Billboard Names David Ali 2026 R&B/Hip-Hop Executive of the Year
Billboard has named David Ali, CEO of the management and entertainment company Above Ground Entertainment, its 2026 R&B/Hip-Hop Executive of the Year. The announcement came on 20 August 2026 alongside Billboard's annual R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players list, which Ali leads as the headline honoree (Billboard).
Ali, 37, manages a roster that includes R&B singer Kehlani, R&B singer Destin Conrad and rapper Larry June. His relationship with Kehlani is the anchor of the profile: he signed her in 2014, a year after first hearing her early SoundCloud upload "Antisummerluv" and meeting her at her home in Reseda, California (Billboard).
Kehlani, in turn, was named Billboard's 2026 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players R&B Artist of the Year. Her June 2025 single "Folded" produced her first Billboard Hot 100 top 10 entry, her first number-one debut on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and a number-four debut on the Billboard 200 — the magazine's flagship album chart — for her self-titled album. "Folded" went on to win two Grammy Awards, for best R&B song and best R&B solo performance (Billboard).
Ali told Billboard that his operating philosophy centres on investing in people and building careers through fostering artistic freedom, trust and loyalty. He grew up in North Plainfield, New Jersey, and studied acting at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco before moving into music management (Billboard).
The broader Power Players list, published the same day, spans executives across multiple industry sectors that Billboard identified as pushing R&B and hip-hop forward. Among those named: Marsha St. Hubert, co-president of 10K Projects and executive vice president of Atlantic Music Group, alongside co-president Nico Ziangas and senior director of marketing Tom Phillips; Rayna Bass and Selim Bouab, co-presidents of 300 Entertainment who also serve as co-presidents of hip-hop, R&B and global music at Atlantic Records; Todd Moscowitz, CEO of Alamo Records/Santa Anna Records, with COO Juliette Jones and president Lee L'Heureux; and Xavier "BigXthaPlug" Landum, founder and president of 600 Entertainment, with partner Brandon Farmer (Billboard).
The list also highlights a year of commercial peaks across the two genres. Cardi B's sophomore album Am I the Drama? debuted atop the Billboard 200 and placed 14 songs on the Hot 100; its tracks have surpassed 2.2 billion official on-demand global streams since release, according to the data firm Luminate. Her Little Miss Drama Tour, running February through April, grossed more than $70 million and sold 453,000 tickets, per Billboard Boxscore. Don Toliver's fifth studio album Octane became his first Billboard 200 chart-topper, while Gunna's The Last Wun reached number one on both Top Rap Albums and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums — his sixth time to reign on both charts — and landed at number three on the Billboard 200. Fetty Wap released his fourth album Zavier in March 2026 following his early release from prison (Billboard).
For a management executive to top a list otherwise dominated by label-side operators is unusual. Ali's recognition rests on results achieved without a major-label infrastructure of his own — a reminder, as he frames it, that the business still starts with the people making the music.
