogblog, in which he revealed that Jay-Z remains atop the list as rap’s only certified billionaire in his first update of the hip-hop wealth list since 2019 when he was still an editor at the financial mag.
It should be no surprise that one of the take-aways from Greenburg’s list is that Ye (as West is now known), has had a major slip in status after the embattled rapper’s string of antisemitic remarks and promotion of a “White Lives Matter” shirt has caused his formerly sprawling music and fashion empire to largely evaporate over the past few weeks.
Greenburg writes that overall the top five hip-hop acts are worth a combined estimate of $3.8 billion, with the list toppers’ combined net worth rising 20% from a pre-pandemic (2019) total of $3.17 billion. Coming in at No. 1 is Jay-Z, whose fortune Greenburg estimates has increased to a personal-best $1.5 billion thanks to a diversified portfolio that includes investments in everything from music (Roc Nation entertainment) to real estate, spirits (Armand de Brignac champagne) and startups including Rihanna’s wildly successful Savage X Fenty brand.
Hip-hop’s first billionaire easily edged out Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, whose $1 billion fortune has reportedly surged thanks to his Ciroc vodka brand, half-stake in DeLeón tequila and entertainment brand Revolt, as well as his music catalog, start-up investments and what Greenburg dubbed, “a considerable collection of worldly possessions.”
The news was not as great for Ye, whose billionaire status was cut in half after the loss of a lucrative Adidas deal and a raft of other marketing and branding deals over the past few weeks. West still came in at No. 3 this time around thanks to his 5% stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s lucrative Skims shapewear line and the rights to his master recordings and music publishing.
Greenburg said that he could not reach anyone who could agree on the current value of Ye’s Yeezy brand, “but there’s a consensus it’s still worth a lot more than nothing,” adding that “West could be headed for a cash crunch if he continues his current trajectory, potentially forcing him to sell or take out loans against his major assets.”
The biggest surprise on the list was the new No. 4: Bay Area rapper Gilbert “Berner” Milam, whose 30% stake in the Cookies cannabis empire — which sells 70 weed strains and thousands of marijuana-related products in 48 stores in 7 countries and 20 U.S. states — is the foundation of his fortune. “If it [marijuana] goes federal, and the market wants to see us with all these stores and production, then we’ll roll ‘em all up,” Berner told Greenburg earlier this year about the prospect of marijuana legalization rolling out nationwide. “So we’re achieving what these other companies are doing without having to put up our own capital.”
The top 5 is rounded out by another former reported billionaire, Dr. Dre. The producer who a decade ago called himself the “first billionaire in hip-hop” actually peaked at $800 million according to Greenburg after tax payments took a big chunk of his cut from the $3 billion sale of his Beats empire to Apple. The writer said a combination of personal and philanthropic spending has further reduced Dre’s fortune to around $400 million, including the $70 million he and Beats co-founder and former Interscope boss Jimmy Iovine spent to found a music academy at the University of Southern California, as well as the $40 million Dre spent to buy Tom Brady and ex-wife Gisele Bundchen’s former L.A. mansion.
Greenburg also noted that paperwork from Dre’s recent divorce revealed his net worth to be in the $450 million range before the first half of a $100 million settlement to his ex-wife. The writer said he tabulated the figures by combining his decade-plus of experience covering the business of hip-hop along with valuing every known asset and liability in each artist’s portfolio and tapping a “wide range” of sources in the music industry, including managers, lawyers and the artists themselves. Billboard is not able to independently verify Greenburg’s reporting.
