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Donning a fitted navy blue suit and with a cocktail in hand, Joey Bada$$ stands to address the lucky few patrons invited to dine with him inside New York’s lavish Caribbean fusion restaurant Tatiana By Kwame Onwuachi. Braised oxtail, honeynut piri piri salad and half-drunken palomas blanket each table inside the dimly lit eatery. Industry luminaries like KidSuper’s Colm Dillane, and Cordae can be spotted mingling amongst the crowd, but as Joey stands, a powerful hush falls over each table.
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Joey and his longtime collaborator Sophia Chang remind everyone why they’re here, in support of something bigger. The dinner – sponsored by Tres Generaciones who also awarded the rapper with the Impact Award at Billboard’s Power Players Event last September – is to support Joey’s ImpactMENtorship program, which launched last year to provide free mentorship and support for men of color.
“I think people sleep on the fact of how important it is, especially for communities of color, to have proper representation,” Joey tells the crowd as silverware and glasses clatter around him. “I’ve been navigating this industry for the last 12 years of my life, and every room and every table I come into, the circumstances are the same. There’s not enough people who look like [us] in positions of leadership.”
While patrons begin to applaud in approval, Joey quiets that down to continue his stirring speech.
“This ain’t about me,” He says. “Making music is cool, having platinum records and stuff like that is cool. Starring in TV shows and all of that, it’s cool. But this, this is my greatest creation to date.”
While Joey also thanks everyone for attending, the Pro Era leader has another big announcement: Next semester he’ll be serving as the first Artist Scholar in Residence at Columbia University’s Edmund W. Gordon Institute. This now marks the rapper’s second residency at a prestigious university, having been an Artist in Residence at New York University’s Tisch School back in October.
Teaching at the collegiate level is just the latest feather in Joey’s cap. The Bed-Stuy Brooklyn rapper-turned actor-turned-philanthropist has been stacking up artistic accolades for over a decade. After debuting some serious acting chops in 2016’s Mr. Robot, Joey Bada$$ took a brief hiatus from music in 2019 to explore that outlet. The following years found him delving entirely into 50 Cent’s Power universe as the fan-favorite character Unique in Book III: Raising Kanan. Come 2022, Joey finally got back in the booth and dropped off 2000, the follow-up to his seminal mixtape 1999. The point is, the polymath has a lot going on. He’s even got a new album due out in 2025. When I spoke with Joey earlier in the week, it took a moment for the busy multi-hyphenate to register why I was chatting with him.
“Oh OK, so we’re talking about that,” Joey says when I mention the Gordon Institute. Long story short, Joey hosted his first annual Impact Summit with them back in June, and the school reached back out to him following its success. “One plus one just equaled to two,” Joey quips.
Billboard spoke to Bada$$ about his recurring mentorship, his new residency and creating a safe space for men of color.
What about this opportunity are you most excited about?
I’m just excited to expand and just to kinda create a new — how can I say it — a new norm for people like me. I don’t think people expect rappers to be doing this type of thing, or rappers to be scholars themselves. I’m just kinda excited about challenging the status quo.
At your IMPACT Mentorship summit, you spoke about the importance of creating a safe space for men of color. In your opinion, how does education factor into that? How can education be more inclusive?
Mentorship is a matter of exchanging information and providing wisdom for people who are looking for it. A slept-on idea is the confidence that it gives people, especially men of color. We grew up in this world where we’re told our ideas or opinions or even our emotions are not valid. So to be sharing space with people who look like us, who are further along on these paths we may wanna take, means everything/ Sometimes, people just need reassurance because they’ve never gotten it before.
Other rappers like Lupe Fiasco have also taught at the collegiate level. What role do you think education plays in hip-hop?
I think it plays one of the biggest roles. Hip-hop was founded in the beginning as a means of spreading messages through communities. The first rappers were, in every sense of the word, neighborhood reporters. So I think education is key, and hip-hop is the channel that we can spread a lot of information quickly.
As a high school dropout yourself, how has education come back into your own life and shaped you as your career has gone on?
Education is everything. Your ideology is a reflection of the education you get. It affects your mindset, which affects the way you navigate the world. You’re talking to someone who dropped out of high school and never got his high school diploma, but who is now having residencies at Ivy League schools. That was all with the self-education I had to pursue, and it’s clearly made all of the difference in my life. I shouldn’t be here, statistically speaking.
At what point did you realize that you had to seek out that eduction yourself?
When you’re seeking growth, you realize that education is a vital part of that process. Otherwise, you’re just waiting on experience. Experience doesn’t necessarily happen every day. Sometimes, it takes months in between something significantly happening to you or in your life that you learn from and it’s a lot of chop wood, carry water, same thing every day. So, in that interim, there’s things like creativity and education which ultimately pushes you towards that growth space. I guess that’s how it happened for me, I’ve always been attracted to self improvement. I call myself a self-improvement junkie. I’m always looking for ways to better myself.
JOEY BADA$$
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Do you have a message for young people who might not feel seen or heard in more mainstream education spaces across the country, like the classroom?
I’m not sure if I have a message for them apart from, “Don’t give up.” Keep trying and know that you are not alone. That was one of the biggest lessons I had to learn through my time and experiences of feeling like I wasn’t heard, it was realizing I was not the first and I was not alone. The more that I vocalized or I fought for my right to speak, the more those people came out from the shadows. If there’s anything, I’d tell them don’t be discouraged.
Do you think a good education can foster more creativity? How can learning make art better?
Yeah, I always talk about this concept of walking around with this bucket of inspiration, and we all have it. We all pull from it to create or to show up however we show up. I think one of the main ways to fill that bucket up is with knowledge or education. For me, if I find myself having writer’s block, one of the things I do to refill the bucket is pick up a book. I go fill my head up with something that I didn’t have before.
LL Cool J has teamed up with The Skateroom to launch a series of limited-edition skateboard decks inspired by his new The Force album.
The vibrant collection of decks boasts 300 in total between The Solo Deck and The Triptych models, which combine the cultures of music and skating with art. Released on Friday morning (Dec. 13), each collector’s item purchase comes with a certificate of authenticity autographed by LL Cool J himself.
“Skateboarding, music, and art are about breaking boundaries and rewriting the rules. Collaborating with The Skateroom on these limited-edition decks honors The FORCE and the culture that made me, while sparking the next wave of creativity. These decks are for those bold enough to push what’s possible and make their mark. Let’s ride.”
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A portion of proceeds from sales will benefit the skating community as funds will go toward skate NGOs, new skateparks, and skateboarding programs helping the youth.
“At The Skateroom, we believe in the transformative power of art and skateboarding to inspire change,” said Skateroom Founder Charles-Antoine Bodson. “Collaborating with LL COOL J is an incredible honor, as his legacy transcends music and embodies the bold creativity we strive to celebrate. This partnership is about more than skate decks — it’s about bridging communities, empowering youth, and proving that art, music, and skateboarding can create real social impact.”
The New York rap legend may have hung up his skateboard trucks years ago, but 2024 ended up being a busy year for LL Cool J.
The 56-year-old returned in September with his first album since 2013 with The Force. Produced by Q-Tip, the LP debuted at No. 50 on the Billboard 200 with features from Snoop Dogg, Nas, Eminem and more.
Check out the decks below and shop them here.
LL Cool J teams up with The Skateroom for exclusive limited-edition skate decks inspired by new album, The Force.
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Pozer has shared his psych-influenced new single “Aquatic,” following a year of major commercial and critical breakthroughs. The song (which you can hear below) arrives less than a month after the Croydon artist teamed up with AJ Tracey on collaborative track “Heaterz,” which sampled “Gunshot Riddim” by pioneering grime producer Ironsoul. The 22-year-old has also […]
Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre dropped their Missionary album on Friday (Dec. 13) via Death Row Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Missionary features previously released singles “Gorgeous” (featuring Jhené Aiko), “Outta da Blue” (featuring Alus) and “Another Part of Me” (featuring Sting). “Gorgeous” helped the iconic West Coast hip-hop duo return to Billboard‘s R&B/Hip-Hop […]
GloRilla and Kehlani are getting everyone in the spirit for “Xmas Time” with their new collaboration that dropped on Friday (Dec. 13). “Good luck with yo Mrs dis as merry as I’m getting,” the rapper wrote on Instagram earlier this week while announcing the single with a video of both artists’ animated bobble heads in […]
Meek Mill is never one to mince words on X. He shared his thoughts on Wednesday (Dec. 11) regarding the rampant gun violence in America while pressing the media for being hung up on the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was shot and killed in New York City earlier this month. Explore Explore […]
Snoop Dogg is headed into space for a starring role in an upcoming sci-fi movie from director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element). The rapper will not only top-line The Last Man, but according to Variety, he will also co-produce the post-apocalyptic tale whose plot is being kept quiet for now.
The magazine reported that The Last Man is believed to be inspired by Planet of the Apes and have a connection to Snoop’s 2009 track “Last Man Standing.” Besson’s eclectic, four-decade-plus filmography has included a number of science fiction films, among them 1997’s The Fifth Element with Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich, the trippy Lucy with Scarlett Johansson in 2014 and the big-budget Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets in 2017, which featured Clive Owen, Cara Delevingne, Rihanna and Ethan Hawke.
Besson is also writing the script for the upcoming film, which Variety speculated would be in the same wheelhouse as The Fifth Element, mixing sci-fi with comedy and action. The project will be a reunion for the director and rapper, who worked together in 2006 on the live action/animated fantasy movie Arthur and the Invisibles, in which The Voice coach starred as Koolamassai leader Max alongside an all-star cast that also included Madonna, Robert DeNiro, David Bowie, Freddie Highmore, Mia Farrow and Chazz Palminteri.
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“Ever since I’ve seen The Professional, I’ve always wanted [Luc] to direct a whole movie for me. Now we finally get the opportunity for him to write and direct me in a Luc Besson movie,” Snoop said.
Besson returned the admiration, adding, “I’ve been a big fan of Snoop Dogg’s music ever since ‘Who Am I.’ We first met 20 years ago, and we’ve always wanted to work together again. We just needed the right project that would excite us both — and this is it, with Snoop in the lead role. I can’t wait to get started!”
Snoop’s Death Row Pictures is co-producing the movie along with Besson and wife Virginie Besson-Silla for EuropaCorp, with filming slated to begin next year.
The rapper’s acting resume is nearly as long as his rapping sheet, dating back to early appearances in Half Baked and Caught Up in the mid-1990s, as well as co-starring roles in a variety of dramas, comedies and genre films, including Baby Boy, Training Day, Bones, The Wash, Starsky & Hutch and Dolemite Is My Name, among many others.
In the meantime, Snoop is gearing up to release his Missionary album on Friday (Dec. 13), which represents his first full-length LP made in collaboration with mentor Dr. Dre since Snoop’s 1993 debut, Doggystyle.
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Beyoncé is giving back for the holiday season. She got into the spirit with her BeyGood Foundation, making a $100,000 donation to the University of Houston’s Law Center on Wednesday (Dec. 11).
The gift to her hometown college will go toward benefiting the Criminal Justice Clinic, which will now be able to hire a full-time director and see expanded services poured into the program. With a full-time faculty, more students will be able to enroll in the clinic in future semesters.
“I am delighted that the BeyGood Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” Leonard Baynes, who serves as dean of the UH Law Center, said in a statement. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”
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With the added resources, the Criminal Justice Clinic will up efforts to assist communities and underserved areas surrounding the University of Houston.
Baynes continued: “At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGood envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings. And together, through this gift, the BeyGood Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”
Launched in 2013, Beyoncé’s BeyGood Foundation aims to support various organizations and uplift communities to economic prosperity, well-being and more.
It’s a busy close to 2024 for Bey. She pulled up to the Mufasa: The Lion King premiere in Los Angeles earlier this week with her family. While the Grammy-winning artist is reprising her role as Nala, daughter Blue Ivy is making her feature film debut as Kiara, Nala and Simba’s daughter.
“Seeing Blue as Kiara and hearing her voice come out of that character,” Bey said on Good Morning America, “it was really hard to focus and do my job after that. I was like, ‘Wait, hold up, guys. Y’all gotta give me a second. I have to digest that.’ I’m so proud of her.”