Memphis Bleek was “happy” to see his mentor Jay-Z address his haters during his Roots Picnic freestyle.

The Brooklyn rapper turned podcaster recently sat down with Boardroom and gave some insight on how Jay operates

“Jay just be having verses. I know,” he said after admitting that he didn’t really get to hear the freestyle until it hit social media due to how chaotic it was backstage. “I be trying to get him to spit, but he got too many verses that he just tucks. When you’re a writer, you’re a rapper, you’re an artist, you’re gonna continue to write. Whether you release it or not.”

Bleek then explained why the people Jigga dissed had it coming because it’s easy to lie in today’s digital climate. “Everybody get hit. He put the fully on,” he began. “These kids got the switch, they don’t know about the fully. They know Shawn Carter, they know Jay-Z, they don’t know Jigga. That’s Jigga. Welcome, man.”

He added: “I’m happy he did ’cause a lot of people they just talk and talk and talk and its no one to rebuke it, to go against it, speak the truth, so lies get spewed all over the Internet and turned into truth. Because, you know, these guys are gonna believe what they want, but it’s not the other side fighting against it, only the lie seems like the truth. So, I’m glad he put belt to ass on certain people. They deserved that spanking.”

He then continued by saying that if you’ve paid attention, Jay-Z almost always talks about what he’s going through in his music. “Jay always responds through music,” the Memph Man explained. “Anything he’s feeling or going through, it’s always been in the music. That’s how we’ve always been. All of us. We really don’t get on here like, ‘Yo, I hate this rapper. When I see you, I’ma catch you.’ It’s on the record. If we’re going to entertain, I’ma make money off it. I’m not gonna just go on here and just be on everybody platform. Your algorithms go up and I’m just angry.”

You can watch the full conversation below.

Fans are getting to see one more conversation with Oliver Tree following his untimely death, with the singer/songwriter recording a guest appearance on Bobbi Althoff’s Really Good Podcast prior to the helicopter collision that killed him earlier this month.

In the episode posted Monday (June 29), Tree — dressed, as he often did, in a comedic costume, this time donning an Elmo suit and red face paint — discussed a wide range of topics, including his “high risk” lifestyle. Tree often turned interviews into extended bits with outlandish takes, but did make a prescient comment in one of his final interviews, when he explained why he preferred to live as adventurously as possible.

“My parents, they’re like, ‘Oliver, it’s a lot to travel all the time,’” he said. “I’m like, ‘Guys, look. We don’t know if I’ll be alive next year, or if you’ll be alive.’”

“There’s no day promised,” he added. “You know how high risk I live my life, for real? The last two years I was living in poo huts in Africa, I stayed in mud houses in Iraq.”

Tree died at age 32 on June 14 along with the two pilots and three other passengers who were onboard the pair of helicopters that crashed into each other in Rio de Janeiro. The musician had been abroad while on his global tour in support of the April ablum Love You Madly Hate You Badly, playing what would become his final show on June 6 in São Paulo.

Shortly after Tree’s death, it was announced that his fortune will go toward launching Dr. Oliver Tree’s Extremely Epic Grant for Baby Geniuses, a grant supporting the creation of art that he’d publicly discussed setting up prior to his death. “I take no credit for anything I’ve ever done,” Tree said on the Zach Sang Show this past April. “I don’t believe that any of the wealth or things that get made from it is mine. My will is set up so that when I pass, my family, nobody is going to get a penny. All the money is going to go back to artists.”

Althoff said in a disclaimer at the beginning of her video interview with Tree that all profits from their conversation will go toward his grant. “I’m grateful to have had this conversation with Oliver,” it reads. “I’m sharing it with love and respect for his life, his art, and the unforgettable world he created.”

Watch her full interview with Tree below.

Beyoncé’s label and management company, Parkwood Entertainment, has defeated a copyright lawsuit over the EDM sample that opens her hit 2022 Renaissance track “Alien Superstar.”

A Friday (June 26) court ruling, first obtained and reported by Billboard, dismisses the lawsuit brought against Parkwood last summer by a company claiming to own the 1998 John Holiday song “Moonraker.” A sample of that track serves as the introduction to “Alien Superstar”: “Please do not be alarmed, remain calm/ Do not attempt to leave the dancefloor/ The DJ booth is conducting a troubleshoot of the entire system.”

Parkwood cleared this sample from Holiday; the house musician is listed in the lengthy Renaissance credits and was paid $10,000 plus 0.5% of the royalties from “Alien Superstar,” which hit No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. But in the July 2025 lawsuit, Florida-based Hirose Enterprises LLC alleged that it is actually the owner of the “Moonraker” copyrights and thus should have been part of that licensing process.

Hirose Enterprises LLC is owned by Shuji Hirose, the co-founder of now-defunct indie label Soundmen on Wax. The lawsuit claims Soundmen on Wax bought the “Moonraker” copyrights in 1998. Parkwood argued in response that there’s no paperwork documenting that purported transfer of rights, and thus it properly cleared the “Alien Superstar” sample from Holiday directly.

Judge Mark C. Scarsi did not need to address those arguments in order to dismiss the lawsuit on Friday, however. That’s because it turns out Hirose Enterprises was not actually formed until a week after the lawsuit was filed — a major legal defect that bars it from suing in the first place.

“Please do not be alarmed, remain calm: like the DJ booth referenced in the works at issue, this district judge must conduct a troubleshoot test of the entire system — that is, a jurisdictional inquiry — before reaching any of the parties’ merits arguments,” wrote the judge, quoting the “Moonraker” lyrics. “Plaintiff had no legal existence at the time it brought suit, so it cannot have held a stake in the outcome of the litigation at the time it filed the complaint.”

Judge Scarsi thus threw out the entire case against Parkwood, as well as Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell. Beyoncé herself was not targeted in the lawsuit.

Reps for the various litigants did not immediately return requests for comment on Monday (June 29). Hirose Enterprises has the right to appeal Friday’s dismissal ruling if it wants another chance at pursuing the copyright claims.

Nicki Minaj wished Elon Musk a happy birthday as the Tesla CEO turned 55 years old on Sunday (June 28), and the Barbz leader credited the tech mogul with “saving free speech.”

Minaj shared what appears to be an AI-generated selfie with Musk on Sunday, alongside the birthday note. “Thank you for saving free speech, Elon. Happy Birthday Love always From Gag City & the Barbz,” she wrote to Musk’s X platform.

The Queens rapper hasn’t been shy about her Musk fandom. In May, she pulled up to Musk’s Starbase in Texas to see SpaceX’s flight test. Unfortunately, the launch was delayed due to technical errors within the spacecraft.

“Barbz, come on down, because this is a lot of fun. I’m excited,” she said in an interview at Starbase with members of the SpaceX content team. “This is historic, this is a major moment y’all.”

Minaj continued: “Major shout-out to Elon. Thank you for everything that you’re doing for humanity.”

At the time, Minaj was fittingly wearing a “Starship” graphic T-shirt, as her Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded lead single “Starships” reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2012.

Earlier in June, the “Super Bass” rapper wished Donald Trump a happy 80th birthday with a series of AI-generated photos, one of which included Elon Musk and actress Sydney Sweeney taking a road trip with Minaj and Trump.

There’s plenty of overlap between Trump and the Tesla CEO, as Musk previously served as Trump’s senior advisor and was the head the Department of Government Efficiency before leaving the administration in May 2025.

Minaj has spent much of the year raving about Donald Trump and her MAGA allegiance. She even claimed to be the president’s “No. 1 fan” in January when she met the president for the first time at a Trump Accounts Summit.

Find Nicki Minaj’s happy birthday post to Elon Musk here.

 Yung Miami is once again asking Drake to get on one of her songs.

Earlier this month, the Miami rapper and media personality joked that she got left on read by Drake when she asked the Toronto superstar to hop on her song “Take Me to Chanel.”

 “I remember DM’ing him, but that was at the time when he was going through all his sh–. And when people going through they sh–, like, I get it, I understand,” she told Cam Newton. “But I DM’d him like, ‘Drake, I think you’ll sound good on “Take Me to Chanel.”’ He just liked the message — like come on, now, don’t do that! Drake, don’t do that now ’cause when you called me I was there! But, nah, I f— with Drake, I understand.”

Now, during a red carpet interview at Sunday night’s 2026 BET Awards, she was asked by Complex who she would like to get on the remix, so naturally she mentioned Drake and pleaded with him to stop ignoring her calls. “You gotta stay tuned for that, but I really want Drake,” the former City Girl shared. “Champagne Papi. You know we gotta call Drake. Iceman. I want Iceman! Iceman, pick up the phone.”

Yung Miami is having a moment with her record “Spend Dat.” She performed it on a float during the New York Knicks championship parade because the team loves the song so much and even Fabolous put his own spin on it with the help of content creator Lowkey Mar as the team was closing in on it’s first title in 53 years.

“Spend Dat” currently sits at No. 35 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 7 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Yung Miami might have the song of the summer.

Twista (born Carl Mitchell) has pleaded guilty to five counts of willfully failing to pay taxes for five years between 2019 and 2023.

The 52-year-old owes the IRS more than $440,000 in back taxes and now faces up to five years in prison, according to Chicago federal court documents viewed by Billboard. Each of the five charges comes with a one-year maximum sentence along with a $25,000 fine.

Twista entered a guilty plea on Wednesday (June 24), which the court accepted. The Chicago native is slated to be sentenced on Oct. 22.

Broken down by year, the hefty six-figure sum of tax liabilities includes $18,891.25 for 2019, $5,715.83 for 2020, $32,571.71 for 2021, $71,703 for 2022, and $49,102.73 for 2023.

The “Overnight Celebrity” rapper was also found to have unpaid tax liabilities from 2011 through 2018. Including penalties and interest, the annual totals are listed as $5,101.98 for 2011, $9,619.26 for 2012 $40,263.33 for 2014, $25,574.22 for 2015, $95,568.57 for 2016, $17,241.44 for 2017, and $69,706.59 for 2018.

“Mitchell entered into agreements with a third-party company to pay him advances on future royalties, knowing that the IRS would not be able to levy these funds,” the IRS claimed, while alleging that Twista received payments totalling $578,322.

Federal prosecutors claimed that Twista bought luxury cars instead of using the funds to make payments on his tax liabilities.

The purchases named in the court docs list a “2015 BMW I8 worth $81,893.81, a 2016 Tesla Model X worth approximately $65,099, a 2022 Chevrolet Corvette worth $100,354.03 and a 2025 Jeep Gladiator worth $64,400.75.”

Hailing from Chicago, Twista rose to prominence in the early 2000s and became known for his speedy rapping and breath control. His 2004 Kamikaze album topped the Billboard 200, and he’s been part of three top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: the No. 1 hit “Slow Jamz” with Ye and Jamie Foxx, “Overnight Celebrity” (No. 6) and Trick Daddy’s “Let’s Go” (No. 7).

Billboard has reached out to Twista’s attorneys for comment.

Fuerza Regida frontman Jesús Ortiz Paz (JOP) and Rancho Humilde CEO Jimmy Humilde are taking their legal battle from the courtroom to social media.

JOP and Humilde each posted fiery messages to Instagram on Sunday (June 28) expressing frustration about the ongoing litigation between Fuerza Regida and Rancho Humilde. For nearly a year, the música mexicana hitmakers and their longtime label home have been fighting in court over contract terms.

Fuerza Regida is trying to convince a federal judge to terminate the band’s record deal with Rancho Humilde, alleging that the label has withheld royalties and is now aiming to “sabotage” their success. Rancho Humilde, meanwhile, maintains that the record deal cannot be abandoned and that Fuerza Regida violated that contract by unilaterally doing features for other artists and excluding it from lucrative deals with Apple Music and Live Nation.

JOP’s Sunday post on Instagram alluded to this dispute, as well as to Fuerza Regida’s more recent allegation that Rancho Humilde wrongly blocked them from performing at this year’s FIFA World Cup and being included on Major League Baseball’s official soundtrack for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

“To everyone who supports Fuerza Regida: You deserve to hear our music,” wrote JOP. “You deserved to see us perform at the World Cup. You deserved to listen to us on the MLB album. You deserve to celebrate every release, every accomplishment, and every chapter of our journey. Instead, our music keeps disappearing.”

“We’ve never stopped making music, continued the bandleader’s post. “We’ve never stopped fighting for you. Everyone knows what’s going on; you seen it on the media. That’s why I’m going to let justice do its job. Everyone is going to know who you really are.”

JOP then wrote, “EL QUE NADA DEBE, NADA TEME” — a Spanish idiom meaning “he who has nothing to hide has nothing to fear” — and ended his post by specifically calling out Rancho Humilde and its CEO: “Go and let @jimmyhumilde.rh & @ranchohumilde know how you feel. Make your voices heard. Our story isn’t over I promise.”

Humilde responded the same day with a post of his own, addressed directly to JOP, arguing that the label always supported Fuerza Regida: “You asked me for a bigger deal I got it done. You asked me for your masters I fought to make it happen. You wanted to become one of the biggest artists in the world I gave everything I had to help build that dream. When you needed help, I didn’t just bring business. I brought my lawyers, my doctors, my relationships, my time, and my heart. I stood by you when it mattered most. You walked away with the biggest check of your life over $50 million. I never complained. I was happy to see you win because your success was our success.”

Humilde added, “What hurts is seeing everything we’ve built together reduced to a public narrative that doesn’t tell the whole story.” He then appealed to JOP to fulfill the band’s record deal, writing, “If you believe people deserve the truth, then honor the agreement we made. Complete the contract the same way I honored every commitment I made to you. I never stopped looking out for you. I only ask that you do the same. El que nada debe, nada teme.”

In a separate post on Sunday, Humilde also suggested that JOP has mistreated his bandmates and artists on his own label, Street Mob Records. In the post’s caption, he tagged Fuerza Regida bandmembers José García and Samuel Jaimez and Street Mob artists Chino Pacas, Calle 24 and Armenta.

“Let’s talk about your own band members went from partners to being employees,” wrote Humilde. “They didn’t have much of a choice. And let’s not forget I helped you land a $15 million deal for your label. After that, how you chose to take care of your artists is on you. [Let’s] ask Chinito, Calle and Armenta! I’ve kept my mouth shut out of loyalty, not because I can’t speak. Don’t mistake silence for weakness. Remember a man that sells his soul will never be able to help his own…don’t start lol.”

Rancho Humilde’s attorney, Michael Trauben, emphasized in a Monday (June 29) statement to Billboard that the label has never intended to prevent Fuerza Regida from making music. Rather, said Trauben, Rancho’s position in the lawsuit is that “those opportunities should proceed through the exclusive distribution and approval structure the parties voluntarily agreed upon.”

“Every exclusive agreement is built on one fundamental promise: if a company invests years of work and millions of dollars developing an artist, the artist agrees to release music through the agreed distribution channels,” added Trauben. “Rancho believes no artist — regardless of success — can simply decide to ignore that bargain and independently release recordings at will.”

Reps for Fuerza Regida did not return a request for comment on Monday.

The lawsuit remains in its early stages, with a judge currently weighing Rancho Humilde’s motion to dismiss some of Fuerza Regida’s claims at the outset. Once that decision comes down, the two sides will begin exchanging evidence in the discovery phase before an eventual trial — that is, if they don’t reach a settlement first.