TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Teddy Riley and his Guy bandmates are getting back together for a classic R&B reunion that will take them on the road for what's shaping up to be one of 2023's biggest tours.

We're told it will be a full group reunion for Guy, with Teddy Riley, Aaron and Damion Hall all in, and they're relinking with New Edition is especially epic -- the 2 groups haven't toured together since 2016.

Guy was one of the hottest acts in the early '90s, selling millions of records, but more importantly, helping pioneer the "New Jack Swing" era that later set up hip hop culture to dominate down the line.

As if those 2 acts wouldn't be a big enough draw ... we're told R&B legends Keith Sweat and Tank will also be in the mix, cementing an era of R&B millions hold dear to their hearts. 💘

TMZ Hip Hop recently spoke to Bobby Brown at LAX ... where he initially popped the lid on the tour, and told us why he and the rest of NE's bond will forever be strong.

We're told New Edition will be performing a host of new songs they didn't do on their last tour -- which previously ranked as one of Pollstar Awards Top 10 U.S. tours.

Kanye West apparently finds the idea of Meek Mill being a high-ranking celebrity that's to be taken seriously laughable -- to which Meek says ... hey, at least I still have my wits about me.

The Philly rapper responded to a Clubhouse chat that Ye participated in this weekend -- during which, he mentioned Meek being part of a group of stars whom Kanye suggested were being rallied to reign him in amid his ongoing media appearances.

Ye -- apparently referencing someone else's plan to confront Ye in what sounds like an intervention setting -- name-dropped Diddy and Dave Chappelle ... and then Meek, which made KW laugh out loud and uncontrollably for several seconds.

He added, "What made somebody think Meek Mill could say something to me?" Somebody else on the CH tried defending Meek, saying he's a gangster -- but Ye wasn't buying it.

Welp, MM himself caught wind of the shade ... and he fired back with pretty spicy comments of his own. He took to Twitter Sunday and wrote, "Never lost my mind for fame or money … I still have my family …my people respect me … I’m freeing people from prison… I’m doing community service all month with children up close and personal."

Meek adds, "I’m chilling wit my son and his friends today.. y’all on clubhouse at 50 lol."

Meek and Kanye have been on fairly good terms in the past, having attended the same events and posing in the same shots even. MM has even gone so far as to say recently that he used to find Kanye to be a huge source of inspiration early in his career. Used to ...

French Montana is on top of the world, and it showed as he led a massive Times Square rally to celebrate his homeland of Morocco making World Cup history.

The rapper was a proud cheerleader Saturday evening as he stood on top of scaffolding, waving the Moroccan flag and chanting along with a crowd of thousands who were hyped up about their soccer team defeating Portugal -- sorry Cristiano Ronaldo -- and making it to the World Cup semifinals.

French -- who was born and raised in Casablanca, Morocco until his teen years -- had pure joy written all over his face after watching his Atlas Lions play the Cinderella role.

Morocco is now the first African, and first Arab-speaking country to advance this far in the World Cup tournament -- and they've defeated powerhouse teams like Belgium, Spain, and now Portugal, along the way.

Kanye West may never win another music-related award again, but there's one group that's honoring him with a not-so-flattering title ... "Antisemite of the Year."

After several weeks and nearly 10,000 votes from members online, watchdog group StopAntisemitism has named Ye the most problematic person of 2022 when it comes to the group's mission.

Liora Rez, SA's Executive Director, tells TMZ, "Kanye uses his celebrity platform to push dangerous antisemitic tropes about Jews and power and he refuses to stop. His continuous onslaught of bigoted statements has resulted in horrific antisemitic acts perpetrated by white supremacists, Black Hebrew Israelites, and other fringe groups looking to cause Jews harm."

She continues, "Jew hatred is already out of control in the United States and the last thing we need is a celebrity like Kanye to add fuel to that fire.”

It's not hard to find the evidence backing Kanye's "Antisemite of the Year" victory.

As we reported, it was shortly after he declared he was, "going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE" when a group was spotted hanging a "Kanye is right about the Jews" sign over an L.A. freeway.

Just a few days after that, Kanye told Piers Morgan he only wished harm on Jewish people who did him wrong in music and business deals.

Finally, it was last week on Alex Jones "Infowars" when Kanye declared he loved Hitler, denied parts of the Holocaust and demanded Nazis get hated on less when things really ramped up.

We know Adidas, Balenciaga and some of Kanye's closest friends have all cut ties ... he even lost an honorary degree.

Diddy has added another member to the family ... announcing he's welcomed a baby girl into his life, who really takes after her old man.

The Bad Boy honcho broke the news Saturday, which came out of nowhere -- saying he has a new daughter whom he's effectively named after himself. Diddy writes, "I’m so blessed to welcome my baby girl Love Sean Combs to the world. Mama Combs, Quincy, Justin, Christian, Chance, D’Lila, Jessie and myself all love you so much! God is the Greatest!"

It's unclear when this kid was born, or who the mother is ... Diddy didn't spill those details. But, he's clearly happy about the latest bundle of joy, so we suppose that's all that matters. The baby marks the 7th child of his -- he has 6 other children from different women.

Of course, this is taking the internet by complete surprise ... as no one even seemed to know Diddy was an expecting father of late. We know he's in a polyamorous relationship with Yung Miami -- but there's no suggestion she's the mom, as she hasn't appeared preggo at all.

They were spotted out together as recently as this past week, and YM looks as slim as ever. It's also not entirely clear at this point if Miami was even aware of this child of Diddy's. She responded to a Twitter user who told her to hop on a podcast, as the public has questions.

Her reply was simply a pair of eyeball emojis ... which is pretty telling in and of itself.

We've reached out to Diddy's rep for more clarification ... but so far, haven't heard back. In the meantime -- congrats, Puff.

Fat Joe’s latest round of storytelling has landed him in the crosshairs of Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell … who disagrees with Joe’s recollection of a key Florida rap timeline.

Joe was a guest on Math Hoffa’s “My Expert Opinion” over the summer -- where he claimed to have been the first cosign for future legends Trick Daddy and Pitbull … and spun their early demos into successful career launches -- like the Don he says he is.

Joe also took credit for blowing up his fellow Bronx rapper French Montana — but the 2 Live Crew founder, who just came across the interview, couldn’t stomach the Pitbull and TD comments and dug into his bag of receipts ... which Rick Ross found rather amusing.

He actually commented under Luke's long caption, laughing at his word selection.

Anyway, Luke says it was HE who put Trick Daddy on -- via their 1996 booty-shaking anthem collaboration "Scarred" -- recorded right when TD came home from jail and started his career ... suggesting FJ was full of it for claiming he had discovered him.

The proud Miami native said the same for Pitbull ... noting he signed the Cuban megastar to his Luke Records imprint during his career origins, which happened back in 2001.

Bottom line ... Luke is directly contradicting Joe's recollection of events, and dares him to correct the record, as he says he has proof to back his memory. Not just that, but Luke went on to say he actually dug DJ Khaled out of obscurity and made him mainstream too.

Joe hasn't responded yet -- but the dude's been catching a lot of flak lately for such tales -- including the assertion that Latinos were equally important in founding the hip hop genre.

R. Kelly isn't admitting a damn thing when it comes to the "I Admit It" album that dropped Friday -- speaking from jail, he calls the recording a plot to screw him over in court.

TMZ obtained this audio Kelly's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, says he recorded Friday shortly after they'd met. The disgraced singer immediately shuts down the notion he'd put out any music right now, much less something with the lyrics, "I Admit It," because he's trying to appeal his latest federal conviction.

Even more mysterious ... Kelly seems to insinuate the album recordings aren't even his voice. He says, "I hope people recognized my voice and know that" he wouldn't be recording in the middle of a legal battle.

As we reported, it certainly looked and sounded like he'd release a 13-track album, with the title track addressing many of the allegations leveled against him.

After just a few hours, though, the project was pulled from Spotify and Apple Music -- as Kelly's label, Sony Music, denied any involvement in the recording or in distributing it to the streamers.

His legal team later told us, they were investigating to figure out who may have released the music. BTW, we know it was uploaded by Ingrooves, a distributor owned by Universal Music Group ... with no ties to Sony Music.

Also, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed R. Kelly didn't produce any songs using equipment in prison.

During this voice recording, he seemed to want to prove it's not his voice on "I Admit It" -- so, he broke into a few bars of his song, “When A Woman's Fed Up."

He thinks there's a clear difference, but listen for yourself.

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie is making good on his promise to celebrate his birthday all month ... even if has to cut the festivities short to conduct an interview!!!

The Bronx-born rap star stumbled into The Breakfast Club on Friday still lit from his latest birthday celebration to promote his long-awaited comeback album "Me Vs. Myself."

When the ball dropped at midnight, the newly minted 27-year-old was front and center in Times Square soaking up love from his adoring fans.

A Boogie says he later fell through Starlets strip club for the after-party ... and graciously gifted Charlamagne with the stacks of singles in his designer jacket during the interview!!!

A Boogie says he tossed $30K in strip clubs over the past two nights ... which means he hasn't been sleeping and flexed the Walmart-sized bags under his eyes to hammer home his point.

He also had been under the impression they were $100 bills. A gracious Charlamagne accepted the generous gift but also stressed the importance of donating to charity ... to which A Boogie agreed.

A Boogie's new album features guest spots from Lil Durk, Tory Lanez, G Herbo and Kodak Black, who hops on the follow-up to their nearly-diamond collab "Drowning."

R. Kelly's legal team is digging deep into the mystery of who dropped an unauthorized album using his name and recordings, and his attorney says they've already got their sights set on a few possible suspects.

R. Kelly's criminal defense attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, tells TMZ the disgraced singer's lawyers, entertainment attorneys and trusted friends are all trying to get to the bottom of who currently has access to his music catalog. She says they have a small group of people who they've ID'd as culprits ... but notes a potential problem could be his material changing hands.

Bonjean says she spoke with R. Kelly Friday afternoon -- he was surprised and upset about the music's release without his permission.

Bonjean tells us stuff like this has been a reoccurring issue for R. Kelly ... claiming a bunch of studio equipment, computers and masters were taken shortly after his 2019 arrest. She says there's also been an issue with his calls and emails being stolen from prison.

As we reported, an album called "I Admit It," featuring a bunch of R. Kelly's SoundCloud tracks, silently made its way to major streaming platforms Friday but was quickly removed. A source at Sony Music told us it appeared to be a bootleg version.

SZA finally answered the prayers of her fans, releasing her new album "S.O.S." after a nearly 5-year drought ... and her supporters' emotions are in shambles!!!

Thousands of enthusiastic fans worshipped SZA as their "toxic queen" Friday on social media ... lapping up her lyrics as their new hostile gospel.

As the album title suggests, the TDE 1st Lady tackles a ton of alarming topics. She hits everything from admitting to getting a BBL on the opening title track, and desires to kill ex-lovers on songs "Kill Bill" and “Smokin on my Ex Pack” among those detailing other relationship drama ... which Drake helped shape back along the way.

Drake and SZA dated years ago ... a fact he made public to the world via 21 Savage's "Mr. Right Now" song back in 2020.

In a new interview with Big Tigger for Audacy, SZA revisited their relationship, comparing Drake to "Regina George" from the iconic film "Mean Girls" 'cause of his passive-aggressive ways.

SZA was reacting to the recent 'SNL' skit that lampooned Drake's past exes banding together to start a support group but says they still remain friends to this day!!!

"S.O.S." serves as the follow-up to SZA's debut album "CTRL" -- which dropped all the way back in June 2017.

The project features a hefty 23 tracks ... which makes sense. TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the sultry singer ahead of the big drop and she told us she was sitting on 100 songs and obviously picked her favorite quarter of tracks.

YG is honoring his late friend Slim 400 with help from Lil Wayne on a new sobering track on the one-year anniversary of his murder.

The song "Miss My Dawgs" borrows a script from Wayne's 2004 'Carter 1' track with the RIP vibes and features both rap stars rapping fondly of the lost loved ones using big crimson energy.

YG posts up next to a hearse throughout the black-and-white visual as splices of Slim 400 footage pepper the clip. The video ends with a throwback photo of YG, Slim, Wayne and Meek Mill ... harking back to the good times.

Slim was shot and killed on December 9, 2021 in Inglewood after being confronted in the driveway of a residence.

TMZ Hip Hop broke the story over the summer ... Inglewood police arrested a man and woman in connection to Slim 400's death and charged them with murder and possession of a firearm by a felon and accessory after the fact, respectively.

YG showed Wayne his appreciation for the collab by gifting him with a diamond-encrusted 4Hunnid label chain ... and fans can anticipate hearing the song live.

R. Kelly just dropped the biggest surprise album of 2022 ... a project called "I Admit It" with lyrics that address the years of allegations leveled against the disgraced singer.

The 13-song album features tracks with titles like "I Found Love," "Good Ole Days" and "Freaky Sensation."

But his last 3 tracks might be the most revealing -- it's a 3-part piece called "I Admit it (I Did It)," where he unloads a ton of stuff he's done in the past. He put the full 19-minute track on SoundCloud back in 2018, but this marks the first time it's made it to Apple or Spotify.

In it, R. Kelly talks about helping people that ended up turning against him ... before admitting to a laundry list of things -- including "I done f***ed with a couple of fans" and says he even slept with his girlfriend's friend.

He digs even deeper, "How they gon' say I don't respect these women when all I've done is represent" ... and "You mad I've got some girlfriends."

R. Kelly directly addresses the allegations as the tracks go on ... saying, "They're brainwashed, really? Kidnapped, really? Can't eat, really? Real talk, that s*** sound silly."

While it's unclear exactly who he's talking about, he also seems to blame the parents of one of his female flings for introducing them. Saying, "And if you really, really wanna know. Her father dropped her off at my show. And told this boy to put her on the stage. I admit that she was overage."

As we reported, Spotify made the call back in 2018 to stop promoting his music when allegations about running a sex cult continued to pick up steam ... but it sounds like R. Kelly's made it back to the platform with his telling tracks.

Freddie Gibbs' love for Tupac quickly turned into jokes during a recent visit to the popular basketball podcast "All The Smoke" ... after Matt Barnes outed a crew member whose mother once dated the late rap icon.

The crew member gave himself away off-screen by putting his head down when Matt dropped the bombshell ... derailing the convo with merciless jokes.

Freddie and Matt immediately launched on the guy ... with Freddie quipping the opening lyrics to Pac's classic sex romp "How Do U Want It" which was dedicated to the guy's mother.

Despite being in awe of Tupac and even owning up to emulating his shaved head, Freddie admitted his fandom for Pac would've shrunk if he was a teenager during such a relationship.

Stephen Jackson tried to keep the peace but Matt laid the jokes on even thicker ... claiming the poor guy had to suffer when Mr. "I Get Around" paid his house a visit. 🙈

Russ knows his worth as an artist ... and according to his calculations, record labels are gonna need more than 8-figures to lockdown his catalog!!!

On his new song "Too Much," Russ humbly brags about turning down a $50 million deal to buy out his discography ... further detailing his investment savvy later in the track.

A post on Russ' TikTok account also indicated selling his catalog would've been the equivalent of selling his soul ... and he apparently likes living, so the songs are staying with him for now.

He didn't reveal his failed bidders but his last major label venture was with Columbia Records before he ended things to start his own Diemon musical imprint earlier this year.

The last time we spoke to Russ ... he scolded ALL rappers for still signing to record labels, as he's adamant artists have all the tools at their disposal to DIY ... which is totally the "CHOMP" rapper's mantra these days.

He recently gave fans and artists a tutorial on recording songs -- from out of a suitcase while on the road!!!

Rappers are often dinged for their lack of unity, but some of the industry's biggest OGs, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40 and Too $hort are showing the culture how to get money as the supergroup Mount Westmore ... and they just dropped their debut album together!!!

The four rap legends put their love for Cali rap on display with the 16-track effort ... with production from the likes of Rick Rock, Ant Banks, Big Zeke, Soopafly, Kato On the Track, Fredwreck, Dem Jointz, ProHoeZak, and others.

Cube, E-40 and $hort have been holding down the campaign trail on platforms like RapCaViar for Snoop ... who's currently out in the boonies shooting a movie, but the story goes, it was a simple round of phone calls to make the group an actual thing.

Mount Westmore says they're spitting ageism culture in hip hop in the face, All four superstars are over the age of 50 but feel like they're in their prime as artists. That's what you call "dangerous MCs!!!"

Meek Mill is eager to teach his billionaire pal Michael Rubin the latest hip hop dance craze ... but the problem is, neither of them can actually nail the moves!!!

The Philly rap legend went live on Instagram with the Fanatics founder Thursday night at a party where Lil Uzi Vert's red-hot "Just Wanna Rock" came on, and attempted to play dance instructor ... with hilarious results.

Meek attempted to get low with Mike with a little hip action, but was clearly out of sync and Mike eventually threw in the towel to return to his drink. 😂

The dance simulates riding a dirt bike, which Uzi loves doing, so fans really don't need much rhythm ... even if they do look a little silly!!!

Uzi's official video for "Just Wanna Rock" dropped last month, and already has more than 500 million TikTok impressions -- most of which contain the correct dance moves.