TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Scooter Braun, once known primarily as Justin Bieber's manager, is now firmly in the rap world -- his company dropped 9 figures to purchase Quality Control music label ... home of Migos.

S.B.'s HYBE America announced the huge purchase Wednesday, and the price is reportedly in the ballpark of $300 million. Some of the label's other heavy hitters include Lil Baby and City Girls.

Scooter, who also manages Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato, told New York Times QC is one of the "most significant labels in the world," adding it doesn't stop at music ... "they also distribute culture. Their artists are the voices of their communities."

This marks the first huge leap the manager's made since taking the reigns as sole chief exec of HYBE America last month. FYI, the company's a division of Hybe, a South Korean entertainment firm that manages huge names like BTS.

The move was met with some heat online -- for those unaware, QC -- founded a decade ago by Pierre Thomas and Kevin 'Coach K' Lee -- has always prided itself in being a Black-owned business.

However, many don't realize Braun and Coach K have a 20 year friendship, working together in Atlanta's Hip Hop community for years. In fact, Scooter recently said of their pairing, "I’ll never forget riding around Atlanta over 20 years ago with Coach discussing our dreams and ambitions and how we said: ‘If they let us in the game, we are never going to give it back’.”

Offset and J Prince are turning up the heat on their simmering beef ... Prince says he's saved Offset's hide a bunch of times, but Offset's calling BS.

The estranged Migos rapper fired back at the Rap-A-Lot Records mogul Wednesday after Prince went to great lengths to remind Offset of all Prince says he's done for him and Cardi B.

J Prince says he's rescued Offset from tons of beefs over the years in different parts of the country, but Offset begs to differ ... saying he never needed Prince's help and claiming Prince is "all mouth with no proof just fairy tales."

Offset's rebuttal comes after Prince posted an audio message on Instagram ripping the Atlanta rapper for choosing emotions over principles.

J Prince's rant is a direct response to Offset claiming to not know Prince "from a can of paint" amid Offset's own issues with Quavo, which exploded backstage at Sunday's Grammy Awards.

Prince tried to jog Offset's memory while shredding his street cred ... claiming Offset was a fake gangster who repeatedly lied to Cardi B about what he was doing in the streets.

Prince claimed to have aided Offset on multiple occasions ... allegedly coming to Offset's rescue after he was jumped by Lil Baby's 4PF crew in Atlanta, squashing a beef involving Sauce Walka in Houston and helping Cardi out the time she angered Crips in Los Angeles by changing the word "blue" to "flue."

Cardi wasted zero time offering up some straightening of her own ... claiming it was Wack 100 and Big U — not J Prince — who stepped in to clear her name.

Rod Wave was willing to split nearly $1 million with a rapper he barely even likes just to sit in a box at the Super Bowl, but now he may get to enjoy the game with a rapper he likely admires!!!

Rick Ross got wind of Rod Wave's baller budgetary concerns on Akademiks' page and stepped in to offer Rod a place inside his Boss suite at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ.

Rozay says the suite holds upwards of 26 people ... plenty of room for Rod and his boys to turn up with a legend who came up through similar hurdles and obstacles.

Both rap stars have yet to collaborate, but both hail from Florida and we're sure Ross can give the 'Beautiful Mind' creator a lot more game than what's out on the field.

DDG unfollowed his girlfriend Halle Bailey on Instagram earlier this week ... setting off Gen-Z breakup alarms, but he also raised suspicions and anger from one of Halle's family members.

Chloe x Halle's older sister Ski was among the breakup-believers, and posted a video Wednesday to drag her potential brother-in-law for filth -- only to take it back moments later after she spoke to Halle and realized she'd been had!!!

It's not that Ski didn't have probable cause for defending her lil' sis, though ... DDG made himself and Chloe trending targets when he scrubbed his accounts of pics of Chloe and followed up his "unfollow" of her with the since-deleted tweet, "All these girls the same 😭 ain't no wayy.”

On Wednesday, he chided the Internet for being gullible in reporting on his activity ... upsetting fans further but all's well in paradise, trolling aside.

Super Bowl commercials can no longer be contained for just the big game, and several high-profile rappers -- Diddy, Snoop Dogg and Jack Harlow to name a few -- have all been getting the bag with multi-million dollar TV spots!!!

Diddy's mogul status is the basis for his Uber Eats ad and he incorporates his Love Records, CÎROC and DeLeon Tequila imprints all in one swoop.

In the spot, the Bad Boy Records CEO looks for the perfect jingle from remixed hits ... and well-placed randomness from Montell Jordan, Donna Lewis, Kelis, Ylvis and Haddaway!!!

Not to be outdone, Snoop assumes yet another brand ambassador role with Skechers Slip-Ins alongside Martha Stewart, Howie Long and Tony Romo.

The colorful commercial loops Snoop's classic hit "Who Am I? (What’s My Name?)" as Tha Doggfather walks through his various elements ... walking red carpets, rocking concerts and cruising through L.A. on a beach cruiser!!!

Jack and Missy Elliott have been teasing a Doritos commercial (and collaboration) for weeks now and dropped new content Wednesday. It's a hypothetical look into Jack's career if he adopted the chip into his stage act ... to hilarious results.

The newest clip costars Sway Calloway and Heather B. from "Sway In The Morning" ... as well as a mic-dropping cameo from Sir Elton John.

This year, 30-second SB commercials will reportedly cost companies $7 mil a pop ... and that's before they pay the rappers' salaries!!!

If ya can't wait till Sunday, we've got more of those high priced spots.

Future should probably be celebrating his recent Best Melodic Rap Performance Grammy win for his hit "Wait For U" ... but the relentless rapper is back in his happy place working on his new album!!!

The Freebandz rapper revealed Tuesday he's in album mode days after being visibly absent from his Grammy acceptance speech -- which producer ATL Jacob graciously accepted on his behalf -- and also the Hip Hop 50 tribute that night.

Our Grammy sources say Future was supposed to be included in the show-stopping all-star medley ... he even rehearsed, but for some reason bailed at the last minute.

Grinding in the studio has long been Future's MO, and the new project will follow last year's "I Never Liked You" ... which not only spawned the Grammy-winning Drake and Tems collab, but was also certified platinum, so fans will likely eat this one up just as fast!!!

Pretty Ricky's Baby Blue is now a free man, kind of, after serving a little over a year in his PPP fraud case, and his bandmates were there to greet him upon release.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons tells TMZ Hip Hop ... Baby Blue was released Tuesday from the Federal Correctional Institution Coleman Low in Florida.

The 38-year-old pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in August 2020, and was sentenced to 20 months in prison ... which he started serving in February 2022.

Blue was transferred to the BOP's Miami Residential Reentry Management Office, which oversees inmates transitioning back to public life. He will stay in community confinement -- either home detention or a halfway house -- until he is officially released from custody on April 4.

Upon his release, Blue was surprised by Pleasure P and Spectacular, Blue's actual brother, who both excitedly live streamed the moment as they promised to celebrate in various ways ... but Baby Blue isn't completely out of the woods yet.

Baby Blue has another 3 years of supervised release, and still has to pay $1,111,345.23 in restitution as part of his sentence.

According to court docs, he forfeited a 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia about a year ago, but that only knocked around $65K off his tab -- so he still owes well over $1 million.

Gunna's being told to refund the $250K he allegedly got for a verse recorded prior to the YSL Rico case ... all because his collaborator believes Gunna snitched on Young Thug to get out of jail.

Florida-based rapper Bandman Kevo says he paid Gunna to get on a song they did together many months ago, but his incarceration delayed the rollout.

Now that Gunna is free, Kevo says he's ashamed of the collab and it's not happening.

As a result, he's now demanding Gunna return the 6-figure check to sender -- and if he doesn't, Kevo says he'll sue.

The song's titled "Alone" and they even shot a video with YSL rapper Lil Duke -- who was also arrested, and took the same Alford plea as Gunna -- so, Kevo's entire record is kaput as far as he's concerned.

Kevo's reimbursement demand is a total 180° from his thoughts shared in an interview a little over a month ago, when he gave Gunna the benefit of the doubt,  assuming the "Pushin' P" rapper had an elaborate legal scheme that did not involve snitching.

Lola Brooke walked away from GloRilla's Grammys performance feeling inspired, and thinks the look will open doors for her own career in the future!!!

TMZ Hip Hop got the "Don't Play With It'" rapper Monday at LAX, where she was glowing off the strength of Glo's contribution to the Grammys' 50th-anniversary hip hop tribute ... especially seeing the "F.N.F." rub elbows with all-time rap greats such as LL Cool J, Too Short, Missy Elliott and Public Enemy.

That said, Lola was shocked when we raised the fact Lil Kim wasn't part of the medley -- it's clear she's got Kim's back, and promised to link with her back in the Big Apple.

Kim recently knighted Lola by surprising their hometown Brooklyn crowd with a cameo performance of "Don't Play With It" ... and their mentorship bond has continued to blossom.

Lola's got a big year ahead, having just inked a deal with Arista Records.

She's hitting the road with A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie for his Me Vs. Myself Tour, and her debut album is also expected to drop this later year.

The Grammys officially have to recognize hip hop's presence going forward ... so says 2 of its pioneers ... Melle Mel and Scorpio of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five!!!

We linked with Melle, Scorpio and Bar Shon after their participation in the Grammys hip hop blowout to celebrate the culture's 50th birthday ... and in their opinion, the classic contributions to the medley really boosted the tribute.

Melle and Scorpio also tell us it was an honor to rock with the newer artists, who included Lil Baby, GloRilla and Lil Uzi Vert -- but it was their wave of nostalgia that made the performance one for the books.

The Furious Five rappers disagree with the notion new rap music is garbage -- they say each generation has its own sound and even remember when older heads turned their noses up at their music when they referred to it as "fresh."

Diddy isn't above a petty reaction to Burna Boy's defeat in the Best Global Music Album category at the Grammy Awards ... especially because they won the award together their last time collaborating!!!

Following the ceremony, Diddy took to IG amid his messages of love to snipe BB ... taking credit for the Afrobeats star's first and only Grammy win, while scoffing at the notion he thought his latest project, "Love, Damini" would be just as successful.

Diddy served as co-executive producer for Burna's 2020 album "Twice as Tall" ... adding hip hop flavor to help him warm up to the North American audiences.

Together, they not only won the Best Global Music Album the following year but also topped the Billboard US World Albums chart.

Judging from the picture Diddy paints, he worked on the project outta sheer boredom during the COVID-19 pandemic ... and they didn't even meet in person until after the album was released!!!

BB also lost out on his Best Global Music Performance yesterday ... further proving Diddy's point and get this ... even BB's Nigerian fans appear to be riding with Puff and are demanding BB make things right -- or fall off forever!!!

Cardi B got roped into Offset and Quavo's fight backstage at the Grammys -- and part of her attempt to break it up was caught on video.

Entertainment Tonight obtained footage of Cardi shouting at 2 people -- her husband and his cousin/former rap pal, and you can clearly hear her screaming ... "Both of y'all's wrong! This is not right!!!"

She goes on to address someone specific in tense terms ... "No bitch, shut the f*** up 'cause you shouldn't have been talking." It's unclear who CB was referring to there.

Afterward, she came back and talked to an ET reporter ... who straight up asked her if she was back there settling some stuff. Cardi brushed it off, saying the only thing she settled was her outfit. Unfortunately for her and for Offset, the whole brouhaha was on camera.

This simply confirms what TMZ first reported ... a fight broke out backstage between Quavo and Offset, which multiple witnesses tell us was initiated by Quavo. Offset tried downplaying our story, tweeting out what seemed like a denial.

Beyoncé broke the all-time Grammy record this weekend, an honor previously held by a classical musician for years, who'd be very happy for Bey if he was still around today.

Georg Solti -- the Hungarian-British conductor who had the most Grammys before Bey took the mantle Sunday -- would absolutely celebrate her achievement ... so says his daughter, Claudia Solti. Georg died in '97 -- the year before he won his posthumous, record-setting 31st Grammy.

According to Claudia ... her dad's music brought people together, and she feels Beyoncé's work does the exact same thing -- more than enough reason to get excited.

She tells us her father loved all kinds of music, and that she feels like he's probably somewhere out there smiling over the new milestone that's been hit ... even though, Claudia says he probably doesn't understand all the fuss about records.

An organization named in Georg's honor -- Georg Solti Accademia, serving as a music school in Italy -- tells us they agree with Claudia. They say, "We send our wholehearted congratulations to Beyonce! Throughout his career, Maestro Solti always sought to unite people through music. We think he would be thrilled to see audiences from many genres of music coming together to celebrate the achievements of both Beyonce and himself."

As we reported, Beyoncé crossed the benchmark set by Georg by racking up Grammy #32 during the show. She won Best Electronic/Dance Album, this after snagging 3 other Grammys earlier in the night ... making history anew.

Flo Rida just landed a sweet $80 million settlement in his lawsuit against Celsius energy drink, and the "My House" rapper says that means he's about to turn up his charitable efforts in a big way!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught Flo Monday at LAX, fresh off his Grammy weekend where he kept an extra big grin on account of winning his copyright lawsuit against the beverage co. in January.

Flo tells us his musical success allowed for retirement several years ago, but this new influx of cash will enable more philanthropic endeavors ... such as his Big Dreams For Kids charity that powers his own Florida Youth Football league.

Flo says his league is over 10,000 players strong, and he flew several of them out to Cali to train with Snoop Dogg, and his famed football league from the Netflix series.

He's optimistic the players will grow up to be doctors, lawyers or even professional athletes.

In terms of Celsius, Flo says he's still a co-owner, and has no hard feelings in the aftermath of the lawsuit.

Lil Wayne's former dream home in one of Miami's most exclusive neighborhoods is officially off the market, meaning Weezy's officially pulling outta South Florida ... TMZ Hip Hop has learned.

The YMCMB boss listed his lavish half-acre property back in September, asking $29.5 million ... and then discounted it, slightly, at a mere $28 mil. That seemed to do the trick.

Our real estate sources tell us Wayne accepted a buyer's offer on February 3, and although the sale's still pending ... it's close to getting finalized. Cyril Matz of Douglas Elliman is repping for Tunechi.

Wayne had the 7-bedroom, 11-bathroom castle built for $16.8 million in 2017 and laced it with all sorts of amenities -- including an open-air cabana, outdoor kitchen and a reflecting pool. Basically, the perfect Miami party pad ... if you're into that sorta thing.

Blac Chyna's mom is NOT a fan of the way her daughter dressed for the Grammy Awards ... ripping her child's fashion choice as "horrendous."

Tokyo Toni tells TMZ ... Chyna's outfit, an all black one-piece body suit decked out in rhinestones and feathers, was a "horrible" look -- and she's seriously questioning her daughter's decision.

For Tokyo, the Grammys are all about looking elegant ... and she would have rather seen Blac Chyna bust out a blonde wig and a golden dress and call it a day.

Of course, Blac Chyna's dress is getting tons of attention ... but her mom thinks it's for all the wrong reasons.

Tokyo's also taking shots at Chyna's new boyfriend, Twin Hector ... she thinks the rapper seriously influenced her daughter's Grammys look, which she also dragged as "terrible."