Billy Johnson, Jr. is a journalist, new media content producer, and author with 20 years experience covering hip-hop, R&B and pop music for influential media outlets. He is currently a Senior Editor for Yahoo! Music where he has served as both an editor and content producer since 1998. His Yahoo! Music blog Hip Hop Media Training generates more than 4 million page views per month and covers the latest happenings with the likes of Eminem, Chris Brown, Kanye West and Beyonce. His blog “Michael Jackson: The Greatest of All Time,” a tribute to the late king of pop, received 22,000 comments. Dually, as a Senior Program Director for Yahoo! Music, he oversaw the company’s Video Premieres program, securing exclusive video content from superstars Mariah Carey, Beyonce, U2, 50 Cent, Janet Jackson, and Usher. In other capacities within the company, Billy has written daily music news, assigned and edited feature stories and reviews, conducted on-camera celebrity interviews, and assisted in booking talent for the company’s various live performance programs. From 1994 to 1998, Billy was the managing and executive editor for Rap Sheet newspaper, which included his participation in the company’s Working Towards A Unified Hip Hop Nation conference. Billy co-coordinated the 1997 conference’s Rap Olympics MC battle for which Eminem competed and was later discovered. While studying Communications at California State University, San Bernardino, Billy began working as a production assistant at the Riverside Black Voice News. By his senior year in 1992, he was named the Editor-in-Chief. Billy’s work as a freelance journalist has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, Vibe, and The Source, among others. As an author, Billy published the essay Newfound Fatherhood in the anthology Souls of My Brothers published by Plume in 2003. Billy has been featured as a music expert on ABC News Now, ABC Radio News, CNN, Fox Business News, The Tavis Smiley Show, TV Guide Channel, KFWB, and VH1. Each Friday, he discusses album releases and news on WCAP 980 AM in Boston. Billy lives in Canyon Country, California with his wife and their set of boy and girl twins. He regularly speaks to students about media, and goal setting.