Nicky Jam is officially endorsing Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

On Friday (Sept. 13), the former president held a campaign rally at the World Market Center in downtown Las Vegas, where the 43-year-old reggaetón veteran took the stage to show his support for Trump as he faces off against Vice President Kamala Harris in the November election.

In an embarrassing faux pas, however, the ex-POTUS mistakenly referred to Nicky as a “she” when introducing him to the crowd for his endorsement speech.

“Do you know Nicky? She’s hot. Where’s Nicky?” Trump said from the stage while looking off to the side for the “X” singer. A few moments later, the former president spotted the Latin star and quickly realized his mistake. “Oh, look, I’m glad he came up,” Trump said as he patted the musician’s shoulder.

Nicky, wearing a black sweatshirt and the Trump campaign’s signature red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, then took the stage to deliver a brief statement.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. President. People that come from where I come from, they don’t meet the president. So I’m lucky,” said Nicky, who moved from Massachusetts to Puerto Rico at a young age. “We need you. We need you back, right? We need you to be the president.”

Nicky Jam is one of many music stars who have endorsed the 78-year-old businessman-turned-politician in his 2024 re-election bid. In late August, Puerto Rican reggaetón stars Anuel AA and Justin Quiles took the stage to support Trump at a rally in Johnstown, Penn. Other artists who support the former president include Jason Aldean, Kid Rock, Kodak Black, Lil Pump, Sexyy Red and Billy Ray Cyrus.

Nicky, who announced last October that he’ll be “retiring soon,” recently opened up about the decision in an interview with Billboard.

“I’m not going to be a singer for the rest of my life,” he said over Zoom from his Miami home. “I think I’ll probably retire soon… Well, not retire. Singers never retire. You just tone it down.”

Nicky dropped his sixth studio album, Insomnio, on Sept. 6.

From career milestones to new music releases to major announcements and those little important moments, Billboard editors highlight uplifting moments in Latin music. Here’s what happened in the Latin music world this week.

A Bon Jovi & Pitbull Moment

Pitbull is in the midst of his Party After Dark Tour that kicked off Aug. 21 in Virginia. During his pitstop at the Jones Beach Theater in Long Island, New York on Thursday (Sept. 12), the Cuban-American global artist surprised fans with a special appearance by the iconic Bon Jovi. Together, the artists performed the timeless 2000 rock song “It’s My Life.” “Always an honor! To all the fans, get ready for our new collab coming soon,” Pitbull expressed in an Instagram joint post.

Noreh’s Major Career Move

With his infectious melodies and raw lyricism powered by his captivating vocals, Noreh has leaped from an indie artist to landing his first label signing with 5020 Records (launched by Sony Music).

“We were independent for a while but I’m clear that every part of the process (as hard as it was) brought us here,” the Venezuelan artist and former Billboard On the Radar Latin act, expressed in an Instagram post. “I never included the word ‘dreams’ in my vocabulary because I felt that wanting big things was not for people like me and fortunately I was wrong! […] Right now they come together: the support you give me, my team working hard, our tattooed ballads + the new chance and a new team of people willing to add and amplify what we already do and even more important: that these songs reach many more corners. I’m 27 years old and this is just beginning. 5020, you and I will make a great album.”

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Noreh as a new member of the 5020 Records family,” Rafa Arcaute, president of 5020 Records said in a press statement. “His innovative approach to music and his ability to connect with audiences on a deep level make him the perfect addition to our roster of artists. We are excited about the opportunity to support his artistic development and help him achieve even greater success.”

Our Finalists Are Here!

This week, Billboard and Telemundo unveiled the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Awards finalists with Karol G leading the pack with 17 nods in categories including artist of the year, tour of the year, and top Latin album of the year for Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season). The Colombian artist is followed by top nominees Bad Bunny and Peso Pluma with 15 nods each, and Feid with 11 nods.

The 31st annual Billboard Latin Music Awards will be broadcast on Telemundo on October 20 at 9pm ET from Miami. It will simultaneously be available on the Spanish entertainment cable network Universo, on Peacock and the Telemundo app, and in Latin America and the Caribbean through Telemundo Internacional. See the complete list of finalists here.

Latinos at the 2024 VMAs

In other awards news, the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards had a strong wave of Latin representation this week. Not only did artists such as Thalia, Danna and Camila Cabello strut the star-studded carpet, but a handful of artists also took center stage during the live telecast. Rauw Alejandro performed a stunning medley of “Touching the Sky,” “Diluvio,” and “Dejame Entrar,” Karol G made Taylor Swift dance merengue with her performance of “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido,” and Anitta delivered a Brazilian Funk fiesta, where she invited Tiago PZK for “Alegria.” The latter of the three won the silver moon person for best Latin for her single “Mil Veces.”

It won’t be hard for Kid Cudi to pursue happiness on Friday (Sept. 13) because his 2008 breakout debut hit “Day ‘N’ Nite” is now a diamond-certified record by the Recording Industry Association of America. The diamond certification is given to artists whose songs have moved 10 million units.

Plus, Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness,” featuring MGMT and Ratatat, earned a 12-times platinum status in the U.S., accumulating 12 million in equivalent song units.

According to the RIAA, one equivalent song unit is equal to a single digital song sale, or 150 on-demand audio and/or video streams.

“Wow, the blessings keep comin. This is HUGE. Yall did this man, im so thankful to have all the support and love Ive had for the past 16 years, and Im not even thinkin about stoppin no time soon,” he wrote on X. “TO ANYONE WHO BUMPED THIS SONG AND STILL DO TO THIS DAY, I LOVE YOU!!”

“Day ‘N’ Nite” was the lead single from Cudi’s 2009 debut studio album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, and it peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 while topping Rhythmic Airplay. It earned nominations for best rap song and best rap solo performance at the 2010 Grammy Awards. “Pursuit of Happiness” is the third single from the same album, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. The song was certified diamond in December 2022.

“WHAT!!!! Ok today is starting off f–kin INSANE. MOTM First 2000’s hip hop album to get multiple Diamond singles!!! I CANT BELIEVE THIS,” Cudi wrote on X while sharing the initial information from chart data, which the RIAA shared.

“All the albums that came out in the 2000s, all the dope sh– I listened to in school and college and my come u in NY, MOTM came out swinging and makin history. Man, Im so happy right now I cant really explain,” he added in a separate message. “I dont get many ‘first’ accolades. One word helps this all make sense to me: Chosen. This was my destiny. I was meant to be here and make change, and we still here doing just that. To my fans I love u so so much beyond what you may think. Forever and ever. Ill always ride for you. Thank You from the bottom of my heart.”

There was never a Plan B for Lil Tecca, who is gearing up to unleash his Plan A album next Friday (Sept. 20). Ahead of the LP’s arrival, the New York rapper stopped by Billboard News to discuss all things surrounding his new project and much more.

Plan A serves as Tecca’s fourth studio album and boasts 18 tracks with a lone feature from Don Toliver and production from Taz Taylor and the Internet Money crew.

“I honestly got the name Plan A when I was about to finish Tec, my last album,” he said of the title’s inspiration. “I think it kind of summarizes where I was at in my life when I was probably 14 and I kind of decided that I wanted to rap and actually only rap. There would be people in class telling me, ‘Ay bruh, you know gotta have a backup plan and sh– like that.’ I’m like, ‘Not really, bro. I don’t really got no back-up plan.’”

Tecca added: “We recorded most of it in Miami. I was just in the studio every day with Internet Money, Taz [Taylor] and all of them. There were a couple songs I had did in New York and at the crib too. I didn’t produce a lot of it, but definitely my beat selection is what drives a lot of the production… The whole message is like decide what you want to do and do it.”

The 22-year-old also debunked the bizarre situation involving the Pennsylvania Army National Guard using his personal photo taken from his “Ransom” hit’s cover art as part of a recruitment flyer.

“That sh– is real,” he said. “I seen that sh– on Twitter — I’m like, ‘What is going on right now? … They got in contact with the people that was responsible and he’s like, ‘Sorry, we used the picture by accident.’ He used super-big words. Basically that’s what he was saying, ‘We didn’t know this was an artist.’ My thing is that picture doesn’t exist without ‘Ransom.’”

“Ransom” arrived in May 2019 as Tecca’s breakout smash when he was just 16 years old. It eventually reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 when it peaked at No. 4. The track’s currently 8x-platinum.

“That was my first time hopping on a beat that was not from YouTube,” Lil Tecca revealed. “That was my first time ever taking edibles in the studio. I had edibles and a drink from Starbucks.”

Juice WRLD eventually hopped on the official remix and Tecca reflected on being amazed watching a master at work in the studio with the late rapper.

“That right there was one of the craziest moments ever,” he said. “I remember when I first met him he was like, ‘Ay bro, this flow hard.’ That was my first time ever meeting someone that I seen online that was going crazy at the time and actually gave me an opinion on my music… It really meant a lot, bro.”

Tecca went on: “All the stuff he would say to me and actually seeing him work. Seeing it. Seeing it in person though — it was crazy… He did the verse. He did it in one take. It kind of fried me because I didn’t really know people were doing stuff like that at the time. I was really used to writing s–t and reading it off my phone.”

Plan A hits streaming services on Sept. 20. Watch the full interview below.

In a new interview, LL Cool J admitted to being nervous about the response his 14th solo album The FORCE would get, saying that he had a hard time sleeping the night it dropped. However, when he checked social media, he was relieved by the positive response.

“When I told people, ‘Yo, I wanna do a culturally relevant album’ in the midst of all these [younger artists], people looked at me like I had nine heads,” the 56-year-old told Variety. “They looked at me like I was a hydra — a hydra! — looking at me crazy like that, not because of any ill will, but just ‘How can you do that?’”

While the genre has welcomed older acts, their mainstream success has been hit-or-miss, unless you’re Jay-Z, Nas or Eminem. LL was up for the challenge, though, saying, “It’s like breaking the 4-minute mile. Nobody thought it could be broken until Roger Bannister did it, and then a lot of people started breaking it.”

Adding, “Now you’ll see, when [The FORCE] has success, you’ll see people believing that they can make it happen, and it’s gonna extend the life of hip-hop in general. But if somebody doesn’t do it, if I don’t do Rock the Bells and [other] festivals and show that guys without records in the marketplace still can be relevant, and then if I don’t tell you that a guy who’s been out for a long time can make a new record and be relevant — if nobody does it, it never happens.”

Also, before LL worked with Q-Tip on his latest release, he says he recorded a bunch of songs with Dr. Dre, but the Queens MC wasn’t confident in the raps he laid down, so he decided to start over. “That would have meant I would have more confidence in him than I have in myself when it needs to be equal,” he told the outlet. “He deserves a better LL than that. For me to go in there and not give Dr. Dre the best possible LL, it’s not fair to him and it’s definitely not fair to me, because it means I’m not taking advantage of the opportunity.” He continued by saying, “We both knew it wasn’t there. The sonics were there, but I gotta deliver on the writing. I’m not putting nothing out if I don’t feel it’s right.”

Later in the interview he revealed that he and the late Michael Jackson have unreleased songs stashed away and that the King of Pop was inspired by LL’s song “I’m Bad” to make his own “Bad” song. “Me and Michael Jackson went to the studio, man,” he said. “Mike showed a lot of love to me in general, and definitely to hip-hop. Let’s be clear: For me, he’s the king. I’m a Michael Jackson fan, B. His talent speaks for itself.” Adding, “[Former Def Jam chief] Russell [Simmons] played my record for him and Quincy [Jones], and they got inspired. That’s OK.”