Awards / Awards Shows

Peanut butter and jelly collaborators Rico Nasty and Kenny Beats first met back in 2018 … and history now shows it was their destiny to be a platinum pairing!!!

The Recording Industry Association of America has been rolling out plaques to artists all week and Rico and Kenny’s rager single “Smack a B*tch” was awarded a platinum honor.

While reacting to the news, Kenny revealed the song was made on their very first encounter … evidence that some artists just have instant chemistry!!!

The two would go on to collaborate for the 2019 mixtape “Anger Management” and a “Smack a B*tch Remix” -- featuring Rubi Rose, Sukihana and ppcocaine -- would wind up on Rico’s 2020 album, “Nightmare Vacation.”

Will Smith says the Oscars slap on Chris Rock was an explosion of anger that was years in the making ... but also seemed to partially put the blame back in CR's court.

The actor was on "The Daily Show" with Trevor Noah Monday and once again tried breaking down what led up to him storming the stage to strike Chris across the face during the live broadcast. He says flat out ... it stemmed from rage going back to his childhood.

Will explains how he went back to being the little boy who used to watch his father beat his mother, and that he was going through things that night ... which erupted in violence.

He also makes a plea to the audience, telling them to be nice to each other ... because you never know another person's troubles, which almost felt like an excuse for the slap -- before WS explicitly noted, it doesn't justify his behavior.

Trevor, who admits some bias as Will's pal, ate it up.

Trevor says he doesn't believe what Will did is a reflection of who he really is -- and in the end, puts a bow on the convo by saying everyone makes mistakes. Will got emotional.

The reason he's going around talking about it again is because he's on a press run for his new movie, "Emancipation," which may well see him in contention for another award next year.

Of course ... the question of whether it's too soon for Will to make a comeback is top of mind, but he's forging on with his 2023 Oscar campaign anyway -- asking Hollywood to forgive and forget. The flick comes out in December.

Jordin Sparks says American Music Awards execs screwed up when they pulled the plug on Chris Brown, and much like Kelly Rowland ... she's shocked there's still debate about whether he belongs at these events.

We got the singer outside ABC Studios this week in NYC, and she thinks Chris has been one of the best in the game for a while now, and absolutely should've been at the AMAs ... to perform and to receive the trophy he won.

As you know, Chris told fans the AMAs canceled his Michael Jackson tribute, and while producers still haven't offered a reason ... Jordin seems to think it stemmed from him beating Rihanna back in 2009.

Granted, Jordan might be slightly biased -- she and Chris had a huge 2008 hit with "No Air" -- but she says that incident "shouldn't even be a conversation anymore" ... and Chris' massive talent should be the focus.

As we reported, Kelly had Chris' back the second boos started popping up in the AMAs crowd, as she announced him as the winner for Favorite Male R&B artist -- thanking him for his contribution to music.

We got Kelly the day after the AMAs, and she gave us some pretty powerful remarks about Chris and the haters. Similar to what Kelly said, Jordin says everyone deserves the chance to "grow and learn" without the past hanging over them.

Clearly, lots of people don't agree, but Jordin's not shy about backing Chris.

Kelly Rowland says it's beyond time for the public to treat Chris Brown the same as anyone else who royally screws up -- and, yes, she believes that includes forgiving him for beating Rihanna.

We got the 'Destiny's Child' singer in WeHo Monday and asked about her American Music Awards moment -- when she scolded a booing crowd pissed about Chris' win, and then sang his praises.

Check out KR's remarks to our photog, 'cause they're pretty powerful. She says everyone is worthy of second chances, and that we all need a dose of humility ... especially amid our own transgressions. Essentially, it's the Golden Rule she's advocating for here.

Kelly also suggests folks oughta bask in the good, rather than fervently looking to cast stones at every turn -- especially when related to events almost 14 years old, like Chris' Rihanna incident.

In the end, Kelly thinks we all come up short at one point or another -- and we all deserve to start over again.

Kelly Rowland wasn't having the boos when she announced Chris Brown's win at the AMAs ... telling the haters in the audience to settle down.

The 'Destiny's Child' singer announced Chris was the winner for Favorite Male R&B Artist. As soon as she mentioned his name, you could hear a smattering of boos in the crowd. Kelly shut that down hard.

Chris said on social Saturday the AMAs canceled his Michael Jackson tribute but never explained why. Seems like a safe bet ... that's why Chris was a no-show at the ceremony.

As for Kelly, she heaped praise on Chris ... thanking him for his contribution to music.

Brown has become a lightning rod in the music industry and beyond, all emanating from beating Rihanna back in 2009. Although Rihanna quickly forgave him, many fans did not. The conventional wisdom is that Chris would have soared to much greater heights but for the brutal assault.

One person is clearly still in his corner ... Kelly Rowland.

Cardi B was back in action this weekend at the AMAs ... which wasn't expected, as the show came just 9 days after Takeoff's funeral.

The rapper made a surprise appearance Sunday at the award show, where she put on a big performance alongside GloRilla -- and she was in full MC mode, spittin' to their collab song 'Tomorrow 2' and looking energetic as ever.

She was also dressed to impress for national TV ... rocking a tight body suit that showed off her signature curves. Although she flashed big smiles, no one would've been shocked had she canceled, but Cardi was a trooper.

The AMAs outing marks one of the first times she's surfaced publicly since attending Takeoff's memorial service on Nov. 11 in Atlanta.

She and her husband Offset had been laying pretty low in the wake of the murder, but Cardi was the consummate professional Sunday night. No sign of Offset at the ceremony, but his wife definitely held it down for both of them.

The stars were shinin' BRIGHT at the American Music Awards ... and it looked like everyone was having the time of their lives behind the scenes at one of music's biggest nights!

Kelly Rowland, Måneskin, Lionel Richie, and Meghan Trainor were just a few of the big names pulling up to the Microsoft Theater in L.A. Sunday night -- Taylor Swift and Smokey Robinson were even huggin' it out when the cameras weren't rolling.

Country singer Dustin Lynch and Machine Gun Kelly cheesed for a photo together ... and it looks like MGK's still trying to keep some social distance with that wild outfit!!!

Sabrina Carpenter and Gayle also met up with Taylor between breaks ... and the 3 were lookin' fabulous together -- maybe a possible collab in the future? 👀

Chris Brown says he was supposed to put on a big tribute to Michael Jackson during the AMAs this weekend -- but claims honchos pulled the plug last minute out of nowhere.

The singer posted a lengthy video Saturday that shows him in a dance rehearsal with a group of people ... and he's putting on some serious MJ-inspired moves to a few classic hits, which Chris says would've been part of a showstopping number during Sunday's broadcast.

The songs featured include "Beat It," "Billie Jean," "Wanna Be Starting Something" and "Thriller." Presumably, this is in line with the 40th anniversary of Mike's best-selling album.

Chris's original caption reads, "U SERIOUS?" He followed up in a later comment, writing ... "WOULDVE been the ama performance but they cancelled me for reasons unknown." IG users are mostly in support of Chris, openly asking why they scrapped it if it was this good.

Of course, there's speculation as to why CB's performance may have been nixed. Frankly, he's controversial ... even all these years later. Michael himself is obviously also polarizing ... especially in more recent years with the allegations highlighted in the documentary "Leaving Neverland."

Still, Chris's tribute would've been a nice full-circle moment -- the guy has famously done MJ tributes in the past, like in 2010 when he did a big one at the BET Awards ... a year after Michael had died.

There's also the nonstop comparisons made between himself and the King of Pop. Akon recently brought it up again, saying Chris could've been as great if he had a cleaner crew.

Shaggy is heading to the Grammys again thanks to his "Com Fly Wid Mi" album, but musical accolades aren't the only thing fueling his drive ... he's very much about giving back, these days.

We caught the reggae icon at LAX, and this time he couldn't deny it -- it absolutely was him recently speaking to inmates at Michigan's Genesee County Jail.

Shaggy was the guest speaker for the graduation of IGNITE ... which stands for Inmate Growth Naturally and Intentionally Through Education.

Through the program, inmates are given tools to successfully reenter society -- as Shaggy explained to us, ex-cons typically have a hard time adjusting to life on the outside.

Shaggy says he works with a company called Colour Bank that offers inmates financial literacy courses -- and credit cards to use with the education they've earned!!!

With over 4 decades in showbiz and a new Best Reggae Album nom, Shaggy wants to leverage his success to help anyone in need going forward ... and he left us with some wisdom he learned from the late Notorious B.I.G.

Quoting Biggie's final interview, Shaggy reacted to the string of violence in the music community as of late, saying artists should become responsible for the content they make once they hit it big ... especially because they're able to influence so many.

Kendrick Lamar is set up to do a bunch of damage at the 2023 Grammy Awards with 8 nominations ...  and he's celebrating by dropping off a new music video from his "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers" album.

K-Dot's vid for his "Rich Spirit" single debuted Wednesday, and the visual finds the Compton-bred rapper comfortable in his own skin -- and a pair of sparkling cowboy boots!!!

The music video was directed by "White Men Can't Jump" reboot director Calmatic and features Kendrick and himself fighting off demons in a barren apartment -- similar to the one seen on the 'Mr. Morale' album cover.

Kendrick has one of the highest Grammy counts as a rapper with 14, and he's now the first artist to have his first 4 albums get nominated for Album of the Year.

He didn't win the previous 3 times, but there's no shame there -- sad fact is, no hip hop album has ever received the Album of the Year award.

Denzel Curry, who's cut from the Kendrick cloth, openly disagreed with this year's noms ... but ensured K-Dot got his props this time around.

'Mr. Morale' opened up to big numbers in May -- 295K out the gate to make it Kendrick's fourth No. 1 album.

Celebrated lyricist Denzel Curry jumped out in front of the inevitable "Grammy snub" convo as noms came out Tuesday, and with just a few exceptions ... he says the Recording Academy missed again.

Kendrick Lamar, Pusha T, DJ Khaled, Jack Harlow and Future were all nominated for Best Rap Album but aside from the first 2, Denzel insisted he could name 10 acts more deserving of slots in the category -- and then he did!!!

He cited fellow MCs Freddie Gibbs, Joey Bada$$, JID and Smino as clear-cut snubs, and said he feels the Grammys care more about money, mainstream acts and "half-ass s**t" than actual culture.

Denzel's acclaimed 2022 "Melt My Eyez See Your Future" also didn't earn any nominations ... which seems like the real reason he was pissed, but the Florida rapper says his rant was bigger than himself.

If the Academy cares, DC did have one more positive note -- giving GloRilla her just due as her "FNF (Let's Go)" hit is up for "Best Rap Performance." Baby steps?

The Country Music Awards has some interesting moments Wednesday night ... and one of the baddest-ass moments was divorcées Kelsea Ballerini, Carly Pearce, and Kelly Clarkson rockin' out together.

The 3 singers joined forces for Country's biggest night in Nashville ... bringin' it all for a rendition of Kelsea's latest hit, "You're Drunk, Go Home." Needless to say, the crowd was lovin' it.

TMZ broke the story ... production sources for the CMAs told us the trio was planning the powerful performance last month -- doing a song all about female empowerment, and about guys who hit on women at bars after getting plastered.

As you know, Kelly and Carly both filed for divorce in June, 2020 ... Kelly from Brandon Blackstock after 7 years of marriage, and Carly from Michael Ray after less than a year.

As for Kelsea, she pulled the plug on her 5-year marriage with Morgan Evans -- the 2 finalized their divorce a week ago. She's been very open about how tough divorce can be ... recently posting an emotional confessional from the bathtub.

Huge night in L.A. Saturday, when musical legends were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

How's this for an impressive list ... Dolly Parton, Eminem, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Lionel Richie and Carly Simon.

It was almost overload taking it all in ... Sheryl Crow inducted Pat Benatar and hubby/collaborator Neil Giraldo. Sheryl said Pat "rocked as hard as any man but still maintained her identity as a woman."

But wait, there's more. Janet Jackson bestowed the Musical Excellence Award to Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Bruce Springsteen presented Jimmy Iovine with the Rock Hall's Ahmet Ertegun Award. Bruce also paid tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis, singing "Great Balls of Fire" and "High School Hop" with John Mellencamp.

And Lenny Kravitz did the honors for the enduringly awesome Lionel Richie! LK said Lionel's music was "the soundtrack of my life, your life and everyone's life." Then he threw in some cornball humor ... naming all the folks who followed Lionel "would take, well, all night long."

Dr. Dre inducted his longtime pal and musical partner, Eminem. Dre said he was thunderstruck when he found out Em was a white guy ... "That completely f***ed me up!"

Eminem sang "My Name Is," "Forever," "Not Afraid" ... with assists from Steven Tyler and Ed Sheeran.

Eminem was humble, saying, "I’m not supposed to be here tonight," following his set. "One, I’m a rapper; two, I almost died from an overdose; and three, I really had to fight my way through ... I’m a high school dropout with a hip hop education."

As for Dolly, Pink did the honors, after which Dolly proclaimed ... "I'm a rock star now!" She added, "I still got rock and roll down in my country soul."

Parton closed the show with her most iconic song, "Jolene," as others joined in ... others, as in Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo, Simon Le Bon, Rob Halford and the Eurythmics.

Britney Spears is trashing Selena Gomez for something she said 6 years ago -- even though signs point to them being pretty good friends today.

The singer delivered a bizarre message Tuesday that looks to be aimed in Selena's direction -- based on the caption anyway. BS cites a specific line Selena dropped at the 2016 American Music Awards, which references women showing their bodies on social media.

She writes, "Don't you just love the nerve of women who stand firmly getting awards and speak on their beliefs about not showing their bodies on Instagram ???!!!!! They say "This is NOT something I would do" yet those women are the very ones who get 4 million dollar budget videos made about sucking and licking on homemade ice cream!!!!"

Britney goes on to say she thinks it's hypocritical for someone engaging in a sexually suggestive music video to criticize others for showing off their curves for the Gram.

The clues she mentions all point to Selena. Like we said, SG's the only person in recent memory who touched on "bodies on Instagram" while also going on to star in a 2020 music video featuring ice cream cones. The song is "Ice Cream" by K-Pop girl band BLACKPINK.

The IG post is still live on Britney's page, but she's edited the caption to just show 3 roses.

Selena's loyal fans definitely see it as a diss, and they're telling Britney to back off. Frankly, her attack seems to be coming out of nowhere ... and the even stranger thing is Selena was one of a few celebs who attended Britney's wedding this year.

Of course, we know Britney's fully leaned into posting her nudes online ... despite controversy it's stirred, especially among her own family members.

As usual, it's hard to make sense of Britney's POV. There is a trend, though ... less and less people on her side as she posts some weird and unprovoked hot takes.

Selena, for her part, hasn't responded to this. Something tells us she won't.

Originally Published -- 7:04 AM PT

Kelly Clarkson, Kelsea Ballerini and Carly Pearce all have one very significant life experience in common, and it's not just being super talented and famous ... they're all recent divorcees and will be hitting the stage together for the first time to sing about lousy men.

Production sources from the upcoming Country Music Association Awards tell TMZ the trio are planning a very big and powerful performance of Kelsea's song "You're Drunk, Go Home" next month.

The song's all about female empowerment, about guys who hit on women at bars after they've had too much to drink. Both Kelly and Carly were on the song's original release -- and Kelly actually got drunk herself when they got together to record it -- so they clearly all have a good time together.

Both Kelly and Carly filed for divorce in June 2020 ... Kelly from Brandon Blackstock after 7 years of marriage and Carly from Michael Ray after less than a year.

TMZ broke the story ... it was in March when Kelly and Brandon reached a settlement -- she got primary custody and he gets $115,000 a month in spousal support until 2024.

As for Kelsea, she pulled the plug on her 5-year marriage with Morgan Evans in August, and she's been very open about how tough divorce can be ... recently posting an emotional confessional from the bathtub.

So, given the shared lifetime experiences, the whole girl gang collab at country music's biggest night makes a whole lotta sense.

Nicki Minaj and Latto are at each other’s throats ... arguing about which Grammy categories their songs belong in and there's nothing sacred in this war, as they're both putting private convos on front street.

Both rappers had been subtweeting each other for weeks about the Grammy's decision to move Nicki’s smash hit “Super Freaky Girl” from the Rap category to Pop, and Thursday night the feud erupted like a volcano.

As Nicki sees it, Latto should have spoken up in her defense ... seeing as how the Grammys left her record, “Big Energy,” in the Rap category, despite having the same bubbly pop sound.

Nicki then began to retweet Barbz who were dissing Latto's silence on the subject ... prompting Latto to tweet, she "can't win for losing." That's when Nicki posted a DM convo where Latto agreed with Nicki's viewpoints, but said she didn't like the fact Nicki put her in the beef.

Then the gloves really came off.

Nicki called Latto a "Karen" and "Scratch-Off" ... posted more DMs, including one where she turned down Latto's attempt to collaborate on the "Big Energy" remix.

Latto fired back, calling Nicki a 40-year-old bully, and uploaded a recorded phone conversation they had on the Grammy topic ... and you hear both women going at it!!!

Latto accused Nicki of having "only child syndrome" because, at one time, she was the only female rap star in the game -- to which, Nicki scolded her with, "You didn't do your research!"

As of now, there's no resolution, and fans don't expect one.