TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Ja Rule is defending his name against Fat Joe’s scorn … after Joe Crack accused him of being a passive participant in Irv Gotti’s explosive “Drink Champs” interview about sleeping with Ashanti.

Fat Joe recently took to Instagram ... calling out both Irv and Ja — referencing Gotti as a straight “sucka” for kissing and telling about his previously unknown relationship with Ashanti.

But the Terror Squad leader didn’t let Ja off the hook either … slamming him for not silencing Irv before the interview got outta control.

The Murder Inc. rapper hopped in the comments of Hollywood Unlocked on Tuesday to defend his own rep writing, “STOP saying I didn’t defend sis and all women when I clearly told Gotti stop calling Ashanti/women the B word same way I told Joe at Verzuz watch the interview before you talk sh*t… NOW LEAVE ME TF OUT THESE GROWN FOLK BUSINESSES… ❤️”

Irv has been taking all sorts of heat since the interview aired, a moment that Joe says tarnishes Irv’s credibility regardless of his legendary work with Jay-Z, DMX and Murder Inc.

We recently spoke to Judge Mathis, who even went a step further and says Ashanti wouldn’t be foolish to pursue legal action if the fallout from the interview was causing her any stress.

Slim Jxmmi, one half of the rap duo Rae Sremmurd -- had a not-so-nice welcome home when he touched down in L.A. ... after authorities discovered there was an outstanding warrant out for his arrest.

LAX law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... when Slim flew in from Canada Sunday, Customs and Border Patrol agents took him into custody. We're told Slim had a warrant out of Georgia stemming from a prior arrest involving possession of marijuana with intent to sell.

We're told Georgia authorities have already gotten a judge to authorize extradition from L.A. to Georgia. He's currently in custody in L.A. being held without bail. The stakes are high ... the maximum sentence in the Georgia case is 30 years in prison.

This isn't the only legal issue he faces ... TMZ broke the story, Slim Jxmmi was arrested back in January for battery after an alleged fight with his girlfriend.

We spoke with him in March after a training session at Dogpound Gym in West Hollywood, and he told us he was looking forward to making some positive changes in his life and, "Be done with the stupid s***."

Jxmmi's attorney, Steve Sadow, says the whole thing happened because of a miscommunication, telling us, "Nearly two years ago, Aaquil entered a plea to a marijuana offense in Cobb County, Georgia. He was placed on probation. In early June 2022, the mother of his child filed a untruthful complaint with the Cobb County Police Department, which led to an arrest warrant being issued."

He continues, "Aaquil was not arrested on that warrant. Instead, a Cobb County Magistrate Judge held a hearing on July 20, 2022 and dismissed the warrant. Unfortunately, the Cobb County Probation Office was not made aware that the arrest warrant was dismissed and thus failed to withdraw its probation violation warrant. When Aaquil came back from Canada into LA airport, he was arrested on the probation violation warrant. We expect that warrant to be withdrawn in the next day or so, and then Aaquil will be released.”

Judge Mathis thinks Ashanti should put an end to Irv Gotti’s recent comments, which include spilling the deets on their past sexual relationship.

If you missed it, Gotti recently disclosed intimate details about his former relationship with Ashanti to the hosts of "Drink Champs." Among some of the claims, Irv says Ashanti's song, "Happy" was created after they had sex ... as you can imagine, a lot of Ashanti fans were pissed.

Judge Mathis was out in NYC Monday, and told our cam he'd advise Ashanti to send Irv a cease-and-desist or even go to court for a gag order. JM says he's not so sure about the validity of Irv's claims, but if Ashanti feels she's being defamed, she should put a legal end to it.

Fetty Wap’s pot of legal hot water just raised its temperature now that the “Trap Queen” rapper was just arrested.

According to the arrest warrant — obtained by TMZ — Fetty was arrested in New Jersey by the FBI on Monday … stemming from a December 2021 call where prosecutors claim he waved a gun and threatened to kill a man who called Fetty “a rat” AKA a snitch.

Officials say Fetty’s possession of the firearm violated the conditions put in place when Fetty was released from custody on a $500K bond following his arrest in October 2021 on drug trafficking charges.

Lil Wayne was apparently feeling good following the Young Money reunion in Toronto … so good he pushed the button on the next installment of his famed album series — “Tha Carter 6!”

Wayne made the 0-to-100 announcement in the back of his luxury sprinter van … getting more animated leading up to the big reveal.

We’re told Wayne is being extremely tight-lipped about the creative process details of this particular project … making for an interesting turn of events for Carter rollouts.

The last “Carter” — 2018’s “C5” — was launched with one of Wayne’s biggest solo hits, the Swizz Beatz single “Uproar” and a decade prior, his “Carter III” became one of the rare albums to sell a million records — in the first week of its release.

Drake’s dad, Dennis Graham, might have gotten a massive tattoo to honor his son ... but Drake isn't feeling it.

Drake had OVO Fest in Toronto over the weekend where he reunited with Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj … but somehow his mind focused on his father’s tattoo portrait of him from 2017.

“I was sitting here thinking why you do me like this we family 😂 😂” Drake wrote in the middle of the night, tagging his dad.

Dennis hopped in the comments, saying he felt his son’s emotional pain over the tat … but he had been experiencing REAL pain -- 16 different tattoo artists -- in efforts to get it closer to Drizzy’s likeness.

That's an awful lot of needle time … maybe the 17th will be the charm?

Game recently announced a social media break to finish his upcoming “Drillmatic” album … and now we've got some proof he's doing just that.

The West Coast vet recently put in overtime alongside superstar company — Big Sean and Hit-Boy — to shoot the video for "Stupiid” in Los Angeles.

Video director ThirdEyeRaz tells us in the video the trio will get to display a bit of acting chops … as a trio of rebellious movers, fitted in custom RAREB1RD jumpsuits employed by the “Stupiid Moving Company."

Both featured artists have been on a tear lately … Big Sean's been juggling festival rap life while approaching first-time fatherhood with his partner Jhené Aiko and Hit-Boy just produced on Beyoncé’s chart-topping “Renaissance” album and is currently locked in the studio finishing up “King’s Disease 3” with Nas.

Slated to be a double album’s worth of material, Game recently pushed back the release date to the fastly approaching August 12 release date after multiple delays.

Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson might be over, but that doesn't mean Kanye's attacks on the comedian are going anywhere ... as evidenced in his most recent post.

Ye got on Instagram Monday -- the same platform he was temporarily suspended from months ago -- to post a phony New York Times headline that reads, "Skete Davidson Dead at Age 28."

Kanye didn't include a caption or anything further, but you can only really assume it's to celebrate Kim and Pete's split ... news that broke last week.

Not only was the post a shot at Pete, Kanye also took aim at Kid Cudi, who he had a falling out with after Cudi continued to pal around with Pete while he was dating Kim. The line reads, "Kid Cudi meant to play funeral but fearful of bottle throwers."

As we reported, Cudi walked off the stage at Rolling Loud Miami last month after unruly fans in the crowd continued throwing things at him.

Drake is crowning Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj as the best to ever do it in rap -- and in NM's case, particularly, seems to be throwing a little shade at her contemporaries.

The OVO chief was performing in Toronto Saturday during the Young Money Reunion Tour ... and Drake took several moments during the set to pay his respects to Weezy -- who's credited with finding both he and Nicki all those years ago and getting their careers started.

Drizzy heaps on the praise and adulation for Wayne, who just stands there giddily and accepts it. But watch when Drake starts dishing out GOAT titles ... he bestows LW with the honor, but Nicki as well.

Of course, this is just Drake's opinion ... but it's an interesting argument for Wayne's case. Some say Jay-Z or Nas might be the GOATs of hip-hop, but Champagne Papi has his pick right here.

As for Nicki, he calls her the greatest as well -- but perhaps in the female rap setting. In her case, he actually scoffs at any notion that any other femcee is close in status ... saying NM is the originator and the best to ever do it. That, too, is obviously controversial.

There've been countless female rappers before Nicki who paved the way -- and there are even some now who some believe might be up there ready to take the throne ... aka, Cardi B or even Megan Thee Stallion, just to name a couple.

But Drake doesn't see it that way -- he clearly thinks these two are the cream of the crop ... and they got his cosign on that right in front of a massive crowd.

Kylie Jenner and daughter Stormi were all about Travis Scott's amazing concert Saturday night in London ... they were jammin' just like the normies in the packed stadium.

Kylie and their kid were arms up as Travis performed to a sold-out crowd at The O2 Arena ... which held 20,000 screaming fans.

This was Travis' first arena concert since the Astroworld tragedy last year, and it went off without a hitch ... well, actually, one idiot threw some sort of heavy object on the stage, missing Travis, but he was clearly pissed.

He has another show Sunday night, and he seems thrilled to be fully back.

The rapper wasn't holding back much, if at all. He was all over the stage with max energy, but he was clearly mindful of the crowd ... not wanting to encourage them to go too far.

Travis acknowledged K&S were in the crowd, and then dedicated "Mamacitas" to his daughter. Their baby boy, who was born in February, wasn't at the concert.

Travis intro'd a new song, "God's Country" ... it was supposed to be on Kanye's "Donda" album that was released last year, but didn't make the cut.

There were other celebs on hand ... Kevin Durant and James Harden were backstage popping champagne bottles and dousing their buddy Trav.

After the concert, Travis and Kylie were interlocking fingers as they made their way to a restaurant ... the hard-to-get-in The Twenty Two. Somehow they got a res!

Kylie and Storm had some serious mommy-and-me time all week in the town of Big Ben, shopping and just hanging out.

Meek Mill is dropping big racks to celebrate his label, copping a dreamcatcher-style Dreamchasers chain -- it's an interestingly timed purchase, and TMZ Hip Hop has all the diamond details.

The piece, designed after a Native American dream catcher said to block out bad dreams, makes the most outta the dual-meaning "DC" emblem ... and comes with a hefty $200,000 price tag!!!

Easy to see why ... it's packed with 100 carats of various diamonds -- round stones, solitaire emeralds and baguettes on the feather -- all sparkling with VVs clarity.

Don The Jeweler of Status Jewelers tells TMZ he and Meek met a little while back at a Roc Nation event where both Young Thug and Gunna vouched on the spot for Don's jewels. Thug specifically called Don "the G.O.A.T." when it comes to custom pieces for rappers.

From there, Meek and the Atlanta-based jeweler sparked a connection and spent the next year outlining the intricate details of the Dreamchasers piece ... which was hand-delivered during Rolling Loud Miami last month.

Don also had the back pendant engraved with the phrase "Dreamchasers catch dreams" ... which signifies the moves Meek is trying to accomplish going forward.

In July, Meek took the reins of his career, vowing to take his DC label to new heights after he departed from Jay-Z's Roc Nation management, his home since 2012.

Nelly and Ashanti appear to be putting a little salt in the wound that Irv Gotti is still dealing with upon learning they were dating way back when -- but it might just be a coincidence.

Here's the deal ... the Murder Inc honcho was N.O.R.E.'s latest guest on "Drink Champs," which just dropped. In preview clips of the episode, Irv could be heard recounting a lot of Ashanti stories -- including how he found out she had gotten involved with Nelly.

Unclear what year this was, but IG says he was watching an NBA game when he saw the two artists walk out and perform together -- which left him stunned at the time, as he himself was apparently romantically linked to her too around the same time. Sounds like he still has some sour grapes over it ... and about his complicated relationship with Ashanti in general.

More on that in a bit ... but first, fast-forward to Friday night -- where Nelly, Ja Rule, Ma$e, Ashanti, Lil Jon and others were headlining the "My 2000s Playlist" concert in Oakland.

Now, they were already on the bill, which was established well before the new "Drink Champs" episode -- but people still lost it on social media when they saw that Nelly actually brought out Ashanti during his set ... this after hers had concluded a few hours earlier.

Some are speculating this might've been a petty play at Irv's expense ... which may be true, especially when you hear Nelly's final joke about "floor seats" at the next NBA game.

Folks can make of this what they will, we suppose, but the timing of it is certainly not lost on people ... even though it may have just came together timing-wise by mere chance.

Travis Scott is back in a big way -- the guy headlined his first big solo show since the Astroworld tragedy ... making his official comeback across the pond for Britons.

The rapper is performing an arena concert Saturday at London's O2 -- where he's doing two shows this weekend -- hitting the stage at around 9:30 PM local time. No introductions were needed ... TS just dove right into his set standing at the top of an elevated platform.

Trav was decked out in some futuristic costume with shades on ... and almost immediately, he cranked the energy level in the room up to 10 -- like he normally does for his shows.

After running through a couple songs up there, he made his way down ... where he kept the hype up. The audience seemed to be rocking with him all throughout. BTW  -- the place is absolutely packed, including in the nosebleeds ... and everyone looks to be vibing so far.

So far, nothing too crazy is going on. Yes ... Travis is screaming/jumping around, per usual, but he doesn't appear to be encouraging anyone to lose their minds beyond what they're already doing. He's literally just performing and staying in his element -- so it's all kosher.

Also ... Kylie Jenner and their daughter Stormi are present for Travis' big day. Trav just dedicated a song, "Mamacitas," to her, saying he knew she was there in the building.

Like we said, this is Travis' first solo performance of this scale since last November. He's obviously performed publicly since then -- in smaller venues and even via cameos at music festivals here in the U.S. -- but this is a big deal ... 'cause it's billed as strictly a Travis gig.

He's going to be headlining some other major events later this year -- including a festival in South America -- and he even has a Vegas residency all set up for him too next month.

Travis Scott is just hours away from performing his first major solo show since Astroworld ... and he's got some important people there to support him as he takes the stage.

Kylie Jenner and the couple's daughter, Stormi, have been in London with TS all week -- doing some shopping, dining and spending some time together. The show is a big deal for Travis, so you gotta imagine he's enjoyed some family time leading up to it.

Unclear if Kylie and Travis' 6-month-old son made the trip, but he's old enough to fly ... so it's possible he's just been staying with nannies while mom, dad and big sister hit the town.

Travis is scheduled to perform two sold-out shows at London's O2 Arena Saturday and Sunday night ... a venue that holds about 20,000 people. A source close to Travis tells us he's, "excited to deliver for his fans in London by being back, thriving on stage."

We've seen Travis pop up at nightclubs and perform a song or two during other artists' sets, but the O2 shows will mark his first solo shows since November at Astroworld.

Travis has taken a lot of heat for the 10 deaths that occurred at the festival, and is fighting a mountain of litigation ... but has seemingly been greeted with open arms by music fans and those hoping to score some of his merch and collabs he's released since the tragedy.

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's divorce continues to drag on ... Ye has officially lost his 5th divorce lawyer.

Kim and Kanye had a trial-setting conference Friday in L.A. as part of their divorce. Ye's current divorce attorney, Samantha Spector, had previously asked the judge to relieve her as counsel, saying her relationship with Kanye was irretrievably broken, though she wouldn't say why.

She had a date set next week to officially withdraw, but the judge granted her request Friday, so she's out and Ye is without a lawyer yet again.

What's more, the judge made it clear ... either Kanye gets off the dime and submits his financial declarations to settle the remaining issues, or the case is going to trial in December ... no if, ands or buts.

If Kanye ghosts everyone -- then in all probability when the case comes before the judge in December -- Kim will get whatever she wants.

TMZ broke the story ... Kim got a divorce decree back in March, making her legally single, but there are still a couple of issues to fully resolve -- custody and property, and that's what the judge is dealing with now.

Sources connected to Kim and Kanye say they're getting along -- as we've seen evidenced at their kid's sporting events and family gatherings -- but it's been a roller coaster.

Wiz Khalifa's finally breaking his silence about his angry tirade toward a pair of L.A.-based DJs inside a nightclub ... and he's admitting he was outta line.

During a special edition Breakfast Club interview on Friday, DJ Envy took it upon himself to interview Wiz alongside DJ Drama to rep for all the turntablists worldwide … who may have been bothered at the sight of the star rapper trashing their backup support.

For his part, Wiz didn’t hide behind his celebrity, admitting he wasn’t too big to say he was sorry.

“I apologize to anybody I’ve offended … sincerely,” the Taylor Gang CEO said to kick off the interview, before explaining what went down, from his POV.

According to Wiz, he was booked at club Poppy in WeHo to promote his new album, “Multiverse,” but when it came for his time on the mic, the song order -- which his team sent beforehand -- was outta wack. Also, other songs not included in the setlist randomly popped up during the performance.

Wiz admits that's when he lost his cool -- but in the aftermath, he's taken a lot of heat from the tight-knit DJ community, perhaps most notably from Kid Capri … who actually had a hand in staging the Breakfast Club summit.

Envy says Capri called him asking for Drama’s number and shortly after, the interview was set.

Wiz says he reached out to the DJ, Mikey Danger, multiple times … we have as well.