After showcasing our fierce 15 last year, Billboard runs the table back and presents this year’s Hip-Hop/R&B Artists to watch Class of 2021. Last year, Billboard watched a bevy of rookies take a leap forward and graduate into stardom.Rod Wave, Jack Harlow, and Don Toliver’s chart dominance helped solidify their standing in the hip-hop game… Read More 15 Hip-Hop & R&B Artists to Watch in 2021
The artist, who’s ready to drop long-awaited new music, redefined hip-hop vocally and visually—and lifting up other artists only burnishes her superstar legacy. This spring, Melissa Arnette Elliott stood before a mass of Berklee College of Music students and faculty in Boston. She requested a moment to gather herself. She closed her eyes and took… Read More Missy Elliott: The Legend Returns
On the heels of his Grammy win for Best Rap Song, Drake revealed on Instagram that his 2009 mixtape So Far Gone is coming to streaming services for the first time. Though it was originally available for free online, this marks the first streaming availability for the 18-track collection that features cameos from Lil Wayne,… Read More A decade later, Drake’s ‘So Far Gone’ mixtape hits streaming services
Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new songs and videos — and anything else that strikes them as intriguing. Just want the music? Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes). Like what you hear? Let us know at theplaylist@nytimes.com and… Read More The Playlist: Cardi B Hits Pay Dirt, and 11 More New Songs
Hip-hop has never been about following rules. From the genre’s birth in the late ‘70s to today’s explosion of innovative pop-rap superstars, the music has always rewarded audacious creativity and outside-the-box thinking. While hip-hop has gone mainstream and become the world’s preeminent form of popular music, there are still artists working outside of industry boundaries… Read More 5 Hip-Hop Artists That Went Against Industry Norms to Achieve Success
This wasn’t how Joe Budden planned on becoming famous. In fact, he didn’t plan much of anything. Now he’s on the charts, but not for his music. Instead, as of Thursday, Joe Budden has the No. 1 podcast on the iTunes music podcast chart — five slots ahead of the NPR standard-bearer “All Songs Considered.”… Read More How Joe Budden Became the Howard Stern of Hip-Hop As a rapper, Joe Budden had a hit 15 years ago — and then a string of bad luck and poor choices. Now he has emerged as a podcast star.
Who made the beat for “Bad and Boujee”? It should be a simple question. Most rap fans (and media outlets) would answer, without hesitation, Metro Boomin. But that’s not the full story. The songwriting credits list a Robert Mandell, better known as G Koop. And that leads us to a not-very-well-known side of how hip-hop… Read More The Musicians Behind Your Favorite Songs Are Coming for Their Credit
On June 10, manager Mike “Heron” Herard got a mysterious phone call from the Grammy-winning production duo Cool & Dre. Two artists Heron manages, multi-instrumentalist Leon Michels and composer Beat Butcha, had landed placements on a top-secret project that the producers described only as “life-changing.” They just needed stems of the recordings that Heron had sent them… Read More The New Business of Hip-Hop Beats: How One Company Gets Musicians Paid For Creating Samples
The nimble record label in the world’s de facto hip-hop capital is workingto build sustainable careers, not viral moments, in the streaming era. ATLANTA — Unless you catch a glimpse of the eggplant Mercedes-Maybach S600 or the various young men with clusters of diamonds on choker-short chains coming and going at all hours, there is… Read More Atlanta Rap Keeps Evolving. Quality Control Is Taking It Global.
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