TMZ Hip Hop

Struggling to come up with food ideas for Beyoncé's Christmas Day halftime show? Fear not ... celeb chef Andrew Zimmern is offering up some snack hacks to help you crush it at the Dec. 25 party!!

The host of "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" tells TMZ Sports ... the real key is variety.

According Zimmern, there will be two types of people at Yoncé's concert -- ones who will be glued to the TV ... and the others who will enjoy the audio while making their way to the food table.

The Baltimore Ravens better hope they don't need to make many offensive halftime adjustments on Wednesday -- 'cause Lamar Jackson says he's skipping the intermission locker room talk for Beyoncé.

The quarterback -- who many feel is currently the frontrunner for the NFL's MVP award -- let his team and fans know on Monday he'll be on the sidelines for Yoncé's Christmas Day concert at NRG Stadium in Houston.

It's, of course, extremely rare for players to opt out of halftime meetings in favor of shows -- the last guy who did it, Bengals kicker Evan McPherson at Super Bowl LVI, received a ton of backlash.

Halle Bailey and her ex, DDG, got together to celebrate their son Halo's first trip around the sun ... and the celeb parents went all out for his birthday bash.

The "Little Mermaid" singer shared photos and videos from Sunday's birthday party on her social media ... smiling and holding Halo.

The party had a "Cocomelon" theme ... there was a ball pit, a couple slides, and a ton of balloons ... plus a cool Cocomelon cake for Halo.

Glen "Big Baby" Davis is being sued by a woman who claims the ex-NBA star screwed up her business deal with Chris Brown, TMZ Sports has learned.

According to court documents we obtained, the lawsuit was filed on Friday in Los Angeles by a pharmaceutical scientist, Dr. Lyndsey White, who says after she initially got involved in a barbeque sauce venture with Davis -- and things went south in a hurry.

In her suit, White claims she and Davis agreed in April 2021 to create "Big Baby Q" BBQ sauce ... and then, a short time later, she says she gave Davis a $30,000 loan to get into a weed business together as well.

Dwight Howard is off the market ... because he's engaged to rapper Amy Luciani.

The pair went public with their relationship Friday and it looks like they've been together for a while ... because they're already engaged.

Amy posted video showing their sparkling, diamond engagement rings on social media ... and the footage shows Dwight admiring Amy's bling as they party in a nightclub.

Mozzy and Kalan.Frfr are all about female empowerment on their brand new "Lucky Her" joint album but instead of promoting themselves on Friday, they dedicated their day to giving back to the women in the SoCal community!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the West Coast MCs at the Women of Watts and Beyond shelter this afternoon ... they donated clothes, Christmas presents, gifts and money to the cause.

Mozzy and Kalan tell us taking care of those who take care of everyone else is a void they're looking to fill.

4:10 PM PT -- Diddy's attorneys said in a statement to TMZ ... "Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone or engaged in sex trafficking. Ms. Grayson admits she has no memory of the events alleged in her complaint, does not know who was supposedly involved, and has never spoken to Mr. Combs. Her allegations against him are pure fiction. As we’ve said before, Mr. Combs cannot respond to every baseless lawsuit and lawyer-driven money grab. He has faith in the judicial process, in which fact will be separated from opportunistic fabrications like these."

Diddy is facing another sexual assault lawsuit ... and, this time the accuser has included pictures from the party where she was allegedly raped.

LaTroya Grayson -- an Oklahoma woman -- has filed a lawsuit against Diddy, Bad Boy Records and a series of other companies over a 2006 incident where she claims she went to a Combs party, and was drugged and raped.

Here's the deal ... according to the lawsuit, Grayson's sibling won a radio contest through KJAMZ -- a local Oklahoma radio station -- which included round-trip airfare for the winner and a guest, a hotel room in NYC, and two tickets to attend Diddy's "White Party" in NYC.

Black Mafia Family co-founder Terry "Southwest T" Flenory was on the receiving end of the coveted presidential pardons -- and he's proudly showing off his Joe Biden autograph as proof!!!

On Friday, Terry excitedly posted a secret he's been keeping in the bag for the last 8 days ... the exiting prez commuted his sentence after originally releasing him in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He gloated to his haters and even teased his mother for leaking the news a little early. The ankle monitor he had been wearing the past 4 years also went bye-bye.

7:50 PM PT -- Diddy's attorneys tell us, "As we've said before, Mr. Combs cannot respond to every new publicity stunt, even in response to claims that are facially ridiculous or demonstrably false. Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone -- man or woman, adult or minor."

 Diddy is facing a new rape allegation, one that dates back to before he was famous ... and the alleged victim says it went down during an already infamous NYC event.

The accuser, who's filing as a Jane Doe, says she was attending a December 1991 charity basketball event at the City College of New York, which was co-sponsored by a then up-and-coming producer, Sean "Puffy" Combs.

She and a friend were invited by an unnamed rapper set to appear at the event, she claims in the lawsuit -- when she and her friend arrived, she says the crowd outside was large and getting unruly, and she convinced a security guard to let her and the friend in early.

2024 will be remembered for many shocking events ... and here, we remember celebrities who tragically died over the last calendar year.

Liam Payne shocked the world when he fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Argentina ... and the former One Direction member's death is still under police investigation, with lots of moving parts involved.

12 years after Whitney Houston's death and 9 years after Bobbi Kristina Brown's passing, the Houston family suffered another sad loss ... the passing of singer Cissy Houston, Whitney's mom and Houston matriarch, occurred in October. She passed away at the age of 91 after battling Alzheimer's disease in hospice care.

SZA promised fans they'd be digging into her new "Lana" deluxe on Friday morning ... the project was released a little tardy this afternoon -- but they made it to the finish line!!!

The superstar singer had been giving fans breadcrumb updates since yesterday that she was feverishly working on the mix -- and the process had to be perfect!!!

The video for her new "Drive" single was released last night but fans were left hanging in the dark ... until Top Dawg Entertainment's President Punch stepped in!!!

Rihanna’s dropping a holiday snack hack for all the soccer moms -- a snack that's both bougie and budget-friendly... depending on who’s paying!

The Fenty Beauty entrepreneur dropped a hilarious IG video Thursday ... where she flexed with her caviar while her friend brought a plate of chicken nuggets to the table, creating the ultimate "chicken nugget caviar" combo.

The video is pure gold -- just two pals having a blast, with RiRi spreading her luxurious caviar on her friend's budget-friendly chicken nuggets like it’s no big deal.

The lawyer for numerous Diddy accusers is firing back at Jay-Z and his team's allegations of misconduct ... calling their demand for sanctions against him "frivolous" -- and saying the star is just trying to intimidate his client and himself.

Tony Buzbee filed a response Friday to Jay-Z and his team's recent filing ... claiming their justification for having him sanctioned falls on tiny inconsistencies in a person's story from nearly 25 years ago -- when the "Jane Doe" was just a child.

Buzbee says that Jay's side is trying to use a simple dispute of facts as proof that his client's allegation of rape is all BS ... and, his threat against Buzbee himself is just another instance of "bullying."

Bow Wow learned a valuable lesson in social media on Thursday ... 'cause the rapper fell for a fake Instagram comment involving Travis Hunter's fiancée -- prompting him to give a passionate plea to the Heisman Trophy winner.

For those who don't live on the internet, there's a popular parody X account -- @TheNBACentel -- which pretends to give up-to-date information on all things hoop ... and usually, it's pretty funny stuff masked as actual news.

Several notable figures have fallen victim to the hi-jinks ... and Shad Moss was the latest to get duped after the infamous profile shared an edited snap of Hunter's partner, Leanna, putting a money emoji under Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards' picture -- a reference to the gold digger claims she's faced (and denied) in recent months.

Lizzo is breaking her silence about the harassment lawsuit filed by three of her former backup dancers -- saying she was completely blindsided by the accusations.

Speaking on the "Baby, This Is Keke Palmer" podcast, the singer shared how deeply hurt she was by the ex-dancers -- especially since they weren’t even part of her 2022 "Watch Out for the Big Grrrls" tour, and they were people she had previously given opportunities to.

Lizzo got candid with Keke, saying she had always appreciated them as dancers ... so when they suddenly turned on her, hitting her with legal complaints while she was living her dream, it came as a complete surprise to her.