Sam Fender wins 2025 Mercury prize for his album People Watching

Geordie singer-songwriter’s album reached No 1 on the UK album chart, and led to a series of stadium-sized concerts this summer

Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group dismissed

Rapper had claimed UMG helped to damage his reputation by distributing Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us

Baker Boy on naming his album for his grandmother: ‘She was the reason that I fell in love with hip-hop’

The new music from the Aria-winning Yolngu rapper is his most politically charged yet. ‘I want to show you the anger, the vulnerability,’ he says

UK campaign calls for restrictions on rap lyrics being used to convict people

Appeals against convictions where rap and drill music was part of the prosecution’s case have tripled in recent years

Doja Cat: Vie review – master pop provocateur splits the difference between sugar and spice

On her fifth album, the Californian tempers the bite of 2023’s Scarlet with glossy, lovestruck sounds – but never loses her instinct for mischief

From Blurred Lines to Genie in a Bottle: the late director Diane Martel’s best music videos

Last week, the celebrated US music video director died of breast cancer aged 63. We chart her best – and most controversial – music videos

Post Malone review – megawatt charisma and anthemic hooks from an irresistibly genial outlaw

Though his slick country is more Jon Bon Jovi that Johnny Cash, there’s only one artist who could unite rock, rap and twang with such effortless panache

Cardi B: Am I the Drama? review – vigorous score-settling and brutally witty put-downs

Seven years after her debut, Cardi B is back with a ferociously enjoyable 70-minute album of eclecticism and enthusiastic annihilation of her enemies

Add to playlist: ultra-prolific Leicester rapper Snoa and the week’s best tracks

With 71 singles and three albums so far this year, the teenage MC is keeping the quality control high as he swerves across cloud rap, grime and more

Gorillaz review – after 25 years, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s cartoon band are still riveting and relevant

Dressed like a vicar, Albarn leads his band – joined by a choir, a string quartet, De La Soul and more – in renewing Demon Days’ downbeat drama

Lil Nas X speaks out post-arrest: ‘That was terrifying’

Grammy winner posted on Instagram to comment on his arrest after pleading not guilty to attacking police in LA

Will Smith review – post-slap tour has shoutalongs, self-help sermons and a touch of David Brent

His most recent album may have tanked but it works better played live, and Smith is endearing as he continues to get jiggy with it

Add to playlist: Fakemink’s sugar-high rap and the week’s best new tracks

Making tracks in a blacked-out bedroom, the precocious UK rapper has an adrenaline-fuelled, overstimulated aesthetic

Earl Sweatshirt: Live Laugh Love review – a head-spinning trip with rap’s great rulebreaker

With a sunlit disposition and paeans to his daughter, the mood turns lighter on the US MC’s sixth album – but the glitching, crashing beats are as esoteric as ever

Lil Nas X arrested and hospitalized after altercation with police

The 26-year-old rapper and singer was seen walking down the street in his underwear Thursday morning in LA