TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

E-40 was doing it “too big” like his Mount Westmore anthem at his alma mater Grambling State University on Friday … donating a massive $100K check to the HBCU’s music department for invaluable upgrades for generations of students to come.

The legendary rapper was flanked by his wife, GSU President Rick Gallot and Dr. Nikole Roebuck … Grambling’s Music Department Chair and Director of Bands and graciously addressed the crowd during his coronation.

The GSU Tigers flipped the script and surprised E-40 with the unveiling of The Earl “E-40” Stevens Sound Recording studio … a commemorative installation to inspire students’ music hustle just like the Bay Area OG!!!

40 attended GSU all the way back in 1986 which paved the road he walked to become a hip hop icon — and told onlookers it was an honor to stand at the university for the full-circle moment.

He explained growing up in his impoverished Vallejo, CA neighborhood led him to look for an escape and hopped on the first train smokin’ when the Grambling opportunity came — and never looked back but jumped forward into a career of platinum plaques, millions of streams and mounds of classic songs!!!

Lil Keed's family has released a new song from the YSL rapper ... nearly one year after his tragic passing from a rare blood cell disorder.

Keed's mother, Tonnie "HoodMama" Woods-Reed, lead the charge for the rollout with a heartfelt message of bereavement, but still wanted his fans to have music to attach to their own sorrow.

"On May 13, 2022, I lost my son Raqhid Render—who many of you knew as the artist Lil Keed. While this journey through the different phases of grief has been indescribably hard, a way that I have found to cope is through his music."

She continued, "Right before his passing, Keed was hard at work on what would’ve been his highly anticipated next album, Keed Talk to ’Em 2. As much as he was a great father, son, and friend—he was also an artist who (thanks to many of you) lived and continues to live through his music. With that being said, the time has come to share some of our last pieces of Keed with you all starting with the release of his first single, “Long Way to Go.” This song holds a special place in my heart and as you guys will see it will reflect on many aspects of Keed’s journey here on Earth."

His mother concluded, "I hope you all appreciate it as we take the first step in cementing Keed’s legacy. Long Live Keed!"

Latto seemingly wasn't phased by the fact she can't sell her panties ... she got back into her MC bag performing for Spotify's Best New Artist on Thursday!!!

The "Big Energy" rapper was among several performers at the event inside Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood ... and blitzed through a melody of hits dropped by her own DJ Von.

She and her backup dancers also put on a twerking display right before wooing the crowd with her signature "Big Energy" banger, which is up for Best Melodic Rap Performance at this year's Grammys!!!

Latto is also up for Best New Artist at the upcoming awards ... and we can safely say she's capping off a crazy week after nearly becoming $100K richer after attempting to pawn her used underwear on eBay.

As we told you, eBay removed the sale of the cheetah-print panties just as it was hitting the six-figure mark, -- potentially giving her manager Cortez Bryant a goldmine idea to begin selling them to the highest bidder at tour stops.

Anderson .Paak wasn't about to let a whole group of people stand still while he DJ'd some of his best music ... jokingly issuing a threat to play some R. Kelly if they didn't start moving.

AP played a barrage of new wave and funk records during Spotify's Best New Artist party Thursday in L.A. The playlist didn't appear to get the reaction .Paak had hoped for, and he repeatedly instructed the crowd to get their groove on ... even after his trusty trumpet player Maurice "Mobetta" Brown arrived on the scene to spruce things up.

At one point, AP singled out a particular stick in the mud who was killing his vibe on the turntables, but eventually powered through and even rocked out on the drums to close his set.

Finally, he threatens the crowd he'd turn on some R. Kelly if they didn't get their act right.

Of course, R. Kelly's music is a point of controversy over the last few years ... he's got decades of prison time ahead of him after his federal sex crimes case. Apparently, AP knew the right buttons to push to get the people going ... cuz they started dancing!

It's Grammy weekend once again in Los Angeles, and some of the industry's biggest stars aren't wasting any time in celebrating music's biggest honor.

Tons of parties popped up across the city Thursday ... events dedicated to the rookies of the biz and even some dedicated to the veterans.

For starters -- there was the Warner Music Party at The Hollywood Athletic Club -- which brought out Anderson .Paak, Nile Rodgers, Missy Elliott, Wiz Khalifa, Saweetie and Bebe Rexha ... just to name a few.

Some of the biggest names turned out at the Black Music Collective Party at The Hollywood Palladium. While there was plenty of celebrating, Lil Wayne was honored with the Global Impact Award at the event. Drake presented him with the awards, cracking jokes about The Grammys in the process.

Lil Kim, DJ Khaled, Dr. Dre, Ciara and Swizz Beatz were also all in the house to watch Wayne get his props.

The Spotify party kicked off at The Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood -- Ice Spice, Latto and Yung Gravy were some of the newcomers there -- but vets like Jared Leto, Machine Gun Kelly, Drew Taggart from The Chainsmokers and Diplo also went.

There was also Dj Drama's Grammy Weekend Release Party for his new project “I’m Really Like That” at Classic Cat which brought out names like Tyler, the Creator, Blac Chyna, G Herbo and Don Cannon.

The Etsy designer behind Beyoncé's fabulous disco-style cowboy hat now has firsthand experience with the Bey effect ... after the Renaissance tour announcement forced her to shut down her shop.

Abby Misbin AKA "Trending by Abby" on Etsy, tells TMZ ... a stylist for Beyoncé hit her up way back last June, saying she wanted a mirrored cowboy hat for Beyoncé and would need it in 5 days. Abby says she was thrilled to handmake the hat for her and sold it to her for $215. Talk about a bargain for the likes of Queen B.

Well, about 2 months later Abby's creation showed up in a Beyoncé video teaser ... but even that promotion didn't compare to what was to come.

Abby was pleasantly surprised to see Bey rocking the 10,000 to 15,000 mirror-tile hat once again this week when she dropped her "Renaissance" tour dates.

Abby says that was the tipping point ... she's been absolutely bombarded with orders from folks trying to get their hands on the same hat. She usually gets about 5-6 orders per week, but in just one day she got 60 orders!!! The BeyHive wants what it wants.

Normally she can only make about 2 of the hats in a day -- there's a ton of detail because they're handmade -- so, Abby's had to shut down her shop for now.

This is certainly on brand for the BeyHive ... ICYMI, fans went crazy after she released the dates for her highly anticipated tour.

Going forward, Abby says she's working on fulfilling orders with her sister's help before re-opening her Etsy shop.

Ticketmaster is firmly under the U.S. Senate's microscope as the ticket giant prepares to sell tickets to the upcoming Beyoncé tour ... and it's all because of the Taylor Swift disaster.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, which just got finished grilling Ticketmaster's parent company Live Nation, issued a thinly-veiled warning Thursday, the day after Bey announced her "Renaissance" world tour.

The committee's official Twitter account tagged Ticketmaster in a quote tweet for a CNN story about Beyoncé fans preparing for another potential Ticketmaster fiasco, saying ... "We're watching, @Ticketmaster."

Ticketmaster says they're making changes -- staggering sales and using Verified Fan technology -- for the Beyoncé tour after running into major issues with last year's rollout for the Taylor Swift tour, which pissed off Taylor and her fans and led to lawsuits and Senate hearings. Still, the Senate will be keeping a close eye on the process.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who grilled Live Nation execs during the recent hearings, told us on "TMZ Live" the Senate expects Ticketmaster to do better in the future.

T.I. and Tiny's little girl, Heiress Harris, is launching her music career with a bang-up cover of Rihanna's 'Black Panther' anthem "Lift Me Up" ... and Mom and Dad gotta be proud!!!

Heiress -- who's only 6 years old, btw -- dropped her rendition Thursday on IG ... and instantly earned some rave reviews from fans in the comment section.

Director J. from No Degree Productions shot the video on a beach similar to Riri's original vision ... and Tiny pitched in on the co-production.

The young starlet has also been working hard with her vocal coach Annie Tracy to perfect her sound ... and it sounds like the hard work is paying off.

No doubt this will reignite the whole nepo baby debate -- but Heiress clearly has real talent and unmistakable musical genes. Her mother is 1/4 of award-winning R&B quartet Xscape, and her dad's earned his rep as one of the GOAT rappers.

Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa are re-sparking their synergy -- the 420 warriors are feeling good about their finished product after a long night in the studio.

Both rappers posted pics inside Snoop's compound ... J's were blazing, naturally, and their IG captions also hinted they were working on a sequel to their 2012 stoner flick "Mac & Devin Go to High School."

The film not only helped jumpstart Snoop and Wiz's budding friendship, but also birthed their smash hit "Young, Wild & Free" ... which also featured Bruno Mars.

We hear there are no official plans for a new project, but in his post, Snoop says something will be dropping in summer. No shock, when these 2 get together there's always a good buzz.

Wiz actually pulled an all-nighter at Snoop's studio, causing him to shuffle his gym schedule a bit ... but he appears to be getting back to his regularly scheduled program as we speak!!!

Wiz is currently finishing up his next solo album, "Wizzlemania" but recently complained about collaborators taking too long sending their verses.

Latto's skivvy side hustle got derailed by eBay, but all hope is not lost ... her manager Cortez Bryant is considering -- perhaps jokingly -- a very unique merch idea.

We caught up with Tez at LAX, and he says Latto and the rest of the team were taken aback, just like everyone else, when bids for her used cheetah print panties nearly reached $100K!!!

The bidding war got hot with more than 100 entries, but before Latto could cash in, eBay shut down the auction.

TMZ Hip Hop broke the story ... Latto's underwear auction violated the company's "health and hygiene" standards and Tez doesn't disagree they made right the decision -- but he doesn't seem opposed to our idea of making additions to the "Big Energy" rapper's merch store!!!

Immediately after eBay's takedown, Latto got back to work in the studio to finish her newest record ... which Tez tells us is officially named "Lottery" and is dropping soon.

Tez says Latto made the eBay post in jest to fire back at the trolls but also isn't passing judgment on the highest bidder of her used bloomers!!!

Master P's son, Mercy Miller, is proving yet again he's a baller on the hardwood ... this time throwing down an insane dunk in a game -- against Bronny James' much-touted high school team no less!

Miller's epic flight happened on Wednesday night when his Notre Dame squad was taking on James' Sierra Canyon team in a highly anticipated game in L.A.

In the fourth quarter of the contest -- which ended up being an 88-61 blowout win for Notre Dame -- Miller drove into the lane, took off on one foot and then hammered home the basketball while blowing through a defender.

The dunk nearly took the roof off of the arena -- as the hundreds of spectators in attendance went wild when the junior guard finished at the rim.

Miller's pops was pleased with the 2-pointer to say the least, sharing a vid of the poster on his IG page -- while writing, "Hard work pays off. The beast came out and showed 'NO MERCY.'"

Matt Barnes and 2 Chainz threw praise on Mercy in the comment section as well.

Of course, this ain't the first time Miller has raised eyebrows on the court ... back in his sophomore season, the Univ. of Houston commit dropped an eye-popping 40 points in one game!!

Gangsta Boo’s rap hustle was in full swing at the time of her death, and it was captured in 4K glory for her final music video.

TMZ Hip Hop obtained behind-the-scenes footage of Boo ... along with fellow Three 6 Mafia members Crunchy Black and La Chat for the filming of Drumma Boy’s “Imma Mack” video, directed by K. Cutta.

We’re told Gangsta Boo was excited about the shoot and went back home to Memphis during Christmas just to film her parts.

The late rap star's trademark charisma and enthusiasm can be felt throughout the clip as she examines the edit, bottle of Patrón Tequila in hand ... and later in the final video where she's cooking up in the kitchen and drops disses on her haters.

This song is from Drumma Boy’s “Welcome to My City Vol. 4” album -- which put several Memphis rappers on tracks together -- a project Gangsta Boo was passionate about because of her love for the 901.

The last time we spoke to Drumma Boy, he not only gushed over Gangsta Boo’s involvement, but also about the compilation bringing together artists all across the region.

Gangsta Boo’s love for Memphis was reciprocated at her funeral last month when hundreds of mourners turned out to pay their respects.

Gangsta Boo was 43 at the time of her death ... which cops suspected was a drug overdose.

DJ Drama says Meek Mill’s classic "Dreams & Nightmares" has run its course as the Philadelphia Eagles team anthem, because everyone is rocking with Lil Uzi Vert!!!

We caught Mr. Thanksgiving at LAX, where he was giving Uzi partial credit for the Eagles crushing NFC championship victory ... due to the eclectic Philly rapper walking the team out to his eardrum-popping "Just Wanna Rock" record.

Drama is confident his Eagles will take Super Bowl LVII, and expects to hear Uzi's song every day leading up to the big game!!!

This has become a big debate amongst longtime Philly fans -- Uzi v. Meek. Fact is ... Meek's track still blared through the city after the Eagles' victory, and he even dropped a freestyle to hammer home his relevance to disappointed 49ers fans!!!

Uzi's not the only Generation Now rapper entangled in this year's SB festivities -- Jack Harlow and Missy Elliott are slated to be in a Doritos commercial, and Drama tells us there's definitely a collab coming ... it's just a matter of where the record will end up.

Drama's own "I'm Really Like That" album is dropping soon ... so, that combined with his team's success has him on top of the world.

Ne-Yo and his ex-wife just finalized their divorce, and the terms call for him to keep 3 of their 4 homes and a Bentley ... while forking over a bunch of money to even things out.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Ne-Yo is paying his ex-wife, Crystal Renay, a $1.6 million lump sum to balance out the division of their real estate holdings ... she gets 1 of their 4 Georgia homes, plus $20,000 in moving expenses.

Ne-Yo's also tacking on a $150,000 check to his ex, so she can buy a new car. He's taking their old one ... a 2022 Bentley Bentayga.

The "So Sick" singer will also pay Crystal $12,000 a month in child support -- they have 3 kids together -- and he'll cover the kids' school expenses. Ne-Yo will also have to fork over $5,000/month in alimony for the next 3 years.

Ne-Yo and Crystal will have joint custody, and they both agree that neither party will have new romantic partners around the minor children unless they get married or engaged to that partner ... or get the signoff from each other.

NBA YoungBoy released 8 full-length projects in 2022, but it doesn't look like he'll be cosigning his own catalog in the near future.

In a new revelation to Billboard, the Louisiana-born rap star is showing remorse for the content of his lyrics, and looking to turn over a new leaf ... by converting to Mormonism and changing the direction of his raps.

YoungBoy says it troubles him to know fans, kids included, might have heard his music and been influenced to harm other people ... and he holds himself accountable.

The 23-year-old admits he can't lyrically rewrite all his wrongs as a street rapper ... but vows to take it day by day to get the job done.

YoungBoy shocked fans shortly after the new year with the bombshell -- he married his longtime girlfriend and mother of 2 of his kids and doesn't seem to be done with divinity.

He's been on house arrest for several years but found newfound peace while residing in Utah and getting close to missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ... and plans on getting baptized with them once cops clear him to be outside without monitoring.

Vanilla Ice could've been married to Madonna in the '90s, but he says he turned her down -- partly because he was too young, but also because she put him in her infamous "Sex" book!!!

The "Ice Ice Baby" rapper painted the picture on the “Just Jenny with Jenny Hutt” podcast, harkening back to a string of sold-out shows where Madonna was in the crowd jamming to songs from his 15x platinum debut album!!!

Ice says he had a hard time fathoming a superstar like Madonna thought he was hot, even after coming backstage to his dressing room and giving him "the sexy eyes."

When the late Charles Koppelman arranged a formal date for them ... Ice says things got FREAKY and they embarked on a whirlwind romance, where they would wear masks and dress up like they were elderly to keep from being recognized!!!

Ice compared the relationship to being inside a shaken snow globe and admitted he got weirded out when she proposed to him ... as he was entering his prime.

The final straw was when Madge inserted steamy images of them into her then shocking 1992 "Sex" picture novel without Ice's permission.

Big Daddy Kane and Naomi Campbell also appeared in the book but Ice told Madonna it was "slutty" and even pondered a lawsuit ... but he eventually let the relationship fizzle by hanging up on her every time she called!!! 😬