Month: February 2023

YoungBoy Never Broke Again is  Billboard latest cover star, and he opened up about his music making process with reporter Meaghan Garvey.

 “It’s a disease,” he shares of his ability to put out as much music as possible. “Literally, I cannot help myself. I tell myself sometimes, ‘I’m not going to drop until months from now,’ but it’s addictive. I wish I knew when I was younger how unhealthy this was for me. Whatever type of energy I had inside me, I would’ve pushed it toward something else.”

He adds,“The music is therapy, but I can’t stop it when I want,” he goes on, sounding almost ashamed. “And the lifestyle is just a big distraction from your real purpose.”

The star is fresh off the release of his new album I Rest My Case, which arrived in early January. I Rest My Case marks the rapper’s first release since he signed to Motown Records in October. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native broke out in 2015 and signed to Atlantic two years later, going on to become one of music’s top acts. Since, he’s charted 24 albums on the Billboard 200 — 11 that were top 10, four of which hit No. 1.

He’s charted four top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 in 2022 — more top 10s than any other act this year — and has released four albums in the past two months: The Last Slimeto, Realer 2, 3800 Degrees and Ma I Got a Family.

The In Memoriam segment at the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 5, will include breakout tributes to three diverse artists who died last fall — Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie and Takeoff.

Kacey Musgraves will perform Lynn’s 1970 classic “Coal Miner’s Daughter” in tribute to the country music legend, who died on Oct. 4 at age 90; Sheryl Crow, Mick Fleetwood and Bonnie Raitt will team to perform “Songbird” from Fleetwood Mac’s album of the year-winning Rumours to honor McVie, who died on Nov. 30 at age 79; and Maverick City Music will join Quavo for Quavo’s tender ballad “Without You” to honor his Migos colleague Takeoff, who died on Nov. 1 at just 28.

Lynn won three Grammy Awards and also received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy in 2010. McVie won two Grammys as a member of Fleetwood Mac. In 2018, the band became the first group or duo to be honored at the MusiCares’ Person of the Year gala. Takeoff received two Grammy nominations as a member of Migos.

The CMA Awards on Nov. 9, 2022, opened with a tribute to Lynn by Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood. The segment included “Coal Miner’s Daughter” as well as “You Ain’t Woman Enough,” “Don’t Come Home A’Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)” and “You’re Lookin’ at Country.”

Musgraves and Lynn teamed to perform “You’re Lookin’ at Country,” a 1971 Lynn hit, at the CMA awards in 2014.

Other performers set to appear on the Grammy telecast are Harry Styles, Lizzo, Bad Bunny, Mary J. Blige, Brandi Carlile, Luke Combs, Steve Lacy, and Sam Smith and Kim Petras.

This year’s four leading nominees – Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Adele and Brandi Carlile – have yet to be announced as performers, but the Academy may be holding some big names back to build last-minute buzz.

The 65th Annual Grammy Awards will air live from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and will be hosted for the third year in a row by Emmy-winning comedian Trevor Noah. The show will be broadcast live on Sunday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS. and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

The 65th Annual Grammy Awards are produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy. Raj Kapoor serves as showrunner and executive producer, alongside Ben Winston and Jesse Collins as executive producers. Phil Heyes joins the team for the first time as director. Eric Cook is co-executive producer with Tabitha Dumo, Tiana Gandelman, Patrick Menton. David Wild is producer.

As previously announced on Wednesday (Feb. 1), first lady Jill Biden and past Grammy Awards hosts James Corden and Billy Crystal will help hand out awards. Other presenters are past Grammy winners Cardi B, Olivia Rodrigo and Shania Twain; current Grammy nominee Viola Davis; and actor Dwayne Johnson.

What could’ve been. Shania Twain opened up in a new interview with Apple Music on Tuesday (Feb. 1) about the time she almost worked with Prince before his death.

“I missed out on that because Prince called me when I got divorced,” the country icon tells Zane Lowe in a clip shared exclusively with Billboard. “We’re on the phone and he said, ‘Shania, why don’t you come to Paisley Park? I want to make the next Rumors album with you.’”

“And that was the weirdest thing he could have ever have said,” she continued, “because Mutt [Lange], his standard of what he thought, of what I could live as a standard was that album, Rumors album. And he said that to me. So when Prince said that to me, I’m like … ‘This is way too ironic what you’re saying.’ Right? And I’m such a major Prince fan.”

However, Twain admitted she found herself “too insecure to go and get with Prince in the studio” because she was still in the process of finding her voice after splitting from Lange, who was not only her husband of 15 years, but also her longtime producer and collaborator on smash albums such as 1997’s Come on Over and its 2002 follow-up, Up!

On their phone call, Prince also laid out some ground rules for his would-be studio time with Twain — namely that there was no swearing allowed at Paisley Park.

“So that was another strike,” Twain joked. “I’m like, ‘Oh no, I love you so much, but I don’t think I could get through writing and recording an album without swearing, somewhere along the way! What are you going to do to me if I swear? I might have to stand in the corner or something.’ I wasn’t sure about that. I don’t think I was ready for what all that was going to mean for me. I didn’t give up on it or anything, but then he died.”

This weekend, the singer — who just dropped her galloping new single “Giddy Up!” — is set to serve as a presenter at the 2023 Grammy Awards along with the likes of Cardi B, Viola Davis, Olivia Rodrigo, Dwayne Johnson and more.

Watch Twain recall her fortuitous missed connection with His Royal Badness below.

It’s fitting that on Wednesday morning (Feb. 1) Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott became the first-ever female hip-hop artist to be nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in her first year of eligibility. The pioneering rapper/songwriter/producer celebrated the news in a statement in which she said, “This is an incredible honor. I’m so humbled and grateful to be counted amongst all the incredible honorees.”

Elliott joined a list of 2023 nominees that also included Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Cyndi Lauper, Iron Maiden, JoyDivision/New Order, The Spinners, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, A Tribe Called Quest, The White Stripes and Warren Zevon.

“I’ve spent my career making the kind of music I love and it means so much to know that I have touched others as well,” Elliott added. “But to hear that I am the first female hip hop artist to EVER be nominated into the Rock & Rock Hall of Fame?!? Wow!! This one hits extra different as I hope it opens doors for other female emcees to be recognized!”

To be eligible for the RRHOF, an artist’s first commercial release must have come out at least 25 years prior to the nomination year. After making a name for herself in her early 20s writing and rapping on songs by Raven-Symoné, Jodeci, SWV and Aaliyah, Elliott’s genre-expanding debut, Supa Dupa Fly, dropped in 1997, featuring the psychedelic video for “The Rain,” her first of many eye-popping collaborations with director Hype Williams.

Elliott won a Grammy — one of four she’s earned to date — for best rap solo performance in 2002 for her landmark hit “Get Ur Freak On” and hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her 2003 single “Work It.” In addition to her six solo albums, Elliott has continued to be one of the most in-demand producers and songwriters in the business, working with everyone from Mary J. Blige and TLC to Beyoncé, Ciara, Fantasia, Jazmine Sullivan, Monica and Fifth Harmony, among many others.

She was also the first female rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2019), the first to receive the MTV VMAs Video Vanguard Award (2019) and with more than 40 Million records sold worldwide she is the best-selling female rapper in Luminate history. 

RRHOF Inductees will be revealed in May, with the induction ceremony taking place this fall. The top five artists selected through fan voting will be tallied along with the ballots from the Rock Hall’s international voting body to determine the Class of 2023. Fans can vote online every day through April 28 at vote.rockhall.com or IRL at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland.