TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Kodak Black could be spending the last year of his sentence at a halfway house ... but first, he's gonna need a few dominoes to fall perfectly.

Kodak's attorney, Bradford Cohen, tells TMZ ... the rapper is now eligible to spend the last year of his sentence in a halfway house, meaning, he could be out of prison by 2021. Thing is, he first needs to complete a court-ordered 500-hour drug treatment program before getting the green light for the halfway house.

And, therein lies the problem. Cohen tells us the maximum-security program where Kodak's currently behind bars does NOT offer the program. But, there's a glimmer of hope after Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle decided to drop the state's gun case against Kodak Black after speaking with Cohen. With the state dropping 3 felony counts of possession of a firearm by an individual under 24, Cohen says Kodak can now be moved to a lower-security prison where they do offer the drug treatment program.

As for why the state dropped the charges ... a rep for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office tells TMZ, Fernandez Rundle "felt that the [state] charges were a duplicate of the federal charges for which [Kodak Black] had already been convicted and is currently serving his sentence."

Kanye West's giving a huge assist to the families and legal teams fighting for Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd ... and helping in other ways too.

Kanye's donated $2 million, so far, to the cause and set up a 529 college savings fund to fully cover tuition for Floyd's 6-year-old daughter, Gianna. He's also made a separate donation to cover the legal costs for the Arbery and Taylor families.

Along with that, a rep confirms Kanye's donating to several black-owned businesses in his hometown of Chicago and nationwide that have been in crisis and impacted by the unrest in the U.S.

As you know ... widespread protests and riots have broken out since Floyd was killed in police custody on May 25. The demonstrations are a demand for an end to systematic racism and police brutality ... of which the killings of Arbery and Taylor are also prime examples.

Arbery was shot and killed in Georgia in February after being chased by 3 men who allegedly believed he fit the description of a burglary suspect in the area.

Taylor -- who was an emergency medical worker -- was shot and killed by Louisville cops in her own home in a "no-knock warrant" case, in which cops allegedly busted in without warning.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are going after a former bodyguard for talking smack about them -- something he's done before -- and warns if he opens his mouth again ... he can expect a multi-million dollar lawsuit.

The couple fired off a cease and desist letter to Kanye's ex-bodyguard, Steve Stanulis, claiming he went on the "Hollywood Raw Podcast" a few weeks back and made "false and defamatory" statements ... while also breaching their confidentiality agreement.

According to the letter, Kim and Kanye claim Steve signed the agreement in February 2016, and it prohibits him from blabbing any personal or business info about them ... something they say he did big time on the podcast.

If you missed it, Stanulis claimed Kanye had "ridiculous rules" -- like walking 10 paces behind him on city streets, and claimed he got angry if Steve blocked a paparazzi shot. He also called Yeezy the "moodiest" and "neediest" celeb who's hired him.

Kim and Kanye don't specify which of Steve's statements are false and defamatory, but they're threatening to sue him for at least $10 million for breaching their confidentiality deal ... if he does it again.

Here's the thing, though -- this isn't the first time they've threatened Stanulis for the same thing. It happened in May 2016 as well, but back then they also demanded a public apology. They didn't ask for an apology this time around.

We reached out to Stanulis, who switched careers in 2016 and is now an actor and director ... he has been working on a movie called "5th Borough" starring Tara Reid, which comes out June 3rd.

His publicist, Zack Teperman, tells us "... no breach of any confidentiality agreement was done. My client went on a podcast to promote his new film, and old stories that were already out there were brought up."

He adds ... "For Kanye and Kim's counsel to send out a threatening letter to bully my client against his rights is unwarranted. My client has already made it clear that he respects Kanye, their time working together."

Teperman says, "If Kanye and Kim wish to continue this further, that is up to them, but I think their time and money would be better suited helping out with more pressing matters in our society than what happened many years ago."

Kodak Black was allegedly photographed, and it was sent to a U.S. Marshal -- without his permission -- the day he was arrested at Rolling Loud ... and now, his lawyer's ramping up for a lawsuit.

The Miami Dade Police Department took a report showing that Kodak's attorney, Bradford Cohen, recently filed a complaint with them alleging one of their men illegally snapped and disseminated a pic of KB while he was in custody back in 2019. According to the report, MDPD looked into it and discovered the pic was actually not disseminated by one of their own but perhaps by someone in the U.S. Marshals Service.

The docs -- obtained by TMZ -- outline the steps MDPD took to get to the bottom of Cohen's claims ... and during their back and forth, they discovered a Miami-Dade cop, who was with Kodak the day he was arrested, claimed he was called up and instructed by a high-ranking official -- a U.S. Marshal Chief, per the officer -- to snap a photo of Kodak while he was cuffed. The guy says he did so and sent it along to the USM who wanted it.

Cohen claims that same photo served no law enforcement purpose, but still found its way into the inbox of a local Miami reporter ... who then published it in a local paper. Cohen claims it was all done without Kodak's permission.

Now, the Miami-Dade sergeant, who took the photo and then passed it along to the Marshal, says it was needed for "law enforcement purposes," but Cohen says that's a bunch of BS ... arguing the pic was taken for personal use and/or gain.

Now, Cohen tells us he's taking legal action against the responsible parties.

A rep for USMS tells us they can't comment on the situation, but assure us any allegations of misconduct will be thoroughly investigated.

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.