Ebro Darden is starting an enviable new job Wednesday.
As announced via a Billboard exclusive Wednesday morning, the Hot 97 and Beats 1 personality is now the global editorial head of hip-hop and R&B for Apple Music.
"Having dedicated his life and career to hip-hop, R&B, and pop music, he has so much to offer," Rachel Newman, Apple Music's global director of editorial, said of Darden's new title. "One of Ebro's most defining characteristics is that he has great ears for where R&B and hip-hop are transcending and evolving to beyond even the borders of the U.S."
First on the agenda under Darden's direction is an assessment of what’s required to further the streaming service's goal of connecting listeners with artists "in a real way." From there, he hopes to explore music from the community perspective.
"I'll be wherever R&B and hip-hop are being consumed and working to create communication amongst communities around the world through Apple Music—making sure that black music is getting recognized and developing the next superstars," he told Billboard Wednesday when giving a rundown of his global goals.
Darden, who's been an Apple Music contributor since 2015, was a headlines mainstay in the final weeks of 2018, thanks to a question he posed during a Kodak Black interview that ultimately resulted in a full-blown walkout. "It would be irresponsible for us to do the show, where we talk about all the things we talk about, social justice, the #MeToo movement, Trump...to have the artist on the show, talk about how talented the artist is, and never once mention that in April he faces sexual assault charges for a woman raped in a hotel room," Darden's Hot 97 co-host Peter Rosenberg later said, referring to Kodak Black's sexual assault case.
Also on Wednesday, Darden called out the preposterousness of Kanye West's most recent Trump-related misfire.
