Another eventful week is in the books, especially for Billboard, which hosted our 2024 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players event last Thursday (Sept. 5) to kick off an action-packed weekend.

Kendrick Lamar shook up the hip-hop zeitgeist when he was announced as the first-ever solo headlining act for the Super Bowl halftime show when SB LIX comes to New Orleans in February 2025.

Not everyone was happy for K. Dot as some like Nicki Minaj, Birdman and Master P took issue with the NFL overlooking Lil Wayne in his hometown.

The Billboard Unfiltered crew broke the entire situation down on Thursday (Sept. 12) with staff writer Kyle Denis and deputy director, editorial Damien Scott totally onboard with Kendrick getting the nod.

“I’ve always wanted Kendrick to do the Super Bowl,” Denis began. “Now he has the momentum to go make this another career-defining performance for himself. He’s one of our greatest performers… For me, there was absolutely no controversy… He has the catalog, he has the ability. If there’s someone I trust to be our first solo rap headliner, it’s absolutely Kendrick Lamar.”

Scott agreed: “It’s amazing and fun to have an artist who is in the midst of their peak headline the Super Bowl. From a perspective, we’ve never had that… Kendrick had a No. 1 song this year and he’s had one of the most exciting years of his career this year. It’s dope to have it feel so current.”

He also championed him as the “No. 1 rapper right now” and believes K. Dot is in album mode so there could be even more tunes on the way. It should be noted that the episode was recorded shortly before Lamar released an untitled track to his Instagram on Wednesday night (Sept. 11).

“It felt so ridiculous,” Scott continued of Minaj’s rant. “It felt so disingenuous and coordinated that it was laughable to a point. I think the larger outrage was a domino effect. I think people were outraged because people were outraged.”

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album was shut out of nominations at the 2024 Country Music Awards, which sparked outrage from the Beyhive earlier this week.

Kyle Denis believes if Bey’s goal was to get CMA nominations, she would’ve made a different album that was more geared toward strictly being country.

“We’re missing the point of Cowboy Carter was in general. If Beyoncé wanted to, she could have gotten CMA nominations,” he said. “If she would have just dropped a traditional Nashville-made 12-track country album, no hip-hop stuff, no R&B stuff. It would have been 12 protectors… She’s 30 years in, she knows what the deal is for awards and stuff like that. That is not what Cowboy Carter is.”

Watch the entire episode above.

This past Sunday (Sept. 8), Kendrick dropped news that sent the rap community into a frenzy. Standing at the 50-yard line as he worked a football throwing machine with a huge American flag behind him, the Compton MC announced that he will be headlining next year’s Super Bowl Halftime Show. He also made sure to throw a subtle shot at his 2024 rival: “You know there’s only one opportunity to win a championship,” he said before loading another football into the machine. “No round twos.”

Two weeks ago, Drake took to his finsta account, @plottttwistttttt, and posted an old video clip of NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace telling reporters that his Detroit Pistons “will win Game Two” after dropping the first game of the 2004 NBA Eastern Conference Finals. Many believed that was Drake’s not-so-subtle way of telling fans that he’s not yet done with the battle. And despite talking heads like DJ Akademiks saying the Toronto rapper has no intention of continuing the back-and-forth, Drake alluded to a continuation on the song “No Face” (probably his best post-battle release) when he rapped lines like, “How you get lit off the n—a you hatin’ on?,” “This is the moment I know they been prayin’ on,” and “I’m just so happy that n—as who envied and held that s–t in got to finally show it/ I’m over the moon, yeah, we’ll see you boys soon.” 

Those lines don’t really hit the same post “round one,” but I get the sentiment. In boxing and pro wrestling, when the title holder loses their belt, they’re usually entitled to a rematch. He’s seemingly expressing that he doesn’t feel or want this battle for rap’s heavyweight title to be over. However, even after all that’s gone down, I’m still not sure he realizes who he’s dealing with. Lamar seems to have a darker side to him; a side he struggles to keep at bay, especially when he appears to despise his opponent so much.

Enter last night’s loosie Lamar posted on his Instagram account. He’s not necessarily “dissing” Drake, but he’s indeed talking to him — and the rest of the mainstream rap community that promotes nonsense over substance. The song works as an exposé on the modern mainstream rap industry, and Drake serves as a symbol of both rap’s massive popularity and its devolving cultural significance in the eyes of fans familiar with the genre’s roots. To them, he has always been seen as a visitor, never to be taken too seriously. Yet, he’s proven that he’s willing to battle when tested. That coupled with his hit-making ability was able to buy him more cultural currency a little bit at a time. T

hat party seems to be coming to an end, though, considering Drake’s chart dominance has stalled since losing the battle. None of his recent releases have charted particularly well, at least judging by his own standards. The club just turned the lights on, and the DJ is playing “Poison.” The bar’s closing, where we going to for breakfast?

Dot starts off his latest with the lines, “I think it’s time to watch the party die/ This s–t done got too wicked to apologize,” before saying, “Just walk that man down, that’ll do everyone a solid/ It’s love, but tough love sometimes gotta result in violence.” In his mind, he did the hip-hop world a favor by exposing Drake and his so-called selfish, dirty mackin’, colonizing ways. He also takes aim at social media pundits who have served as mouthpieces for Drake, or at least claim to, throughout this battle.

Bars like, “Influencers talked down ’cause I’m not with the basic s–t/ But they don’t hate me, they hate the man that I represent/The type of man that never d–kride ’cause I want a favor” and “The radio personality pushin’ propaganda for salary/ Let me know when they turn up as a casualty, I want agony, assault, and battery,” are directed at them. At times, Kendrick comes across as someone who believes he has a moral superiority — but on this track, you can hear him wrestling with the angel and the devil on his shoulder on the chorus, as he pleads with God to give him peace, while also keeping the lames at bay.

Many fans and critics have described Drake as Thanos, because Rap Game Sinister Six had to team up to finally knock him off his pedestal. However, Kendrick has been Thanos this entire time: The Marvel supervillain’s whole philosophy was based on destroying and rebuilding, a philosophy Lamar mentions in this new song. He talks of burning down villages to start over and said one of his friends told him he must “burn it down to build it back up.” Lamar is grappling with the rationalization of what he’s done to Drake, so far, and he sounds like he doesn’t think the job is done just yet.

“Watch the Party Die” is essentially the scene from Avengers: Endgame where Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man try to walk Thanos down, and he spits some of the greatest dialogue a villain has ever spat. He looked them in the eyes and said: “You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me. I thought that by eliminating half of life, the other half would thrive. But you’ve shown me that’s impossible. And as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist. I’m thankful, because now, I know what I must do. I will shred this universe down to its last atom and then, with the stones you collected for me, create a new one, teaming with life that knows not what it has lost, but what it has been given. A grateful universe.”

The rap world stops when K. Dot drops. He doesn’t have to use streamers with questionable ties to the community to leak information. He simply tweets a link out or posts a song on Instagram with no title, and a picture of gnarled black Air Force One’s, and everything comes to a halt. Almost like a snap of the finger.

BMI is taking SiriusXM to court after the two sides failed to reach a deal on royalty rates during more than two years of negotiations, arguing that the satcaster is “no longer a startup” and must pay more to songwriters.

In a petition filed in court today, BMI asked a Manhattan federal judge to uphold a higher royalty rate it has asked SiriusXM to pay – citing increased revenue for the radio giant and a shift toward more lucrative digital streaming.

“SiriusXM’s financial performance, and its expansion of its digital offerings, make clear it is no longer a startup in a nascent industry,” lawyers for the rights group wrote. “Yet, despite achieving its secure and successful position, Sirius has continued to pay songwriters — who create the music essential to SiriusXM’s business — at rates that are below those negotiated decades ago when satellite radio was an infant industry with an uncertain future.”

A spokeswoman for SiriusXM declined to comment on BMI’s case.

BMI is a so-called performance rights organization that collects copyright royalties owed to publishers and songwriters when their songs are performed publicly, offering blanket licenses that allow for the use of more than 22 million tracks. When BMI cannot agree with a licensee like SiriusXM, either side can ask a federal judge to decide the dispute and set a reasonable rate.

In doing so on Thursday, BMI pointed to what it sees as key shifts in SiriusXM’s business model since the two last negotiated a licensing deal in 2018 – namely, an increasing reliance on internet streaming rather than old-school satellite radio.

“As a result of these changes, SiriusXM’s business has shifted and is becoming more akin to a music streaming service than a traditional satellite radio or broadcast radio,” BMI’s attorneys wrote. “Digital music services pay higher rates to BMI than satellite radio, and the new SiriusXM rate should reflect this expansion of digital performances.”

The specific terms of the royalty rate that BMI is seeking from SiriusXM were not disclosed in court filings because BMI said it was “competitively sensitive.” The new rate would cover the period from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2026.

In a statement announcing the case on Thursday, BMI said that songwriters “should not have to accept an outdated rate that significantly undervalues their music.”

“After attempting to negotiate with SiriusXM in good faith for more than two years, we were compelled to file this action given their insistence on underpaying the creators of the music that drives the majority of their business,” BMI president Mike O’Neill wrote. “We will continue to fight for fair and appropriate rates when we believe the music created by our songwriters and composers is being significantly undervalued.”

The filing of the new case was celebrated Thursday by the National Music Publishers’ Association, with president and CEO David Israelite saying the group was “extremely pleased” with BMI’s decision to “demand what’s fair.”

“Companies like SiriusXM have massive profit margins fueled by music creators,” Israelite said in a statement. “We fully support BMI in their fight for the value of songs.”

BMI isn’t the only rights group in a dispute with SiriusXM over its shift toward streaming. In a lawsuit last year, SoundExchange accused the company of using bookmaking trickery – namely, manipulating how it bundles its satellite and streaming offerings – as part of a scheme to “grossly underpay” royalties by more than $150 million. SiriusXM later fired back, denying the lawsuit’s “misguided allegations.” That case remains pending.

Go read BMI’s full petition against SiriusXM here:

Shaboozey‘s already sang about how he and Jack Daniels got a history, and now the country superstar is ready to link up with another famous name: Taylor Swift.

Speaking to The Associated Press on the red carpet of the 2024 MTV VMAs on Wednesday night, Shaboozey revealed that he identifies as a “big Swiftie” and praised his fellow nominee. “Love T. Swift, love Taylor,” he told the outlet. “Big one.”

The reporter then asked Shaboozey if he thought Swift’s high-profile endorsement of Kamala Harris gave “permission” to other artists to get more political. “I think you just do you, you know?” the singer responded. “Do what you feel in your heart, just be honest with yourself and authentic to you, to your person … and just walk in your truth.”

Later in the evening, Shaboozey was spotted chatting with Swift, as the pair posed for a series of photos together during the ceremony.

The country phenomenon was nominated at Wednesday’s awards for song of the summer for his nine-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 breakout hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” but he was ultimately beat out by none other than Swift herself, who took home the trophy alongside Post Malone for “Fortnight.” Swift went on to score seven wins at the annual show, including video of the year and best collaboration for “Fortnight,” as well as artist of the year.

Elsewhere on the red carpet, Shaboozey spoke about the surprising news that Beyoncé had not been nominated for any trophies at the 2024 CMA Awards, where he’s up for his first two awards. “It’s definitely unfortunate, if that’s something that she was looking to receive and that’s something that she worked for,” he told E! News. “I know as an artist, you put a lot of time and a lot of work, and a lot of things, and a lot of energy into music, you know? But you know awards aren’t really, you know, they’re not everything.”

Check out a clip of Shaboozey’s interview below, plus a carousel of his VMA night with some “friends,” including Swift and Chappell Roan: