TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

If Kanye West and Drake performing together wasn't enough evidence that they've truly buried the hatchet -- take a look at this ... definitive proof they're pals again.

Here's Ye and Drizzy during Thursday night's show -- but in a way we hadn't seen them before ... namely, up close and personal. As you can see they couldn't be happier in one another's presence, grinning from ear to ear and leaving the Coliseum shoulder to shoulder.

Of course, we saw these two have a ball during the actual event -- but frankly, the view (be it in person, or even on Amazon) wasn't this good ... and it's clear from these photos that Drake and Kanye are genuinely past their beef.

As we reported ... it was mostly Kanye's show, as he carried a majority of the set with hits new and old. Drake came out and performed too ... albeit for a much shorter time.

It was pretty neat -- Drake performed some of Kanye's songs, and vice-versa ... making for the ultimate crossover experience for fans. Speaking of them, the place was absolutely packed to the gills ... and word is, getting in and out of the area that night was nuts.

Jingle Ball 2021 did not disappoint ... lots of big stars showed up, but COVID reared its ugly head after the show.

Nick, Joe and Kevin -- aka the Jonas Bros -- performed, along with Dixie D'Amelio, Ed Sheeran, Saweetie, Bazzi, Tate McRae and Kane Brown. It was super glitzy and as far as what happened on stage ... it seems flawless. But, the virus took its toll, sidelining one of the big stars of the night.

Jimmy Fallon hosted the shindig at Madison Square Garden.

Lil Nas X performed some of his biggest hits including "Industry Baby," "Old Town Road," and "(MONTERO) Call Me By Your Name." Shortly after the concert wrapped, Capital's Jingle Bell Ball shared the upsetting news that Nas and Coldplay will no longer be performing at their scheduled shows. Someone on both of their crews tested positive for COVID. Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran will be playing extended sets on their respective nights.

ArrDee and Tom Grennan will also perform in place of Nas and Coldplay this weekend at the London event.

This news comes after Doja Cat announced that she will no longer perform at the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball stops in NYC and Boston this weekend after members from her production team tested positive for COVID.

"We recently learned that a few members on my production team have tested positive for Covid 19 and are now on quarantine," reads the message posted on her socials.

While Ye and Drake's historic concert for Larry Hoover is giving their fans all the feels ... the feds are pissed the music icons are pushing to release a guy the government considers the "worst of the worst."

One federal law enforcement source -- who is connected to Hoover's case -- tells TMZ ... prosecutors are "surprised" to see Drizzy and Ye throwing so much support behind the #FreeLarryHoover movement, considering the facts of his case.

For those not in the know ... Hoover was convicted and sentenced for an Illinois murder in 1973. He wasn't the triggerman, but prosecutors said he directed the shooting of a man he accused of stealing from his gang. Hoover is credited with founding Chicago's infamous Gangster Disciples.

While he was serving 150-200 years for the murder, the feds stepped in to indict and convict Hoover for drug conspiracy, extortion and engaging in organized crime. In 1997, he started serving 6 life sentences in a federal Supermax prison.

The feds think that's exactly where he belongs ... but Hoover's backers believe the U.S. government outrageously over-sentenced him -- considering his federal crimes were related to drug distribution, and not murders.

Our source says the feds acknowledge there are lots of low-level drug dealers who got draconian prison terms in the '80s and '90s -- think Alice Marie Johnson -- who are worthy of this kind of celeb backing. Remember, Kanye even asked then-President Trump to pardon Hoover back in 2018.

Trump shot that down, and just this past summer a federal judge denied Hoover's request for a compassionate release. The 71-year-old has been in prison for 48 years.

Travis Scott's Cacti hard seltzer will have to find a new home if it hopes to continue, because Anheuser-Busch has made the decision to discontinue the beverage.

In an announcement Friday, AB said, "After careful evaluation, we have decided to stop all production and brand development of CACTI Agave Spiked Seltzer. We believe brand fans will understand and respect this decision.”

According to a report from AdAge, the company would not specify if the decision came because of what happened at Astroworld.

A source close to Travis, however, tells us the two sides had an agreement that was to end November 30, saying, "this is not a cancelation or creasing of an ongoing agreement." We're told the Nov. 30 decision was a mutual one.

Cacti seemed to be a marketing hit, selling out in stores and even causing a frenzy when TS hit a local grocer in Los Angeles to promote the product.

It's currently unclear if Travis will attempt to repurpose the brand elsewhere.

Kim Kardashian wants to move forward with her life as a legally single woman, and just filed docs to do so in her divorce with Ye ... TMZ has learned.

Kim filed legal docs Friday ... which if signed off by a judge, will make her officially single. She's essentially asking the judge to separate issues of child custody and property from marital status. Kim is also asking that her maiden name be restored ... aka, drop the "West."

It's interesting ... Kim's lawyer is disso queen Laura Wasser, who has frequently made similar moves with other celebrity clients, including Dr. Dre and Kelly Clarkson -- separating marital status from other issues. It allows people to get on with their lives ... settling other issues for a different day.

What's especially interesting ... just hours before Kim filed for a change in her marital status, Ye went on stage at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, and as he sang "Runaway" he ad-libbed over vocals at the end of the song to say, "Run back to me ... more specifically, Kimberly."

Kim attended the show, bringing the couple's kids North and Saint to watch dad do his thing and give some family support.

TMZ broke the story, Kim's already taken one big step in figuring out the property side of things -- buying Kanye out of their Hidden Hills Estate for $23 million. But, there are still other property issues that are outstanding. We're told there will not be any dispute over custody ... they will get joint custody and are committed to co-parenting.

One thing is for sure, divorce or not ... Kim and Kanye have, for the most part, remained a united front when it comes to their kids and emotional support. Just days ago they attended close friend Virgil Abloh's funeral together.

It wasn't the first time we'd seen Ye make a public play for his estranged wife, either. On Thanksgiving, he released a 5-minute-long video confessing to his issues with alcohol and times when he embarrassed Kim ... including wearing a MAGA hat.

Dr. Dre and Nicole Young have reached an agreement in principle to finally put their divorce to bed ... TMZ has learned.

The two had been at war over money for well over a year, Nicole wanted $2 million a month in temporary spousal support, and Dre ended up ponying a one-time check for $2 mil and $500k in attorney fees. A photo showing the producer and businessman with balloons that read "Divorced AF" started to make rounds on social media Friday.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us that no deal has yet been signed, and as one source put it, "This whole thing could blow up again."

Kanye West was electric in his return to the stage in Los Angeles, but also showed he's still struggling to accept his ongoing divorce with estranged wife Kim Kardashian -- begging her to come back -- so they can be together again.

Ye and Drake hit the stage in front of 70,000 at The L.A. Memorial Coliseum Thursday night, and to everyone's surprise, Ye played a ton of songs from his entire catalog. One of those songs was "Runaway," but Ye started to freestyle at the end of the song while the music continued.

Kanye continued to repeat "Run right back to me!" then saying, "More specifically, Kimberly."

The crowd went crazy with those words ... but it was the only obvious mention Ye made to his estranged wife outside of lyrics that were already written in songs.

Kim was in attendance at the show, bringing the couple's kids, North and Saint. Kendall and her boyfriend, Devin Booker joined as well.

Of course, Kim's been coast-to-coast with Pete Davidson over the last few weeks ... most recently, we saw the two celebrating Pete's birthday at Kris' home in Palm Springs before heading back to L.A. where they were spotted grabbing dinner and then breakfast and snapping photos (above) with a fan in the same weekend.

Kanye West and Drake made the once seemingly impossible a reality ... hitting the stage together, playing their hits (both old and new) and even performing the other's songs.

70,000 people piled into the L.A. Memorial Coliseum Thursday to see the "Free Larry Hoover" benefit show. Kanye and Drake danced, rapped and hugged it out on top of a giant mound in the middle of what is usually a football field.

The show started out with Kanye's Sunday Service choir performing from the stands, and both Drake and Kanye walking down the stairs and to the middle of the floor.

From there, it was a myriad of the superstar's hits -- both old and new -- for close to 2 hours. The guest list felt like an award show, Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, Lizzo, Devin Booker, Megan Fox, MGK, Offset and Drake's dad, Dennis Graham.

Most surprisingly, Kanye played his older, much less religion-based songs like "Can't Tell Me Nothing," "Gold Digger" and "Touch The Sky."

Drake, of course, played some of his biggest songs as well as a good mix from his "Certified Lover Boy" album including "Knife Talk" and "No Friends in the Industry." He also shared some nice words about Ye, saying, “When we were walking through the archway it felt surreal, to be on stage with one of my idols as he runs through his catalog.”

The show, first scheduled to start at 8, didn't go on until about 9:30 ... but traffic and logistics issues seemed to be the cause of that, with cars backed up for more than an hour just trying to get into the venue.

Travis Scott says he broke his silence to start a healing process with his fans, and the families of Astroworld victims -- but an attorney for one of those families says the rapper's words did nothing to ease their pain.

23-year-old Rudy Peña was one of the 10 attendees who lost their lives last month at the festival show, and his family has since declined to accept money from Travis for funeral costs. They've also filed a lawsuit against Scott and others.

We spoke with Valerie Cortinas Fisher, the Peña family's attorney, who says the nearly-hour-long interview was painful for them to watch ... and certainly didn't start any healing for them.

Fisher says Travis' history of inciting crowds to go crazy needs to be taken into consideration when determining how responsible he is for what happened.

During the interview with Charlamagne tha God, Travis was questioned about the "rage" culture at his shows. He explained he's grown over the years, and now urges fans to "rage" by having a good time and letting loose, not by being destructive.

We had Travis' attorney, Ed McPherson, on TMZ Live Thursday ... and he said Travis insisted on speaking to Charalamagne -- despite legal risks -- to show he really cared.

Still, not everyone's buying that. Fisher says the pain is still very deep for the Peña family.

Travis Scott wanted to be heard -- despite ongoing litigation -- insisting on sitting down with Charlamagne the God to share his message of healing and how to fix concert safety issues moving forward ... so claims Travis' attorney.

We had Ed McPherson on "TMZ Live" Thursday who addressed some of the criticism TS has received from people thinking he shouldn't have done the nearly hour-long chat. McPherson says Travis was adamant, he wanted to talk, to let his fans, family and other concert-goers he was there for them ... and wants to help the healing process moving forward.

As for the fact Travis never fully took responsibility for the lives lost at the show, Ed echoes what Travis said to Charlamagne ... his responsibility now lies with figuring out what exactly happened, and how to prevent casualties at shows in the future.

Finally, McPherson reiterates what we've been told since the show -- Travis could not see or hear what was happening in the crowd -- and says the spot in the audience where at least 7 of the casualties took place never showed evidence of a problem during the show's live stream.

Travis Scott is doing his level best to push all responsibility for Astroworld casualties onto anyone other than himself -- that's how an attorney for one of the victims views the rapper's first interview about the tragedy.

Tony Buzbee is representing the family of Axel Acosta ... a 21-year-old who died from injuries suffered at the concert. He says he watched the 50-minute sit down with Charlamagne tha God and was offended by what he sees as Travis attempting to paint himself as a victim.

"Axel Acosta and the many others killed or injured are the victims. Travis Scott, his entourage, handlers, promoters, managers, hangers on and everyone else who enable him are the problem. Everything that Travis Scott has done or said since ten people died and hundreds of others were injured at his concert has been lawyer driven and calculated to shift blame from him to someone else."

Buzbee -- who's already filed a $750 million suit against Travis and others -- also isn't buying the artist's claim he had no idea of the mayhem fans were going through in the crowd ... even if he wasn't told in his ears. Buzbee says, "He now says he had an earpiece in, and was not told what was going on in the crowd. That raises the question: Did he have an earpiece in his eye? Why did he purposely ignore the death and mayhem occurring literally feet from him?”

Travis has acknowledged seeing at least one emergency vehicle in the audience ... and video shows him pointing it out and seeming very puzzled as to why it was there.

Buzbee believes Travis' interview was just an attempt to dodge responsibility and accountability -- and, in doing so, he says Travis "further exacerbates the pain of those that lost loved ones. Axel Acosta’s family doesn’t want to hear Travis Scott’s excuses; excuses do not assuage their grief and pain."

Travis Scott is breaking his silence for the first time since Astroworld, insisting he didn't know the severity of what was happening in the crowd, and alleging the person in his ear never expressed an urgency to immediately stop the show.

Travis sat down with Charlamagne tha God for nearly an hour to talk all things about the tragic Houston festival. Travis says he feels a sense of responsibility to figure out what went wrong, but did everything he could with the knowledge he had during the show.

Travis claims his "in-ear" told him to end the show "after the guest" AKA Drake, and that he was never told just how bad things were in the crowd.

At times, Travis was clearly emotional -- especially when talking about the families who lost loved ones -- and even says he's met with some of them privately.

Travis says, "They lost their loved ones, I just always wanna be there for them, I’m gonna fix this problem and make sure this doesn’t happen in the future and be the number one voice for this. We gotta figure it out.”

Charlamagne asked Travis if he felt a sense of responsibility for what happened, and while Travis admits he was the face of the festival, he says he feels his responsibility is now to figure out what went wrong and how to prevent it in the future. In other words, he never takes responsibility, nor does he lay the blame on anyone else.

While he was pressured several times to say who was responsible, TS never gives a straight answer -- mostly preaching a message of future prevention.

He does, however, say as an artist, he and his team focus on the creativity of the show ... not so much the safety and logistics -- something that's handled by promoters.

One safety possibility Travis suggests -- though how exactly it would work is still in the air -- is to equip fan festival wristbands with health and location trackers to pinpoint issues in the crowd.

Travis says he never heard pleas from the crowd, asking him to stop ... and says he's done the best he can during shows in the past -- and even at Astroworld -- to stop the show when he could see someone needed help.

TMZ broke the story ... there was an apparent breakdown in communication from the time Houston Fire Dept declared the concert a "mass casualty event" and the time the show ended. We obtained video showing cops watching and recording the show nearly 30 minutes after the declaration was allegedly made.

Scott was heavily criticized for photos showing him golfing with Mark Wahlberg and Michael Jordan over Thanksgiving. Charlamagne asks Travis why he chose to go, and while he didn't really expand, Travis said Mark and Jordan were good people for him to be around, and it was just a thing for the holiday.

Drake and Ye wouldn't be getting ready for tonight's huge Larry Hoover benefit concert at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum if music mogul J. Prince hadn't stepped in to broker their peace treaty ... and he's telling TMZ how he pulled it off.

The Rap-A-Lot Records honcho says there was nothing easy about getting the 2 hip-hop giants to lay down their swords after years of sniping that got incredibly personal. When J. Prince joined us on "TMZ Live," he said his choice of words mattered more than ever.

You'll recall ... Prince was side by side with Ye when he recorded a video last month, extending an olive branch to Drake by asking him to join him for a concert that would raise awareness for Larry Hoover's case, in particular, and for criminal justice reform in general.

After that, he got both men face-to-face at Drizzy's Toronto mansion, and Prince says he had to use a "special lingo to reach these guys' hearts."

He says he stressed to Drake ... he had a chance to set an example for all of hip-hop about how to settle beefs peacefully. As he put it to us, "this is a situation that could save lives."

J. Prince was quick to give Hoover himself credit for suggesting the concert ... and Larry Hoover Jr. echoed that when we saw him Wednesday in Los Angeles. He says his father -- who's been locked up since 1995 for a murder, drug conspiracy and extortion -- didn't want to see Drake and Ye possibly lose their lives to violence.

Nicki Minaj is calling the woman accusing her and her husband of harassment a bold-faced liar -- claiming there are holes in her story that NM and co. believe totally discredit her.

The rapper's attorney filed legal docs, obtained by TMZ, responding to Jennifer Hough's lawsuit from August -- where she claimed Nicki, Kenneth Petty and a gaggle of lawyers were on her case ... trying to get her to recant her attempted rape claim against Ken ... which she made in the '90s and for which KP was convicted.

Long story short ... Nicki's legal team is calling BS on Hough's allegations, going so far as to ask the court to sanction her for what they say are blatant falsehoods, which they think she hurled in an attempt to score a payday from Nicki.

The crux of their argument lies in a couple different inconsistencies they say lie within Hough's account of things -- namely, her claiming she had to change her phone number due to the alleged harassment she was receiving from Nicki, plus the claim Nicki's team had reached out to her brother with a $500k offer if she recanted in a written statement.

On the phone issue ..,. Nicki's attorney says Hough actually texted Nicki after claiming she needed to change her number and move back in June 2020 to block Nicki and her people from contacting her. Nicki says the text read "US Marshalls are asking questions!!!" The lawyer draws a conclusion from this -- Hough wasn't actually trying to hide her number from Nicki at all (contrary to what she alleges). Nicki's team thinks it makes it clear she wasn't scared and is just looking for a payday.

There's also the issue of an interview Hough gave earlier this year, which the attorney says differs from what she alleged in court docs. In the interview, NM's lawyer says Hough noted her brother told her somebody had reached out with a $500k offer if she talked to a lawyer repping Petty. NM's lawyer said the allegation in the lawsuit that Nicki was behind the offer is merely speculation that gave her a reason to try to sue Nicki.

The countdown is on -- with about 24 hours remaining until Drake and Kanye reunite as performers -- and crews for the spectacle are working 'round the clock to finish up the massive stage.

TMZ has obtained a series of photos taken Wednesday inside L.A. Memorial Coliseum where the Free Larry Hoover event is scheduled to go down. You can see a massive, elevated platform in the middle of what is usually a grass field.

Sources with direct knowledge say a crew of more than 200 workers has been going nonstop to get the stage finished. We're told the show's budget -- an estimated $10+ million -- counts for the stage construction/production, space rental, security, event staffers and more.

As for Thursday night's show, our sources say it'll be an "environmental experience," the largest ever created -- and feature incredible projections throughout. Construction crews have even been seen pouring concrete to build up the foundation.

Obviously, Drake and Kanye haven't rehearsed inside the stadium yet, but we're told they've been doing so off-site -- and a dress rehearsal will happen before the real deal Thursday.

Kim Kardashian took home the Fashion Award at the 2021 People's Choice Awards last night ... and she thanked her ex, Ye ... YAY!!!

Last year's winner, Tracee Ellis Ross, presented the award to KK, who wore a skin-tight black jumpsuit, gloves and sunglasses -- as she sauntered down a long runway to accept.

The Kardashian was full of gratitude and said she felt honored to receive the award from Tracee. But, the nod to her estranged husband, Kanye, was by far the most interesting moment.

Kim said she felt inspired by so many people. But, she made sure to give her ex all his flowers ... "To Kanye," she said, "for really introducing me to the fashion world"

Kim explained she started off as a closet organizer and a stylist, so getting the honor felt like a "pinch-me moment" ... "I fell in love with fashion and I'm so inspired by so many people but again, this is like a dream that I get to wake up and wear these amazing clothes and try new things and take a risk."

It's pretty amazing ... Kim went from working behind the counter at the Dash store to launching her shapewear brand, Skims, which was valued at over $1 billion. And, of course, there's her beauty brands -- KKW BEAUTY and KKW Fragrance.

Balenciaga is clearly her thing ... you'll recall her all-black jumpsuit, gloves, and long pleated train that covered her from head to toe at the MET Gala -- yes, even her face.