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Billboard Unfiltered returned on Wednesday (June 18) with another brand-new episode featuring a special guest: Rapsody was in the building.
This week, senior director of R&B/Hip-Hop Carl Lamarre returned with hip-hop editor Angel Diaz alongside Rapsody to debate who is the greatest rapper/producer combination of all time.
First up, Lamarre made the case for Nas and Hit-Boy, who connected for five projects over the course of 36 months with three installments of the King’s Disease series, which Lamarre holds in the upper echelon of rap album series, and a pair of Magic projects.
“When they came into each other’s lives, I think they changed the dynamic of what hip-hop is today in terms of what we look at from a rapper and producer standpoint,” Lamarre declared. “From 2020 to 2023, we saw the best rapping of Nas’ career.”
He continued: “King’s Disease is probably one of the best series in hip-hop of all-time. Magic one and two, flawless. We introduce Nas in a new era… Some of the best beats in Hit-Boy’s career came from working with Nas and they got a Grammy out of it.”
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Angel Diaz laid out the case for Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, as he believes the duo put the West Coast on the map. “They had The Chronic and Doggystyle back-to-back and then they came back with 2001,” he said. “They put the West Coast on the map.”
Taking things a step further, Diaz explained that there’s still remnants of Dre and Snoop’s G-funk DNA in West Coast rap decades later as seen in Kendrick Lamar’s GNX.
As for Rapsody, she elected to spotlight the Clipse and Pharrell. “From their first project Lord Willin’ to this one — I haven’t heard all of it — but it’s setting up to be a phenomenal classic,” she said. “It’s like they’ve evolved and haven’t missed a step. This ain’t gon’ be a miss, we can feel the energy.”
The North Carolina rapper added: “When you have a producer and a rapper come together and they always create their best work together, it’s undeniable,” “Those two, that’s always their best work.”
There was plenty of back-and-forth, but moderator Delisa Shannon gave the victory to Carl Lamarre and his pick of Nas and Hit-Boy on Wednesday’s show.
Watch the full episode below.
Welcome to Billboard Pro’s Trending Up newsletter, where we take a closer look at the songs, artists, curiosities and trends that have caught the music industry’s attention. Some have come out of nowhere, others have taken months to catch on, and all of them could become ubiquitous in the blink of a TikTok clip.
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This week: Keith Sweat’s “Nobody” gets a bump from an improbable cover source, a less-remembered Black Eyed Peas gets its moment in the TikTok sun and Playboi Carti may have a new Music breakout following his BET Awards performance.
‘Carnival Cruise Tyler’ Karaoke Performance Sets Off a Keith Sweat Revival
Who can do it like Carnival Cruise Tyler? Nobody, apparently – at least nobody outside of Keith Sweat himself. The 20-year-old Georgia native born Tyler Heyworth has been going viral on TikTok the past couple weeks for an unexpected performance he offered on vacation with his family on the Carnival Cruise line, where he sang Sweat’s 1996 top five Hot 100 smash “Nobody” (featuring Athena Cage of Kut Klose) — released when Tyler was approximately negative nine years old — to what could certainly be described as a receptive karaoke audience.
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Tyler’s performance, delivered with strong vocals, engaging (but never quite inappropriate) stage moves and an understated confidence, resulted in multiple crowd freakouts, with different captured angles of his now-storied rendition each seemingly revealing new multitudes of enraptured listenership. Unsurprisingly, his viral fame has resulted in much internet celebrity: “I’ve had a bunch of, uh, interesting women in my comments and in my DMs,” he told TMZ. “It’s kinda too much at this point.”
The young man’s “Nobody” performance is not yet available on DSPs – but of course, Keith Sweat’s apparently well-enduring original certainly is, and fans new and old were motivated to spend time with the ‘90s R&B classic. The song’s daily official on-demand U.S. streams rose gradually throughout last week, hitting a high of 319,000 on Friday (June 13), up 91% from 167,000 the previous Friday (June 6), according to Luminate. Sweat himself even shared video of Tyler’s performance, with the caption, “If everybody don’t sing NOBODY it’s not done correctly.” – ANDREW UNTERBERGER
Black Eyed Peas’ ‘Rock’ Is Rolling With Viral Resurgence
In 2009, “Boom Boom Pow,” the lead single from the Black Eyed Peas’ album The E.N.D., spent 12 straight weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 — and was then replaced by the album’s second single, “I Gotta Feeling,” which proceeded to log 14 weeks in the top spot. The mind-boggling run of chart domination represented the apex of the quartet’s commercial appeal — the Peas would never return to the top of the Hot 100 afterwards, in fact — but now, another song from The E.N.D. has gone viral, and could crack the chart 16 years later if it keeps picking up steam.
“Rock Your Body” followed the same electro-pop-rap blueprint of the album’s biggest hits, with Will.i.am relying heavily on Auto-tune, Fergie’s voice pitched way up and a sample of Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s “It Takes Two” heavily involved; the song’s hook, in which Will cedes the floor to Fergie, has slowly grown as a popular TikTok sound, with users creating different dance routines to the vocal hand-off. After earning 667,000 weekly official U.S. on-demand streams six weeks ago (Apr. 18-24), “Rock Your Body” scored 4.14 million streams last week (June 6-12) — an increase of 520%, according to Luminate. Is this a viral one-off, or can the nostalgia cycle fuel a full-on BEP revival? The E.N.D. is an acronym for The Energy Never Dies — maybe we’re about to experience proof of that claim. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Playboi Carti Fans Like ‘Weezy’ Following BET Awards Performance
Sometimes, when you release an album with an enormous track list, some of the songs in the back half of that full-length require a special platform to reach a larger audience. Case in point: at the 2025 BET Awards last Monday night (June 9), Playboi Carti reached deep into his Music bag to perform “Like Weezy,” the springy 25th track on the 30-song track list, as well as The Weeknd collaboration “Rather Lie” while surrounded by luxury cars and smoke machines onstage at the awards ceremony.
“Like Weezy” has benefitted from the performance choice by Carti: in the four days following the BET Awards (June 10-13), the track earned 1.28 million U.S. on-demand streams, a 90% increase from the previous four days (670,000 streams from June 6-9), according to Luminate. Carti has also been performing “Like Weezy” in his nightly sets opening for The Weeknd’s ongoing stadium tour, which continues through early September — meaning that the song could enjoy a sustained boost instead of a one-week uptick due to an awards show performance. – J.L.
Zohran Mamdani is a 33-year-old Democratic Socialist looking to become the next mayor of New York City. As voters learn more about potential candidates, curious folks have dug up old rap videos from a previous life for Mamdani, who rhymed under the monikers Young Cardamom and then Mr. Cardamom.
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According to a 2019 story about actress Madhur Jaffrey in The New York Times, Mamdani made his rap debut in the late 2000s while running for vice president at the Bronx High School of Science. He then partnered with his close friend Abdul Bar Hussein to form a rap duo in the mid-2010s.
They would release a six-track EP, titled Sidda Mukyaalo, in 2016, which finds them rapping in six different languages while paying homage to their Ugandan roots.
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Mamdani (Mr. Cardamom) wouldn’t hesitate to touch on politically charged topics in his rhymes and dealt with racism. “When it’s a Black friend or family member, it always takes a bit longer,” he raps on “Askari,” which finds him playing a security guard opening a gate quicker for a white person.
One of the more recent tracks that has gone viral is his 2019 “Nani” video, a tribute to his grandmother, Praveen Nair, who worked for the nonprofit Salaam Baalak Trust. The visual, which stars Jaffrey and even received coverage from The New York Times, has more than 213,000 views on YouTube. It’s the only clip left on his official YouTube account as Mr. Cardamom.
Supporters hopped into the clip’s comments section, saying Mamdani has their vote and they’re convinced he needs to be the next mayor of NYC.
“He’s got my vote, just cause I don’t want smoke with nani,” one person wrote, while a second added, “I don’t even live in NY but please. Please, y’all gotta make him mayor, if only for this banger.”
Another chimed in: “I swear to god Zohran completed every damn sidequest out there lmao.”
The NYC mayoral race continues to heat up in its final days of the primary, with Mamdani closing the gap on former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo among Democrats in the polls. A recent survey from the Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that 38 percent of voters said they’d rank Cuomo at the top of their ballots, compared to 27 percent for Mamdani.
What a difference 10 years can make. That was the last time Billboard tackled the monumental feat of ranking the top R&B artists, dating back to the ‘50s. Michael Jackson, whose grew from his R&B roots to capture the King of Pop crown, ruled over that 2015 tally. Now as the music industry and fans celebrate Black Music Month 2025, Billboard is picking up the “best of all time” gauntlet once again.
Expanding from 35 to 75 entries, this latest iteration kicked off Monday (June 16) with the reveal of the artists ranked 75-51, and continued yesterday with Nos. 50-26 — with both updates already eliciting spirited discussions online. Now the countdown moves forward today (June 18) with Nos. 25-11. From there, the final curtain-raising will come on Juneteenth (June 19), as we reveal the top 10 honorees.
Staff discussions on how to go about determining the entries and rankings were, to say the least, heated. Helping to fuel these illuminating and sometimes raucous discourses were generational debates over old school vs. new school. At the same time, “Mount Rushmore” debates were also raging on the social media front, as fans weighed in on which R&B artists — like Jackson, Chris Brown, Luther Vandross, R. Kelly and Usher — truly deserve to have their images carved in stone for all time.
In the end, Billboard staffers agreed on the following criteria: vocal prowess, body of work, career longevity, industry achievements, game-changing influence and enduring generational/cultural impact. While some singers who made the list are also known for their lyrical skills, songwriting wasn’t a major deciding factor in this instance. And legendary singers best known for fronting groups versus their solo work were not included — which means a ranking of the best R&B groups of all time is no doubt in the offing.
In the meantime, any best-of compilation automatically invites naysayers to the party. As these 75 singers are revealed, the expectant clamor will rise in response to our staff’s effrontery in deciding who’s now on or off the list, who’s risen or been dropped or who still has never made this latest version or the 2015 ranking.
More crucial, however, is understanding a chief intention behind Billboard’s 75 Best R&B Singers of All Time. It’s a teachable moment at a time when Black history, culture and its achievements are being erased or revised across the board. Black Music Month originated in 1979 via the efforts of the observance’s co-founders Dyana Williams, Kenneth Gamble and Ed Wright. And each year it drives home an insightful comment made by author/activist Maya Angelou: “You can’t know where you are going until you know where you have been.”
So here’s to the rich past and the unlimited future of the multifaceted jewel that is R&B as the reveal continues.
75. Ruth Brown
Image Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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