Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
Charlie Puth turned his Madison Square Garden concert into a star packed event, bringing out several surprise guests throughout the evening. Billboard was there to capture some of the standout moments from the show.
Puth took over the iconic New York City venue on Friday night, May 29, as part of his Whatever’s Clever World Tour. The trek began a little over a month ago in support of his 2026 album Whatever’s Clever!, and the Madison Square Garden stop featured appearances from Art Garfunkel, Jimmy Fallon, Busta Rhymes, and Kirk Franklin. Together, they joined Puth during his 23 song performance.
The first major surprise came when Art Garfunkel joined Puth onstage for an emotional rendition of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer.” The song was a Top 10 hit on the Hot 100 in 1969 and later appeared on the duo’s final studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Water. Speaking to the audience, Garfunkel told the crowd, “He learned how to make his records from me and Paul. You’re my student.”
Puth happily embraced the compliment. “I am your student. I’m not just saying that because all these wonderful people are here. The reason that I’m here right now is because of the music you’ve written with Paul. It’s amazing.”
Later in the concert, Jimmy Fallon made a surprise appearance wearing sunglasses and joined Puth for a performance of Toto’s classic hit “Africa,” which topped the charts in 1983. Following the song, Fallon hugged the singer and presented him with a custom New York Rangers jersey featuring “PUTH” and the number 26 on the back.
The excitement continued when Busta Rhymes stepped onto the stage. The rap icon treated fans to performances of early 2000s favorite “Break Ya Neck,” late 1990s anthem “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See,” and “Look at Me Now,” the 2011 Chris Brown hit that also featured Lil Wayne.
Before leaving the stage, Busta Rhymes encouraged the crowd to celebrate Puth. “New York City, please make some noise for our brother, your brother, the incredible Charlie Puth.”
More surprises followed as Kirk Franklin joined the show. The gospel star teamed up with Puth for energetic performances of “I Smile,” “Lean On Me,” and a cover of God’s Property’s “Stomp.”
Puth’s tour continues on Saturday, May 30, with a stop in Atlantic City, New Jersey, before moving on to additional dates across the southern United States. He is scheduled to continue touring domestically through mid June before heading to Europe for the next leg of the tour.
Share
Advertisement
Share
Ezra Collective have unveiled details of their fourth studio album, ‘Here Because Of Hope’, alongside a brand new single featuring Pa Salieu. Listen to ‘Only Love’ below.
The London jazz outfit will release the follow up to 2024’s ‘Dance, No One’s Watching’ on September 18 through Partisan. Pre-orders and pre-saves are available now.
According to a press release, the forthcoming 17 track collection is described as an “expansive, emotional and deeply rhythmic” body of work. The album includes spoken word passages from BAFTA-winning actor Letitia Wright and guest appearances from Lila Iké, Leona Lewis and Libianca.
With ‘Here Because Of Hope’, Ezra Collective continue to explore new creative territory while staying connected to the sense of community, spirituality and shared energy that has been central to the band since the beginning.
The uplifting new single ‘Only Love’ marks the first collaboration between the group and Pa Salieu, with both artists drawing from themes of diasporic identity, rhythm and storytelling throughout their work.
The track is built around grooves inspired by West African music, blending rich horn arrangements with deeply personal lyrics from Salieu. Together, the song finds strength and beauty in themes of perseverance, joy and survival.
Bandleader Femi Koleoso explained: “Pa Salieu has been a musician that we have long admired in Ezra Collective. Not just because of his incredible lyricism and storytelling but also his ability to weave in his Gambian heritage and roots into such a distinctly UK sound.
“In 2024, we had the beautiful moment playing at Wembley Arena, looking out into the crowd and seeing Pa Salieu dancing and partying with his friends and in that moment, I had the very thought we need to make a song together for this kind of setting.
“I spent some time studying West African music, studying Gambian music, and let that influence the bassline of this track and the drumbeat.”
He continued: “We linked up with Pa in Wood Green and immediately his stories started to flow. He came with a bunch of lyrics that he had from a really hard time he went through, but in those lyrics were so many stories of pain but also beauty, joy and love, and we were trying to find that beautiful place in the middle of those two things, and that’s how we came about this song.”
Speaking about the album as a whole, Ezra Collective described ‘Here Because Of Hope’ as something deeply meaningful and uplifting.
“It feels like our first records were really Ezra Collective as children; this one really feels like Ezra Collective as adults,” they explained.
“There’s been so many moments of joy, so many moments of excitement, but at the same time, it’s impossible not to look at the world and feel deep pain and sadness, and we were really determined to write an album that still sees the prominent importance and final destination being joy, but also recognises the pain and the momentary difficulties that people are facing.
They added: “This album is the journey from that pain to joy, and the connective word in the middle is hope. We hope that this album makes people dance, we hope it makes people cry. There are stories woven into every single fabric of the record, and those stories [are] most eloquently put by five adults that met as children.”
The tracklist for Ezra Collective’s ‘Here Because Of Hope’ is:
Ezra Collective and Salieu debuted ‘Only Love’ live while headlining the New Music Stage at Radio 1’s Big Weekend last week. The band will spend much of the summer performing at festivals across the UK and Europe, including an appearance at Lost Village in Lincolnshire.
The Mercury Prize and BRIT Award-winning group also featured on this year’s star-studded ‘Help(2)’ charity album in support of War Child.
Speaking with NME at last year’s BRIT Awards, where the group won Group Of The Year, Koleoso reflected on the lasting impact of inspiring young people through music. “If someone is here because Ezra Collective went into their school and inspired them, then we will last forever. So will they, if they do the same. That is the way we think about everything.”
Share
Advertisement
