In a set straight from La Comuna 13 — a popular neighborhood in his hometown of Medellín, Colombia — Maluma performed his new single “Junio” at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards.

The Colombian singer got romantic with this R&B-funk song co-written by his go-to collaborator, Edgar Barrera, where he sings about crushing hard on a girl that he’s thinking, “How cool would it be if you were my girlfriend?” But Maluma isn’t looking — in fact, he left it very clear that his heart is taken when he stepped down from the stage following his colorful performance to give his girlfriend Susana Gomez a sweet kiss.

Maluma also took part in Billboard Latin Music Week, where he appeared for a Superstar Q&A and talked about launching his new record label, falling in love, and Marc Anthony’s advice. “Everything in life, you need to have enthusiasm and love,” he said.

Adding, “Marc Anthony has been a blessing in my life because he gave me advice in the beginning, and that was not happening [otherwise]. When he told me you have to be a little bit selfish sometimes — live your own happiness and your calm — I remember I was doing everything for everyone else and I was tired. When Marc told me, ‘Hey there’s no formula, you just need to be yourself.’ That’s when I was able to do what I wanted to do.”

The 29th annual Billboard Latin Music Awards, taking place at Miami’s Watsco Center, are broadcasting live on Telemundo and simultaneously on the Spanish entertainment cable network Universo and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional. The awards — produced by MBS Special Events and executive produced by Mary Black Suarez — coincide with Billboard Latin Music Week, which returned to Miami from Sept. 26 to Oct. 1 at the Faena Forum, with a roster of star speakers that included Romeo Santos, Maluma, Grupo Firme, Chayanne, Ivy Queen and Nicky Jam, among many others.

Nicky Jam entered the Billboard Hall of Fame on Thursday (Sept. 29) during the Billboard Latin Music Awards. Before accepting the special award, the hitmaker performed his latest single “Sin Novia.”

Then, he was surprised by his father, José Rivera, who took the stage to present his son with the award. “Wow, I was not expecting this,” he started the speech.

“I thought another artist would give me this, not my dad. But dad, you look beautiful. Thank you to Billboard, Leila Cobo for bringing my dad. I want to thank everyone that helped me get to where I’m at. Thank you to everyone who shared their studios with me. To Zion for giving me $500 to buy my ticket and go to Colombia. Thank you to all the old-school reggaetoneros because thanks to them, there’s a Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro. People ask me what I feel when I see Bad Bunny [succeed], I feel proud, my work has paid off. It’s been 28 years and I’m still here. Thank you to my father, he showed me humility. To my mom that’s watching me, I love you. My manager Juan Diego and my four kids that are also watching. This is for all of them.”

The 29th annual Billboard Latin Music Awards, taking place at Miami’s Watsco Center, are broadcasting live on Telemundo and simultaneously on the Spanish entertainment cable network Universo and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional. The awards — produced by MBS Special Events and executive produced by Mary Black Suarez — coincide with Billboard Latin Music Week, which returned to Miami from Sept. 26 to Oct. 1 at the Faena Forum, with a roster of star speakers that included Romeo Santos, Maluma, Grupo Firme, Chayanne, Ivy Queen and Nicky Jam, among many others.

The 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards started off with a bang thanks to Ozuna, who delivered a colorful opening performance of his brand new single “La Copa.”

Raphael received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards on Thursday night (Sept. 29), where he also performed a medley of timeless hits. 

Joined by Spanish pop star Pablo López and Latin boy band CNCO, Raphael performed his tracks “De Tanta Gente,” “Mi Gran Noche,” “Estar Enamorado,” “Como Yo Te Amo,” “Que Sabe Nadie” and “Escandalo.” 

Raphael is recognized for his “exceptional professional career and his artistic and personal contributions” that have influenced the development of Latin music around the world. 

With a musical career that spans more than 60 years, Raphael — known for anthemic songs such as “Yo Soy Aquel,” “En Carne Viva” and “Mi Gran Noche” — has garnered worldwide recognition as a pioneer of Spanish-language romantic ballads. In 1962, he began his professional career, where he soon earned first, second and third prizes at Spain’s Festival Internacional de la Canción in Benidorm. He also performed two consecutive times at the Eurovision Festival, starred in various films, and hosted a radio show called The Raphael Show. To date, he’s recorded more than 60 albums and has sold over 70 million records. He’s slated to release a new album at the end of the year.

Past recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award include Paquita la del Barrio, Armando Manzanero, Miguel Bosé, Los Temerarios, Intocable, José José, Marco Antonio Solís, Ricardo Arjona, and Maná, among others.

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Musicians and celebrities are paying tribute to Coolio, the late rap star who was behind one of hip-hop’s greatest hits, and whose own moniker would become shorthand for a good result.

According to reports, Coolio was found dead on the bathroom floor at his friend’s house on Wednesday (Sept. 28). First responders initially suspect that he suffered cardiac arrest, however, at the time of writing, an official cause of death has yet to be determined.

The U.S. artist (real name Artis Leon Ivey Jr.) landed one of the all-time hip-hop standouts with “Gangsta’s Paradise,” a song that which interpolates Stevie Wonder’s 1976 song “Pastime Paradise” and featured in the Michelle Pfeiffer-starring film from 1995, Dangerous Minds.

“Gangsta’s Paradise” was no run-of-the-mill hit. It went supernova, everywhere. In Australia, the single led the national ARIA Chart for an unbroken 13 weeks in 1995 – a streak that stood until Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” ruled the survey for 14 straight weeks following its release in 2017.

The enduring nature of the song was confirmed when, in July of this year, “Gangsta’s Paradise” joined YouTube’s one billion views club.

The official music video scooped the best rap video category at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, the same year it was crowned the best-selling single on Billboard‘s year-end Billboard Hot 100 chart after spending 12 weeks in the top two positions; it logged a total of 62 weeks on the chart, including 3 at No. 1 and 11 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard‘s hot rap songs tally.

The track, one of Coolio’s six hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, would go on to win the Billboard Music Award for single of the year, and a Grammy Award for best rap solo performance.

If everything in your life was “coolio” in the 1990s, you were doing just fine.

Tributes are pouring in for Coolio, including messages from the likes of Questlove, Ice Cube and Weird Al Yankovic, who parodied “Gangsta’s Paradise” with “Amish Paradise.”

Check out some of the reaction below on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Briggs/status/1575293768982372353

Coolio died on Wednesday (Sept. 28) in Los Angeles, California. He was 59 years old.

According to TMZ, who first reported the news, the rapper, born Artis Leon Ivey Jr. was found dead on the bathroom floor at his friend’s house, and paramedics initially suspect that he suffered cardiac arrest. However, an official cause of death has yet to be determined. Billboard has reached out to his reps for more information.

Coolio placed six hits on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, including the No. 1 smash “Gangsta’s Paradise,” featuring L.V, from the film Dangerous Minds. The single spent three weeks atop the list in 1995 and finished as the year-end No. 1 song on the Hot 100. It also ruled the Hot Rap Songs list for 11 consecutive weeks. The track would go on to win the Billboard Music Award for single of the year, and a Grammy Award for best rap solo performance. In 2021, “Gangsta’s Paradise” ranked among the 100 Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Songs.

All five of Coolio’s other Hot 100 hits all reached the top 40, including his breakthrough single, “Fantastic Voyage,” which peaked at No. 3 in 1994. He also scored a top 10 hit with “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New)” in 1996, which climbed to No. 5. 

On the Billboard 200 albums chart, he notched a trio of entries, including two top 10s: It Takes a Thief (No. 8 in 1994) and Gangsta’s Paradise (No. 9, 1996).

Coolio also had a television career, and often made guest appearances in shows including Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Black Jesus, All That, The Nanny and Futurama. He also took part in a number of competition shows such as Fear Factor and Rachael vs Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off.

Following the news of his death, a number of stars took to social media to mourn the loss of the hip-hop great. “Peaceful Journey Brother,” Questlove wrote, while Hot Ones host Sean Evans shared, “First CD I ever bought in my life and the most legendary Wing 10 Last Dab these eyes have ever seen.”

See below.