TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Rick Ross needs to hustle over to a COVID-19 testing center if he wants to visit his kids ... so claims his alleged baby mama.

Briana Singleton filed legal docs in Fayette County, Georgia requesting an emergency hearing to have the rapper -- real name William Leonard Roberts II -- take a COVID-19 test. She wants to know he tested negative before he can visit their 2 infant children ... this according to docs obtained by TMZ.

Singleton claims, even though Ross hasn't been cooperative on the DNA testing, the rapper has made efforts to care for them -- like buying her a Mercedes SUV after their first child was born -- before they broke up around New Years.

Singleton claims RR has stonewalled it on the issue of paternity several times, but claims it hasn't stopped him from depositing money into her bank account to care for the kids. What's more ... she claims she's also pregnant with his third child, due in September.

As for visiting the kids ... Singleton claims the rapper hasn't seen them in nearly 6 months, but earlier this month he expressed interest. Singleton says she's down ... but still maintains Rick hasn't been responsibly quarantining during the pandemic.

She points to videos he's posted on social media, showing him traveling outside of Georgia, and also claims she has concerns about Ross' "constant use of marijuana." It's plain and simple ... she's open to parenting time for Ross but wants the court to ensure “certain health, safety, and precautionary provisions” are in place to protect the children.

Jay-Z's legal eagle is keeping the pressure on Mississippi's infamous Parchman Penitentiary by filing a new lawsuit that calls out the prison's healthcare provider.

As we've reported, Jay's company, Roc Nation, backed a group of Parchman inmates suing Mississippi's Dept. of Corrections over filthy, violent, unhealthy and deadly conditions ... and all of that was before COVID-19 made things worse.

Now, attorney Alex Spiro -- who Roc Nation hired to rep the inmates -- has filed a new lawsuit against Centene ... the parent company of Centurion, which provides healthcare at Parchman. This time, Spiro's client is a Centene shareholder who's seen the brutal news about 40 inmates dying in Mississippi prisons, including Parchman, since December.

The shareholder suspects Centurion's alleged poor care is exposing the company to lawsuits and potentially tanking its stock. In docs, obtained by TMZ, the shareholder calls out Centurion for poor inmate mental health treatment, and a lack of testing in for illnesses -- a glaring issue for prisons amid the pandemic. In short, the suit alleges an "entire breakdown in [Mississippi prisons'] healthcare system."

Parchman, in particular, has been plagued by riots, fires and suicides -- videos from inside the prison showed the dire conditions allegedly exacerbated by the prison being woefully understaffed.

According to the suit, Centurion is actually losing money on its deal with the state of Mississippi -- which the shareholder suspects might be why the company's allegedly bailing on providing proper healthcare at the prisons.

The shareholder wants a judge to force Centurion to open its books to provide a full picture of where money is, or isn't, going when it comes to inmate healthcare.

Obviously, that information could also be crucial for the Parchman inmates' lawsuit. Fair to say, it's no coincidence Spiro is repping the shareholder as well as the prisoners suing Mississippi's DOC.

Jay-Z and Yo Gotti have both vowed they're in this for the long haul ... until the prison conditions vastly improve, and this could go a long way toward that goal.

2 Chainz is having a little trouble at the office ... one of his ATL restaurants is closed again -- shut down by cops for violating COVID-19 guidelines.

The rapper's popular joint, Escobar Restaurant & Tapas, was ordered to close its doors just Monday night after Georgia State Police paid the restaurant a visit. According to a police report, obtained by TMZ, officers say they drove by and "noticed that the location was rather loud, busy, and occupied to be operating as a restaurant at that time of night."

As you can see from some of the videos posted to the Escobar Instagram account, the place was PACKED. You can see people dancing, ordering bottle service, smoking hookah with virtually no social distancing happening. As the night continued, you can even see a long line start forming outside the entrance.

Cops say police arrived and "spoke to the manager before shutting the location down as it was violating executive orders regarding protocol issued due to COVID-19."

As we reported ... 2 Chainz initially said his restaurants would open when Georgia allowed limited-service back in late April. But, the rapper changed his mind -- opting to feed the homeless instead -- and said they'll wait it out a little longer before bringing back his staff.

Several weeks later, Georgia updated its restaurant reopening guidelines ... limiting dine-in service to 10 patrons max per table and allowing 10 patrons inside per 300 square feet of public space. This is all in addition to social distancing too.

Tyler the Creator looks more like Tyler the Cheese Grater these days -- 'cause the guy can seriously shred ... and he doesn't even have to be in the water to do it.

Here's the rapper/producer out in L.A. this week getting his bike ride on with some nifty circus-like tricks to spice it up a bit. The dude hopped up on his two-wheeler and balanced himself on the handlebars and crossbar ... and looked just like a land version of a surfer.

It appears he was up there for a solid few seconds or so while the bicycle was in motion -- so it definitely seems he's had some practice with this stunt. BTW, the whole thing was social distance-friendly ... no one else around him, just a guy and his bike. Well done.

In other TTC news ... the dude just hit his one-year anniversary for his Grammy-winning album, "IGOR," and even dropped a new song from the hard copy version to appease fans eagerly awaiting his next project. He's also got a new clothing line with Levi's.

Cardi B's body now plays host to a massive new art installation ... because the ink has just dried on her insanely colorful back tattoo.

Cardi showed off her latest handiwork, which she says took months to complete, with a special shoutout to the tattoo artist. The piece traverses Cardi's entire backside, from the top of her back down to the middle of her thigh. It's festooned with flowers, butterflies and even a hummingbird.

The new tattoo isn't Cardi's first -- she already had some serious ink on her other leg -- but her latest, thanks to the steady hand of Jamie Schene, is a spectacle if not spectacular.

Cardi isn't the first to engage in a rear-view coverup. Ben Affleck revealed an insane back piece a while ago. Fans thought he was clowning, but turns out it was the real deal.

Drake's relationship with Kylie Jenner's been fueling the rumor mill for months, and now that he's referred to her as "a side piece" -- on wax, as we used to say -- expect it to heat up.

Here's the deal ... Drake went on Instagram Live Wednesday night to tease some unreleased music from a collab with Future.

On the track, the duo raps about all the hot women they're able to haul in, and Drake spits these lyrics -- "Yeah, I’m a hater to society / Real sh*t, Kylie Jenner that’s a side piece / Yeah, I got 20 motherf***in’ Kylies."

Future follows with similarly themed lyrics, but what's interesting is the 2 have been working on this song together for a couple years now, but in the past ... Future rapped the Kylie part.

It should be noted, the track shouts out Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, as well -- "Yeah, I got 20 damn Kendalls / Young slim baddies and they in vogue / Yeah, I got 20 f***in’ Gigis."

Drake, of course, is no stranger to gossip related to Kylie and the Kardashian/Jenner crew. There were reports of romance with her in November, but we were told they were just hanging out as friends.

That friendship endured despite Drake's beef with Kylie's brother-in-law, Kanye West, over a variety of issues ... including a rumored affair he had with Kim.

No lyrics about that on any new music from Drake, though ... at least not yet.

Roddy Ricch really is ballin' now ... along with his crew cause he hooked 'em up with some diamond-studded championship rings to celebrate his first-ever Grammy win.

The 21-year-old Compton MC will soon get his hands on these incredibly-baller rings produced by none other than Hollywood's favorite celebrity jeweler, Elliot Eliantte. We're told Roddy ordered 7 rings for him and his crew. Eliantte's been working on the bling for the past few months and he just finished them, so Roddy will soon have them delivered.

All in all ... we're told the rings are worth a whopping $250k. But, gotta give the kid some credit, celebrate big after a monumental win. As you probably know by now ... Roddy brought home a Grammy back in January after winning Best Rap Performance for "Racks in the Middle." The track featured Nipsey Hussle and Hit-Boy.

Future allegedly tried to smear his baby mama's name in an effort to make her look like a woman who sleeps around, and made threats in hopes of getting her to have an abortion ... so she claims in new legal docs.

Eliza Seraphin is countersuing the rapper claiming Future's made tons of false allegations against her including saying she sleeps around for financial gain, has a mental health disorder and calling her a "hoe" after he claimed she "stole my last name."

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, Eliza says Future sent her a text saying "let your lawyers speak for u at this point! u bogus, stole my last name now u want to b relevant jus fall back off the net trying to to prove a point."

She claims he also texted her, "TMZ this bitch stole my last name I think that's what i heard! I will never respect a clout chasing bitch NEVERRRRRRR FOH."

Eliza claims she and Future carried on a relationship for 2 years and engaged in unprotected sex during that time ... leading to the birth of their daughter. Earlier this month, the paternity suit was resolved when DNA results showed Future is the baby daddy.

Still, Eliza claims Future's made this a living hell for her ... claiming he continually made her out to be someone who sleeps around with various men in an attempt to get pregnant for her own personal financial gain.

And, get this ... Eliza claims Future's made various threats -- even allegedly threatening to have her killed -- while she was pregnant "in an attempt to coerce her to terminate her pregnancy." Eliza claims she took these threats seriously enough to report them to police.

Pop Smoke's murder remains unsolved, and the coronavirus pandemic is doing detectives no favors ... severely hindering progress in the investigation.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... response to COVID-19 and related issues has been LAPD's top priority the past 2 months, meaning less time and resources available to focus on the rapper's killer.

When detectives are able to investigate, we're told they still try to go out and safely speak face-to-face with people in an attempt to gather evidence ... but that's been a challenge already in this case.

As we first told you ... cops were running into witness issues in the case, as people were either refusing to talk about Pop's death or providing unreliable info.

On a more positive note ... our sources say investigators are hoping the rapper's upcoming posthumous debut album will renew interest in the case, get people talking, and drum up tips and new leads.

TMZ broke the story ... Pop Smoke was gunned down in February at a house owned by 'RHOBH' star Teddi Mellencamp.

It appears the murder was a targeted hit and not an armed robbery gone awry, but law enforcement's still puzzled over the motive.

Rich the Kid did some damage in the hood this week ...

The rapper was shooting a music video on Long Island and wanted to film with 4 Lamborghini's in the background. A woman named Irina Pichkhadze, aka @queenofexotics, brought 2 Lambos she owned to the shoot. Rich rented a third Lambo and a buddy of Irina brought the fourth. Each car goes for more than $600k.

Then Rich had an idea ... line up the 4 Lambos and take a pic in front of them while they waited for the videographer.

The shoot did NOT go well ... in fact, it didn't go at all. The videographer was a no show.

And then ... he jumped on the hood of one of Irina's whips, and she just lost it, hurling profanities at the rapper as he clowned on top the car.

Irina tells us when Rich jumped off, he just said, "whatever," and left in his Lambo.

One group's $200,000 trash is another's treasure ... Tekashi 6ix9ine's rejected funds are exactly what an L.A. nonprofit -- that also helps kids -- needs to survive.

We broke the story ... the "GOOBA" rapper was set to donate $200k this week to No Kid Hungry, which helps feed families that can't afford to feed themselves. However, the charity turned down 6ix9ine's donation.

Enter Keith Johnson, Executive Director of Kooking 4 Kids, who tells TMZ ... if the rapper's looking to do a good deed and help eliminate hunger, his past deeds shouldn't matter.

As we told ya, No Kid Hungry said, "As a child-focused campaign, it is our policy to decline funding from donors whose activities do not align with our mission and values."

However, the Kooking 4 Kids boss says ... "If there is an individual that wants to help address hunger in Los Angeles, we welcome it. How that person wants to live their life is for them to decide."

Keith says his nonprofit often holds BBQ fundraisers, and he doesn't go digging into the personal lives of people who are there to support the cause. He does add that every organization has the right to determine from whom it will accept funds -- but donations are vital to his organization to survive, so he's not picky.

Johnson says K4K travels to 4 different parts of L.A. weekly and serves about 1,600-1,800 free meals to children and parents every day ... and they always run out.

He tells us, even before the pandemic, the org was stretched thin because L.A. County has some of the highest child hunger numbers ... and it can always use more funding.

Tekashi 6ix9ine's glorious return to social media paid him handsomely and then some -- but he ain't keeping all the dough for himself ... the dude's giving back to kids in need.

Sources close to the rapper tell TMZ ... the release of his new song, "GOOBA," as well as the launch of some new merch that he promoted on IG last week has left him with a small fortune on his hands in the amount of about $2 million, which he made in less than a week.

We're told Tekashi raked in a solid mil in just the last few days alone. Rather than hold on to all the cash, or put it it the bank for a rainy day -- our sources say 6ix9ine's planning to donate 10 percent of his haul to hungry families who are struggling in the pandemic.

Specifically, we're being told 69 will send $200k to an org called No Kid Hungry, which helps dole out money to families that can't afford to feed themselves or their little ones -- which, as you can imagine, has gotten worse with COVID-19 putting people out of work.

Tekashi's hoping his donation will help in that cause -- and, frankly, it's a really nice gesture and a nice pendulum swing after his wild, and not so smart, weekend activities.

Here's hoping it also serves as a sign to come for 6ix9ine in general -- give and you get, solid life philosophy.

Diddy is speaking out on the death of his mentor, Andre Harrell, who discovered him decades ago and put him on a trajectory to fame -- and his farewell may well bring a tear to your eye.

The Bad Boy honcho posted a video Monday showing a speech he gave earlier this year after winning an Industry Icon Award at a Pre-Grammys Gala -- where he also called out the lack of diversity in the music biz -- but this time ... he highlighted his words for Andre.

The remarks are quite moving -- Puffy recounts how Andre took him under his wing, showed him the ins and outs of the game, and simply rolled the dice and took a chance on him. He said he owes a lot of his success to the man -- and made sure he knew it.

Diddy worked as an intern at Harrell's Uptown Records and moved up the ladder to eventually become a talent director, where he was overseeing the development of some big-time stars. Eventually, Diddy and Uptown parted ways ... and the rest is history.

In an accompanying caption, Diddy writes ... "I honestly still can’t believe it. I’ve got to give myself the reality of this in doses. Because I can’t even handle this. I hope to God that you are all blessed to have someone in your life that loves you and believes in you like this man believed in me.… I’m going to miss him so much. I can’t even imagine life without Dre. God bless @gianni, @onealmcknight and the rest of the family."

He finished by saying, "LOVE YOU FOREVER @andreharrell !!!!!!!!!!"

As we reported ... Andre -- who founded Uptown Records and signed several mega R&B artists to his label back in the late '80s and early '90s -- passed away over the weekend. His family told media outlets that his cause of death was heart failure. He was only 59.

He received countless tributes from all over Hollywood, but it was Diddy people wanted to hear from ... and now, they have.

Rich the Kid can rap all he wants about how "Money Talks" but one celeb jeweler's wondering why the Kid's gone radio silent when it comes to unpaid jewelry bills ... according to a new lawsuit.

Peter Marco from Extraordinary Jewels of Beverly Hills is suing the "Plug Walk" rapper claiming he owes a whopping $234,800 in unpaid jewelry that includes bracelets and incredibly fancy watches.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, Marco says he's been doing business with Rich since at least October 2017. RTK ordered diamond necklaces, crosses and even a couple of Patek Philippe watches worth several hundred thousand dollars. And, for a while, Rich did make payments.

In docs, Marco says Rich wired over several payments but they eventually stopped. Even still, RTK continued ordering jewelry and Marco kept delivering ... but the bills kept piling on and Marco claims he wasn't getting paid. So, he's now suing for what he says he's still owed.

Rich the Kid's no stranger to flossing his bling. In the past, he's ordered pricey jewelry when he dropped new albums and even collaborations.

Jay-Z, Meek Mill and others over at Roc Nation are speaking out publicly to demand justice for the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery -- asking for a speedy trial and conviction of his killers.

Jigga, Meek and other Roc Nation artists -- including Alicia Keys and Yo Gotti -- have signed an open letter they're releasing this weekend, which is made out to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Georgia AG Christopher Darr and District Attorney Tom Durden.

It says in no uncertain terms ... try Gregory and Travis McMichael fairly, but swiftly, so that felony convictions can fall on them. Also, they want another man arrested and tried as an accomplice.

The team writes, "By now, we’ve all seen the crime’s disturbing video, so the facts here are not in doubt: He was unarmed and innocent and the victim of a hate crime. Which is why we call upon you today, as official leaders of the Great State of Georgia, and with the entire world watching, to ensure that a fair trial is conducted, as that can only lead to the appropriate felony convictions of both McMichaels. We also implore you to charge William Bryan as an armed accomplice to the crime." Bryan was the guy who filmed the video.

They go on to say that D.A. Durden must recuse himself from the case because of a conflict of interest -- namely, the elder McMichaels is a former cop and they know each other.

The Roc Nation squad also makes a point that the first necessary step for healing has taken place in the arrest of both McMichaels. They say, "We truly appreciate that you have arrested and charged these men with Ahmaud’s murder, and are hopeful that a trial and conviction will show that, in the state that gave us Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and has been the site of the best and worst of the Civil Rights movement, Dr. King’s words do ring true: 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.'"