TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Doja Cat brought her world to Hollywood ... with a lavish bash to celebrate her new music.

The rapper threw a star-studded party Thursday night to mark the release of her album, "Planet Her" ... and some of the biggest names in the biz were there, looking just as out of this world as the party itself.

It all went down late Thursday and into Friday morning at Goya Studios, and the celeb guest list was massive -- Saweetie, French Montana, Chloe Bailey, Normani, Ryan Destiny, Ty Dolla Sign, Winnie Harlow, Diplo, Joey Bada$$, Tyga and Swae Lee ... just to name a few.

We're also told The Weeknd made an appearance ... he's featured on one of the album's tracks.

Travis Scott's releasing another collab outside of the music biz ... but this one includes a tribute to his friend and fallen hip-hop star, Pop Smoke.

The rapper's Cactus Jack brand has entered a partnership with the popular French fashion house, Dior -- which is also the name of a popular Smoke track -- and Travis revealed the first item in the collection is all about Pop.

It's a t-shirt with the late rapper's face emblazoned a little off-center on the front ... with lyrics from his song on the back. Travis wrote, "U CANT SAY POP AND FORGET THE SMOKE. NOW U IN ALL THE STORES 4 EVER."

Rumors began circulating that Scott and Dior were teaming up on something after he was seen wearing a brown, heavy-duty work jacket with a large Dior logo fused with his Cactus Jack logo, and sure enough ... the rumors are true.

Dior announced a joint Spring-Summer 2022 collection will be revealed in full on Friday at one of Paris Fashion Week's few in-person runway shows.

As you know ... Pop Smoke was shot and killed by 4 masked gunmen back in February 2020 in what appeared to be a home invasion robbery at a rental pad in the Hollywood Hills.

T.I. is legally lashing out at the woman who alleges he put a gun to her head and threatened to kill her, and he wants her defamation lawsuit against him thrown outta court.

Sabrina Peterson's suing T.I. and Tiny for defamation, but in new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... T.I. claims her reputation is already so horrible, it's basically impossible to inflict even more damage to it.

As we first told you, in her suit filed earlier this year, Peterson claims T.I. and Tiny smeared her good name with public statements and social media posts in the wake of her allegation against T.I.

The rapper's lawyer, Andrew Brettler, claims Peterson "is an adjudged liar, a convicted felon with a lengthy rap sheet for crimes involving dishonesty and violent assault, and has a reputation for being unscrupulous" ... and he says there's no way T.I. and Tiny could make her rep take a hit.

According to Peterson's suit ... Tiny referred to her on social media as "strange," and added, "everybody know you been special." Peterson claims she's since become the target of online harassment and threatening messages, but T.I. claims she can't sue over those comments because they are just opinions.

Kanye West is going after Walmart for allegedly selling a knockoff version of his well-known foam shoe design ... at a fraction of the price.

According to new legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- Kanye and his company, Yeezy, claim the retail giant copied his famous Yeezy Foam Runner and left customers confused about whether they were buying the real thing or an imitation.

Kanye claims Walmart could be costing Yeezy hundreds of millions of dollars in sales by doing so.

According to the docs ... Yeezy introduced its Foam Runner in 2019 and the footwear made its public debut in June 2020, selling out instantly at $75 a pop.

Yeezy claims Walmart then made an "unauthorized exact copy" and has been selling it -- at just under $25 a pair -- in order to cash in on the popularity of Kanye and the Foam Runner.

Kanye's side claims it sent a legal warning to Walmart and told them to pull the shoes from its site ... but it has failed to do so.

So, Kanye and Yeezy are suing for major damages. We reached out to Walmart ... no word back so far.

Megan Thee Stallion just redefined "WAP" while modeling her new swim collection, 'cause ... WHAT A PERFORMANCE?!?!

The rapper dropped her new line of swimwear Wednesday in collaboration with Fashion Nova ... and it's pretty jaw dropping. The barely-there bikinis come just a few days after summer's official start ... so, get ready for hot girl summer.

MTS flaunted her bod in the photoshoot, and it's hard not to think of her own famous lyric ... "Body-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody-ody"

The rapper's designs include a denim "sunsuit," a black latex bikini and a sparkly pink thing ... all of which she proudly rocked during the photoshoot.

Megan told her fans these are "Thee HOTTEST swimsuits for all shapes and sizes for this mf HOTGIRL Summer🔥🔥🔥."

This is her second collab with Fashion Nova ... a sequel to her Fall 2020 collection. Megan is 5-foot-10 and says she designed a lot of the swimwear with taller girls in mind.

She reportedly said, "If you're a tall girl like me, finding clothes that have a savage style has never been easy, until now."

Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are clearly into playing games, but not when it comes to their relationship.

The singer and rapper had a very sexy date Wednesday night in NYC, hitting up SoHo's popular Barcade -- it's an arcade and bar -- to play a little, guzzled a couple of brews and lay on some heavy PDA.

The famous couple looked like a couple of normies -- just dressed better and, frankly, way hotter -- as they posted up at the bar ... laughing it up and rarely taking their hands off each other.

At one point they were both playing the same arcade game, taking aim at who knows what ... but they definitely seemed into it.

Nearby patrons were enjoying their company too -- you can see the awe on their faces. So, yeah ... not so normie, after all.

Quavo giveth ... he taketh ... and now he selleth.

It looks like the rapper did in fact take back his ex, Saweetie's, 2020 Bentley Continental, despite what Quavo sources had insisted, because that exact same car -- complete with "icy" headrests -- is up for sale on the luxury and exotic car dealership Jakes Motorcars.

The GTC V8 convertible is being marketed as a used luxury whip that has only 2,191 miles. It's still pricey tho ... at a cool $279,888.

You'll recall the Migos rapper once gifted Saweetie the Bentley, but after their very public breakup .... there were rumors he took it back as payback. At the time, our Quavo sources insisted the whip was a lease and that he struck a deal with the dealership that allowed him to end the contract early, which Quavo allegedly did when the relationship went kaput.

We reached out to Quavo's team to tell them we found the listing, and they refused to comment.

Damon Dash is taking the L -- at least for now -- in his attempt to auction off Jay-Z's "Reasonable Doubt" album as an NFT ... but he's not likely to give up just yet.

A source close to the case tells us the court ruled in favor of Roc-A-Fella Tuesday by ruling Damon's prohibited from selling the NFT of Jay's debut studio album, and any planned auctions to do so must be halted.

Of course, the ruling is only temporary, but we're told the federal judge said Jay and Roc-A-Fella's arguments were "deemed credible and correct." That being said, more filings are almost certain to come in the future from Dash's side.

We broke the story ... Roc-A-Fella sued Dash -- one of its cofounders -- claiming he did not have rights to sell "Reasonable Doubt" because the company owns it.

RAF -- repped by powerhouse attorney Alex Spiro -- claimed Damon was trying to cash in on the NFT craze, so they took him to court to stop any potential sale and make him turn over any NFTs he'd already minted.

But, Dash told us the lawsuit wasn't going to stop him and clarified he wasn't just trying to sell Jay's album, but his ENTIRE stake in Roc-A-Fella. Dame claimed Jay-Z lowballed him with an offer to buy out his 1/3 stake in the company ... so he's shopping around.

YG's been helping bring medical and mental health services to the Black community for a year now, but he's not resting on his laurels ... he has bigger plans for TeleHealth Van.

The rapper -- along with NFL star Todd Gurley and owner Dion Rambo -- launched the virtual health consultation service in 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to provide resources to those in L.A.'s low-income communities without health insurance or the tech needed to receive proper care.

TeleHealth Van uses a fleet of 5G-enabled vans to do so, and has helped more than 5,000 families connect with healthcare professionals since May 2020 ... but YG tells us that's not enough.

He's on a mission to take the TeleHealth model to people on probation or parole, and like he's done with the healthcare system in Black communities ... bring actual change to the criminal justice system as well.

YG says the City of L.A. is on board with his plan, and he's hopeful TeleHealth Vans will be doing a lot more good for years to come.

Just last week, Mayor Eric Garcetti honored the TeleHealth team at his home with an Official Congratulatory Award from the city for its contributions over the past 12 months.

As we've told you ... YG's also been finding other ways to help people get back on their feet during tough times, literally.

Kendrick Lamar's humble home east of L.A. has hit the market, and unlike the properties of most celebs ... it can be yours for way less than a million bucks!!!

The rapper's owned the modest -- in hip-hop star terms -- 4-bed, 2.5-bath property in the Inland Empire city of Eastvale for several years ... as it's been a family home where his parents and siblings have resided.

As we told you, though -- Kendrick bought a $2.65 million crib in Calabasas a few years ago as an investment property, and his family got to move into that one ... leaving the Eastvale pad empty.

Though it's not as glamorous as might be expected, the home is a spacious 3,500-sq.-ft. that comes with a 3-car garage and a nice yard with a BBQ station.

It was built in 2006 so it's still very modern ... and it also boasts a swimming pool and spa.

Kendrick's listed the house at $800,000, so he's set to make a nice chunk of change when it sells because he paid $523,400 for the place in 2014.

Bobby Shmurda might not have any kids of his own -- but still wanted to make someone's dad feel special on Father's Day ... rolling out the proverbial red carpet for those in his own backyard who needed it most.

The NYC-based rapper -- who's fresh out of prison after a long six years -- gave back to the community Sunday ... namely, by helping out struggling dads from different men's shelters in his home borough of Brooklyn with free grub, haircuts by pro barbers (pro bono) and even toys for their own kiddos.

We're told Bobby made at least a couple stops on his Father's Day tour -- first hitting the Win Shelter ... and then moving on over to the CAMBA Men's Shelter after that, while serving up hot meals from a Caribbean-inspired brunch menu ... which had some sweet dishes to choose from.

Some of the food available included jerk salmon, curried chickpeas, stew chicken, mac and cheese, scrambled eggs, mixed veggies, fried chicken wings and even waffles. Good eatin', no doubt. BTW, Bobby's godchildren were on hand to assist with the hot food handouts.

Speaking of kids ... our sources say Bobby made sure to hook up the kids who were on-site as well, handing out gaming consoles, Hot Wheels sets, board games, action figures, footballs, jump ropes, princess-themed costumes ... and a whole Santa bag of other goodies.

Damon Dash says Jay-Z attempted to buy his share of Roc-A-Fella records for a price that was way too low -- so he's out to find a new buyer -- and not even a lawsuit from the label will stop him.

Damon's firing back after getting sued by RAF for attempting to sell off Jay's "Reasonable Doubt" album as an NFT. Dash tells us the lawsuit is full of inaccuracies, and it's not the album he's trying to sell ... it's his ENTIRE stake in Roc-A-Fella!!!

In fact, Dash claims as recently as March of this year, Jay-Z attempted to buy his 1/3 share of RAF at, "a price I deemed unacceptable" ... so he's looking for a buyer on his own.

If he comes to an agreement with someone, Dash says, "Under the terms of the deal with a potential buyer, the buyer would buy my share of Roc a Fella Records and Jay-Z will have exclusive administration rights."

Dash claims the lawsuit filed against him Friday was only a scare tactic to prevent him from selling something he believes he has the legal right to sell.

Saweetie seems to be responding to Quavo's suggestion that he did, indeed, repo a Bentley he'd gifted her during their relationship ... by one-upping him with a new Rolls-Royce.

The rapper was photographed with RR's Client Experience rep Cassidy von Seggern -- with the two ladies posing in front of a Rolls that Saweetie appears to have just purchased, and which was being delivered to her in the Hollywood Hills, with champagne glasses in tow.

Cassidy captioned the pic ... "She a real bad bish, drive her own RR ✨#icy" -- which is a double-entendre ... referencing both Saweetie's song with Doja Cat, "Best Friend," while also alluding to a pickup line Quavo used to holler at Saweetie way back when. Well played!

Saweetie responded to Cassidy's post, writing ... "My girl ! 🤩❄️." Now, it's unclear if Cassidy posted this at Saweetie's behest, or if she did it of her own volition -- but in any case, Saweetie definitely seems to appreciate the gesture ... and the subliminal clap-back.

Now, for a bit of context ... because this Bentley chapter is long and winding. We're sure you remember the drama in the fallout of Saweetie and Quavo's messy breakup -- when it was reported that, in apparent retaliation for how things went down, Quavo repossessed the whip he gave her on her birthday last year. We were told by people in his camp there was NO truth to it -- but the man himself seems to have contradicted that ... with a new song.

In the Migos track "Having Our Way," Quavo raps a bar that goes, "Load up the bases, now I feel like Cal Ripken (Ayy) // She had it her way, now she out of a Bentley (Skrrt)."

While he didn't name-drop her specifically, he didn't really need to -- he's obviously referencing Saweetie's Bentley ... and appears to be hinting that, yeah, he took it back.

Roc-A-Fella is knocking Damon Dash's hustle ... the record company is suing one of its own founders in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, claiming Dash is trying to auction off one of Jay-Z's debut albums as an NFT.

The record company is going after Damon for allegedly trying to mint "Reasonable Doubt" as a non-fungible token (known as an NFT) and auction it off to the highest bidder ... a piece of hip-hop history RAF says is not Dame's to sell, because the company owns it.

According to the docs -- filed by powerhouse attorney Alex Spiro -- Damon planned to sell the album as an NFT at a since-canceled auction, but the company is worried DD will just try to find another platform to hold the auction.

In the suit, RAF claims Damon is "frantically scouting for another venue to make the sale" and believes DD is still looking to cash in ASAP on the recent NFT craze.

RAF's asking a court to step in and stop Damon from going through with the auction and it wants Dash to turn over any NFTs of "Reasonable Doubt" he may have already minted.

Ever since the Los Angeles Lakers got eliminated from the playoffs, the hottest ticket in town has been to see the Clippers Sierra Canyon Trailblazers play ball.

Drake and Michael B. Jordan showed up Thursday night to watch Bronny James -- LeBron's 16-year-old son -- take on the Etiwanda Eagles in their regional semi-final basketball game.

They might as well have been watching the Lakers in the Finals though, as they were really getting into the action from their courtside seats ... cheering on Bronny and Sierra Canyon's other star -- UCLA commit, Amari Bailey.

At one point in the first half, Drake was seen giving Bailey a pep talk, and it must have worked, because he did his best to keep the Trailblazers in it, leading the team with 37 points.

Bronny didn't score much other than a late three, but it wasn't enough in the end -- Sierra Canyon got beat 82-76 and lost out on a place in the regional final to end their season.

Of course, this wasn't the first Bronny game to draw a star-studded crowd. Just last week ... his famous father attended and brought along some past teammates -- J.R. Smith and Jared Dudley. Drake was there for that one too.

That game was Bronny's first of the season after missing most of it because of a torn meniscus he suffered in February. It was also a loss, so it's worth noting ... Sierra Canyon was 0-2 this season when Drake was in attendance. Hmm ... maybe the curse is back.

Kanye West is burying his head in the sand bag when it comes to dressing for L.A.'s scorching heatwave -- and could probably learn something from his new girl.

Ye was rocking full balaclava headgear while tooling -- and sweating, we imagine -- around town Tuesday while temperatures ranged from 90 to over 100 degrees. Looks like he's got a few of these, because this one was kinda camo-colored, and we saw him in a blue one last week.

We know he's a designer extraordinaire, but there's gotta be a cooler way to ride out the summer!!

For instance, Kanye's supermodel GF, Irina Shayk, seems to know exactly how to beat the heat and still look great.

Irina's in New York City, where it's about 10 degrees cooler than L.A. but still hot, and she dressed for the weather Wednesday wearing a corset and blue jeans. She's definitely not the bag-over-the-head type, so please don't give her any ideas, Kanye.

As we first told you ... Irina and Ye have been dating in the wake of his divorce from Kim Kardashian. They jetted off to France last week for his 44th birthday, and we're told they've been seeing each other since at least April.

At least Kanye's not wearing his new $200 YEEZY Gap Round jacket in this heat -- but maybe the blue long sleeve tee he was wearing might be the next Gap piece to drop.