Hip Hop

Grammy Award-winning, South African-born singer, Tyla finds herself at the crossroads of a bubbling race controversy -- it all came to a head on "The Breakfast Club," but she opted to plead the 5th.

All the chatter about her race and ethnicity started when fans discovered a TikTok Tyla made years ago -- before her "Water" song became an internationally known, double platinum smash -- where she celebrated her mixed heritage, and labeled herself a "proud coloured South African woman."

Charlemagne Tha God gave Tyla the floor to clarify the remark -- but she bottled up and her publicist requested the question be struck from the record.

Wu-Tang Clan's highly controversial time capsule album "Once Upon A Time In Shaolin" is now being pushed for release in this lifetime -- a surprise expedition of its OG release date by almost 80 years!!!

PleasrDAO, the crypto company that spent $4.75 million to buy the secret Wu-Tang project from "pharma-bro" Martin Shkreli, is now letting the public slap a down payment on a digitized and encrypted version of the album for only $1!!!

The album is currently being hosted at the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) in Tasmania. They also had Cali artist Hassan Rahim update the artwork after the first cover was subject to legal scrutiny.

Tinashe is in virgin territory -- her new song "Nasty" is her first Billboard Hot 100 hit, and she's celebrating the accomplishment ... especially because she made it off her independent grind!!!

TMZ Hip Hop spoke with Tinashe Wednesday in between "Nasty" rehearsals at "Jimmy Kimmel Live," and the R&B singer was popping her ish.

Tinashe's been vocal in interviews about her uphill battle, career-wise, since leaving behind RCA's major label machine a couple years ago -- but she tells us it was her fans and hard work that got her on the charts as a solo act.

Drake will be making his presence felt while roaming around his new Texas neighborhood ... 'cause the OVO captain just dropped $200K on a truck built for doomsday, TMZ has learned.

Apocalypse Manufacturing -- the company that did this monster of a vehicle for Drizzy -- tells us ... Drake's custom slab is state of the art and built for the long haul ... with a Hemi Hellcat V8 6.2L engine that's got 870 horsepower upgrades, full-time four-wheel drive, and armored and riveted doors.

Drake had the suped-up truck delivered this week and posted several pics with it that showed off its Siberian Tiger interior ... showing off the whip at his recently-purchased $15 million ranch in Fayette County, Texas.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori are passing on the fabulous life -- at least for one day -- as they jumped on a commercial flight heading to Japan, and someone spotted them snuggled up in economy seats!!!

The surprised passenger snapped a quick TikTok of the couple seated in a bulkhead row ... Ye was out stone cold while wearing a bathrobe with "Ye" embroidered on the chest -- just in case the coach commoners didn't recognize him.

Bianca was scrolling through her phone in the same flowy gown she traveled in at the beginning of what appeared to be a trip to celebrate Kanye's 47th birthday.

Chris Brown's Tuesday night show in New Jersey experienced some technical difficulties, causing the R&B singer to get stuck while suspended in the air, which triggered him.

CB hit the stage at the Prudential Center in Newark and, while performing "Under The Influence," he was hanging by suspension wires that seemed to malfunction above a group of oblivious dancers.

Check out the vid ... Chris was dangling but still singing, You can tell something's wrong because he turns to someone offscreen and signals with hand gestures he needs help.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori are trading up from Cheesecake Factory (no offense) date nights ... opting for a much fancier evening out in Florence, Italy, and TMZ has the pics.

They were dining at a restaurant called Il Palagio, and just to highlight how much they stepped up their culinary game here ... this spot earned a coveted Michelin star.

One of the couple's fellow diners tells us -- despite Kanye being glued to his phone during their date last week -- they still seemed to be having a blast together throughout the night.

L.A. rapper 310babii has 2 coveted items in hand, one of which is his high school diploma, but we're guessing that's getting overshadowed ... by the platinum plaque he got on the same day!!!

We got video of the moment Grant High School principal Rebecca McMurrin presented 310babii with the award for his hit single "Soak City (Do It)" ... his fellow graduates went wild during Tuesday's graduation ceremony and, just like the song suggests, his eyes got a little wet.

The tears of joy were well deserved -- the club-commanding track has more than 100 million streams since dropping last year, it got revamped with a remix and is posed to have a summer takeover all over again!!!

Black Thought says attempting to please everyone when it comes to The Roots Picnic lineups has become an impossible task, but pulling it off for 17 years and runnin', must mean he's doing something right!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the lyricist outside Rockefeller Plaza, and talked to him about fellow MC Method Man, who not only played The Picnic this year, but also Hot 97's Summer Jam ... which became a whole thing.

Meth got busy on the Roots Picnic stage after acknowledging the lukewarm reception he received at Hot 97's annual event.

Bhad Bhabie had a scary run-in with cops this week -- this after they swarmed in on her, thinking she might've been somebody they were looking for ... but it was a false alarm.

TMZ Hip Hop has obtained video of BB -- AKA, Danielle Bregoli -- surrounded by multiple police officers and squad cars Tuesday at a 76 gas station near Woodland Hills, CA ... a neighborhood just outside of L.A. proper.

Our sources tell us the rapper had been driving her Mercedes when she was tailed by 3 patrol cars as she pulled into the gas station -- and once she stopped, they pounced.

Diddy has returned to the West Coast after laying low in Florida for the past several weeks -- this amid his growing legal woes  -- and TMZ has video of him out and about in La La Land.

Check out this footage we obtained ... the Bad Boy Records founder was seen dressed in an all-black jumpsuit while chatting up an unidentified male on a sidewalk in WeHo Wednesday ... and he was looking pretty damn happy.

When a fan calls out to Diddy, the guy smiles and waves ... while also throwing an "L" and prayer hands too -- not the least bit stressed, despite his very serious situation lately.

Jeezy and Jeannie Mai's divorce is in the books -- 'cause they've come to a settlement ... and they're going out of their way to keep the details under wraps.

According to new court docs, obtained by TMZ, the two exes -- who've been squabbling A LOT lately over child custody, claims of abuse and other ugly tidbits -- have settled their divorce ... and not just that, they've filed to wrap up the whole thing under seal so the details won't be public.

Of course, there was a ton of back and forth over the past few months -- with Jeezy alleging Jeannie was keeping their daughter from him and making his parenting time with their kid incredibly difficult ... and JM fired back, suggesting Jeezy kept guns around in a way that wasn't safe with a child around ... and also made big DV claims against him.

Enchanting -- the Texas-born female rapper who was once positioned to be the First Lady of Gucci Mane's 1017 Records -- died suddenly this week ... leaving him completely gutted.

On his IG, Gucci posted a pic of Enchanting with the heartbroken caption ... "So sad to have to say R.I.P to such a great young lady a true star we gone all miss you Chant 😢 💔"

Several other hip hop artists -- Erica Banks, Lakeyah, Omeretta, Gloss Up and more -- also paid respects to their colleague after Lil CJ Kasino, an artist manager out of Fort Worth, confirmed the news on IG while reminiscing about the tracks she laid down in his studio.

New York City drill rappers Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow are raising some eyebrows after standing side-by-side with Donald Trump at a recent rally -- but their fellow Brooklyn spitter Dusty Locane understands the move ... for the most part.

Dusty recently linked with TMZ Hip Hop at Summer Jam, giving his two cents on Sheff and Sleepy's unexpected involvement with Trump's May 23 Bronx rally.

Trump invited both Winners Circle Entertainment artists to tip-toe on stage where they endorsed his plan to return to the White House ... even joining in on the "Make America Great Again" chants.

1:30 PM PT -- The Diddy roast cohost and organizer Brittany Brave joined "TMZ Live" on Tuesday and dismissed accusations that the jokes were out of place for a domestic violence event ... the allegations date back years and she says the timing was perfect!!!

50 Cent made it a top priority to be present at a Miami-based roast with sauteed Diddy on the menu ... and he was hoping to see his nemesis in person!!!

50 was a VIP at a brand new venue The Dead Flamingo Pop-Up's unfiltered brutal roast of Diddy hosted by comedians Brittany Brave and Danny Creamcity ...  which spared the embattled music mogul NO mercy.

Sexyy Red got arrested in New Jersey this weekend for a minor offense -- but now we know she was part of a huge brawl, and video shows she appeared to be very much in the mix.

The rapper got thrown in cuffs and hauled off to jail early Saturday morning at Newark Liberty International Airport -- where cops say she and some people she was with got into a fight with another group ... something TMZ Hip Hop now has on surveillance footage.

Check out the video ... you can see a few dudes catapult into frame at one of the terminals, immediately falling to the ground and going at it with fists, before Sexyy enters the frame.