TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Drakeo The Ruler was killed at his own show in December 2021 ... but that hasn't stopped his old landlord from trying to collect the rent against his estate.

In new legal documents obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, a man named Oliver Omidvar says he rented a place in Hollywood Hills to the late Los Angeles rapper back in June 2021 for $14,500/month.

Omidvar says he stopped getting monthly payments in January 2022 ... a month after Drakeo was killed outside the Once Upon A Time In LA music festival.

The lawsuit also claims the property was left in shambles ... noting damage to everything from electronics to windows and skylights in addition to several thousands of dollars being used to fix plumbing, drywall, and new coats of paint on the walls.

All told, Omidvar is asking for a total of $104,542.60 from Drakeo's estate to pay for the back rent and damages.

Lil Baby and Gunna's "Drip Too Hard" collaborative single is getting an incredible 4th birthday gift ... a Diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for going 10x platinum!!!

Gunna's label Young Stoner Records announced the honor, explaining the Atlanta rap classic went 9x platinum ... but music's new era math throws in 1 billion streams from Spotify, and that adds up to the Diamond plaque.

The song kicked off the campaign for the 2 swaggy rappers' 2018 collaborative album and arguably their hot streak as solo artists.

Its accompanying music video, directed by Spike Jordan, also has over 81 million views to date ... which adds to its running tally.

Only a handful of hip hop compositions have gone Diamond and the "Drip Too Hard" win definitely calls for a celebration ... but the occasion does come at a bittersweet time, as Gunna, Young Thug and several other members of the YSL movement are currently incarcerated on RICO charges.

The last time we spoke to Lil Baby, he said the YSL guys were in good spirits after talking with them in jail. And in spite of everything, Baby's got a glass-half-full outlook on his career right now.

His 'Untrapped' documentary was recently released on Amazon Prime to positive reviews and his upcoming album, "It's Only Me" ... is due out October 20.

Lil Tjay seems to be doing fine following his near-fatal shooting this summer … just ask 50 Cent, who was all smiles while flicking it up with the “FN” rapper.

Tjay posted a double selfie Monday … referencing both his and 50 Cent’s brushes with death with the caption “MANY MEN" loaded with thinking emojis.

The Trench Kid was hanging out in L.A. while taking in a special performance from his rap O.G.’s Snoop Dogg, Tony Yayo, Flo Rida and O.T. Genasis … who jokingly used 50’s song “I’m Supposed to Die Tonight” as a punchline for Tjay’s good fortune.

Of course, it’s historic knowledge 50 Cent survived being shot 9 times prior to making it big as a rapper … and famously detailed the incident in his song “Many Men” from his diamond-selling debut album, “Get Rich Or Die Trying.”

The song has been a popular remake for rappers in the past … 21 Savage, Polo G and the late Pop Smoke, among others, have their own versions -- and it would be a nice fit for Tjay’s comeback catalog.

Tjay was shot 7 times before bouncing back with the song “Beat The Odds” and revealed he started walking a week after coming out of surgery.

YNW Melly's diamond-encrusted grill isn't doing him any favors in jail -- and neither is the judge who denied his recent request to leave jail for emergency dental work.

The "Murder on my Mind" rapper is currently holed up in Broward County jail awaiting trial for double murder ... and recently claimed he has a serious toothache that requires a dental visit.

According to documents obtained by TMZ Hip Hop ... Melly wasn't able to convince the judge, who rejected his motion on August 30.

Melly's full set of diamond dental crowns require constant upkeep, but he claims he wasn't allowed to possess a simple toothbrush, dental floss or get regular dental visits while locked up.

As a result, he says he developed a painful abscess in his lower jaw that is the source of his chronic infection.

Rapper Swae Lee has a 1-year-old child, TMZ has learned ... and he's filed in L.A. court to establish joint custody.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Swae had a daughter back in 2020 with Brazilian model Aline Martins. He filed in July and will ask for 50/50 custody of 1-year-old Angel.

Aline discussed it all in an interview with Jornal Extra last year, telling the outlet, “I would like him to give love and be a present father, but I won't be humiliating myself either. I think my daughter doesn't deserve that."

It's unclear what the conflict is ... but we're told Swae's motivation for going to court is that he wants a real relationship with his daughter, and that includes sleeping at his home and spending significant time with her. He also wants a holiday schedule. Our Swae sources say the reason for filing court docs is to set the ground rules before any problem arises.

We're told Swae has been paying Aline money for the kid, but she had claimed last year that she had accumulated $15k in debt from expenses, prenatal care, and rent.

For those unaware, Swae's current girlfriend Victoria Kristine uploaded pics from her baby shower last week ... she captioned the gender reveal with "Our little wild one is on the way." She made the initial pregnancy announcement earlier in August. BTW ... they're having a boy.

"Old Streets" rapper 2KBABY isn't letting his face tat critics stop his grind ... if anything they're motivating him ahead of the release of his "Scared 2 Luv" album.

We caught up with 2KBABY this week ... fresh out the tattoo parlor, of course, where he added even more ink to his face -- including a pair of hearts and the album title on opposite sides of his face.

Despite the hearts, 2K didn't get much love from the fans, just a lot of noise from the haters ... and he tells TMZ Hip Hop the reactions tested his patience a bit.

Call it a colorful act of defiance, but 2K says he'll keep pushing the limits of his body art -- he does NOT care about pain, and actually had some words for rappers who use numbing creams while getting tatted.

As for fan reactions -- he says he'll be watching to see how many of his 600K followers are down for the long haul. Everyone else is invited to dine on his genitalia ... although, he used slightly more colorful words.

Less aggressively, the Louisville-born rapper told us 'S2L' will be a collection of cinematic songs ... reflecting his life experiences and delivered in audio format.

A$AP Rocky won't pass on the opportunity to dap someone up -- even if that means he's gotta do it right above the mother of his child, Rihanna, from down below.

That's exactly what happened early Saturday morning in NYC, where the couple (and new parents) were hanging out at a joint called the Canary Club in downtown Manhattan -- where we're told they hung out for about an hour and enjoyed themselves with friends.

Speaking of pals, AR seems to have ran into an old one on the spot -- we got video of him greeting a good buddy of his, whom he appeared genuinely surprised and happy to see.

The next part is a little awkward, just 'cause he goes for a handshake/hug -- but does it right over RiRi ... and the other guy damn near almost takes a tumble onto her, seated directly underneath them both. The scene is funny to watch, because at one point ... Rihanna actually grabs A$AP's waist, as if to tell him -- "YO, WHAT THE HECK?!"

Rocky eventually pulls away and introduces the friend ... and that was that. He and Rihanna left together as if nothing had happened, so it was all gravy in the end.

Parties coast-to-coast Friday night, with Drake hosting the Nike Maxim Awards in Beaverton, Oregon ... AKA Niketown.

Here's what stands out ... Drake did stand-up, and he was pretty funny. Among the yuks ... "Nike is 50. Nike's so old, it's wearing New Balance!" Respectable, for sure.

Drake took aim at Kanye, Tyga, Adidas and Reebok. He tipped his hat to the Nike stable of stars, including LeBron, Serena, Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Virgil Abloh and Cristiano Ronaldo.

At the event, stars like Travis Scott, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Ronaldinho, Sheryl Swoopes, Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony were there for all of Drizzy's jokes.

21 Savage wants all evidence collected during his 2019 stop suppressed ... because the superstar rapper says officers had no right to stop him in the first place.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ, 21 Savage's team filed a motion to prevent prosecutors from using any of the evidence collected after he was stopped -- claiming he was doing nothing wrong back in February 2019, when law enforcement pulled him over, making it an unlawful stop.

You might recall -- it's been a minute -- officers claim 21 threw codeine out of the car along with his keys when they pulled him over.

As for the firearm cops found in the car ... 21 says "there was no illegality for the weapon to be in the car." Regardless, the rap star was charged with drug and gun possession, and is facing deportation back to the UK ... his birthplace.

The case has been going on for years, which has made it a little difficult to maneuver as a rapper.

YG is fully focused on his upcoming sixth studio album "I Got Issues" and the West Coast rhymer fulfilled a dream by getting Nas on one of his tracks.

The proud Bompton rapper recently held an L.A. listening session for the sturdy new project, and tells TMZ Hip Hop he was floored when he heard Nas on the completed record ... especially since he had been trying to work with him since 2016.

Although YG and Nas didn't record together in the studio, YG made sure to let his creativity bleed on the track ... rapping in the third person adjacent to Nas' perspective.

He goes deep into several topics on the album ... such as friction with his child's mother and losing friends to gun violence, and didn't shy away from the fact not everything he says is pretty!!!

Basically, the studio is a therapist's couch for YG these days!!!

Elsewhere on the album, YG (half) playfully details how to successfully rob this crop of new, flashy rappers in hip hop today ... and when asked, didn't seem too concerned with any potential clap backs when the song drops. 🤷🏽‍♂️

"I Got Issues" lands September 30, and to rev up excitement, YG unleashed the "Alone" on Friday ... the LP's fourth single/video.

Congratulations are in order for Gucci Mane and his wife Keyshia Ka'Oir -- the "So Icy" couple announced Friday that their 2nd kid together is on the way.

Keyshia made the big announcement by posting a video of her surprising Gucci in bed with the positive pregnancy test -- and she also showed them at a doctor's visit getting a sonogram.

Gucci and Keyshia already share a son, Ice Davis, who was born in December 2020 ... and they've been vocal about wanting to add to their high-class household.

Earlier this year, LaFlare serenaded his wife on the aptly titled song "Mrs. Davis" ... where he rapped, "Let's have another baby/Ice needs somebody to play with."

With 243K Instagram followers, young Ice is one of the drippiest toddlers in the game and should have plenty of pointers for his younger sibling when he or she arrives.

Gucci and Keyshia were married in a lavish, straight-to-TV wedding in 2017 and are about a month shy of their 4-year anniversary.

The jokes about Drake's jump shot might no longer be allowable -- the rapper just showed off his 3-point stroke repeatedly in a skills contest against Carmelo Anthony ... and it's seriously improving!!!

The "Honestly Nevermind" rapper visited Nike's headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon this week ... and participated in a 3-point competition. And, according to footage obtained XXL Magazine, he drained (most of) his shots!

In the short clip, Drake nailed his first basket. The camera then panned away for a bunch of his other attempts, but it did ultimately come back around to catch a few more of his makes.

The makes weren't enough to beat Melo, though ... with the All-Star heating up and crushing him as Jayson Tatum and Russell Westbrook watched nearby.

Of course, Drake didn't always use to look like this on the court ... in fact, he famously used to be the owner of a busted jump shot.

You'll recall, while warming up with the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team back in 2014, he actually air-balled one of his jumpers.

But the diehard Toronto Raptors fan has clearly worked on his game since then ... and the hard work seems to be paying off.

YSL rapper Lil Keed is NOT resting in peace after his death in May ... thanks to vandals, but his brother Lil Gotit is threatening to do something about it.

Gotit vented his frustration and anger on social media, where he made a stern PSA, warning the low-down individuals who keep tampering with his brother's tomb to stop ... or else.

The Atlanta rapper said, "Whoever going to keed grave tryna unscrew him out the wall and stuff when I catch u it ain't gone be nan nice so I hope u see this message !!!!"

Keed passed away on May 13 … mere days after Young Thug, Gunna and several others were rounded up on RICO charges in Georgia. No cause of death has been revealed.

Unfortunately, this sorta creepy behavior lingers in hip-hop culture these days.

In September 2021, Pop Smoke's crypt in Brooklyn was severely damaged and vandalized … as if the robbers were trying to remove his remains from the mausoleum.

Like Gotit, Pop's mother lashed out at the vandals during the unnerving time ... as they should.

Kanye West is having an apparent change of heart in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II's death, apparently deciding to stop his aggressions toward his most recent enemies.

Ye made the announcement late Thursday, hours after the announcement of the British monarch's death ... extending an olive branch to Kid Cudi, Adidas Senior Vice President/General Manager Daniel Cherry and Kim Kardashian's ex Pete Davidson.

In a since-deleted IG post, Ye put the Queen in a pair of photoshopped Yeezy shades and wrote, “LIFE IS PRECIOUS … RELEASING ALL GRUDGES TODAY … LEANING INTO THE LIGHT … BEST WISHES AND BLESSINGS TO PETE CUDI DANIEL [CHERRY].”

Ye has repeatedly blasted DC for his alleged role in watering down Yeezy designs (and his lack of fashion sense) and Kid Cudi for refusing to drop his friendship with Pete while he was dating Kim.

Boosie Badazz's is torn up about a Houston jeweler getting killed shortly after they met -- but he's also pissed there's internet chatter he might be involved in the crime ... something he's angrily denying.

No doubt, Boosie's Labor Day weekend visit to H-Town, ended in a tragedy -- the death of Duke the Jeweler. Police sources tell TMZ Hip Hop the 29-year-old died from multiple gunshot wounds, and was pronounced dead Sunday at 11:46 PM.

According to cops, witnesses said they saw 2 unidentified Black male suspects hop out of a black GMC truck, approach Duke on foot and fire several shots in his direction ... before fleeing the parking lot.

Now, here's where Boosie comes into the story -- on Sunday, he actually met with Duke ... who, as it turns out, unwittingly captured his final moments on Instagram.

During the meeting, Duke showed off some jewelry, stacks of cash and Louis Vuitton bags -- and, according to Boosie, Duke got shot shortly after this.

The rapper was pretty emotional when he posted a video during his flight back home ... and spilled all the details he had about the incident.

Boosie says Duke was walking to his car -- after their meeting -- and, in his opinion, the dudes who jumped Duke were trying to rob the jeweler.

Boosie says it was in the distance, but he definitely heard the gunshots.

His posting only stirred up internet trolls who insinuated Boosie might have some involvement in the fatal shooting -- and that prompted him to curse them out.

Pusha T's 2013 Kanye West-produced track "Numbers on the Board" is a war anthem, of sorts, for the government of Ukraine ... and Pusha is here for it.

The war-torn country's Ministry of Defense fired off a tweet Wednesday listing various Russian casualties, and it used the lyric -- "I put numbers on the board" -- as the setup for the boastful post.

Pusha caught wind of this and posted a retweet, saying ... "Great taste in music for the win."

While someone on Ukraine's social media team is clearly a big Pusha fan ... we're guessing all this Twitter activity won't do much for the VA rapper's standing in Russia. He's in pretty good company, though.

Actors Ben Stiller, Sean Penn and several American senators were issued lifetime bans this week from entering Russia, because the Foreign Ministry says they've made "Russophobic" attacks.

Pusha's no stranger to international bans, though -- he claims Canada doesn't want him either due to his beef with Drake.

Earlier this year on "Drink Champs," he said he was performing in Toronto back in 2018 -- the height of the Drizzy fued -- and after a particularly rowdy show Canada showed him the door ... permanently, he claims.

Interestingly enough, Drake's OVO homie Baka Not Nice dropped a new song titled "Body & A Face" on Wednesday ... which appears to take shots at Pusha while also referencing the "Drink Champs" comments.

"When you go on tour, you gon' have to leave the states/And then it's face to face/Noreaga interviews will get you n****s laced/I don't wanna hear you try to tell me 'bout mistakes/Almost lit your show up but we couldn't find the place/But Drizzy put me in my place/Told me just to wait (What?) ... YOLO Estates" ... Baka raps on the track.