TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Madonna was trapping out the bando earlier this year with her "Frozen (Fireboy DML Remix)" ... and turns out the collab only happened because of what went down in the DMs between the Nigerian Afrobeats star and her.

TMZ Hip Hop linked with Fireboy DML Tuesday in midtown Manhattan, and he says his track with Madonna was actually several years in the making.

Fireboy says Madonna slid in his DMs around 2019 asking him to be a part of the remix. The kicker is the original version was released in 1998 -- when Fireboy was just 2 years old!!!

The comeback trail for Madonna’s 24-year-old hit began in December 2021 when Canadian producer Sickick dropped a remix on TikTok, spiking a Billboard Dance chart before they added Fireboy to the mix.

The music video appropriately took advantage of the "fire and ice" theme and has since racked up 12 million views -- which Fireboy says is a huge win for Afrobeats' mainstream awareness worldwide.

Redman is super proud to announce he's now a licensed skydiver -- revealing he crammed hard to pass his written exam and now has 27 jumps under his belt.

The veteran rap star was out in Houston at an undisclosed film location when he earned his sky stripes ... thanking New Jersey-based Skydive Sussex and Skydive Spaceland Houston for the education and experiences.

Several of Red's hip hop peers -- Cam'ron, Busta Rhymes, The LOX's Sheek Louch, saluted his airtight accomplishment and Ja Rule made a grand revelation that he was working to become a licensed skydiver as well.

Maybe the two former Def Jam Records collaborators could do a face-off in a daredevil Verzuz?!

Apparently, Red's been at this for a while, too. Someone managed to dig up a magazine shoot from 1997 where he was higher than the birds he was flipping off.

In a separate video, Red spoke on cherishing the little treasures ahead of the bigger rewards and seems to be in good spirits.

His long-awaited "Muddy Waters 2" album is said to be finished and he's set to headline a "Goats of Cannabis" concert later this month.

Cali rapper Kamaiyah might be sticking to her guns a little too closely these days -- according to cops the Oakland native was busted at an airport with a loaded gun.

Burbank police sources tell TMZ Hip Hop ... Kamaiyah was catching a flight from Burbank, CA to Oakland on August 31 when TSA agents say they found a loaded .380 semi-automatic pistol inside her purse.

We're told agents also discovered Kamaiyah had a long-standing warrant for her arrest stemming from a pretty infamous 2019 incident -- cops say she fired off a round inside a movie screening room at a Burbank condominium complex.

As for this new airport arrest ... Kamaiyah was booked and held on $70,000 bail, before posting bond.

Her latest album "Divine Timing" dropped off its deluxe edition a couple of weeks ago ... along with nifty trigger-happy cover art with Kamaiyah clutching 2 pistols and showing off the laser beam.

Rapper 600 Breezy is mourning his girlfriend's sudden death ... and it appears she died by suicide.

600 Breezy just posted a social media tribute to his girlfriend of two years, Raven Jackson, including photos of them together and screenshots of what appear to be a suicide note.

In the text message, Breezy's girlfriend tells him she's tired and has been dealing with bad thoughts for years and was waiting for the right time to act. She mentions she is hanging out on a bridge and notes she "gave up a long time ago."

Raven also tells Breezy it's her choice and it's something she wanted, adding ... "It's one thing to ruin your life, but I had to go and end mines too."

600 Breezy admits his girlfriend was hurting and says he "did everything I could to show her nothing but love and keep her going."

Breezy says her death is going to mess him up for life and will never be able to love again ... and he's telling folks to take people serious when they show signs of mental health issues and depression.

RIP.

Usher is happily accepting the "King of R&B" title, and while Tevin Campbell doesn't disagree with that high honor, he does think there's someone who could challenge ... if he weren't in prison.

We caught Tevin at LAX ... fresh off his jaw-dropping cameo during Usher's Las Vegas residency, where Usher had him perform his classic jam "Can We Talk" in front of thousands of screaming R&B fans.

R&B conversation in 2022 continues to heat up thanks to Diddy and his "R&B is dead" theory, and Tevin initially took a diplomatic approach ... similar to Brian McKnight's, by citing older legends such as Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke as true R&B royalty.

The pressure to pick a true king eventually got to Tevin and he went full Voldemort ... daring to speak R. Kelly's name in an era where the disgraced singer's been blackballed from public praise.

Tevin gives Usher a lot of credit, but says when it comes to R. Kelly's catalog, his hit-making is still unmatched.

He's not alone in this thinking ... Ne-Yo didn't hold his tongue this summer when he admitted to still streaming Kelly's music.

Of course, Kelly is just a few months into a 30-year federal prison sentence for sex trafficking, and he's currently standing trial in a 2nd federal case out of Chicago.

A hit is a hit, but it's probably understandable why many fans won't push play anymore.

Kanye West's allies are lining up for his increasingly heated showdown with Adidas -- and he now has a couple of hip hop heavyweights willing to stand with him.

Both Swizz Beatz and Diddy backed up Kanye's recent attacks against the shoe company with individual Instagram posts of their own.

Swizz, who's currently entangled in a legal culture war with Triller over Verzuz, admitted he was butting in the conversation, but still urged Adidas to treat Ye like a Spike Lee joint and do the right thing.

The post was supported by industry execs such as Bu Thiam and Dre London ... and eventually, Diddy, who texted Ye, vowing to never wear anything made by Adidas until everything was smoothed over.

Diddy cited Run-D.M.C. for pioneering the brand into hip-hop fashion, but threatened to burn it all down if Ye and the culture were further disrespected.

The Bad Boy CEO has emerged as a guardian of sorts in 2022 ... taking the exact same stance with Swizz and Timbaland in their fight against Triller.

Ye has been accusing the fledging sports apparel of stealing his designs -- only to sell them in lesser quality and expensive versions and demanding meetings with various heads of the company.

The Weeknd abruptly canceled his Los Angeles show last week after losing his voice -- but his road to recovery is going great -- so says the singer's medical team.

Abel made the happy announcement Tuesday, just days after Saturday night's show at SoFi Stadium, writing, "doctor says my voice is safe and with rest i'll be solid and able to bring the show my TORONTO fans are waiting for. LA date is being worked out soon. thank you SO much for all the love and understanding that's come my way. i love you all so much ... XO"

September 22 will mark the singer's return to the stage for a previously postponed show in Toronto, The Weeknd's hometown. As we previously reported, that show was pushed after a cellular outage caused security and tech issues that prevented the concert from happening.

It was only 15 mins into Saturday's show in L.A. when Abel disappeared from the stage during "I Can't Feel My Face" ... only to come out a couple minutes later to let the crowd know he had lost his voice during a previous song.

The Weeknd was visibly devastated, getting choked up as he announced the show needed to end way early.

Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions played host to a special visitor at practice last week -- Eminem himself -- and Jared Goff completely fanboyed at the sight of the real Slim Shady!

NFL Films captured it all on their "Hard Knocks" cameras ... showing the rapper joking around on the sidelines of the team's workout, all while Detroit's star QB was in awe.

Goff could be heard on the camera's mics saying to his teammates, "You see Slim over there? Shady? He might be on my list of, like, 'Holy s***!'"

Em appeared to be having a great time ... and even sarcastically said one of Goff's deep balls was "almost" as good as his.

At one point, Eminem -- who famously grew up in Detroit -- even said he'd suit up for the Lions if they needed him.

"I’ll lace up whenever," Eminem said. "Like, I’ll go to every game. I’ll stand on the sideline and if you guys need to put me, put me in."

"Any position I’m good. Actually, any position I’m great."

This isn't the first time Em showed the Lions some love and vice versa ... in 2018, Marshall Mathers was named the team's honorary captain and helped with the coin toss on Monday Night Football.

Fivio Foreign and Ma$e's contractual disputes are providing interesting chatter from both parties, but Akademiks says the whole clash wouldn't be happening ... if he had stretched his own bank account and struck a huge deal.

While talking about the ongoing beef with VladTV, Akademiks said he has a deal with a label in order to sign artists, and he once had his sights set on Fivio.

During summer 2019, Fivio's breakout single "Big Drip" made him a hot commodity on the New York drill rap scene and Ak says he talked with his lawyer about potentially reeling in Fivio.

Ak eventually got word that Ma$e and his RichFish label wanted no less than $1 million dollars to join forces to sign the rapper -- and while he backed off, Columbia Records jumped in with $1.5 mil to sweeten the deal.

Akademiks says that was too rich for his blood, but he believes it was really Ma$e's celebrity that ultimately prompted Fivio to sign -- a signing that's now a major point of contention for the drill rapper.

Per the contract's design, Ma$e is poised to get 50% of Fivio's earnings AKA the standard in a 50/50 deal, which leads to bigger payouts for the Harlem World rapper as Fivio's status grows.

Both Ma$e and Fivio have publicly dissed one another with their various sides of the story, and Ak says Fivio's just about due for a new deal where he could get upward of $5 million.

Operation FN Meka, Capitol Records' experimental A.I. rapper, might be resting in a virtual coffin now ... but one of its co-creators is lashing out one last time. We hope.

Anthony Martini, co-founder of Factory New -- the company responsible for unleashing FN Meka, tells The New York Times ... the digital rapper's critics are guilty of creating a double standard.

Martini says, “If you’re mad about the lyrical content because it supposedly was A.I., why not be mad about the lyrical content in general?"

The Georgia RICO cases against Young Thug and Gunna were already putting a spotlight on hip hop's lyrical content  ... and then FN Meka signed its contract in August, releasing a song titled "Florida Water" featuring Gunna and Clix.

The song featured FN Meka rapping about avatar Gucci and Rolexes while needing to find weed to smoke, and was pulled from streaming services when Capitol terminated the record contract after a wave of fan backlash ... especially from the Black community.

Following FN Meka flatlining, Martini released an extensive statement distancing himself from his company's business dealings ... an explanation that still doesn't do Kyle The Hooligan any favors!

Kyle actually voiced Meka's raps up to a point ... until he says team Factory New ghosted him and made their money moves without him. As we first reported, Kyle's now plotting a lawsuit against Factory New for money owed.

He's also denying having anything to do with FN Meka's last days when fans started railing against the project.

"BMF" star Lil Meech is off the hook in his grand theft case over a $250K Richard Mille watch ... we're told it was tossed after the accusers decided they were done pursuing it.

A rep for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office tells TMZ Hip Hop ... cops conducted an investigation after a few jewelers complained about missing pieces ... but investigators were eventually told the jewelers got their merch back.

That wouldn't automatically end the case if the stuff was initially stolen, but prosecutors decided to drop the case.

Meech's attorney, Howard Srebnick, called the case "a misunderstanding that was amicably resolved."

Meech then took to Instagram to celebrate ... along with a bold message to his haters.

TMZ popped the lid off the story back in May ... Meech was accused by Miami's Haimov Jewelers of running off with a $250K RM after flipping an $80K Rolex.

With the case behind him, the time is nearing for Meech and the crew to begin filming season 2 of "BMF."

Production sources told TMZ Hip Hop Meech and "Power Book II: Ghost" Michael Rainey Jr. almost came to blows during 50 Cent's Tycoon Weekend.

Cardi B and Offset went all out celebrating their son Wave Set's first birthday with an extravagant sportscar-themed party ... and the videos and pics from the bash are crazy.

Cardi is showing off all the images on her social media accounts, and Wave Set is going to make a lot of kids jealous ... because the bar for his birthday parties has been set super high.

The parents put Wave Set in a custom remote-controlled car and Offset drove him into the party, which featured blue, green and red Lamborghinis parked out front.

Inside, there were tons of balloons, a DJ spinning tunes and areas for all the kids to play, including a couple slides and some model car racing.

The parents had fun too, there was a full bar and a seafood bar ... and they could even get customized denim jackets.

Cardi B's sister, Hennessy Carolina, started crying as she filmed the festivities because the kids are growing up so fast.

Cardi and Offset have thrown a ton of lavish parties for their daughter, Kulture ... and now baby boy Wave Set is getting his turn.

LeBron James and Drake stole the rights to a movie about a segregated hockey league ... this according to a new lawsuit.

The NBA star and rapper are being sued for $10 million by Billy Hunter, the former head of the NBA players union, who claims he holds the exclusive legal rights to produce any movie about Canada's old Colored Hockey League.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Hunter claims LeBron and Drake used their production companies to go behind his back and sign a deal with the authors of a book their "Black Ice" hockey documentary is based on ... icing out Hunter in the process.

Problem is ... Hunter claims he had a deal with the guys who wrote, "Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925," where Hunter would hold the exclusive rights to produce a movie.

Hunter says he paid the authors, George and Darril Fosty, a combined $265,000 to lock up the movie rights to the story of a Canadian hockey league for Black players ... but says they worked out a side deal with LeBron and Drake.

In the suit, Hunter claims he confronted the Fosty brothers after hearing about their deal with LeBron and Drake and says the authors claimed the documentary did not violate their agreement with Hunter because a documentary is different than a movie ... a claim Hunter says is "absurd and made in bad faith."

Hunter, who was the head of the NBA players union when LeBron came into the league, is going after LBJ and Drake for a cut of the documentary's profits ... plus $10 million in damages.

A rep for Drake had no comment on the allegations.

NBA YoungBoy is coming for Nick Cannon ... the rapper is expecting his 9th child, meaning he's only one behind Nick.

YoungBoy made the baby announcement in a social media post and a new music video for his song, "Purge Me."

In the Instagram photo dump, the last photo slide shows a woman's hand, rocking an engagement ring, over a pregnant belly. The woman is YoungBoy's already established baby mama Jazlyn Mychelle and she looks pretty far along.

Jazlyn is also featured in the music video ... she's clearly pregnant and there's a few romantic moments with YoungBoy.

YoungBoy already has at least 8 children with 7 different women, and he's only 22 years old.

As we reported ... Nick announced last month he's expecting his 10th baby, this time with ex-girlfriend, Brittany Bell ... and now social media users are comparing YoungBoy to Cannon.

Youngboy's other 8 children are named Alice, Amarni, Kacey, Kamiri, Kayden, Kentrell, Kodi and Taylin.

Pat Stay, known as one of the best battle rappers in the game, is dead after a stabbing incident in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The stabbing happened early Sunday morning in downtown Halifax, according to police -- and while the authorities haven't confirmed Pat as the victim ... his brother, Pete Stay, confirmed his death to CBC.

Police responded just after 12:30 AM, and Pat was taken to a hospital ... but he later died from his injuries. No one's been arrested for the stabbing.

Pat was from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia ... hardly a hotbed for hip hop, but he was still revered within the industry for his freestyling during live rap battles.

Stay had a large social media following, and dropped a new track on YouTube just 2 days ago that rips into The Game -- it's called "The Game DISS."

The video includes brief quotes from Drake, Method Man and Joe Budden ... who all praised Stay's battle rapping.

Drake's take on his skills was, "Pat Stay's definitely one of, if not, the best."

Police are asking anyone with information about the stabbing to call 902-490-5020.

The incredible Super Bowl Halftime Show got a big score Saturday night ... an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special, and some very big names took home some hardware.

Dr. Dre, who produced and performed in the show, won along with Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent.

The halftime shows are always big, but this is the first one that was honored with an Emmy.

Now get this ... Eminem is now one award away from an EGOT ... all he needs is a Tony and he joins a very small group.

Everyone in the group except Snoop has also won a Grammy.

The show was electric, with iconic songs like "California Love," "No More Drama," "Lose Yourself" and "Still D.R.E."

Some other Emmy winners -- Adele for "One Night Only," and The Beatles "Get Back" documentary.

Congrats!!!