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The rapper Belly was born in the Palestinian West Bank and moved to Ottawa as a kid. While he’s a big-ticket rapper by today’s standards — Belly’s list of collaborations includes stars like The Weeknd and Nas — music was the last thing on his mind as a teenager. A familiar rap origin story, he and his friends in Ottawa used to hustle to make ends meet. It might explain the rapper’s natural affinity for street-level entrepreneurs like Jay-Z, whom he now counts as one of his personal friends and mentors.

Yo Gotti gets festive in the new video for his latest single, “Wish List.” Produced by Ben Billions and CuBeatz, it’s the Memphis rapper’s first holiday-themed release since 2017’s “3 Kings” with Fabolous and DJ Khaled, which appeared on the A Very Roc Christmas compilation.

In the flashy GTFilms-directed clip, Yo Gotti is seen wrapping gifts with his all-female crew of assistants, and delivers the presents to a complex as snow falls. Dressed in a Santa-styled red fur coat, he doles out toys to the children and engages in...

Spotify is launching a new feature called Songwriter Pages that aims to give listeners a better look at the creators behind their favorite songs.

The streaming service has roped in hit writers including Meghan Trainor, Fraser T Smith (Adele, Sam Smith), Missy Elliott, Teddy Geiger (One Direction, Shawn Mendes, 5 Seconds of Summer), Ben Billions (The Weeknd, Beyoncé) and Justin Tranter (Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello, Imagine Dragons), who have all made their new songwriter pages available for music fans to view, though the program at large is still in beta mode.

The long, convoluted road to Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter V can be demonstrated by the contrasting trajectories of two songs on the album, “Famous” and “Demon.”

“Famous” is an oldie: This sentimental rap ballad was produced by Lasanna “Ace” Harris and Shama Joseph in 2014. That year, the two beat-makers succeeded in placing a song with Nicki Minaj, which in turn helped them establish a relationship with Young Money Entertainment, the label co-founded by Lil Wayne. They managed to cut several songs with the rapper, who was preparing to release...

XXXTentacion had no idea his vocals would be used on one of the most powerful tracks of Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter V" when he was shot and killed outside a Florida motorcycle shop.  Wayne dropped 'TC5' Friday, and the second track "Don't Cry" features a powerful hook from X. However, we're told the vocals weren't originally recorded for the album. X met with Z3n -- a 22-year-old producer from Florida -- back in...

Lil Wayne released his much-delayed and highly anticipated Tha Carter V album on Thursday at midnight.

Tha Carter V features rapping from Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott and Snoop Dogg, singing from Nicki Minaj, Ashanti and Nivea, and vocals from XXXTentacion, who was shot and killed earlier this year. The final song includes a prominent sample of the English singer Sampha. Production on the album comes courtesy of longtime collaborator Mannie Fresh, Swizz Beatz, Metro Boomin, Ben Billions and many others.

This album has been a long time coming: Lil Wayne...

Listen up, Maroon 5 fans! At midnight, bandmates Jesse Carmichael, Matt Flynn, Adam Levine, Mickey Madden, Pj Morton and James Valentine released "What Lovers Do," the third single off their upcoming sixth studio album. The song, which features up-and-coming singer Sza, was written by Dyo, Levine, Neiked, Starrah and Elina Stridh and produced by Ben Billions and Jason Evigan. "Tell me, tell me if you love me or not, love me or not, love me or not / I bet the house on you, am I lucky or not, lucky or not, lucky or not? / You gotta tell me if you love me or not, love me or not, love me or not," he croons. "Been wishin' for you, am I lucky or not, lucky or not, lucky or not?" "What Lovers...