TMZ Hip Hop - Page 43

Will Smith announced Friday his new album was finally ready after "working on it for a grip" ... and he ain't lying because the last time he dropped was 20 years ago!!!

Last July, Big Will signed a distribution deal with independent record label SLANG, and his upcoming "Based On A True Story" is the first finished product of the deal.

He excitedly says he's going into auto-bio mode, even going so far as to label the tracks "episodes" and draping himself in Phillies gear for the album photo shoot.

Federal prosecutors just revealed in court they have two videos of Diddy beating Cassie in a hotel hallway in L.A. ... including a recording of the original hotel surveillance footage.

Diddy was in court Friday for a pretrial hearing in his federal criminal case when his lawyers started sparring with the feds over the Cassie beating video.

The judge asked the prosecution if they had the original security video and the Assistant United States Attorneys revealed the feds have the CNN version ... and a recording of the original footage.

Lizzo says her new weight loss is gonna have people asking if she got a Brazilian Butt Lift ... and, she's says TMZ had better investigate to put the rumors to bed.

The singer-songwriter posted a clip to Instagram yesterday ... stunning in a red lingerie top and a pair of matching see-through pants -- which did little to hide the underwear underneath.

Lizzo shakes her booty a bit ... and, says the whole look is "giving BBL" -- meaning she's looking like she went under the knife to get a backside like that.

Offset and his entourage's plans to enjoy the legal California cannabis went up in smoke last night ... a security guard is accusing the former Migos rapper of assaulting him -- and sending him to the hospital!!!

Multiple sources tell TMZ Hip Hop that Offset and several other guys popped up at a popular dispensary, MedMen LAX, around 9:30 PM ... and a dispute arose over whether Offset presented ID, prohibiting him by law from buying or even touching any marijuana products.

Reps for Offset call the claims ridiculous ... he had just gotten off a flight at the nearby airport, and identification is an obvious requirement to hop on a commercial plane, and they say ID was in his possession at the shop.

Shamon Jones, the mother of the 5-year-old girl murdered alongside her rapper father, G$ Lil Ronnie, is standing her ground in choosing to mourn her family how she pleases ... by flexing tons of cash out in the streets!!!

After being criticized for boasting about her daughter R'Mani's designer burial outfit, Jones doubled down at a block party-style balloon release memorial in her late child's honor.

Jones posed for the phones that were streaming for IG Live ... with a tall stack of cash you'd typically see someone holding at a strip club.

Jay Rock has been arrested for felony gun possession ... and, the whole interaction with cops was apparently caught on video.

The rapper was arrested Thursday evening in Los Angeles ... after the rapper was allegedly trespassing at the Nickerson Gardens housing project in Watts.

Watch the clip ... Jay Rock's got his hands behind his back as multiple cops mill around the scene. He's clearly upset -- yelling at officers as they drag him away.

Luka Doncic really is an L.A. guy now -- the Lakers' newest superstar was name-dropped in  Kendrick Lamar's song with Playboi Carti!!

The Compton rapper -- currently riding high after his beef with Drake -- mentioned the Slovenian guard during his verse on "GOOD CREDIT," a track from Carti's new album, "I AM MUSIC."

In the song, K. Dot says, "The numbers is nothing, the money is nothing, I’ve really been him I promise, see Kenny been heavy out west and I carry the weight n****, I’m Luka Doncic."

Kendrick Lamar's big Drake diss on Playboi Carti's "Music" album didn't materialize like DJ Akademiks predicted ... but A$AP Relli can pick a bone with the "Not Like Us" rapper.

If losing his assault trial wasn't bad enough, Relli's now being crucified by Kendrick on the track "Good Credit" for taking the stand and testifying against A$AP Rocky!!!

Kendrick slickly raps ... "Belly on chain go big, white gold link fall on the belly / The emerald cuff for hers and his, that bitch on point like A$AP Relli" -- a clear reference to the moment former A$AP Mob member claimed Rocky shot him.

5:45 PM PT -- "CNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the footage, which was retained by the source. CNN aired the story about the video several months before Combs was arrested."

5:40 PM PT -- Diddy's legal team tells TMZ ... "Our written and oral communications with CNN’s counsel were clear - they destroyed the original video file they received from their source."

Bombshell in the Diddy prosecution ... CNN destroyed the only known copy of the 2016 video in which Diddy is seen beating Cassie in the hallway of an L.A. hotel ... this according to new court documents.

Diddy's defense team and prosecutors filed a joint letter about evidence in the case. According to the defense ... CNN purchased the video showing Diddy attacking Cassie in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel in L.A. The letter claims "CNN purchased the only known copy of the Hotel's surveillance footage, uploaded that footage into a free editing software, altered the video and then destroyed the original footage, even though it knew about and repeatedly reported about the federal investigation."

The defense claims CNN altered and edited the footage by "covering the time stamp and then changing the video sequence. It also includes speeding up the video to make it falsely appear that the actions in the video are taking place faster than they are. As a result, the CNN videos do not fairly and accurately depict the events in question."

5:40 PM PT -- Diddy's legal team tells TMZ ... "Our written and oral communications with CNN’s counsel were clear - they destroyed the original video file they received from their source."

CNN is vehemently denying claims by Diddy's legal team that the cable news network altered footage of him beating Cassie in a hotel hallway and then destroyed the only known copy of the video.

A spokesperson for CNN tells TMZ ... "CNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the footage, which was retained by the source. CNN aired the story about the video several months before Combs was arrested."

We broke the story ... Diddy's defense team claimed Thursday in new court docs that CNN purchased the video showing Diddy attacking Cassie in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel in L.A.

Diddy and federal prosecutors are at odds over the jury selection process for his upcoming criminal trial ... and his defense team wants to cast a wide net.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Diddy's legal squad wants to begin jury selection on May 5 ... and they want to pick from a massive pool of 600 jurors.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, want to get started with jury selection next month ... proposing an April 21 start date, which Diddy's camp is balking at because they want more time to prepare his defense.

Flavor Flav says it was a thrill to be on "The Masked Singer" ... but, he thinks the show's producers gave him up too early -- and, he had at least one song he really wanted to do.

We caught up with the rapper in Los Angeles Wednesday ... and, we had to ask him about his run on the hit competition singing show after he was unmasked as "Space Ranger" in this week's episode.

In case you haven't seen it ... Flav took his mask off after singing "Cleanin' Up the Town" on "Ghostbusters" night -- his second song of the season after he belted out "Bad Blood" the previous week.

5:40 PM PT -- Diddy's legal team tells TMZ ... "Our written and oral communications with CNN’s counsel were clear - they destroyed the original video file they received from their source."

Cassie Ventura's lawyer is calling BS on Diddy's claim that the video of him beating her up in a hotel hallway is edited ... and, her attorney says he's sure the footage will be admitted into evidence.

Douglas Wigdor tells TMZ ... it's not surprising Diddy "would make a disingenuous argument to exclude the disturbing video from being shown to the jury in the upcoming trial."

Cassie's attorney adds ... "I am confident that the video fairly and accurately represents what happened, will be admitted into evidence" ... and Diddy "will be held accountable for his depravity."

Playboi Carti's long-delayed "I Am Music" album is set to drop on Friday and DJ Akademiks is hinting that Kendrick Lamar used his feature to go after Drake!!!

Ak was locked into his chat last night after Carti called him and played him his "I Am Music" album in its entirety!!!

He couldn't contain his excitement, and he let out a few spoilers ... Lil Uzi Vert, Justin Bieber, XXXTentacion and a double dose of Kendrick Lamar are all featured on Carti's album!!!

Former En Vogue and Lucy Pearl singer Dawn Robinson says she's been homeless for 3 years -- and her ex-husband is offering her an olive branch ... in the form of a job in the hospitality industry!!!

Andre Allen was married to Dawn from 2003 to 2010, and while their union ended in disaster, he tells TMZ Hip Hop he doesn't want to see her crash out ... and thinks she'd be a perfect inclusion into the Hilton Brands.

Andre says he orchestrated Dawn's short-lived reunion with En Vogue before things shuttered for good, but he tells us leaving the music industry actually saved his life, and finances.

Jay-Z's Jane Doe accuser says don't believe that recording Jay's private investigators made of her allegedly retracting her rape allegation, because she's claiming the 2 P.I.s flat-out lied in their declarations to the court.

One day after Jay's attorneys released portions of the recorded convo they had with the accuser, she's filed new declarations ... telling the judge Charlotte Henderson and James Butler shocked her when they showed up, uninvited, at the door of her Alabama home.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Doe says she was not in any way "calm, natural, or at ease" and "trembled the entire time we spoke" -- totally contrary to how Henderson and Butler described Doe's behavior during the interaction.