TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

T.I.'s had enough of being the "King of the South" and he's touting his next album -- "Kill the King" -- as the official funeral for his famous tagline!!!

TMZ Hip Hop chopped it up with T.I. this week and, for now, he's adamant "Kill the King" will be his last solo album.

The ATL rap icon explains he adopted that regal label after hearing Mystikal refer to himself as "Prince of the South" on the 2001 album "Tarantula." Tip says he spotted a void for the throne and claimed it.

He then got the blessings of legendary peers Outkast, Scarface, 8Ball and MJG ... but Big Boi warned him the "Kang" title would come with a supersized can of worms, which T.I. admits it did.

The royal title sparked a short-lived beef with Ludacris' camp, among other debacles, and T.I. says he's fully confident with deflating his own ego.

There's no timetable to rush greatness, but he revealed Jermaine Dupri just blessed him with a banger so the album is coming along as we speak.

In addition to recording his last hurrah, T.I. has plenty of other projects in the works.

He recently signed on as a brand ambassador for Cignature, a lifestyle brand that provides smoking products to adults, and is also looking ahead toward the 20th anniversary of his classic breakout album "Trap Muzik" ... which will coincide with the Hip Hop 50th celebration in August.

For the 15th anniversary, T.I. and Grand Hustle debuted the now monumental, Trap Museum in Atlanta, but he's keeping details for the upcoming celebration under wraps for now.

Positive K, best known for his '90s hit "I Got A Man", is turning his hip hop roots into humor -- he's getting onstage to tap into the world of comedy.

The rapper's team says, Positive K's still in the biz of putting out new music, but now he's also using the stage for stand-up comedy, and his career is already taking off!

As a rapper, he's best known for his breakout 1993 top 20 single "I Got A Man" ... and he also had memorable collabs with hip hop legend, MC Lyte.

His debut album "The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills" has become highly regarded as a certified classic, especially for his ability to deliver a different rap style on each track and for adding humor ... and we're told that's exactly what planted the seed for his comedy career.

Positive K's Comedy Experience is already making the rounds in ATL ... having played the Uptown Comedy Corner, Atlanta Comedy Theater and the Laugh Factory. Earlier this year he put on a show to remember at the ATL Punchline.

He's even opened up for comedian Mike Epps, in addition to performing on some of the most legendary stages for comedy.

Travis Scott's Cactus Jack Foundation hosted a celebrity softball game yesterday ... and he scored big by carving out loads of opportunities for Historically Black Colleges in honor of Black History Month.

The star-studded game went down Thursday inside Houston's Minute Maid Park -- home to MLB's Astros -- and raised awareness for the Waymon Webster HBCU Scholarship Fund and Cactus Jack HBCU Classic.

LaFlame put out the call and a huge list of famous athletes answered to help in the effort: 9-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, Ken Griffey Jr., Reggie Jackson, Jose Canseco and his daughter Josie, Gary Sheffield, Andre Dawson, Shane Victorino and Nick Swisher. Plus, NFL and NBA greats Terrell Owens, Adrian Peterson, Robert Horry, Vince Young, and Tracy Mcgrady.

Travis' fellow artists came out too ... folks like Scarface, Bun B, Metro Boomin, Slim Thug, Sheck Wes, Trae Tha Truth, Paul Wall, and Dominic Fike.

Following the match (which T.O.'s team won), Travis and his family were presented with the Vanguard award by Daniel Moss, Executive Director of the HBCU Foundation, for their dedication to higher learning within the Black community and the scholarship opportunities they've provided.

To date, Travis' efforts have raised about $1 million for 100 graduating HBCU seniors ... who were all celebrated during Thursday's game.

Chris Brown is singling out Cheetah Girls/3LW singer Kiely Williams amongst the peanut gallery upset he's collaborating with Chloe Bailey ... but Breezy is busting her chops, almost literally!!!

Following Chloe's ill-fated preview of "How Does It Feel," Kiely went on a tirade over the collab like several fans -- accusing Chris of exploiting female Black artists' talent to mask his past domestic violence case with Rihanna.

Breezy's currently overseas on tour, but took time to respond to Kiely's disses and did so with a mix of pity and humor ... to him anyway.

He deemed Kiely to be broken -- either mentally, financially, or both -- for the unprovoked attacks, and then took the low road by taking aim at her lisp. He joked how she sang "promithis, promithis" on her hit song "No More (Baby I’Ma Do Right)," and again through a meme captioned "thop it!!!"

While Breezy didn't hesitate to fire away at Kiely, Chloe still has to deal with her angered fanbase ahead of the release of their song.

Shaquille O'Neal just went scorched Earth on everyone bashing Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime performance Sunday ... saying people need to "shut the f*** up!"

"All you people disrespecting Rihanna, shut your face," O'Neal said on his The Big Podcast with Shaq featuring Nischelle Turner and Candace Parker, passionately defending the 9x Grammy winner.

Many people have been critical of Rihanna's performance on Sunday ... but Shaq isn't one of them. The Big Fella believes RiRi did her thing, adding we live in a world where people have too much freedom to criticize others.

"She did a wonderful job," Shaq said. "She's pregnant. She blessed it. She didn't fall. Just leave it there. All you superstars that's disrespecting and causing beef ... shut it up."

O'Neal said it was the first time he ever saw the "Umbrella" artist perform live ... adding, if he were in A$AP Rocky's shoes, he'd be defending her.

"If she was my woman and I seen one of you superstars do that," Shaq said, "I'm gonna have to get at you." "Rappers. Presidential candidates. I'm gonna have to get at you. Leave her alone."

Shaq didn't mention which rappers or presidential candidates he's calling out ... but it's worth noting former President Donald Trump ripped Rihanna's performance.

Trump wrote ... "EPIC FAIL: Rihanna gave, without question, the single worst Halftime Show in Super Bowl history — This after insulting far more than half of our Nation, which is already in serious DECLINE, with her foul and insulting language. Also, so much for her 'Stylist!'”

DT wasn't the only high-profile name who wasn't a fan of Rihanna's 13-minute set at the SB -- WWE legend Goldberg was "disgusted" by the show and thought it was "horrible."

Trick Daddy recently interrupted his own cooking to show to completely UNLOAD on Uncle Murda .. all because he's fed up with the G-Unit rapper's infamous yearly "Rap Up" anthems.

The Miami hip hop legend was warning viewers of the pitfalls of going viral when he turned his ire towards Murda ... dubbing him "The #1 Clown" in the rap game -- 5 years and running!!!

Trick scolded Murda for stalking countless rappers throughout the years, and preying on their most vulnerable moments.

Of course, Trick was one of the many rappers caught in Murda's crosshairs -- but he's held his tongue about it for a couple of years.

Murda dissed Trick back on the 2021 "Rap Up" over his "Beyonce can't sing" comments and subsequent "coke head" remarks ... but Trick says he's calling Murda out for the guys who can't speak up for themselves in the brutal social media gauntlet.

Kash Doll is defending La La Anthony's portrayal of Markisha Taylor in 50 Cent's hit series "BMF," despite fan uproar that La La's character now looks like a bona fide cradle robber!!!

Fans have been livid this season seeing the adult Markisha interact with Terry Flenory (played by actor Da'Vinchi) ... because his character is still in high school.

To make matters worse, OG trap queen Tonesa Welch also ripped the character -- and the casting -- as it appears Markisha is loosely based on the role Tonesa held during the real-life BMF glory days.

The Detroit rapper linked with TMZ Hip Hop this week during her NYC promo run, and reminded us of "BMF's" disclaimer at the top of each show ... some of it's true and some of it ain't!!!

Kash plays Monique ... the linchpin of the love triangle between herself and warring lead characters "Big Meech" and "Lamar."

Kash is also back on her rapping steez -- after having a baby boy about a year ago -- thanks to her new DJ Drama-led project, "Back On Dexter: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape."

The 11-track effort finds KD flexing Detroit-isms with the likes of Sada Baby, Babyface Ray, Payroll Giovanni, Peezy and more.

Goldberg absolutely hated Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday ... calling the singer's performance "horrible", and saying it left him feeling "disgusted."

"I thought Rihanna was frickin horrible," Goldberg said on his CarCast podcast with Matt "The Motorator" D'Andria. "I was disgusted by it. That's all. Let's just say that. I thought it was horrible."

D'Andria said he thought Rihanna's performance was "kind of boring," and Goldberg agreed, calling Matt's comment "the understatement of the year."

Goldberg seems to have an issue with RiRi's crotch grab -- he wasn't the only one -- and felt like the "Bitch Better Have My Money" artist made the performance too much about herself.

Of course, Rihanna opted to do her 13-minute set at the Super Bowl without bringing out any surprise guests like other performers in the past have done.

Rihanna's SB halftime show at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ was the first time she's performed in over 6 years ... and we now know, she wasn't exactly alone up there. 👶

Goldberg, however, is a fan of Chris Stapleton, who sang the National Anthem before the Chiefs-Eagles played, applauding the singer-songwriter for doing his job "to the fullest."

Chloe Bailey's second single from her upcoming debut solo album has her fans heated, and not in a good way -- they're infuriated she's included Chris Brown as the featured guest.

On Thursday, Chloe teased her Breezy duet "How Does It Feel" ... only to see her fans raise so much outrage, the song's actually trending from the onslaught of negative tweets.

Fans were upset Chloe would choose to collaborate with CB given his tumultuous history with Rihanna. There's no better barometer of the fan anger than this -- some are even calling out Beyoncé for what they deem mismanagement of her Parkwood Entertainment artists. 😬

The song drops tomorrow and Chloe recently revealed she submitted her finished "In Pieces" album to the label ... with the release date soon to follow.

Drake and 21 Savage are no longer stuck in a lawsuit with magazine publisher Condé Nast, the rappers settled the case brought against them over the fake Vogue cover they used to promote their album ... TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us the duo settled out of court and agreed to pay Vogue's publisher, though the settlement amount is unclear. Condé Nast was seeking at least $4 million in damages.

TMZ broke the story ... back in November, the magazine giant slapped Drake and 21 Savage with a lawsuit over the phony Vogue promos they plastered online and around several cities. The fake Vogue featured the rappers on the cover and it was used to hype their new album, "Her Loss."

The suit said the fake mags were a direct replica of Vogue ... with a doctored pic of editor-in-chief Anna Wintour next to Drake and a fake story.

Drake also used the fake Vogue to promote the album on his social media ... with Drizzy claiming he and 21 Savage would be on newsstands before the Nov. 4 album release. Champagne Papi even shouted out Anna.

As we reported ... after the lawsuit was filed, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order shutting down all current and future displays of the mocked-up mag for the time being.

Fans have really been testing GloRilla's gangsta during her tour ... with the latest incident involving the red-hot rookie becoming a coatface killah while performing on stage.

Video of Big Glo's Valentine's Day performance at Cervantes’ Other Side in Denver hit the web on Thursday with Glo set to perform her new song "Internet Trolls."

Funny enough, there was a real troll in the crowd, who had the nerve to toss their jacket on stage, hitting Glo upside her head in the process.

After a quick scan of the audience, Glo ID'ed a woman with red braids to be the culprit ... and proceeded to cuss her out for the stunt. Glo also told the crowd the flying coat killed her stage-diving mood -- and was met with dejected moans and groans.

The show wasn't a total wash though ... Glo shared more footage of the Denver show with fans getting crazy — without throwing objects at the stage but the budding Memphis rapper has been experiencing the wild side of her newfound celebrity as of late.

During her afterparty in Oakland last week, fans grew angry she hung out at the club without performing and tossed drinks in her direction as she headed towards the exit.

NBA YoungBoy put out 8 albums in 2022 alone to give fans more music than they can realistically handle ... but that doesn't mean the Lousiana rapper doesn't have his favorite tracks.

YoungBoy rattled off his top 3 songs and albums on the recent episode of the Rap Radar podcast ... handpicking the tracks "Valuable Pain," "Outside Today," and "Slime Belief" as the best he's ever recorded!!!

On the album front, YB selected "Top," "38 Baby 2," and "Ma' I Got a Family" as the projects most dear to his heart ... with the latter LP speaking best to his current situation as a married man living in Utah.

YB, who plans to convert to Mormonism after he's released off house arrest, also spoke on his latest music vid "Black" ... which was shot in the neighborhood where he's been living.

If you think the clip looks rambunctious, you're right ... YB admitted he regrets not notifying all his neighbors ahead of filming the Project X-type visual!!!

Interestingly enough, YB admitted he doesn't really listen to his older material, and was optimistic about the future ... revealing he left his longtime label Atlantic Records to try something new.

YouTuber iShowSpeed's dream of snagging Drake on his live stream finally came true -- but it was very quickly shattered when he laid on the schmooze a little too thick for Drake's liking.

The award-winning streamer connected with Drake Wednesday night, and immediately drew 50,000 viewers as he jumped up and down with excitement and disbelief he was finally linking with the megastar rapper.

At first, Drizzy returned the gratitude ... praising iShowSpeed for amassing such a big following over the years. They also vibed on the Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi debate -- turns out they're both on the Ronaldo bandwagon.

But, then the convo fizzled as iShow started dropping a bunch of compliments on Champagne Papi -- like, "Bro, your voice is so sexy!!! How is it so smooth like that?"

That was all Drake needed to hear, because he instantly hit the big red button, which sent iShowSpeed into a pretty hilarious tantrum.

The Internet personality pleaded his case to his followers, saying he misspoke, but Drake was long gone by then.

Rihanna tends to live in luxury wherever she goes -- and her week in Arizona preparing for the Super Bowl was no different, 'cause she spared no expense for her desert hideout.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... RiRi was renting a home about 30 miles from the stadium where SB LVII went down ... in the town of Paradise Valley -- and, we gotta say, it's a fitting name when ya see this place!!!

The price tag is a real eye-popper -- we're told she spent $85,000/night to stay here, and booked it for 6 nights ahead of the game ... so, about $510K more or less.

As for the crib where the multi-billionaire and her fam hunkered down ... well, it's a beaut. The house has 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms over a sprawling 6,434 square feet.

It's a one-story pad, but it feels palatial when you take a peek inside.

For starters, there are 2 living rooms, as well as an open kitchen and accompanying walk-in wine cellar. There's also a private gym nook, and a separate office as well ... lots of room to spread out.

There's even more to marvel at outside -- in addition to the gorgeous courtyard seen out front, the backyard has extra perks ... like a huge pool with built-in waterfall, a pickle ball court, a bar area, big ol' barbecue grill, a freaking putting green and a bocce ball court!

Rihanna's unborn child has quite the showbiz resume already ... having been featured in a Super Bowl Halftime Show and, as it turns out, a cover shoot for British Vogue!

Rihanna, her rapper bf A$AP Rocky and their baby boy, all posed for the fashion mag's latest issue -- RiRi's proudly posting the fam's cover shoot and other pics from their beachside shoot.

However, she also revealed more of what was going on behind the scenes during the shoot -- which went down in Malibu back in December -- and naturally, that had fans flooding her comments.

Rihanna says, "How crazy both of my babies were in these photos and mommy had no clue ❤️❤️."

Her point is she had no idea in mid-December that she was expecting baby #2. That's kinda willd, because at that point she'd already been rehearsing like crazy for the Super Bowl. Our sources say she was plugging away more than 24 hours straight, at times ... all while unknowingly pregnant!

As you know, Rih made her pregnancy reveal during her highly-anticipated SB performance ... shocking fans as she took the stage with a baby bump.

It was back in May, Rihanna and A$AP welcomed their first baby, who's quite the model, btw, even if we still don't know his name.

Kanye West is choosing a different, and more peaceful, way to deal with photographers ... instead of grabbing and throwing their cameras, he's taking his beef straight to law enforcement.

TMZ obtained these photos of Ye strolling into the L.A. County Sheriff's West Hollywood Station Tuesday afternoon ... and our law enforcement sources tell us he was there informing deputies he'd gotten into an argument with paparazzi.

We're told his story is ... he'd asked paps to stop recording him and his family at some point on Tuesday ... and the interaction almost turned physical, but he says it did not escalate to violence.

Ye left the station after filing the report, and we're told the Sheriff's Dept. is now looking into the matter to see if there's anything more to the alleged argument.