R&B/Hip-Hop
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Snoop Dogg has reacted to Drake’s pair of legal actions against Universal Music Group in which he alleges that his label artificially inflated the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
The West Coast legend is on a press run in support of his Missionary album with Dr. Dre, and he stopped by The Bootleg Kev Podcast on Tuesday (Dec. 17).
Kev asked Snoop about myriad topics, including his thoughts on Drake’s legal action against his parent label, which Snoop initially offered up a “no comment” before expanding briefly. “On the West, we hold court in the streets,” he said of his policing preference rather than turning to the legal system.
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In November, Drake filed a pair of legal actions, which also alleged that UMG could’ve stopped the release of “Not Like Us,” which he believes defamed him and falsely accused him of being a sex offender. UMG denied Drizzy’s “offensive and untrue” allegations about artificially inflating numbers, telling Billboard at the time, “We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Snoop revealed he spoke to Kendrick Lamar in the weeks since K. Dot expressed his disappointment in one of his mentors on GNX‘s opening track “Wacced Out Murals.” In the midst of Kendrick’s feud with Drake, Snoop reposted Drizzy’s “Taylor Made Freestyle” — which included AI-generated vocals using Snoop’s voice — to Instagram.
“Snoop posted ‘Taylor Made,’ I prayed it was the edibles/ I couldn’t believe it, it was only right for me to let it go,” Lamar raps on the track.
Snoop Dogg quickly apologized and admitted it “was the edibles” and called Lamar the “West West King” shortly after on X.
“He’s a rapper he’s supposed to speak his mind and tell his truth,” Snoop told Bootleg Kev on Tuesday. “I’m his big homebody so I have to take what’s said from his perspective because he’s speaking truth. I’m willing to accept truth when it’s brought to me directly.”
Snoop explained he did a “collaborative post” on Instagram and allegedly didn’t even know what song he was posting. “I’m thinking I’m posting ‘Gin & Juice.’ Then I get the word [Kendrick] didn’t like what you posted,” he added. “Then I deleted it, called nephew and left him a message … Nephew, it’s uncle Snoop, I got the message I apologize I was f–ked up. My bad.”
Watch Snoop’s full interview below.
With just over a week to go before Beyoncé turns the Netflix-NFL Christmas Day halftime show into her very own Cowboy Carter rodeo, there’s still tons of new music racing to get heard before the calendar flips over to January 2025.
Between Bossman Dlow (Dlow Curry), Snoop Dogg & Dr. Dre (Missionary) and Roc Marciano & The Alchemist (The Skeleton Key), hip-hop heavyweights kept the new projects rolling in. In addition, R&B sent a sterling representative in Mario, who dropped Glad You Came, his first studio album in six years.
Speaking of Beyoncé, the Billboard staff’s Greatest Pop Star of the 21st Century (So Far), also became the woman with the most RIAA-certified titles in history (103). The impressive news comes the day after husband Jay-Z‘s attorney Alex Spiro spoke out Roc Nation’s New York headquarters, reiterating that the minor rape allegations levied against the rap mogul are “provably, demonstrably false” and “never happened.”
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Jay wasn’t the only rap icon in the news this week; Lil Wayne cleared the air on his friction with Kendrick Lamar after the latter secured the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show and name-dropped Tunechi in his “Wacced Out Murals” verse. In addition, Future — who headlined Rolling Loud Miami’s victorious tenth anniversary alongside Travis Scott and Playboi Carti — sent “Too Fast” to the top of three different airplay surveys (Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Rhythmic Airplay and Rap Airplay) in the same week (dated Dec. 21). Finally, SZA officially announced that the deluxe edition of her blockbuster SOS LP will arrive on Friday (Dec. 20).
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Sleepy Hallow and Babyface Ray’s new team-up to Tank and the Bangas’ ode to Black womanhood. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Tank and the Bangas, “This Black Girl”
This year, Tank and the Bangas picked up its third career Grammy nod, as “Todo Colores,” its team-up with Ibrahim Maalouf and Cimafunk, is nominated for best global music performance. To close out the year, the funky musical group has unleashed a loving ode to “This Black Girl.” Lead singer Tarriona “Tank” Ball begins things in media res by employing a spoken word-esque cadence in her delivery of, “This Black girl got a attitude/ This Black girl has a defense mechanism too, I feel played at least once a day/ I need the treatment that you give the white girls/ I know my worth,” over Kaidi Tatham’s lush, warm, slighlty ominous soundscape.
Less of a traditional song, this is Tank seizing the soap box for all Black girlhood and womanhood — particularly those whose Blackness can never be confused or obfuscated. Tank’s voice is filled with the conviction of a priest, the tongue-in-cheek diction sourced from intracommunal conversations and the endless hope and indecipherable exhaustion of generations of Black women. “And I’m only gon’ cut that shit once,” she proclaims in the song’s outro. “I ain’t doing it again/ Ooh, that felt powerful y’all/ Ooh, that felt powerful.” — KYLE DENIS
Sleepy Hallow & Babyface Ray, “Top Tier”
The Brooklyn native returned last week with his Read This When You Wake Up album, and Sleepy Hallow reasserted that he isn’t one to be slept on in the drill scene. The woozy “Top Tier” finds SH connecting with Detroit’s own Babyface Ray, as Sleepy ruminates about his near-death experiences — but he’s still here to tell the tales. “They say you toxic, bae, you top tier/ I keep a Glock, ’cause I got shot and life is not fair,” he raps. Ray invades the scene with a shout-out to NY’s Dyckman neighborhood and admits he’s kicked a prescription drugs habit as he’s put the bottle down. — MICHAEL SAPONARA
Mario, “Love Ain’t Perfect”
This year marks the 20-year anniversary of one of the most beloved R&B songs of the ’00s: Mario’s “Let Me Love You.” To celebrate, Mario kept pushing forward and treated fans to his first studio LP in six years, Glad You Came, via his New Citizen imprint through Epic Records. Though the three singles that preceded the album are all strong, “Love Ain’t Perfect” is the set’s hidden gem. “Baby, baby, baby, you turn me on/ Even you play me all day like a radio/ When it feels this good, you can’t let it go,” he croons, succinctly outlining the masochistic allure of an imperfect, but undeniably electric, connection. With BNYX behind the boards and James Fauntleroy helping out on the songwriting side, “Love Ain’t Perfect” is a solid synthesis of classic Mario and where he’s headed next. — K.D.
BossMan Dlow feat. Ice Spice, “Pillsbury Dlow”
BossMan Dlow is everyone’s cup of espresso to get up and be motivated to chase a bag. He caps off his rookie of the year campaign with his Dlow Curry album – an homage to the Golden State Warriors sniper Steph Curry. Nobody expected an Ice Spice appearance on the track, but her feature ended up being a slam dunk, as she slowed down her flow into cruise control mode. “Up and down his algorithm, every pic I post is pain/ I put that on that shit for real, broke hoes don’t even know the name,” she rhymes, while tormenting exes that fumbled her. — M.S.
Kalan.Frfr, “Dice Game”
With GNX keeping the upper reaches of the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 locked up, the West Coast is finishing out its seismic 2024 on top. Though he wasn’t one of the L.A. rappers featured on GNX, Kalan.FrFr is keeping up his Pop Out-assisted momentum with a new bass-heavy banger called “Dice Game.” “I done took the Wock’ a lot of places, never been to Poland/ Man, these niggas got lil’ money, Gary Coleman/ Yeah, either way it go, Rick James, Rick Owens/ Yeah, either way it go, bein’ tough ain’t no motion,” he spits over DTB’s gritty, synth-inflected beat, smartly combing cross-generational and cross-medium reference into one punchline-anchored verse. — K.D.
Sugarhill Ddot & Star Bandz, “Energy”
Two of the best teenage rappers out reconnect for another sexy drill anthem with “Energy,” which feels like a track Dej Loaf and Lil Durk would’ve ripped during their days of collaborating. Sugarhill Ddot and Star Bandz’s chemistry feels palpable and authentic. The duo should probably just lock in for a joint project, as speculation rages on that they could be rap’s junior prom power couple. Ddot and Star pass the mic back and forth living as young, wild and free teens figuring out life on the fly: “Yeah I like yo energy/ You bring out the best in me/ This s–t feel like destiny,” Bandz raps on the previously teased tune. — M.S.
Jay-Z’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, expects the rap mogul to be cleared of any wrongdoing in the coming days in the lawsuit filed earlier this month accusing him and Sean “Diddy” Combs of raping a 13-year-old girl at a 2000 MTV Video Music Awards afterparty.
Spiro hosted a press conference at Roc Nation’s headquarters in New York City on Monday afternoon (Dec. 16) where he defended his client’s innocence in the case while laying out a slideshow aiming to poke holes in the apparent inconsistencies of Jane Doe’s filing made by attorney Tony Buzbee.
Spiro chose not to unmask the now 38-year-old woman from Alabama who filed the complaint but chose to sharply criticize her case and her attorney. “This is not for truth and justice,” Spiro said. “This is for money.”
He continued: “When something isn’t real, when something doesn’t happen, you’re going to get the details wrong because you weren’t really there. [It’s] not possible. It’s because this never happened.”
According to her complaint earlier this month, the accuser got a ride from Rochester, N.Y. to New York City as a 13-year-old in 2000 to attend the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall, where she remained outside and later came into contact with Diddy’s limousine driver.
Doe claims she was taken to a “large white residence” about 20 minutes from the award show venue where she was served a drink and then repeatedly sexually assaulted by Diddy and Jay-Z (born Shawn Carter) while another unnamed celebrity watched the rape take place. She says she then escaped the afterparty and made it to a gas station where she allegedly called her father to pick her up.
Jay-Z’s lawyer Alex Spiro hosted a press conference vehemently defending his client against the rape allegations made in the lawsuit. “It’s because this never happened,” he repeated. pic.twitter.com/XHfONUIMcd— LordTreeSa🅿️ (@LordTreeSap) December 17, 2024
But in an interview with NBC News on Friday, the accuser admitted to multiple inconsistencies in her story. And in the same story, her father admitted he can’t recall picking up his daughter following the alleged traumatic events 24 years ago. “I feel like I would remember that, and I don’t,” he said. “I have a lot going on, but I mean, that’s something that would definitely stick in my mind.”
At Monday’s event, Spiro focused on those seeming shortcomings in the story: “[Jane Doe] said she’s at the party alone, this 13-year-old girl, and she finds herself in the room with the three most famous people at the party — just think about how unnatural, how little common sense that makes. And according to her, one of the witnesses is a female celebrity who’s just standing there watching the repetitive rape of a child,” Spiro added. “There’s an adult female in the room watching the rape of a child. Afterward, she says she runs out of the house naked — none of them notice that? None of them pay any notice? For 24 years, none of them has said anything?”
While Jay-Z is named alongside Diddy, who will remain behind bars until his trial in May, Spiro attempted to distance Hov from the embattled Bad Boy CEO.
“Mr. Carter has nothing to do with Mr. Combs’ case or Mr. Combs,” he stated. “They knew each other professionally for a number of years. Just like in all professions, people know each other. At music awards, they support each other. They go to the NBA All-Star Game, they support each other. That’s just how professions work. There is no closer association between any of them — that’s also a matter of fiction.”
According to Spiro, Jay is “upset” about what he views as a baseless lawsuit. “He’s upset that somebody would be allowed to do this, would be allowed to make a mockery of the system like this,” he continued. “He’s upset that this distracts and dissuades real victims from coming forward. He’s upset that his kids and family have to deal with this. And he should be upset.”
In an earlier response statement, Jay-Z denied the allegations against him and called Buzbee a “deplorable human.” At Monday’s event, Spiro hinted at further legal action being taken against Buzbee, who he said “will be dealt with” separately following the lawsuit.
In an exclusive statement to Billboard on Tuesday (Dec. 17), Buzbee claimed that “Mr. Spiro has a history of making threats against opposing lawyers.”
Buzzbee continued: “We won’t be intimidated and will raise his conduct with the relevant entities. As for us, we will continue to conduct ourselves professionally. The only reason this dispute is in the public sphere is that Mr. Spiro filed a frivolous case against my firm and claimed extortion with absolutely no support for such an outlandish claim. We will file the appropriate paperwork in due course.”
When it comes to quintessential covers of traditional holiday songs, arguably one of the best — and definitely most soulful — is The Temptations’ 1980 reinterpretation of the classic “Silent Night.” But during another holiday season 60 years ago, Motown Records released another classic that set the mold for the quintet’s legendary career: “My Girl.”
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Written and produced by fellow Motown legends and Miracles founding members Smokey Robinson and Ronnie White, “My Girl” was released through Motown subsidiary Gordy on Dec. 21, 1964. Three months later, in March 1965, the song had ascended to the top of Billboard’s pop and R&B charts, giving the Temptations their first No. 1 hit. “My Girl” also marked another milestone: the first Temptations single with David Ruffin as lead singer. Succeeding former original member Elbridge “Al” Bryant, Ruffin rounded out what became the group’s storied lineup alongside Melvin Franklin, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams and Paul Williams.
Now co-founder and last original member Otis Williams and The Temptations are celebrating the 60th anniversary of their mega-hit, which has now crossed the 1 billion streams mark on Spotify.
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The Temptations
Universal Music Archives
“I don’t think it gets any greater than that,” Williams tells Billboard on the eve of an anniversary run that kicked off with a performance of “My Girl” on the Today show Monday (Dec. 16) and includes visits to The View Tuesday (Dec. 17), Sherri and ABC News’ Nightline Wednesday (Dec. 18). Back in October during Game 5 of the National League Championship Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, the group performed the hit, which New York shortstop Francisco Lindor had adopted as his walk-up music. The ensuing stadium-wide singalong at Citi Field is what happens every time The Temptations perform their signature song that’s known worldwide.
And there’s no wiggle room when it comes to not performing “My Girl.” Willams remembers a concert that happened years ago when the group, for whatever reason, didn’t sing the song. “They called us almost every name except child of God,” recalls Williams with a laugh. “And I said, ‘Paul, that’s one song we can never ever take out of our lineup.’ Here it is 2024 and when we perform it, the audience stands up like it’s the national anthem.”
So what is it about “My Girl” that resonates so strongly 60 years after its release? People invariably mention the love ode’s instantly recognizable opening bass notes and romantic sentiments expressed in the lyrics (“I don’t need no money, fortune, or fame/ I’ve got all the riches, baby, one man can claim”) brought to life by Ruffin’s indelible vocals and The Temptations’ sweet harmonies.
For those who may not know, “My Girl” was the follow-up to another Robinson-written and produced hit that’s also celebrating its own 60th anniversary: Mary Wells’ “My Guy.” Reminiscing about “My Girl” during an episode of his SiriusXM show, Motown’s longtime poet laureate said he was inspired to write the song because of the Temptations.
“I wanted to write something sweet for David Ruffin to sing,” recalled Robinson. “David had that great voice. I used to tell him that he demanded the girls to love him because he had that oh, come on, baby kind of voice. But I want him to sing something … that the girls could just swoon over. So I wrote ‘My Girl’ for his voice and for The Temptations to sing. And it has done what I set out to do when I wrote the song or what I set out to do anytime I write a song: it has stood the test of time.”
In the years since its release, “My Girl” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. Then the Library of Congress chose it for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2017, calling the song “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
The Temptations
Shahar Azran
During NBC’s holiday special A Motown Christmas, which aired Dec. 11, Williams and The Temptations — whose current lineup also features Ron Tyson, Terry Weeks, Tony Grant and Jawan M. Jackson — performed a three-song set of hits that included “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “Get Ready” and, of course, “My Girl.”
“When we finished putting the vocals down on the song, I said to Smokey in the control room, ‘Man, I don’t know how big a record this is going to be. But this is going to be a record,” remarks Williams, whose own career accolades include an honorary doctorate from Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Ala. “I still can’t believe that here we are, some 60 years later and we’re still going strong. Most groups don’t get that kind of break. It was God’s timing for Motown to start when it did. And here we are a part of something that will outlive all of us.”
Snoop Dogg returned last week with his Missionary album, which found him reuniting with Dr. Dre for his first full-length project alongside the West Coast legend in more than three decades since 1993’s Doggystyle. But the project wasn’t always going to have that title, as Snoop joked with Complex earlier this week as part of […]
Future scores a triple play as his single “Too Fast” reaches No. 1 on three Billboard radio song charts: Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Rhythmic Airplay and Rap Airplay. The track advances to the summit on the lists dated Dec. 21 after it became the most played song on U.S. monitored mainstream R&B/hip-hop and rhythmic radio stations and the most heard song, by audience impression count, on U.S. monitored hip-hop stations in the tracking week ending Dec. 12, according to Luminate.
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“Too Fast,” released on Freebandz/Epic Records, jumps from No. 3 on Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay after a 3% increase in plays for the week. It becomes Future’s seventh No. 1 on the chart and second of 2024, after “Like That,” his collaboration with Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamar, which reigned for three weeks in June. The rapper’s leading collection includes the longest running No. 1 in the chart’s history, the 16-week champ “Wait for U,” featuring Drake and Tems, from 2022.
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Looking at Rhythmic Airplay, “Too Fast” wraps an identical 3-1 leap after a strong 12% surge in weekly plays and likewise is Future’s seventh No. 1 on the radio ranking. On Rap Airplay, the single pushes from the runner-up spot thanks to a 9% rally in audience impressions, giving the rapper his sixth leader.
With its triple coronation, “Too Fast” is the fifth song to rule the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, Rhythmic Airplay and Rap Airplay charts in 2024. It joins Future’s collaboration with Metro Boomin and Kendrick Lamar, “Like That,” Jack Harlow’s “Lovin on Me,” Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and Nicki Minaj’s “Everybody,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert.
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Elsewhere, “Too Fast” climbs 4-3 on the audience-based R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop stations. There, it improved to 13.4 million audience impressions, up 7%. Such gains, in turn, push the track 24-23 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart, with a 9% improvement to 24 million audience impressions across all formats.
“Too Fast” appears on Future’s Mixtape Pluto project, which dropped in September. It became the rapper’s 16th No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, a record by a solo artist and put Future within one leader of tying The Temptations for the most among all acts.
50 Cent, Davido and Mary J. Blige have announced a special gig scheduled to take place July 3 at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The date will see the three global superstars perform together as co-headliners for the first time. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. GMT this Friday (Dec. 20) via Ticketmaster.
For Blige, the show will follow her spring North American headlining tour in support of new LP Gratitude. On Nov. 29, the R&B legend also celebrated the 30th anniversary of her sophomore album, My Life, which spawned the singles “Be Happy,” “I’m Goin Down” and “Mary Jane.”
Speaking to Billboard earlier this year, Blige described the record as being “pivotal” to her success, adding that its creation allowed her to find herself as an artist. “My fans have given me so much, and when I say, ‘We did it,’ I mean my fans and I,” she said.
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50 Cent, meanwhile, has another huge U.K. show scheduled for July. The following week will see him headline Glasgow’s TRNSMT Festival (July 11), alongside Irish pop act The Script. The rapper recently landed his second video in the YouTube Billion Views Club with 2005 hit “Candy Shop,” joining “In Da Club.” His last studio album arrived in the form of 2014’s Animal Ambition.
In March 2023, Davido released his Timeless LP, which peaked at No. 37 on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for best global music album at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Its Musa Keys-assisted track “Unavailable” went on to hit No. 3 on the U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart.
The Nigerian-American artist is slated to drop his next album, 5ive, early next year. He unveiled lead single “Funds” with Odumodublvck and Chike earlier on Dec. 5; it featured a sample of the 1997 track “Vuli Ndlela” by South African singer-songwriter Brenda Fassie.“This one is straight from the heart – my story, my truth, my growth,” Davido wrote on Instagram uponn the song’s release. “This one’s for the dreamers, the go getters and everyone chasing what’s theirs! Thank you for riding with me.”
André 3000 stopped by The Tonight Show on Monday night (Dec. 16) to chat with host Jimmy Fallon about his right-turn into the world of jazz and perform a rendition of one of the songs from his Grammy-nominated solo album New Blue Sun.
Three Stacks stressed to Jimmy that despite his name being on the cover and the LP being tagged as a “solo” project, it was truly a “collective effort.” Asked to describe the vibe of the all-instrumental, no rapping album that came out in November 2023, André said it’s definitely a “very open, trusting free-form exploration.”
Though some fans were bummed that the man widely consider to be one of the greatest MCs of all time put down the mic and picked up woodwinds, André revealed that the title of the first song on the album — “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time” — wasn’t a joke.
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He said that though for years he’s been “producing, making beats and still trying to do a vocal, rap kind of situation. Because I’m still a fan of rap. But that wasn’t on tap right now and that just happened to be what I was doing at the time. So I was like, ‘I enjoy this. Let me share it.’”
During a 17-year hiatus from releasing music as a lead artist, André dabbled in acting and became a kind of traveling minstrel meme among fans who delighted in posting videos of the MC strolling around coffee shops and airports playing one of his many flutes. “You know how when you have your phone you’re usually just scrolling and looking, I’ll play my flute,” he said. In fact, while in Philadelphia shooting a movie years ago, he would be spotted around town playing and people would come up to him and say, “‘you know it’s a game now. People are trying to find you and we’ll tweet and we’ll say, ‘Well, he’s at this park.’”
He also said that before each performance with his band they huddle and pump each other up with the phrase “fly free… that’s what we’re trying to do, we’re trying to really fly free with it. The reward is different, because you have to listen to every second to know what’s happening. It’s just a different muscle, a different exercise than going and performing verses and choruses that you’ve written. Both are rewarding in their own ways.”
Dré then came back later in the show to perform an edited version of the originally 13-minute song “BuyPoloDisorder’s Daughter Wears a 3000® Shirt Embroidered.”
Watch André 3000 on The Tonight Show below.
Where do we start with 2024? The elephant in the room, the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud, was a seismic event that reverberated throughout the year’s pop culture, leaving rap purists scrambling to dissect every haymaker thrown in this illustrious battle. And who could forget when Future soared like MJ, securing a three-peat on the […]
Earlier this week, Billboard revealed its year-end Boxscore charts, ranking the top tours, venues and promoters of 2024. We’re breaking it down further, looking at the biggest live acts, genre by genre. Here, we kick things off with rap. Hip-hop had its biggest year ever on stage. Rap artists accounted for 5.7% of the top […]