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With ten years in the rap game, Kash Doll is finally ready to change her name. The Detroit-based rapper stopped by Billboard‘s NYC office for an episode of Billboard Gaming, just in time for the release of her The Last Doll album arrival on Friday (Nov. 15).The Last Doll marks a deeply personal chapter in her life, showcasing her growth as a woman, a mother of two, and an artist evolving beyond the persona that first brought her into the spotlight. The arrival of her daughter Klarity has been a transformative experience, shaping not only her maturity but also her perspective on life. As she balances motherhood with her thriving career, Kash Doll reflects on her journey, using this album as a powerful expression of her personal and artistic evolution.We faced off with the rapper in several rounds of Mario Kart while discussing the inspiration behind her album, touring, her love for her children, and more.Congratulations on The Last Doll! What inspired the title?It’s just growth. It’s where I’m at in life, you know what I’m saying? So, I’m just tired of the doll. I got two kids. I don’t want to be called a doll no more. I’m just over that.
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You’re dropping “Doll,” so your new name is just Kash?
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I don’t know yet.
Do you have any ideas on your new name?
I don’t know yet. I don’t know if I just want to be Keisha, because that’s my name, or if I want to be Kash, or Big Kash, or KD, or something like that.
When your fans listen to your new album, The Last Doll how do you want them to feel? What message are you trying to express?
You know, I don’t feel like it’d be a body of work no more. It’s so much just singles all in one project, you know what I’m saying?
Mine is just a body of work, and I want them to see growth, evolution. Like, I’ve been in the game for 10 years, so I just want my fans that have been growing with me to just understand who I am and where I’m at now, you know what I’m saying?
Congrats on 10 years. So, the theme of this album is just growth?
It’s growth. It’s lit, though. The album is crazy. I’mma just be 100 percent for real — like, it’s crazy. I got all types of songs on there. It’s got songs about my kids, you know, I’m singing on there. I got different vibes on there, you know what I’m saying? It ain’t just rap; it’s different genres. I got house music on there. I got songs about mental health and loving yourself — stuff like that. So, it’s just a different me.
What’s your favorite song on the album?
My favorite song? I don’t have one. It’s hard to have a favorite song when all of it is fire. It’s hard.
You have an incredible lineup of features on this album.
Oh yeah, they are. The artists are incredible.
How did you go about choosing the artists?
Once I make the song, I can hear certain people, you know what I’m saying? And I reach out and try to get it done. With “Comfy,” I wanted to remake that from Lil Wayne and Babyface, and so I reached out to Tink, and I wanted her on that.
And we did it. So that’s how that one happened. But most of all my other features — oh, yeah, and “NWA” with Yung Bleu — you know, me and Tracy, we decided we wanted him on a hook. And then we went out there, and we got the hook, and then we did our verses and magic.
You mentioned you have your kids on this album, so I’m assuming this album is deeply personal to you. How did motherhood play a role in your album?My kids, they just motivated me to make music that I don’t mind them hearing.
Because I make music that I like to hear when I go out and stuff like that. Music I like to hear when I’m riding or when I’m on vacation, you know? Like, it’s a different type of music you want to hear when my kids are in the house, and I don’t have to put a sensor on everything, you know what I’m saying?
So, they motivated me to make a different type of music, even though I’m still her.
Have you played the album for your kids yet?
Nah. Well, Kashton knows his song.
Has it been difficult juggling motherhood and being a music artist?
It’s difficult leaving them. You know what I mean? It’s difficult. It’s hard leaving my kids.
So, do you ever find yourself rushing back home after a day of traveling?
Hell yeah. Hell yeah. I miss them, they’re my babies, man.
You’ve been getting into your acting bag. You’ve been on BMF and Diarra From Detroit. How has acting been for you?
Acting is fun. Acting is just like a little more stable when you’re acting. You know what I mean? Like, you don’t have to travel as much and lose stuff all the damn time when you’re traveling. And, you know, be away from my kids, I can kind of just be in one, at least in one state for like a month or two or three or four, you know? So, I kind of enjoy it. It’s longer hours, though, for sure.
Do you ever see yourself creating a soundtrack for a show or for a movie?
Hell yeah. But mine, I’m gonna do movies. I’m about to do that because I’m about to do my baby shit. I’m gonna do music, and I don’t want to move around and do so many shows and stuff like that, you know? I want to be able to sit down, be with my kids. And I’m not missing Kashton’s games when he starts. So everybody got until he starts school. I’m gonna have my fun, go on tour, and do all that, but when my baby starts school, it’s over.
You’re going on tour soon! What can fans expect from your set?
An experience. It’s my first tour. You know, now I get to do my own stage, setting the light. You know, I get to play all my different music. This is my first time. I’m really excited. Ten years, and this is my first tour. And I’m really mad. I shouldn’t have waited this long, but it’s going to be an experience. You’re going to see a doll at work.
Why did you wait 10 years to tour?
I didn’t. I went on tour before in 2019, but I never did my own tour, and I had finally got another tour in 2020, but then COVID happened. Yeah, canceled the whole tour, and then boom, now we’re here. So it’s cool though. I’m gonna build my touring business. I’m gonna build it. It’s cool. I like to start. It’s a grind. It’s a grind for me.
What’s your favorite place to perform?
Damn. That’s hard. ‘Cause the Bay is a time. Milwaukee is a time. Houston is a time.
You’re also known for your fashion, how has fashion influenced your music?
I don’t know. I don’t know how it will influence it, but I just be being myself. I just be myself. I don’t know how my fashion — I don’t know. Am I fashionable? I just put on clothes.
So, you don’t think you’re a fashionable individual?
People say that but I just say where. I go to the mall every other day. This is like my little alone time and I go to the mall looking bummy. I go in the mall with a hoodie on and a scarf. And I be looking crazy. And I be buying up stuff. And then I have it in my closet for when I’m ready to throw on stuff. You know? But I do like fashion. I love all this stuff. I’m just, I don’t know if I’m good at it. But no, it don’t, it don’t influence my music.I’m just me. I don’t know what the hell influence me, people trying to talk s—t. I’ll be like, okay, I got something for you. My kids.
What advice do you have for the upcoming female rappers out there?
First of all, I say, be yourself. You know, everyone else is taken. Be yourself. Um, have morals and dignity in the game. You know what I’m saying? Don’t just do anything. Don’t be so thirsty that you’ll drink poison. Because some people be wanting it so bad, you know, that they’ll sign papers. And it’s me. I’m people.
You’ll sign papers, you know what I’m saying? Without having a lawyer, not knowing what’s going on and all these things. Just know, if it’s for you, it’s going to happen regardless. Do not just be desperate for this s—t. And be yourself. That’s what I’ll say, because I wish you might have said that to me earlier, but I don’t know if I would have listened, because experience teaches you things way different from someone telling you, you know what I mean?
Yeah. That’s interesting. I interviewed Ja Rule like two weeks ago. He said the exact same thing: “Be yourself.” Do you feel like some people in the industry now are lacking authenticity?
Yeah. Because they want to do what they think is popping right now, or, you know, what they see that everybody is gravitating to.
But at the same time, it’s like, be yourself, your time will come. Just be yourself. And that’s me. That’s why I stay in my lane, and I just do me, because my time’s going to come. If God wants me to have a time, you know what I’m saying? I’m living in my—maybe this is it. But, however, I’m being myself, and it feels good.
I’m having a good time instead of just doing whatever I think needs to be done to be her, you know, put the work in, of course, but be yourself.
Mike Tyson’s gearing up for a return to the ring against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on Friday night (Nov. 15), and Iron Mike is serving up plenty of viral moments heading into the bout. And unsurprisingly, 50 Cent has some thoughts to share about it.
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It all started when Tyson went deep with 14-year-old interviewer Jazzy when comparing legacy to ego, and how once you’re dead, life is meaningless and it doesn’t matter anymore. “Well, I don’t know. I don’t believe in the word legacy,” Tyson said in the interview posted Thursday (Nov. 14). “I just think that’s another word for ego. Legacy doesn’t mean nothing. That’s just a word everybody grabbed onto. Somebody said that word and everyone grabbed not the word so now it’s used every five seconds. It means absolutely nothing to me.”
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The boxing legend continued: “I’m just passing through. I’ma die and it’s gonna be over. Who cares about legacy after that? What a big ego. So I’ma die and I want people to think that I’m this, I’m great? No. We’re nothing. We’re dead. We’re dust. We’re absolutely nothing. Our legacy is nothing.”
Jazzy handled the response well for a teenager, admitting she’d never heard that type of answer to her question.
In another clip from the chat, the teen asked the boxer what he thought of his opponent. “I don’t think much of him,” Tyson admitted, before noting Paul is “very funny.”
The interview quickly spread like wildfire on social media, and 50 — not one to mince words when something gets on his radar — claimed Mike was scaring the kids.
“Goddam it ! Mike ya scaring the kids, WTF chill. Note to self, keep the kids away from Mike,” he wrote to X.
That wasn’t it for headlines for Tyson on Thursday (Nov. 14), as tensions boiled over at the official weigh-ins when Iron Mike took offense to Paul appearing to step on his toes during the face-off, with Mike slapping his opponent across the face.
50 had more jokes, as he reposted an older interview clip of Tyson admitting how much he hates when people step on his feet. “If someone stepped on my feet, I’d totally give up and tap out,” Tyson says in the video.
“See you step on an older man’s feet, and s–t can get crazy. LOL,” 50 added with his caption to the post.
No more talking, as Tyson and Jake Paul will finally step into the ring and fight on Friday night. The boxing main card starts at 8 p.m. ET and is streaming on Netflix.
Watch Tyson’s interview with Jazzy below:
SZA has spoken out about her Glastonbury Festival headlining set, saying that she was “scared” and “freaked out” during the show in June.
The “Kill Bill” artist experienced numerous technical difficulties during her performance, with her microphone sounding muffled and occasionally inaudible during the opening 30 minutes. The show received mixed reviews from critics and attendees, with other performers on smaller stages appearing to pull bigger crowds. She headlined the final night of the festival, following Dua Lipa and Coldplay on the Pyramid Stage the previous two evenings.
Speaking to British Vogue, she said of the show, “I just felt like nothing I could do would be enough for Glastonbury, no matter what I did.” She also added, “It scared me. I was like, well, I wish I wasn’t doing it, but I couldn’t walk away from it.”
“It’s such a tall order,” SZA told the publication. “It’s like, no matter what you do here, you will be subject to criticism because of who you are. But that’s life. That’s life, you know?”
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She continued, “I’m like, I’m freaked out right now. I’m scared. I feel like I’m drowning on stage and I feel like I’m failing.”
SZA also said that she felt the pressure to follow Beyoncé as the “second Black woman in history” to headline the festival. Beyoncé topped the bill in 2011, though Skin from British rock band Skunk Anainse also headlined the festival in 1999.
The first tickets for the 2025 edition of the festival went on sale Thursday (Nov. 14), with punters hoping to purchase a coach and weekend entry ticket package. A general sale will take place on Sunday (Nov. 17) for the 200,000-capacity festival, with tickets expected to sell out within hours.
Earlier this month, Glastonbury announced a new sale process for the event. Previously, the festival operated a random entry system onto the ticketing vendor’s website, which encouraged users to refresh their browsers multiple times to try and gain entrance to buy tickets. This year they’ve implemented a queuing system, meaning that fans will have to wait their turn to enter the site.
“All Girls are the Same” served as Juice WRLD’s introduction into the rap game as his debut commercial single, and six years later, his team is posthumously serving up the sequel. Nicki Minaj and Halsey joined Juice WLRD — who died in December 2019 — on “All Girls are the Same 2 (Insecure),” which hit streaming services on Friday (Nov. 15).
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“This is a brand new song,” Minaj revealed on Instagram while promoting the single’s cover art. She provides a guest verse, while Halsey lends backing vocals to Juice’s track.
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Fans were excited to hear about the trio joining forces. “I already know this gonna be one of those songs that I won’t be able to put down,” one Barb wrote in Nicki’s comment section on IG.
Produced by Nick Mira, “All Girls are the Same” arrived in April 2018 and reached No. 92 on the Billboard Hot 100. The emotive anthem eventually eclipsed 1 billion streams on Spotify.
It’s still unclear is “All Girls are the Same 2 (Insecure)” will land on Juice’s final posthumous album The Party Never Ends.
The Chicago native teamed up with Halsey when hopping on her “Without Me” anthem, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2019 to give Halsey her first chart-topper. She returned the favor to join Juice on Legends Never Die‘s “Life’s a Mess.”
Juice and Nicki both guested on Young Thug’s “Money” from his Business Is Business album, which was released in 2023 while Thugger was still behind bars. She also popped up on “Transformer” from Juice WRLD and Future’s WRLD On Drugs joint effort.
The “Lucid Dreams” rhymer opened up for Minaj on her Nicki Wrld Tour in February and March 2019, which consisted of 19 shows overseas, but a few were canceled due to technical and production matters.
“That s–t was lit,” Juice said in April 2019 of the European trek on The Breakfast Club before they pressed him about the cancellations. “It was deeper than that. Some of the venues that we went to didn’t have the capacity to deal with the production… F–k was we gonna do have a dark show? … It was a learning experience. That was my first time doing consistent stadiums night after night.”
While teasing a Pink Friday 2 deluxe, Minaj also previewed a snippet of a Juice WRLD track. “So, the question is do you guys think I should put the Juice World song on the deluxe?” she reportedly said in August. “It would be incredible for me I think to have Juice WRLD on this album.”
Stream the track below.
As our current political discourse gets especially dark, Lil Nas X is going out of his way to find the “Light Again” with his latest song. On Friday (Nov. 15), the rapper unveiled his new single “Light Again,” which comes off of his recently announced sophomore album, Dreamboy. Throughout the pounding, house-inspired new song, Lil […]
Carmelo Anthony is finally telling his “Is Stevie Wonder really blind” story. Celebrities and fans alike love telling tales about the legendary Stevie Wonder doing and saying things that may or may not prove that he can see. There are full-on (tongue-in-cheek) conspiracy theories about this subject. One famous story was told by Shaq a […]
Offset was reportedly involved in a street brawl earlier this week in front of his hotel in Paris. According to TMZ, the Atlanta native and his crew were throwing hands outside Hôtel du Collectionneur with members of French rapper Gazo’s entourage. TMZ alleges that the argument started over Offset’s appearance in a music video, which […]
Jay-Z’s Sean Carter Foundation is looking to help out students at historically Black colleges and universities in a major way. The foundation announced the launch of the Champions for Financial Legacy (CFFL) on Wednesday (Nov. 13). The educational financial initiative was formed in collaboration with the esteemed Wharton School of Business at the University of […]
Boyz II Men have joined the list of beloved artists getting the biopic treatment.
The group — which includes members Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman and Wanyá Morris — have partnered with Compelling Pictures and Primary Wave to develop the film, according to Variety. Additionally, Compelling is working on a documentary about the group’s rise and impact throughout the 1990s and 2000s, and how their success continues today.
Producers for the upcoming film include Denis O’Sullivan and Jeff Kalligheri for Compelling; Larry Mestel for Primary Wave; Joe Mulvihill for the Mulvi Group; and Jeremy M. Rosen for Roxwell Films. All three members of Boyz II Men will serve as executive producers for the project, along with Ori Allon, Dennis Casali and Steven Garcia. The producers are reportedly in talks with writers and directors to lead the project.
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“We’ve been waiting to find the right partners who understand our story and are willing to tell it all,” Morris said in a press statement. “Denis and Jeff at Compelling Pictures understood us day one.”
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Among the musicians whose biopics are currently in production include Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Jenni Rivera, Janis Joplin, Queen Latifah, Sublime and more.
Biopics have proven to be wildly successful over the past few years. 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody (which grossed over $900 million globally) gave Queen’s discography a major boost. In the six months following its release, Queen’s music streams tripled, from 588 million to 1.9 billion. Sales, too, had a 483% increase from the previous year. In mid-2019, the band occupied the top two spots on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart.
Meanwhile, Elton John’s hits collection Diamonds occupied the No. 4 slot thanks to a biopic boost from the 2019 musical Rocketman. In June, the set also catapulted to No. 7 on the Billboard 200, making it John’s 20th top 10 album.
“Whatever Wham say goes.” That’s the phrase that popped up on billboards in L.A., referencing a Young Thug jailhouse tweet from June. The YSL boss teased new music with his fellow Atlanta rapper Lil Baby, tweeting, “Wham let’s drop one on these rats peter,” shortly after coming home from Fulton County Jail.
Now, Baby is ready to say his piece with a brand new album — his first since 2022’s It’s Only Me. On Thursday (Nov. 14), the rapper released the lead single and video to his project WHAM: Who Hard As Me.
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“5AM” (produced by Wheezy and Sean Momberger) shows Baby trying to come to terms with the pressure of expectations and celebrity. He starts the song off by talking about those pitfalls, rapping, “How you managed to get everything you want and still ain’t happy?/ Half of me done died, the other half alive, I’m tryna balance it/ Granny said if it’s worth something to you, then it’s worth the challenge.”
Later in the song he raps about struggling with vulnerability and survivor’s guilt, saying, “Five in the mornin’, just me and a ‘Rari, don’t know where I’m goin’/ Thinkin’ ’bout all this sh—t, honestly, I don’t know how I be doin’ this/ Can’t be vulnerable, who I’m gon’ talk to when I’m going through it?/ Am I delusional? Keep tellin’ myself that it’s all good/ All I know is survival and dollars, I come from the hood.”
Last night, the Atlanta rapper took to Instagram and posted footage of himself shooting the new music video and recording the song with a caption that mentions he was going through a rough patch the last two years. “Ain’t it crazy how they tryna play me like i ain’t the one!!! It’s that time! I would say again, but this run will be totally different!!” he wrote. “I had the darkest period of my life these last two years, but I stayed down and overcame that sh—t now I’m back to f—kin sh—t up as usual…, Sincerely, Wham!! Who hard as me. Let’s go.”
While no release date for the album has been announced, Baby wrote on X that he was dropping another single and video this week. He was recently spotted in the studio with Young Thug and Future, so there could be something from the trio coming soon.
Check out Lil Baby’s new video for “5AM” above.