TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Young Thug still found a way to be at Hot 97's Summer Jam even though he's locked up on RICO charges -- thanking fans for their support during an uncertain time.

We caught Young Thug's somber, yet uplifting message from inside MetLife Stadium where he urged fans and onlookers to help fuel the Protect Black Art initiative, a law that could prevent prosecutors from using rappers' lyrics in court against them.

“I just want to say thank you to all of my friends and my family for coming out and supporting us,” Thug began. “You know, your support during this time means a lot to us, ya know.”

"You know, this isn’t just about me or YSL, I always use my music as a form of artistic expression, and now I see that Black artists and rappers don’t have that, you know, freedom,” he continued. “Everybody please sign the ‘Protect Black Art’ petition and keep praying for us. I love you all.”

Team YSL has been getting plenty of support from fellow high-profile rappers like Drake and Lil Baby, with Meek Mill being the latest as he took time outta his Summer Jam set to double down PBA support.

The Game felt some type of way after he was excluded from the Super Bowl halftime show in his city ... the L.A. rapper saying he was "hurt" Dr. Dre didn't hit him up to perform.

Super Bowl LVI was basically L.A.-themed -- going down at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA -- with the Rams repping the NFC. Most Los Angeles of all, the halftime performers ... including L.A. rappers Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Kendrick Lamar.

But, The Game -- an L.A. native who always reps for the city -- was not included in the lineup ... something the 46-year-old rapper said wasn't right while appearing on the "I Am Athlete" podcast.

"The f****** Rams was in the Super Bowl, bro!" The Game said, "L.A., L.A., L.A. all around the Super Bowl and I don't get the call. I was hurt by that.”

"Dre should've called and said why. I would've understand that 'cause I talk to Dre. I talk to Dre often and I just know if I was Dre and he was Game, then he woulda been up there. That's just it. It's L.A. and I am L.A. I'm in the streets."

What made Game even more upset was the fact that Eminem and 50 Cent got to perform ... when they're not even born and raised L.A. rappers.

"Snoop is icon. Dre is icon. Em is an icon, but Em is not from L.A. 50 is not from L.A," Game said.

"I’m not taking away from the fact that they were on the Super Bowl, but L.A. n***** wouldn’t have been in the Detroit Super Bowl or New York Super Bowl. It just wouldn’t have happened."

Even though Game's feelings were hurt, he gets why he didn't get the call -- he's "not a safe artist."

"You don't know what Game gon' do when he get up there," Game said, "They went with the safe artists."

Roddy Ricch won't be on stage for his Governor's Ball performance in NYC today -- instead, he's in NYPD custody for multiple gun charges ... TMZ Hip Hop has learned.

Roddy and his crew were stopped at a security checkpoint for the huge festival going down in Queens this weekend, and according to law enforcement sources ... officers say they found a loaded firearm inside the vehicle he was taking to the show. Cops say there about 9 rounds of ammo as well as a large capacity magazine.

We're told the "Cooped Up" rapper was arrested, along with 2 other people riding in the vehicle. Roddy's been hit with 4 counts of criminal possession of a weapon, possession of a large capacity ammo feeding device and unlawful possession of that device.

The festival had to break the news to sad fans ahead of his performance.

It's been a rough go of it for the Governor's Ball this weekend. After Migos pulled out early this week, Lil Wayne signed on to fill their headlining spot -- but just hours before his Friday night set, he also canceled due to a "flight disruption."

A$AP Ferg took Wayne's slot. No word yet on who, if anyone, will be able to replace Roddy.

One of R. Kelly's many victims thinks the feds' recommendation of 25 years in prison is too low, and instead, he should spend the rest of his days behind bars.

Lizzette Martinez tells TMZ ... Kelly's more than earned a life sentence due to the fact he's hurt so many people over several decades.

She doesn't think his abuse will ever come to an end, because -- as federal prosecutors point out -- the guy's proven multiple times he's using his power to get what he wants, and he can't be given the chance to prey on women again.

Kitti Jones, another one of R. Kelly's victims, tells us she has no issue with the prosecutors' recommendation, however ... no amount of time will give her, and others, back their time or remove their trauma.

Both women were featured in the "Surviving R. Kelly" docuseries which sparked renewed prosecution, and ultimately, Kelly's downfall -- and they say they'll be present for his sentencing later this month.

As we reported, the U.S. Attorney's Office won a conviction against Kelly last September, and just filed its recommendation for his sentencing -- saying there's a laundry list of reasons to send him away for "in excess of 25 years."

Teyana Taylor's looks over the years are super sweet!

Here's a 22-year-old version of the quadruple threat showing off her natural beauty while rockin' a white jumpsuit backstage while hanging at the BET studio in New York City back in 2012 (left). She was spotted alongside other music icons like Common, 2 Chainz, Pusha T and Big Sean!

And, nearly 10 years later ... the now 31-year-old rockin' momma recently stopped for cameras while showing that same star energy at an event at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California (right).

Hold up, hold up, your love is definitely not fadin', Teyana Taylor!

The question is ...

It looks like Iman Shumpert and Teyana Taylor are about to be officially done with the West Coast ... 'cause TMZ has learned, they sold their L.A. area house.

Property records show they accepted an offer for their house back in April, and real estate sources tell TMZ ...  they'll be closing next week, unloading it for $4 million.

Whoever scooped up the Studio City pad is getting all the bells and whistles ... including a pool, movie theater and even a waterfall. Oh, and there's a custom dog house, just in case they're any kinda dog-lover.

The master bedroom also comes with a massive walk-in closet and a meditation balcony that overlooks the serene yard.

The place is a real beaut, but we're told Teyana and Iman decided to sell it because they're spending most of their time on the East Coast these days.

And, from the looks of it ... they've been toying with the idea for a while.

The couple actually bought the home back in 2018 for a little under $3 mil, listed it for rent and tried to sell it 2 years later. They ended up taking it off the market, before relisting back in April.

Concealed in this edged-out scramble is a man about town, a talent manager and a business executive who loves to drip himself, along with his mega-famous girlfriend, in lots of diamonds.

When he's not tricking out cars and loving on his girl, you can likely find this diamond-studded guy working with Justin Bieber and JB's manager Scooter Braun. If you like to keep up with top-notch reality shows you've definitely witnessed him taking shots of Don Julio 1942 with billionaire Kylie Jenner.

Saucy Santana is in the throes of a would-be cancelation via Twitter -- one he's fiercely pushing back on ... and it all has to do with old tweets about Beyonce and her kid.

The Florida rapper started responding to folks who were apparently dogging him and demanding he say sorry for messages he posted/reposted about Bey and Blue Ivy from 2014 and 2017 ... ones in which he appears to insult them over their looks.

One tweet that SS responded to reads, "I just wanna be Blue Ivy," to which he wrote ... "nappy headed or ... " Another reads, "Im sorry but North West CLEARS Blue ivy. Have several Carseats Blue" -- and to that, Santana replied, "Just said this yesterday."

Both of these tweets are from the fall of 2014 ... when Blue was about 2 1/2 years old. A few years later, he agreed that Bey looked "dry" during her pregnancy photo shoot.

So, why is all this resurfacing now??? A few things -- one, Beyonce just scrubbed her profile pics across all social media ... sending the internet into a frenzy about a potential new project. Also ... Santana's performing in Houston Saturday, plus his newest song samples her.

He's taking the stage around 6:15 PM CT for Summer Jam HTX 2022 ... and in the wake of this possible Beyonce news, some have (again) called for him to make amends while in her home city. What that amounts to exactly is unclear -- but in any case, SS says screw that.

Santana swiped back at all the criticism, writing ... "Fake woke ass bitches!!!! People don't care about old tweets. The internet have this weird thing with power! Thinking they have the power to cancel someone… NEWS FLASH! You don't! Y'all be thinking y'all have someone by the balls about situations you don't give a damn about."

He went on to say his tweets are years-old, made when he was 20 ... and he even acknowledges they were childish and hateful. But, he's doubling down and refusing to bend to random Twitter warriors' will and apologize. He asks ... "To who?! To y'all?"

Santana insists that despite what Twitter (collectively) might believe, it's not nearly as powerful as those who use it think ... and he's basically telling everyone to kick rocks.

Blac Chyna's already heated before she even steps into a boxing ring tonight ... thanks to the well-timed Kardashian-related jab fired off by her opponent, Alysia Magen.

The Celebrity Boxing combatants, who are fighting in a Saturday night PPV event, came face-to-face for the traditional weigh-in and trash talk moment. They didn't disappoint.

Chyna flexed for cameras as she stepped on the scale, and definitely looks like she's been training hard.

First, Chyna grabbed the mic and told Alysia, "I seen your little rap. It was trash" ... referring to an IG post Alysia made to hype the fight.

Chyna's right. It was trash. However, props to social media influencer Alysia for hitting BC with the best comeback possible.

She said, "Hey, I'm not Kim Kardashian. I'm going to knock you both out!" Chyna lunged at her, but a bunch of people stepped in to break it up.

For the record: Chyna weighed in at 140 lbs. ... one more than Alysia.

Alysia was taking a shot at Chyna and her trainer, Tamara Frapasella-Fortune ... who beat Kim in a 2010 charity boxing match.

Anyway, after Chyna lost the $100 million defamation trial against the whole Kardashian family ... Alysia knows how to hit her where it hurts. At least outside the ring.

Pharrell is giving back -- not only is he hosting a huge music festival in our nation's capital, but he's hooking up the kids who go to school there ... or at least the grads, anyway.

The rapper/producer announced Friday that he's dishing out free tickets to his mega music event, Something in the Water, for all graduating seniors in the D.C. public school system to celebrate the achievement of getting through high school.

Not just that ... but Pharrell says he's especially inspired by the fact they got through these past couple years with COVID restrictions in place -- and still made it across the finish line.

He says to commemorate the achievement ... he's issuing one free general admission pass per graduating student for SITW next weekend, which is going down right there in town. Pharrell tells the seniors to check with their school teachers/leaders to redeem the gift.

As for how many tickets this might end up amounting to ... it's a bit unclear. Pharrell only said this applies to grads in the public school system -- and according to their website, there are just over 2,000 seniors enrolled this year. No word on how many are graduating.

It would seem the breadth of the giveaway is larger though -- because the Mayor chimed in by saying charter schools are included. It's probably in the low thousands somewhere.

Azealia Banks says she's getting screwed over, and even though her anger doesn't seem to be at fans ... she still took it out on them during a Pride performance in Miami.

Azealia was onstage early Saturday morning -- around 3 AM -- for the Wynwood Pride concert, and was VERY over being there. The controversial rapper -- who performed with her boobs all the way out -- started ranting about promoters jerking her around about her set times and whether she's the headliner.

She brazenly told the crowd, "I'm really not happy to be here." Azealia rambled a little more, and said she knew it wasn't the fans' fault ... but she clearly wanted off that stage. She said, "I'm trying y'all, but it's difficult."

Seems like the concert promoters had enough though, because when Azealia repeated her frustration by saying, "I really don't wanna f***ing be here" ... someone cut off her mic.

That only pissed her off more, and pulled a spot-on mic drop ... and left the stage in a huff.

Now, mind you ... Azealia had only done about 4 songs at that point, so you can hear the crowd get restless -- everyone started booing when they realized she wasn't coming back.

Azealia was already an odd pick to headline the event ... considering she's come under fire, for good reason, from the LGBTQ+ community in the past. Remember, she's called HIV/AIDS patients sex addicts, and dropped a homophobic epithet on a flight attendant.

YNW Melly appears to have been the triggerman in the murders of his two friends ... at least according to a police detective who is set to testify at Melly's upcoming trial.

According to new legal docs, police detective Christopher Williams will be called by prosecutors as an expert witness, where he will tell the jury it was "more likely" Melly fired the fatal shots inside a car.

The detective, who says he has extensive training and expertise in reconstructing shootings, says his analysis shows it's a better bet Melly -- not co-defendant Cortlen Henry -- fired the fatal shots ... though he's not saying it with absolute certainty.

Remember ... when Melly and Henry were arrested and charged in the double murder of their friends, cops said their initial investigation determined Melly shot the men, and that he and Henry then staged the crime scene to look like a drive-by shooting.

Detective Williams says he reconstructed the shooting by looking at blood splatter and the angles of the bullet holes and gunshot wounds ... and it appears the shooter was seated in the backseat, behind the driver, and shot the victim from inside the car.

He also says the evidence shows the gun was fired no more than 8 inches from the victim's face.

Blueface will be looking to break face on July 30 -- the rapper is slated to fight ex-NBA player Nick Young in a boxing match.

TMZ Sports has confirmed ... the "Thotiana" MC and NBA champ are going to face off in the ring at Crypto.com Arena as part of the Social Gloves event starring YouTubers Austin McBroom and AnEsonGib.

Blueface has a bit of history in the ring -- he beat up on TikToker Kane Trujillo in July 2021 ... and ended up having to throw hands that same night after a fan attacked him in the ring.

Young is less experienced ... but he's never shied away from calling people out for a fight in the past. He's previously voiced interest in boxing Logan Paul, Gilbert Arenas and Chad Ochocinco.

We broke the story -- ex-NFL star Le'Veon Bell is also slated to take a fight on the same card ... although his opponent has not been announced.

Jack Harlow is turning into quite the method actor -- the rapper was spotted working his ass off on the basketball court on the set of the "White Men Can't Jump" reboot.

Of course, Jack is no stranger to hoop ... but his Billy Hoyle character is a former college baller, so the dude's gotta look the part when the cameras start to roll.

Harlow can be seen backing down his defender and whizzing by him for a layup in one of the clips ... and appears to be laser-focused on immediate feedback from a trainer.

As we previously reported, Harlow has been hanging around on set in Venice this week ... as TMZ Sports obtained video of the "Nail Tech" MC walking around on a court.

Now, we get a chance to see the guy with a ball in his hand ... which will obviously be a big part of the flick.

Harlow has recently showed off his basketball skills during celebrity basketball games ... and he's got some solid range.

Hollywood Harlow in full effect -- Jack Harlow is on set for his acting debut in the "White Men Can't Jump" reboot ... and TMZ Sports has the vid!!

As we previously reported, the "First Class" rapper landed the gig after crushing his first-ever audition ... playing Billy Hoyle, which was Woody Harrelson's role in the original film back in 1992.

The project appears to be well on its way ... as Harlow was spotted making his rounds on set at a basketball court in Venice.

Of course, Harlow is working alongside Sinqua Walls in the flick ... who was picked to play Wesley Snipes' Sidney Deane role, despite Quavo's hopes of getting his name called.

The project is backed by Kenya Barris, NBA star Blake Griffin, NFLer Ryan Kalil and Noah Weinstein of Mortal Media ... and is directed by Calmatic.

Other actors on board include Lance Reddick, Teyana Taylor, Andrew Schulz and Laura Harrier ... so some of those names were probably on set as well.

Atlanta hip hop culture is having a really rough go of it this year -- but one of the city's beloved rappers, Trinidad James, says the ATL will power through these hard times.

We caught up with the "All Gold Everything" rap star Wednesday at LAX, and it's clear he was traveling with a heavy heart.

Between the murder of Metro Boomin's mom at the hands of her own husband to Young Thug, Gunna and much of YSL's RICO indictments to Lil Keed's sudden death ... ATL rappers have had an extraordinary bad luck streak.

Trinidad attributes the downward spiral to the fact Atlanta's been on top for several years now, and as he puts it -- when you're at the top, "there's all types of energies, people and situations just trying to take you down."

The murder of Def Jam rapper Trouble also weighed on Trinidad ... in the wake of the alleged killer surrendering to cops.

Trinidad told us about a recent text exchange with Trouble, which was their last communication, and it was a lighthearted -- and slightly racy -- joke between friends.