TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Rapper Lil Keed, a rising star from Atlanta and member of Young Thug's controversial YSL label, is dead ... according to his reps and family members.

His brother, Lil Gotit, said, "Can't believe I seened u die today bro I did all my cries I know what u want me to do and that's go hard for Mama Daddy Our Brothers Naychur and Whiteboy."

Complex first reported the death after getting confirmation from Keed's reps.

Although the "Trapped on Cleveland 3" rapper was signed to YSL, he was not part of the recent indictment in Atlanta that led to Gunna, Young Thug and 26 other YSL associates getting arrested on RICO charges.

After the raid and arrests, Keed posted an impassioned declaration about his label, insisting YSL was not a criminal organization ... as the Fulton County D.A. has claimed in the 56-count indictment.

Lil Keed recorded many popular songs, including "Snake," "She Know" and "Wavy (Remix)." Keeds garnered plenty of success from his own albums and mixtapes, as well as being featured on tracks with artists like Travis Scott, Lil Uzi Vert, Chris Brown, Future, Zaytoven and Lil Yachty.

Offset, from the popular rap trio, Migos, took to his IG story and said, "Damn twin rip."

Rapper Taylor Bennett wrote on his IG, "Keed you are the new sound of music surpassing hip hop and all genres."

Quana Bandz, Keed's GF posted a heartbreaking tribute mourning his death on IG saying, "I love you sooooo much baby🥺 what I'm post to do with out you😤 I can't breathe right sleep right nothing. I don't even wanna talk to nobody. Keed I can't take this why you leave US bru."

Keed leaves behind his GF, Quana, and their daughter Naychur.

He was 24.

Gunna was a busy man before surrendering to authorities in his RICO case ... carving out time to see family and making sure his business plans were in line before turning himself in.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... it was important for him to see his relatives before going to jail ... we're told he's big on family and has a lot of close relationships, especially with his mother.

Gunna also had to get his business affairs in order, because his music is really hot right now and he's got a No. 1 album in "DS4Ever" ... and it's not exactly easy to run a biz behind bars.

Before his arrest, we're told Gunna was in the middle of releasing visuals for his popular single "Banking On Me" and his focus before going to jail was tying up some loose ends with release dates, music videos and other biz affairs related to his new tunes.

As you know ... Gunna was booked on RICO charges Wednesday in Fulton County, and his lawyers are claiming he's innocent and hammering police for using his lyrics against him in a 56-page indictment.

Family and music aside, Gunna's facing some serious charges ... and our sources say he also wanted to huddle with his legal team to make sure they're all on the same page on how to prove his innocence.

Diddy has hopped on the newest train in pop culture ... the one canceling cancel culture.

Diddy said, "As a music family, none of us are saints; none of us are without things that happen to them in life," he told Billboard.

The mogul is exec producing and hosting the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, and he's squarely behind the org's decision to invite Travis Scott and Morgan Wallen to perform.

Diddy went on ... "So one of the things I'm doing directly is uncanceling the canceled. That's breaking news because people haven't been about uncanceling. But canceling is a trend that needs to stop."

Diddy was insistent on Scott taking the stage ... "I said, 'My brother Travis Scott has to perform.'"

He added ... "Travis went through a tragedy; Morgan [hurled the n-word] while talking to his boy. People make mistakes. Now we're moving on with love and respect for everybody that was hurt or affected. It's time to forgive."

Wallen was canceled from several awards shows last year after the incident, including the American Music Awards, but sales of his music actually rose during that period.

As for Travis ... he was sidelined for months after the Astroworld tragedy, but he's back performing and will do so in front of 100,000 people at the Primavera Sound festival later this year.

Drake's son has mad skills ... and sorry Drake, we're not talking basketball!!!

Adonis channeled his inner Warhol by painting an impressive, colorful abstract. Remember, the kid's 4, so it's a pretty spectacular start.

His mom, Sophie Brussaux, was busy on a canvas of her own ... and her work is objectively awesome. She posted, "A little progress pic, we paint together and deep condition together."

So, pretend you had no idea Adonis painted the abstract ... would you hang it in your house? We're guessing the answer is yes.

BTW ... the kid's already speaking French ... as Drake proudly showed his fans.

Iggy Azalea's obsession with Zillow has also translated to the real world ... she just found a buyer for her Hidden Hills home.

Azalea, who has said the home buying and listing website is her "actual addiction" ... has accepted an offer for her 5-bedroom, 5-bath pad for $5.949 million -- slightly less than the $6.2 million she listed it for back in January -- but a nice little bump from the $5.2 million she paid less than a year ago.

The home is perfect for entertaining, with a giant backyard and swimming pool ... not to mention a playground and basketball court. And, it's Kardashian-adjacent!

Funny enough, shortly after listing the home, Iggy tweeted, "I keep selling my house so I have an excuse to Zillow. I'm obsessed. It's my actual addiction." Seattle Seahawks star receiver, Tyler Lockett, who got his real estate license in the offseason, even offered his services to help her find her next home.

Besides her obsession with Zillow, another reason Iggy could have been looking to sell was to get away from her neighbor. Right after moving in last year, she was already feuding with them over renovations.

Kendrick Lamar’s new Apple and Spotify-crashing album ”Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” isn’t even 24 hours old and it’s already creating major shockwaves in rap and live music!

The 18-track effort features Ghostface Killah, Summer Walker and Baby Keem, with beats from Pharrell, Alchemist, Boi-1da and, as the "TMZ Hip Hop" crew will tell you ... it’s a lot to unpack.

As we reported, he opened up a conversation about transgender tolerance, an extremely rare topic in hip hop, addressed the COVID-19 controversy surrounding Kyrie Irving -- and, on the song "Worldwide Steppers," revealed his new baby boy's name is Enoch.

He's the little guy K Dot's wife, Whitney, is cradling on guy on the cover.

'Mr. Morale' marks the first Kendrick album in over 5 years, and he's apparently ready to be outside -- partnering with Amazon Music and CashApp to announce The Big Steppers Tour, which will co-star his PGLang artists Keem and Tanna Leone for 65 dates.

Talk about a grand return. He'll be on the road from July to December!!! The tour will make stops in in Atlanta, L.A., NYC, Chicago, and also jet overseas to Australia, the U.K. and other parts of Europe.

Young Thug's incarceration for allegedly running a crime syndicate is not going well ... in fact, his attorney says the famed rapper is being put through hell.

Thug's lawyer filed an emergency motion in hopes of getting him released immediately on bond. Why the urgency? Well, attorney Brian Steel says the YSL honcho is being held in total isolation in a windowless cement compartment with only a bed and a toilet.

He adds the cell has an overhead light that remains on 24 hours a day, preventing Thug from getting any sleep. Further, Steel says Thug has no access to media or opportunity to exercise, shave or have any human contact.

And, don't get him started on the menu -- according to his attorney, Thug is getting a tray of inedible "food." Steel included the quotes around food sarcastically.

While it sounds like he's basically describing a stereotypical jail cell, Steel says the conditions violate Thug's Constitutional rights -- in particular, the 8th and 14th Amendments ... barring states from inflicting cruel and unusual punishment.

As we've reported, Thug, Gunna and 26 other YSL associates were arrested following a 56-count racketeering indictment in Fulton County, GA. The group is accused of engaging in gang activity that includes drug and weapons possession, assaults, robberies and even murder.

Tiffany Haddish says she's a coy person, so she's really trying hard not to spill the beans about a rumored music project with Beyonce ... but there's a lot of smoke that could lead to something fire!

The "Girls Trip" star joined us on "TMZ Live" Friday and hinted at an upcoming collab with Queen B ... and even though she was coy and bashful about possibly getting in the studio with one of her music idols, there's enough between the lines to believe it may be happening, or it already went down.

Tiffany's been making new music with the likes of Trina and Jada Pinkett Smith, and we've been hearing she was also recruiting Beyonce, Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne to the project.

One thing is for certain ... Tiffany really admires Beyonce's work, and let's be honest, who wouldn't want to get with Bey in the studio?!?

It's interesting ... Tiffany says her original plan was to only use the music in movies and TV shows she's producing but not acting in, but she tells us why the financials might cause her to change course and drop the music publicly first.

Tiffany's a jack of all trades in Hollywood ... she just released a new book about bullying and being yourself, "Layla, the Last Black Unicorn," which she hopes helps kids who are going through some tough times.

Legendary West Coast spitter Xzibit -- aka Mr. X to tha Z -- chopped it up with "TMZ Hip Hop," dropping a plethora of updates ... including a few methods behind Dr. Dre's music-releasing madness.

Dr. Dre has been teasing new music on Instagram these past few months, posting up with several icons -- like Flavor Flav, Grandmaster Flash and Diamond D -- but hasn't announced an album ... which may or may not be called "Detox."

According to Xzibit, Dr. Dre's superpower lies in timing, and he has the intuition to know when to push the release button ... no matter how much fans clamor for new tracks.

As far as his business affairs go, X has been one of Hip Hop's leading cannabis entrepreneurs for years -- getting his feet wet with the Brass Knuckles brand, and booming again with his Napalm strains.

That's come with some controversy ... his Napalm brand got looped into the Stop Asian Hate movement (due to the infamous Vietnam War weapon), but X to the Z says that's all water under the bridge, and explained how he made good with the community.

He could make lots of new friends at the next Comic-Con, based on a few priceless Marvel collectibles he showed us. Trust us, Xzibit is all about "Wakanda forever" ... for real!!!

Make sure to check out "TMZ Hip Hop" on the following stations, or nationally on Fox Soul.

Gillie Da Kid is in the crosshairs of Lil Wayne's camp -- all thanks to comments he made about his recent interaction with Weezy.

Gillie was on the "It's Tricky with Raquel Harper" earlier last week when he claimed Lil Wayne appeared to be scared of him, saying hi and quickly fleeing the room when the two ran into each other recently.

Apparently, Young Money President, Mack Maine, got wind of the interview and flamed Gillie on Instagram, claiming he was capping over their decades-long beef. During the interview with Raquel, Gillie said he recently saw Lil Wayne at a Jackson State University event and claims a shook Weezy "got the f*** outta there!" after a brief encounter.

Mack Maine posted footage of the JSU meet-up which does see a smiling Wayne briefly connect with Gillie and his "Million Dollaz Worth Of Game" co-host Wallo — but doesn't appear to have the tension Gillie claims he felt during the exchange.

MM went on to drag Gillie further, sarcastically asking if he did indeed ghostwrite "Tha Carter" (Wayne's breakout album from 2004), who penned the other 4 successful installments.

Mack and Wayne have been thick as thieves for years, so you can pretty much guarantee Wayne shares the same sentiments.

The drama stems from Gillie allegedly doing extensive ghostwriting work for a then newly solo Lil Wayne and he went go on to claim he never got paid. Their beef thankfully never got violent but did see a few ugly diss tracks come from outta Gillie's direction.

Kendrick Lamar is stepping into territory seemingly every mainstream rapper has refused to enter ... bringing attention to the trans community and offering his support through the telling of his own personal experiences.

In his song, "Auntie Diaries," Kendrick starts by rapping "My auntie is a man now" ... and then, he goes on to talk about his transition. Later in the song, he reveals his cousin is trans as well, rapping, "Demetrius is Mary-Ann now."

Kendrick says, "I mean he's really Mary-Ann, even took things further. Changed his gender before Bruce Jenner was certain. Living his truth even if it meant see a surgeon."

Of course, many folks took to social media to share their thoughts -- with many calling it a groundbreaking rap song and pointing out the fact that this hasn't been done before, at least not by such a celebrated artist in the genre.

It's pretty significant ... Kendrick raps openly and candidly about learning to understand and grow from these family members. He even talks about being in elementary school and the mistakes he made, including when he'd use homophobic slurs.

At one point, he says "The day I chose humanity over religion the family got closer, it was all forgiven" ... clearly taking a stand against homophobia, especially in the church.

Kendrick Lamar is back ... K-Dot just released his highly-anticipated "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers" album -- and he brought up Kyrie Irving and his COVID drama with some sick bars on one of the new songs.

The track, called "Savior," is just a little under 4 minutes in length and features Baby Keem & Sam Dew -- and starts off with the California native referencing the Nets superstar and his vaccine stance.

"Seen a Christian say the vaccine mark of the beast," KL rapped. "Then he caught COVID and prayed to Pfizer for relief. Then I caught COVID and started to question Kyrie."

Clever wordplay from the MC ... but, of course, the bigger takeaway is him mentioning Kyrie, who missed a significant number of games for the Nets after refusing to get the jab.

Irving was ripped all season by NBA fans, the media, and celebs -- most notably comedians Chris Rock and Howard Stern -- for not getting vaxxed, but he never ended up taking it.

The line from Kendrick doesn't appear to be a dig at the 30-year-old. And, it seems Irving -- who was seen on Instagram Live on Thursday bumping the new Kendrick album -- isn't taking it that way. The point guard commented on the song during a recent Twitch stream, saying, "I'm not mad. I'm not indifferent. I'm just grateful. How about that?"

In a recent social media post ahead of the release of the new project, Kyrie also captioned a pic of Lamar with the words "We appreciate you Dot....."

Gunna's still locked up, but there's one company reaping the benefits of his clothing choice as he turned himself in ... customers are flooding its site to look like their favorite rapper.

Gunna was booked on RICO charges Wednesday in Fulton County, and while his mug shot appeared to be a little fuzzy, some eagle-eyed fans couldn't help but notice the logo on the hoodie he was wearing -- it's a brand called LaRopa.

We spoke to a rep for the clothing company who tells us the day Gunna's mug shot was released, the brand saw a 15% increase in sales for the hoodie, compared to a normal day.

Not only did sales jump on Wednesday, the trend continued Thursday as well ... with a 24% increase for the top.

We're told Gunna doesn't have a stake in the company ... he just happened to be wearing it during his arrest. However, he's not the only celeb to have rocked LaRopa in the past ... Playboi Carti, Bella Hadid, Erika Jayne and Young Thug -- who is also locked up on related charges -- have all been spotted in LaRopa before.

Memphis-born rapper Al Kapone -- most famous for his hit song "Whoop That Trick" -- says Warriors superstar Steph Curry can't use his signature line ... especially against his hometown Grizzlies!!

TMZ Sports spoke with the Southern MC after Memphis' 134-95 blowout win over Golden State Wednesday night ... and asked him how he felt about Curry saying his game plan heading into Game 5 was, "Whoop that trick."

"To be honest with you, I had two different feelings," Kapone said. "One feeling was, 'Wow, Steph Curry just said whoop that trick.' That was one feeling. Like, 'Man, this is pretty big.'"

"But the other side was -- you can't say that against my team. [I] was excited on one end, 'cause it was Steph Curry. But on the other end, you can't use that against my team."

Kapone -- who debuted the banger in 2005 -- said the Grizzlies tapped him to perform the record Wednesday night ... and once he saw Curry on the court, he knew what he had to do.

"I'm running around the court like I normally do," Kapone said, "getting the crowd pumped, and I just so happen to look up and notice -- there he is right there."

"I gotta make you eat those words right now, for Memphis!!!"

Of course, the song is a big deal because of its Southern roots ... but also because Terrence Howard performed it in the hit movie "Hustle & Flow" featuring Taraji P. Henson.

"It's amazing to have a song that's on the level of 'We Will Rock You,'" Al said. "It's amazing to know I birthed something that's iconic, and I'm here for every moment of it."

Speaking of TH, Al tells us he would love to share the stage with Howard and perform the legendary song together ... whether at a concert or a Grizzlies game.

"I talked to Craig Brewer, who is the writer and producer of Hustle and Flow, and we have had that conversation," Kapone said. "We're definitely trying to make that happen."

As Young Thug, Gunna and dozens of other YSL members stare down pages of racketeering and gang charges ... they're getting a wave of public support from famous friends in rap.

Leading the charge was Lil Keed — the 2020 XXL Freshman and YSL affiliate NOT busted in the 56-count RICO indictment. The 24-year-old is adamant the Young Stoner Life label is many things, but definitely not a gang.

Keed calls his YSL comrades more of a "family" and a "lifestyle" ... but not a criminal org.

Georgia prosecutors feel the opposite, having thrown an 88-page indictment at Thug, Gunna and 26 other associates; accusing the organization of murder, receiving stolen property and even ordering a Fulton County jailhouse hit on rival Atlanta rapper, YFN Lucci ... who was stabbed in February.

Keed's comments mirrored those of longtime Young Thug collaborator, super-producer Metro Boomin, Post Malone and Meek Mill.

Thug and Gunna's lyrics are being combed through as potential evidence -- a notion that set off Young Metro on Twitter.

Post, who worked with Thug on his own hit 2020 album, "Hollywood's Bleeding," also had nothing but love for the cause and gave an eternal vow of support to both Thugga and Gunna.

Meek Mill also bashed the RICO laws and vouched for Thug's character. Meek doesn't blame the artists themselves, but the influence they carry and how it affects individuals looking from the outside in.

The Dreamchasers CEO joined forces with the likes of JAY-Z, Fat Joe, Killer Mike and more in January to propose the "Rap Music on Trial" bill to prevent lyrics from being used as circumstantial evidence.

Travis Scott is among several defendants -- including Live Nation, Scoremore Holdings, ASM Global -- being sued by a woman who claims she suffered injuries so severe at Astroworld, they resulted in a miscarriage.

Shanazia Williamson says she attended Astroworld back in November and was trampled during a crowd surge and sustained injuries to her shoulder, back, chest, leg, stomach and other parts of her body.

In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Williamson says the defendants', "failure to plan, design, manage, operate, staff, and supervise the event was a direct and proximate cause of Shanazia's injuries and death of her and Jarawd's (her partner) unborn child."

Shanazia first filed a lawsuit for injuries she sustained at the festival on November 21, which included, "trouble breathing, chest pain, and left leg pain, as well as injuries to other parts of her body."

In an amended complaint, submitted a month-and-a-half after the tragedy, Shanazia filed for wrongful death. Interestingly, Texas law states ... a fetus that dies as a result of negligence can be the basis of a wrongful death lawsuit. It doesn't matter how far along the mother was in her pregnancy. It could be a fetus that isn't viable, but the parents could still sue for wrongful death.

It's also interesting ... in her amended complaint, Shanazia added the claim that she suffered injuries to her stomach. BTW, the complaint doesn't say how far along she was in her pregnancy.