Music

Kendrick Lamar had SMH vibes for Lil Wayne on his new "GNX" album and according to Joe Budden, the "Not Like Us" rapper made the situation more tense by leaving him on read!!!

The bombshell rumor was made on the new episode of "The Joe Budden Podcast"... a little birdie told Joe that Wayne had hopped in the booth to respond to Kendrick's "wacced out murals" bars after phoning him up but never getting Kendrick to pick up.

Kendrick tackled Wayne's lack of Super Bowl love at the top of "GNX" ... "Used to bump 'Tha Carter III' / I held my Rollie chain proud / Irony, I think my hard work let Lil Wayne down" ... "Won the Super Bowl and Nas the only one congratulate me / All these n****s agitated, I'm just glad they showin' they faces / Quite frankly, plenty artists, but they outdated / Old-ass flows, tryna convince me that you they favorite."

Barry Keoghan’s going from "Saltburn" to "Here Comes the Sun" -- 'cause Ringo Starr's passed him the drumsticks to play him in the upcoming 4-part Beatles film series!

The Irish actor's name has been attached to the project for months ... and Ringo basically confirmed the casting news, telling Entertainment Tonight he thought it was "great" that the Oscar-nominated star would be playing him in the Sam Mendes-directed movie series.

Ringo added that Barry’s already prepping for the role, saying, "I believe he’s somewhere taking drum lessons, and I hope not too many."

Joe Budden has always had a complicated relationship with Drake on the Hip Hop front but isn't cutting him ANY slack for the lawsuit he's filed targeting Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" -- Joe says Drake had it coming because he's a Grade A 💩!!!

On the latest episode of "The Joe Budden Podcast," the crew was analyzing the lawsuit from all angles when Joe couldn't contain his anger and unloaded on Drake.

JB didn't mince his lyrical descriptions ... "Drake's a lying, manipulative, sack of s***" who sneaks behind his rap peers and dangles cash in their baby mother's faces!!!

Taylor Swift may have failed to win the top spot on Billboard's Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century -- but she did come in second.

Still, Swifties are shocked Taylor didn't come in first since she seemingly has the world in the palm of her hand these days. After all, she did emerge victorious as No. 1 on Billboard's Greatest Pop Stars of 2023.

But, in 2024, Billboard placed the pop star in the number two spot above Rihanna (3), Drake (4), Lady Gaga (5), and Britney Spears (6).

Kendrick Lamar's secretive rollout for his "GNX" album even confused his closet collaborators ... RJMrLA had NO CLUE he was being filmed for the "Squabble Up" music video!!! 😂

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the seasoned L.A. rapper at his studio on Tuesday ... just hours after the premiere of his swaggy cameo alongside G. Perico, Johnny El MerroJonkero and their homies from Figgmunity in the Calmatic-directed eyecatcher.

RJ keeps it 💯 ... he was bombarded with text messages that morning and had to piece things together that he had been shooting scenes for Kendrick's "Squabble Up" but still had a ball. No worries RJ, we can confirm G. Perico found out the exact same way!!! 🥶

T.I. and Tiny had their hands full all day -- from passing out thousands of turkey dinners and serving full meals to Atlanta's senior citizens!!!

TMZ Hip Hop obtained footage of the music power couple putting some family hustle into their Harris community org on Tuesday at Jackson Memorial Baptist Church ... a festive day with food and entertainment!!!

As a bonus, country music star Blanco Brown popped out to support his own community also well ... with a surprise performance of his multi-platinum hit "The Git Up" backed by the Atlanta Hawks cheerleaders.

9:47 AM PT -- The Weeknd won't be leaving his massive audience without new music for long ... Big Abel just popped the lid off his next album release date ... "Hurry Up Tomorrow" coming in January!!!

The Weeknd has something else he can be thankful for this holiday season ... as the superstar artist just hit another impressive career milestone!

A few days ago ... Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, had 22 songs hit 1 billion streams on Spotify ... becoming the first artist to ever obtain the mind-blowing feat.

“Lost In The Fire” was the latest needle drop to reach the milestone ... the track being The Weekend and Gesaffelstein’s second collab to achieve the 1B mark on the platform.

Marilyn Manson is no longer taking legal action against ex Evan Rachel Wood ... dropping the suit, as well as a pending appeal related to the case, in the hope of moving on.

Manson's lawyer Howard King tells TMZ ... "After 4 years of fighting a battle where he was able to tell the truth, Brian is pleased to dismiss his still-pending claims and appeal in order to close the door on this chapter of his life."

We're told the rock star also agreed to pay almost $327,000 in attorneys' fees for Wood ... which a judge ordered back in February.

Fans going to catch a showing of "Wicked" bitter ditch the green face paint ... 'cause that's a no-no for one major theater chain ... and it'll need to be washed off.

Here's the deal -- since "Wicked" opened over the weekend ... a few videos have been posted to social media from fans who had to wash off their green face paint if they wanted to be admitted into an AMC location.

The issue is not a matter of AMC hating on Elphaba fans ... it's just a dress code rule that has been in place for a while -- namely, no face coverings, which include face paint.

Hot 97's Peter Rosenberg is heavily disappointed in Drake but even more so, can NOT believe he has a team advising him to make all the wrong moves in his opinion!!!

Rosenberg hopped on "TMZ Live" with Harvey and Charles on Tuesday shortly after Drake's defamation lawsuit for Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" lyrics ... the unsavory parts about being a private pedo.

The veteran radio jock is unsure if Kendrick will get his sex offender bars off during his Super Bowl halftime set next year but what he does feel is Drake's been listening to all the wrong people.

Incarnated hip hop artist Max B got a surprise visit from his longtime friend and fellow NYC rapper Tru Life this week and from what we're hearing, fans will be getting re-introduced to the "Silver Surfer" sooner than later!!!

On November 2, Tru Life visited Max B at the East Jersey State Prison ... sources close to the situation tell TMZ Hip Hop that Tru Life arrived with his manager William Cosgrove and spent solid time with Max.

They kicked it and posed for pics with the "We Fly High" singer, who was excited to see his homie.

Fat Joe is making sure his Bronx neighborhood is all stocked up for the Thanksgiving holiday and you gotta call him a pro Turkey giver at this point -- he's been doing it for over a decade!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught a few minutes with the super busy Joe on Tuesday outside his Up NYC boutique and the line was around the corner!!!

Joe tells us it's one of his proudest moments as a native New Yorker to give back to the streets that molded him. He's also hosting another turkey drive at the other location and estimates he'll feed thousands of people!!!

Machine Gun Kelly is taking time for himself before welcoming his and Megan Fox's new addition ... speaking out about his upcoming bundle of joy for the first time.

The rapper posted an update for fans on X Monday, confirming his baby news will not keep him from making new music. As he put it ... he plans to isolate himself "in the desert next week" in order to restart his current album "from scratch."

He continued ... "When inspiration flows through me unblocked, we will reach the destination in no time. don’t worry."

Jason Kelce is drawing a line in the sand for all his friends ... saying even though he's tight with Taylor Swift, they'll have to look elsewhere if they want tickets to the pop superstar's shows.

The retired Philadelphia Eagles center discussed his stance on T. Swift handouts during his appearance on the "Rich Eisen Show" ... revealing even though Travis' girlfriend has extended the offer, he'll never take her up on it.

"Thankfully I don't get a lot of people reaching out for Taylor Swift tickets," Kelce told Eisen on Monday. "It is an immediate 'no.' But, I don't get a lot of that."

Trey Songz has been ordered to write a pretty hefty check ... in connection with a battery case filed last year.

In new court documents obtained by TMZ ... the singer has been ordered to pay Tyrelle Dunn -- a Maryland Capitol police officer who says he was injured after he tried to rescue his wife from Songz's hotel room in 2021 -- more than $11 million in damages.

TMZ broke the story at the time ... Songz was accused of misconduct while in Sin City for his 37th birthday back in Nov. 2021. The "Bottoms Up" artist allegedly brought a group of women back to his hotel room at The Cosmopolitan ... which is where Dunn alleged in his lawsuit that his wife screamed for help and said she was being held against her will.

Tense moment at a Zach Bryan concert ... he stopped the show after his guitarist was hit with an object thrown onstage ... and then he called out some folks in the crowd.

The incident went down over the weekend when Zach was performing at the Tacoma Dome in Washington ... video shows him and another artist playing guitar when suddenly an object comes flying at them.

Unclear what exactly was thrown, but it looked like it hit Zach's guitarist and fell to the stage floor.