TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Travis Scott's album cover from years ago is landing him in hot water in France ... where one artist is definitely not saying "c'est la vie" over what he claims is outright theft of his art.

A man named Mickaël Mehala -- who also goes by Black Childish -- is suing Travis in his home country, where he alleges the rapper jacked his original artwork for "Travis La Flame" ... an official compilation project which includes a lot of songs from his mixtape "Days Before Rodeo," among others.

The album cover is well known among TS stans ... and has even been featured on Travis' YouTube page and Tidal page at one point or another. That's a problem for Mehala, who claims he actually created this piece himself in 2015 and sent it to Trav via Instagram DM in 2016 -- the same year 'La Flame' dropped -- so he could see it and share it with fans.

Mehala says he never heard back from Travis, but lo and behold ... he saw his centaur art featured front and center when 'La Flame' rolled out, which was big news at the time.

In the French legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Mehala claims he formally registered a copyright for the art in February 2019. He also says he was blowing up Travis and his management team about the issue, and finally heard back from one of his attorneys in the summer of 2019.

He claims the lawyer told him Travis was unaware of using art belonging to anyone in particular. While the lawsuit notes the centaur shot's since been removed from multiple platforms carrying 'La Flame' ... Mehala apparently still wants his day in court.

He also wants d'argent, or as Travis would say ... money, and lots of it. Mehala's suing for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and sole control of his centaur going forward.

We've reached out to Travis' team, but no word back yet.

Kim Kardashian's got no beef with Kanye dating actress Julia Fox, and actually believes the fact Julia's a huge fan of the Kardashian family could be a good sign of things to come in co-parenting with Kanye.

Sources close to Kim tell us she's happy to see Kanye out smiling again, and only wants to see him end up with a good person -- something that's up to Kanye to figure out -- and not for Kim to judge.

As you know, Julia has raved about the Kardashian family, calling herself a "Die-Hard" fan of 'Keeping Up.'

Our sources say, in Kim's eyes, the fact Julia admires her is a good thing -- and if her relationship with Ye continues to grow and Julia comes around the kids -- it'll make co-parenting easier if everyone gets along.

We're told Kim has fully moved on from her romantic relationship with Kanye ... and positive vibes are all she wants for her estranged hubby.

Of course, Kim's been having plenty of fun of her own with Pete Davidson -- most recently they were in the Bahamas with friends, and before that they rendezvous'd in Palm Springs, and enjoyed private dinners in NYC and L.A.

Kanye West has his sights set on Moscow -- where he reportedly wants a powwow with the Vladimir Putin, not to mention a vast plan to establish roots in Mother Russia.

Ye is gunning for a meeting with the Russian President, and also wants to do a series of Sunday Service shows in the man's country fairly soon -- sometime in the spring or summer, in fact ... this according to Billboard, who spoke to KW's biz associate, Ameer Sudan.

Sudan says Ye's schedule will dictate when this all happens, but assures Billboard that the wheels are already in motion to broker a face-to-face between Putin and Kanye.

Sounds like a lot of this is going to be handled by some Russian friends Ye has apparently cozied up to of late -- tycoon real estate developer Aras Agalarov and his son Emin Agalarov ... the so-called "Trumps of Russia," and clients of attorney Scott Balber, whom Sudan says is also helping Kanye make this happen. Unclear if Balber reps Ye personally.

Anywyay, speaking of Emin -- who's actually an aspiring musical artist himself -- Kanye is said to be intent on helping him blow up here in the States via collaboration, so says Sudan.

There's more ... Sudan says Ye's business relationship with the Agalarovs will bear lucrative -- with deals he says they're working on that'll supposedly send his net worth sky-high, north of $10 billion, he claims. So, in other words ... Ye is all in on Russia, it seems.

Sudan went so far to say that Kanye would be making the area a "second home," telling Billboard the guy plans to spend a lot of time out there going forward. As for where those Sunday Service concerts would happen -- word is, he has the Crocus City Hall in mind, and will invite President Putin as his guest. It's a big venue ... capable of seating over 7,000.

Other options are being considered too, per Billboard, like the Grand Sports Arena at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, where the Olympics were once held. Capacity there is 80k-plus.

One last thing ... Sudan says Kanye is aware of the international strife between the U.S. and Russia -- namely, Putin encroaching on Ukraine, among other things -- but had this to say about it ... "This is Ye, Ye is going to get there regardless. What are they going to say? He's going to be a special guest of the Agalarovs."

He adds, "Kanye knows what's going on more than the average human being, he's well aware of things. And it's nothing against the United States or to cause conflicts, but Ye is Ye -- he can't be controlled."

Welp, now he's got 100 of 'em -- Jay-Z is fuming the feds refuse to release to a man who's served 14 years for weed, and says one of the government's reasons for holding him ... involves a leftover prison meal.

Jay's Team Roc is taking up the cause of a guy named Valon Vailes ... who's serving a 20-year prison sentence for intent to distribute more than a ton of marijuana. Vailes, who was convicted in 2007,  reached out to Jay-Z last year asking him to help him get a reduced sentence -- but in new court docs, Team Roc says the feds won't budge over some "ticky-tac" prison offenses.

Team Roc attorney Alex Spiro says Vailes more than meets the terms for compassionate release, but in docs he says federal prosecutors won't allow it because Vailes dared to ... wait for it ... sneak some leftover chicken from the prison mess hall to his cell.

Seriously. Cold-ass chicken ... that's what we're talking about?

If that wasn't petty enough, in the docs -- obtained by TMZ -- Spiro says Vailes is also getting dinged for merely using a piece of his prison uniform as "workout equipment."

Jay and Team Roc are incensed because they say Vailes, who's now 56, has been a model inmate in every way possible -- he's earned his GED -- and has a "mentally ill" brother at home who needs a caretaker. Vailes' mother had been taking care of the brother, but she died in 2020.

In his letter to Jay, Vailes discussed his frustration with watching corporations and individuals make billions off legalized marijuana, while he rots in prison over it.

Antonio Brown appears to be showing some regret over his infamous, shirtless breakup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ... admitting his wild outburst was unprofessional and unnecessary.

AB touched down in Los Angeles Monday afternoon after a week of living it up in NYC ... and just hours after his flight to the west coast, he hit up hotspot Craig's for a bite to eat with his new buddy, Kanye West.

But, before he went inside, the Super Bowl champ had a quick convo with the camera guys about his bizarre departure from last Sunday's game ... and he seems to wish he had handled himself differently.

"It probably wasn't necessary or professional," AB said ... all while keeping a smile on his face.

It's an interesting admission -- AB had previously been giving the middle finger to the Bucs since the breakup ... claiming they were trying to force him to play with an ankle injury prior to his exit.

Despite all the drama, AB has shifted his focus to music ... and has been linking up with some huge names like Fabolous after his season ended.

As for why he dined with Kanye? Rumor has it the rap legend wants to collab with AB on a track.

Kanye West and Julia Fox certainly know how to attract attention, hitting one of the most-trafficked celeb spots in L.A. for a dinner date night ... all while kinda-sorta matching their outfits.

The two arrived separately to Craig's Monday night, Kanye wearing his signature hoodie, jeans, sunglasses and boots -- while Julia wore similar colors -- with a tight jacket, jeans, heels and what appears to be a Balenciaga handbag.

It's the first time we've seen the new couple together on the West Coast -- they were up and down the East last week in both Miami and NYC -- hitting dinner, doing an impromptu photoshoot and Kanye dressing his new boo in Balenciaga.

However, it wasn't just Ye and Fox at Craig's Monday, they were joined by former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Antonio Brown, who is reportedly going to be making music with Ye in the near future.

No word on what the table conversation consisted of, but with that trio, there's certainly a wide scope of possibilities.

A Doja Cat fan is behind bars Sunday after making a bomb threat at her concert.

Doja Cat was performing at a concert in Indianapolis Saturday night, when the impatient fan wanted to cut the line to get inside.

A Deputy Police Chief told the IndyStar, "A fan wanted to advance in line so he exercised very poor judgment and told those around him in line he had a bomb in his backpack."

Cops were called and no explosives were found, but the guy was arrested for unrelated, outstanding warrants.

It's always insane for anyone to make such a threat, but especially in these times... and not just because of the political landscape. After the Astroworld tragedy, lots of people are on edge at concerts, so something like this predictably will cause chaos.

A concertgoer posted this ...  "Just waited 4 hours to see doja cat for their [sic] to be a literal bomb threat(???) scariest moment of my actual life the ground was covered in ice we were all running and slipping around literally so scary."

A fan was also freaked out ... "We were considering leaving before the bomb threat happened. Saw the front of the line push everyone back and dipped out of there. Not going back."

By the way ... another, smaller incident once the concert began. Doja Cat stopped the show for a short while because 2 fans were fighting.

Cardi B and Cuban Doll are at it again -- once again arguing over a would-be affair Offset was allegedly trying orchestrate years ago ... and CD seems adamant, he was after her.

The online war of words appears to have started with would-be subs Cuban threw Cardi's way -- at least that's how CB took it, because she immediately responded with extra firepower. A lot of Cuban's tweets have since been deleted, but Cardi's got the receipts.

According to Cardi, this all began when Cuban tweeted Saturday ... "I pray a man don't marry me just to cheat on me ... that's next level OD DISRESPECT." Cardi apparently responded to that, which set Cuban off ... and Cardi replied again in kind.

That's where things get interesting on Cuban's part ... because she appears to switch up her story here about what exactly went down back in 2018, when Offset was allegedly texting Cuban's friend to solicit a 3-way with all of them (sans a then-preggo Cardi).

Here, Cuban says Offset was, in fact, trying to "f*** me" ... different from what she told us at the time, when she denied ever meeting him or knowing anything about the drama at all. When Cardi hit her with DMs they exchanged at the time -- in which Cuban also denied any knowledge about the sitch -- Cuban asserted she'd been paid off to cover Offset's mess.

Cardi fired back, writing ... "First you said the girl was no longer ya friend, then it turned to he was fuckin her, now it’s he was trying to fuck with you? You can’t even keep up with ya own lies. Show me the receipts. You started this yet asking me what does it prove? Honey you need this moment not me."

In the end, this may well be a mistaken interpretation on Cardi's part. Cuban ended the back and forth with ... "You can't get mad I said I don't listen to your music !? Bitch it's been years the husband tweet was not bout u! It's just got that's made u mad girl bye your weird."

You might recall ... Cardi and Offset briefly split up because of this alleged philandering, but ended up getting back together, getting hitched and having more kids.

Kanye West's new girlfriend Julia Fox is no stranger to his estranged family, in fact, she might know just a little TOO much about them, as she herself admitted to being a "die-hard, OG" fan.

In a recently surfaced 2021 recap episode of her "Forbidden Fruits" podcast with co-host Niki Takesh, the two talked everything pop culture from the year that was. Of course, Kim Kardashian and Kanye's divorce was on the table, to which Julia said, "Can we talk about the Kim and Kanye divorce? Wait, can we talk about Kim and Pete Davidson, though?"

She also stated she'd watched "Keeping Up with The Kardashians" since it started in 2007, calling it "embarrassing" but admitted she'd miss the show now that it's wrapped.

Interestingly enough, Julia says, "It's like you are happy for them when something good happens to them."

From everything we've seen and been told, Kim is having a great time with Pete -- always smiling when with him -- so, weirdly enough, you gotta think Julia's proud?

The Kardashians are clearly a level of celebrity Julia and her squad have aspired to obtain over the years, with one friend recently telling The Cut, "Julia Fox is doper than Pete Davidson, Kim Kardashian, and Kanye West combined. She's a legitimate sorceress."

What's more, Julia's been known to re-post Kim K's Instagram stories over the years and has openly been a stan.

Pete Davidson whipped a crowd into a frenzy Friday night, when he jumped on stage and performed with Jack Harlow!!!

Jack was performing at The Novo in L.A. when he invited Kim Kardashian's BF to join him, and Pete didn't miss a beat. They danced around the stage as they performed "SUVs (Black on Black)."

You hear folks in the crowd saying they can't believe Pete joined Jack. It just underscores how Pete's celebrity has skyrocketed since hooking up with Kim. It's not to say Pete wasn't a celeb before, because he was, but Kim brought the whole thing to another level.

Kanye West's Presidential campaign was a total bust -- and cost him serious points in his marriage -- but that doesn't mean he's not keeping his political friends close ... dining with Jared Kushner in Miami.

Ye donned a neon hoodie, as he met up with Kushner -- the former Senior Advisor to President Trump, and of course, his son-in-law -- for a dinner meeting at Carbone in Miami Beach.

Unclear what the two discussed, but they've had ties in the past ... Jared also played a big role in getting Kim Kardashian to the White House to speak about her prison reform efforts with then-President Trump.

Of course, Kanye has openly supported Trump in the past and got folks talking when he wore a red MAGA hat. He recently said his wearing the hat caused issues with him and Kim.

Kanye's been back and forth between NYC and Miami this week, but his new boo Julia Fox was nowhere to be seen during the rendezvous with Kushner.

It appears Kanye West's new GF Julia Fox won't be the only one decked out in a Balenciaga look inspired by Ye, 'cause he just teased a massive collab with the fashion brand and his own baby, Yeezy.

Ye posted some sort of "Collaboration Agreement" contract Friday, showing his signature under Yeezy, Gap and Balenciaga brand names. While it's currently unclear exactly what the partnership will bring, the fact 3 of Kanye's favorite fashion outlets are coming together is significant.

Of course, Balenciaga became synonymous with Kim Kardashian when the two were together -- Kanye would dress her in the brand all the time -- and she's continued to wear it almost exclusively over the last few months.

As we told you, Ye's most recent girlfriend, Julia Fox, switched into a look almost made entirely of Balenciaga in the middle of their date night in NYC on Tuesday. When we first saw Ye and Julia leave "Slave Play" on Broadway, she was wearing a blue coat ... but after dinner, she was in a Balenciaga coat, gloves, top and purse.

Julia Fox is explaining what it's like to date Kanye West ... and it sounds like he's full of surprises and is very generous.

The "Uncut Gems" star says she met Ye on New Year's Eve in Miami and felt an instant connection, describing his energy as "so fun to be around" ... according to what she told Interview Magazine.

Julia says Kanye kept her friends laughing, dancing and smiling all night ... so they decided to keep the good times rolling in New York City, where they took in a Broadway production of "Slave Play."

JF says she was super impressed by Kanye's punctuality ... noting his flight landed an hour before the show started and he still made it right on time ... and when the curtain dropped they were off to dinner at Carbone.

Julia says Kanye directed an entire photoshoot inside the restaurant while they wined and dined ... and she says the other patrons loved the gesture and even cheered them on.

After dinner, more surprises followed ... Julia says Ye brought her to a hotel where he had an entire suite full of clothes ... describing it as "every girl's dream come true" and "a real Cinderella moment."

It looks like Julia played dress-up with all the clothes Kanye brought to the suite, and they made out on the floor. As we first told you, he's dressing her head to toe in Balenciaga just like estranged wife Kim Kardashian.

Julia says she's still in shock over the hotel suite surprise ... admitting she doesn't know how Kanye pulled it off and got all of the clothes in there on such short notice. As she puts it ... "who does things like this on a second date? Or any date!"

The Super Bowl halftime show promises to be one of the most spectacular yet, thanks to Dr. Dre, but the stakes are high because if COVID somehow kills the show, Dre could lose millions.

As we reported, the show will be filled with huge stars, including Eminem, Snoop, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige. Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ, Dre is fronting most of the money necessary to pull off the event, and we're told it's in the millions of dollars.

Our sources say ... Dre has Event Cancellation Insurance to cover any calamity that might derail the halftime show. Problem is ... we're told there's an exclusion for COVID.

We've learned the pesky provision is called a Communicable Disease Exemption, and it's been around for years ... ever since SARS. But COVID is part of the Communicable Disease Exemption, which means the insurance policy will not cover Dre's losses if the show is 86'd.

The high, high likelihood is the show will go on as planned. There's cautious optimism Omicron will peak later this month ... and the Super Bowl is set for February 13th.

Even if there's an explosion of cases and the crowds are either scaled back or even eliminated, the game will go on ... similar to how it went down last year in the throes of the pandemic. The other possibility, the NFL has made it clear it wants fans in the stands, and if that can't happen at L.A.'s SoFi Stadium, the game could be moved to say, Dallas.

Kanye West is filling the third and final headliner spot at this year's Coachella ... which almost certainly means Travis Scott is getting left out of the festival -- at least according to a new report.

Variety says they have sources who claim Kanye has signed on as one of the famous event's big names for 2022 ... joining the other two headliners in Billie Eilish and Swedish House Mafia.

Coachella is coming back after two years off due to the pandemic ... and the 2020 edition had Frank Ocean, Rage Against the Machine and Travis Scott as the headliners before it was scrapped.

If Kanye joins the fold, it appears highly unlikely Travis will take the stage at Coachella this April in Indio, CA ... but there's yet to be an official announcement either way.

Kanye will certainly be a big draw and he's got some new music to perform too ... remember, he recently dropped his latest album, "Donda."

Yeezy performed a few "Donda" listening parties last year ... and just last month he took the stage with Drake for the 'Free Larry Hoover' benefit concert in Los Angeles.

Billie Eilish will fill a headliner spot at this year's Coachella -- making her the second out of three names -- and a big question mark for Travis Scott's status with the festival.

A source with knowledge tells us Eilish has signed on as one of the event's big names for 2022. 2020's edition had Frank Ocean, Rage Against the Machine and Travis Scott as the three headliners before it was canceled because of COVID-19.

Frank is now committed to 2023's festival, and Rage Against the Machine is reportedly not headlining 2022's edition ... which left 2 empty spots with Travis.

The first was filled by Swedish House Mafia, who announced their return to music a couple months ago -- and now the 2nd will be Billie.