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With the first quarter of the 21st century coming to a close, Billboard is spending the next few months counting down our staff picks for the 25 greatest pop stars of the last 25 years. We’ve already named our Honorable Mentions and our No. 25, No. 24, No. 23 and No. 22 stars, and now we remember the century in Lil Wayne — who turned popular music into Wayne’s World for much of the late ’00s, and helped raise an empire that would rule pop and hip-hop for the entire 2010s.
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Even 25 years after notching his first Billboard Hot 100 entry, Lil Wayne remains a fixture in the rap scene, and unquestionable as one of the most influential hip-hop artists of all-time. Take a snapshot of rap when Wayne entered the game and then survey today’s landscape and it’s easy to see: Just look at all the “Lil’s” running around, rappers with grills and face tattoos while sporting dreadlocks and it all can be traced back to the New Orleans rap deity – even if the neophyte MCs can’t mimic his AutoTune-drenched rhymes and genius punchlines. Or let Wayne himself tell it: “Before I stepped into music, everyone looked a certain way and everyone did a certain thing. Look at me. Now look at music. They all look like me,” he said in 2020. “I love it.”
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Once Wayne invaded the “Best Rapper Alive” discussion in the mid-’00s, he began cementing his status as a commercial titan even beyond hip-hop. Everyone from Enrique Iglesias to Shakira wanted a piece of Weezy, whose grill-bearing smile became unavoidable in pop culture and led to him defining an era of hip-hop during a time where rap essentially became interchangeable with pop, on its way to emerging as music’s most-consumed genre. Oh, and he introduced the world to Drake and Nicki Minaj under his Young Money imprint, who would go on to be even more dominant than him within pop music in the decade to follow.
Long before his mixtape supremacy, lighter flicks and Bape camouflage, Weezy got his feet wet establishing himself as a prodigy in the Cash Money Records army and the youngest member of the Hot Boys. Wayne finished the 20th century on a high note — and proved ready to take over for the 2000s as just a 16-year-old — with appearances on a pair of lexicon-expanding classics, when he had the country hollering “Bling Bling” on B.G.’s diamond-inspired hit, and dropped it like it’s hot on Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up” anthem.
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It was Lil Wayne’s turn to step into the solo spotlight with his raw Tha Block Is Hot debut in late ‘99, which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and spawned a Hot 100 hit with the title track, assisted by the aforementioned Hot Boys, B.G. and Juvenile. After his next two albums delivered middling commercial performance, Lil Wayne went back to the drawing board – and threw his notepad in the trash after learning Jay-Z was freestyling, which led to the birth of the series that defined Weezy’s career.
It was actually Cash Money sonic savant Mannie Fresh who possessed the foresight to predict that Tha Carter series would go on to live in rap lore as one of the paramount series in the genre’s history. “I’m like, ‘Tha Carter is going to define rap for a while.’ Wayne was like, ‘You really think?’ I’m like, ‘I really do. It’s got to be something incredible,” Mannie Fresh recalled to Complex.
MF broke out the Roland TR-808 drum machine and got Weezy high on his supply. Inspired by ‘90s Cash Money Records group U.N.L.V.’s shout-out to the in-house producer, Wayne carried the baton with “Go DJ.” The spacey track cracked the Hot 100’s top 15, proving he could carry a major hit on his own. The pop world also began to take notice of Weezy’s shooting stardom, as Destiny’s Child enlisted Lil Wayne and then-consensus King of the South T.I. to mobilize for top five Hot 100 hit “Soldier,” which was nominated for best rap/sung collaboration at the 2005 Grammys.
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He kept building momentum into Tha Carter II, which arrived in late 2005. Wayne certainly never lacked confidence, but C2 saw him crowning himself the “Best Rapper Alive” with a song named just that – and following the album’s release, the rest of the world was starting to believe it, too. Weezy had refined his rapping style and extended his production barriers outside of the Mannie Fresh and Cash Money Records nest, which led to an album that many consider the crown jewel of his discography. The set netted Wayne another top 40 Hot 100 hit with “Fireman,” but the only flame that couldn’t be contained in the coming years was his own.
There wasn’t a minute to be wasted in the time between Tha Carter II to C3, with Wayne climbing higher into rap’s pantheon. Weezy became a machine, churning out cheeky punchlines and Auto-Tune-laced rhymes and seemingly never running out of fuel. He painted vivid pictures of heartbreaking love stories and grimy street tales like a chameleon, disappearing into his songs’ canvases.
Lil Wayne
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Lil Wayne
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During this time, he proved himself in the mixtape circuit – unleashing fan-favorite classics like the DJ Drama-hosted Dedication 2 and Da Drought 3, which fortified his legend among the underground hip-hop heads. The cultural impact of Wayne’s mixtapes run is essentially incalculable, since the Billboard charts didn’t account for DatPiff downloads and circulating Limewire files, but many of the tracks live on in iTunes libraries and the hearts of fans as holy grails of that Weezy period.
Meanwhile, if an artist needed a guest verse in the second half of the ‘00s, there was only one rapper to call. Wayne sprinkled his syrupy flows onto myriad top 40 Hot 100 hits from ‘06 to C3’s arrival in June ‘08, like Chris Brown’s “Gimme That,” Lloyd’s “You,” Fat Joe’s “Make It Rain,” DJ Khaled’s “We Takin Over,” Wyclef Jean’s “Sweetest Girl,” Playaz Circle’s “Duffle Bag Boy,” Birdman’s “Pop Bottles” and Usher’s “Love in This Club Part II.” In the midst of his run, Weezy also teamed up with his mentor Birdman for their Like Father, Like Son joint project, as he became totally unavoidable both on radio and on video networks MTV and BET.
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Even with Wayne’s vociferous output, there was still ample appetite for more music. It got to the point that songs were being leaked online, which forced Weezy to continue reshaping his vision for Tha Carter III. He even quick-released a five-track EP of songs that had already circulated on the internet, with 2007’s aptly titled The Leak.
Coming off his “I’ve arrived” moment with the debut performance of “Gossip” at the ‘07 BET Hip-Hop Awards, expectations couldn’t have been higher for C3 – and Wayne nonetheless calmly pole vaulted over the clouds to etch his name into the hip-hop history books. Tha Carter III arrived on June 10, 2008, as the soundtrack to the summer, while debuting atop the Billboard 200 with over one million records sold in the first week – his first No. 1 LP. It’s the last hip-hop album to hit the seven-digit sales mark in a weekly period, outside of Drake’s Views in 2016.
The album, which would also go on to win the Grammy for best rap album, was Wayne’s sonically richest yet, resisting any easy regional pigeonholing, as Wayne served up something for everyone. The ambitious C3 produced three major Hot 100 hits, as the extraterrestrial double-entendre of “Lollipop” featuring the late Static Major topped the Hot 100 for five nonconsecutive weeks, while the T-Pain-assisted strip club anthem “Got Money” and the blazing-though-hookless “A Milli” also cracked the top 10. (Who could forget Wayne’s day in the life on set for the “A Milli” visual?) Even the cover art, featuring Wayne as a baby with face tattoos, has lived on as iconic.
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Tha Carter III encapsulated everything Wayne had to offer from his versatile repertoire. Whether he was barring up against Jay-Z on “Mr. Carter” or playing rapper-doctor on “Dr. Carter,” he jumped around with ease. Weezy even offered social commentary on political topics like President Bush’s inaction when it came to Hurricane Katrina relief in his hometown (on “Tie My Hands”) or condemning the criminal justice system and reverend Al Sharpton (on “Don’t Get It”). Lil Uzi Vert would later say of Weezy: “When I heard Tha Carter III, I knew Wayne was the greatest rapper alive.”
It’s tough to believe if you didn’t live through it, but Lil Wayne had possibly the greatest peak of any rapper ever circa Tha Carter III. While rap titans Kanye West, Jay-Z and Eminem were dominating, Weezy had perhaps the highest level of respect and general approval rating of his peers, fans and critics at that point. Ye himself called Wayne his “fiercest competition” while on stage at the ‘08 BET Awards. “You scare me, man, every time you spit,” West said.
Lil Wayne
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This was Wayne’s MVP Award and championship run, like 2012 LeBron James or ‘92 Michael Jordan. The New Orleans dignitary was a player that was automatically on fire anytime he stepped into the booth. Seriously, everything he touched seemingly turned to gold. Established as the millennials’ rap superhero, Lil Wayne led from the top of the food chain – even when clashing with his superstar peers on supercharged posse cuts like “Swagga Like Us” (No. 5 Hot 100).
With Weezy at the peak of his powers, he was essentially minting new hitmakers on radio seemingly on a weekly basis, spamming the airwaves with appearances on smashes by artists like Kevin Rudolf (“I Made It,” “Let It Rock”) and Jay Sean (“Down”). The latter topped the Hot 100, and Wayne’s memorable verse – and thoughts on the economy – remain a staple in rotation for DJ sets at bars across the country. All artists wanted a piece of Lil Wayne at this point, as his Wayfarer sunglasses, tattoos and purple Bape jacket became imagery ingrained in American pop culture.
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At the top of the game, Wayne tested the depths of his artistry with his newfound guitar skills when he zagged into the rock-leaning Rebirth. He was probably a few years too early on the rock star wave that came to the hip-hop mainstream with the next generation of rhymers like XXXTENTACION, Lil Uzi Vert, Trippie Redd and Playboi Carti. Nonetheless, the album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, while Weezy’s six-string lessons on the pummeling shout-along “Prom Queen” still made it to the Hot 100’s top 15.
In the midst of the commercial peak of his career, Lil Wayne was also thinking about the next generation of rappers. By the end of the 2000s, he’d sign two artists who would take what he’d built with Young Money to the next level in the following decade — Drake and Nicki Minaj — as well as fellow up-and-comers like Tyga and Jae Millz. The We Are Young Money compilation album arrived in Dec. 2009 to assist in spotlighting some of the talented artists running behind Wayne. The project ended up spawning hits like the raunchy polyamorous posse cut “Every Girl” and the Lloyd-assisted crowd-pleaser “Bedrock,” which hit No. 2 and provided early memorable solo moments for both Drake and Nicki.
An eight-month jail stint on Rikers Island in NYC for a gun charge forced the always-moving Lil Wayne to sit down for much of 2010, as he pressed pause for the first time in a long time and temporarily took off the “Best Rapper Alive” crown. Still, the motivational horns of “Right Above It” with Drake managed to invade the Hot 100’s top 10 from behind bars, following a premiere from Hot 97’s Funkmaster Flex. High school football players across the U.S. made the Kane Beatz-produced beat the soundtrack to their highlight tapes while the girls walking the hallways updated their Facebook statuses in unison to Wayne’s feel-good, “Life’s a beach, I’m just playing in the sand” bar.
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It didn’t take long for Wayne to get back on track following his release from Rikers. Tha Carter IV’s lead single “6 Foot 7 Foot” – which felt like the cousin to C3’s “A Milli” – gave him another top 10 entry on the Hot 100, and earned his seat back at the rap council. Teaming up with friend DJ Khaled has long been a fruitful formula for Wayne, and they also scored another hit heading into the summer of 2011 with “I’m on One” alongside Drake and Rick Ross. Meanwhile, a pair of C4 advance singles – the smoky, bar-heavy “She Will” and the acoustic ballad “How to Love” – showcased the duality of Wayne’s artistry, and both reached the Hot 100’s top five.
After several delays, Tha Carter IV finally arrived to close out the summer on Aug. 28, 2011, and the fourth installment in the decorated series nearly missed out on being Wayne’s second release to reach the million mark – moving 964,000 total album units in its first week while debuting at No. 1. While the project wasn’t as acclaimed or beloved as C3, it showed that even Wayne’s B-game could still surpass most hitmakers on their best day.
Much of the 2010s resulted in creative frustration for Lil Wayne, who was entrenched in a nasty $51 million lawsuit with his mentor Birdman and Cash Money Records over financial compensation. The two parties would end up settling in June 2018 after three years of litigation, which finally cleared the way for the much-delayed Tha Carter V. But even during that in-between period, Wayne was still active, making ways on the feature front by reuniting with Chris Brown on “Loyal” – which reached the top 10 and spent nine months on the Hot 100 in 2014 – and earning assist wins on DJ Khaled’s No. 1 hit “I’m the One,” French Montana’s “Pop That” and Chance The Rapper’s “No Problem,” and scoring another top 10 hit of his own with the Drake- and Future-assisted “Love Me.”
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At the same time, Wayne poured time and energy into building his proteges Drake and Nicki into stars in their own right, as he popped up on their albums for guest verses and remixes whenever needed. While Drizzy and Minaj took the baton and ultimately surpassed Weezy’s pop stardom in their own wildly successful crossover careers, they still always pay homage to Wayne as the GOAT, and continue shouting him out for giving them a chance and helping them achieve their rap dreams.
As Wayne’s hot streak began to cool down in the mid-2010s, so did his commercial visibility. However, another chapter of Tha Carter was still enough to push the rap world’s hype into overdrive once again.
The seven-year build-up leading into C5 was going to be nearly impossible for Wayne to match, as the project hit streaming services on his 36th birthday in 2018. Though the LP didn’t live up to the quality of previous installments, Tha Carter V was still a major commercial success – debuting at No. 1 with 480,000 units moved and netting Wayne the second-most first-week streams ever (behind Drake’s Scorpion), while also making him the first artist to launch a pair of debuts in the Hot 100’s top five (“Mona Lisa” featuring Kendrick Lamar and “Don’t Cry” with XXXTENTACION).
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Funeral scored Weezy another No. 1 album to start the 2020s off on the right foot, but none of the tracks stuck on the charts, as his days as a leading hitmaker appeared to be behind him. Nonetheless, in an era where remixes feel formulaic and hollow, Wayne shined bright on Jack Harlow’s “WHATS POPPIN (Remix)” with Tory Lanez and DaBaby, as Weezy’s co-sign on the fiery remix helped elevate Harlow to mainstream stardom and spent 51 weeks on the Hot 100 (while peaking at No. 2) during the COVID-19 pandemic. These days, Lil Wayne’s phone is still buzzing as one of the most in-demand feature artists in all of hip-hop – including for the next generation, with younger rap stars like Polo G, Cordae, Trippie Redd, YoungBoy Never Broke Again and J.I.D. tapping Wayne for verses this decade – but instead of his Sidekick, it’s just an iPhone.
Three decades since the self-inflicted gunshot wound at home that nearly took his life, Wayne has scored 186 Hot 100 hits – fifth most of any artist in chart history – and won five Grammys. Weezy’s timelessness and wordplay wizardry has him serving up razor-sharp verses with eccentricities that are often imitated but could never truly be duplicated. Maybe he really was an alien all along.
Read more about the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century here and check back on Friday when our No. 20 artist is revealed!
Rod Wave is getting back on the road for another North American trek, as the singer announced his Last Lap Tour on Wednesday (Sept. 4).
Moneybagg Yo, Toosii, Lil Poppa, Dess Dior and Eelmatic will be joining as supporting acts on the tour, which is set to kick off in Phoenix on Oct. 19.
“The Most Anticipated Tour Of 2024 Is Almost Here,” Wave wrote on Instagram. “@Rodwave is Bringing A Show You Don’t Want To Miss To A City Near Your! ‘ LAST LAP TOUR’ is coming With Special Guests.”
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Tickets for the Last Lap Tour go on sale starting on Friday (Sept. 6) at 10 a.m. local time over on Rod Wave’s official website.
Following a trip to the desert, Rod and company will make stops in Oakland, Sacramento, Houston, Dallas, Memphis, Lexington, Detroit, Chicago, Brooklyn, Boston, Baltimore, Philly, Nashville and Orlando, before wrapping up in Ft. Lauderdale on Dec. 18.
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Fans were excited and had plenty to say in his comments section, as some wondered if this tour meant a new album was on the way following 2023’s Nostalgia.
“Now announce the album date,” one person commented, while another wrote, “Now, where is the album?”
One fan even made a joke about Rod Wave falling through the stage during a 2020 concert. “Aye this year let’s try not to break the stage.” (After that mishap, the musician footage of the incident and joked on Instagram, “PIMP DOWN I REPEAT PIMP DOWN.”)
The 26-year-old has laid low in 2024 outside of the release of his pensive single “Numb” in April. Rod unleashed his Nostalgia album in September, with a guest appearance from 21 Savage. Wave’s fifth studio LP debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 137,000 total album-equivalent units sold in the first week. All 18 tracks from Nostalgia also made the Billboard Hot 100.
Find all of the Last Lap Tour dates and announcement below.
Salt-N-Pepa’s “Push It” is a fan-favorite across the globe, but DJ Spinderella recalls how the “Let’s Talk About Sex” crew was nearly arrested for performing the top 20 Billboard Hot 100 hit in certain venues.
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Spinderella recently joined Drink Champs for an episode, during which she claimed that venue executives threatened to arrest Salt-N-Pepa if they performed “Push It,” and it’s due to what they perceived were sexually explicit lyrics.
“It was not a sexual song,” she said. “We were literally talking about dancing on the dance floor. And people took that and took it the other way, and it actually worked for us.”
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The former Salt-N-Pepa member continued: “Being on stage and being told that, ‘If you play that song here, you can get arrested.’ So, there were times where that was almost the case. And somehow, we got to a point where we just had to convince everybody that this is not about what you think it’s about. And that is the truth.”
Sandra “Pepa” Denton detailed similar sentiments when explaining the controversy surrounding “Push It” to Page Six in 2021. “We were saying ‘push it,’; they thought we were saying, ‘Pussy, real good.’ So the police were waiting for us,” she recalled to the publication.
It’s not the first time an artist has run into trouble with venues when it comes to performing certain records. N.W.A. experienced this with their brash “F–k Tha Police” protest anthem at their summer of 1989 concert in Detroit and saw the Compton crew arrested.
“Push It” was released as part of Salt-N-Pepa’s Hot, Cool & Vicious album in 1986. The track was made a single in 1987 and peaked at No. 19 on the Hot 100 in ’88. Hot, Cool & Vicious is the first female album to earn gold and platinum certifications from the RIAA.
Elsewhere in the interview, DJ Spinderella provided some context behind her split from the group in 2019, which was due to not feeling respected. “You just grow up. You just get to a point where things will not be tolerated. And respect should be mutual. And when respect is mutual, we can move and do whatever,” she added. “But when respect is not mutual, then what are you here for? The bag. That don’t last because I can get a bag without it.”
Watch DJ Spinderella’s Drink Champs episode below.
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Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj set the tone for a beef-filled year, with the reignition of their feud sparked by the Houston Hottie’s “Hiss” diss track back in January, in which she appeared to spray at Nicki, Drake, Tory Lanez and Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty.
The scathing “Hiss” would go on to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — her third chart-topping smash — and Minaj returned fire, punching back at her “Hot Girl Summer” collaborator with “Big Foot” days later.
Megan graces the cover of Billboard, and in her feature published Wednesday (Sept. 4), she addresses clashing with Nicki, and shares still doesn’t know what the root cause of the friction is.
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“I still to this day don’t know what the problem is,” she tells Billboard‘s Carl Lamarre. “I don’t even know what could be reconciled because I, to this day, don’t know what the problem is.”
Nicki and Meg joined forces when Minaj hopped on “Hot Girl Summer” in 2019, but things appeared to have gone awry since. Some theorize it’s because Thee Stallion has repeatedly teamed up with Nicki’s rival Cardi B.
Barbz chimed in on social media, speculating that the cause may be a time fans recalled Minaj on IG Live in 2019 with Megan, who allegedly continued to offer the “Super Bass” artist liquor while knowing she was trying to get pregnant.
With the Nicki relationship remaining icy, Megan is brushing things off and turning her focus to her plethora of lucrative endeavors going on in her busy career. If people are talking about her, Thee Stallion feels like she must be doing something right.
“I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing,” Megan added. “If people feel like I’m somebody to aim at, then I must be pretty high up if you’re reaching up at me. I must be some kind of competition. That makes me feel good. That makes me feel like I could rap because if I wasn’t the s–t, y’all wouldn’t be worried about me.”
“Hiss” served as the second single for the Houston Hottie and carried her into her Megan album, which arrived in June and debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 64,000 album-equivalent units sold in the first week.
Rachelle Jean-Louis always knew the power of songwriting. As a preteen growing up in New Jersey, “When I finished my homework, I’d be listening to CDs and trying to unpack the albums,” she recalls. “Seeing who wrote and produced the songs, reading the liner notes and lyrics.” She idolized singer-songwriter Keri Hilson, who in the aughts “was writing really cool R&B songs” with collaborators like Timbaland, Kanye West and Lil Wayne.
“I wanted to be a songwriter just like her,” Jean-Louis adds. “Music was everything to me. There was no plan B.”
Jean-Louis, now 34, didn’t become a songwriter herself — but she is now the force behind one of today’s fastest-rising songwriting talents, Victoria Monét. When Monét stepped onstage to accept best new artist at the Grammy Awards earlier this year, she brought Jean-Louis, her manager, with her. “There was a binder that I made to take to this really important meeting at a label,” Monét said in her tearful televised speech. “I was an independent artist with no team, and I just thought, ‘Maybe my music would stand for itself.’ But that binder [was] left collecting dust … Rachelle found that binder, and she decided to take a chance, leave that label and be my manager. Thank you so much for seeing me.”
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“Her pulling me up onstage for best new artist … I honestly didn’t think she was going to do that,” Jean-Louis says. “But I’m really proud of her for everything that she’s accomplished against all odds. It’s a testament not just to her but the whole team.” And it’s for her transformative past year with Monét that Billboard honors Jean-Louis as its 2024 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players Executive of the Year.
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The label Monét referenced at the Grammys was former RCA imprint Keep Cool, which Jean-Louis joined in 2017 as an A&R executive — one of several industry gigs (including stints as a music supervisor and a journalist) that helped her channel her fervent music fandom into the skills she would need as a savvy, intuitive artist manager and, eventually, CEO. In 2021, Jean-Louis co-founded management firm Tell Your Friends with business partner Austin Thomas; in addition to Monét, the company’s roster includes rising viral sensation Saint Harison.
Born in New York to Haitian immigrants — her father was a family lawyer, her mother a nurse — Jean-Louis says music was always “at the forefront” of her upbringing; her dad played guitar and piano, and she herself played classical piano as a child. While studying communications at the University of North Carolina, Jean-Louis interned at places including XXL magazine. After graduating, she wrote for the blog Earmilk, landed her first management gig — at the request of then-emerging rapper Doley, whom she had previously covered in XXL — and did a PR stint for an artist at Roc Nation. During a visit to Los Angeles, Jean-Louis followed up on an earlier email she had sent to music supervisor Scott Vener (Entourage) about a show he was working on; though it fell through, he invited Jean-Louis to work with him on HBO’s Ballers, which she did for two seasons.
Then, in 2017, Jean-Louis got the call that changed her career. Her friend Tunji Balogun (now chairman/CEO of Def Jam Recordings) was launching Keep Cool, a joint venture with RCA Records, and he wanted her on his team. Once there, with her music supervisor connections, Jean-Louis placed “Little More Time” — a then-unreleased song by Keep Cool/RCA artist Lucky Daye featuring Monét — on HBO’s Insecure in 2018.
After initially meeting Monét at the song’s video shoot, Jean-Louis later found her aforementioned binder during an office cleaning, and the genesis of Monét’s breakthrough began. With Balogun’s blessing, Jean-Louis exited Keep Cool with Monét and became her manager. In the past six years, with Jean-Louis guiding her, Monét has evolved from go-to songwriter (most famously for Ariana Grande, including her Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s “7 Rings” and “Thank U, Next”) and Platoon-distributed indie artist to full-fledged solo star in her own right on RCA, with her 2023 debut album, Jaguar II (and its hit single “On My Mama”), netting three 2024 Grammy wins.
“It’s been a learning curve for sure,” Jean-Louis says. “Especially when you’ve been used to doing everything yourself, fostering your own internal team and creating a business that’s self-sustaining. But it was all the right steps because Victoria needed to be in the same conversations as some of her peers and be recognized in the same way for her talent.”
Munachi Osegbu
What was it about Victoria’s binder that caught your eye and prompted you to leave Keep Cool?
I still have the binder to this day. (Laughs.) It had “Victoria Monét” across the top and, inside it, her short-term and long-term goals, her team at the time and their contact information, press photos: It just showed somebody that actually cared about every aspect of her artistry and wanted to be better. And for me, it also felt like the answer to the frustration I was having in terms of wanting to wrap my arms around an exciting project. A&R was my dream job and I hadn’t signed anyone yet. And I thought, “Here’s an artist with a clear vision. She has talent as a singer-songwriter, with ’70s-influenced music that’s fresh, not dated, and [she’s] a dancer. You just need to give her the room to do it with the right people that are invested.”
As an artist manager, what’s your personal ratio of gut instinct versus research?
For me, it’s like 70/30. Passion leads, then you look at the numbers and use them as a road map to help guide you. But if you’re only focused on the numbers, you’re losing the soul of it. Music is subjective. Something that’s not reacting right now could react in six months, a year or two years. Where’s the fun if you’re just going to read a chart that everybody has access to, right?
Now more than ever, many companies are very focused on numbers, numbers, numbers. However, there’s still something to be said about having a feeling, a gut instinct. And maybe it’s naive, but I like to believe that if you start with that, the data catches up. There are a lot of people that would have looked at Victoria and said, “Ah, her numbers,” and they would have missed out. A lot of people would have looked at Chappell Roan two years ago and said, “The data doesn’t suggest…,” but how wrong would they be? These are really talented artists that make great music. Don’t let data rule every decision that you make.
Whether signed to a major or an independent, why do artists still need managers?
It’s definitely important. That person is your advocate. They are supposed to be with you in every conversation, making sure to represent your interests and also protect you from anything that may not be aligned with your vision and goals. With everything that has changed in today’s climate, with artist development not really being a priority at labels, that honestly really does fall on the artist manager. And not a lot of people do it. Different managers have different strengths, but I think the common denominator is that they’re passionate about who they work with. It’s a partnership, and they also make sure that they’re aligned. They fix anything: If it’s not going to work with a label or a publisher, if that artist doesn’t feel like he or she is being heard or seen, it’s [the manager’s] job to say, “Let me go fix this, let me figure out how to make this better.”
How challenging has it been to receive equal respect as a woman in management and the industry overall?
There is a fine line being a woman, let alone a Black woman. If you challenge somebody, you could be called aggressive or deemed threatening, depending on your approach. On the other side, if you feel too strongly about something, then you’re being emotional. It’s isolating, too, because you really wish that you could call somebody else and say, “Hey, how’s your experience been?” When you look at the executives of major companies, the majority of them are men, right? And while I’ve heard of other female managers — and recently met Lainey Wilson’s manager [Mandelyn Monchick], who’s great — there are definitely a ton of male managers. So this does come with its own struggles of trying to navigate, trying to earn the same respect that may immediately be given to a male.
Despite all of that, I think this year, more than ever, there’s been more respect because of the success [with Monét] that people really can’t take away from us. We’ve earned it, we’ve worked, we’ve gone the long road. So now anytime somebody comes at me with any of that, it’s “Well, I earned my spot here. I didn’t just end up here. I didn’t inherit this spot.”
We have a lot of women on [Monét’s] team. They’re all empathic, very detail-oriented. There’s a strength to it. That’s why I really do wish there were more of us; there’s a huge area for growth in management.
Munachi Osegbu
Did you have any mentors guiding you through your industry journey?
I didn’t have a mentor, unfortunately. In all honesty, a lot of the mentorship that I got was just truly about watching. I would watch documentaries about and interviews with people like David Geffen and Scooter Braun, trying to understand their thinking so I could emulate that. I watched Beyoncé documentaries because I wanted to understand how this woman, who is running her own business, is still having issues with being heard. Those things made me feel seen. I always yearned for a person I could call about what’s going on, knowing that they’ve been there before.
I do have an amazing support system, for sure, in terms of friends and colleagues that I can call. And others have also extended their hands to me more recently, saying, “Hey, if there’s anything you need or any questions that you have, [reach out].”
Right now, what do you see as the biggest issue facing R&B and hip-hop?
The lack of resources that are allotted to R&B and hip-hop, based on the resources that are given to pop, are very different. I would also say the obsession with data. R&B is a slow-growing but also long-lasting genre. R&B fans are die-hard fans. So when they’re with you, they’re with you for life. It’s not always the same across other genres.
There’s a disconnect when it comes to recognizing R&B as a popular genre. However, R&B is pop. It’s so interesting to me when you think about the music that we grew up on, like Motown — that was pop music. The big ballads of Whitney Houston — that wasn’t R&B music? Somewhere along the way, we’ve become so obsessed with immediacy, like, “What’s the big TikTok song right now?” But what about the long road of these artists in building legacy? That’s the disconnect. R&B is a legacy genre with songs about everything that will stand the test of time. It’s both influential and timeless.
What advice do you have for others aspiring to music industry careers?
I’ve never told this story before, but I needed to figure out how to self-sustain and pay for things like internships in New York and other opportunities that my parents didn’t feel would lead to a real job. So for four years through college, beginning the first summer out of high school, I started working for Cutco. I became one of the top three reps in our district at the knife company; they actually made me a manager. (Laughs.) That was also my first time getting comfortable with the word “no.” Whenever people ask me for advice, I tell them you can’t be afraid of that word. You just have to find a different route to get to what you really want to do. You just need to put up enough shots, and hopefully one of them will go in. So I wasn’t afraid of cold-calling, cold-emailing. It was just what I had to do. Even now when choosing a rollout strategy, songs or any of that, if I really believe in something, I want to fight for it. And the same thing goes for artists.
After the tremendous success you have achieved thus far, how do you define power?
Having unwavering, unapologetic faith in your gut and your vision — and then moving on that.
This story appears in the Aug. 31, 2024, issue of Billboard.
For the second year, Billboard is presenting the peer-voted R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players’ Choice Award, an accolade chosen by Billboard Pro members to honor the executive they believe has made the greatest impact across the hip-hop and R&B music business over the past year. After three rounds of voting, Billboard Pro members have chosen WME partner […]
Like clockwork, as soon as the West Indian Day Parade rounded its final Brooklyn block, the temperature dropped to unambiguously autumn levels. The teasing is done. Brat summer is over, and fall is here.
After dominating both the spring and the summer with Kendrick Lamar‘s string of Drake disses, TDE’s current roster is gracefully ushering us into the fall. Led by Doechii‘s dazzling Alligator Bites Never Heal mixtape, TDE undoubtedly dominated the long weekend’s cultural conversation amid marquee releases from Big Sean, Muni Long and Destroy Lonely.
The biggest story of the past week has been the heated Billboard 200 chart battle between Sabrina Carpenter‘s star-cementing Short n’ Sweet LP and the ten-year anniversary wide release of Travis Scott‘s debut mixtape, Days Before Rodeo. Coming down to just a few hundred units, Carpenter ultimately trumped Scott, but not before the rapper put up the second-biggest pure sales week of the year across all genres (331,000 copies sold). The Houston-born rapper also debuted atop Top Album Sales and earned 2024’s biggest opening week for any rap album (361,000 units shifted).
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Few stories were able to break through that nail-biting chart showdown, but the ones that did were equally arresting. Buju Banton, Masicka, and Spice were some of the bigger winners at the 2024 Caribbean Music Awards last week (Aug. 29). Ice Spice found herself embroiled in an imploding friendship and working relationship with fellow Bronx rapper and Y2K! Tour opener Cleotrapa, and Playboi Carti graced Billboard’s latest cover.
With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from Tyrese and Tamar Braxton’s heart-melting new reimagining of an R&B classic to Erica Banks and Skilla Baby’s sultry new collaboration. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.
Freshest Find: Doechii, “Denial Is a River”
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Real ones have been locked in with Doechii for a minute now, and after she got a taste of top 40 success with 2023’s Hot 100 hit “What It Is” (No. 29), now the whole world has no choice but to get on the train. Alligator Bites Never Heal, her first mixtape under Capitol/TDE, won the weekend, arriving as one of the year’s best hip-hop projects — with its sleek blend of boom-bap and house-inflected melodic rap. Boom-bap reigns supreme on “Denial Is a River,” the tape’s buzziest cut, in which Doechii recounts a head-spinning tale of betrayal. In short, she found out she was being cheated on… while she was in the middle of a therapy session. “Took a scroll through his IG, just to get a DM from his wifey/ I was so confused, what should Doechii do?/ She didn’t know about me and I didn’t know ’bout Sue,” she spits over a crisp, Iain James & Joey Hamhock-helmed beat. The track is a masterclass in both hip-hop storytelling and the infinite powers of shifting intonation to denote different characters and timelines. It’s one of the best rap performances of the year, plain and simple.
Tyrese & Tamar Braxton, “Neither One of Us”
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For those who have been paying attention, Tyrese has been dropping small teases of that good ol’ soulful R&B with each pre-release single from his new Beautiful Pain album. Now that the full set is finally available on DSPs as of last Friday (Aug. 30), the standout cut is undoubtedly his and Tamar Braxton’s moving rendition of Gladys Knights & The Pips’ 1972 classic, “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye.” Tyrese buttery timbre marries with Tamar’s piercing soprano to deliver a luscious blend of goosebump-inducing harmonies that beautifully color their dynamic interpretation of the track. The best thing about “Neither One of Us” is that neither artist’s vocal performance sounds labored; their takes have an ease and earnestness that add some earthy elements to complement their sometimes superhuman riffs and belts.
Syleena Johnson feat. Twista & Shawnna, “Burning in My Soul (Just a Freak)”
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Just a few days after Billboard and Tres Generaciones counted down their top Chicago “get up anthems,” R&B diva Syleena Johnson has a late entry of her own. Recruiting fellow Chicago music stars Twista and Shawnna, Johnson delivers a crash course in Chicago music history. For the first half of the track, Johnson’s voice sits at the intersection of soul and rock n’ roll, with voice ripping through the line “I’m on fire baby,” just as raucous guitars crash into the arrangement. Twista gifts her a characteristically rapid-fire voice before Shawnna comes in on the song’s back half — parenthetically titled “Just a Freak” — with a Beenie Man-referencing verse that blends hip-hop and soul with a small dash of reggae. In one of the lighter moments on her moving Legacy album, Johnson still finds time to speak to R&B’s preoccupation with love and pain while giving her late father a well-deserved send-off.
Erica Banks & Skilla Baby, “One Wish”
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Erica Banks returned with her Cocky on Purpose 2 EP, and as always, the Dallas-bred rapper is unapologetically expressing herself with brash rhymes. However, she takes a more gentle approach for the pensive “One Wish,” which finds Banks opening up about a temporary fling, but she’s here for a good time not a long time. “Could I f–k you out here on the spot/ Could I smoke while you giving me top/ He gon’ think I’m in love but I’m not,” she softly raps. The ball bounces to Skilla Baby, who helms the guy’s perspective. He’s had an affinity for making romantic records the ladies enjoy, and adds another to his resume here. “I’m not playing when it come to you/ I just want to see you comfortable/ Spit in your mouth when I’m f–king you,” he flows in his raunchy assist.
YTB Fatt, “Free Bank”
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YTB Fatt kicks off his On Zai deluxe EP with a jail phone call recording featuring his friend Bankroll Freddie, who is popping his s–t from behind bars. Fatt reflects on signing to Moneybagg Yo and the vultures surrounding him like a cousin who wants him dead. Trust means a lot to the Arkansas-bred rapper. He brushes off the women who deaded his messages, and vows to bless anyone who lent a helping hand in his journey to stardom. “I was down bad on my d–k, every b—h I wanted, they left me on read/ My broke days over, I put a chain on every n—a that gave me a bed,” he raps over the thrilling production, which could score an action movie scene.
Diany Dior & Fivio Foreign, “Sex Love Demons”
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There’s something in the water in The Bronx, because the charisma of any BX resident will change the temperature of any room. Diany Dior can attest as one of the queens of the sexy drill movement led by fellow Bronxite Cash Cobain. Brooklyn drill sergeant Fivio Foreign tangoes with the “Favorite Lady” rapper for their hedonistic “Sex Love Demons” collab. “I could f–k you in Paris but I’m not a French kisser,” Fivio cheekily raps. Dior grabs the mic and boasts about flipping the script on an ex. “I made him leave his side b—h/ First I was his baby, now I made him my b—h,” Dior brags. Check out the rest of The Bronx firecracker’s Big Dior debut project, which arrived via GoodTalk.
It’s the first night of July’s Broccoli City Festival in Washington, D.C., and actor-writer-producer Issa Rae has some exciting news to share with the 30,000 fans in attendance: She’s releasing her first rap album. Although moments later she clarifies that it was a joke, the Hollywood polymath reveals what might deter her if she was really angling to become music’s top female rapper. “Megan Thee Stallion has bars and body,” Rae says as she introduces Megan’s headlining set. “She’s actually intimidating. I can’t look into her eyes for too long.”
It’s easy to see why Megan Thee Stallion would give anyone pause. Standing at 5 foot 10 inches, she’s bold, bright and bodacious — an awe-inspiring trifecta. When I meet Megan at D.C.’s Four Seasons Hotel the next morning, her larger-than-life persona is in full force: Clutching a Louis Vuitton Murakami bag, she walks into the plush hotel suite with model-like precision as if it were her personal runway. But her imposing aura quickly melts away to reveal her signature wit. When we last spoke two years ago, Megan gave me a hard time when she learned I’d never had Flamin’ Hot Cheetos — and neither of us has forgotten it. “So, you really never tried Hot Cheetos?” she asks before giving me a quizzical look. “What kind of childhood did you have?”
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In 2020, Megan’s two Billboard Hot 100 No. 1s — her “Savage (Remix),” featuring Beyoncé, and her Cardi B collaboration, “WAP” — helped her become one of pop culture’s biggest names, and her three Grammy Award wins in early 2021 cemented her critical bona fides. Since then, she’s been omnipresent, becoming one of just 40 artists to pull double duty as both host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live (and on Sept. 11 she will host the MTV Video Music Awards), guest-starring in the Disney+ Marvel series She-Hulk and later appearing in 2022’s campy Dicks: The Musical as well as 2024’s big-budget musical remake of Mean Girls. She expanded beyond entertainment through savvy brand partnerships with Nike (her sneaker collection The Hot Girl Systems) and Popeyes (her signature Hottie sauce), and she even has her own tequila coming, Chicas Divertidas, which was inspired by a conversation with Beyoncé. “ ‘You better have your own s–t,’ ” Megan quips, imitating her fellow Houstonian. “You better know the next time she saw me, I said, ‘Hey, Beyoncé. Look what I got.’
“I’m proud of all my business deals because everything I do is personal to me,” she continues. “I put 100% into my partnerships, and I’m always so grateful when people want to step into my world. When I see a brand I f–k with and they want to come into the Hot Girl World, I’m like, ‘Thank you, this makes sense. I love that you’re recognizing me as much as I was already recognizing you.’ ” She’s stepping into worlds outside her immediate orbit, too: In July, Megan performed at Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign rally in Atlanta, using her Hot 100 top 20 hit “Body” as a vehicle to speak up for reproductive rights.
But while the 29-year-old enjoys wearing multiple hats — college graduate, philanthropist, actress, mogul — she’s always happiest when she’s rapping, and her extra-musical pursuits have made her a wiser businesswoman as she pursues her passion. Following a yearslong legal dispute, Megan and her label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, amicably parted ways in 2023, making her an independent artist. In February, she partnered with Warner Music Group for distribution, gaining complete ownership of her masters and publishing — an unprecedented move for a female rapper. Her third album, Megan, is her first under this new arrangement.
Released in June, Megan debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 64,000 equivalent album units in the United States, according to Luminate, making it the biggest debut for any rap album released by a woman in 2024. Megan also topped Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for the second time in her career — the sixth female rapper to do so.
On Megan, the Houston MC’s world of bruising Southern rap and rump-shaking anthems is alive and well, as is her deep and abiding love for Japanese culture. “Otaku Hot Girl” samples the popular anime series Jujutsu Kaisen, while she performs alongside Japanese rapper Yuki Chiba on “Mamushi.” After the latter track broke out on TikTok — bolstered by Megan creating and demonstrating the song’s dance in a Sailor Moon-inspired outfit — she shot its video in her second home: Japan.
“When I’m out there, I always feel happy,” she says with a smile. “The air is clear, the people are polite, the food is good. The culture is so interesting to me. I learn something every time I go out there. I learn a little bit of Japanese every time I go. The shopping is good. It just feels super positive every time I’m there. I really like being there because I’m big on energy. As soon as I touch down, I always feel like I can take a breath. Everybody good.”
House of JMC dress, Anabela Chan earrings.
Ramona Rosales
On Megan, the Houston Hottie lives up to her nickname, returning to her hometown roots — including her pairing with hip-hop duo UGK on album standout “Paper Together.” Megan grew up a fan of UGK’s Chad “Pimp C” Butler and received a gift from his widow, Chinara Butler, during the recording process: unreleased vocals by the late legend that she sent Megan to use. “From the first time I met Meg, I knew she was meant to work with Chad,” Butler tells Billboard. “She’s an extremely talented MC, and I’ve always appreciated her genuine love for my husband’s music. She’s helped introduce Chad to a new generation of hip-hop fans.”
Though Megan can be an aggressive rhymer, she knows how to calm things down and keep it sexy, too — like on the Magic City-ready anthem “Spin,” featuring Victoria Monét. “She’s a very confident and strong woman,” Monét says. “Megan knows exactly who she is. She doesn’t let people push her off her dot. There’s a lot of respect there. Also, she makes great music that brings people together and makes them dance. You want to watch her shake something and learn to shake something because of her. She’s inspiring.”
But at her core, Megan is still an MC — and like a coiled snake, this fierce iteration of her strikes on album opener “Hiss,” released in January. Aimed at collaborator-turned-detractor Nicki Minaj, “Hiss” ignited the year of competitive rap — in which Kendrick Lamar and Drake have also feuded, as well as Latto and Ice Spice — as Megan delivered a searing diatribe at Minaj, following the Pink Friday star’s slights against her on 2023’s “FTCU,” when Minaj rapped: “Stay in your Tory Lanez, bitch, I’m not Iggy,” referencing the rapper found guilty of shooting Megan in 2020 who was sentenced to 10 years in 2023. A year later, Megan lashed back: “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law,” she raps on “Hiss,” referring to the federal law mandating that law enforcement make information about registered sex offenders public. (Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty, is a registered sex offender who was convicted of rape in 1995 for assaulting a 16-year-old.) The song debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 — Megan’s third chart-topper on the list.
“I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing,” Megan says. “If people feel like I’m somebody to aim at, then I must be pretty high up if you’re reaching up at me. I must be some kind of competition. That makes me feel good. That makes me feel like I could rap because if I wasn’t the s–t, y’all wouldn’t be worried about me.”
Though Megan relishes competitive battles, she prefers championing her peers. Following the success of her first-ever headlining tour, this year’s Hot Girl Summer, she reconnected with the run’s opener and her new bestie, GloRilla, on “Accent.” Earlier this year, she’d scored a top 15 Hot 100 song with Glo’s “Wanna Be,” and the sold-out arena tour created a rock-solid bond between the female MCs that sharpened their studio chemistry; now, they want to release a joint project together.
“Megan is a real rapper, and I’m also a real rapper,” GloRilla says. “We actually be talking and coming with bars on some down South gangsta s–t. [It would be] some down South, real turnt, real rap [s–t].” (“I think that would be very fire,” Megan says. “I ain’t gon’ say too much, but it feels like it’s going to get done.”)
While being the face of female rap may sound enticing, it doesn’t move Megan, who, during her three-month tour, happily shared the spotlight with not only GloRilla but also Cardi B and Latto, who made guest appearances at the tour’s New York and Atlanta stops, respectively.
“I got a lot of people trying to critique me and tell me what I am and what I’m not. I feel like I’ve proved myself over and over again,” she says. “If there’s a question if Megan Thee Stallion can’t rap, you need to go ahead and quit asking that question. We know I could rap.”
Ramona Rosales
You began your career playing the Texas circuit and now you’re an arena-caliber superstar. How did your beginnings prepare you for this?
It definitely taught me how to be the performer that I am. It made me understand, “OK, all you got to do is get out here and have fun.” So every time I get onstage, I’m not thinking too hard. I’m thinking like, “I’m partying with my people.” Going around my home state definitely set me up to be prepared to be comfortable with people everywhere else.
Because of the pandemic, Hot Girl Summer was the first time you hit the road since 2019. Was the extended layoff a blessing in disguise?
It wasn’t a blessing in disguise — it was a blessing outright. I was so happy to see that so many people came out and sold out a bunch of these dates. People were genuinely excited to see me, genuinely excited to see [GloRilla]. You had people like, “Oh, we don’t know if she can [sell out arenas].” Bitch, it ain’t no question about it now.
Take me back to your concert at Madison Square Garden, where you, Cardi B and GloRilla shared that stage. It was a powerful moment.
It was a little East Coast-Southern sandwich we had going on. I was very happy. I genuinely love Cardi. I genuinely love Glo. In the industry, you really don’t meet a lot of girls who want to see you be successful. You meet people, and I’m not just going to say girls, but you don’t meet a lot of artists that want you to have success because they’re scared sometimes it’s going to take away from their success. Music is competition, rap is a competition, but those two ladies, I feel like we all like to see each other do good things. We like to see each other win. Sharing the stage with people that want to see you do good and you want to see them do good, it felt very uplifting. I felt like we were feeding off each other. I felt like we helped each other. Being onstage with them made me feel good because I knew we were proud of each other.
In 2022, I spoke to Q-Tip about you, and he said, “People still haven’t even seen her full artistry yet.” Is Megan the peak of that artistry?
I still feel like I have more to give. With this album, I wanted to show people my personal interests and thoughts. I wanted to touch on my love for all things anime, all things Southern, how much I like to have fun, and I wanted to be myself. I feel like I did that. A lot of people were expecting me to come on this album talking one way and I wanted to introduce myself — this version of myself that I am right now. Sometimes, people listen to me with ears of “I don’t like her, so I don’t want to like it.” The more people sit with the album, the more and more they’re like, “OK, you know what? This s–t is banging.”
Ramona Rosales
On “BOA,” there’s a bar where you say: “Y’all do this s–t for TikTok/Bitch I’m really hip-hop.”
Nothing wrong with TikTok. TikTok is fun. It’s for people to get on there and have fun. Show me what you’re eating, show me how you’re dancing, show me what you’re doing. I feel like TikTok is happy.
I say that because you’re one of the biggest stars in the world. How do you still maintain that hip-hop essence?
Because I really like to rap. Where I come from, people are really freestyling. What I come from is hardcore rap, Southern rap. The one thing in my life that I knew I was really good at was rapping. I don’t ever want to get away from that. I don’t ever want to play with it. I don’t ever want people to think I don’t take it seriously. I’ll be the rapper that is good for a bunch of verses and freestyles because that’s what I like to do.
Your mother, Holly-Wood, was a rapper. What did you learn from her, skillwise?
Just that attitude. My mama was so feisty. She had a lot of aggression in her rap voice, and because in her nature she was naturally an aggressive woman, she sold it. I feel like the main thing for me is always selling it. Making sure who I am comes through in my voice when I’m rapping. You’re not going to believe what I’m saying if I don’t deliver it strong. My delivery lets people know that I’m strong.
What was it like when you received Pimp C’s verse, which you used on “Paper Together,” while in the studio with your producer, LilJuMadeDaBeat?
We both cried. Like, “Oh, my God. I can’t believe we got this verse.” I love Pimp and Ju love Pimp, and we share that same love of Southern rap. Pimp C made me feel so gangster, he made me feel so cool. To have my voice on a song with my favorite rapper ever, an unreleased verse? Motherf–kers ain’t walking around with Pimp C verses. And I got blessed with one.
I heard you’re sitting on more unreleased Pimp C verses.
I mean, we might [have] some more stuff. It’s more stuff in the chamber, but I want to keep Pimp C alive. Not saying it’s not alive; [his wife] Chinara keeping it alive, his children keeping it alive, people in Texas keeping it alive. I really want people to know who the f–k Pimp C is. As much as I get to put his voice on wax, I will.
House of JMC corset, Jimmy Choo shoes, Anabela Chan earrings.
Ramona Rosales
You’ve said that your relationship with Warner Music Group is based on trust. How has the label proved its trustworthiness?
They ain’t told me “no” yet. They did exactly what they said they was gon’ do. Everybody that I work with there, we’re on calls together all the time talking about how we feel like we could make the partnership better. Everybody’s been so cool, and they’re so easy to work with. Everybody’s been super nice, and I like nice people. They’re just nice at Warner.
Very few artists can say they got their masters before they turned 30. Why was that a priority for you?
I’ve been fighting for my freedom my whole rap career. I just couldn’t take no for an answer. I don’t ever want to be in a situation where somebody got their foot on my neck ever again. You got to do things to make yourself be your own boss.
How has it been navigating that road as an independent artist?
Being independent is hard. When you got a label that does everything for you, all you got to do is wake up and be the celebrity. That’s a very easy life. I have to do s–t other people aren’t doing. I do work as my own label. I do fund a lot of my own things. There’s a lot of things I’m still learning as I go. The s–t is not just handed to me in my lap — I really got to go figure out, “OK, now I’m doing it by myself.” Not that I’m doing it only by myself, but I’m in a position to be my own boss, so I got to figure out how to be the boss and how to be the employee. It’s tough, but I like figuring it out. I like doing things on my own. I like working. I’m not going to stop. The more I know, the better I’ll get.
You’ve been so open about your love for Japanese culture, especially anime. As a Black creative, how influential has it been on you?
I really like the storytelling in anime. The thing that resonates with me while watching a lot of the anime I like is watching the character development — seeing the character go from nothing to everything. When I feel like I’m getting beat up in life, I remember some of my favorite characters. I see that they had to go from literally zero and getting their ass whooped in their training. Even when they start popping and getting their muscles — because you know they be skinny as hell, then they start getting a little ripped — even when you start seeing the character getting a little swole, you like, “All right, he’s going to defeat all you motherf–kers. It’s over with.” Then he still getting his ass whooped and it’s like, “Man, I feel bad for my boy.”
Even after getting his ass whooped, because you got to fall down a few times, the character doesn’t ever get discouraged. They always like, “All right, I may have got my ass whooped but Imma get back up, and watch how I come back 20 times stronger.” I resonate with that. No matter how many times I get knocked down, I never feel like, “F–k it, Imma quit.” I just need to get better. I need to get back, try again, train harder and go harder so I can keep evolving into my best self.
When you did “Pressurelicious” with Future in 2022, you paid him $250,000 for a verse and said you treat your features like a business. Why, and how?
When you cool with somebody, you should support their business. You shouldn’t ask them to do nothing for free because you cool with them. I feel like that’s a lot of people’s problem with their homies. Just because your homie got a clothing line, that don’t mean he got to give you clothes for free — like, support your friend. Don’t expect anyone to give you something just because we cool. That’s how I treat my artist friends. I’m not asking you to do nothing for free. I wouldn’t come in your house and take all your food out your house and I invite you to my house and it’s like, “Oh, what?” Just as much as I give, I can receive. I just feel like it’s a back-and-forth thing. I just want them to know I really respect what they do. I go all out for myself. I splurge on myself, I love myself, I love what I do, and I want everything to look right. I want everything to be right. I feel like you’re going to take me seriously once I let you know: This is not a favor; I’m asking for this.
Natalia Fedner dress, Alexis Bittar earrings, XIV Karats rings.
Ramona Rosales
I think you started this competitive rap energy we’ve seen in 2024 when you released “Hiss.” Do you feel you’re the reason MCs are rapping competitively again?
I would like to think that I start things. I don’t know; I just knew what I had to do and what I had to say. If it opened up the door for everyone else to get s–t off their chest, well, I’m glad.
You took shots at Nicki Minaj. Is there a chance for a reconciliation or even another collaboration one day?
I still to this day don’t know what the problem is. I don’t even know what could be reconciled because I, to this day, don’t know what the problem is.
Does being the face of female rap for the next 10 years drive you? Is that something that you want?
I just want to rap. I want to be Megan Thee Stallion. I want to rap for as long as I can.
After he made some inappropriate comments about you last November, Shannon Sharpe apologized. Do you feel you’ve been getting more support from Black men over the last few years, or is that something you’re still looking for more of?
At this point in life, I really don’t care. Maybe if you would’ve asked me this last year or two years ago, I would’ve wished I had more Black people in general in my corner. It would’ve felt nice to be protected by some Black men in this instance, but the more I wasn’t getting it, the more and more I realized I wasn’t going to get it. Who should feel safe and important at the end of the day is me, and I was going to have to make myself feel that way. I wasn’t going to find it in people I don’t know at all. Now I don’t care. As long as I make myself feel happy, then that’s what matters to me.
I’ve seen a lot of Black men rapping your lyrics at your shows. That must be a dope feeling.
Because we actually are going the hardest right now. The women are killing it right now. We are the hardest MCs right now. We going harder than the boys, for sure.
Ramona Rosales
How do you maintain personal peace while living a good chunk of your life as Megan Thee Stallion?
I feel like Megan and Megan Thee Stallion are the same person. When I’m Megan Thee Stallion, I’m having to wear armor. I definitely got to go onstage and get in that mode, but I’m still the same person. Just when I’m not in public, I can really decompress and slouch, and I could watch anime all I want. I can play with my puppies, I can talk on the phone with my cousin, I could be with my best friends in peace. I don’t have to worry about being too strong. I could just be me.
You’ve been extremely vulnerable on songs like “Cobra” and “Moody Girl.” How therapeutic were those to make?
It felt really good to make them because it used to be hard for me to be vulnerable on songs. I could be upset and make a song like “Freak Nasty.” [I’ll be] pissed and I’ll go make that. I’ll be sad and make something like “Body.” I’ve always wanted to open up and not make it too preachy or too sad. I still want to ride the beat. Now I’m getting in a space where I can figure out how to express myself over beats that still allow me to be hard. It’s tough, but I use it like a diary now. I really do it because I know there are other Hotties that like to listen to those songs, and they resonate with the lyrics. I feel like it makes them understand, “OK, this my girl and she might appear to be Superwoman, but she going through it just like me.” I don’t want everyone to think I’m a goddamn robot, because I’m not a robot. I want them to know it’s OK to be human, to feel anxiety, depression and to feel low. You’re not going to feel like that all the time.
How inspiring is it for you to see Kamala Harris running for president, especially as a young Black woman?
To be alive in a lifetime where a Black woman or a woman at all could be the president, I feel so blessed. This is what the future is about. We really about to get a strong, Black female in there. I feel like America needed a woman to come in here and put a woman’s touch on it. It’s been going a little crazy lately, and we need somebody to put their foot down. I feel like Kamala, she gon’ do that.
I never thought we’d be in a situation where we could have two Black presidents…
Yeah, in the same lifetime. We are really doing the damn thing. I’m proud of us. Now we just got to get out there and go vote. I don’t like it when I see people saying, “I’m not voting. F–k it.” What the f–k are you talking about? You’re going to complain about what you don’t like but you’re not going to help the cause? I think that’s very irresponsible because if you don’t like what Trump has going on, why even aid in him being the president again?
You’ve said this is your “selfish era.” Do you feel like you’ve been able to reclaim some of your power?
Yeah. I used to really care how I made a lot of people feel before how I made myself feel, before how they made me feel. Somebody could make me feel like complete s–t, but I still never wanted to do anything to make anybody else feel like s–t. I still don’t want to make people feel like s–t. At least now I know, “Let me put up my boundary.” As soon as you make me feel a way that I don’t like, I just don’t want to deal with you anymore. You don’t got to fight evil with evil, but I don’t have to deal with this at all. I don’t have to do things to make other people smile. What am I going to do to make me smile? What you going to do to make me smile? Everything was about making other people smile and other people happy. Now I’m in a space where I want to be happy. I’m not going to take away [from] being happy so I can put other people’s life and happiness as a priority over mine.
This story appears in the Aug. 31, 2024, issue of Billboard.
It’s the first night of July’s Broccoli City Festival in Washington, D.C., and actor-writer-producer Issa Rae has some exciting news to share with the 30,000 fans in attendance: She’s releasing her first rap album. Although moments later she clarifies that it was a joke, the Hollywood polymath reveals what might deter her if she was […]
Cam’ron and Mase’s It Is What It Is returned for the fall on Monday (Sept. 2) and the co-hosts didn’t waste any time addressing Mase’s new look.
Mase debunked any Ozempic allegations or rumors of using a weight loss drug to fuel his 70-pound transformation. “You took the needle,” Cam poked at his co-host with a laugh. “So what did you do to lose the weight, man?”
The rapper-turned-pastor brushed off the allegations and explained the new diet a bodybuilder put him on. “That’s the hate I want. That’s the hate I needed,” Mase replied. “I signed up with this coach named Ricky Moore, that’s a professional bodybuilder, and he just put me on the alkaline diet. I’m only eating fruit, vegetables and water for now.”
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Cam ultimately expressed he was happy to see his friend turn the clock back with a slimmer figure to go alongside his fuller hairline and whiter teeth.
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“You look great, man. You look like back in high school,” Killa said. “I’m happy to see it.”
Fans began debating if Mase was telling the truth on social media. “Comment section sad fr,” one person wrote on X. “I see a bunch of dudes hating on someones progression and speculating stuff vs just genuinely being happy for one of the OGs . I hate social media fr!”
Expect to see plenty more of Mase and Cam this fall with It Is What It Is returning just in time for football season. With O.J. Simpson passing away earlier this year, the co-hosts tapped Dallas Cowboys legend Michael Irvin to replace the late Juice on their weekly NFL spots.
Mase isn’t the only artist facing Ozempic allegations. Ice Spice shut down rumors of taking any weight loss medications last month while on tour sporting a slimmer figure.
“I actually came on here to talk about that real quick. I wish y’all never learned the word Ozempic,” she said in an August Twitter Spaces. “That’s one thing I wish. Oh my God! Like, what even is Ozempic? What the f–k is that? Genuinely, what is that?”
She continued: “You lazy-a– b—–s never heard of a gym? It’s called the gym, it’s called eating healthy, it’s called being on tour. Like, what the hell? Maybe if I was sitting at home all f–king day, it’d be easier to stay big.”
Watch the episode of It Is What It Is below.
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