Author: Rap Hooks

Lauryn Hill was honored Sunday night (June 28) at the 2026 BET Awards as the inaugural recipient of the Living Legend Icon Award.

According to BET, the Living Legend Icon Award celebrates “the pioneers who mastered their craft and never let go of the culture.” Connie Orlando, EVP of Specials, Music Programming & Music Strategy, called Hill the very definition of a living legend, while further explaining why she’ll be the award’s first honoree. “Across every era, she has never chased the moment; she has shaped it,” Orlando said. “Her artistry redefined what was possible in our music and gave a generation permission to be fearless, spiritual and free. Her influence is woven into the fabric of the culture, and it is a profound honor to celebrate her legacy on Culture’s Biggest Night.”

The New Jersey singer, rapper and actress first made a name for herself on the silver screen playing the stubborn but talented student Rita Louise Watson in 1993’s Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. She then reinforced herself as one-third of the legendary Fugees alongside Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel in 1994 when the group dropped their debut album Blunted on Reality. However, it wasn’t until 1996’s The Score and Ms. Hill’s rendition of Roberta Flack’s “Killing Me Softly With His Song” that she really catapulted to superstardom. She then upped the ante two years later with her seminal debut solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill that forever changed what a hip-hop album could sound like.

Her tribute started off with Ice Cube setting the table as he broke down her career, which was then followed by her bandmate Wyclef narrating their time with the Fugees. As for the medley, The War and Treaty started things off with a callback to Sister Act 2 as they performed “Joyful, Joyful,” originally performed by the fictional St. Francis Choir in the movie; Doechii and SZA covered “Ready or Not”; Tems and Tierra Whack did “Fu-Gee-La”; Lauryn’s daughter Selah Marley performed the title track from her mother’s solo project; Doja Cat came out for “Superstar”; Nas did their classic collab “If I Ruled the World” with Doja; Hill’s son YG Marley performed “Turn Your Lights Down Low”; Lizzo brought Tierra out again to help her perform “Doo Wap (That Thing)”; her other song Zion Marley did a rendition of a song that’s named after him; Alexia Jayy blew the crowd away with her cover of “Killing Me Softly”; and Queen Latifah and Common ended the tribute with “Lost Ones.”

Hill then surprised the crowd and viewers by performing “Ex-Factor” before accepting her award.

During her speech, she explained why she’s so outspoken and encouraged artists to do the same before she congratulated her children on their many accomplishments.

“I do this because I love y’all,” the singer began. “I do this because I want you to have everything that I experienced, right? I had wonderful parents who loved on me, poured into me, and protected me. And once I realized that not everybody got to have that experience, I felt like it was my duty, my responsibility to share as much love, and to pour into as much people as I possibly could. And music was a way for me to do that. But also, I had always cared about the expression and the representation of the dignity of our people. So, you know, we put ourselves at times as artists, we put ourselves in places and in situations where we have to say things that aren’t always comfortable. But we understand that people will understand later.”

She added: “I fight for y’all. Everybody may not know about it, but I fight for y’all. And fighting for y’all is me fighting for myself, it’s me fighting for my children, it’s me fighting for my parents, it’s me fighting for my grandparents, it’s me fighting for my community. I have a desire to make music as well as I can, or to communicate with people as well as I can because I wan’t people to know that’s what we do. I want people to know what we can do.”

Finally, Lauryn ended the show with an emotional performance of “Everything Is Everything” as the credits began to roll.

You can watch her acceptance speech below.

Justin Bieber smiled like a child Friday night at the 2026 NHL Draft. Making a surprise appearance on June 26 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, he announced the No. 1 draft pick for his lifelong favorite hockey team: the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“What’s going on, Buffalo? What’s up, Toronto? Man, what an incredible night. The child in me is ecstatic right now — I’ve been a Leafs fans since I was a little boy,” Bieber said to the arena crowd after being introduced by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who called Bieber one of the team’s “most diehard and iconic fans.”

What sounded like a mixed reaction to Bieber’s appearance from the Buffalo audience — which was likely full of Sabres fans — didn’t put a damper on the singer’s mood. He shared, “These nights are so special. I’m so grateful to be here.”

Bieber revealed Penn State’s Gavin McKenna had been drafted to the Leafs. McKenna, who’s from Whitehorse, Yukon, walked out to a fitting Bieber title, the Swag single “Yukon.” The pop star and hockey player posed for photos together onstage.

Friday also marked the release of Swag Live From Coachella (Weekend I), a 22-track live recording from Bieber’s headlining performance at the 2026 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 11. The live album, featuring guest spots from The Kid LAROI, Tems, Wizkid, Dijon and Mk.gee, arrived via Def Jam.

Watch the clip of Bieber from Friday night, which was shared by the Toronto Maple Leafs through the team’s official social media account, below.

A memorial service and celebration of life has been set for Oliver Tree, who died following a tragic helicopter crash in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that took the lives of six on June 14. The service is scheduled for July 25, with a public livestream planned “due to limited space for family and friends,” a representative for the artist tells Billboard.

The event will be held at UCSC Quarry Amphitheater, an outdoor venue located on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus. Details on how to watch the livestream are not yet available, but will be announced shortly.

The artist, born Oliver Tree Nickell in Santa Cruz, passed away at just 32 while traveling South America on his World’s First World Tour. The other victims of the crash were identified as passengers Lucas Vignale, Gaspar Prim and Lucas Brito Chaves, and pilots Alexandre Souza and Charles Marsillac.

Tree’s fourth studio album, Love You Madly Hate You Badly, was released in April via Atlantic Records. His final live performance was in São Paulo on June 6.

In an obituary just released by his family, he’s remembered as “more than a musician; he was a true artist in every sense of the word, seeing the world as a stage for his performance art.”

In part, the tribute reads, “Oliver cared so deeply about spreading art, joy, laughter and love into the world. He blended his characters seamlessly with his authentic self, which left the audience often wondering what is real or a prank. He found beauty in the ordinary and would constantly preach his “Ugly Is Beautiful” mantra on and off stage. He wanted everyone to feel like they had a place to be themselves. Under all the absurdist humor and outlandish stunts, he wanted to create an inclusive environment where everyone belonged and could realize their true potential.” (Read the obituary provided by Tree’s family in full below.)

Among Tree’s musical accomplishments, his debut major-label album, Ugly Is Beautiful, topped Billboard‘s Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart at No. 1 in 2020. “Miss You,” a collaboration with Robin Schulz, reached o. 4 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart in 2022, and Tree’s song “Life Goes On” reached No. 7 on Billboard‘s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart the same year.

Tree’s family requests donations be made in his honor to his foundation, Dr. Oliver Tree’s Extremely Epic Art Grant for Baby Geniuses, which Tree had outlined in his will before his death. Funds collected will support and encourage young artists to follow their dreams, as Tree wished. Its mission statement: “Oliver believed the most valuable way for artists to master their craft was not through studying, but by physically getting their hands dirty and creating things. The foundation provides grants to artists working in music, film, installation, and performance art.” Complete details can be found, and donations can be made, at olivertreefoundation.com.

Read the obituary provided by his family below:

Oliver Tree Nickell, beloved son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, and friend, passed away in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Sunday, June 14, 2026, in a tragic accident at the age of 32. Known as Oliver Tree, he was an artist, storyteller, singer, songwriter, producer, director, editor, actor, filmmaker, entertainer, traveler and creative force; he had just performed in São Paulo as part of his 7-continent world tour.

Oliver was born in Santa Cruz, California. From the beginning, Oliver always had the most astonishing and relentless creative drive. He began producing skits, music, and drawings as early as 5 years old. He spent ten years racing BMX, cycle cross, cross country, mountain biking, downhill racing and free-style dirt jumping. Oliver was a DJ in his teenage years and started performing shows under the name “Kryph”, where he opened up for big artists in the dance scene. At 17, he signed with R&S Records, under the moniker “Tree”, where he put out his first official body of work “Splitting Branches”. During this period, he attended San Francisco State University and later graduated from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 2017. At CalArts, Oliver created the “Oliver Tree” project, which included producing, directing, acting, touring, film-making, and song-writing.

In 2016, “Turbo” was born, a character he developed for the internet, who was loud, colorful, bright and hilarious. That same year, he released his first single on all platforms as Oliver Tree, in collaboration with Whethan titled “When I’m Down”. The song became a huge success and went gold. In 2017, Oliver signed with Atlantic Records and shortly after released his first viral hit song “Alien Boy” which was produced with his childhood friend Casey Mattson, as well as frequent collaborator Imad Royal. It was a song that truly encapsulated the Oliver Tree brand. Oliver then went on to release his debut album “Ugly Is Beautiful”, which hit the top 15 of Billboard 200 and reached number 1 on Billboard‘s Top Rock Albums and Alternative Albums charts. Oliver also released a deluxe version of the album which included the song “Life Goes On”, a track that was produced with long-time friend and collaborator Getter. This song propelled Oliver into a global audience and was a commercial hit. Followed by the success of Oliver’s song “Miss You”, with Robin Schulz, which became a worldwide hit and was nominated for Best International Song (The BRIT Awards) in 2024. Oliver never stopped reinventing himself. Each album featured a distinct character in the Oliver Tree universe: Turbo for “Ugly is Beautiful” in 2020, Shawney Bravo for “Cowboy Tears” in 2022, Cornelius Cummings for “Alone in A Crowd” in 2023 up until “Love You Madly Hate You Badly” in 2026, where he removed the fake personas and decided to show the world his true self for his final album which was 100% written and produced by Oliver.

Oliver had a deep curiosity about the world and wanted to experience every country and culture. Over the past two years, Oliver was a global citizen, visiting over 100 countries: eating local cuisine; connecting with locals of all kinds; participating in ceremonies; giving concerts; and recording music on his laptop. He went to the Middle East, sailed in Antarctica and became an honorary Maasai tribal chief in Tanzania.

Oliver was more than a musician; he was a true artist in every sense of the word, seeing the world as a stage for his performance art. He pushed boundaries in every form of media and life. Oliver was on a mission to bring the world together through art and inspiring other artists to create. Being a forward thinker, Oliver created a non-profit entitled “Dr. Oliver Tree’s Extremely Epic Art Grant for Baby Geniuses”. He wanted all of his money to go into funding other aspiring artists in all facets: music, film, installation and performance art projects.

Oliver cared so deeply about spreading art, joy, laughter and love into the world. He blended his characters seamlessly with his authentic self, which left the audience often wondering what is real or a prank. He found beauty in the ordinary and would constantly preach his “Ugly Is Beautiful” mantra on and off stage. He wanted everyone to feel like they had a place to be themselves. Under all the absurdist humor and outlandish stunts, he wanted to create an inclusive environment where everyone belonged and could realize their true potential.

Oliver was a creative force of nature, a true “Alien Boy” among human beings. His imagination was boundless, his laugh was contagious and his creativity and ideas were prolific.

Oliver is survived by his parents, Jesse & Christine Nickell of Santa Cruz, brother Jessup (Zoe), Grandmothers Ann Begin & Lorraine Nickell, Aunts Cynthia Begin, Mia Begin (Bill Schroeder), Uncle Dan Begin (Melissa), Aunts Sheree Kouffeld (Dave Christopher) and Jan Lamascus (Marvin), many beloved cousins, Beth, Breanna, Kaitlin, Kimmy, Maggie, Meadow and Nicolas; and numerous friends worldwide. He considered his team and colleagues his family: Dan Awad, Paul Donatelli; his bandmates: Casey Mattson, Amir Oosman, Jake Jamieson, Jmsey; his creative collaborators: Ethan Snoreck aka Whethan; Ryan Farber; Steve Zilberman; Jacob Dennis; Sebastian Hackett; his love Fiona Chernavskaya, as well as many others who touched his project and helped him execute his vision, who are too innumerable to be named.

We’ll leave you with a quote which Oliver said at almost every show he performed at, his mantra to the world: “No matter how strange you think you look, no matter how ugly you feel, you are beautiful.”

Madrid was the starting point for the European leg of the BTS ARIRANG World Tour, but it also marked the end of a long wait for thousands of Spanish fans. More than 66,000 people, according to sources from Atlético de Madrid, attended the group’s first of two shows at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano on Friday (June 26).

Before the night even started, thousands of light sticks lit up the stands of a stadium completely energized, a vibe that carried through from start to finish.

The performance was the K-pop band’s first visit to Spain and one of only two scheduled dates in the country, with the second set taking place on Saturday (June 27) at the same venue. The excitement was palpable even outside the stadium, with hundreds of fans gathering nearby to follow the concert from a distance, singing along to every song with the crowd inside the venue.

The wait ended with an explosion of cheers. “¡Vamos a volvernos locos!” J-Hope shouted in Spanish (“Let’s go crazy!”) as the show began, sparking an immediate response from the audience. Shortly after, BTS opened with “Hooligan,” one of the tracks from ARIRANG, before moving on to “Aliens” and “Run BTS.” Over the course of 23 songs, the group alternated between their fifth studio album and some of their biggest career hits, with the crowd joining in on nearly every line.

The most anticipated segment for fans who follow every stop of the tour arrived with the show’s surprise songs, which change depending on the city and date. In Madrid, the chosen tracks were “Airplane Pt. 2” and “Interlude: Wings.”

The members of the band found several moments to address the audience in Spanish. “ARMY is on fire!” V exclaimed in response to the crowd’s enthusiasm. Later, RM got another roar from the crowd with a playful nod in Spanglish: “Estáis on fire!”

For nearly two and a half hours, the 360-degree stage kept BTS in constant motion. The central platform rose, descended and split into different levels, connected by various walkways that allowed the seven singers to move across much of the stadium and get closer to different sections of the audience. Around 30 dancers joined the performance, featuring multiple costume changes and choreography, adding to a stage production that continuously transformed throughout the night.

When “IDOL” began, BTS left the main stage to parade across the stadium floor alongside their dancers, waving large flags and luminous ribbons in one of the evening’s most celebrated sequences. During the final chorus of “Body to Body,” thousands of purple fans were raised simultaneously as part of a fan project organized by ARMY to honor the group’s first Spanish concert. It was a touching gesture by fans to reciprocate the love they’ve felt for years.

Towards the end of the night, the artists took a few moments to thank the audience for their reception. Jung Kook addressed the crowd in Spanish to say “I want to hear your scream. We’ve felt your energy so much today. I love you,” getting an immediately roar from the audience. V also spoke in Spanish when he expressed that “one of my wishes was to come to Madrid, and I made it. Thank you so much for coming.”

Then, with the help of an interpreter, Jimin delivered one of the most emotional moments of the night: “I kept thinking, why are we only visiting Spain now? For the next tour, we won’t leave Madrid out.” The stadium erupted with excitement, closing a night that ended a long wait for ARMY in Spain.

Before arriving in Madrid, BTS had just wrapped up the North American leg of their tour, with concerts in the United States and Mexico. In Mexico City, where they performed three shows at Estadio GNP Seguros, the group was received by president Claudia Sheinbaum at the government palace.

After Spain, the trek continues throughout Europe in Brussels, London, Munich and Paris, before concluding on March 14, 2027, in Manila, Philippines.