TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

The ever-elusive Kendrick Lamar smashed 2022 with the year's biggest rap album ... yet outside of reposting updates on that project, he's not much for social media -- but turns out he's still getting his chat on.

According to Kendrick’s former TDE President Punch, Kung Fu Kenny's actually in a group chat with himself and JAY-Z and he claims they’re some funny mofos!!

Punch spoke to Complex about Kendrick's departure from the label -- after taking it to unprecedented heights -- and revealed he, Kendrick and Jay-Z once debated who was the funniest between them all.

He called Kendrick "super witty" to add to their "super funny."

Humor really has never really been part of Kendrick’s image. “N95,” the only video to drop from his 'Mr. Morale' album, is an artistic presentation for sure … but not very LOL-ish.

LOX rapper Styles P intervened while cops arrested a woman, accusing them of roughing her up outside the NY juice bar he owns with Jadakiss ... and the whole thing's on video!!!

The video starts right in front of Juices For Life, just as a couple of Yonkers Police officers slam a woman to the ground and try to handcuff her.

The officers scream the woman is under arrest, but never specify why ... and that's when Styles P runs into the shot screaming at them. He tells another bystander to keep recording as he gets right up in the face of one of the cops, and yells about their aggressive tactics.

The woman recording claims the cops have been targeting women. Styles then challenges the officers, saying they were scared of Black people and were unfamiliar with the area.

At one point it seemed like they were gonna arrest Styles, but that didn't happen.

After cooling down a bit, Styles jumped on IG, and admitted he was wrong for his hostility towards the officer ... but admits seeing a woman involved in the ruckus made him act "out of character."

Styles has a star-studded 20th-anniversary concert scheduled next month to celebrate his "Good Times" weed anthem.

We're sure he knew how to calm down after this brush with 12.

A rare sighting of Frank Ocean for ya here ... although he tried to keep things low-key, his choice in majestic headwear might have actually drawn even more attention to him.

We spotted the reclusive singer Tuesday at LAX, where he stepped out of his car wearing a wig and a face mask -- good effort, but our photog recognized him all the same.

We asked him a bunch of questions -- about the wig, and his recent revelation that he micro-doses LSD. Not shockingly, he didn't have much to say. But, you really gotta see the hair ... it's kinda the latest craze in R&B. Think Anderson .Paak in Silk Sonic.

Regardless of fashion choices, this rare Frank Ocean sighting and his recent drops on Apple Music aren’t a coincidence.

Frank just celebrated the 10th anniversary of his classic album "Channel Orange" with two new "Blonded" Radio episodes, where he plugged his love for psychedelics. He's also gearing up -- at his own pace -- to headline the 2023 Coachella stage, so you know his return is coming.

Albert Pujols went deep last night -- inching him closer to A-Rod on the all-time HR leader list -- and fans at Busch Stadium went crazy, including Nelly, who got a high five from the baseball legend after he crossed home plate!

Pujols -- who rejoined the Cards after spending 10 seasons away from the team -- smashed the 685th homerun of his storied career ... and celebrated the monster shot with the St. Louis icon on his way back to the dugout.

Of course, Nelly's a huge deal in St. Louie ... and so is Albert. Even though the hip-hop star has seen Pujols belt numerous dingers over his 22-year career, you can tell Nelly was pumped!

At age 42, Pujols -- a 3x MVP and 6x Silver Slugger -- can still put a charge in one and send it into the seats ... as demonstrated by how quickly he turned around a 94 mph pitch from Dodgers pitcher Mitch White.

Pujols announced in spring training that this would be his farewell year ... saying he planned to retire at the conclusion of the 2022 season.

But, don't fret too much Cards fans ... Albert's going out with a bang. On Tuesday, Albert confirmed he was participating in this year's Home Run Derby contest in L.A.!

Fake Drake will get his wish to fight in the Celebrity Boxing arena ... just not against the man to whom he owes his livelihood.

Damon Feldman of Celeb Boxing tells TMZ Hip Hop that Lamar Odom -- AKA ex-NBA champ, husband to Khloé Kardashian -- has agreed to square off against Frake ... and this one feels a little personal.

Lamar dropped a prefight video while rocking a Nipsey Hussle shirt ... and he seemed pissed Fake Drake was trying to drag the real deal into the ring. So L.O. promised to help his friend and lay out the impersonator once and for all.

Not to be outdone, Fake Drake shot a training vid of his pugilistic skills -- although he's mainly ducking punches.

He's gonna need some serious evasive techniques -- Lamar stands at 6'10, won championships with Kobe Bryant annnd has already beat up J Lo's ex-husband and knocked out Aaron Carter in Celeb Boxing matches so ... good luck Fake Drake.

While they're still deciding between Atlantic City or Miami, we're told the fight is definitely on for October 15.

Ne-Yo is a famous conductor of talent and as fate would have it, he crossed paths with Lucky Daye long before the "Roll Some Mo" singer became a Grammy winner.

However, things didn’t pan out between them on the professional level, because of a very personal matter. Ne-Yo revealed what went down when he went on Fuzzy West and Quincy Harris' "FAQ" Podcast.

He says he recruited Lucky in hopes of signing him, and even had him write Jaime Foxx’s part on 2008’s “Miss Independent Part 2” ... aka “She Got Her Own.”

In an act of friendship, Ne-Yo says he gave young Lucky access to his crib while he was away on business -- but with one very important restriction: do NOT treat my master bedroom like an OnlyFans set!

Well, according to Ne-Yo that's exactly what Lucky did, and that's when he knew their partnership was over.

Luckily, Mr. Daye bounced back … signing with RCA/Keep Cool and winning the 2022 Best Progressive R&B Album Grammy for his “Table for Two” LP.

As for his side of the Ne-Yo's bed story -- Lucky's been radio silent.

Lil Wayne's hometown concert event, Lil WeezyAna Fest, is ramping up again for its 6th run in New Orleans.

For this year’s fest, Weezy's recruited Moneybagg Yo, Coi Leray, Babyface Ray and Rob 49 to light up the stage with their performances.

The Live Nation Urban-sponsored event will take place at Champions Square on August 27, and Wayne shared his excitement by getting on IG to plug all the performers.

One key part of the event for Wayne is the fact 50 cents of every ticket sold will be donated to NOLA students' educational opportunities within the culture.

Young Money Records President Mack Maine added ... “As always, we will be honoring the many lives lost in Hurricane Katrina as this year marks the 17th year anniversary.”

Rick Ross and Birdman have a scarred history … and the Cash Money Records bossman clearly has NO issue with picking at that scab very publicly.

Baby was on DJ Akademik’s “Off The Record” podcast discussing his top CM artists like Drake, Nicki Minaj + Lil Wayne and the Hot Boys (although his mind went blank when thinking about something nice to say about Turk 👀) -- but he also listed off several other eventual superstars he had under his wing.

He proudly named Yo Gotti, Future and DJ Khaled as other protégés … but puckered up like a Lemonhead at the mere mention of Rick Ross’ name.

Birdman claims Ross sat in the shadows studying, and stealing moves that would lead to his own MMG imprint gaining traction several years later.

The 2 ‘bawses’ actually recorded an album together back in 2008 … only for it to be released with extra tardy sauce in 2013, but without any friendship to generate buzz for the record.

In 2017, Rozay went at Birdman's throat on the song “Idols Become Rivals” … ironically over his own claims Lil Wayne and DJ Khaled were in terrible label situations.

T-Pain's not exactly shocked about Chris Brown's outburst about his "Breezy" album kinda bombing, because he says CB's got a bit of "princess" in him.

Teddy Pain was chopping it up with Akademiks on Twitch when the topic of CB’s record sales for his 10th album came up.

The "Breezy" rollout didn’t go as planned … debuting at No. 4 on Billboard and CB reacted in a fit of blanguage, promising to be on his "gangsta sh*t" once again -- which sounds like an adventure in and of itself!

T-Pain says it’s all because he’s been enabled his entire career and said his condition is far worse than being spoiled. When Ak tried to explain all artists have ups and downs in their careers, T-Pain pointed out CB’s lack of “adjustments.”

DJ Drama’s executive radar is zeroing in on New York City, where he's found the next rapper he thinks can blow: Badda TD!!!

The 18-year-old artist and Generation Now founder recently connected on “The World Is Yours: Gangsta Grillz” -- the latest installment in his legendary rap catalog.

Drama tells TMZ Hip Hop ... “Gangsta Grillz has always been about spotlighting artists defining their own lane and Badda TD is definitely up next out of New York."

The project features fellow NYC red-hot upstarts Ron Suno and Dusty Locane, and follows Jim Jones and Tyler, The Creator in the GG series.

Drama recently gave aspiring hip hop artists gems on how to get signed when we last saw him in person.

He and his GN co-execs recently inked a big extension with Atlantic Records and are doing it even bigger with Lil Uzi Vert and Jack Harlow.

Griselda rapper Conway The Machine isn't playing nice with NYC DJs Funkmaster Flex and Suss One -- he's telling the old-school vets is time to hang it up for good.

The slick words targeted the city’s top 2 hip hop stations: Hot 97 and Power 105 … while sharing his tales of seeing Flex in public, and claiming he's clueless about the current hip hop scene.

Conway also essentially called a Suss One a sellout for nabbing "The Wendy Williams" gig, and shrugged him off on live TV after a fan stated Conway was in his Top 5 ... with the likes of Nas and Jadakiss.

Suss One has collaborated with numerous Mariah Carey, French Montana and several other big names -- and he joined the 'Wendy Show' in its last couple of seasons.

He says despite Flex and Suss One’s lack of radio support, he and his Griselda team of Benny The Butcher and Westside Gunn have been been given stamps of approval by Raekwon and the Wu-Tang Clan.

Age is a touchy subject in rap. There’s always a tug-of-war between new energy and veteran talent.

Omarion's been a hot topic since his Verzuz battle with Mario -- where the other B2K members deemed "he got served" -- but now ya could say Omarion's hitting back with some docuseries tea.

The singer appeared Monday on "TMZ Live" and let us in on his secret to handling all the shots his ex-bandmates have been throwing -- not to mention all the drama from their infamous Millennium tour -- and he says it's all about staying "unbothered."

Omarion says his upcoming docuseries "OMEGA: The Gift & The Curse" will shine the spotlight on the truth of the band's nasty breakup, which came to a head when Lil Fizz began dating Apryl Jones, the ex-girlfriend and mother of Omarion's 2 kids.

Talk about must-see -- following his Verzuz, Omarion hopped on Instagram to thank Mario for the competition, but also fired back at the B2K crew, calling them little more than "backup dancers."

For their part ... Raz-B, J Boog and Lil Fizz ordered a side of extra petty with their responses. They unified to post a scene from the cult classic R&B flick "The Temptations" ... the one that depicts the lead singer looking like a sucker.

Fizz later followed with receipts proving there's no longer an "O" in B2K. At least legally, anyways.

Despite it all, Omarion says he doesn't hate his old crew, and revealed his inclusion in B2K has always been a point of contention -- having been the last member to join -- and he blames older music execs for pushing them to the breaking point.

This year's already given us the return of the reclusive Kendrick Lamar, and now there are strong signs Frank Ocean is getting set for his own grand return.

The R&B phenom debuted 2 new episodes of his "Blonded RADIO" show Sunday on Apple Music … cryptically discussing psychedelic drugs with Dr. James Fadiman on the episode titled, "Blonded Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" -- a play on The Beatles' ode to LSD.

The rollout happens to mark the 10th anniversary of his Grammy-winning "Channel Orange" album and he decked out his website with new merch and memorabilia ... which fans treated like $3 gasoline, snapping up ALL of it with the quickness.

During the recent Apple Music broadcast, Frank also hinted he had been working on new music in Malibu … something that has clearly worked for Anderson .Paak in the past.

Of course, he's already been announced as a headliner for Coachella 2023, so some fresh tracks would be well-timed and highly appreciated by fans.

R. Kelly is engaged to be married to one of his alleged victims, Joycelyn Savage ... at least that's what she's saying in a letter to the judge -- and her family says they had no idea.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Joycelyn revealed the engagement by writing, "I'm Robert Kelly's fiance" ... in her correspondence with the federal judge right before Kelly was sentenced. The letter, which she wrote asking the judge for a lenient sentence, doesn't say when they got engaged.

In the letter, she says ... "I’m not the victim that the government has portrayed me to be."

She goes on to say her relationship with Kelly is "amazing," noting he's the best thing that's ever happened to her. She claims he always made sure her needs were met, as well as "any other women he was with."

Obviously, she wasn't too successful in swaying the judge, who hit Kelly with a 30-year sentence.

Gerald Griggs, an attorney for Savage's parents, tells TMZ ... she never made the engagement known to the family, and they've never even spoken about the possibility beforehand.

Griggs tells us he finds it odd Savage didn't testify about it under oath, and instead slipped it into the letter submitted to the court. Savage's family "strongly doubts" the engagement story ... and are wishing to reconnect with her to get the full story.

Russell Wilson is clearly doing all he can to make sure he ain't the last NFL QB to come out of his household ... revealing Monday he's training Future Zahir to be a signal-caller too!

The Denver Broncos QB posted video of a recent workout sesh he had with Ciara's 8-year-old son ... and you can see, the kid appears to be a natural!

As Russ dictated how he wanted the boy to manipulate the pocket, Future Zahir complied with ease -- and then delivered a dart to the 33-year-old NFL star.

Russ also showed he's giving some quarterbacking lessons to the son of famous choreographer Jamaica Craft as well.

"Post workout work with the young fellas!" Russ said of the drills. "Future & Kingston young legends. Watch out @NFL."

Craft was appreciative of the time Wilson was spending with her son, penning a sweet thank you note to him on her IG.

"Kingston was learning from a living legend!!!!" she said. "Let’s Go God! So appreciative."

FYI, Wilson and Future Zahir -- Ciara's 1st child with rapper Future -- have been dabbling in QB drills for a couple of years now ... and in 2020, the 9x Pro Bowler called him his "best teammate" and a "QB in the making!"

Meek Mill and Jay-Z's Roc Nation are breaking up -- Hov's firm is no longer managing Meek's career after 10 years together.

Meek first linked with Roc Nation management back in 2012, and they nabbed plenty of triumphs and trophies together, collaborating on deals within the music biz.

The bombshell breakup comes shortly after the rapper vented extensively about his label situation with Atlantic Records.

Back in February, Meek lit up Atlantic on Twitter for allegedly dropping the ball on his last album, “Expensive Pain” and apparently ... it’s been downhill ever since.

The Roc unit was instrumental in helping him get out of jail in 2018, naming him a co-head for the social justice non-profit, Reform Alliance and putting him in rooms with tons of important people.

Billboard was first to report Meek's departure from RN.

As for why things soured between the 2 parties -- we're talking to sources on both sides, and we'll update this post as soon as we hear back.