Legendary Jamaican musician Lowell “Sly” Dunbar has died at age 73. Drummer Dunbar, who was one-half of the prolific reggae songwriting/producing duo Sly & Robbie, reportedly died at his home in Kingston, Jamaica on Monday (Jan. 26), according to TMZ, with the Jamaica Observer also reporting that Dunbar died suddenly at his home, with neither offering any details on the cause of death; TMZ reported that Dunbar’s daughter, Natasha Dunbar, confirmed her father’s passing.

“As one half of Sly & Robbie, Sly helped shape the sound of reggae and Jamaican music for generations,” read a statement from his family posted on TMZ. “His extraordinary talent, innovation, and lasting contributions will never be forgotten. Sly’s music, spirit, and legacy touched people around the world, and we are deeply grateful for the love and support during this difficult time.”

While Billboard has not been able to independently confirm Dunbar’s death at press time, Jamaican Newspaper The Gleaner quoted Dunbar’s wife, Thelma, reporting that when she checked on the drummer early Monday morning he was unresponsive. “I called the doctor and that was the news,” she said, with his wife reporting that he’d had a visit with friends the day before and that he seemed in good spirits; Dunbar had reportedly been fighting an unidentified illness for a while.

Working with longtime partner bassist Robbie Shakespeare (who died in 2021), Dunbar was one half of the dynamic duo that provided the thrumming backbeat to reggae classics from the likes of Black Uhuru, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer, Gregory Isaacs and countless others.

Born Lowell Fillmore Dunbar on May 10, 1952 in Kingston, Jamaica, Dunbar got his start playing in a group called the Yardbrooms at age 15, before moving on to the group Skin Flesh and Bones and his first recording session with Lee “Scratch” Perry and the Upsetters’ on the 1969 single “Night Doctor.” That same year he also played on Dave and Ansel Collins’ Double Barrel album, with the title track hitting the top of the U.K. singles chart.

His life and career would change forever when he met Shakespeare in 1972, with the pair who shared similar musical sensibilities ranging from homegrown Jamaican riddims to Motown and soul music developing a close relationship with Tosh, with whom they recorded five albums. Sly and Robbie appeared on late great Tosh’s beloved 1977 LP Equal Rights, as well as 1978’s Bush Doctor and 1983’s Mama Africa, which became Tosh’s highest-charting album in the U.S. when it hit No. 59 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

The hard-working pair — who are believed to have appeared on more than 200,000 tracks, including remixes and songs that sampled their work — also had a long and fruitful working relationship with lovers rock icon Dennis Brown, performing on more than a dozen albums by the “Money In My Pocket” singer and serving time in the Revolutionaries, the house band at Jamaica’s legendary Channel One studio. Known as the Riddim Twins, the duo developed a number of signature grooves over their four-plus decade career, including the “rockers” rhythm, which helped them inject some energy into the popular 1970s and 80s “one drop” reggae rhythm.

Dunbar’s drums can also be heard on a number of beloved reggae singles, including Marley’s “Punky Reggae Party” 12 remix and Junior Murvin’s “Police and Thieves,” as well as the LP that would put the duo on the map: The Mighty Diamonds’ 1976 roots reggae landmark Right Time, which featured Sly & Robbie signature steady-on bass-drum groove on the title track and the skanking “Gnashing of Teeth.”

Working with Shakespeare, Dunbar carved a wide path through music, performing on a trio of Bob Dylan albums in the 1980s (Infidels, Empire Burlesque and Down in the Groove), as well as playing on albums by Joan Armatrading (Walk Under Ladders), Jackson Browne (World in Motion) and former Take That singer Gary Barlow (Sing). They also provided the backbeat for Joe Cocker (Sheffield Steel) both Mick Jagger (She’s the Boss) and the Rolling Stones (Undercover), as well as British punk singer Ian Dury (Lord Upminster), disco queen Grace Jones (Warm Leatherette, Nighclubbing), Yoko Ono (Starpeace), Sinead O’Connor (Throw Down Your Arms) and Carly Simon (Hello Big Man) among many others.

Their collaborations with Cocker and Jones came in the mid-1980s when Island Records founder Chris Blackwell made them the house rhythm section for his Compass Point All Stars band at his Nassau-based Compass Point Studios.

Dunbar and Shakespeare formed their own label, Taxi Records, in 1980, which was home to releases from the pair (Gamblers Choice, A Dub Experience, Electro Reggae), as well as albums by Ini Kamoze, Isaacs, Black Uhuru, Chaka Demus & Pliers, Yellowman and Brown, among others.

Together with Shakespeare, Dunbar helped push reggae towards digital production and instrumentation in the 1990s, best evidenced by the bouncy, staccato groove of Chaka Demus & Pliers 1993 classic “Murder She Wrote.” The duo also helped push reggae further into other territories int the 1990s by layering Latin rhythms into dancehall and reaching their peak of mainstream success in 1996 with their contributions to the Fugees’ Billboard 200 chart-topping classic The Score.

In addition to releasing dozens of studio and dub remix albums together, the pair also appeared on No Doubt’s 2001 Billboard Hot 100 No. 5 dancehall-inspired single “Hey Baby” from their Rock Steady album, as well playing on and also co-producing that album’s hit ballad “Underneath It All.” They also played on and produced Black Uhuru’s Anthem album, which won the first-ever best reggae recording Grammy Award in 1985.

Dunbar played on two reggae songs that reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Maxi Priest’s “Close to You” in 1990 and Omi’s 2012 hit “Cheerleader.”

Nearly a year after officially relaunching TAMLA Records, Walter Thomas has been promoted to executive vp of Motown Gospel/TAMLA. Thomas formerly served as senior vp of the faith-based/inspirational music divisions under Capitol Music Group Nashville.

Thomas will supervise creative, marketing and strategic planning for Motown Gospel and TAMLA, which both achieved several milestones in 2025. Tasha Cobbs Leonard’s latest album Tasha, which includes the No. 1 single “Church” featuring John Legend, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Gospel Albums chart last August. The project is also a current Grammy Award nominee in the best gospel album category. Other artists across the labels’ rosters who earned nominations as well for the 2026 ceremony include Tye Tribbett (best gospel album), Pastor Mike Jr. and Jonathan McReynolds. The latter two are up for best gospel performance/song alongside Leonard.

In announcing Thomas’ promotion, Capitol Christian Music Group president Brad O’Donnell stated, “Walter is an exceptional leader with a strong work ethic and clear vision. Working alongside him over the past few years, I’ve seen firsthand his passion for artist development and the role faith plays in his leadership. Motown Gospel and TAMLA are entering a new era of growth and impact under his leadership.”

Capitol Music Group CEO Tom March added, “Walter Thomas is one of the most forward-thinking executives in music today. His leadership has driven incredible growth, creative excellence and cultural impact across Motown Gospel and TAMLA. This promotion reflects not only what he’s accomplished, but the extraordinary future ahead under his vision.”

TAMLA, the precursor to founder Berry Gordy’s Motown Records, was initially established in 1959. Thomas relaunched TAMLA as “the new home of positive music” last March with a roster that includes a partnership with Grammy-winning songwriter/producer Rodney Jerkins’ EVOLVE Music Group and Dove Award-nominated artist Lee Vasi. An Amazon Music Artist to Watch in 2025, Vasi is also a 2026 NAACP Image Award nominee for outstanding new artist.

“This promotion is a reflection of our team’s relentless dedication and the extraordinary artists who trust us with their voices,” said Thomas in the press announcement. “Motown Gospel and TAMLA are home to some of the most impactful storytellers of our time. I’m honored to help lead our next era — one built on innovation, cultural relevance and music that inspires the world.”

Billboard‘s Genre Now package looks at artists who are expanding the definitions and worldviews of their respective genres, whether in R&B, country, dance, hip-hop, indie or pop. Below, find mini-profiles of seven of those game-changing artists, who speak to both the present and the future of popular music from their own respective corners of the landscape.

Destin Conrad

“I thought I wanted to be a songwriter,” new-gen R&B leader Destin Conrad, 25, tells Billboard, fresh from a holiday vacation in Senegal. “But I made music that I really resonated with, and I didn’t want anybody else to sing it.”

In the decade since he first tasted Internet fame thanks to a few viral clips on the now-defunct Vine app, Destin Conrad has quietly morphed into one of the most exciting voices in a new generation of R&B stars. He spent 2019 and 2020 writing for close friends and longtime collaborators Kehlani and Ambré, eventually stumbling into Colorway, a collection of songs that demanded his voice alone. 

The autobiographical nature of that 2021 debut EP gave way to three more: 2022’s Satin, 2023’s Submissive and 2024’s Submissive 2, all of which offered illuminating, unique ruminations on everything from queer BDSM to imposter syndrome. By 2025, the Tampa native unleashed his formal debut LP, Love on Digital, a kaleidoscopic take on the contemporary dating scene that earned the No. 1 spot on the Billboard editorial staff’s Best R&B Albums of 2025 list — and his first career Grammy nod, for best progressive R&B album.

“My team woke me up, told me the category, and everybody was screaming,” he recalls. “And then I took a shot. I called my mom, and we started crying. Getting this nomination while [being on the Love on Digital Tour] hit hard. It feels like I’m being affirmed.”

Stacked with shimmering pop gems (“Kissing in Public”), reggae-inflected midtempos (“Mr. E”), house-infused all-star collaborations (“Bad B—hes” with Kehlani) and more alt-leaning moments (“Soft Side”), Love on Digital synthesizes Conrad’s myriad formative influences into one distinct sound that reflects his generation’s trademark fluidity and irony. As mainstream R&B regains its footing, Conrad’s approach to the genre helps reframe and reimagine traditional expectations of how an R&B leading man should look and sound — and what or who he can sing about. Just check out the masculine pronouns littered throughout the album’s steamiest, most heartfelt love songs.

Pulling from Brandy’s “real technical” background harmonies and Luther Vandross’ evocative timbre, Conrad primarily looked to Justin Timberlake when crafting his debut album. “[Justified] was a big topic of discussion when we were making Love on Digital,” he notes. “That Neptunes era [of production] was a huge inspiration.”

“We all become pieces and take pieces of things we like,” Conrad continues. “And we want to hear that within our expressions. I really care about this genre. Everything I do in R&B is from my love of the genre. It’s what I grew up listening to and the music that I first heard. With Love on Digital, I wanted to convey R&B from my perspective: being 25 in the digital era of music, a very Gen Z lens.”

Conrad’s love and care also extend to the jazz world, which he forayed into with 2025’s Whimsy, a terrific 11-track project that “kinda just happened,” but apparently impressed his “industry peers” even more than Love on Digital. As he prepares for 2026 — which includes an NPR Tiny Desk debut and “saying yes to more features and collaborations” — Conrad is revisiting Solange’s seminal 2016 album, A Seat at the Table, and soaking up her “left” approach to R&B.

“Whimsy pushed me into accepting that I will always make more, and I don’t have to limit myself to one thing,” Conrad says, his voice swelling with conviction. “So, we’re continuing our Whimsy journey [with] a deluxe and [a limited run of] jazz shows. The accolades are really cool, but I’m looking at them as a push to keep going. It’s gratifying.” – KYLE DENIS

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Carter Faith

Carter Faith has arrived as one of Nashville’s most unique newcomers, blending an ethereal voice with a singular sound that draws on influences including country music’s “Nashville Sound” era, and classic pop-rock projects such as The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.

Working with producer Tofer Brown, the North Carolina native spent two years refining the sound of her debut album Cherry Valley, which was released in late 2025 on MCA Nashville/Gatsby Records. Cherry Valley emerges as a masterful collection of songs navigating heartbreak, fresh romance, relational drama and a devotion to country music.

“I’ve always been a visual writer. I wanted to build a world with this album,” Faith says, adding that her creative North Star is artistic freedom. “I have to put out songs that feel like me. If one of them hits commercially, I would love that, but my pride won’t let me give up my artistry, honesty and vulnerability for that.”

Among the 15-song album’s highlights are Faith’s standout vocals on “So I Sing,” her unfiltered lyricism on songs such as “Sex, Drugs and Country Music” and “Grudge,” and the exquisite balladry of “If I Had Never Lost My Mind,” weaving all of it into an intricate soundscape.

“It was a big goal of mine to make the songs fit together,” she says. “A lot of times, women in country are kind of pigeonholed as ‘You’re the ballad girl,’ or ‘You’re the kitschy, funny girl.’ Women have all different sides and it was important to me to have all those elements on there.”

Faith grew up soaking in the music of Tammy Wynette, the Beach Boys and Roy Orbison, which her grandfather would play on cassette tapes in his car.

“I’ve always loved country music and found myself gravitating toward these more lush-sounding landscapes,” Faith says. “I wanted to do that in my own way, and then adding a modern feel. I love Kacey Musgraves’ records, and a lot of Lana Del Rey’s music is lush and dramatic.”

She took piano lessons and later picked up guitar, playing cover gigs at a small hometown bar. A teenage heartbreak led Faith to write her first song at 16.

While still in high school, Faith attended The Recording Academy’s Grammy Camp in Nashville, and later studied songwriting and music business at Nashville’s Belmont University.

The CAA-booked Faith, who has toured with Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Cyrus, will launch her first headlining tour this year, while also joining Tucker Wetmore’s 2026 Brunette World Tour. Beyond music, Faith is set to make her acting debut soon, with a role in the Netflix film Heartland. “Getting to be on set was such an eye-opening thing,” Faith says. “It’s so much of a team sport. I loved every second of it because I got to just be fully present in that.”

Right now, fashioning a headlining tour with shows that reflect the rich, cinematic quality of her album is her top priority.

“I’ll get to sing all of the songs on the album and I can’t wait to do that. I get to call the shots and make it into a production — that’s what I’m most excited for.” – JESSICA NICHOLSON

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Poppy

“I think people want to put something in a box if they don’t entirely understand it,” Poppy says about long-standing misconceptions about her sound, “because it’s easier for them to process it and say, ‘Oh, I know what that is.’ And I just feel bad for them.”

Over the course of her winding career, the artist born Moriah Rose Pereira has earned a wide following by consistently subverting expectations — from her beginning as a YouTube-focused performance artist in the mid-2010s, to an electro-pop recording artist with an affinity for industrial music, to a reliable figure in the alternative metal and hardcore scenes over the past five years. “Suffocate,” her blistering collaboration with hardcore punk band Knocked Loose, scored a best metal performance Grammy nod last year; in 2021, Poppy became the first-ever solo female nominee in the category, for her deliriously bugged-out single “BLOODMONEY.” 

Poppy understands that she’s hard to pin down sonically, considering her penchant for pop melodies and body-quaking breakdowns. “I’ve accepted that a lot of what I do might render as outlier, or be misunderstood,” she says. “But I think all of my favorite people are!”

With that in mind, Empty Hands, Poppy’s seventh studio album, clarifies the singer-songwriter’s vision of the various sounds she’s pulled into her orbit over the years. Released last Friday (Jan. 23), the album was preceded last fall by “Unravel,” a traditional pop showcase with a few seconds of thunderous head-banging before the final hook. Poppy says that the lead single helped unlock the direction of the rest of the album, including the “soaring melody-type palette and new tones. I wanted it to be a bit more vocally challenging.”

Working alongside producer and former Bring Me the Horizon member Jordan Fish, Poppy spends Empty Hands riffing on disparate influences. The stomping opening track “Public Domain,” for instance, was inspired by their shared love of the veteran math-rock band Battles, and required a hasty trip to procure a talk box for the studio. Meanwhile, “Time Will Tell” was referred to as “the t.A.T..u. song” in the studio, thanks to the way its electro-shocked pop production recalls the Russian duo’s 2002 classic “All The Things She Said.”  

“Sometimes, [the influence] comes out of left field, when I fall back in love with an artist or something that I knew that I loved before but forgot about,” Poppy explains. “And it’s like getting a present on your birthday that you didn’t expect.”

After releasing “End of You,” a collaboration with Evanescence’s Amy Lee and Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante, last fall, Poppy will join Evanescence on the U.K. and Europe leg of the rock veterans’ world tour beginning in September. While Poppy says that she’s constantly learning from artists like Lee and LaPlante, she also says that she’s proud to have navigated her genre exercises as a solo artist before arriving at a project like Empty Hands with newfound confidence.

“I don’t think I would have been able to come out with seven albums and navigated five record deals,” she says, “if I wasn’t the one that was in charge of this thing.” – JASON LIPSHUTZ

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Yami Safdie

At the height of música urbana’s mainstream dominance in the ‘10s, Yami Safdie thought she had to follow the trend. “At first, I wanted to update myself to this urban, more upbeat sound because I thought that’s what I needed to succeed, to make my dreams come true,” the 28-year-old tells Billboard. But when those songs failed to connect, she made a life-changing decision: “Well, if things aren’t going well anyway, I might as well start making the music I love.” With that, she peeled back the layers of genre expectations and embraced the acoustic-driven, emotionally rich songwriting she now calls home.

The result has been extraordinary. By embracing a more unvarnished sound, Safdie found her stride. This is evident in “En Otra Vida,” her 2024 collaboration with Venezuelan artist Lasso. The lilting, imaginative waltz — about a love that could have flourished in another lifetime — became her first top 10 hit on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100. With her poetic prowess, sweet timbre and evocative compositions, Safdie offers a refreshing alternative to reggaetón’s bravado and trap’s flashy narratives.

Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Safdie’s love for music started early — with a little help from Disney. “My first connection to music was through Disney movies,” she recalls with a chuckle; her favorite is the Little Mermaid. A budding performer, she studied musical theater at nine years old and later worked as a singing princess at children’s birthday parties. These early experiences shaped a vocal delivery imbued with a sense of earnestness and magic. Even now, she credits those formative influences: “Of course, I approach things from a more adult perspective now, but I’m still very romantic, very dreamy, and I think that came from growing up with those stories.”

Her knack for storytelling blossomed in her teenage years, swayed by another major influence: Taylor Swift. Like Swift, Safdie treated her songwriting as a diary, scribbling down romantic frustrations and moments of self-discovery. Songs like “Querida Yo,” her breakout 2025 duet with Camilo, earned her a Latin Grammy nomination for best pop song and climbed to No. 15 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Airplay chart. 

“The fact that Camilo also participated in that song helped me grow a lot internationally,” she notes. “But above all, the song’s message has been very positive and helpful for many who may be going through difficult times.” Fans have embraced the track, flooding Safdie’s DMs with stories of how it became a lifeline during tough times.

But even as her music became more textured and introspective, Safdie’s rise wasn’t instantaneous. Her national breakthrough came with her debut album, Dije Que No Me Iba a Enamorar, in 2022, which introduced her signature blend of acoustic intimacy and poetic lyricism. The album included “El Bolero,” a traditional-leaning ballad featuring Milo J that remains her highest-streamed song on Spotify to date (over 200 million streams). The following year, her compositions took center stage with “De Nada,” her first track to chart on the Billboard Argentina Hot 100 in 2023 at No. 35. By that time, her name began buzzing across South America.

Safdie’s ability to mix classic styles with contemporary polish caught the attention of famed Mexican cumbia group Los Ángeles Azules, who tapped her for “Si Sabes Contar” last year, also starring fellow Argentine Luck Ra. The song introduced her to Mexican audiences, peaking at No. 13 on Regional Mexican Airplay and broadening her reach. “It was a time in my life when I set out to write a lot… and try different sounds, different genres, and different things,” Safdie reflects.

Now, as she prepares to showcase her third studio album, Querida Yo, released last Nov., Safdie says she’s embracing the most “exciting part” of the process: sharing her music live. This year, she’ll embark on a tour across Latin America and Europe, including stops in Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Spain, and Paraguay.

By embracing reflective, acoustic-driven music, Safdie is not only defying the música urbana-dominated marketplace but creating space for a style that has become rarer in Latin music. Her success could signal that there’s still an appetite for heartfelt, narrative-rich songs, opening the door for like-minded artists to thrive. Rising talents like Gale, celebrated veterans such as Kany García and Natalia Lafourcade, and collaborators like Lasso and Camilo share Safdie’s commitment to emotional honesty and lyrical intimacy. There is still room for music rooted in vulnerability and storytelling.

What’s her message to her fans? “I think it’s important to allow yourself to be vulnerable, to feel the full spectrum of emotions — the beautiful moments and the hard ones too, the sad times and the moments that make up life itself. It’s all part of growing and learning,” she says. “And I hope people can find a little more compassion for themselves, knowing they’re not alone on that path, that we’re all going through similar experiences.” – ISABELA RAYGOZA

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OC Chris

OC chris feels like he made it. It’s Sept. 1 and the first night of NBA YoungBoy’s anticipated MASA Tour and Chris was tabbed as an opener in his hometown of Dallas for one of his rap idols. “It’s like a little kid getting a gift he ain’t never gotten for Christmas when I was on that stage,” he reflects while getting a manicure. “Like, d–n, I’m really here.”

Hailing from Oak Cliff, a neighborhood in Southern Dallas County, OC chris reps Texas to the fullest. The 18-year-old Mexican rapper has an outline of the Lone Star State tattooed on his hand with “OC” emblazoned inside. 

Raised as one of 11 children (he counts an aunt he grew up with as a sister), Chris remembers singing along to hitmakers like Bruno Mars before becoming infatuated with rap around 10 years old, while freestyling with a friend. 

By the time he was 12 years old, he purchased a microphone after making enough money working for his father’s landscaping company, and Chris got his first taste of a professional studio a few years later — which happened to be a couple of minutes away from his house, thanks to his mother knowing the engineer from high school.

As a rebellious kid, Chris fell in love with the fatalistic raps of XXXTENTACION and SoundCloud era stars like Lil Peep, Trippie Redd and YoungBoy Never Broke Again. “I could relate to his music,” Chris says of the Baton Rouge pioneer. “I been listening to him since I was a little kid. I was probably seven smoking and listening to YB.”

After dropping out of high school, Chris caught a Texas-sized buzz with his “Put Dat on Anything” single in late 2024. Behind stripped-down production and subdued drums, the pensive track chillingly depicts the nauseating paranoia that came with his family’s financial hardships, as he watched his mother struggle to keep the lights on. “That’s when they kinda figured I wasn’t f–king around,” he says. 

With his by any means necessary mentality on display, OC chris brought his polished baritone flows and more commercial appeal to “Scarred Forever” last April, its title referencing both his turbulent upbringing and the jagged scar between his left lip and cheek. 

The gash came years back from a knife-wielding female friend of his girlfriend at the time, following an argument. “I feel like I could make people embrace their scars,” Chris says of turning the blemish into a recognizable feature. 

Labels began knocking on Chris’ door, as he and his team met with about five or six before signing with Mike Caren’s APG (Artist Partner Group) in June. Chris points to the label’s robust alumni network, which has helped turn the likes of YoungBoy, Kehlani and Don Toliver into industry staples, as a reason why.

Metaphorically cruising down Interstate 20, Chris kept his foot on the gas while flooding the marketplace with a pair of projects, Everyone Hates and God Bless Oak Cliff, to close out 2025. The 18-year-old’s ascension continued with catchy sing-alongs like “Her, Her & Her” and “Hey How Ya Doin,” with the MC further refining his swaggering flows and punchy beats with a dose of Texas flair, to stand out among the melodic trap and rage rap dominating 2020s hip-hop. Think of Chris as an amalgam of That Mexican OT, YoungBoy and underground Houston legend Z-Ro. 

“I feel like it’s some s—t you could play in the club, it’s some s—t you could cry to, it’s some s—t you could drive to, it’s some s—t you could get high to,” Chris says of his versatility. 

As far as 2026 goes, OC chris is looking to shatter the “regional rapper” label, seeking global validation. Next up, he plans to drop a single, which will lead into a three-track EP. Chris hopes there are collaborations with YoungBoy and southern rap veteran Kevin Gates in the pipeline, the latter of whom he refers to as his “uncle.”

Expanding his sonic palette is also on the agenda for 2026, as the emerging rapper wants to test the waters with more indie- and rock-leaning tracks and showcase more of his full arsenal. The Oak Cliff native isn’t worried about backlash from the risky creative leap, either: “I mean, what’s the worst that can happen?” he asks rhetorically. “All these songs I make are for a reason.”

While artists like Sante Fe Klan and Snow Tha Product have been faces of Mexican rap in the U.S. at various points, OC chris could be the next to bear the torch in the second half of the 2020s. “I want to be all over the place,” he proclaims. “I want to go to Tokyo and have all them f–king people rush me. I just want the world in my hands.” – MICHAEL SAPONARA

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Femtanyl

Finding that the screamy electronic productions she’d made on her iMac needed “a bit more juice” during shows, she says, Noelle Mansbridge was seeking a live drummer. Having toured the West Coast hardcore and screamo scenes for nearly a decade, Juno Callendar was adept at many instruments, but drums weren’t one of them. 

Still, after linking through Mansbridge’s then manager, the pair met on August 15, 2024, hours before they got onstage in their native Seattle and performed for a few hundred fans. 

“We played without really rehearsing or anything,” Callendar recalls. “It was just chaos.”

But in that chaos there was chemistry, along with the desired juice. This hectic beginning evolved into the raw, frenetic sound that the pair, now best friends, make as electronic act Femtanyl. 

Finding a predilection for textural, blown out and “very loud” productions while in high school, Mansbridge started the project in 2023 as a solo endeavor, uploading her work to Spotify “almost like a novelty,” she says. Still, aggressively skittering tracks with names like “MURDER EVERY 1 U KNOW!” and “GIRL HELL 1999” soon aggregated 100,000 monthly listeners on the platform while also making Femtanyl an object of fascination for her very online fanbase, traction that led to a distribution deal with release.global, the distribution arm of APG. 

22 and 28, respectively, Mansbridge and Callendar were both influenced by 20th century rave and industrial titans like Throbbing Gristle, Nine Inch Nails and The Prodigy, with Callendar poring over archival performances from such acts on YouTube to figure out how they were making each sound. She says this obsession fostered a desire “to create and perform electronic music with an emphasis on physicality, aggression and kinetics.”

The pair is also influenced by contemporaries like Swedish producer Whiteamor and his affiliated hip-hop collective Drain Gang, A.G. Cook’s PC Music crew and other rave-affiliated online artists. But don’t let Femtanyl’s grunge aesthetic and love of gonzo Japanese cinema fool you – they’re into pop music too.

“There’s a lot of brightness, fun and poppy tendencies that I notice in our own songwriting and production that stems from these places, rather than some of the aforementioned noisier, more chaotic influences,” says Callendar. “Both of us are huge fans of our modern electronic dance and pop contemporaries and are frequently inspired by their tonal palettes.”

Femtanyl’s music melds this affinity with hardcore, breakcore, industrial and other harder-edged electronic subgenres. “Noelle frequently makes grand, sweeping songwriting decisions that propel the structure of a song forward, while I gravitate towards working on finer details, individual part composition and music theory,” Callendar says. “She’s a genius, production wise,” Mansbridge adds of Callendar. 

Live, the energy is fierce and authentically underground, with songs typically performed as an hour-long block of sound. “We’re constantly moving around and screaming,” Mansbridge says. “I like the idea that when I perform, the songs are happening to me, and it’s all just happening to all of us.”

Femtanyl will release its debut album, Man Bites Dog, on Feb. 13 — two weeks before launching a 19-date U.S. tour in February and April — and make its festival debut at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound in June. Like most of Femtanyl’s live shows, the pair promise that the run will include loads of unreleased music. 

“We’re always the most excited about what we’re doing in that current moment,” says Callendar, “and we always want to share that.” – KATIE BAIN

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Jensen McRae

Jensen McRae was frustrated while working on her first album, 2022’s Are You Happy Now? The Los Angeles native, who had released a few self-produced EPs online while in college in the late 2010s, had multiple musical influences across pop, folk and indie rock that she wanted to synthesize into her work, but struggled to sound like any of her reference points. 

McRae told the album’s producer, Rahki, how she was feeling, “and he was like, ‘This album needs to sound like you! We don’t want this to sound like an imitation of someone else!’” She recalls. “That really opened my brain in a significant way.”

The singer-songwriter’s sophomore album, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me!, more adeptly channels the songwriting panache of some of McRae’s indie heroes — she cites Julia Jacklin, Samia and MUNA as artists “whose footsteps I am walking in” — while also presenting a singular, striking presence. Some of the more confessional songs (“Massachusetts,” “Praying For Your Downfall”) carry modern Nashville touchstones; other pop-rock gems (“The Rearranger,” “I Can Change Him”) sound beamed in from an alternate-universe VH1 block. 

And then there’s “Let Me Be Wrong,” a driving anthem about embracing personal messiness, that carries both a radio-ready hook and a blood-boiled F-bomb during the second verse (“Free my tongue, go rogue and mean/ Like those girls at seventeen/ They got glass ceilings and rings/ F–K! Those girls got everything!”). “I knew that everyone was gonna scream that with me at my shows,” McRae says proudly.

As a result, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me! has found a cult following since being released on Dead Oceans last April, with the 28-year-old playing increasingly packed headline shows last year after previously opening for touring stalwarts like Noah Kahan and Amos Lee. McRae says that, as her profile grows, she’s noticed the demographics of her audiences expanding, too. “The most surprising outreach that I get is across age lines and gender lines,” she says, “because I don’t necessarily think that a middle-aged white man is gonna relate to the things that I’m saying, but I’m getting messages from people and seeing them at my shows. They’re like, ‘I know that this is not technically for me, but it really resonates with me.’”

Last week, McRae announced a monthlong theater run for the spring, with more dates coming later this year. “My venues are starting to get bigger,” says McRae, “and I feel like I’m approaching the size room that’s a really good fit for my music, the 1000-1500-cap space.” 

She also mentions that “there’s definitely more music on the way,” although I Don’t Know How But They Found Me! Still has room to grow in her mind. Songs like “My Ego Dies at the End” and “Massachusetts” have given McRae viral moments in the past, but what she wants is more than song-by-song blips. “It feels like this really nice, slow build,” she says of the past nine months, “where it never feels like the album is being forgotten.” – J.L.

  

A$AP Rocky opened up about where he thinks things went sour as far as his relationship with Drake, and the Harlem rapper pointed to a chain of events following Drizzy’s appearance at Yams Day 2020.

“I thought [Drake] was my mans. I thought he was my dude,” Rocky told Akademiks in an interview posted Saturday (Jan. 24). “I first met him and he seemed embraceful and s—t. We went on tour with him. I think when I got with [Rihanna], he started throwing shots out of nowhere. I just woke up and felt like he was throwing subs and s—t.”

Akademiks assumed they were beefing over women, which Rocky agreed with, as Drake dated Rihanna in the first half of the 2010s. Ak even brought up the history of Rocky allegedly being intimate with Sophie Brussaux, who later became the mother of Drake’s son, Adonis, in 2017.

“I’m not the first n—a that f—ked my girl or my baby mother or my wife,” Rocky fired back. “Somebody pre-dates that. Get off that sucker s—t. What we talking about right now? Sound like some female s—t. We sound like females talking about females … N—as be too insecure dwelling on stupid s—t.”

Rocky and Drake had a close relationship in the early 2010s. Drizzy invited Rocky on the Club Paradise Tour in 2012, and the pair ended up teaming up on Rocky’s Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit “F–kin’ Problems” alongside 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar later that year.

The Mob frontman pointed to Yams Day 2020 as a turning point in their relationship, which saw Drake pull up to the event paying homage to A$AP Yams and gifted Rocky a chain of his late friend, who passed away in 2015.

“That n—a got me a Yams chain. Like, you my brother. I still got the chain, I still cherish it. He remembers Yams. He came to Yams Day he was there,” Rocky recalled. “That’s 2020, gangsta. Me and shorty was locked in. Everything was subsequent after that. That’s where all the shots started happening. That’s when I started seeing n—s saying funny s—t.”

He also dispelled the notion of ever taking shots at Drake in his music before 2020. “Never,” Rocky emphatically stated. “I don’t move like that.”

The rapper, who released Don’t Be Dumb on Jan. 16, explained that he only inserted himself in the Drake-Kendrick feud in 2024 because he felt Drizzy was sending shots at Rihanna. “The only reason I said something was because he took a shot at my girl,” he said.

Rocky also expressed regret for dissing Drake on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Show of Hands.” “I said what I said, and I shouldn’t have because it was petty. And I was being messy by putting another woman,” Rocky admitted. “Saying something about another woman — that’s corny.”

Fans speculated that Drake took shots at RiRi on 2023’s “Fear of Heights,” which landed on the OVO rapper’s For All the Dogs album. On the It’s All a Blur Tour, Drake let the crowd perform his lyrics to the Rihanna-assisted “Work. “I don’t sing this song anymore,” he told a 2024 audience. “You can sing it for me.”

Rocky actually mocked Drake’s explanation of not performing his Rihanna collabs with a funny impression of the 6 God in the interview.

Rocky etched another chapter in his feud with Drake on Don’t Be Dumb‘s “Stole Ya Flow,” which refers to RiRi. “First you stole my flow, so I stole yo b—h … My baby mama Rihanna, so we unbothered,” he raps.

Don’t Be Dumb debuted atop the Billboard 200 in a tightly contested battle for the No. 1 spot with 123,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending Jan. 22, according to Luminate.

Watch the full interview between Rocky and Akademiks below.