Author: Rap Hooks

We’re not done seeing A$AP Rocky on the silver screen.

The rapper and actor is following up Spike Lee’s caper Highest 2 Lowest with the psychological thriller If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, where he’s trading Denzel Washington for Rose Byrne as his co-star.

During a conversation with Elle magazine, Rocky spoke on the subject matter and the pace of his latest film. “That whole f—ing film is an anxiety attack,” he said before commenting on his views on therapy. “My outlook on therapy is so pessimistic, it’s not even funny. I might get killed for this…but I put therapists in the same box as psychic readings.”

Adding, “I look at it like, yo, if you don’t share the same experiences what’s the point of me telling a stranger my business for an hour straight, for them to just say, ‘Okay, well, how did that make you feel?’”

He then suggested that Jay-Z would be a good therapist after the interviewer Clover Hope pushed back by telling him that there’s been conversations happening about needing more Black therapists in the field. “I think Jay-Z is a Black therapist,” he said. “A lot of people come to him with their problems.”

Earlier in the the profile, his newest co-star gave him a glowing review. “He has a natural curiosity about him and a great amount of respect for the work, and he’s innately creative,” Byrne said of Rocky who plays a motel super in the film. “My scenes with him are hard, because I had to be extremely mean. I think his character is the hardest to play, because he’s genuine and empathic to the others. It was like a fun dance we had back and forth. He’d come up with extraordinarily creative insults to call me. But he says it, and then he smiles. And you’re like, I guess you can get away with this. It’s like a supernatural charm.”

In other Rocky news, he and Rihanna recently welcomed their third child.

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You opens in theaters on Oct. 10.

Calvin Harris‘ former longtime business manager is firing back against bombshell fraud claims, saying he never stole from anybody and that the Scottish DJ willingly agreed to invest in his Los Angeles real estate development project.

Thomas St. John, an entertainment industry-focused accountant who runs the eponymous firm Thomas St. John Group, is currently wrapped up in thorny arbitration proceedings with his former client Harris (Adam Wiles). He’s accused of abusing his access to Harris’ accounts in order to fund his side venture: the construction of a recording studio and office space complex in Hollywood.

Harris claims that St. John tricked him into investing $22.5 million in the project, known as CMNTY Culture Campus, which he says turned out to be a “complete boondoggle” that he “has not received a single penny in return for” — while suggesting that St. John pocketed much of the money for himself.  

However, a representative for St. John says in a new statement that the allegations are “categorically false.” The rep denies that St. John engaged in any self-dealing, adding that Harris is one of nine above-board investors who “knowingly signed investment agreements” to get involved in CMNTY Culture.

“Not a single dollar has been misappropriated, all investor entitlements remain intact, and the project continues to advance within the normal entitlement timeline,” says St. John’s rep in the Tuesday (Sept. 23) statement. “We will continue to take every necessary step to set the record straight and to ensure that these malicious, bad-faith attacks are recognized for what they are: entirely without merit.”

While CMNTY Culture was initially designed to house a recording studio and office space, St. John has since shifted the plans and is now developing a residential apartment complex on the same tract of land in Hollywood. According to his rep, the project is proceeding apace and “is expected to approach a $1 billion valuation” upon completion.

“While the entitlement process has naturally taken longer than initially projected due to unprecedented interest, macroeconomic conditions and significant city red tape, it remains firmly within its promised schedule and is now on the verge of securing final entitlements, an important milestone that will unlock substantial value,” adds St. John’s rep.

Thomas St. John Group has offices in Los Angeles, London, Amsterdam and Stockholm. The management firm’s U.S. arm recently filed for bankruptcy, citing hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent in L.A. and multiple pending legal actions.

One creditor listed in the firm’s bankruptcy papers is Philip Lawrence, a songwriter and producer who made his name collaborating with Bruno Mars. Lawrence used to be a client of St. John’s and at one point invested $10 million from the sale of his catalog into CMNTY Culture Campus, according to court filings in Lawrence’s own personal bankruptcy case.

LONDON – Universal Music U.K. is reviving the legendary jazz imprint Fontana, the company announced on Thursday (Sept. 25).

Fontana, which was founded more than 70 years ago by the Dutch multinational company Philips, distributed music by Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck and Art Blakey in the U.K. Universal has dubbed the returning imprint as “the new home of jazz, folk, blues, alternative and soul in the U.K.”

Tom Lewis, previously co-president of Decca Records, has been named the sole president of Fontana. Its initial roster consists of former Decca signees Jacob Collier, AURORA, Jeff Goldblum, Jordan Rakei, Melody Gardot, Victor Ray, The Teskey Brothers and dodie.

Established in 1954, Fontana also distributed British jazz musicians Tubby Hayes, Cleo Laine and Ronnie Scott. In later years, it was home to formative releases by Jimmy Page, Elton John (with his Bluesology band) and an early iteration of The Who. 

Fontana had five U.K. No. 1 hits, most famously with The Spencer Davis Group (“Keep On Running”) and Manfred Mann (“Mighty Quinn”). Universal Music U.K. first assumed ownership of the label in 1999.

Following Lewis’ departure, Decca Records will double down on its success in the classical and ambient genres while also focusing on film, TV and gaming soundtracks. Laura Monks, who shared the title of co-president with Lewis, will assume the role of president and oversee Decca Records, Decca Classics, Mercury KX and Hyperion, with artists including Ludovico Einaudi, Andrea Bocelli, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Lise Davidsen, Yunchan Lim and Max Richter. Upcoming releases on the label will include Richter’s score for the Paul Mescal-starring Hamnet and Paddington The Musical.

Dickon Stainer, chairman and chief executive of Universal Music U.K., said in a statement: “These changes reflect our commitment to supporting artistic excellence in these great genres of music. I’m delighted to see Tom and Laura shaping the future of both labels, and opening new avenues of discovery for artists and fans across the world.”

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Apple’s latest earbuds are here with the AirPods Pro 3 officially released on September 19. The iconic white wireless buds may look (almost) the same on the outside, but they’ve received a pretty major makeover when it comes to its internal features.

But are the new AirPods worth buying? And are they that different from previous generations? Read on for our hands-on review of Apple’s latest wireless earbuds release.

NEW RELEASE

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We got our hands on the AirPods Pro 3 a few weeks ago and have been putting them straight to work — literally. We typically keep our earbuds on all day at work, if not for taking calls then for listening to a playlist or podcast. And just as expected, the new AirPods offer great sound quality, with well-balanced audio — no matter the genre — and crisper details pulled out from each track. Compared to the previous AirPods models, the sound in the Pro 3 feels a little bit bolder and punchier, though we have to admit we didn’t here a drastic difference. Still, songs fill the entire space around you, as if you’re in a listening room or studio and not well, sitting at your desk or couch. Apple says that’s thanks to a new acoustic housing that better supports spatial audio (basically a fancy way of describing theater-like sound with music “floating” around you rather than directly at you). Apple has always been consistent with its audio quality so it’s no surprise that it remains strong here.

The most noticeable improvement is the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology. The noise cancellation feature is better than ever and Apple says the new AirPods remove two-times more unwanted noise than the AirPods Pro 2 and four-times more noise removed compared to the original AirPods Pro. They’re not kidding: listening to music in the airport lounge the other day, we almost missed our boarding announcement because we were so immersed (note to self: you can always switch between modes).

We typically use our AirPods out of the office too, especially when we’re out for a run. The gummy ear-tips help the AirPods Pro stay in our ears better than the regular AirPods, and the new earbuds now come with five different eartip sizes to help you perfect your fit. Somewhat strangely, we found the small eartips worked best for our left ear but we sized up to a medium eartip for our right ear. Either way, the earbuds feel totally secure and comfortable, even when we were moving around.

With less comfortable earbuds, we often find ourselves removing them in between use cases, but we tried keeping the AirPods Pro 3 on throughout our workday, and after finding the right “foam-infused” eartips for our ear size, the buds weren’t distracting or uncomfortable to leave on. The foam tips also add as an extra layer of “insulation” so to speak, for passive noise cancellation.

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The best new features though aren’t instantly tangible. For starters, the AirPods Pro 3 now have a built-in heart rate sensor that lets you track your heart rate and calories whether for day-to-day activities or up to 50 different workouts. Apple’s Hearing Aid features, meantime, can now automatically reduce background noise and boost voices, so your conversations come in clearer (say, when you’re using the earbuds on a call).

One of the coolest new features is Apple’s Live Translation tool, which lets you converse with others in a different language with a live translation either on your iPhone or translated directly into your AirPods. Pretty cool right? We tested this out with a friend who spoke Spanish and we found that it was pretty intuitive. With the active noise cancellation mode turned on, the earbuds were also able to lower the volume of the person speaking (in the foreign language) and boost the English translation in our ears.

Apple currently supports Live Translation on the new AirPods for English, French, Spanish, German and Portuguese. The company says Italian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese will be coming to the platform by the end of the year. Just note: to use Live Translation, you need to open up your iPhone settings to download the language the other person is speaking and the language you’d like to translate it to. You’ll also need to be using a new or updated iPhone.

You’ll be pleased to know that battery life is strong: Apple says you can up to 10 hours on a single charge with transparency mode and up to eight hours with ANC turned on. The 8-10 hours range is in line with our testing, but it helps to have the included wireless charging case handy just in case.

Overall, Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 are workhorse earbuds that really do it all. In our opinion, these are some of the best earbuds you can buy online right now, whether you’re using them for music, work, health and fitness, travel or all of the above. You’ll find yourself reaching for them basically every day, making them worth the pick up. Speaking of which: you can get them on Amazon now for $249 here.

More than 30 years after her musical debut, and two decades after her death, Aaliyah posthumously earns her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult R&B Airplay chart. “Gone,” which features Tank, crowns the list dated Sept. 27 as the most-played song on panel-contributing adult R&B radio stations in the Sept. 12-18 tracking week.

“Gone,” released and promoted on Blackground Records, rises from No. 2 with a 23% surge in weekly plays, according to Luminate.

The song becomes Aaliyah’s first Adult R&B Airplay leader among 14 appearances. Her previous best came via her cover of The Isley Brothers’ “At Your Best (You Are Love),” which reached No. 4 in November 1994. That song marked her second visit, after debut hit “Back and Forth,” which hit No. 6 that June. She logged nine of her chart entries during her lifetime, prior to her death in a plane crash in August 2001 at age 22.

For Tank, his featured slot on “Gone” gives him a milestone 10th Adult R&B Airplay champ. He ties Charlie Wilson and Usher for the most leaders among male artists and is the sixth artist overall to break the double-digit mark since the radio ranking began in September 1993. Alicia Keys ranks first overall, with 14 No. 1s, with Toni Braxton (11) and Mary J. Blige (10) also in the club.

As Tank climbs the leaderboard, let’s review the singer-songwriter’s No. 1 collection on Adult R&B Airplay:

“Please Don’t Go,” No. 1 for 10 weeks, beginning May 19, 2007
“Next Breath,” one, June 16, 2012
“When We,” 11, Nov. 18, 2017
“Dirty,” three, April 20, 2019
“Can’t Let It Show,” two, July 3, 2021
“I Deserve,” one, March 19, 2022
“Slow,” feat. J Valentine; two, Nov. 5, 2022
“See Through Love,” feat. Chris Brown; one, May 20, 2023
“Before We Get Started,” feat. Fabolous; two, June 1, 2024
“Gone,” Aaliyah feat. Tank; one (to date), Sept. 27, 2025

Elsewhere, “Gone” advances 15-13 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart, which ranks songs by combined audience totals from adult R&B and mainstream R&B/hip-hop radio stations. There, it improved 24% to 5.8 million in reach.

It’s free Billboard charts month! Through Sept. 30, subscribers to Billboard’s Chart Beat newsletter, emailed each Friday, can unlock access to Billboard’s weekly and historical charts, artist chart histories and all Chart Beat stories simply by visiting the newly redesigned Billboard.com through any story link in the newsletter. Not a Chart Beat subscriber? Sign up for free here.