TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Tiffany Haddish has something cooking in the kitchen -- but it ain't a comedy thing, it's music ... and she says she's hoping she can make it pay dividends.

The comedian/actress dished about her new musical endeavor to a photog Tuesday night out at the Mint Room Studios in Glendale, where it appears she was in the middle of some recording sessions for a collection of original tunes she's pulling together.

Before you run off thinking Tiff's about to drop an album, listen to the clip first ... because she makes it clear there's no such project in the works, although she is laying down tracks.

As TH explains -- these songs aren't for streaming, per se, but more so for TV and film use. Tiffany obviously understands where the dough is in the biz, and it ain't in traditional music releases ... but more so in residuals, which she's trying to cash in on right now.

No word on what exactly her vibe feels like or how these songs might sound -- but we DO know Tiff can carry a tune ... and we're also hearing she's recruiting the likes of Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne and even Beyonce for this project of hers. So, let your imagination run wild.

Jack Harlow's on top of his game and at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Chart thanks to his new single “First Class” -- but some fans, critics and industry execs wonder if race is playing a role in his success.

Of course, Jack's hit samples Fergie’s 2006 multi-platinum track, “Glamorous" ... and we all know it absolutely blew up on TikTok, which definitely helped it grab the top spot.

Still, Top Dawg Entertainment President Terrence "Punch" Henderson sparked a debate Tuesday on Twitter by proclaiming Black artists have to be more exceptional compared to their White counterparts.

Even though "Punch" never mentions Jack by name, the twitterverse got his point.

He also seemed to reference Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' "The Heist" album beating Kendrick Lamar's "good kid, m.A.A.d. city" at the 2014 Grammys as an example.

The debate came up on Tuesday's episode of TMZ Hip Hop ... as our DJ Hed and Rodney Rikai challenged each other on what's really fueling the Kentucky-born rapper’s rise to the top.

Great convo, and you gotta check out the clip, because they actually answered this hypothetical: IF Jack were a Black rapper, whose career would his most resemble???

Dave East and Saweetie fans, pay attention!

All in all, Jack is having a renaissance year within a still blossoming career. His new album "Come Home the Kids Miss You" is set to drop May 6, he’s starring in the "White Men Can’t Jump" reboot ... and he's fresh off a KFC campaign that benefits several social justice and youth groups.

Fat Joe's taking a break from ripping mics to tear into America's healthcare system and the politicians allowing hospitals to essentially steal from patients ... and TMZ Hip Hop's learned he's taking this fight all the way to Washington, DC.

Joey Crack recorded this incredibly powerful message last month in the Bronx, calling out healthcare "crooks" for hiding hospital prices -- something that's actually illegal, but as Joe points out ... no one's policing the system.

Joe teamed up with Power to the Patients to demand change, and you can tell he's feeling this cause as much as any verse he's ever recorded. As he says on the spot, "When we can't see or compare prices, hospitals charge us whatever they want. They robbing us!!!"

The Bronx icon has some A-list companies in the fight for patients' rights. You might recall ... Susan Sarandon and Cynthia Erivo filmed their own PSAs last year for Power to the Patients, which aired during the Oscars.

Susan also joined us on "TMZ Live" to tackle the hot button issue.

We're told Fat Joe's so serious about this campaign, he'll be attending the White House Correspondents' dinner later this month to rep the org, and, hopefully, get some DC powerbrokers onboard with the effort.

Nicki Minaj is straight up threatening her most hardcore supporters, aka the Barbz -- if they don't start watching her new video with Fivio Foreign, she might scrap any album plans!

Onika unleashed the vid Tuesday for her New York drill anthem, “We Go Up,” with Fivio ... and while it features plenty of "outside energy" Nicki thinks it's lacking online energy.

Directed by Andre "Drevinci" Jones, the clip connects hoods from Queens and Brooklyn and has Nicki stunting in a pink Lamborghini -- but sounds like Nicki's unimpressed with the number of views it's gotten to this point.

She issues a warning to the Barbz that she'll be inside real quick if the vid doesn't blaze up the YouTube charts -- meaning, she'll shelve her upcoming 5th studio album.

It doesn't appear to be a drill. She even wanted fans to know she was channeling Meryl Streep's ice cold "Devil Wears Prada" character.

While drill music is undoubtedly the hottest subgenre in hip hop, Nicki isn't hopping on the wave – she sorta helped bring it to prominence.

Back in 2014, she did a feature for a then-little-known G Herbo (who was rapping underneath the name Lil Herb) on the song "Chi-Raq," a direct ode to Chicago drill.

A$AP Rocky and Rihanna are doing the ultimate love bird thing that an expecting couple could while on vacation -- soon-to-be Mama Bear looking on as dad takes on Mother Nature.

The singer/fashion mogul was taking in the sights Tuesday down in her native Barbados -- notably, the sight of her baby daddy ripping and roaring through the ocean just outside their vacay home while mounted on a jet ski.

Check it out ... Rihanna is surrounded by some friends/fam, checking in on A$AP with a pair of binoculars as he navigates the choppy waters solo. Seems like she was impressed by what she was seeing, and likewise ... he was pretty happy too. Each of them were all smiles.

Of course, RiRi is heavily pregnant -- it looks like she could pop any day now -- so she definitely wasn't going to join on this particular excursion.

No worries, because A$AP was able to manage just fine on his own ... and before long, he reunited with his lady on land and they headed back inside together. If you didn't believe your eyes before this weekend, you can believe this -- they're very much together.

We'd already been told there was no truth to them splitting over alleged cheating -- it was nothing more than a Twitter rumor that took off like wildfire -- but the proof is in the pudding now that they're in each other's company again, looking super boo'd up, per usual.

Like we said, the future parents aren't just putting on a united front in paradise ... they very much are a united front, for realsies.

Drake and Taylor Swift are NOT about to drop new music together ... despite a social media post from Drizzy fueling rumors about a potential collab in the works.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … sadly there is NO collab between Drake and Taylor that is about to be released, and Champagne Papi's Instagram post from Monday is just a throwback photo with no hidden message.

As we reported ... the OVO rapper posted a photo dump on IG, which included a photo of him with his arm around Taylor. Drake captioned the post, "They too soft to understand the meaning of hard work".

Our sources say there's nothing behind the pic other than memories ... and the photo with T-Swift is from a few years ago, sometime in 2017 or 2018.

Drake and Taylor are friends with a long history ... and the post and caption led many to believe Drizzy was signaling new music ... but we're told it's just a harmless throwback post.

DJ Envy has an admitted 50 Cent bias – but he's still calling cap on Benzino's plans to sue the "Power" series honcho for defamation.

We caught "The Breakfast Club" co-host with his wife Gia outside Fox News in NYC, and while he pledged his allegiance to 50 Cent (they came up through the same underground hip hop grind in Queens), he doesn't feel Benzino can truthfully present a winning case in court.

Envy acknowledged Young Buck and Benzino's beefs with 50 Cent ... after catching his social media wrath, but in his opinion, they're both out of legal luck.

Again, he's admittedly biased, but even Envy opted to deflect when we asked him about Fiddy's Easter Sunday shot at Jay-Z ... saying he looks like a "gay painter" and posting a side-by-side of Jigga and Basquiat.

Back to Benzino ... he was just on TMZ's "It's Tricky With Raquel Harper," calling for 50's head in court and comparing him to Tekashi 6ix9ine ... in terms of alleged snitching, at least.

DJ Envy and Gia are currently promoting their book, the ridiculously long-titled "Real Life, Real Love: Life Lessons on Joy, Pain & the Magic That Holds Us Together" -- but what could feel longer than being married for 10 years without an orgasm?

The couple recently stepped into The Shade Room to reveal they not only endured a cheating scandal, but 10 years of Gia faking the big O to satisfy Envy's ego. That admission stirred up a spicy convo on the latest episode of TMZ Hip Hop.

Trick Daddy insists his restaurant did NOT take a hit, following his controversial take on Beyoncé's singing skills -- and yet, the rapper-turned-chef is firing some new shots.

He joined "TMZ live" to clear the air on those comments he made about Bey. ICYMI, his restaurant, Sunday's Eatery, got flooded with bad online reviews, starting last summer, when he said "Beyoncé can't sing."

The joint's Google ratings dropped from 4.8 to 2.6, but TD tells us Sunday's Eatery weathered the storm just fine. Most importantly -- for the Beyhive, anyway -- he also called Beyoncé the greatest entertainer (not singer) in the world.

As far as those bad reviews, he blames trolls and not Beyoncé's dedicated fans ... because he says, "real fans" understand people have different opinions.

The whole experience isn't making him shy, though ... he offered up what he admits will be an "unpopular opinion" -- "Kevin Hart ain't funny."

If kids really do see ghosts, they're gonna see the corpse of what was Kanye West and Kid Cudi's once-tight relationship -- which Cudi is now laying to rest. For good.

Cudi put the final nail in the coffin Tuesday when Pusha T's "It's Almost Dry" tracklist hit the internet.

While the Jay-Z-featured "Neck & Wrist" has penetrated Hip Hop news, it's the song "Rock N Roll" that Kid Cudi has an issue with ... because it also features Ye.

The Man on the Moon crushed longtime Good Music fans by tweeting the ONLY REASON the song is being released to the public is his love for Pusha T. He added that "Rock N Roll" was recorded when he and Ye were on friendly terms.

It was, in fact, Kanye who severed their friendship this last time around when he sliced Kid Cudi's "Donda 2" contribution ... because Cudi refused to end his friendship with Pete Davidson, which Ye wanted nixed for obvious reasons.

Kanye and Cudi's relationship has been roller-coaster-like for years, with some of the highs including collaborating on blockbuster albums such as "808s & Heartbreak" and "The Life Of Pablo" while Ye produced Drake's Kid Cudi diss "Two Birds, One Stone" is one reason they're at the end at the road.

If it's one thing Drake is good at, it's making a hit song ... and his latest photo with Taylor Swift has us thinking there could be one in the works with the pop artist.

The OVO rapper dropped a series of photos on Instagram, Monday ... and the last of five is with no one other than pop star, T-Swift.

It's not clear if it is a throwback photo or if it was taken recently ... but Drizzy captioned the gallery saying, "They too soft to understand the meaning of hard work".

And, he could be on to something ... both Taylor and Drake have worked super hard and rose from the ranks in the music industry. Drake's been bestowed the award of Artist of the Decade by Billboard and Taylor was named Billboard’s Greatest Pop Star of 2021.

Of course, a music collab wouldn't be the biggest stretch ... Taylor and the Champagne Papi have been friends for a minute. They've been spotted together as far back as 2013, at the MTV Video Music Awards.

In Taylor's 2019 song "I Forgot That You Existed" she sings ... "And I couldn't get away from ya. In my feelings more than Drake, so yeah."

Benzino says the bad outweighs the good when it comes to 50 Cent's track record in hip hop ... claiming when you talk "just the facts," the facts aren't great for Fiddy.

The former "Love & Hip Hop" star is the latest guest on the "It's Tricky With Raquel Harper" podcast, and he's addressing his 50 Cent beef head-on by strongly hinting he's about to drop a lawsuit on him and several others.

Then Benzino, who was co-owner of The Source, rips his nemesis, saying ... "He's the first 6ix9ine. Like, the first hip hop rat!!!"

As you know Tekashi 6ix9ine infamously snitched to the feds on fellow gang members to get a reduced sentence -- and Benzino's referencing an old allegation Fif ratted on former record exec Jimmy Henchman.

Benzino even references federal "paperwork" allegedly signed by 50 that would prove he snitched -- a claim often repeated by Ja Rule and others at Murder Inc. Records.

However, 50 Cent's always denied this, and as TMZ first reported ... law enforcement sources told us those documents were fake.

Here's the odd part ... Benzino reminded Raq he went out of his way, back in 2000, to help 50 -- and possibly save his life -- when he got stabbed at Hit Factory studios.

Clearly, things have gone way south between them since then, and Benzino's not backing down.

Erica Banks is on an island by herself after unloading on Nicki Minaj and the female rappers on her collabs -- Asian Doll is making sure she doesn't get dragged into the simmering feud.

The beef started sizzling when Erica – who earned a Gold plaque last year after her single "Buss It" blew up on TikTok – revealed on REVOLT's Big Facts podcast that Nicki blocked her on social media, because she feels the Queen Barbz prefers working with female rappers who lack lyrical skills.

When the Big Facts crew pressed Erica to name her peers who can't find bars, the Dallas native pleaded the Fifth ... which led the Internet to speculate it was yet another Coi Leray dig. She's been taking shots from every which way following Billboard's report she only sold 9,000 units for her debut album, "Trendsetter."

The album featured the colorful Nicki collaboration "Blick, Blick" ... which does have 15 million YouTube views, but clearly isn't helping move her album

When Coi got wind of Erica's shade, she reacted to the clip with a series of laughing emojis ... a much softer reaction than that of Asian Doll.

Erica's fellow Dallas native has also been vocal about her desire to work with Nicki, but in a fiery round of tweets, she shut down all association with Banks' salty remarks, and even went as far as to say she played herself.

As for Coi ... she's taking the wave of newfound attention in stride, and claiming her final sales figures were closer to 11.5 million.

Tekashi 6ix9ine is all flash and no cash ... at least that's what he wants a judge to believe, because he's claiming to be broke at the same time he's flaunting $2 mil on camera.

Hip-hop's most infamous heel was on "TMZ Live" Monday when he copped to using "prop money" in a recent video where he boasted he has more cash on hand than a rival rapper's net worth. Most people took it as a subliminal shot at Fivio Foreign, though 6ix9ine never says his name.

All that money flew in the face of Tekashi telling a judge he's broke.

He still owes $1 million to robbery victims in the criminal case where he snitched on ex-friends to get a reduced sentence.

Claiming he's faking his riches because, "I'm an entertainer," won't help Tekashi's street cred -- but, to that point, he also told us he doesn't get why everyone blames him for ongoing beefs with Fivio, Lil Durk and others.

In his new music video for "Gine," 6ix9ine calls out Durk over the murder of King Von -- one of Durk's closest friends. It's a brazen and cold-hearted line, for sure.

One of the drug dealers who supplied fentanyl-laced pills to Mac Miller just received his sentence after copping a plea last year -- and he's going to prison for a long time.

Ryan Reavis will be behind bars for 10 years and 11 months after pleading guilty in November to one count of distributing fentanyl. The sentence is longer than what Reavis himself had asked for -- 5 years -- but shorter than the 12.5 years prosecutors were gunning for.

Remember ... the feds say Reavis supplied the deadly oxycodone pills to Mac's alleged drug dealer, Cameron Pettit ... on orders from Stephen Walter, who also recently pled guilty to distributing fentanyl. Reavis said in court Monday that he was just a middle man.

More importantly ... he claimed he had no idea that the pills he was supplying were counterfeit. Despite this, the judge seemed to have dished out an even-handed sentence -- but not before hearing a statement from MM's mother, Karen Meyers.

It read, in part ... "He would never knowingly take a pill with fentanyl, ever. He wanted to live and was excited about the future. The hole in my heart will always be there." In other words, she insisted the alleged dealers/suppliers in this case were solely responsible for his perish.

As we reported ... Reavis was first arrested back in 2019 out in Arizona -- where authorities say they found a bogus doctor's notepad, from which he presumably filled prescriptions. They also claimed they found firearms and drugs ... including prescription-only pills and marijuana.

Two famous Seattle ballers in Macklemore and Marshawn Lynch are now biz partners ... in a completely new field for both of them.

On Monday, the NHL announced the rapper and ex-NFL great are both minority owners of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken, the league's newest franchise.

Mack, a 4x Grammy Award winner, and Beast Mode, a Super Bowl champ and 5x Pro Bowler ... are almost getting in on the ground floor -- this is the Kraken's first season on the ice.

Team CEO Tod Leiweke admitted he was initially taken aback when the guys approached the team last summer, but their missions to uplift the Seattle community proved to be an invaluable addition to the organization.

Plus, Macklemore can always be a handy choice for pre or post game entertainment. The hometown hero says he has nostalgic ties to the team's arena.

Speaking of hometown, Macklemore will be using his association with the team to cross-brand with his Hip Hop-centric, youth development program, The Residency, to continue to foster kids in the area.

Kendrick Lamar just turned the hip hop world upside down with a single Instagram post --.a platform he hardly ever uses, but this time it was to reveal some gigantic news.

The rap megastar has been keeping an extremely low profile in preparation for his final album on Top Dawg Entertainment and now, we not only have a name but an actual release date to expect new music!

It appears King Kunta has settled on the album title "Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers" ... with an expected release date of May 13.

The self-explanatory statement was posted on pgLang letterhead, the music imprint he runs with his longtime friend/manager Dave Free. In the brief message, Kendrick is adamant he will be the only source for information regarding the album.

After launching in 2020, all appears to be going well: pgLang's flagship artist, Baby Keem, just took home a Grammy for Best Rap Performance for the Kendrick duet, "Family Ties."

K Dot is coming fresh off the still-buzzing Super Bowl LVI Halftime show opposite legends, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige. Spotify numbers following the performance revealed he saw a 250% increase in his 2015 "Alright" streams — and that was just one song.

With so much talk about artists not sustaining an audience due to low streams and sales, Kendrick could ignite a jolt in rap, much like he's done several before.