Hip Hop

Nicki Minaj appears to have chewed out a stagehand during her most recent tour date -- and it was all caught on video.

The rapper is in the middle of her "Pink Friday 2" tour, and on Sunday ... she was out in Seattle for a concert -- where some behind-the-scenes drama unfolded between Nicki and someone on her team, or at least someone on production.

Check it out ... Nicki and this woman -- who seems to be trying to work on NM's hair -- get into a little argument ... and it's mostly Nicki looking exacerbated/frustrated with this lady.

Before the woman can do anything for Nicki's 'do -- her boss side-steps her and shoos her away as she's getting ready to go back onstage ... getting back to business and carrying on with the show.

Some are calling Nicki's reaction a bit dramatic ... but others are actually defending her.

Comedian Rip Micheals is already back on the scene after suffering a life-threatening heart attack a few months ago -- because his condition hasn't affected his funny bone.

We recently linked up with the "Wild 'N Out" vet in NYC coming out of the gym working on his fitness, and confirmed he's currently waiting on a heart transplant as his heart is functioning at 15% ... but Rip assures us he's recovering just nicely!!! 💪🏾

Rip shocked fans last November when he posted alarming photos of himself in the hospital ICU and credits Mayo Clinic for bringing him back to life like "Thriller."

He's not out of the woods yet ... he survived another heart attack in February following his comeback concert at the Apollo Theater and continues to monitor his vitals closely.

Contrary to popular belief, Rip says he suffers from congestive heart failure -- meaning his heart attack was caused by genetics and even had some jokes for his parents for not maximizing their biological options.

His famous comic pals figured laughter was the best medicine also -- Nick Cannon advised Rip to get like him and push out multiple kids -- before things get any worse.

North West is officially following in Kanye West's footsteps as she announced her debut album on Sunday ... a title that plays off her dad's legendary catalog.

Ye gave North the floor at his "Vultures 2" listening party Sunday night in Phoenix, and she unveiled her album name -- "Elementary School Dropout."

The announcement drew thunderous cheers across the venue, as the crowd immediately recognized the title as an homage to Ye's monumental debut, "The College Dropout" ... which dropped back in 2004, long before NW was even a twinkle in his eye.

Hip Hop nostalgia aside, North's album title is interesting for another reason -- Kanye is currently crusading against his daughter's private school in L.A.

The album title's gotta have Kim Kardashian feeling some sorta way ... we know she's been upset Kanye is airing his grievances about the school on social media, instead of discussing it with her privately ... as required by their divorce settlement.

North's crack at rap stardom started with her feature on Ye and Ty Dolla $ign's "Talking/Once Again" from "Vultures 1."

That put her in historic company as one of the youngest artists to place on the Billboard charts ... and an early indicator she'll be back on "Vultures 2" and, eventually, her own record.

Zita Vass wants to know why she -- and presumably other white women -- can't say the n-word during live concerts ... and she's got quite an argument on why it should be kosher.

The Guess model posted a series of videos on her social media account this weekend ... and it was all about this hot-button issue -- namely, folks who aren't Black needing to censor themselves when it comes to singing or rapping the n-word, especially at live shows.

Zita says she's sick of doing that ... and thinks she oughta have a pass in live music settings.

She goes on to argue that African-Americans use the word as a term of endearment -- and insists she has no ill will in her heart if she were to use it in repeating back song lyrics ... going on to say she resents the notion that doing so would make her racist in some circles.

Zita also asks why the term is only exclusive to Black people ... and openly wonders why it's taboo for non-Black people to say it. She distinguishes between wanting to use the n-word generally and using it for musical purposes -- noting she only wants to do the latter.

Of course, she's catching some backlash -- with lots of people flooding her comment section to let her know why it's not okay ... explaining points that have been litigated ad nauseam.

Her IG caption for this is a little eyebrow-raising too, FWIW ... she writes, "THE N WORD - Warning #controversial #africanamericans."

Chris Brown apparently got into a little fender-bender this weekend -- and while the scrape to his sports car will probably buff right out ... that doesn't mean he was happy about it.

The singer was hitting the town very early Sunday morning in Hollywood -- leaving The Nice Guy after a little partying, we're told -- and on his way out ... he seems to have bumped into another vehicle that left the front of his Lamborghini with some major scuff marks.

The fact that his whip is white makes the black marks all the more noticeable, of course, and it looks like Chris stopped to exchange info with whoever it was he might've tapped.

He certainly looked frustrated at the moment -- but handled his biz and went on his way.

The next morning, however, Chris seems to have realized the extent of the damage -- 'cause he was photographed looking a little heated as he appeared to be addressing the mishap with a crew of people he was with while leaving a private house party just hours later.

No word on what exactly he was saying -- but it sure reads like ... "LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO MY F***ING CAR!!!" This new angle also appears to show the bumper is slightly dented.

Like we said ... it should be easy enough to fix it -- but considering how damn pricey these cars are -- it might end up costing CB a pretty penny ... assuming insurance doesn't just handle it. In any case ... Chris wasn't happy about having to deal with it, period.

Kanye West's wife is keeping her wardrobe risque ... even though they're back on U.S. soil, she's still flashing as much skin as she did in Europe -- and it might be the perfect distraction from yet another late release from her husband.

Bianca Censori was rocking a completely sheer black bodysuit and high-high garter boots with her bare ass cheeks on full display Friday night in L.A. ... as she and Ye arrived at a listening party for his "Vultures 2" album.

The project was supposed to be released to the public on Friday, but as he typically does ... Kanye hit pause, and it never dropped.

Inside the party, though, no one seemed to mind the delay. Hell, they were all getting to hear the unfinished album -- and, no doubt, Bianca gave everyone something else to talk about ... her lack of clothing.

As for the album's status -- Kanye told fans on social media, "We in the lab." Just as he did for the first 'Vultures' record, Ye is working with Ty Dolla $ign for the follow-up.

Barbara Corcoran's dishing some no-nonsense advice for Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott over their desperate attempts to offload their uber-fancy Beverly Hills mansion.

We got the "Shark Tank" star out in L.A. earlier this week ... she tells us the exes slashing the price from $21.9M to under $18M ain't enough, and they need to quite simply be realistic when it comes to their asking price.

The real estate pro says it comes down to the L.A. luxury housing market not being the best right now, especially with that pesky new "mansion tax" in play -- which she's been vocal about ... previously telling us it was ridiculous.

BC also weighs in on Travis' other property, which sits atop a huge crack in a Brentwood hillside caused by recent record-breaking storms.

A precarious situation for sure, but Barbara says it's nothing to worry about.

As someone who's purchased a few oceanfront properties herself, Barbara says she's seen fellow seafront property owners have their pads washed out ... so, to her, a crack in the land ain't a big deal nor is it a bad investment, especially if Travis uses the property wisely.

Leave it to Barbara to put things in perspective!

B.G.'s long-awaited prison release has done NADA for Cash Money Hot Boys reunion talks -- it's actually moving things in the opposite direction!!!

During our convo with Juvenile, the OG of the bunch assured TMZ Hip Hop their reunion tour is still going down, as he plans to put his "big brother" peer mediation skills to work.

Juve believes the CMB crew just needs time to cool off -- but, as for how long that will take ... whoadie that's another story!!!

Turk was confident in telling TMZ Hip Hop a few months ago that the original Cash Money cartel would be taking over like they did in '99 and the 2000s ... but B.G. kicked off the year throwing shots at Lil Wayne and apparently, Turk needs a make-good himself.

Birdman's brother Terrence "Gangsta" Williams recently speculated to DJ Vlad that Turk would have to distance himself from Birdman if the tour happens, as the CM boss is still upset over Turk's bean-spilling "Drink Champs" interview from a couple years back.

Returning to the basics could potentially squash the posse infighting ... Juve's re-releasing his "400 Degreez" on March 29 with a pair of new tracks named "Party" and "We Be Blowing Money" and fondly recalled memories of making the classic album.

Juve didn't have an explanation for why there are several variations of his breakout single "Ha" on the project, but he's happy he took a gamble on rapping over a Latin track where he won big with his "Follow Me Now" hit.

Bad Bunny is mad at a fan whom he claims posted unauthorized concert footage on a YouTube account ... and now he's suing the dude.

According to a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Bad Bunny claims a man named Eric Guillermo Madronal Garrone posted full song performances on the YouTube channel he runs, MADforliveMUSIC.

Bad Bunny claims Garrone went to his Feb. 21 concert in Salt Lake City, Utah and recorded multiple videos of his live performance ... uploading the footage to Garrone's YouTube channel.

Problem is ... Bad Bunny says he owns the rights to the live performance music and Garrone did not have his authorization or consent to record and post them online for people to watch for free.

Bad Bunny says Garrone is using the famous singer’s name and music to draw eyeballs to the YouTube channel ... thus taking views and ad revenue away from Bad Bunny's own official YouTube page.

In the docs, Bad Bunny says he tried to issue standard takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act -- also known as DMCA -- demanding YouTube remove Garrone's videos.

Bad Bunny claims YouTube took down the videos but Garrone filed a counterclaim to get them back up … leaving BB no choice but to file the lawsuit.

TMZ did some digging and found the YouTube channel Bad Bunny has beef with ... and it seems all the videos of his song performances are deleted for now ... except for this video of the concert orchestra that opened for Bunny that night there in SLC.

Clearly, Garrone had a great view at the show and some high-quality camera equipment ... and this orchestra footage runs 9 minutes in the YouTube upload.

If Garrone was shooting/posting similar videos for the rest of Bad Bunny's concert -- as Bunny claims -- it seems a lot different than just uploading a cell phone video of the show to social media .... as millions of people do. In fact, lots of shorter clips of his concert from that evening are up on TikTok -- but none of them are all that lengthy.

DJ Paul is picking today's social media rap era as the toughest all-time to navigate but for argumentive purposes, he agrees with Nelly that the '00s were harder than the '90s!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the Three 6 Mafia star on Friday amid his jampacked week touring in Arizona and a quick ponder determined Nelly was on the money picking the '00s ... it wasn't much of a debate!!!

Nelly had social media in a frenzy all week after appearing on HBO's "The Shop." The Diamond-selling rapper argued for his own era ... he hit the 10-milly sales mark duking it out with Jay-Z, Eminem, 50 Cent and Ludacris ... the era was sprouting future hip hop legends like weeds.

Paul's the perfect guy to ask for the question ... he and Three 6 Mafia were an instant regional success in Memphis after debuting in the mid-90s, earning platinum plaques in both decades and even Oscar gold in 2006!!!

Despite the group's success, Paul also remembers having to take a backseat to Eminem on the charts after their '00s crossover but doesn't remember having to claw for attention in the '90s ... Master P and No Limit, Juvenile and Cash Money felt like their only Southern competition at the time.

It's the present day, Paul claims is kicking everyone's ass because of social media trolls!!!

He's still taking his rap career seriously... he and longtime collaborator RiFF RAFF released a new "Talky Talky" single just today and he plans on releasing joint albums with both Krayzie Bone and Young Buck.

Jeremih is sitting pretty these days after selling off a portion of his catalog for a pretty penny ... which begs the question, is the writing on the wall for music industry royalties???

Joe Budden seems to think so -- per the rants in his past pair of podcasts, and Jeremih had more riddles than answers when we caught the R&B wiz at LAX Friday to weigh in on this exact issue ... but we think we can read between the lines.

Back in January, Jeremih and HarbourView Equity Partners reached a deal that signed over a chunk of his publishing rights -- his discog booming with hits, starting directly with his debut single, 2009's "Birthday Sex."

Jeremih tells us he still maintains some ownership over his records but couldn't give his full endorsement if other artists should follow suit.

He notes the musical landscape was different back then -- release a hot track and the radio took care of the rest but in today's social media era, promoting music has become more volatile and every artist has to choose the best adventure for themselves going forward.

We tried to squeeze more advice outta him -- but the "Oui" singer took an infamous cue from his "Final Lap" tour headliner 50 Cent and copped a plea ... namely, that he's hurtin'.

Fat Joe's push in D.C. to gut America's cryptic healthcare system last night peaked with an encounter with the man in charge himself -- President Joe Biden!!!

The Bronx-bred rapper came face to face with the Prez following his SOTU address that took shots at Donald Trump -- a personal invite from his good friend, House Rep. Nanette D. Barragán.

Sources close to the encounter tell TMZ Hip Hop they exchanged pleasantries inside the Capitol Building ... Joe's skills as an MC have cemented his life's legacy and even he was impressed with Biden's delivery!!!

Joe wasn't only representing Barragán, he's been in D.C. all week on behalf of the Power to the Patients org that combats hidden hospital fees and we're told Joe's stance is 100% bipartisan ... he even had Democrats and Republicans flocking to him for selfies after he dapped up Biden.

Chuck D's also fighting the power for the patients, an issue, he recently stressed to TMZ, that needs to be corrected sooner rather than later as the American people are often left in the dark about how the systems work.

Joe Budden is predicting further doomsday across the hip hop music industry -- especially when it comes to pushing female rappers -- but Bktherula is telling the podcast king to PIPE DOWN and let the ladies flourish!!!

Save for Latto, Flo Milli and a few others, Joe confidently stated the window of opportunities is closing for their competition ... a total insult to BK when we asked her about the topic Thursday at Litt Live in H'wood.

Bk's been on the scene for a few years, racking up millions of plays for her music. She raps, she sings, she rages -- and completely shut down JB's scorching hot takes ... basically calling his viewpoints on the female artists out-of-touch.

She backed her points by highlighting Billboard's Women In Music awards from this week, which Ice Spice, GloRilla and a studious Saweetie were all a part of, as further proof JB is off the mark.

In the recent JBP episode "Means To An End," JB clarified his hot take by adding more flames to the discussion -- Joe says only the crème de la crème of artists will rise to the top because the music industry has let it be known that all humans are expendable.

There's been a ton of industry layoffs this year -- and it's only March!!!

It's clear Joe set BK off ... she's been on a more spacey vibe leading up to her "LVL5" album dropping next week.

Chloe and Halle Bailey have a bond that can't be broken -- which is probably why the older sibling here says it was no issue keeping her little sister's pregnancy a secret.

We caught up with sister duo at Essence mag's pre-Oscar gala on Thursday -- and Halle couldn't help but blush and gush about her newborn baby boy Halo, whom she shares with boyfriend DDG ... who was enjoying fatherhood as we spoke with Mama Bear.

Just check out the video DDG threw up recently ... showing him goofing around with the kid.

Anyway, back to Halle -- our photog asked if Halle's musical talents have transferred over to the baby just yet ... and based on her reaction, it sounds like it might be too early to tell.

So, instead ... we lobbed her a softball, asking how motherhood was going -- and HB told us it was great. Chloe, however, gave us a little more insight into her sister's pregnancy ... which sorta flew under the radar (although, not really).

Nonetheless, we asked Chloe if was difficult keeping everything under wraps for Halle -- and she told us it was actually a breeze. Halle herself addressed this as well during her remarks at the event ... and said she had no obligation to share her pregnancy with the world.

Damian Lillard's a must-have commodity for GloRilla, after the rapper pulled up from 40 feet to shoot her shot at the reigning NBA All-Star MVP!!!

TMZ caught up with Dame in Bev. Hills on Thursday ahead of his Bucks face-off against the Lakers and asked if he was even aware that Glo wanted to be on what he was on.

After Dame led the highest-scoring ASG ever with 39 points, Big Glo squeezed in a photo op and instantly marked her territory ... and threatened to hard foul anyone who attempted to score on her future man!!!

The way her "Yeah Glo!" hit has been on the rise, it doesn't sound like Glo's taking no for an answer, either.

Judging from Dame's ear-to-ear grin, he's aware the Memphis rapper wants him bad ... no comment if he's already taken her up on her offer!!! 🤐

Dame Time may not have clocked GloRilla just yet -- but his new Milwaukee teammates are feeling the love ... after he upgraded everyone's wrists with gold watches from his Tissot line on the team plane.

If Francis Ngannou pulls off the upset win over Anthony Joshua on Friday, perhaps nobody will be happier than Drake -- 'cause the rapper just bet a small fortune on the UFC fighter to get the dub!!

Drizzy showed off his betting slip on his Instagram page just hours before the match goes down ... revealing he put a whopping $615,000 on Ngannou to beat Joshua in a boxing match in Saudi Arabia.

If it hits, Drake stands to make a ton of cash -- $1,906,500 to be exact -- and based on his IG caption, he seems confident it will all actually happen.

"Betting on a scary man," Drake said.

The fight will be just the second pro boxing one of Ngannou's career -- but, given how the first one went against Tyson Fury back in October, many think he can actually win it.

You'll recall, Ngannou -- the former UFC heavyweight champ -- roughed up Fury for most of their bout ... but lost in a controversial split decision.

One loss aside, Ngannou's seemed super confident in the leadup to this next fight -- and Drake appears to be believing the bravado.