TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Leave it to LeBron James to get Jay-Z to come outta social media hibernation!

LBJ -- fresh from getting crunk at Kendrick Lamar and Baby Keem's The Big Steppers Vancouver show -- soaked up MSNBC anchor Ari Melber's deep dive into Jay's highly touted verse from DJ Khaled's "God Did."

The news bit hacked into the failed drug policies of ex-Presidents Richard Nixon and Donald Trump ... while highlighting how Jay lyrically details several of America's hypocrisies.

The NBA living legend equally praised Hov and Ari's poetic delivery … prompting a response from the Roc Nation boss, who took it all in stride, stating his primary focus is to give the voiceless a voice.

On the track, Jay raps, "I left the dope game with my record clean, huh/I turned the cocaina into champagne/I cleaned up la madrina with the same soap/Me and Loro talk 'bout how we slang dope/Now the weed in stores, can you believe this, Ty?" … the last line is a nod to his cannabis company Monogram.

Jay's highly touted verse has helped DJ Khaled secure next week's Billboard 200 chart crown … but that doesn't mean the Roc Boy will be lighting up IG or TikTok anytime soon.

While speaking with Kevin Hart over the summer, Jay explained he's down with everyone using social media to their heart's content.

Diddy's "R&B is Dead" campaign has led the Bad Boy Records founder back into the studio ... with the legendary Dr. Dre marking their first-ever musical meetup!

Sources familiar with the session tell TMZ Hip Hop Dre was actually coaching Diddy on how to say certain words and made sure they had it right.

We're told the track will likely end up on Dre's upcoming album with Snoop Dogg (who was also in the building) which the West Coast rap legends have been teasing since February's Super Bowl performance.

Jimmy Iovine, Tank, Pheelz, LVRN's Justice Baiden and others were also in the mix to keep the energy high and ideas flowing.

Seeing as it was their first time recording together, the 2 super-producers were trying to get a feel for each other's chemistry. We’re told the song felt like it was coming together nicely, and Diddy and Dre definitely “clicked” and had fun.

Diddy celebrated the moment with a post calling it a “dream come true,” and labeling Dre a "superhero."

Drake, J. Cole, Kevin Durant and Popcaan certainly know how to have a good time, especially when on the water in a tropical destination.

The superstar friend group was recently in Turks & Caicos, whipping around on jet skis in the crystal clear water.

Popcaan appears to be a new addition to the crew, but the Jamaican artist’s next album #GIHE (Great Is He) is set to come out on Drake’s OVO Sound label and he got really acquainted with the bros ... feasting on giant lobsters in between spa pampering and nighttime partying.

Popcaan began bread-crumbing his latest adventures with Drake & Co. last week when he posted up next to Drake and his private jet on the runway.

The vacation looked fruitful ... Cole is preparing to put on his CEO hat to oversee Ari Lennox’s next album, and KD looked comfortable soaking up the sun as he heads back to Brooklyn next season after all trade talks fell through.

DaBaby may not have sold enough tickets to put on a show in New Orleans, but he seems to be taking it in stride ... laughing it off with a social media GIF.

The rapper was supposed to perform at the Smoothie King Center Friday, but the show was canceled after he reportedly could only sell 500 tickets for the 14,000-seat venue. Of course, Twitter went into a frenzy, poking fun at the rapper ... and he surprisingly joined in.

DaBaby posted a GIF of himself, slyly looking around before smirking and taking a sip of a drink ... seemingly to acknowledge the social media buzz the story created.

Of course, DaBaby's slide in popularity has been pretty significant since his homophobic rant at Rolling Loud ... he's also faced legal issues as well.

7th Ward Shorty, one of the show's promoters and also on the lineup, told Nola.com he blames the low ticket sales on the fact they also booked EDM group Showtek to entice college kids attending this weekend's LSU vs. Florida State game.

He says once the event is rescheduled, it will be only hip hop and won't feature any EDM.

Usher is shutting down any thoughts of him getting in a Verzuz battle ... all because he says his discography is too massive to whittle it down to just 20 songs!!!

The superstar singer was a recent guest on the "PEOPLE Every Day" podcast, where he basically said the best Verzuz matchup would feature him standing on stage battling against himself!!!

Ironically, Usher already did something like that with his 2010 album "Raymond v. Raymond" ... but he's now doubling down on his grandeur, daring any artist to take on his greatest hits.

The air of confidence obviously carried over from Usher's interview last week where he owned the R&B crown, denying the genre was ever dead like Diddy claimed.

Any potential Usher challengers will have to wait. As we've reported, Verzuz creators Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, along with Sony Music, are suing Triller -- but Diddy and Jermaine Dupri are still planning to go head-to-head soon.

50 Cent's Tycoon Houston turned into the venue for a fight between hometown heroes and ex-friends Z-Ro and Trae Tha Truth, and yet Z-Ro says he's letting it slide. For now, at least.

We use the word "fight" loosely to describe what went down last weekend because, judging by the footage, Z-Ro was totally outnumbered.

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the Mo City Don Tuesday, who gave us his view of what led up to him being surrounded by Trae's goons. Z-Ro says he was out Saturday enjoying the Tycoon Houston festivities, taking pics outside with supporters, when he was approached by Trae to have a conversation outside the crowd.

The two Texas-bred stars went their separate ways around 2012 and while Z-Ro admits they haven't been chummy, he didn't think they had any real issues ... until he was greeted by multiple fists and eventually feet to the face after being lured into Trae's trap.

Check out the footage ... a disoriented Z-Ro actually shrugs off the apparent beatdown to charge his attackers after police intervened, but officers ultimately held him back.

In terms of retaliation, Z-Ro says he's not as mad as some of the fans in the street … who have torn artists they grew up listening to have issues that escalated to violence.

Z-Ro says he’s been asking Trae for a charitable boxing challenge for years in order to settle their differences, but all he's gotten is radio silence.

Freddie Gibbs is apparently switching to album mode following his latest e-tussle with Benny The Butcher ... dropping clues on billboards that are popping up all over the country.

TMZ Hip Hop obtained images from Los Angeles, Chicago and New York ... promoting an “SSS Casino” ... which is also the name of Freddie’s upcoming album.

When dialed, the Las Vegas number plays an automated message from a female concierge who instructs callers their “soul is sold separately,” which is the acronym for “SSS.” The posts also subtly tout Freddie’s “Big Rabbit” nickname in blue lettering, tying the riddle together.

Freddie’s last release came in 2020, the Grammy-nominated “Alfredo” collaborative album with The Alchemist and sources close to the situation say the new project will be slated for a fall release.

The veteran rapper previously boasted collaborators to be Three 6 Mafia's DJ Paul, Jadakiss, Madlib and others ... so it'll be interesting to see who makes the final cut.

​A vicious fight broke out at a Chris Brown concert Friday ... and TMZ has obtained video of the VERY SCARY scene ... a woman laid out unconscious on the ground while two men are going at it around her.

Eyewitnesses tell TMZ ... the nasty brawl started between two women in the front section of the Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA, near the end of Breezy's set. Lil Baby also performed at the August 26 show.

Two men jumped into the fight ... and one of them clocked one of the women, knocking her unconscious.

Several fans dragged the woman to the side of the arena and tried to revive her, but she wouldn't move. The battle between the two men also spilled over to the side. Law enforcement sources tell us at least one person was transported to the hospital.

Our video shows the men wrestling and wildly throwing punches while the woman lays like a rag doll nearby with people standing over her.

We're told bystanders broke up the fight after about three minutes and security guards didn't do much at all when they finally arrived on the scene.

The condition of the injured woman is unknown. It's also unclear what precipitated the fight or how the parties knew each other ... if it all.

As for Breezy, he didn't seem to know what was going down and continued his performance.

We've reached out to police and EMS ... so far no word back.

Blueface and his girlfriend, Chrisean Rock, are pinky promising to avoid further physical altercations -- after her arrest last week -- but it's not a great sign that they nearly got into a spat right in front of us.

The couple talked to us Monday at LAX, fresh off the rough patch they landed in when Chrisean was arrested in Arizona for hitting her man in the face ... twice. This time, they seem to be on much better terms -- looking super boo'd up on camera.

Our photog asks what they've learned about each other and their relationship over the past month -- which has been tumultuous, to say the least.

CR is doing most of the talking here ... but what she's saying is a little weird.

Watch -- she says she's realized she shouldn't hit Blueface anymore ... publicly, that is. She also has a remedy on how to avoid conflict, and it has to do with their bedroom.

We ask if they're worried things could boil over again, and Blueface jokingly tells us he personally is ... and Chrisean gets visibly upset about that, to the point she separates from him.

Obviously, this is a very hot-and-cold couple, but they left us on a good note.

R&B's senior statesman Babyface has sold millions of records with Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton and on his own … but he’s crediting Verzuz for taking his career to the next level in the social media era.

Babyface was a guest on “Million Dollarz Of Game” where he revealed to Gillie Da Kid and Wallo that his upcoming album came about due to the overwhelming popularity he received 2 years ago, following his Verzuz matchup with Teddy Riley.

Aside from being recognized by younger fans who previously were unaware of his music, Babyface says his Instagram following grew tremendously ... from $300K to 1M after just a couple of hours online!!!

If you’ll remember … Babyface got a couple of cracks at his Verzuz -- after they had to reschedule due to Teddy’s hilarious sound issues.

The name of the album is called "Girl’s Night’s Out" and features some of today’s generational leaders in R&B: Kehlani, Ari Lennox, Doechii and more.

We guess they don’t call him Babyface just for looking young!!!

Iggy Azalea and Nicki Minaj may not have any songs together ... but that doesn't mean there's any beef to be found either!!!

While perusing through her Twitter feed Sunday, Iggy was annoyed after stumbling upon a New York Post article that chronicled a beef history with Nicki Minaj ... prompting her to rip the claims to shreds, writing, "Why am I in this? We've never said anything bad about one another. Y'all weird."

The article detailed Nicki's well-known clashes between stars such as Mariah Carey and Cardi B ... but Iggy wasn't buying it and called the publication weird, noting there were never any unpleasantries exchanged between the two famous artists.

During Nicki's 2014 BET Awards acceptance speech, it was initially perceived Iggy's rap skills were being targeted for allegedly using a ghostwriter.

Nicki told the audience she was her own music's primary pen ... which sparked beef rumors as Iggy was running the charts with her monster single "Fancy" at the time.

Nicki would go on to shoot down the rumors she was talking about Iggy ... a point the Australian rapper doubled down on Twitter ... shooting the article full of holes in the process.

When fans dug up on an old "Power 106" interview where Iggy picked Cardi B's music over Nicki, Iggy again swatted down the clickbait ... keeping her opinions musical and not personal.

Russ' announcement he's canceling his European tour to take a mental health break prompted a lot of concern from his famous friends -- but one famous foe, Lil Pump, is using it to reignite their beef.

Over the weekend, Russ posted a bunch of shots of himself in Montenegro taking what he called a "pre-tour vacation" ... jet-skiing, sightseeing and taking pics with fans.

However, less than 24 hours later, Russ explained his mental health is in no state to carry out a full tour.

Nicki Minaj, The Game and Blxst all showed love, letting Russ know they support his decision. Lil Pump decided, instead, to go left and ripped Russ.

The "Gucci Gang" rapper has been running around Japan lately, and during his plane ride home, he basically insinuated that Russ was too soft to hit the road.

Russ and Pump have been trading shots for years ... with Russ famously calling out Pump and other younger artists for promoting drug use and "buffooning" in hip hop.

Although Russ didn't respond to Pump directly, he did address the notion he should've powered through the tour ... telling German fans in Stuttgart that ignoring his mental health for the past 6 years is exactly what got him into this predicament.

Tekashi 6ix9ine's girlfriend was arrested this weekend after a dustup in Miami ... an altercation that's on video.

Rachel Wattley -- who goes by Jade -- was busted Sunday night on a battery charge related to domestic violence. She's been held on $1,500 bail at Miami-Dade County Jail ... where 69 tells us he's actually trying to bail her out.

Unclear what exactly precipitated this, but in footage obtained by TMZ -- you see Tekashi facing off with Jade and a group of women on the streets, this while they were all outside of a club. At one point, you see one of the ladies apparently try and swing on the rapper.

Eventually, Tekashi retreated to a luxury ride as people encircled him -- and it sounds like that's when cops finally showed up to break up the scene and find out what's what.

Per the police report, officers saw Tekashi and Jade being escorted outside and engaging in a verbal argument. Like our video shows, Tekashi left ... but when asked by a cop what had happened, he apparently told 'em Jade had hit him. They also say they saw marks on him.

The officers note they spoke to witnesses, who claimed Jade had struck 69 while inside and even grabbed at his chain. Although cops say they saw Tekashi with visible injuries on his face, they also say that in the end ... he didn't want to cooperate with them whatsoever.

Still, they had enough to cuff Jade and take her to the slammer. The cops say this whole thing was caught on tape from surveillance video inside ... plus all the other evidence.

6ix9ine himself tells us ... Jade, who's been his GF for 4 years, attacked him for some reason -- and he believes her friends were swaying her. He also says he thinks she was drunk. Tekashi adds, "I’m gonna get her out jail -- she attacked me in front of the police I told them, 'You have to evaluate her she’s obviously under the influence I don’t plan to press charges ... I’m the one trying to bail her out."

LeBron James and his wife, Savannah, kept the birthday vibes going at the Kendrick Lamar concert on Sunday ... 'cause they were straight-up grooving to the rap superstar's music!!

The King and his Queen hit up the Rogers Arena in Vancouver one day after her special day ... and by the looks of it, they were having the time of their lives.

In the clip, you see James and Savannah posted up in what appears to be a private seating area ... but they weren't just standing around -- they were definitely feeling themselves.

Naturally, once fans noticed the 4-time champ in the building, many swarmed to the James Gang's spot ... taking pics and videos of LBJ.

Of course, Kendrick is on tour for his latest studio album, "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers," but rather than wait for K. Dot to perform in L.A., LBJ decided to check it out while up North.

You can tell LeBron was feeling the song selection ... and when the California MC started performing his hit song "Humble," James went crazy and even engaged with the crowd.

Bron has regularly shown love to Kendrick, especially when he releases new music ... posting videos of him jamming to K. Dot's bars and giving the rapper his flowers.

Diddy's view that classic R&B music is a thing of the past upset a lot of artists, but don't include Brian Mcknight in that group -- he's confident it'll live on ... just by a different name, possibly.

The R&B vet got candid when we saw him at LAX this week ... dismissing Diddy's comments while offering some big-picture insight on music's ever-changing landscape.

Brian actually makes several interesting points regarding music's transformation. For starters, the "Back At One" singer says it’s silly to compound generations of musicians together and compare any of them.

In fact, Brian thinks music should go genre-less as a whole and doesn't even consider his own music to be R&B ... a pretty shocking admission in itself! He compared himself to singers like Marvin Gaye and The Four Tops and how their "R&B sound" differed from his.

One more really interesting take -- Brian says today's music's different because today's artists probably don't have sex the same way as he or Motown greats did, so their music reflects that!!!

He even likened the analogy to sports ... pointing out how hard it is to compare stats from different eras.

Ironically, Brian released what he calls his "final" album back in 2020, so technically this is a retiree's perspective.

Christopher Martin -- one half of the iconic rap duo Kid 'n Play -- says the "House Party" reboot is in great hands with LeBron James ... telling TMZ Sports the NBA superstar is working nonstop to make sure the movie is a success.

As we previously reported, the modern version of KnP's iconic flick has been delayed a bit ... with star actor Jacob Latimore saying it was for the best.

We spoke with Martin at LAX about the project ... and he said he heard from sources -- AKA King James himself -- the reason behind the pushback is because it will be a theatrical release instead of on HBO Max as originally planned.

Speaking of the King, Martin couldn't say enough nice things about the hooper/big time producer ... adding he's "very involved" and has "complete ownership" over the operation.

To top things off, Martin says LeBron even hooked him up with some of his signature Nike shoes ... which he was wearing when we spoke with him!!

Also -- we know what everyone's asking ... will Kid 'n Play make it into the reboot??