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R&B/Hip-Hop Fresh Picks of the Week: Rjtheweirdo, Sekou, Lazer Dim 700, Marlon Craft & More

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It’s been a characteristically hectic week for the hip-hop world.

Last Thursday (April 2), Pooh Shiesty previewed the weekend with a shocking legal altercation barely six months after his release from federal prison. The Memphis rapper was one of eight men arrested on kidnapping and robbery charges tied to a physical altercation regarding his recording contract with Gucci Mane’s 1017 Records.

Ye quickly stole the weekend’s headlines from Pooh, thanks to his new Bully album, which opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 behind BTS’s Arirang, and its accompanying pair of SoFi Stadium shows in Los Angeles. At the final show (April 3), the controversial rapper brought out Ms. Lauryn Hill, Travis Scott, Zion Marley, YG Marley, CeeLo Green and André Troutman as special guests.

Despite packing one of the world’s flashiest stadiums and breaking the six-figure mark with Bully’s opening week total, Ye’s past antisemitic, antiblack and sexually violent controversies continue to muddy his comeback efforts. On Monday morning (April 6), flagship alcohol brand parent company Diageo and energy drinks company Rockstar Energy joined the growing list of sponsors severing ties with London’s Wireless Festival, which booked Ye as a headliner for all three nights (July 10-12). PepsiCo was the first sponsor to withdraw from Wireless, with PayPal also distancing itself from the Finsbury Park-set festival. As the summer approaches, all eyes will be on Wireless and Ye to see if the two parties can actually pull off this festival takeover.

Outside of the high-stakes headlines, we also got new albums from Arlo Parks (Ambiguous Desire), Swae Lee (Same Difference) and Earl Sweatshirt, Mike & Surf Gang (Pompeii // Utility).

With Fresh Picks, Billboard aims to highlight some of the best and most interesting new sounds across R&B and hip-hop — from a disco-infused Sekou to a new Lazer Dim 700 banger. Be sure to check out this week’s Fresh Picks in our Spotify playlist below.

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Lady Gaga’s Top 40 Billboard Hot 100 Hits, From ‘Just Dance’ to ‘Die With a Smile’

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Ever since she topped the Billboard Hot 100 with her debut track “Just Dance” in 2008, Lady Gaga has cemented herself as one of the greatest pop stars of the 21st century.

The success of “Just Dance” was not at all a fluke, it was actually an indicator of what was to come. Her follow-up track “Poker Face” also hit No. 1 on the Hot 100. Her debut album The Fame debuted at 17 on the Billboard 200 and rose to No. 2 on the chart after release of The Fame Monster. In the years after “Just Dance,” Gaga would continue to release some of the defining pop tracks of the century with songs like “Born This Way” and “Bad Romance.”

Lady Gaga has also made waves outside of pop music. Since her debut, she has released not one but two Grammy-winning jazz duet albums with legend Tony Bennett. In 2012, she started the Born This Way Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on tackling issues of youth mental health and bullying. In 2018, she wrote music for and starred in Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born remake, earning her first Oscar nominations and a win for best original song. The following year, Gaga launched her makeup company Haus Labs, which has gone on to win several beauty awards for their innovative products.

Now, nearly two decades into her illustrious career, Gaga continues to ascend. In 2025, she released her seventh solo studio album MAYHEM, which topped the Billboard 200 and spawned six Hot 100 hits, including the No. 1 Bruno Mars duet “Die With a Smile.” The single spent five weeks at No. 1 and 60 weeks on the chart, and also made history as the first ever year-end Hot 100 No. 1 duet by a female and male soloist each in lead roles in the chart’s history. On top of the charts success, MAYHEM also brought Gaga her 15th and 16th Grammys with wins for best dance pop recording (for “Abracadabra”) and best pop vocal album at the 2026 awards.

On Saturday (March 28), Gaga will be celebrating her 40th birthday. To celebrate her milestone birthday, let’s take a trip down memory lane and look at Mother Monster’s 40 biggest Hot 100 hits thus far, below.

Lady Gaga’s biggest Billboard Hot 100 hits chart is based on performance on the weekly Billboard Hot 100, through the March 21, 2026, ranking. Songs are ranked based on an inverse point system, with weeks at No. 1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least. Due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted to account for different chart turnover rates over various periods.


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Here Are the Songs the Artemis II Crew Is Waking Up to in Space

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Despite what the song says, the Pink Pony Club is not in West Hollywood — it’s in space. NASA shared the official Artemis II wake‑up playlist via social media on Wednesday (April 8).

NASA launched the Artemis II mission on April 1, sending four astronauts — Jeremy Hansen, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch — aboard the Orion spacecraft to the moon and back. One week into the trip, the space crew has curated a list of tracks to get them up and moving every day of their flight.

“Each track was selected by the Moon crew, continuing a tradition that started more than 50 years ago,” NASA explained with a photo of the astronauts on Instagram. “Stay tuned to find out which songs they’ll choose next.”

The first song the astronauts chose to wake up to in space is perfect for the occasion: “Sleepyhead” by Young & Sick, a solo music project by Dutch artist Nick van Hofwegen. John Legend and André 3000‘s 2008 Hot 100 hit “Green Light,” rose the team from their slumber next with lyrics fit for people on a mission: “I’m ready to go right now.”

The third song, “In a Daydream” by Freddy Jones Band, certainly describes the feeling of waking up beyond the stratosphere. Chappell Roan brought the “Pink Pony Club” to the stars when the crew started the day aboard the Orion with the anthemic Billboard Hot 100 No. 4 hit. CeeLo Green‘s “Working Class Heroes (Work)” is No. 5 on the list, followed by Mandisa and Toby Mac’s “Good Morning.”

Also making the playlist on the Orion is “Tokyo Drifting” by Glass Animals and Denzel Curry. Curry celebrated being included in the astronauts’ daily music routine with a post to X on Tuesday (April 7). “Even Aliens F— with my S–t!” Curry wrote, reposting a NASA video of the spacecraft playing his tune. “First Rapper Played in SPACE N—A!”

Glass Animals also responded to the reveal of the group’s inclusion on the playlist. “this is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me in my life ever,” the band commented on the Instagram post.

See who else made the Artemis II Wake-Up Songs playlist below:


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Watch ‘Champion of All Athletes’ Flavor Flav Throw the First Pitch at Fenway Park on Easter

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Flavor Flav has once again proven his dedication to sports. Flav joined the Boston Red Sox on Easter Sunday (April 5) to throw the first pitch at their game against the San Diego Padres at Fenway Park.

Though Flav is from New York, home to the Red Sox’s biggest rivals, the Yankees, he repped Boston through and through for the occasion. The rapper showed up decked out in a custom Flavor Flav Red Sox jersey, a red baseball cap and matching red pants. And, of course, in Flavor Flav fashion, he also made sure to wear a blinged out red, white and blue version of his signature giant clock necklace.

When Flav stepped out to the pitch, the announcer referred to him as “a champion of all athletes.” Unfortunately, his pitch was not enough to win the Red Sox the game as Boston lost to San Diego 8-6. Despite the loss, Flavor Flav let fans know that he had a great time the game. The Public Enemy cofounder shared an Instagram carousel with highlights from his time at Fenway Park. In one video, Flav high-fived every Red Sox player in their dugout. In his post, Flavor Flav also shared that he ran into a special friend of his.

“I ran into my girl [Jordan Raney] from the USA Olympic Water Polo team,” Flav said in the caption to the post, where he also included photos of himself hugging the Olympian.

The iconic rapper has famously been a big advocate and financial supporter of women’s sports. Ahead of the 2024 Olympics, the rapper offered to sponsor the U.S. women’s water polo team after learning that they were severely underfunded and members of the team were working multiple jobs to make ends meet. In July of that year, Flav officially inked a five-year sponsorship deal with both the women’s and men’s teams.

After this year’s Winter Olympics, Flav invited the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team to party with him in Vegas after Donald Trump made a dismissive joke about inviting the women to the White House in a conversation with the men’s team. He also joined the U.S. bobsled and skeleton teams at the Winter Olympics as their official hype man.

Watch Flav throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park on Easter above.


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