TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Gucci Mane and Keyshia Ka'oir Davis added a new family member to their ranks with the birth of their daughter Iceland Ka'oir Davis!!!

The little girl was born Wednesday, and her proud parents shared the news with the world on Thursday ... posting pics of them smiling and coddling their baby bundle of joy.

Gucci revealed the newborn weighs 7lbs 2oz, and most importantly, it was a healthy birth for baby and mom.

Iceland is Gucci and Keyshia's second child together ... she has a 2-year-old, similarly named brother Ice -- so, yeah their playroom's gotta be totally chill.

Nas and 50 Cent are set to have a collab on the upcoming "King's Disease 4" ... cementing a full circle moment for the Queens rap legends who don't exactly have the best career history together.

The two hip hop powerhouses recorded a couple of tracks in the late '90s before 50's rebranding after he was shot 9 times ... and later turned to rap rivals on diss records like "Don't Body Ya Self" and "Piggy Bank" throughout the mid-'00s.

Nas' "KD" series has largely been about destroying and rebuilding bad troupes within hip hop and Black culture and a 50 Cent reunion feels on par for the course.

The news was first revealed in 50's new Billboard cover story, where he's said to also be making his official album comeback with production from Dr. Dre ... 20 years after he first solidified his legacy!!!

50's g-g-g-roundbreaking debut album "Get Rich Or Die Tryin'" officially turned 20 years old on Monday ... and the megastar rapper got a workout in signing autographed copies for fans!!!

Rihanna wants to make sure she gets her Super Bowl LVII halftime performance 100% correct ... working through 39 different setlists to get it right.

The music superstar discussed her everchanging plans on Thursday during an Apple Music press conference to pump the big show.

Rihanna told panel moderator Nadeska Alexis she hasn't been afraid to take charge, as there's a lot riding on this performance, including her own reputation.

The singer says trying to condense hours worth of musical greatness into a 13-minute set has been damn near impossible, but Rihanna says there are a lot of people who are involved working to make it successful.

She says her bossy side has surfaced on several occasions -- making small changes such as where her guitar players should stand.

We spoke to Rihanna about her pregame jitters back in October and it appears she still has them.

She openly admitted she had some hesitation taking the gig after giving birth to her baby back in May, and lamented over the lack of work/life balance to spend with her child.

Ultimately, the "Umbrella" singer says it was an honor to be put in a position to represent Barbados, immigrants and Black women alike ... and plans on incorporating plenty of her native Caribbean culture into the show.

GloRilla's stay in the Bay Area ended in a fit of rage ... rage from fans who hurled drinks and spit at the "FNF" rapper when she exited her Oakland after party without performing.

The incident happened Wednesday night at New Karibbean City nightclub, and the video shows Glo and her team making their way to the door as drink lands smack dab on Glo's jacket, angering her and her friends.

One clubgoer yelled out, "F**k you, bitch!!" ... before someone on Glo's team cools her off with a few splashes from her glass to return the favor.

Promoter Con B of Insomnia Entertainment isn't taking responsibility for fans turning on Glo ... but tells TMZ Hip Hop he paid an exec at Glo's label CMG $30K to hear the Grammy-nominated star get lit and is expecting a full refund!!!

Sources close to the situation paint a different story, telling us Glo was never contracted to perform for that $30K -- a claim backed up by Glo's CMG boss, Yo Gotti after he got wind of the incident on Instagram!!!

We're told it was only a couple of rowdy fans upset she didn't perform -- not the entire club like the internet is projecting.

Glo is currently on tour and hit the Oakland club after her performance in San Fran earlier that night.

Lil Uzi Vert's futsal footwork couldn't save him after he tried to play leapfrog at NAV's outdoor pool ... and the Philly Eagles ambassador was caught in 4K slipping on his ass!!!

On Thursday, NAV posted studio cam of Uzi attempting to hop his way into the island in the middle of his pool -- only to slip on the border and embarrassingly plunge into the water!!!

NAV can be seen bursting out laughing to the point he misses the dap Uzi tried to give him to assure he didn't break any bones!!!

The two wavy artists are frequent collaborators so fans will be happy to know they have another collab coming, which may end up on Uzi's highly anticipated album ... a project he's been successfully building buzz for.

Uzi's been everywhere these past few weeks -- recently repping for the newer class of rappers at the Grammys' 50th-anniversary hip hop tribute, and even marching the Eagles to victory with his hit record "Just Wanna Rock" during their route to Super Bowl LVII.

Scooter Braun, once known primarily as Justin Bieber's manager, is now firmly in the rap world -- his company dropped 9 figures to purchase Quality Control music label ... home of Migos.

S.B.'s HYBE America announced the huge purchase Wednesday, and the price is reportedly in the ballpark of $300 million. Some of the label's other heavy hitters include Lil Baby and City Girls.

Scooter, who also manages Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato, told New York Times QC is one of the "most significant labels in the world," adding it doesn't stop at music ... "they also distribute culture. Their artists are the voices of their communities."

This marks the first huge leap the manager's made since taking the reigns as sole chief exec of HYBE America last month. FYI, the company's a division of Hybe, a South Korean entertainment firm that manages huge names like BTS.

The move was met with some heat online -- for those unaware, QC -- founded a decade ago by Pierre Thomas and Kevin 'Coach K' Lee -- has always prided itself in being a Black-owned business.

However, many don't realize Braun and Coach K have a 20 year friendship, working together in Atlanta's Hip Hop community for years. In fact, Scooter recently said of their pairing, "I’ll never forget riding around Atlanta over 20 years ago with Coach discussing our dreams and ambitions and how we said: ‘If they let us in the game, we are never going to give it back’.”

Offset and J Prince are turning up the heat on their simmering beef ... Prince says he's saved Offset's hide a bunch of times, but Offset's calling BS.

The estranged Migos rapper fired back at the Rap-A-Lot Records mogul Wednesday after Prince went to great lengths to remind Offset of all Prince says he's done for him and Cardi B.

J Prince says he's rescued Offset from tons of beefs over the years in different parts of the country, but Offset begs to differ ... saying he never needed Prince's help and claiming Prince is "all mouth with no proof just fairy tales."

Offset's rebuttal comes after Prince posted an audio message on Instagram ripping the Atlanta rapper for choosing emotions over principles.

J Prince's rant is a direct response to Offset claiming to not know Prince "from a can of paint" amid Offset's own issues with Quavo, which exploded backstage at Sunday's Grammy Awards.

Prince tried to jog Offset's memory while shredding his street cred ... claiming Offset was a fake gangster who repeatedly lied to Cardi B about what he was doing in the streets.

Prince claimed to have aided Offset on multiple occasions ... allegedly coming to Offset's rescue after he was jumped by Lil Baby's 4PF crew in Atlanta, squashing a beef involving Sauce Walka in Houston and helping Cardi out the time she angered Crips in Los Angeles by changing the word "blue" to "flue."

Cardi wasted zero time offering up some straightening of her own ... claiming it was Wack 100 and Big U — not J Prince — who stepped in to clear her name.

Rod Wave was willing to split nearly $1 million with a rapper he barely even likes just to sit in a box at the Super Bowl, but now he may get to enjoy the game with a rapper he likely admires!!!

Rick Ross got wind of Rod Wave's baller budgetary concerns on Akademiks' page and stepped in to offer Rod a place inside his Boss suite at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ.

Rozay says the suite holds upwards of 26 people ... plenty of room for Rod and his boys to turn up with a legend who came up through similar hurdles and obstacles.

Both rap stars have yet to collaborate, but both hail from Florida and we're sure Ross can give the 'Beautiful Mind' creator a lot more game than what's out on the field.

DDG unfollowed his girlfriend Halle Bailey on Instagram earlier this week ... setting off Gen-Z breakup alarms, but he also raised suspicions and anger from one of Halle's family members.

Chloe x Halle's older sister Ski was among the breakup-believers, and posted a video Wednesday to drag her potential brother-in-law for filth -- only to take it back moments later after she spoke to Halle and realized she'd been had!!!

It's not that Ski didn't have probable cause for defending her lil' sis, though ... DDG made himself and Chloe trending targets when he scrubbed his accounts of pics of Chloe and followed up his "unfollow" of her with the since-deleted tweet, "All these girls the same 😭 ain't no wayy.”

On Wednesday, he chided the Internet for being gullible in reporting on his activity ... upsetting fans further but all's well in paradise, trolling aside.

Super Bowl commercials can no longer be contained for just the big game, and several high-profile rappers -- Diddy, Snoop Dogg and Jack Harlow to name a few -- have all been getting the bag with multi-million dollar TV spots!!!

Diddy's mogul status is the basis for his Uber Eats ad and he incorporates his Love Records, CÎROC and DeLeon Tequila imprints all in one swoop.

In the spot, the Bad Boy Records CEO looks for the perfect jingle from remixed hits ... and well-placed randomness from Montell Jordan, Donna Lewis, Kelis, Ylvis and Haddaway!!!

Not to be outdone, Snoop assumes yet another brand ambassador role with Skechers Slip-Ins alongside Martha Stewart, Howie Long and Tony Romo.

The colorful commercial loops Snoop's classic hit "Who Am I? (What’s My Name?)" as Tha Doggfather walks through his various elements ... walking red carpets, rocking concerts and cruising through L.A. on a beach cruiser!!!

Jack and Missy Elliott have been teasing a Doritos commercial (and collaboration) for weeks now and dropped new content Wednesday. It's a hypothetical look into Jack's career if he adopted the chip into his stage act ... to hilarious results.

The newest clip costars Sway Calloway and Heather B. from "Sway In The Morning" ... as well as a mic-dropping cameo from Sir Elton John.

This year, 30-second SB commercials will reportedly cost companies $7 mil a pop ... and that's before they pay the rappers' salaries!!!

If ya can't wait till Sunday, we've got more of those high priced spots.

Future should probably be celebrating his recent Best Melodic Rap Performance Grammy win for his hit "Wait For U" ... but the relentless rapper is back in his happy place working on his new album!!!

The Freebandz rapper revealed Tuesday he's in album mode days after being visibly absent from his Grammy acceptance speech -- which producer ATL Jacob graciously accepted on his behalf -- and also the Hip Hop 50 tribute that night.

Our Grammy sources say Future was supposed to be included in the show-stopping all-star medley ... he even rehearsed, but for some reason bailed at the last minute.

Grinding in the studio has long been Future's MO, and the new project will follow last year's "I Never Liked You" ... which not only spawned the Grammy-winning Drake and Tems collab, but was also certified platinum, so fans will likely eat this one up just as fast!!!

Pretty Ricky's Baby Blue is now a free man, kind of, after serving a little over a year in his PPP fraud case, and his bandmates were there to greet him upon release.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons tells TMZ Hip Hop ... Baby Blue was released Tuesday from the Federal Correctional Institution Coleman Low in Florida.

The 38-year-old pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in August 2020, and was sentenced to 20 months in prison ... which he started serving in February 2022.

Blue was transferred to the BOP's Miami Residential Reentry Management Office, which oversees inmates transitioning back to public life. He will stay in community confinement -- either home detention or a halfway house -- until he is officially released from custody on April 4.

Upon his release, Blue was surprised by Pleasure P and Spectacular, Blue's actual brother, who both excitedly live streamed the moment as they promised to celebrate in various ways ... but Baby Blue isn't completely out of the woods yet.

Baby Blue has another 3 years of supervised release, and still has to pay $1,111,345.23 in restitution as part of his sentence.

According to court docs, he forfeited a 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia about a year ago, but that only knocked around $65K off his tab -- so he still owes well over $1 million.

Gunna's being told to refund the $250K he allegedly got for a verse recorded prior to the YSL Rico case ... all because his collaborator believes Gunna snitched on Young Thug to get out of jail.

Florida-based rapper Bandman Kevo says he paid Gunna to get on a song they did together many months ago, but his incarceration delayed the rollout.

Now that Gunna is free, Kevo says he's ashamed of the collab and it's not happening.

As a result, he's now demanding Gunna return the 6-figure check to sender -- and if he doesn't, Kevo says he'll sue.

The song's titled "Alone" and they even shot a video with YSL rapper Lil Duke -- who was also arrested, and took the same Alford plea as Gunna -- so, Kevo's entire record is kaput as far as he's concerned.

Kevo's reimbursement demand is a total 180° from his thoughts shared in an interview a little over a month ago, when he gave Gunna the benefit of the doubt,  assuming the "Pushin' P" rapper had an elaborate legal scheme that did not involve snitching.

Lola Brooke walked away from GloRilla's Grammys performance feeling inspired, and thinks the look will open doors for her own career in the future!!!

TMZ Hip Hop got the "Don't Play With It'" rapper Monday at LAX, where she was glowing off the strength of Glo's contribution to the Grammys' 50th-anniversary hip hop tribute ... especially seeing the "F.N.F." rub elbows with all-time rap greats such as LL Cool J, Too Short, Missy Elliott and Public Enemy.

That said, Lola was shocked when we raised the fact Lil Kim wasn't part of the medley -- it's clear she's got Kim's back, and promised to link with her back in the Big Apple.

Kim recently knighted Lola by surprising their hometown Brooklyn crowd with a cameo performance of "Don't Play With It" ... and their mentorship bond has continued to blossom.

Lola's got a big year ahead, having just inked a deal with Arista Records.

She's hitting the road with A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie for his Me Vs. Myself Tour, and her debut album is also expected to drop this later year.

The Grammys officially have to recognize hip hop's presence going forward ... so says 2 of its pioneers ... Melle Mel and Scorpio of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five!!!

We linked with Melle, Scorpio and Bar Shon after their participation in the Grammys hip hop blowout to celebrate the culture's 50th birthday ... and in their opinion, the classic contributions to the medley really boosted the tribute.

Melle and Scorpio also tell us it was an honor to rock with the newer artists, who included Lil Baby, GloRilla and Lil Uzi Vert -- but it was their wave of nostalgia that made the performance one for the books.

The Furious Five rappers disagree with the notion new rap music is garbage -- they say each generation has its own sound and even remember when older heads turned their noses up at their music when they referred to it as "fresh."

Diddy isn't above a petty reaction to Burna Boy's defeat in the Best Global Music Album category at the Grammy Awards ... especially because they won the award together their last time collaborating!!!

Following the ceremony, Diddy took to IG amid his messages of love to snipe BB ... taking credit for the Afrobeats star's first and only Grammy win, while scoffing at the notion he thought his latest project, "Love, Damini" would be just as successful.

Diddy served as co-executive producer for Burna's 2020 album "Twice as Tall" ... adding hip hop flavor to help him warm up to the North American audiences.

Together, they not only won the Best Global Music Album the following year but also topped the Billboard US World Albums chart.

Judging from the picture Diddy paints, he worked on the project outta sheer boredom during the COVID-19 pandemic ... and they didn't even meet in person until after the album was released!!!

BB also lost out on his Best Global Music Performance yesterday ... further proving Diddy's point and get this ... even BB's Nigerian fans appear to be riding with Puff and are demanding BB make things right -- or fall off forever!!!