Hip Hop

GloRilla's amazing year didn't prevent her from giving back to her roots ... the "TGIF" rapper surprised students at her old high school in Memphis Wednesday afternoon -- with a chunky check for $25,000!!!

The 5-figure donation will benefit the school's new library space, giving both Melrose High students and the neighboring Orange Mound community access to the new tech.

Melrose High repaid the favor by renaming its library The Gloria H. Woods Media Center, uncharted territory for Glo's old stomping grounds.

California-bred rap veteran Saafir died in November ... and we've learned it was a complication of health issues.

TMZ Hip Hop obtained the death certificate, which states Saafir died from septic shock and enterocolitis -- an infection of the small intestine.

The doc also lists infected sacral decubitus as a COD, a medical term for an enlarged bedsore caused by too much pressure on the bottom of the spine.

Lil Baby stayed quiet behind the scenes throughout the entire 2024 Rap Wars where Kendrick Lamar and Drake battled it out ... turns out, he's not a fan of being one of K. Dot's "examples" on "Not Like Us!!!"

The Atlanta rap star broke his silence in a one-on-one sit-down with Charlamagne Tha God on Thursday ... Kendrick accused Drake of exploiting A-Town rappers Baby, Young Thug, Future, 2 Chainz, Quavo and his "Her Loss" collaborator 21 Savage.

Kendrick rapped, "Lil Baby helped you get your lingo up" on the heavily promoted record but Baby disapproved -- "If you and him [Drake] was arguing why the hell you gotta say me, you know?"

Tory Lanez is firing back at Megan Thee Stallion as she seeks a restraining order against him ... and his legal team says she's not to be believed.

The rapper's legal team tells TMZ ... "Megan's claim that Tory filed legal docs to undermine her new Amazon Prime documentary is 'ridiculous.'"

Instead, Tory's legal team says the timing of the legal filing Meg is referencing had nothing to do with the release of her documentary and was filed simply to comply with legal deadlines.

Bhad Bhabie says she's breaking up with her baby daddy Le Vaughn ... and she says Alabama Barker is to blame.

The "Gucci Flip Flops" rapper ripped into Alabama in a social media rant Wednesday, calling Travis Barker's daughter a "homewrecker" and accusing her of hooking up with Le Vaughn.

Bhad Bhabie says it all started one night when she got drunk with LV and they got into a fight ... she says she called another man and then got into a physical exchange with LV ... ultimately leading to them spending a couple weeks apart.

Snoop Dogg doesn't have any pride to hide when it comes to Eazy-E's diss track "Real Muthaphuckkin G’s" being a stone-cold classic ... and he got dusted on the song!!!

Tha Doggfather got the honor of headlining the 500th episode of "The Bootleg Kev Podcast" Wednesday and came clean about Eazy's infamous 1993 missile aimed at him, Dr. Dre and Death Row Records as a staff, record label and crew.

Snoop tells Kev his "Cadillacc Radio" plays "RMG" daily like clockwork and he always sings along ... "[Dre] and your Doggy Dogg think that y'all hoggin' shit / Both of you bitches can come and suck my doggy 🍆!!!" Burnnn.

Jay-Z's legal team is going after Tony Buzbee for alleged misconduct ... claiming he tried to extort the rapper and, when he couldn't, he then proceeded to sue him.

The star's lawyer Alex Spiro filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss a "Jane Doe" lawsuit against Jay-Z and Diddy ... specifically calling out Buzbee for bringing the legal action.

According to Spiro's motion, Buzbee initially described Jay-Z as a prominent person in the lawsuit without naming him -- Spiro's accusing the Texas-based attorney of demanding money to keep Jay's identity under wraps.

Whatever truce Cardi B and Offset drummed up for his birthday weekend last week is out the window now ... the unhappily married rap stars decided to go at each other's throats on Wednesday!!!

Offset set it off on X, accusing Cardi of spinning narratives for her Bardi Gang fanbase as if she's some super-hoe who's been victimized by her bitter divorce.

Just like he did at the top of the year, Offset urged Cardi to focus on releasing her long-delayed sophomore album and not another guy's schlong.

Jared McCain wasn't about to let surgery keep him from the content game -- the Philadelphia 76ers rookie wasted no time hopping on TikTok after having a procedure done on his knee ... singing a Drake song while he was still drugged up!!

The guard went under the knife on Wednesday to fix his torn left lateral meniscus ... an injury he suffered against the Indiana Pacers last week.

McCain is known to be a TikTok enthusiast and rap fan ... so once the doctors finished up his knee, it shouldn't be all that surprising the 20-year-old went straight to the app to give fans an update.

Kanye West's antics are on full display in new video showing his deposition from a recent tech lawsuit ... and TMZ has the first look.

The deposition footage shows Ye in a bit of a standoff with the attorney who was trying to ask him questions. Ya gotta see the video ... it's a defiant start, as he signs onto the Zoom call and avoids eye contact.

This scene comes courtesy of a new A&E show, "Interrogation Raw: Celebrity Under Oath" ... and the second you see Ye's hat pulled down low while he's looking at his phone, you can tell it's gonna be entertaining.

Jay-Z's war with Tony Buzbee is kicking up another notch ... the controversial attorney just filed a lawsuit, claiming Jay's company, Roc Nation, and its high-powered attorneys are conspiring to turn Buzbee's clients against him.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, one of Buzbee's clients -- a guy named Gerardo Garcia -- says 2 investigators approached him at his home, claiming to work for the State of Texas, and told him they were putting together a lawsuit against Buzbee that could "get [Garcia] a lot of money."

Garcia says he recorded the encounter with the individuals, and Buzbee posted a pic last week from from the video.

It allegedly shows one of them disclosing they work for an attorney named Marcy Croft, who's described herself online as part of TeamRoc -- the philanthropic arm of Roc Nation -- and Buzbee claims she also works with Alex Spiro, Jay's longtime attorney.

Thomas Giuffra, the lawyer for three anonymous men who have accused Diddy of sodomizing them, says Diddy's a lot like another fallen Hollywood power player -- Harvey Weinstein.

The attorney stopped by CNN Wednesday to talk about the lawsuit he recently filed on behalf of his three clients ... and, he says the similar threads in their stories caught his attention early on.

Giuffra says abusers -- like Diddy's accused of being -- all have patterns ... adding former Hollywood producer Weinstein had them as well.

NFL cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting is setting the record straight on his dating life ... saying he's NOT the guy kissing Bobbi Althoff in a blurry video making rounds this week -- despite what some folks thought on social media.

The podcaster shared the clip to her Instagram story ... showing her kissing and being all lovey-dovey with a taller man -- but purposely leaving his face out of frame to preserve his identity.

The irresponsible X aggregators were quick to spread the misinformation ... stating as fact it was the Arizona Cardinals player on the other side of Bobbi's smooches in the footage.

Alabama Barker says Bhad Bhabie's boyfriend and baby daddy is trying to cheat with her ... but she says she has no interest in getting with Le Vaughn.

Travis Barker's daughter just responded to Bhad Bhabie's claim that she "took" Le Vaughn away ... and Alabama says that's not the case at all.

In a lengthy social media post Tuesday, Alabama says Le Vaughn has been contacting her for over a year ... she says he initiates the conversations and expresses his love for her, though the feeling is NOT mutual.

Flavor Flav made sure the final President Joe Biden-hosted White House Christmas Party went out with a bang -- spreading holiday cheer.

TMZ Hip Hop obtained footage of Flav rubbing shoulders with Joe and First Lady Jill Biden,  and we're hearing he was nothing short of the life of the party, where Keegan-Michael Key and Wilmer Valderrama also attended.

President Biden got tripped up during his speech when he saw Flav and then apologized, saying, “Sorry, he distracted me."

Diddy's alleged mule, Brendan Paul, is off the hook in his felony drug case in Florida ... because all the charges have been dropped, TMZ has confirmed.

State prosecutors officially dismissed the charges against Paul Tuesday because he completed a pretrial diversion program ... according to his attorney, Brian Bieber.

Meanwhile, federal sources tell TMZ ... Paul did NOT strike a deal with federal prosecutors in the Diddy case.