TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

R. Kelly needs to be locked up for more than a quarter century ... according to federal prosecutors, and that's just for the one case for which he's been convicted.

Federal prosecutors out of the Eastern District of NY -- who won a conviction against Kelly last September -- just filed their recommendation for his sentencing, and they believe there's more than enough reason to send him away for "in excess of 25 years."

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, the feds say Kelly's particularly menacing because of his history of enticing minors. Prosecutors hold up the case of his relationship with Aaliyah as a prime example, saying he "began to sexually abuse her when she was just 12 or 13 years old." As they laid out in the trial, Kelly went on to marry her in an attempt to cover up that abuse and dodge criminal charges.

Other reasons prosecutors want the judge to throw the book at Kelly include his recordings of child pornography ... and the "physical and psychological" abuse of women. Of course, much of that was detailed in the "Surviving R. Kelly" documentary -- things like Kelly making women call him "Daddy," violent spankings if they disobeyed his rules, and prolonged isolation as punishment.

They also say Kelly knew he had genital herpes in 2004, but continued to have sex with women without telling them.

The feds are particularly concerned because they say Kelly continued doing all of these heinous acts even after he'd been arrested and gone on trial in 2008.

And there's this ... as we all know, R. Kelly has an impressive catalog of hits, and prosecutors say that led him to believe "his musical talent absolved him of any need to conform his conduct -- no matter how predatory, harmful, humiliating or abusive to others -- to the strictures of the law."

Add it all up, and the feds say that's why they're recommending the judge put Kelly behind bars at least until he's well into his 70s. He's currently 55, and sentencing is scheduled for June 29.

Rae Sremmurd are back as a unified front and the brothers, Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi, are celebrating in a majorly blinging way.

Swae put on for Gemini season at Poppy nightclub in West Hollywood with a live performance Tuesday night, and big bro Jxmmi surprised him with a diamond-encrusted chain to make his 28th birthday that much more lavish.

Celeb jeweler Boo Daddy Diamonds tells TMZ Hip Hop the custom "BIG SWIZZY" piece is made with VS diamonds and white gold with a VS Diamond and White Gold Tennis chain to match.

Jxmmi was so impressed with the work, he picked up a custom 'JXM' diamond pendant for himself.

The blinged-out vibes carry into Rae Sremmurd's new single release "Denial," which dropped today. The music vid was shot by Bryan Barber in Rio De Janeiro, and the song officially serves as the kick-off for their upcoming 4th album, "Sremm4Life."

Rap music's first song to go No. 1 on Billboard -- Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" -- is still one of its most controversial, as one of Ice's collaborators comes forward claiming the rapper's a total fraud.

Mario "Chocolate" Johnson — the man Suge Knight infamously appointed as co-writer of the eventual blockbuster track — went off in a new interview with "The Art Of Dialogue," exposing what he says was Ice's true contribution to his debut record ... ZERO!!!

Mario ripped Ice, aka Rob Van Winkle, saying ... "He said he wrote 'Ice Ice Baby' at 16 ... he didn't write NO parts of that song!"

Vanilla Ice has disputed Johnson's work in the past ... perhaps most passionately in his ABC interview in the 90s when the incident was still fresh in his mind.

The urban legend goes Suge and his henchman physically strong-armed Ice by hanging him over a hotel balcony and making him drink urine in order to coerce him into signing over part of the writing credits -- which funded the launch of Death Row Records.

One thing all parties (including Suge) agree on is the whole Vanilla Ice hung-over-a-balcony mafia-style was widely embellished.

While Ice admits he did go out on the balcony to be intimidated, that's where the physical contact stops. Mario backs that up too, and adds the heated meeting was NOT about "Ice Ice Baby" at all -- but, instead, says it was about the 8 other songs on Ice's album, "To the Extreme."

Ray J hit the nail on the head when he said straight men should do more to support members of the LGBTQ community, so says Da Brat, who believes even more can be done when it comes to straight men in hip hop.

Da Brat and her wife, Judy Dupart, joined "TMZ Live" and gave us their thoughts on Ray J's take on homophobia in the Hip Hop community.

Da Brat says she feels Ray's comments are a step in the right direction and believes more artists -- like Snoop Dogg, for example -- who holds legend status in the biz could help too.

ICYMI ... Ray J posted an 11 minute video on IG, calling out straight men for not shouting out folks in the LGBTQ+ enough. In his caption he wrote "GAY PRIDE/ RAY PRIDE!!" and went on to say that the time is now to show more love.

As for Da Brat, who only came out publicly in the last few years, tells us Judy is someone who makes her feel like it's OK to be free and be herself. She says she never felt stuck with her sexuality, but she was conditioned to keep her dating life private as a celeb.

Kanye West has another female friend in his life, and she's someone he's previously mentioned in his music ... swimwear and OnlyFans model Monica Corgan.

Ye had previously been linked to model and Kim Kardashian look-alike Chaney Jones, but sources tell us they're no longer a thing. Corgan and Ye popped up together at a showing of "Top Gun: Maverick" over the weekend ... leading to speculation she was Kanye's new fling.

However, sources connected to the two tell us they've actually been off and on for a while now, so the movie date wasn't totally shocking.

What's more ... Kanye's rapped about Corgan in the past in a leaked song with Andre 3000 when he said, "So don't text me like I'm Juanita JCV / Or more important, Monica Corgan, who was there for me."

23-year-old Corgan has done a ton of modeling collabs, and her OnlyFans account -- which is a $19/month subscription -- boasts more than 400 postings.

Alicia Keys is setting the record straight about her song choice at the Queen's Platinum Jubliee -- saying her NYC-based hit wasn't her pick -- it was the Queen's.

Alicia's been facing some backlash ever since performing "Empire State Of Mind" at Queen Elizabeth's royal ceremony on Saturday, with many thinking the song serves no purpose at an English bash ... but she says she was only giving the 96-year-old Royal what she wanted.

She posted some BTS videos from her big performance on Instagram Tuesday, showing how the whole thing went down.

The clip shows her 11-year-old son Egypt saying, "You can't refuse the Queen. It's against the law here!" She even wrote on her IG caption, "FYI: Every song was requested personally by the Queen ... Even EMPIRE!!"

Of course, fans of both Alicia and the royal family were confused when she sang her classic song about New York for the festivities overseas ... one even tweeted about the odd choice, saying "why the hell were American entertainers even invited."

The NFL will have to wait for its first black team owner -- the Denver Broncos just sold for a record $4.65 BILLION to Walmart heir Rob Walton and his family ... which is sad news for Magic Johnson and Kanye West.

The Broncos and the Walton-Penner family announced the deal late Thursday night ... which is believed to be the biggest deal for a North American franchise in sports history.

Walton -- who has a reported net worth of $59 BILLION -- will also take the throne as the richest owner in the league BY FAR -- David Tepper, the owner of the Carolina Panthers, has a net worth of $16.7 bil.

As we previously reported, the Lakers legend was part of a group led by Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Josh Harris ... although it's unclear how far along their bid made it in the process.

The agreement also means Yeezy's Donda Sports will not be part of a historic sale ... after Antonio Brown previously told TMZ Sports the company was "extremely serious" about buying the Broncos back in March.

It's worth mentioning -- it's unclear if Donda ever actually brought a bid to the table.

Walton spoke about securing the deal ... saying, "Having lived and worked in Colorado, we've always admired the Broncos."

"Our enthusiasm has only grown as we've learned more about the team, staff and Broncos Country over the last few months."

He added ... "We look forward to earning the confidence and support of the NFL as we take the next step in this process. When the necessary approval procedures are met, our family is excited to share more with Broncos fans, the organization and the community."

DDG may not be moonwalking in Calabasas for a while ... we've learned he got hauled off to jail for gun possession, but the arrest started with an alleged joyride.

Law enforcement sources tell us LAPD pulled over the 24-year-old rapper and YouTuber Monday for reckless driving. We're told he was cruising in a Lamborghini at the time.

Cops ended up searching the vehicle and say they found a gun, leading to his arrest for felony possession of a concealed weapon.

DDG -- who's dating singer/actress Halle Bailey -- is currently being held on $35,000 bond in Valley Jail. As of now, it's unclear if they'll ticket him for reckless driving or submit the incident with the gun charge.

We’ve reached out to DDG’s reps … we’ll let you know what we hear back.

It appears Lil Nas X isn't going to let the 2022 BET Awards skate after snubbing him of any nominations this year ... to the point, he's created a diss track going after the network.

A topless Lil Nas X posted a snippet of an upcoming new song on Tuesday we'd be surprised is called anything but "F*** BET."

After starting the song off with the disrespectful phrase on repeat, LNX goes into an auto-tuned flow where he brags about his riches and even proclaims he has "100 sticks" at his disposal.

Following the announcement of nominations last week, LNX went haywire when he realized he missed the Best Male Hip Hop and Pop Artist categories and no mention of his hit singles "INDUSTRY BABY" or "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)."

He blamed discrimination and Queen Latifah even agreed he should have been nominated for at least something.

LNX's gripes feel a bit heavy-handed seeing he was nominated in 2020 and got primetime exposure in June 2021 when he kissed his boyfriend.

But, there's no putting the genie back in the bottle … apparently it's "F*** BET" if you're Team Montero until further notice.

Migos is still a rap group ... the trio has NOT split up despite a recent removal from an upcoming festival, which only fueled existing rumors of a potential breakup.

A label rep for Migos tells TMZ ... the reason the group is no longer performing at this week's Governors Ball is because Quavo is busy filming a movie, and they couldn't work around the schedule conflict.

While the rumor mill went into overdrive following Tuesday's announcement Migos would no longer be part of the Governors Ball lineup -- instead being replaced by Lil Wayne -- we're told the group is NOT breaking up.

It's the first official comment on the breakup rumors since rumblings began online last month ... when the buzz was Quavo and Offset were on the outs again.

Photogs asked Huncho about the band's future, but he didn't say much and instead talked about his new collab with Takeoff, "Hotel Lobby."

There's also been a rash of social media unfollowings between Quavo, Offset and Cardi B ... with Takeoff remaining neutral. He's still following all of them.

Kanye West and Chaney Jones are no more ... the couple has gone their separate ways.

Sources connected to the former duo tell us they ended things shortly after a lengthy trip to Japan ... unclear who broke up with who. The split news also comes on the heels of photos that popped up this weekend of Kanye at a movie with another woman.

Kanye and Chaney first started hanging out back in February -- just as things were cooling off between Ye and Julia Fox. The model and Kim K look-alike started popping up at 'Donda 2' events Ye was hosting.

It wasn't long before they started showing up in the same photographs together, and eventually -- they stopped hiding their relationship ... going public as boyfriend and girlfriend.

While their romance ended up being short-lived, they sure did a lot in each other's company ... jet-setting all over the country for different events -- mostly between Miami and L.A., though -- and even took the international trip to Japan.

Not much was known about Chaney for a long time other than the fact that she was a dead ringer for Kanye's ex -- and eventually, amid all the speculation, she introduced herself to social media -- highlighting differences between her and Kim.

She said she was a COO of a mental health org, and not just that -- but added she was in school getting her Master's. Chaney also noted she'd never had any surgery done on her face.

Things seemed to really be getting serious between the two -- Chaney got a "ye" tattoo on her wrist. So from the outside looking in -- they were all about each other.

Of course, she's also much younger than Kanye -- he's 44, and she's in her mid-20s. It's a similar age difference to what Kim and Pete Davidson share, but they're going strong.

Channing Crowder regrets making his polarizing comments about Ciara during a podcast back in April ... but he says he still ain't budging on his opinion of Russell Wilson, insisting the dude is "a lame."

To catch you up ... the ex-Miami Dolphins linebacker made waves on his "The Pivot" pod after he said he believed Ciara was only with Wilson because of his money.

Crowder insisted there was no way Ciara could be with the NFL star otherwise ... saying he couldn't fathom how she could go from dating a guy like Future to dating one like Wilson.

On Tuesday, Crowder backpedaled on at least some of that opinion, saying on "The Breakfast Club" that he shouldn't have involved Ciara in the conversation.

"Bringing up Ciara, bringing up the man's family -- I'll take that back," Crowder said.

But, the former NFL player refused to walk back his shade of Russ.

"Have ya'll seen Russell's videos?" Crowder asked. "Have you seen, 'Mr. Unlimited'?! And, this goofy s*** he does?!"

"I don't know why so many people were mad at my opinion of Russell Wilson is a square and a lame."

Crowder added, "I didn't call him an alcoholic. I didn't call him a deadbeat dad. I didn't call him a pedophile. I called him lame!"

CC told the roundtable his remarks toward Wilson were not personal ... explaining, "There's lame people all around."

Ice Cube is pumped for the upcoming sixth season of his BIG3 basketball league, and given the news he's delivering ... fans should be too!

The legendary rapper and movie-maker hit TMZ Live Tuesday to spill the deets on Snoop Dogg's BIG3 involvement, as Tha Doggfather is now a part-owner of the team “Bivouac."

Cube revealed fans can be like Snoop -- by buying into teams with their custom cryptocurrency known as Forever Experience Action Token (FEAT) -- which he says is better than an NFT.

Boasting former NBA stars like Nick "Swaggy P" Young, Joe Johnson, Leandro Barbosa and several Hall of Famer coaches, Cube feels like the BIG3 is at its absolute strongest ... and he's firing on all career cylinders in 2022.

The BIG3 news comes on the eve of the release of "Bad MF," the debut album from hip hop supergroup Mt. Westmore (Cube, Snoop, E-40 and Too $hort).

Travis Scott has accomplished a lot of "firsts" lately since Astroworld ... but his latest accomplishment might be the most important indicator his career is back in full force.

Sources close to Travis Scott tell TMZ, he's been booked at the Day N Vegas Festival in Las Vegas. The date for 2022's edition of the festival is slated for September 2-4 weekend.

While the rest of the lineup hasn't been announced, we're told TS will be there ... this news comes on the heels of a few wins for the rapper, including a shoe deal with Nike that got over a million people gunning for them in under 30 minutes.

Travis also had a comeback TV performance at the Billboard Music Awards last month ... fans seemed to love it, and the crowd cheered as he was introduced, and was roaring when finished up.

He also teased a collab with Dior on his Instagram story Monday ... so clearly, there's a lot in the works for Travis.

Safe to say the rapper's moving back into public life little by little these past few months ... although it's gotta be hard to shake off the events at Astroworld that went down last year.

As we reported, Travis still has a lot of litigation his legal team is dealing with regarding Astroworld, but it appears TS is full steam ahead on everything else.

Popular Atlanta rapper Trouble was murdered over the weekend ... prompting his accused killer Jamichael Jones to turn himself in after his own mother talked him into it.

Rockdale County Sheriff's Officers say they connected with Jones on the phone and they set up an arrest point in the parking lot of Clayton County hospital. The 33-year-old was denied bond and faces charges of murder, aggravated assault and home invasion.

Trouble, whose real name is Mariel Semonte Orr, was found at the Lake St. James Apartments Sunday morning suffering from a gunshot wound -- he was then transported to the hospital where he died.

According to investigators, Trouble was visiting a woman at the Conyers apartment complex when he was shot once in the chest. Police are describing it as a "domestic situation," as Trouble and Jones did not know one another but the woman and Jones have prior history.

Trouble was a beloved, standout figure in the hip hop community, stemming from his 2011 debut mixtape "December 17th" and his outspoken presence on social media that often offered jewels of wisdom.

Upon his death, he was mourned by dozens of fellow rappers including Gucci Mane, T.I., Boosie Badazz and Drake, who he collaborated with in 2018 when he signed to Mike WiLL Made-It's "EarDrummers" label imprint.

Trouble was 34.

Skylar Grey, known for penning the Eminem & Rihanna classic "I Love The Way You Lie" and Diddy's "Coming Home," no longer owns those songs as a result of a bitter divorce with ex-husband Todd Mandel.

Skylar made the sad revelation she had to cash out on her song catalog in order to pay the divorce settlement. She says the majority of her earnings went to taxes ... and her ex-husband's bank account.

She told Variety ... although she'll no longer receive royalties when the songs are used in movies, TV, etc, she still considers the song "her babies," regardless of who owns the rights.

As a veteran artist, it's hard not to see her point. She's appeared on Eminem's last few albums and also has credits with Celine Dion, Nick Jonas, Ciara, G-Eazy, and more.

Skylar's divorce was a particularly nasty split. TMZ broke the story back in 2017 – when she filed a restraining order after accusing him of monitoring her every move with hidden cameras in their home.

Losing "Love the Way You Lie" is a pretty heavy blow -- the song is certified Diamond and has more than 2 billion YouTube views.