R&B/Hip-Hop
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With 90 minutes to go before he takes the stage at Lyrical Lemonade’s Summer Smash festival, Playboi Carti is already involved in a performance — just outside of his trailer. Sprayed on the trailer’s side in red graffiti art is the word “OPIUM,” the name of Carti’s creative agency and partnership with Interscope Records, along […]
Cardi B and Offset brought the family together over the weekend to celebrate youngest son Wave’s third birthday. According to reposts of Cardi’s Instagram Story of the event, the two MC’s — who are estranged after Cardi filed for divorce against the Migos rapper last month — went all out for the “last-minute” party that […]
Stevie Wonder’s new single, “Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart?,” reflects the legendary musician’s deeply-felt political and social concerns. Wonder has incorporated these concerns into his music at least since he was 16, when he had a top 10 hit on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Top Selling R&B Singles (as the chart […]
There’s a party going down in Brooklyn Friday (Sept. 6). Billboard‘s Hip-Hop Live concert series is coming to Bushwick venue Xanadu for a show headlined by Teezo Touchdown, with performances from BossMan Dlow, “Texas” rapper BigXthaPlug and DJ Miss Milan.
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Those still in need of tickets are in luck, as Billboard and the Billboard Unfiltered team is giving fans the chance to enter a sweepstakes on X to win a pair of tix to the show.
It’s very easy: All you have to do is reply to the official sweepstakes post on Billboard Hip-Hop’s X account with your favorite BossMan Dlow or Teezo Touchdown song. Doing that any time from now until Sept. 4 at 11:59 p.m. ET will give you an official contest entry. There is only one entry allowed per person.
One winner will be notified on Sept. 5, and they will have the chance to claim their two tickets to the show. If the winner does not reply to Billboard within 24 hours, another will be selected. To enter, you must be a legal U.S. citizen and at least 18 years old.
No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. For those who don’t win, tickets are still on sale for the Xanadu roller rink show here for $32.
The winner may be required to provide a completed W-9 or W-8 form. Each winner agrees to Billboard’s use of their name, photograph, likeness, voice, biographical information, statements and address, and any information provided by Billboard for advertising and/or publicity purposes worldwide in all forms of media now known or hereafter developed, in perpetuity, without further compensation or authorization, to the extent permitted by law.
“I credit hip-hop as the foundation of my art, so I am honored and excited to perform in the birthstate at such a [prestigious] ceremony,” Teezo said in a statement.
BigXthaPlug was announced as an addition to the lineup on Aug. 28, when Billboard revealed he’s also Amazon Music and Rotation’s next Breakthrough Artist.
“BigXthaPlug has been one of the most exciting new voices in hip-hop, with an outsized sound that’s as big as his personality,” Alexis Cueva, artist relations for Amazon Music, told Billboard. “We’ve already seen our customers respond to his incredible music on Amazon Music, and as our next Breakthrough Artist, we’re excited to help BigX connect with even more fans.”
It all goes down Sept. 6 at Brooklyn’s Xanadu, with the show slated to start at 8 p.m. ET.
Hip-Hop LIVE
Billboard
Ice Spice has seen plenty of people speaking on her body throughout her career, and now, she’s controlling the narrative and taking back the power of her figure.
The Bronx native posted a workout video on Thursday (Aug. 29) showing off components of her routine while on the road for tour. “We beatin them allegations bae,” she wrote, brushing off the Ozempic claims that were thrown her way earlier this year.
She received a ton of love in her comment ssection from peers including Chloe Bailey, Saweetie, Bktherula and more. “Body on point,” Chloe wrote.
Fans chimed in, hyping up Ice as well. “Mic drop ozempic doesn’t make you toned. Tell em ice,” one person said. Another added, “Yes baby show them wasssssswhat!”
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Ice Spice had enough of everyone talking about her weight and decided to clap back at those with loose lips and defend her work ethic during an X Spaces Aug. 19.
“I actually came on here to talk about that real quick. I wish y’all never learned the word Ozempic,” she said. “That’s one thing I wish. Oh my God! Like, what even is Ozempic? What the f–k is that? Genuinely, what is that?”
Ice 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.”
The 24-year-old is wrapping up her Y2K! World Tour in Miami with a final show at The Fillmore Miami Beach on Saturday (Aug. 31), and then she’s slated to make an appearance on Sunday (Sept. 1) at Club LIV.
Ice Spice released her anticipated Y2K! debut album in July with features from Gunna, Travis Scott and Central Cee. The LP reached No. 18 on the Billboard 200.
Watch Ice Spice’s workout video below:
A$AP Rocky has delivered the previously leaked “Tailor Swif” video after expressing concern about giving the track and visual an official release. The song and accompanying Vania Heymann and Gal Muggia-directed video arrived on Friday (Aug. 30) as a gift to the Mob frontman’s faithful fans, but don’t expect it to land on his upcoming Don’t Be Dumb album later this year.
Rocky unleashed another memorable visual that will be part of his decorated videography. Each scene from the jarring clip shot in Kyiv, Ukraine, back in December 2021 is as bizarre as the next. Whether it’s the inclusion of a bunny rabbit bathing with a glass of wine in a public bathroom sink to Rocky dodging a car, a dog in a jacket and tie talking on a cellphone in a diner, or a man’s hair serving as a bird’s nest (complete with hatching eggs), the Harlem native’s dedication to his craft doesn’t disappoint.
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Swifties’ eyeballs were collectively drawn to the track’s title, which is seemingly inspired by the pop titan of the same name. Rocky even gives Taylor Swift a shout-out on the tune’s chorus. “I’m too swift, don’t tell Taylor ’bout this s–t (Swift, yeah)/ I’m too swift, now don’t tell Taylor ’bout this s–t,” he raps.
However, it doesn’t appear all of the Swifties are thrilled with Rocky throwing T-Swift’s name into the mix. “If i had a dollar for every man that used taylor’s name for clout id be as rich as her,” one tweeted.
But Rocky’s fans flocked to Flacko’s defense. “Love taylor swift, but asap rocky does not need her to stay relevant,” one person replied on X.
A$AP was initially hesitant to release the track, which he performed at Rolling Loud Portugal in 2022 before it leaked days later, but decided to go ahead with it earlier this week. “SINCE U DUMMIES LEAKED IT ALREADY,” he tweeted.
Rocky’s Don’t Be Dumb album was slated to land on Aug. 30, but he revealed to Billboard that it’s been pushed to the fall.
“Tailor Swif” follows Rocky’s August single “Highjack,” which debuted at No. 89 on the Billboard Hot 100. Watch the video for “Tailor Swif” below.
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MTS is joining forces with BTS once again — yes, for real. After teasing on social media that she was teaming up with another artist to release a new collaboration, Megan Thee Stallion has confirmed that she’s working with the world’s biggest K-pop stars: Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook.
The “Hiss” rapper first started hinting at a new duet on X Thursday (Aug. 29), when she simply tweeted a pointed string of emojis: “🐎X💜 👀”
The cryptic post got lots of fans fired up, with some immediately guessing that the purple heart signified BTS’ involvement. “HELLO?? PURPLE HEART?? BTS???” one person commented at the time, while another excited user wrote, “BTS COLLAB ?? NO ONE MOVE.”
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The following day, BTS’ account confirmed the news: “🐎X🦔(🐨),” the band wrote, retweeting Meg’s original post. “Coming Soon! 💜👀”
The news comes about two months after the “WAP” artist released her third studio album, Megan, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. BTS’ full-band activities have been on pause as the members fulfill their mandatory military obligations in South Korea, with some of the boys dropping solo projects in the meantime.
The new collab won’t be the first time MTS and BTS have worked together. In 2021, Meg jumped on the remix to the boy band’s Billboard Hot 100-topping single “Butter,” which they all performed together at BTS’ concert in Los Angeles that November.
“I love BTS, and I was telling my manager, ‘I really want to do a song with BTS, I don’t know what I can do or what we’re going to do,’” she recalled to Entertainment Tonight the following February. “Around that the same time, they wound up reaching out to me and asking me to do the ‘Butter’ remix. So, I was like, ‘Oh my God.’”
See Megan and BTS’ tweets below.
LL Cool J and Eminem have joined forces for the first time on a brand new track slated to land on LL’s upcoming The Force album, which arrives on Sept. 6.
The single finds the pair of lethal MCs passing the baton back-and-forth while spitting rapid-fire bars, one hotter than the next. “Murdergram Deux” landed on Friday (Aug. 30) without much of any notice from LL or Em that the track was on the way.
“Give blessings to my disciples, professional I’m a sniper/ Like eight miles away, me and Marshall doing murders/ With dirty burners, break them down and melt them in the furnace,” LL Cool J raps over the skittering Q-Tip production.
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Eminem closes out “Murdergram Deux” seemingly without taking a breath and brings the uptempo track across the finish line with a hat tip to his Dr. Dre and 50 Cent-assisted “Crack a Bottle.”
“Go ahead and crack a bottle, ’cause this is E and J/ Meaning me and James (Yeah), got that avocado/ And we the sociopaths, and we got your ho on our laps/ And we’re goin’ back to Cali so she can blow on our sax,” he spews.
It’s been a turbulent journey for “Murdergram” to receive an official release, as an unfinished version of the track was leaked earlier this year, which frustrated the Queens-bred icon.
“It’s not A.I., but it’s not official. It’s not official, it’s not the right version,” he previously told Raymond T. “People just walk all in the kitchen, touching the rolls before they’re done — you know, how your grandmother slaps your hand when you try to check the pots early. It’s not A.I., it’s a real joint.”
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Em joined LL Cool J as a guest on his Rock The Bells radio show in 2018, during which the Detroit artist recalled meeting the rapper for the first time on the set of his “Just Don’t Give a F–k” video.
“I’m like, ‘Yo, he’s in here by himself.’ I was buggin’ the f–k out,” Em said. “You quoted a lyric back to me. You said, ‘Yo, how can I be white/ I don’t even exist.’ You quoting that lyric back to me, was like, ‘I think I s–t myself.’”
Eminem also made an appearance at the 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction for LL Cool J, where the duo performed his “Rock the Bells” hit.
LL Cool J’s The Force album serves as his first since 2013’s Authentic, and is slated to feature Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes, Rick Ross, Saweetie, Nas and more.
Listen to “Murdergram Deux” below.
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When Nico Baran was 10, he discovered the popular digital audio workstation FL Studio during a class presentation and started making dance tracks. “That helped me build up my skills for making loops,” says Baran, who soon transitioned to R&B and trap productions.
Seven years later, in 2020, the Houston-born, Madrid-based producer started DM’ing loops to members of the producer collective and record label Internet Money. One member, oktanner, played the beats for CEO Taz Taylor, who brought Baran onto the team that year. Taylor asked Baran to send him ideas ahead of his session with The Kid LAROI, which led to Baran scoring his first major placement on LAROI’s debut mixtape, F*ck Love, co-writing and co-producing “Tragic” featuring YoungBoy Never Broke Again.
He has since compiled a genre-spanning résumé — and an impressive original loop library, which he often shares as sounds on TikTok — producing songs for rappers like Lil Tecca, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Shy Glizzy, as well as Latin artists like Bad Bunny with Young Miko, Eladio Carrión and Fuerza Regida. In June, when Baran posted a now-viral snippet titled “Love Is Gone” — a moody instrumental that has since amassed 1.8 million TikTok plays and 4.3 million official on-demand global streams, according to Luminate — Drake caught wind of the hype. “He reached out to me through Instagram,” Baran says. “I’m still sending him stuff to this day.”
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Wallace Joseph, SVP of A&R at Warner Chappell Music, calls the producer a “genius,” saying his talent is “purely natural. What he’s doing is next level; whether he’s playing keyboards, producing, or anything else, everything he touches goes viral.”
Ahead, Baran is hoping to make time for his own music as well, saying he “definitely” wants to release an album of his own — “kind of like Metro Boomin and DJ Khaled,” he says, “where I can bring artists into my own sound.”
¥$ (with Lil Wayne), “Lifestyle”
Last November, Baran wrote, “POV: Ty Dolla $ign & Kanye need beats for their next album,” over a TikTok featuring one of his loops. In December, when Ye previewed “Lifestyle” during an Instagram Live filmed at a private Las Vegas party teasing Vultures 2 (despite Vultures 1 not having dropped), Baran noticed a familiar beat: The song sampled “Love Is Gone.” As Baran recalls, “People were sending me screen recordings through Instagram like, ‘Kanye sampled you!’ ” One of the song’s producers, Australian duo FNZ, had sent Ty “Love Is Gone.” Baran says, “He liked it a lot. He showed it to Kanye, and Kanye loved it. It still feels unbelievable.”
Ice Spice & Central Cee, “Did It First”
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In 2023, songwriter-producer Lily Kaplan sent Baran a Dropbox link and asked him to tinker with her vocal tracks. He built a loop around one of them by chopping up the line “Baby, do you understand?” and adding synths before sending it to RIOTUSA, Ice Spice’s go-to producer. RIOT ultimately used it for Ice and Central Cee’s “Did It First,” one of the buzzier singles from her debut album, Y2K!, that dropped in July. “Ice Spice really loved that one loop, and it kind of went crazy,” says Baran of the track, which hit No. 10 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
The Kid LAROI, TBA
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Four years after “Tragic,” one of LAROI’s producers reached out to Baran about sampling a loop that he had posted on TikTok to use on a track from the Australian artist’s forthcoming second album. (His debut, The First Time, arrived last November.) “That’s mainly what I’m focusing on right now,” Baran reveals. “I’m sending a lot of ideas to LAROI’s producers. Aside from that one song, hopefully more [will] come about.”
A version of this article originally appeared in the August 31, 2024 issue of Billboard.
After earning a Grammy Award for best R&B performance with her 2022 R&B/pop breakthrough hit “Hrs and Hrs,” Muni Long is back with a new album, Revenge, today (Aug. 30) on The Muni Long Inc./Def Jam Recordings. The sophomore follow-up to Public Displays of Affection: The Album also arrives with two hits already in tow: “Made for Me” and “Make Me Forget.” The latter recently marked Long’s first No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay.
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The singer-songwriter describes the 14-track Revenge (listen HERE) in press materials as “one big diary entry.” Aside from its latest single, the soulful ballad “Ruined Me,” the project features more noteworthy songs like the introspective “30s” (“The first song I actually wrote for the album”), opening anthem “Superpowers” and uptempo BFF ode “Bessie.”
From start to finish, Revenge brims with frank, raw emotion and relatable scenarios. That’s thanks to Long’s insightful penmanship, like this line from “Superpowers”: “How come my superpowers don’t work on you and me.” There’s also Long’s appealing voice, for which she shouts out vocal producer Kuk Harrell: “We just mesh; he knows how to pull it out of me.” Additional Revenge collaborators include hitmakers Christopher “Tricky” Stewart (“Make Me Forget,” which includes an interpolation of D’Angelo’s “Untitled (How Does It Feel)”), Jeff “Gitty” Gitelman (“Ruined Me”) and Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox (“Made for Me”).
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Long had recently ended her opening act stint on Chris Brown’s 11:11 Tour, which wrapped in early August, when Billboard caught up with her during an airport layover. At one point in the phone interview, she said Revenge is going to be “the R&B album of the year.
“First of all, you have to be a bit deluded to do this [music],” she continued with a laugh. “But I have to believe that even before the album is finished. I had to know that’s what I wanted to do as I’m doing it because that energy and that frequency have to be infused into the music. That’s something a lot of music is missing on the energetic and confidence level — before anyone else validates you. You can tell that I didn’t just throw these tracks together. This project was well thought out and well-intentioned. People are going to appreciate that, and resonate with the music on a deeper level.”
What lessons did you learn as an opening act on your first arena tour?
It was like a big singalong every night. I’ve done three shows on my own since Chris’ tour ended and these crowds came with the expectation of hearing great songs. They want to hear R&B music. I understand it’s not normal for a new artist to be on their first tour doing arenas, right? So I don’t take that for granted. I learned a lot: how to work the crowd; how to coexist with the audience and not be up there like I’m separate from them. It felt like a masterclass working with Chris because he’s such an incredible live performer. I only had 30 minutes. So I don’t know how he was doing it for two-and-a-half hours at the energy level he was giving, dancing and full-out singing. It was a crazy, amazing experience.
What was it like working with Mariah Carey on the “Made for Me” remix?
The fact that she even said yes was just like, wow. I grew up listening to her, Whitney [Houston] and Celine [Dion]. So not only was it an honor but I got to have my name next to hers [laughs]. Mariah is also an excellent vocal producer, producer and songwriter. I don’t think she gets the credit she deserves. Working with her as an artist and, prior to that a songwriter, was probably one of the most memorable, precious experiences that I’ve had in music. But working with her, she never made you feel like she’s this big personality. It was always, “I have you here because I want your essence, your vibe. I want you to do what you do.”
Now you’re in promotion mode for Revenge. What sparked the creative direction behind this album?
Sometimes I’ll get the itch that I just need to write. Or I’ll hear a conversation or a piece of music that will inspire a lyric. I didn’t really have a specific theme as to what this album was going to be about. It was, “I like this song. It’s really good and I want to keep it.” From there it was about narrowing them down. I had like 18 songs when I first got with Tricky. So I let him shape the album and the track listing — something I normally would have done. But I kind of stepped back, allowing myself to make the art and let somebody else help me form the picture. This is the first time I’ve done that.
How did the title track come about?
We were in the studio, and The-Dream came by just to visit. I remember looking around the room, and there’s Tricky, Kuk Harrell, Theron Thomas, The-Dream and me. There’s no way I’m about to have all these powerful people in this room and not get a song [laughs]. And if you’ve ever been around The-Dream, you know he loves to go back and forth. So we get to arguing about relationships, men and women and how we treat each other … what’s the angle? Somehow we get to where, at a certain point, all the tit for tat isn’t necessary: It’s I don’t even want revenge. I just want you to go on somewhere. That’s when we started writing the lyric. Actually, Dream texted what I said, went into a booth and freestyled the entire melody for the verse and chorus. He’s like, “OK, I’m done.” Then Theron and I took that and just basically wrote my story; like, this is what I’m going through right now. Because it’s so close to home I was like, “This is the title.” The best revenge is success.
In your press materials, you note the journey to this career moment took 17 years. Did you ever lose faith while pivoting from songwriter to singer-songwriter?
If I’d known that it was going to take this long, I’d have probably done something else [laughs]. I got super impatient. I was ready to quit many times. But I think there’s something to be said about listening to your gut. Every time I wanted to walk away, I was like, “No, what else am I going to do?” This is where my heart is and that really kept me going. I spent a lot of time writing songs for other people [Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Kelly Clarkson]. But I don’t regret that because I learned so much. That’s why I’m able to write songs the way that I do. So everything happens exactly how it should.