R&B/Hip-Hop
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Playboi Carti explosively shut down the final night of Rolling Loud on Sunday (March 16), bringing out The Weeknd for a jaw-dropping closing set. Following the blockbuster release of his highly anticipated new album Music on Friday (March 14), Carti delivered a resounding performance at Rolling Loud California that included guest appearances from Kai Cenat, […]
Stevie Wonder has added another major stop to his Love, Light & Song U.K. tour. The R&B legend will headline BST Hyde Park for the third time when he performs on the Great Oak Stage on July 12; support act will be named later. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, […]
Iggy Azalea has accused Universal Music Group (UMG) of withholding millions of dollars in unpaid royalties, taking to social media to demand what she claims is rightfully hers.
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The Australian rapper, known for her 2014 smash hit “Fancy,” claimed in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, claiming that UMG has failed to pay her international royalties throughout her career. “Crazy how in my entire career I was never paid a single royalty by Universal Music for anything outside of the USA. They owe me millions of dollars in back pay, that they technically stole from me, as per my contract I am due payment. The amount owed is in the 8-figure range,” the rapper wrote.
She further revealed that UMG attempted to settle the matter with a payout far below what she believes she is owed. “Last week they tried to respond to my lawyer and offer me a settlement of 18k. I’m told this is a normal response from their lawyers and after appearing in court they end up paying millions as they’re supposed to.”
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Azalea, whose real name is Amethyst Amelia Kelly, signed with Island Def Jam under the UMG umbrella in 2013 before moving to Island Records and eventually parting ways with the company in 2018. Despite her departure, she claims that the label has continued to withhold her earnings, particularly from outside the United States.
Beyond her own case, Azalea expanded her criticism to UMG’s treatment of artists in general.“I’d like to publicly say that I think Universal Music are criminals who actively take advantage of ALL of their artists in perpetuity for their own gain … Universal music really needs to do better in their treatment of the artists who quite literally earn them millions via intellectual property they had zero part in creating. Yuck.”
The rapper didn’t hold back in her final statement, making a direct demand to the label: “Universal music mark my words you ugly b**** – You will pay me what’s owed.” She added that her dispute with UMG has been ongoing for “over two years and counting.”
UMG has not publicly responded to Azalea’s accusations. However, this is not the first time the label has faced allegations of withholding royalties.
Limp Bizkit previously sued UMG, claiming they had not been paid their due earnings due to a software system allegedly designed to “systematically prevent artists from being paid their royalties.”
Azalea has remained independent since leaving the major label system, releasing music on her own terms. While she has not announced any specific legal action, her posts suggest that the fight for her royalties is far from over.
Azalea has earned four career Billboard 200 entries, including her Grammy-nominated debut studio album, The New Classic (No. 3), her highest-charting entry on the ranking to date. On the Billboard Hot 100, she has notched three top ten hits from 13 total entries, including “Problem” (No. 2, with Ariana Grande), “Black Widow” (No. 3, with Rita Ora) and “Fancy” (No. 1, with Charli XCX). Her most recent musical release is last year’s “Money Come,” which received a remix featuring Ivorian Doll and Big Boss Vette.
When offensive lineman James Hudson III signed with the New York Giants on Thursday (March 13), he probably didn’t expect to hear from T-Pain hours later.
The Giants posted a photo of Hudson III inking his two-year $11 million agreement to X and fans began saying he looked like T-Pain and made references to the Nappy Boy Entertainment CEO.
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“I’m finna turn this franchise around,” T-Pain hilariously promised when quote-tweeting the photo of Hudson on X.
Aye chill out 😂— James Hudson III ™ (@Cinco_Cinco3) March 14, 2025
Hudson had a sense of humor about the exchange as he replied to T-Pain with a laughing emoji: “Aye chill out.”
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T-Pain’s original response has over 278,000 likes and counting since Thursday night. Football fans chimed in looking to see what skillset the Florida native had to offer. “Mr. Pain, Jokes aside, we need a quarterback. Talk soon,” one Giants fan asked.
Another joked: “New song coming soon — I’m In Love With A Kicker!”
T-Pain’s Nappy Boy Entertainment leaned into the joke further when crafting a fake quote from ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith. “The fact other teams in the National Football League did not sign him sooner… is criminal,” they wrote.
Hudson spent the first four seasons of his career playing offensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns before signing with Big Blue.
Although he didn’t sign with the Green Bay Packers, T-Pain is returning to his second home of Wiscansin in June for his fourth annual Wiscansin Fest.
The “Buy U A Drank” singer will be hitting The Rave stage alongside Pusha T, Wale, Keyshia Cole, Feid, NLE Choppa, DJ Diesel (Shaquille O’Neal), Jermaine Dupri, Kash Doll, Armani White, and more to be announced at a later date.
Tickets for the two-day festival going down on June 13 and June 14 are now available.
It’s always a blessing when two legends link up. After announcing their upcoming EP and releasing the single last month, Roc Marciano and DJ Premier just dropped the video for “Armani Section.” Directed by POE, Roc and Preemo hangout and do some shopping in L.A. and they brought along a couple luxury vehicles to lamp […]
Sometimes the past meets the present. Will Smith took it back to 1990 — The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air‘s pilot episode to be exact — when recreating the famed dance scene with Tatyana Ali (Ashley Banks) and a surprise appearance from Doechii.
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Smith posted the fun clip to Instagram on Friday (March 14) featuring him barging in on Ali jamming out and listening to Doechii’s “Anxiety” on her Walkman headphones, and then the Swamp Princess joins the fun to complete her “Anxiety” dance trend, which has taken over TikTok.
“Waited 35 years for this dance to trend,” Will Smith captioned the video. Fans were loving the nostalgic blast from the past as well.
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“Loool! Love it! And love y’all,” actress Meagan Good wrote. DJ Jazzy Jeff chimed in: “Amazing!”
ESPN/MSG Networks basketball analyst Monica McNutt said she’s firing up Hulu and “fitna go watch this episode!”
Will’s son, Jaden, was just looking for a heads up when things are popping off at home. “Dad you gotta tell me what’s happening in the crib so I can fly home bro,” he jokingly wrote.
Smith’s brain seemingly got churning last week when he reposted the original Fresh Prince scene to social media and thanked fans for the love as “Anxiety” began to take TikTok by storm. “I’ve been watching y’all and every video has been better than the last!! Love that track @Doechii. @Tatyana Ali remember this?” he wrote.
The Grammy-winning rapper linked up earlier this week when Smith posted a trippy clip mouthing the words to “Anxiety” in a mirror, but when the chair turns around, Doechii is the one actually sitting down.
Doechii released the solo version of “Anxiety” to streaming services on March 5. The track samples Gotye‘s 2012 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hit “Somebody That I Used to Know” featuring Kimbra.
It was originally part of her Coven Music Sessions, which were released on YouTube in 2019. Sleepy Hallow ended up sampling it on his own “Anxiety” track in 2023. Thanks to the TikTok trend setting social media ablaze, Hallow’s version debuted at No. 45 on this week’s Hot 100.
Will Smith is in for a busy month as he announced on Friday that his Based on a True Story album will be released on March 28. It’s Smith’s first full-length LP in over 20 years. The project will feature Big Sean, Joyner Lucas, Teyana Taylor, Russ, Fridayy, his longtime running mate DJ Jazzy Jeff and more.
Find the Based on a True Story cover art below.
Mariah Carey is certified within rap circles and Cam’ron can attest to that.
The songstress frequently hung out and partied with rap stars during the ’90s and 2000s and never shied away from aligning herself with the genre as she rose to pop superstardom, having one of the more memorable pop rap hits in “Fantasy (Remix)” featuring the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard.
Cam’ron was one rapper who used to chill with Mimi back in the day and they’ve been rumored to be linked romantically throughout the years, but it has always been innuendo. In 2002, Carey was such a big fan of Cam’ron hit single “Oh Boy” featuring fellow Dipset member Juelz Santana, that she reworked the song for her record “Boy (I Need You)” and made sure to have Cam featured on it. They even performed the song on BET’s 106 & Park with Cam’ron donning his iconic pink fur outfit.
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A few years back, the Harlem rapper got into a trolling war Carey’s ex Nick Cannon where Killa posted photos of himself and the Long Island singer with captions insinuating that they once had a thing for each other. However, he was only joking around and in 2023, he reposted one of the pics along with the caption, “I’m the friend you shouldn’t worry about.”
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He addressed these old rumors on a recent episode of his YouTube show Talk With Flee. When asked by co-host Sen City about the nature of their relationship, Cam denied them and emphasized that their relationship has always been platonic. “She’s a friend,” he answered. “She’s a good friend. It’s nothing more, nothing less than that. She’s a super-duper good friend.”
He then commended her hip-hop knowledge and said she deserves more credit for bridging the gap between rap and the mainstream early on in her career. “We gotta realize,” he began. “When it comes to Mariah Carey — because she’s such a pop figure and so popular around the world and a mega superstar — people don’t give Mariah Carey a lot of credit for putting Hip Hop in her music and videos.”
Adding, “Mariah Carey worked with Da Brat, Mariah Carey worked with The LOX, Mariah Carey with Ma$e, Mariah Carey worked with me. Mariah Carey worked with Ol’ Dirty Bastard… I think she’s very underrated — that’s the word I would prefer to use — on how much she indulges in hip-hop and how much light she brings to hip-hop artists.”
Their friendship started when she heard “Oh Boy” and reached out. “She liked a song of mine and then we did ‘Boy’ and we hung out,” Cam explained. “She invited me [to Aspen]. Honestly, Mariah’s the first person who made me realize that it was festive in the Aspens about 20-something years ago. I drunk some wine, she had a pool house, we chilled out for a couple days… She took me to Capri, to Italy. She took me a lot of different places, but she’s just a friend.”
You can watch the clip below.
King Vamp season has returned.
1,540 days after his influential sophomore Whole Lotta Red album landed on Christmas Day in 2020, Playboi Carti finally released his much-delayed and highly anticipated I Am Music album on Friday (March 14).
I Am Music hit streaming services in the morning with the Atlanta rapper sending out a tweet around 7:30 am ET with Spotify link attached after yet another postponement, which fans speculated to be tied to the blood moon eclipse. However, Carti didn’t seem too worried as he posted a clip on FaceTime with Justin Bieber to social media as he ate pasta on his Spotify billion-stream plaque for “FE!N”.
The LP is loaded with star-studded features from the likes of Young Thug, Travis Scott, Future, Kendrick Lamar, The Weeknd, Lil Uzi Vert, Skepta and Ty Dolla $ign. While employing an impressive list of producers that included Cardo, Metro Boomin, Soutside, F1lthy, Ye, Cash Cobain, and production duo Ojivolta, among many others.
“[This album] is very important to me because I feel like I have something to prove,” he told Numéro Berlin in 2023. “This is my moment, this is the one for me. You know, this album right here is – I say this for everything, but – I think it’s going to be my best album because I’m just popping it. It starts with music. That’s it. As long as I got that, it’s up.”
He also told Billboard, “I want to make the people feel like they don’t know what is about to happen,” during a cover story profile and that’s exactly the feeling you’re going to get the first time you hit play.
And with that being said, check out our rankings of every song on I Am Music below.
“Pop Out”
03/14/2025
Who sounded the most at home in King Vamp’s world?
03/14/2025
While fans are savoring Playboi Carti’s long-awaited release, MUSIC, one artist isn’t necessarily too fond of the new album. On Friday morning (March 14), Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) shared his thoughts on Kendrick Lamar’s heavy involvement on Carti’s 30-track effort.
“I DON’T LIKE KENDRICK LAMARS MUSIC,” an exacerbated Ye posted on X. “HE RAPS VERY GOOD BUT I DIDNT NEED TO HEAR HIM ON CARTI ALBUM.”
Billboard reached out to Playboi Carti and Kendrick Lamar’s reps for comment.
Ye’s targeted post of Lamar comes a month after he said that the Compton rapper was the only one who could beat him in a rap battle. “If you rap against Kendrick, you will lose,” Ye said during his interview with Justin LaBoy on The Download. “This man does this. You know, in Street Fighter, you get Chun-Li, you get a certain kick, and no matter what, you can’t beat that thing?”
Continued Ye, who has faced ongoing backlash for his hate speech: “If you rap against Kendrick Lamar, like Joe Budden said, ‘Never rap against Kendrick Lamar.’ If you rap against Kendrick Lamar, it’s a difficult task, but perhaps it’s something … I’m a psycho genius, so you know, it could be.”
Carti’s colossal release includes three Lamar appearances. The newly formed tandem teamed up on “Good Credit,” “Mojo Jojo” and the Ye-produced song “Backdoor.” For Carti, MUSIC marks his return after a five-year layoff after his seminal 2020 album Whole Lotta Red debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with 100,000 equivalent album units, marking his first-ever chart-topper.
Aside from K. Dot’s trio of assists, MUSIC features a stacked lineup of hip-hop heavyweights including Future, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Lil Uzi Vert and more. Fans experienced delays after a promised midnight release from the self-proclaimed King Vamp. After missing out on the initial 12 a.m. ET drop, Cardi vowed the album would come out at 3 a.m. ET, but it arrived closer to 4.
For Carti, MUSIC, is shaping up to be a well-timed release. He’ll quickly get the ball rolling with his headlining performance at Rolling Loud California this weekend. Shortly after, Carti will embark on a stadium tour with The Weeknd, where he’ll serve as his opener.