TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Meek Mill is going $10M deep to prove he continues to be a big player in the music biz, and he's targeting the music execs who say his career is going downhill.

The Dreamchasers rapper stepped on his Twitter soapbox and asked doubting music execs to put their money where their mouths are ... if they really believe his career is over, put down a cool $10M and see what's up.

And, to hammer home his point, Meek said he was willing to put the bet in a binding contract so no one could squirm their way out.

It seems some of his anger is directed at big labels ... because he said in the tweet he's going to do it independently ... as are lots of musicians these days.

Meek's last album, 2021's "Expensive Pain," was widely considered a commercial and critical disappointment ... only debuting at No. 3 whereas the last LP, 2018's "Championships" debuted at No. 1.

Meek recently parted ways with Jay-Z's Roc Nation brand -- only to bounce back by signing with WME.

Kanye West is defending what many have deemed a "trash bag" clothing display as his Yeezy Gap line hit stores around the country.

Ye popped up on FOX News Thursday in a quick interview from the Gap location in Times Square. When asked if he understood why some have criticized the clothing displays as insensitive to the homeless, Kanye says, "I'm an innovator, and I'm not here to sit up and apologize for my ideas. That's exactly what the media tries to do: make us apologize for any idea that doesn't fall under exactly the way they want us to think."

If you haven't seen them, the clothing is displayed in large bags for customers to sift through and find their sizes, many have compared the bags to trash bags.

During the interview, Ye pointed out the bags weren't trash bags, they were large construction bags.

He states, "This is not a joke, this is not a game, this is not just a celebrity collaboration … this is my life. I’m fighting for a position to be able to change clothing and bring the best design to the people.”

If Antonio Brown wants Jerry Jones to call him, it won't be about making him a Dallas Cowboy ... 'cause the legendary owner says he'd rather give his young receivers a chance.

The former Buccaneer spoke about his NFL future with TMZ Sports last week ... and while he has a boomin' rap career, it definitely sounded like he wasn't ready to step away from the game just yet -- saying, "Tell Jerry Jones to call me!"

Despite a pretty banged up receiver room with several injuries to key players, Jones seems uninterested in the idea of bringing in the Super Bowl champ.

"We're good," Jones says of AB's interest. "But, we want to give these young guys a real chance to make this team."

While the Hall of Fame owner is focused on youth, it doesn't mean it can't happen -- either that, or Jones was just being REALLY nice about the situation and just didn't want to give a flat-out "no."

AB probably isn't too concerned -- he currently has a hit song, "Put That S*** On," and a viral dance to go with it ... and as we previously reported, he's about to shoot a music video for it!!

Lil Durk is back on the move, following a scary moment during his Lollapalooza set last month where a stage prop exploded in his face.

The Chicago drill rapper recently joined DJ Khaled on his tour bus, where Durk was all smiles and bandage-free as the "We The Best" hitmaker spouted off inspirational quotes to promote his new album.

Durk announced he was taking a mental health break a couple of weeks ago following the eye injury.

No word yet if the hiatus is officially over or if it'll affect his tour -- slated for mid-October -- but judging from his energy with Khaled, Smurkio appears to be back.

DJ Khaled has been corralling all the top rappers in the game for his upcoming album "God Did" ... Drake, Lil Baby, Future and Jay-Z are just some of the names that have buzzed around the release.

Meanwhile, Durk's placement on the project also aligns him with stars thanks to a song with Roddy Ricch and 21 Savage.

Selena Gomez and Tyga appear to be hanging out ... spending time together into the wee hours of the morning at a celeb hot spot.

The pair were spotted leaving The Nice Guy in West Hollywood Wednesday morning. We're told Selena left out a back door and Tyga the front around 2:30 AM.

Sources say Selena arrived at the restaurant just before midnight, Tyga was already inside ... and it didn't appear that security let anyone else enter the club once the two were both together. Clearly, they were allowed to hang out past the closing time of 2 AM.

It's unclear what, if anything, is happening between Selena and Tyga ... but the pairing is interesting. We haven't known Selena to date anyone publicly in a long time.

Interestingly enough, it appears Tyga celebrated Selena's 30th with her and friends at a party last month.

We reached out to reps for both, so far no word back.

Styles P, one of Verzuz most valuable players, says he'll cut ties with the livestream event if Triller can't figure things out with Swizz Beatz and Timbaland ... and he's urging the hip hop community to do the same.

We spoke with the LOX rapper Wednesday who says if he was on Triller's board, he'd do anything possible to make it right with Swizz and Timbo, the founders of Verzuz.

TMZ broke the story, Swizz and Timbaland filed a $28 million lawsuit against Triller Tuesday claiming Triller has missed significant payments since acquiring Verzuz in 2021.

Styles P says if those allegations are true, it feels like some serious culture vulture conduct, and he's advising the entire hip hop community to distance itself from the livestream giant if nothing is resolved.

Interestingly enough, when we spoke to Timbaland at the height of the Verzuz movement, he was pretty confident that selling the hot commodity would ruin the magic ... and while the magic isn't necessarily ruined, it's certainly going through some tough times.

Antonio Brown has been making waves with his custom dance for his "Put That Sh*t On" single … and he's using his signature moves honed on the football field to make a big splash.

AB tells TMZ Hip Hop ... he’s currently in the middle of finalizing a couple of deals to fund the "Put That Sh*t On" music vid … which should be an explosive and fashionable affair.

The former All-Pro NFL Star released his "Paradigm" album with the "Put That Sh*t On" single back in April and has been in rap mode since ... even performing the song on the coveted Rolling Loud stage.

AB is lining up the aesthetics for the vid, AB will feature Kanye's Gap displays as well as some unreleased Ye items. There will also be plenty of flashy bling!

Judging from his recent Tom Brady comments, it appears making music is AB's career choice ... at least at the moment.

Mattel is taking a snack company to court over a Nicki Minaj-themed chip that shares the name with everyone's favorite plastic doll.

Legal docs, obtained by TMZ, show Mattel filed a lawsuit in L.A. federal court last week against snack brand Rap Snacks ... claiming they "made the deliberate and calculated choice to launch a new product line using Mattel's famous BARBIE trademark."

Nicki is not being sued.

Rap Snacks recently launched its new "Barbie-Que Honey Truffle Chips" -- with Nicki front and center on the packaging. For those unaware, Nicki's known for calling herself a "Barbie" in her music, with her fanbase even being known as "The Barbz."

Mattel's claiming they weren't approached by the snack company prior to releasing their latest flavor ... and even tried to reach out to them to come to an agreement.

However, they say Rap Snacks "refused to cease use of the BARBIE trademark and issued no corrective advertising, thereby forcing Mattel to bring this lawsuit as a last resort to protect its rights and prevent further consumer confusion."

R. Kelly's child pornography case from 2008 was front and center during opening statements in his new Chicago criminal trial ... something his attorney claims is a witch hunt.

Prosecutors kicked things off Wednesday in front of a jury, saying ... "The defendant, Robert Kelly, had sex with multiple children. He made videotapes of himself having sex with children," while also pointing at 2 co-defendants, ex-associates of Kelly's, whom they claim knew about it while it was going on and allegedly helped keep things quiet.

The woman at the center of the '08 case -- who was alleged to have been videotaped in sexual encounters with Kelly, at the age of 14 -- was mentioned too. She was referred to by prosecutors as "Jane" ... and they say she's going to testify in this case about what happened with RK.

According to prosecutors, Kelly went to incredible lengths to buy Jane and her family's silence at the time ... allegedly shipping them out of the country on his dime, and having his employees move mountains to conceal her identity or any connection to some tapes.

There are 4 tapes in play during this trial, and prosecutors say they'll have the jury watch three of them. At least one of those tapes appears to pertain directly to the alleged '08 victim, and the remaining ones might have to do with other alleged victims from over the years.

Prosecutors have accused Kelly of having sex with at least 4 minors, as well as rigging the '08 trial ... in which he was acquitted. Kelly's attorney, however, fired back.

Jennifer Bonjean, who's now repping Kelly, said her client was the victim of a mob mentality prosecution -- one that she says is way too late, and clearly intended to paint him as a monster, even though he's already been through this wringer once before.

She called his accusers "criminals" who have tried to extort Kelly, and who actually have immunity deals with these same prosecutors. Bonjean also said that one tape prosecutors have alluded to, but won't play, doesn't exist -- and leaned on the fact that the Jane Doe (who's the '08 alleged victim) has long maintained she is not on tape with Kelly.

A$AP Rocky has pled not guilty to felony firearms charges.

A$AP showed up at the Downtown L.A. criminal courthouse Wednesday all suited up for his arraignment. Arraignments are quick, and this was no exception. A$AP entered his plea to both charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.

A$AP walked confidently to the podium with his lawyer, Sara Caplan of O.J. Simpson fame.

His bond was set at $550k and the preliminary hearing was set for November.

As we reported, A$AP is accused of firing shots at A$AP Relli during a dispute in Hollywood back in November. Relli claims bullet fragments struck him, causing an injury to his hand. He is suing Rocky over the incident.

You'll recall ... he was arrested at LAX back in April after landing in a private jet with Rihanna.

Neither Jay-Z or Nas took the stage for Dr. Dre's iconic Super Bowl LVI halftime show, but the legendary producer is crediting them BOTH for saving the event.

On Wednesday, a clip from Dolvett Quince's "Workout the Doubt" podcast surfaced, with an interview with Dr. Dre. The legendary producer admitted he had reservations about looking like a Super Bowl sellout in the aftermath of the Colin Kaepernick protests.

Dre recalls when pondering his decision, he hopped on the phone with Nas, who was able to convince his longtime friend the SB performance would be monumental for the culture.

Together with Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige, the halftime show was nominated for 5 Primetime Emmy Awards -- with massive viewership.

Dre says Jay-Z, whose Roc Nation company produced the halftime show with Jesse Collins, also gave him advice on the stage design.

Chris Brown and Lil Baby's show was at risk, though only for a short period of time, of getting canceled ... but a judge has decided the show will go on.

Ms. LaJuan Bailey, through her real estate company, filed legal docs asking the court to step in and block CB and co. from performing Wednesday at the Toyota Center in Houston ... a scheduled stop in his national 'One of Them Ones' tour, which is in full swing.

The paperwork, obtained by TMZ, is trying to achieve a few things -- first, filing a restraining order to prevent Chris from hitting the stage ... and second, asking Chris to address why he missed a charity gig in the area earlier this year.

We spoke to a source inside the courtroom who tells us the judge was quick to throw out the restraining order ... allowing Wednesday's show to happen.

As we reported, Bailey made a stink last month after claiming Chris bailed last minute on a hurricane benefit relief concert after Bailey claims to have shelled out $1 million to get Chris there.

Chris' camp denied her account, telling us there were contract stipulations that weren't met, and Chris gave at least a 2-day notice before canceling. He even tried forking over a 6-figure donation to make things right, but that apparently wasn't enough.

T.I. allegedly punched The Chainsmokers' member Andrew "Drew" Taggart in the face after a wild night in the club … which allegedly included an unsolicited kiss on the cheek.

Drew and his fellow Chainsmokers' DJ Alexander "Alex" Pall posted their Tip chronicles on TikTok, and captioned the encounter "When meeting T.I. Goes wrong."

Drew shamelessly admitted to kissing T.I. on the cheek ... chalking it up to being too comfortable around the megastar rapper. He says T.I. returned the kiss with a punch to the face, and turned to Alex, instructing him to "get your boy."

An exasperated T.I. woke up on Wednesday morning and went on Instagram to invite The Chainsmokers to his "ExpediTIously" podcast and attempt to hold in laughter retelling the story.

Battle rapper Pat Stay's public challenge to The Game for his Eminem-dissing "Black Slim Shady" song has backfired … resulting in Game blocking him on Instagram, which is not the expected outcome from the typically confrontational artist.

In a fiery Instagram post Tuesday, Pat Stay claimed the veteran rapper was looking weak for allegedly begging for Eminem's attention by dropping the 10-minute track. Pat, who is white, apparently thinks Game wanted Em to respond, but he did not.

Game groused in the song ... Eminem only became successful because he was white. Pat wanted to show Game that white rappers have game, so he offered to battle Game in his hometown of L.A. with lots of $$$ on the line.

Game didn't take the challenge ... rather, he just blocked Pat. It's curious, because Game recently said in a No Jumper interview he'd never block anyone -- because that would be like losing a fan.

Pat eventually gave up and told his fans to lay off Game ... he didn't want to start a war with the L.A. legend.

Swizz Beatz and Timbaland created a super popular rap battle show, and now they're doing legal battle with the company to which they sold their idea ... in the form of a $28 million lawsuit!

The big time music producers are suing Triller, claiming the video-sharing social networking service failed to pay up for the cash cow Swizz and Timbaland dreamed up -- Verzuz.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Swizz and Timbaland agreed to sell Verzuz to Triller back in January 2021 … but they say Triller defaulted on the deal after only two payments.

Swizz and Timbaland say they settled with Triller after the initial default, but they say Triller played the same game as before ... making one installment and then not paying up the remaining balance.

The music moguls are going after Triller for more than $28 million … plus interest.

We reached out to Triller ... so far no word back.

A$AP Rocky is in hot water after being charged with assault for a shooting in Hollywood ... and the alleged victim couldn't be happier.

Jamal Tooson, the attorney for A$AP Relli, tells TMZ ... his client feels vindicated the justice system worked for him, despite the stature of Rocky.

Tooson says Relli's life was shattered by the experience ... Relli says even though he wasn't hit by a bullet, he came within inches of death, and the experience has had a profound psychological impact on him.

The lawyer goes on to say Rocky is so powerful in Hollywood and specifically in the music industry, Relli, who is a music producer, felt he would not be believed and drummed out of the business. He believed if he pressed the case, people would just dismiss it as a money grab.

Relli says his faith in the justice system has been restored, because both the police and the D.A. believed him enough to file 2 serious felony charges against Rocky.

Relli sued Rocky in civil court last week, claiming Rocky fired multiple shots at him with a semiautomatic firearm, resulting in injuries to his hand after being struck by bullet fragments that required medical attention. Relli's attorneys told us since the shooting he's been the victim of online harassment, including death threats.