Grammy Awards

Birdman and his very big crew were turned away from Nicki Minaj's pre-Grammy party in West Hollywood early Sunday, and cops raced over to make sure things didn't get out of hand.

There's talk Nicki is going to bail on Birdman's Cash Money and follow Lil Wayne, so the fact that the mogul was sent walking seems like a big deal. He showed up at 1:45 AM and the club is supposed to close at 2, and you hear a guy at the door tell Birdman's posse the club was already closed.

At the same time, there was a good 15 minutes left and Birdman's kind of a big deal, and that may be why you hear someone say that Nicki didn't want him in.

Someone was shot to death near a pre-Grammy party Saturday night.

It happened next door to Supperclub in Hollywood, and the joint was filled with rappers, including DJ Paul and based on social media it looks like Snoop Dogg, Schoolboy Q and Wiz Khalifa were also there.

Two guys got into an argument near the club, shots rang out and one person lay mortally wounded in the street. The man was shot in the head and died at the hospital.

Cops tell us it looks like both men involved in the fight were affiliated with gangs. At this point, there's no evidence that the suspect or victim were patrons of Supperclub.

The only riff raff the Grammy's want at its ceremony a week from Sunday is the singer, and maybe not even him ... and that's the basis of a new lawsuit.

The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences claims VIP Concierge has somehow gotten hold of some of the tickets and is hawking them online.

The Academy claims in the lawsuit -- obtained by TMZ -- the tickets are not transferable and anyone who buys them will be unceremoniously thrown out of Staples Center.

But it doesn't end there. According to the lawsuit, VIP Concierge has been advertising the tickets with a pic of the Gramophone logo and the phrase, "Music's Biggest Night."

The website doesn't say how much a ticket will set you back ... that's all backroom stuff.

The Game and YG think the Grammys are rigged ... because gangster rappers are getting screwed over.

Game tells TMZ ... people at the Grammys "don't respect our culture or our music. Unless we cross over, we ain't winning s**t."

YG is incredulous ... his album, "My Krazy Life," debuted at #1 on Billboard yet he didn't get a single nomination. He told Big Boy Tuesday his music was way better than most, but he wouldn't be specific.

The irony ... both YG and Game think the Grammys shut out any rapper who is not mainstream, which is ironic given that YG sold more albums than just about anyone in the rap category in 2014.

Game's parting shot ... "We can’t even get police convicted of coldblooded murder, so we definitely ain't winning no f**king Grammy."

Katy Perry should give her limo driver a 10% cut of profits from her new video ... because he's the one who discovered the biggest breakout music video star since Courteney Cox.

Jiff the Pomeranian steals the show ... and credit goes to the guy who was sitting behind the wheel last month while Katy was at the Grammys.

We're told the driver noticed the tiny pooch doing skateboard tricks and he was good enough to attract a crowd. The driver shot video of the pup and even took a flyer from the dog's owner which included contact info.

When the Grammys were over Katy got in the car and she and the driver started small-talking. She asked what the driver had done to pass the time ... he showed her the video of the dog.

Two days later ... Katy's people took the flyer from the driver -- he wisely saved it -- and made a deal with the dog's owner.

So now Jiff is a big dog ... a star in his own right. And we're told Katy says she will work with him again.

So congratulations limo driver. You're a big dog, too.

Queens of the Stone Age singer Josh Homme is still holding a grudge against the Grammys for cutting his performance short -- and for the band that beat him at the award show, he says ... "F*** Imagine Dragons."

In case you missed it -- the Grammys cut to credits in the middle of the Queens of the Stone Age performance with Nine Inch Nails.

NIN singer Trent Reznor already fired off "a heartfelt F*** YOU" to the Grammys on Twitter -- but Sunday in Houston, Homme spoke out about the diss for the first time.

He's also pretty pissed about Imagine Dragons winning the Best Rock Performance Grammy.

File this Under: "Only In Hollywood" -- the caged lion at Meek Mill's humongous Grammy after-party moonlights as an actor ... and once starred in a movie with Matt Damon, TMZ has learned.

Sources connected to the lion tell us ... the lion's name is Felix -- and rapper Meek Mill shelled out $9,000 for the king of the jungle to appear at his Hollywood Hills mansion party for 3 hours.

As we previously reported, Mill's party was PACKED with huge stars like Diddy, Drake, Nicki Minaj and more ... but Felix happens to be a heavyweight in his own right.

We know ... Felix had a starring role in the 2011 flick, "We Bought a Zoo" ... which featured Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson.

Felix has also starred in several commercials (he's not as proud about those -- but hey, he's gotta pay the bills).

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have at least one fan in the hip hop community -- former Black Star rapper Talib Kweli says haters need to back off because the real issue isn't Mack's skin color... it's about his fans.

Talib came out swinging on DJ Whoo Kid's SiriusXM show today ... defending Mack & Ryan against rap fans and critics by saying, "When you hear people dissing them, they really dissing their audience."

It's an interesting perspective ... because ever since Macklemore blew up last year he's been hearing that he has an unfair "white rapper" advantage.

The guys from Daft Punk were forced to drop their annoying robot act -- 'cause TSA tends to frown on that kinda thing -- and reveal their faces at LAX yesterday.

Lorde flew back to her homeland Tuesday like a conquering hero -- armed with 2 Grammy Awards ... and a ridiculously nice handwritten thank you to her fellow Kiwis.

Lorde took out a full page in the New Zealand Herald for the note -- fresh off winning Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Gotta say ... the 17-year-old scribbled a pretty damn charming note: "Without your support, there's no way I would ever have gotten to stand in the middle of the Staples Centre & perform in my school shoes."

You can call her Queen Bee.

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (known for her wacky headpiece collection) isn't worried about a little competition ... telling TMZ, Pharrell better step up his hat game after the Grammys if he wants to play with the big dogs.

Frederica was out in D.C. Monday when we asked about the insane hat Pharrell wore at the Grammys Sunday night ... and frankly, she wasn't impressed.

She talks some big talk too ... and not just about Pharrell ... Frederica unloads on Congress for not letting her wear her hats inside.

The 33-couple wedding during Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' performance at the Grammys was the feel good moment of the night ... except for one man -- who did everything he could to stop the love of his life from tying the knot.

Michael Politz tells TMZ ... he learned Sunday his ex-girlfriend Tammy (pictured below last night) would be saying "I Do" to her new dude during the "Same Love" performance ... and went into a panic trying to shut it down.

Michael says he called everyone under the sun who might be attending the awards ... so they could tell Tammy how he felt -- including Vince Neil -- but none could make it happen.

"I'm heartbroken" Michael says. Adding, "I don't know if I'll ever trust again."

Newlywed Tammy Grabel tells TMZ ... "Michael is a broken hearted ex-boyfriend. Seth and I are very happy to be married ... I had no idea Michael was trying to stop our wedding."

Guessing he assumed it would end like this.

It's the first time Smokey Bear's ever added fuel to a fire -- telling TMZ, he couldn't be more amped that Pharrell ripped off his famous hat last night at the Grammys ... which is more than we can say for Arby's.

If you didn't watch the Grammy Awards last night, you probably still saw Pharrell's insane Smokey Bear styled hat somewhere on the horizon ... and it caused a FIRESTORM on the Internet.

Obviously we didn't speak directly to Smokey Bear -- he's way too busy fighting fires -- but his rep tells us, they're ecstatic ... Pharrell's hat "is proof that Smokey is as relevant an icon today as he was 70 years ago."

Even Arby's got in on the action ... tweeting, "Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back?" Pharrell tweeted back, "Y'all tryna start a roast beef?"

Fun Fact: The U.S. Fire Service and The Ad Council created Smokey in 1944.

Only YOU can prevent fashion disasters.

Cops swarmed the Grammy afterparty thrown by Meek Mill in the Hollywood Hills -- a party so wild it had more than a thousand celebs and actual WILD ANIMALS!!

Meek rented out a mansion on Mulholland Drive and hosted Diddy, Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Birdman, Nelly, Jermaine Dupri, Bow Wow and many more -- but the bash was still going at 5 AM ... and that's when the California Highway Patrol stepped in to shut it down.

TMZ sources inside the party tell us most of the guests were shuttled up to the mansion -- but others parked illegally along Mulholland -- and cops were towing cars as the sun came up.

Hundreds of guests were stranded, wandering the street trying to get home.

Still ... it was totally worth the hassle because we're told bottles of Ace of Spades were flowing by the thousands -- and he had a camel and a LION posing for pics with guests!

Ain't no party like a Meek Mill party ...

CeeLo knows ... nothing gets a party started like half-naked women jumping up and down -- which is why the guy booked 3 hot chicks to work a trampoline at his Grammy shindig last night.

TMZ has footage from inside CeeLo's bash at Lot 613 in L.A. ... and it looked AWESOME -- with food trucks and a mobile barber shop ... and oh yeah, HOT CHICKS ON TRAMPOLINES!

CeeLo couldn't have been cooler -- and kicked it with our camera guy while he was gettin' shaved up for the party.

Gotta stay fresh.

Madonna showed up at the Grammy Awards with her son David Ritchie -- the one she did NOT call the n-word ... and the one who just happens to be African.

Eight days after Madonna was ripped for posting a pic of Rocco Ritchie with "#disni**a" -- she walked the red carpet in L.A. tonight with 8-year-old David ... who was adopted from Malawi.

They even wore matching tuxes.

Of course Madonna apologized for using the n-word, saying it was not meant as a racial slur, and was intended to be a "term of endearment" to Rocco.