R&B/Hip-Hop
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Chris Brown‘s 2019 summer smash “No Guidance,” featuring Drake, becomes his first diamond-certified record by the Recording Industry Association of America, the RIAA announced on Wednesday (Nov. 13). Diamond certification is given to artists whose songs have moved 10 million units. According to the RIAA, one equivalent song unit is equal to a single digital song sale, or 150 […]
SZA’s back.
After taking over the music scene with her record-breaking sophomore album, SOS, in December 2022, the 35-year-old star has maintained a relatively low profile since. In a new British Vogue interview, she’s ready to return to the music scene, revealing that she has not one, but two releases up her sleeves.
According to the publication, both the deluxe version of SOS and her third studio album, Lana, are on the way. “I think I am making music from a more beautiful place. From a more possible place versus a more angsty place,” she explained. “I’m not identifying with my brokenness. It’s not my identity. It’s shit that happened to me. Yeah, I experienced cruelty. I have to put it down at some point. Piece by piece, my music is shifting because of that, the lighter I get.”
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Elsewhere in the story, her TDE label mate Kendrick Lamar praised her creative openness. “I recognize a more expressive SZA. The shy s— is completely out the window – to a degree, at least,” he said. “She has the answers to some of the things she was curious about and is willing to tell it all in the most disruptive yet beautiful compositions this generation has ever heard.”
Following its release, SOS debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with 318,000 equivalent album units – the third-highest debut week of 2022 – and shattered the record for the biggest streaming week for an R&B album by a woman, with 404.6 million official on-demand streams for the album’s songs, according to Luminate. It spent 10 total weeks atop the chart, and became the first R&B album by a woman to hit the double-digit mark since Mariah Carey’s self-titled debut posted 11 weeks at No. 1 in 1991.
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The album’s longstanding hit single, “Kill Bill,” dominated on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, racking up 21 weeks at No. 1, surpassing the 20-week run of Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, as the song with the most weeks at No. 1 on the chart since it became an all-encompassing genre survey in 1958.
At the 2023 Grammy Awards, she led the nominees with nine nods, and ended up taking home three awards. SOS won best progressive R&B album, “Snooze” snagged best R&B song and her Phoebe Bridgers collaboration, “Ghost in the Machine,” won best pop duo/group performance.
A$AP Rocky adds to his “Fashion Killa” with more hardware. Footwear News announced on Thursday (Nov. 14) that the Harlem-bred rapper will be honored with the 2024 Collaboration of the Year alongside his creative partner Puma at the Footwear News Achievement Awards. Rocky will accept the coveted award during a gala for the FNAAs — […]
Moses “Shyne” Barrow is gearing up for the release of his candid The Honorable Shyne documentary, which will land on Hulu on Nov. 18.
The former Bad Boy rapper-turned-politician stopped by the Tamron Hall Show on Wednesday (Nov. 13), where he discussed overcoming hardships, Belize and his turbulent relationship with his embattled ex-boss Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Hall pressed Shyne about reuniting with Diddy to perform “Bad Boyz” with him at the 2022 BET Awards, which he labeled a “legacy moment” and a chance to honor hip-hop as well as Belize, where he serves as the the Leader of the Opposition in the Belize House of Representatives. “I didn’t want to do it, but he said, ‘Listen, this is about Belize. Imagine this platform,’” Shyne explained.
She then cited a time on stage when Diddy — who is currently behind bars awaiting trial after being indicted on charges for sex trafficking and racketeering — referred to Shyne as his “brother” after all they went through.
“I wish I was his brother in 2000 when we were on trial,” Shyne quipped in reference to their fallout after the 1999 NYC nightclub shooting which saw him charged and Diddy walking away scot-free. “I wish I was his brother for the last 26 years when my mom, who is here with me, never got any assistance. He never helped to dry her tears.”
Shyne was sentenced in 2001 to a decade behind bars on first-degree assault, gun possession and reckless endangerment charges, while Diddy was acquitted on gun possession and bribery in the case.
“I keep having to put into context without spitting on someone’s grave that this is the person that destroyed my life,” he declared to Hall. “You hear my mom, she’ll probably start crying when she comes on this couch. People ask, ‘Do you think that he did those things?’ Well, I know what he did to my family so the potential is there.”
After serving eight years in prison, Shyne was released in 2009, but was immediately deported to Belize, where he began his redemption arc and pivoted to a career in politics.
“I moved on and I healed,” he reflected. “I didn’t see him shooting, but I know that he made me take the fall. I know that he called witnesses to testify against me. We sat here and I said, ‘Please, don’t call that witness. That witness is going to destroy me and the witness is lying.’ So I had to tell that truth.”
Billboard has reached out to Diddy’s reps for comment.
Watch the video below. Stream The Honorable Shyne on Hulu on Nov. 18.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Maps” ties Mitski’s “My Love Mine All Mine” for the second-longest rule in the history of the TikTok Billboard Top 50 chart, while the lower half of the top 10 dated Nov. 16 features new blood, paced by Beyoncé‘s “Diva.”
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The TikTok Billboard Top 50 is a weekly ranking of the most popular songs on TikTok in the United States based on creations, video views and user engagement. The latest chart reflects activity from Nov. 4-10. Activity on TikTok is not included in Billboard charts except for the TikTok Billboard Top 50.
With its sixth week at No. 1 (all consecutive), “Maps” takes over sole possession of the second-longest streak at No. 1 since the chart began in September 2023 (“My Love Mine All Mine,” which also led for six weeks overall, reigned for a pair of three-week periods). Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby,” with its 10-weeks-in-a-row streak, holds the all-time mark.
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“Maps,” released on Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ 2003 debut album Fever to Tell, remains driven by a pair of TikTok trends, one a dance challenge and the other using a filter where the user’s facial features are removed and then cascade back down onto their face. One of the utilized sounds is a sped-up version of the song.
For the fourth week in a row, “Maps,” Alphaville’s “Forever Young” and Akon’s “Akon’s Beautiful Day” rank as the chart’s top three, in that order. While No. 3 remains the latter’s peak, “Forever Young” reached No. 1 for a week in October.
From there, the ranking’s top 10 is far less static. Tyler, the Creator’s “Like Him,” featuring Lola Young,” breaks into the top five for the first time, lifting 6-4 in its second week. The song from the rapper’s new album Chromakopia (which tops the Billboard 200 for a second week, as previously reported) rises thanks to another week of the “do I look like him” trend, with creators using the clip to showcase complicated father-child relationships (fictional or real), comparisons to athletes and people past and present, and more.
“Like Him” jumps 10% to 13.7 million official U.S. streams in the week ending Nov. 7, according to Luminate. Concurrently, it vaults 45-29 on the multimetric Billboard Hot 100.
Aphex Twin’s “QKThr” rounds out the top five of the TikTok Billboard Top 50 (up 10-5, one spot away from its No. 4 best), while Beyoncé’s “Diva” follows at No. 6, its first time in the top 10. “Diva,” from the 2008 album I Am…Sasha Fierce, reached No. 19 on the Hot 100 back in 2009.
“Diva” has found new life on TikTok in 2024 via a trend where creators show off their diva-like behavior. It jumps 17% to 2.3 million streams in the Nov. 1-7 tracking week.
Two other songs appear in the TikTok Billboard Top 50’s top 10 for the first time: Gracie Abrams’ “That’s So True” at No. 8, and the live version of Michael Prince’s “Finesse,” featuring Koncept P, at No. 9.
Abrams’ “That’s So True,” released Oct. 18 on the deluxe version of her The Secret of Us album, has gone viral since, paced by lip-synching trends. It zooms to 18.9 million streams, up 26%, in the latest tracking week, good for a 25-13 rise on the Hot 100.
“Finesse,” meanwhile, was released in May on Prince’s Limitless – A Trap Symphony, with its recent gains tied to a trend using the song’s “do you not get the concept?” lyric, generally a two-person dance trend with one person mimicking playing a violin. It earned 437,000 streams in the tracking week ending Nov. 7, up 67%.
And returning to the top 10 after an 11-month respite is Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” which shoots 17-7. It spend eight weeks in the top 10 during last holiday season, from the charts dated Nov. 18, 2023, to Jan. 6, 2024, sitting at No. 1 those final two frames.
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” paces holiday-related content on the latest tally, ahead of Wham!’s “Last Christmas” (No. 13, up from No. 48) and Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (a re-entry at No. 22).
See the full TikTok Billboard Top 50 here. You can also tune in each Friday to SiriusXM’s TikTok Radio (channel 4) to hear the premiere of the chart’s top 10 countdown at 3 p.m. ET, with reruns heard throughout the week.
Ice Spice is now a playable character in Fortnite as part of Battle Royale’s Chapter 2 Remix. The Bronx rapper turned Shark Island into Ice Isle on Thursday (Nov. 14) as the abandoned shopping mall map takes on a nostalgic Y2K! theme. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and […]
Drake has made his disdain for Pharrell known on several occasions with bars from “Meltdown” and “Family Matters” sniping at Skateboard P. The 6 God even purchased some of Pharrell’s jewelry in the Joopiter auction and flexed in P’s $2 million N.E.R.D. necklace in the “Jumbotron S–t Poppin” visual.
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GQ named Pharrell its Designer of the Year for 2024 and at one point in Wednesday’s (Nov. 13) interview the Neptunes legend was asked how he felt about Drake melting down his old chains and Pharrell revealed he’s been unbothered by it all.
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“No, because I think beyond all of the on-goings, at the heart of all of it, he’s a fan of music,” P said of Drake making the purchase. “He’s a fan of the history of what it is, and I happen to be a part of that, and those artifacts are a part of it.”
Pharrell was tight-lipped when questioned about the Drake disses and how “it struck him.”
“It didn’t,” he replied. “No.”
On a broader scale, the Louis Vuitton Men’s Creative Director explained how letting go of all the jewelry in the auction was his way of disconnecting from the value of the items.
“Or not. I guess some things are not for me to understand. When you let things go, a huge part of it is actually letting go,” he added. “Not just of the physical item, but letting go of your connection to what it’s supposed to mean, or the memory.”
P continued, “You’re literally letting them go. That was the purpose. It’s like when people sell something and they go, ‘I just want to make sure you take care of it because this is my baby.’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no.’ This is not my baby. That’s why I’m letting it go.”
Drake jabs at Pharrell on Utopia‘s “Meltdown” with Travis Scott. “I melt down the chains that I bought from yo’ boss/ Give a f–k about all of that heritage s–t,” he raps.
Pharrell even found himself in the middle of the Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud. Lamar stuck up for the superproducer on “Euphoria.” “I don’t like you poppin’ s–t at Pharrell, for him, I inherit the beef/ Yeah, fuck all that pushin’ P, let me see you push a T,” he spews.
Drake then directly responded on “Family Matters” when baiting Kendrick to come get his legacy — in this case the chains — out of his mansion. “You wanna take up for Pharrell/ Then come get his legacy out of my house,” the OVO boss replied.
Who needs therapy when you have Navy Blue the Truest? The West Coast rapper, pro skateboarder, and model just dropped the video to his Nicholas Craven-produced song “Red Roses from his album Memoirs in Armour released back in August. Directed by Nicholas Stafford Briggs and Grayson Kohs in charge of cinematography, the video is centers […]
Fredro Starr, rapper, actor and member of influential Queens rap group Onyx, recently sat down with Art of Dialogue and revealed that the group gets royalty checks from Travis Scott‘s “Sicko Mode.” Scott’s record — which also features Drake, Swae Lee and Big Hawk — samples The Notorious B.I.G.‘s song “Gimme the Loot” from his […]
New details regarding PnB Rock’s 2022 murder have emerged. True Crime News got its hands on surveillance footage inside the Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles on the fateful day PnB Rock — born Rakim Allen — was killed, and the clips suggest the rapper/singer was set up.
Reporter Ana Garcia narrates the video that shows a person fist-bumping PnB around the time of his and fiancée Stephanie Sibounheuang’s 12:20 p.m. PT lunch arrival. Security footage outside the restaurant finds two people hashing out a plan to rob the Philly native of his estimated $500,000 in jewelry.
They would go on to alert the gunman, who pulled up to Roscoe’s in South Central around 1:17 p.m. PT, and it wasn’t long before he pulled the trigger — firing three shots into PnB Rock’s midsection and leaving him in a pool of blood as an unarmed security guard, staff members and innocent bystanders fled the scene.
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Bodycam footage of police arriving on the scene five minutes later, along with Sibounheuang being interrogated by investigators, is also included, along with the heartbreaking moment she learne of PnB’s death as he succumbed to his injuries at a local L.A. hospital.
Sibounheuang posted an Instagram Story of her chicken and waffles during their meal, which included a geotag of the Roscoe’s location (PnB Rock was not in the photo). She blamed herself for the fatal attack, and many others on social media attempted to hold her responsible, but Garcia explained to CBS News that the setup was made by two people inside the restaurant and had nothing to do with her post.
“She didn’t get to post that photo until much later. It was those two [in the restaurant] that were responsible for the death of PnB,” Garcia said, while exonerating Sibounheuang. “The setup was just to steal his jewelry. The girlfriend blamed herself that it was her fault, and it wasn’t her fault. Social media and other celebrities jumped all over to blame her.”
PnB Rock leaves behind two daughters. His first, Milan Allen, was born in 2013, and Sibounheuang gave birth to Xuri Lee in 2020.
Freddie Lee Trone was found guilty in August of sending his 17-year-old son to shoot and murder PnB Rock in 2022. Trone, 42, was sentenced to 31 years behind bars in September on a count of murder, two counts of robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery.
Prosecutors ruled that Trone’s 17-year-old son wasn’t fit to stand trial, which led to Trone being charged in the case. A second defendant, Tremont Jones, was also sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in the murder on multiple robbery charges.
Watch the never-before-seen footage below.