rapper

Multiplatinum American rapper NBA YoungBoy has revealed that he has a heart condition — and likely “one or two” albums left in his artistic career.

While a guest on an “Open Thoughts” podcast episode uploaded on Tuesday, the 26-year-old singer-songwriter from Baton Rouge, La., was asked by host Funny Marco if he ever felt like pulling back after performing back-to-back shows. In response, the “Bandit” singer recalled the moment when a doctor told him the left side of his heart was swollen.

“I never told nobody, I just kept doing every show,” said YoungBoy, who also goes by YoungBoy Never Broke Again and whose given name is Kentrell DeSean Gaulden. “I finished my tour out like that.”

The rapper did not disclose the specifics of this health condition but shared that a side of his heart is “still enlarged.”

“That explains the music, though, right?” YoungBoy followed up, grabbing his chest. “She’s hurting.”

The rapper has released a total of nine studio albums in his career, gaining early co-signs from Louisiana legends including Boosie Badazz and Kevin Gates. His first four LPs — including “Until Death Call My Name” (2018), “Top” (2020), “Sincerely, Kentrell” (2021) and “The Last Slimeto” (2022) — went platinum.

But NBA YoungBoy fans should brace themselves for what is to come — or not. The singer revealed on the podcast that he only has one or two albums left in his career. “I’m going to tour one more time throughout my whole life,” the rapper said, “and that’s it.”

The podcast — which has more than 2 million views since Tuesday — was filmed in South Korea, where YoungBoy moved in an apparent attempt to start over with a clean slate after a series of run-ins with the law in the U.S.

In his youth, the hitmaker spent six months in juvenile detention after committing a robbery, an experience that inspired his 2015 debut mixtape “Life Before Fame.”

By 2016, the Louisiana native would be connected to a series of shootings in Baton Rouge. He served time for attempted second-degree murder, eventually pleading guilty to a lesser charge of aggravated assault with a firearm, for which he was sentenced to a suspended 10-year prison term and three years of active probation.

Following his release from prison in 2017, he released the Southern hip-hop track “Untouchable,” which marked his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and set the course for his popular-music career. By 2023, YoungBoy would become the youngest artist ever to reach 100 entries on the musical chart.

However, serious legal troubles have cast a shadow on the rap prodigy’s career, including in 2018 when he was charged with a kidnapping and assault involving his girlfriend. She later denied the allegations, despite surveillance footage that showed the artist throwing her to the ground.

In December 2024, a federal judge in Utah sentenced the rapper to a 23-month sentence on gun-related charges after he pleaded guilty to firearm possession as a convicted felon. The charges stemmed from a 2020 arrest during a music video shoot in Baton Rouge where police recovered multiple firearms and drugs on the scene. A month before his sentence, the rap star also pleaded guilty to his involvement in a years-long prescription drug fraud scheme in Utah, avoiding prison time in exchange for a $25,000 fine.

In May 2025, President Trump pardoned YoungBoy, clearing his sentence and other active probation restrictions and drug testing requirements. The artist reacted to the pardon on his Instagram story, saying that it “opens the door to a future I’ve worked hard for and I am fully prepared to step into this.”

When YoungBoy was asked by Marco if he would consider a move back to the United States, the singer replied, “Never in my life.”

Later on, the “Make No Sense” singer hinted at some other legal roadblocks ahead in his transition across the globe: “It can’t be my home until they give me my visa, right?”

Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.

HE is the most controversial man in music, and banned from the UK.

But Brits are now throwing their support behind Kanye West, with hundreds flying out to his latest show in Portugal on Friday.

After then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer led the charge by saying Ye couldn’t enter the country due to past antisemitic comments — which the star has apologised for, blaming a mental health episode — only a handful of his European shows have gone ahead.

Before the ban, he had been lined up to headline Wireless in ­London’s Finsbury Park last month.

Now many supporters are speaking out against his exclusion. One pair, mother and daughter Lauren and Kate, jetted to Portugal and queued for hours holding a flag backing the rapper which read: “F*** Keir Starmer, Scotland loves Ye.”

Lauren, who said they had spent £3,000 on the trip, explained: “He was banned from the UK and it’s shocking because he wasn’t well and he’s apologised for it. Some people are given grace and others aren’t. But we get to come here and it’s beautiful.”

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The concert drove an extra influx of tourists to the area — with barely a single free hotel room left in the region.

Amy, from Ayr, said she booked her ticket a week after Wireless was cancelled in April.

She said: “There’s so many British folk here — so many, just because they can’t go to Wireless.

“To see Kanye in London would have probably been better because British crowds are just better.”

Fans Kane and Kate, who travelled from Portsmouth, said they queued for two hours just to buy merchandise before the gig, while another fan, Alfie, also attended Kanye’s show in Madrid, Spain, the previous week.

He described the concert as “the best show you’ll ever go to in your life,” adding: “My mum loves Michael Jackson and she was like, ‘I can’t believe you’re going to Portugal to see him again.’

“I said, ‘If it was Michael Jackson, you’d do the same’.”

And celebrity fans are sticking by Ye, too — supermodel Naomi Campbell and Real Madrid’s Trent Alexander-Arnold attended his show the previous week.

As for the concert, I can confirm it’s ­absolutely remarkable.

He performed atop a hemisphere-shaped stage in the centre of the Estadio Algarve, with a spinning globe and other projections being beamed on to it throughout the night.

It meant he was “on top of the world” during the majority of his epic 39-song set, which included everything from songs like Jesus Walks and All Falls Down from his 2004 debut, to King and Father from his latest record Bully.

And there was even a surprise showing from his daughter North, who joined him to perform her song H0w Sh0uld ! f33l and their collaboration Talking.

Kanye was on his best behaviour during the show, with no rants or missteps, clearly determined to let the music do the talking.

Now Brits who flew out will hope the UK takes note — and lets him back in.

Activists say Moroccan authorities are intensifying repression of critical voices and the Gen Z protest movement.

Politically outspoken Moroccan artist, rapper, and filmmaker Mehdi El Youbi has been arrested in Casablanca, days after being barred from returning to France, where he has been based since 2017.

El Youbi, better known by his stage name Mehdi Black Wind, was detained on Monday night after being questioned by Morocco’s National Brigade of Judicial Police in Casablanca, according to a statement from a group of his friends and supporters.

“After a day of questioning, his family were informed at around 9pm that he had been taken into police custody and was due to appear before the public prosecutor on Wednesday”, the statement said. “According to the latest information, his arrest is believed to be linked to his artistic views and posts on social media.”

El Youbi, born in 1992, is widely known in Morocco and across North Africa for his rap songs heavily influenced by US hip-hop. He rose to prominence in the early 2010s, at the same time as the Arab Spring, with songs that caught the attention of the authorities for their politically engaged lyrics.

“When I return home, I’m afraid of being arrested or banned from the country,” El Youbi told French music magazine Mosaique Magazine in December 2025. “Many people try to depoliticise art or sport, but I believe that every committed artist, every activist, or anyone who takes risks lives between boldness and fear.”

El Youbi is “the best rapper in North Africa and it’s not close”, Algerian journalist Maher Mezahi said on X.

Omar Radi, a Moroccan investigative journalist and human rights activist who was previously jailed in Morocco for criticising a judge, told Al Jazeera that El Youbi is “the most outspoken and politically direct Moroccan rapper”.

“There is a deliberate attempt to stamp out any possibility of criticism of the government or police methods, whether within civil society and the press, or in artistic circles or amongst football supporters,” Radi said.

El Youbi’s detention comes a day after the arrest of Moroccan journalist Ali Lmrabet, which was condemned by the Committee to Protect Journalists, and two weeks after Zineb Kharroubi, a leading figure in the Gen Z 212 activist movement, was given a six-month suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of “incitement to commit crimes or offences by electronic means”.

A supporter of El Youbi said that these developments reflect “intensified repression linked to the Gen Z movement”, referring to the youth-led protest movement that emerged last year in Morocco demanding better health services and education reforms.

El Youbi is due to appear before the public prosecutor on Wednesday morning. His supporters said they were concerned that he may have to appear without a lawyer, as lawyers in Morocco are currently on strike.

RAPPER Cardi B pays homage to the late Amy Winehouse with a style just like the Brit singer’s — including her trademark beehive.

The US star, 33, sported winged eyeliner, similar to Amy’s signature look, along with a purple, figure-hugging dress to a party at Paris Fashion Week.

Amy also wore a purple frock to the premiere of the film Psychosis in London in 2010.

This month marks 15 years since the Back To Black singer’s death at the age of just 27.

During her career, Amy had a string of showbiz spats, including mocking singer Dido and putting an Alexander McQueen dress on a barbecue after a fall-out.

She also called US rapper Kanye West the C-word on stage at Glastonbury in 2008.

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Now Cardi has revealed her own feuds have cost her lucrative brand deals, following ding-dongs with fellow rappers Nicki Minaj, Latto and BIA.

The New York-born star told her followers on X: “No lie, last year when I went off, I lost about three deals.

“I lost about three deals when I was bugging out and violating, and giving b*****s the f***ing business.”

Paris Fashion Week will continue until tomorrow evening, with a series of A-listers travelling to the French capital for a schedule of high-end events.

Fresh from attending Taylor Swift’s wedding to Travis Kelce in New York on Friday, Jennifer Lopez, 56, was photographed heading to a party on Monday in a halter-neck evening gown.

Meanwhile, singer Sabrina ­Carpenter, 27, wore a white dress to Dior’s haute couture autumn/winter fashion show held on the same evening.

Grammy-nominated rapper Mystikal has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for third-degree rape.

The “Danger” rapper was arrested in the summer of 2022 and booked into the Ascension Parish Jail in Louisiana and charged with first-degree rape, simple robbery, domestic abuse battery–strangulation, false imprisonment and simple criminal damage to property after the victim identified the rapper as the suspect from the hospital where she was being treated for injuries.

According to Baton Rouge-based ABC affiliate WBRZ, the victim told a Louisiana courtroom on Tuesday that Mystikal, real name Michael Tyler, punched and choked her, pulled braids out of her hair and forcibly raped her during the 2022 incident. The victim requested the maximum sentence for the rapper.

“If I did that to you, I deserve the max sentence,” Tyler told the courtroom before he was sentenced to 20 years for third-degree rape, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years with no chance for early release or probation.

In March, Tyler entered a guilty plea, which knocked his first-degree rape charge down to third-degree. In Louisiana, first-degree rape carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. According to WBRZ, the rapper’s attorney filed a motion to withdraw the guilty plea days before Tyler was sentenced, but the motion was tossed.

The New Orleans-born artist was convicted more than two decades ago of sexual battery after pleading guilty to charges in 2003. He served six years in prison and was released in 2010.

The rapper was previously indicted in 2017 on rape and kidnapping charges stemming from allegations in 2016. He spent 18 months in jail before being released in 2019 on a $3-million bond, the Associated Press reported. The Caddo Parish district attorney in Louisiana ultimately dropped those charges in 2020 after a second grand jury declined to bring an indictment.

With his raspy vocal intensity and scream-like musical delivery, Mystikal shot to the top of the charts with Master P’s No Limit Records in the late 1990s. In 2004, the embattled rapper’s original label, Jive Records, released two compilations of his music, “Prince of the South … The Hits” and “Chopped & Screwed.”

Former Times staff writer Nardine Saad contributed to this report.

A TIKTOK rapper has shocked fans when he revealed he is the son of a huge 90s boyband star.

The cheeky lad didn’t hold back as he roasted his famous father for his “s*** music” as he poked fun at him at one of his gigs.

The rising TikTok star in question is Phoenix JD, who is the son of James ‘Spike’ Dawbarn, 51, from 90s’ boyband, 911.

In a new post this week, the young rapper shared a video from backstage at one of his dad’s gigs.

In the clip, Phoenix was seen mocking his dad as he rehearsed with 911 bandmates Lee Brennan, 52, and Jimmy Constable, 54, who are supporting Blue on their tour.

Addressing his followers, Spike’s cheeky son said: “There’s their little soundcheck. I don’t know why they need to do a soundcheck, still sound s**t!”

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“But yeah, and then this is them on stage. There’s me dad on the right.”

Poking fun at Spike, he said: “Thankfully, I don’t get my musical ability from him, you know, I’ve got a bit about me.

“I hope he doesn’t see this now. He’ll kill me.

“But hey, this is him at 51 still trying to do back flips – and nearly decked it.

“I would’ve flipping loved it if he decked it.”

Phoenix also added he only went to the gig “to see Blue”.

Fans of 911 from back in the day went wild for the video, with one joking: “Oi your dad was a legend to us fossils!!”

Another quipped: “Lmfao! The way your roasting your dad! I’ll have you know 14-year-old me loved your dad’s band!”

This fan said: “I was obsessed with 911 still love them now! You’ve got your dad’s humour!”

Meanwhile, along with Lee and Jimmy, Phoenix’s dad Spike had a huge amount of fame in the 90s.

The band formed in 1995 when Jimmy met Spike whilst working as a dancer on the show The Hitman and Her.

The trio sold out arenas thanks to their hits like Bootyshakin’ and A Little Bit More.

Spike previously looked back on his time in the trio and joked that he was “treated like Harry Potter at the Dursley’s house”.

Appearing on the BBC’s Boyband Forever doc, the star spoke about his bizarre living arrangements when the band were in their heyday.

“Jimmy got one bedroom, Lee got another bedroom and I was in the cupboard like Harry Potter,” he explained.

“On a mattress, in a cupboard. It’s literally where you’d just throw a load of coats in there.”

“And I just didn’t care to be honest, I wasn’t bothered,” he laughed.

In their early days, the band would tour schools across the country and perform for students.

“I used to come in, press play, do your singing and dancing routines, do your bit then load yourself back in the van and go to the next school,” he said.