TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Lil Duval sparked a global debate by declaring Afrobeats would put the nail in hip hop's coffin -- but RZA, one of the guys who helped put rap on the worldwide map, completely disagrees with the controversial comedian.

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the Wu-Tang Clan figurehead out in WeHo Tuesday and he argues Afrobeats artists are doing their form of hip hop ... no different from rappers in the trap or G-funk creators out West.

Duval was reacting to last Sunday's Afrobeats takeover of the 2023 NBA All-Star Game halftime show ... led by standout artists Burna Boy, Tems and Rema ... and RZA says they deserve a chance to shine and feed their families, just like his generation did.

RZA also tackled another one of Duval's recent hip hop hot takes -- that podcasting has overtaken the music's popularity, another point RZA understood but debunked.

Rappers-turned-podcasters such as Joe Budden and N.O.R.E. have achieved much success on their platforms, but RZA tells us he and the Wu-Tang Clan just sold out shows during their "NY State of Mind" tour ... without the industry spotlight.

Canadian choreographer Laurieann Gibson was 34 years old when she first appeared on MTV's "Making The Band" starring P Diddy back in 2005. She rose to fame with the making of girl group Danity Kane, which consisted of Aubrey O'Day, Dawn Richard, Shannon Bex, and D. Woods

Today -- although she tends to stay out of the limelight -- she has built up quite the resume working with some of Hollywood's hottest stars including Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Dua lipa, and she's appeared on competition shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Dance Moms."

"Boomkack!"

Kanye West is all gassed up with his new wife by his side, making a pit stop at a local gas station to fuel up and grab a quick drink.

Kanye and Bianca Censori were out and about Monday in L.A. -- Kanye was dressed in a brown leather jacket -- a change from his usual all-black look. Bianca on the other hand, went with black spandex and her signature bleach-blonde short hair.

Kanye grabbed a Red Bull inside before fueling up his Maybach SUV, unclear why they both got out of the whip, but maybe they're just that inseparable.

As we reported, it was last week when Ye popped into the L.A. County Sheriff's West Hollywood Station after a heated argument with paparazzi, informing deputies he was being harassed ... but it looks like the exchange was without drama.

T.I. is firing back at Boosie Badazz after being publicly slandered with the news their joint album was canceled all because of T.I.'s now infamous story about ratting on his dead cousin.

An incensed Tip took to IG on Tuesday, accusing Boosie of not being genuine and daring the Louisiana rapper to pull up and examine the paperwork evidence for himself!!!

The invitation was also extended to Boosie's "OG Uncle" ... who apparently had the most influence over Boosie's decision to nix the project altogether.

T.I. says Boosie spoke out of turn ... rather unintelligently and ultimately painted his former collaborator's character as flawed.

Boosie has yet to respond to T.I.'s retort but has been resharing clips of his viral interview with the captions that amuse him the best.

Warren Sapp is laughing off a riff he had with Nas back in the day, and it all started because the former NFL Defensive Player of the Year's email address referenced his hatred for quarterbacks.

Sapp's talking about the days before cell phones and social media -- just 2-way pagers communicating via email. He says that's how he and Nas stayed in touch after meeting in NYC at the top of the century.

Warren was an NFL sack king at the time, so he created the email address "QB Killer" for his 2-way tag -- which pissed off Nas, who's famously from Queensbridge, NY ... hence, the "QB's Finest" moniker.

So, the next time Warren's in NYC, he hits Nas on his pager and once he saw the "QB Killer" email ... Nas immediately got heated, according to Sapp -- and he says the rapper cursed him out until they cleared up the misunderstanding.

Da Brat and her wife Jesseca "Judy" Harris-Dupart are expanding their household roster, announcing the iconic MC is carrying a child at the age of 48.

There's a first time for everything -- Brat was the first female rapper to go platinum with her 1994 debut album "Funkdafied" and now she's expecting her first child, telling People, "It's been quite a journey."

Brat and Judy made the big reveal Tuesday, introducing Brat's baby bump in a shoot with photographer Derek Blanks ... with a gangsta motif to play into Brat's rapper exterior.

Brat understands there are some possible risks with the pregnancy, adding, "there's a lot of stuff we learned about women over the age of 40."

Brat and Judy already share Judy's three children together -- and the rapper had to overcome a few hurdles -- an embryo transfer that required surgery to remove fibroids and polyps from her body.

The couple says they chose an anonymous donor and will chronicle the pregnancy in Season 3 of their WE TV series "Brat Loves Judy."

Master P doesn't have time to entertain past artists' gripes, and he's kinda serious about proposing a law to make it illegal for them to dredge up complaints about old contracts.

P vented his feelings about this on a podcast, and quickly grew angry recalling how some artists defected from his management ... only to diss him 10, 15, or 20 years down the line!!!

The No Limit Records CEO was responding to D.C. rapper Fat Trel's recent interview where he claimed P strung him along several years ago, while supposedly helping him break into acting -- but he claims P never got him a single movie script to even read.

Trel said he was aiming to land a role in a sequel to the hood classic, "Menace II Society."  Master P tells it differently ... he explained to "The Gauds Show" the movie was like a "Menace II Society," but production kept getting derailed because the lead actor, Gucci Mane, kept getting incarcerated at the time.

P compared unhappy artists to disgruntled baby mamas, and wants a 7-year statute of limitations placed on all the bad mouthing!!!

Interesting idea ... except for the whole freedom of speech thing in the Constitution. Master P, and other moguls, will just have to cope.

Rihanna is hot off her Super Bowl performance, and she's officially hit the big 3-5 ... and what better way to celebrate than with a private bash with some of her closest peeps?!

Naturallly, RiRi hit up her fave spot, Giorgio Baldi, in Santa Monica Monday night, and the place was decked out to the max with balloons -- all for their favorite customer.

Her boo A$AP Rocky guided her into the celebration, and they were joined by Rihanna's BFF Melissa Forde and her brother Rorrey Fenty.

The location couldn't have been a surprise for Rihanna or any of her loved ones -- Giorgio Baldi's damn near the only spot she hits when she goes out for eats.

As you know, the singer's been on quite a roll recently, after performing at the halftime show last week -- revealing to the world she's pregnant once again with baby number 2.

Boosie Badazz is washing his years-long friendship with T.I. and the album they completed together ... all due to T.I. admitting he once snitched on a deceased cousin to get out of a gun charge.

In his latest sit-down with VladTV, Boosie unloaded on T.I. for randomly choosing to divulge the info about the snitch-uation ... but, as a result, he says he has no choice, but to label his longtime friend a "rat."

Of course, that's IF the story is true ... Boosie halfway thinks T.I. was lying for podcast views, but nonetheless says he scrapped the project after waking up to more angry text messages than he could read at once!!!

Boosie expressed similar sentiments when discussing Cash Money Records CEO Birdman's older brother Terrance "Gangsta" Williams ... who openly testified against a dead friend to free himself from prison after serving 27 1/2 years on a life sentence.

Tip got his fair share of support when his podcast first aired -- fellow artists like Yung Joc, Lyfe Jennings and Young Dro all called the scenario a fortunate situation, but Boosie is going 100% lactose intolerant ... he's not accepting any cheese!!!

2 Chainz is returning from NBA All-Star weekend with a sweet-and-sweaty souvenir -- Ja Morant's game-worn jersey -- and it should score him some big points at home.

The Atlanta-bred trap star had a courtside view of Ja's insane double-pump reverse dunk (and his baseline blooper), and revealed he was able to successfully barter for the collector's item after the game -- and he's planning to gift it to his oldest son, Halo.

2 Chainz is a pretty cool dad parting ways with the jersey ... it totally matched his orange Louis Vuitton sneakers, but young Halo's closet is becoming quite the shrine for NBA collectibles -- he already has a signed Luka Doncic jersey he got last year!!!

Both Ja and Luka put their superstar skills on display Sunday night, but it was Jayson Tatum who took the ASG crown ... scoring a record 55 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to earn the game's MVP trophy.

If Dad manages to snag JT's jersey too, Halo's college tuition could possibly be paid in full!!!

Lil Baby's attempt to allegedly "work" with Chrisean Rock is backfiring ... with Blueface now claiming the "4PF" rapper was actually texting him instead of his intended target.

The messy social media exchange exploded after Blueface put Baby's text message to Chrisean on blast ... with Baby maintaining his innocence by claiming he was merely a "big brother" to her.

Blueface claims Baby only met Chrisean once, and was just trying to be slick ... when Akademiks stepped in and clowned Blue for being jealous after previously downplaying his relationship with Chrisean.

Ak called Blueface a terrible manager to Chrisean for exposing every artist who's riding her current wave of clout.

During the Super Bowl, Chrisean linked with Rick Ross for a photo ... only to hear a mouthful from Blue over getting too close to the legendary rapper.

Blue says all the controversy is going toward Chrisean's music career, which he funds out of his own pocket.

Lil Wayne channeled his inner-Tony Hawk over the weekend by pullin' off some dope skateboard tricks ... and they were all caught on video!

You can see in the footage posted to his social media page Saturday, the "Mrs. Officer" rapper flexed all of his best moves -- starting off with a kick turn on a vert ramp at a skatepark.

He then flew through the track while doing more tricks, including a front side 180 and a pop shuvit. And, we gotta admit, he looks goooood on four wheels!!

FYI, the pro board Lil Wayne is riding in the video was a gift from pro skater, Torey Pudwill and his Thank You Skateboards company. It features the New Orleans rapper's face and some of his best lyrics.

Of course, the 40-year-old's passion for skateboarding is well known -- as he's been into the sport for years. In fact, the award-winning artist was caught watching highlight videos during a Grammy party earlier this month.

He also released a song called "Skate It Off" in 2016 ... and the music video was shot in a skatepark.

Quality Control co-founder Pierre "Pee" Thomas' decision to sell his label to Scooter Braun's HYBE platform for a reported $300 million was a great move, according to no less an authority on the biz than Russell Simmons.

Pee was criticized for building up a Black-owned company only to sell it to white America -- he promptly defended the move on social media -- but Russell says all those haters need to educate themselves before they speak.

We conversed with Rush Friday in WeHo, and he thinks the sale will open new opportunities for Pee, and his partner Kevin "Coach K" Lee, to invest further in their community ... because they'll be able to liquidate assets.

Rush says the music industry is a volatile place -- he referenced the downfall of Young Thug and 300 Entertainment as examples, in addition to his own history.

In 1999, Rush sold off Def Jam Records, the label he co-founded for an estimated $120 million, and was able to branch off into fashion, film, financial service and jewelry!!!

Def Jam is still going strong today and Rush says QC will flourish all the same under Scooter Braun's watch. He also doesn't think race played a role in the sale.

Rihanna's pops found out about his soon-to-be grandkid same as everyone else -- while watchin' her Super Bowl halftime show ... and he's hoping, once again, for 2 X chromosomes.

Ronald Fenty tells TMZ ... he's over the moon about his daughter and A$AP Rocky's new kiddo, and with 4 grandsons already, he's hoping RiRi can shake things up with a girl.

He says he's excited at the prospect of having a granddaughter ... face it, he had great luck in that department with his famous daughter.

Ronald tells us Rihanna got him tickets to the big game, without telling him she's eating for 2 -- so he was insanely surprised when he spotted the bump from the stands ... telling his partner, "Oh my god! My baby girl looks pregnant!"

As we reported, Ronald was crossing his fingers for a girl this time last year when it was first revealed Rihanna was pregnant ... saying he had a feeling they wouldn't stop at just 1.

Ronald says he hasn't been involved with RiRi and A$AP's son's life yet ... referring to her super busy schedule and his living in Barbados.

Jim Jones is applauding NYC Mayor Eric Adams' efforts all across the board, including their developing plans to introduce the Mayor's Cup of Dance throughout the city this summer!!!

TMZ Hip Hop linked up with the Harlem Capo a couple times this week and he was completely floored that Mayor Adams not only bumped up their meeting but also had his aides immediately reach out to get the ball rolling on the Mayor's Cup.

Jim's spearheading the dance initiative and is getting all the boroughs involved. He says he spoke to Fabolous and Maino to represent Brooklyn and wants Cardi B and Fat Joe to stand up for the Bronx, and Nas and N.O.R.E. to lead Queens. He's also planning to include artists from younger generations.

Jim and Dipset recently felt a ton of love from young fans at Drake's sold-out Apollo Theater -- and says he so appreciated Drake, Future The Prince and the rest of the OVO team giving them a hero's welcome.

In fact, he says he'd love to return the favor via a new collab. C'mon, Drake!!!

Jim admits rap is a young man's game but says old and new challengers should still fear him in the booth, and promises to back that up on his upcoming album, "Back In My Prime" ... produced by Hitmaka.

The convo switched to fashion when we spotted Jim and Juelz Santana out in the streets ... where they praised Pharrell's new position as men's head designer of Louis Vuitton.

The Diplomats recalled having a session with Cam'ron back in the day, where Pharrell showed up wearing a fur coat -- in the summertime 🥵!!!

Trey Songz looks over the years are a real "Panty Droppa!"

Here is a 24-year-old version of the R&B singer looking dapper AF, accessorized and ready to party at his Birthday celebration in New York City back in 2009 (left). This was the same year he released his album "Ready," which featured hit songs "I Invented Sex" and "Say Aah."

And, 14 years later ... the 38-year-old handsome papa bear recently dripped himself in diamonds and was shining from ear-to-ear in Dubai for the opening of the "Atlantis The Royal Grand" (right).

His rocks may be getting bigger by the year, but the question is ...