Final evening (Feb. 11), not solely did Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj‘s beef seemingly come to an finish — the H-City Hottie’s “Hiss” debuted atop the Billboard Scorching 100 — the duo’s disagreement took a backseat to a way more daunting showdown: the San Francisco 49ers v. the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs.
In the end, the Chiefs — led by star quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift‘s loverman Travis Kelce — pulled out a last-minute win over the 49ers. As thrilling of a sport because the Tremendous Bowl was, all eyes within the hip-hop and R&B worlds have been squarely fastened on Usher‘s dazzling halftime efficiency. A flashy, maximalist ode to Black efficiency historical past and Las Vegas iconography, the King of R&B sprinted by way of his hit-packed catalog, together with anthems resembling “Celebrity,” “U Received It Unhealthy,” “OMG,” “Good & Sluggish” and “Yeah!”
After all, the top-level entertainer was in prime kind, exhibiting off intricate footwork and boundless intercourse attraction as he trotted out shock friends resembling Alicia Keys, H.E.R., Lil Jon, Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris. Between a serious Grammy evening for Victoria Monét and SZA — each women took house three trophies — and Usher’s three-pronged blitz of a killer halftime present, a star-studded new LP and a large forthcoming headlining enviornment tour, R&B and hip-hop are beginning off Black Historical past Month with a bang.
With Recent Picks, Billboard goals to focus on a number of the finest and most attention-grabbing new sounds throughout R&B and hip-hop — from Honey Bxby’s blunt Different Girl™ anthem to Nardo Wick and Sexyy Crimson’s meme-interpolating “Somethin’.” You’ll want to take a look at this week’s Recent Picks in our Spotify playlist under.
Freshest Discover: Honey Bxby, “Fkn Him Too”
Whereas a few of her contemporaries would relatively cry over a poisonous situationship, Honey Bxby is relishing the innate messiness of being the Different Girl™ on her new single. “I’m f—kin’ him too!/ I don’t know what you’re gonna do/ It’s time you heard the reality/ That he don’t belong to you,” she proclaims within the refrain. Reverb-drenched backing harmonies and a booming 808-laden lure&B beat present the tune’s basis, and Honey paints throughout the soundscape with a tongue-in-cheek tone that highlights the jauntiness of the monitor’s “F—ok You Tonight”-evoking melody.
Jermaine Dupri feat. Nelly, Ashanti & Juicy J, “This Lil’ Recreation We Play”
Reuniting Nelly and Ashanti for his or her first tune collectively since 2008’s “Physique on Me,” Jermaine Dupri delivers a joint that good captures the essence of the 2 stars’ period of R&B/hip-hop crossover collaborations. Assisted by Juicy J, Nelly and Ashanti contour Dupri’s Miami bass-inflected beat with heated lust as they wax poetic concerning the cat-and-mouse courtship sport. To his credit score, Juicy provides a few of his trademark sexual brazenness to steadiness out the couple’s reliance on innuendo. “Don Julio, ass so fats, I’d lose composure/ Take you again to my penthouse, see in case you can squirt like a Tremendous Soaker/ Gon’ head, contact your toes, child, perhaps we are able to do some roleplayin’/ Possibly we are able to have us an evening cap, perhaps you may be my throat child,” he rhymes.
Nardo Wick feat. Sexyy Crimson, “Somethin’”
In the event you’re a late Millennial or early Gen Z, you realize the glory days of IceJJFish’s social media reign. On their new monitor, Nardo Wick and Sexyy Crimson staff up for a hood love tune that hinges on a pattern of one among IceJJFish’s viral tracks. “It’s somethin’ ’bout my b—h I like, I can’t put my finger on it,” Nardo chants within the refrain, riffing on decade-old “On the Flooring.” Over an ominous, piano-anchored beat, the 2 rappers commerce vulgar, no-holds-barred verses concerning the issues they love about their important different. Sexyy maintains her scorching streak of pleasurable visitor verses, finessing some hilarious onomatopoeia-centric rhymes within the course of. “Have a hood n—a singin’, “Fah-la-la”/ Let him hit the c—chie like grrah, grrah, grrah/ Swervin’ all in visitors, gettin’ freaky within the automobile/ If he attempt to go away me, then it’s bah-bah-bah,” she spits.
GloRilla, “Yeah Glo!”
It’s been a while since her dominant run of “F.N.F.,” “Blessed” and “Tomorrow 2” (with Cardi B), however GloRilla is again in prime kind along with her newest single, “Yeah Glo!” A return to specializing in easy, unvarnished Memphis rap over too-obvious ploys for pop crossover success, “Yeah Glo” finds the Grammy nominee getting actual busy over a rattling beat crafted by B100, Go Grizzly & Squat Beats. “Yeah, Glo! Stomp a lil’ p—y ho with some shell toes/ Slappin’ rap b—hes and makin’ bail, ho/ Two-tone Cartier match the nails, ho/ No competitors, these b—hes stale, ho,” she chants within the refrain. Though she by no means specifies who precisely she slapped, her gruff Gangsta Boo-esque tone supplies the right automobile for her rambunctious rhymes.
Latto, “Sunday Service”
Not even every week after “Hiss” vs. “Massive Foot,” the rap women are actually treating us to… “Suppose U the S—t (Fart)” vs. “Sunday Service?” Though Latto has skirted round plainly labeling “Sunday Service” as a diss document, there are sufficient doubtless photographs at fellow ascendant rap star Ice Spice to warrant that label. Throughout a trap-rooted beat courtesy of Go Grizzly, Pooh Beatz & Bankroll Received It, Latto spends her first verse rapping about her wealth and appears, however by the second verse, she’s centered on addressing people who would relatively tweet than rap. “Do you rap or do you tweet? ‘Trigger I can’t inform, get within the sales space, b—h/ Cease all that motherf—n’ yellin’, ho/ ‘Trigger I ain’t buyin’ what you’re sellin’, ho/ Suppose I’m the s–t? B—h, I do know it, ho / Jesus walked on water, I acquired ice boilin’ although,” she spits.
Kith, Cam’Ron & Swizz Beatz, “Final Cease”
For the first-ever monitor below Kith Information, New York rap icons Cam’Ron and Swizz Beatz staff up for a rousing new single titled “Final Cease.” Anchored by hearty drums and funky guitars, the Dipset frontman delivers a number of cocky couplets about his legacy, his sexual prowess, his rap abilities and his unshakeable place as an elder statesman within the rap sport. Even when he will get particularly soiled — “Introduced her good friend along with her, watch em eat one another out/ The best way I f—ked her face, man, she gon’ want one other mouth” — he makes positive to steadiness that out with extra tasteful bars of excellent quaint New York braggadocio. “Totally different chief, identical habits/ I do know I’m what you need however you’ll be able to’t have it/ You bought dangerous habits, me I’m a financial institution magnet/ And the coupe roof lacking like Frank Mathis,” he raps.
Usher, “I Am the Get together”
A brand new lower from the R&B maestro’s Coming Dwelling album — launched the Friday earlier than his Tremendous Bowl halftime present (Feb. 9) — “I Am the Get together” finds Usher in a well-recognized gear: soiled macking as the highest participant within the sport. By means of lyrics that run the gamut from corny to cheeky (“Membership in my home, I name it G-spot”), Usher paints, alongside longtime collaborators Jermaine Dupri and Bryan Michael-Cox, gently toes the road between dated slogs and pleasurable throwback pastiche. As per typical, Usher’s voice is the principle attraction; he delivers a vocal efficiency so dedicated to the tune’s everlasting bachelor bit that you may’t assist however be overwhelmed by his melismatic charisma. Oh, and who can resist, a pleasant warning shot to the competitors: “N—as talmbout Verzuz with me, please cease/ Know you assume he’s, however child, he’s not,” he croons.
