TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

YG had his famous rap friends dress to the nines in red, his favorite color, as he celebrated his 33rd birthday last night ... and had no issues dancing the night away.

The 4Hunnid CEO was surrounded by the likes of Offset, Travis Scott, Mustard and Ty Dolla $ign inside an undisclosed location in West Hollywood.

The guest list was deep with celebs ... Diddy's sons Christian and Justin Combs, A$AP Ferg, BIA, Nardo Wick, 'Power' actor Kris D. Lofton, "Snowfall" actor Quincy Chad, Pusharod, Lenny S., former NFL star Todd Gurley II and Saweetie, who's been spotted with YG more frequently as of late.

Tyga captured video of YG cutting up on the dance floor to Snoop Dogg and Tha Eastsidaz's classic "I Luv It" track while his 4Hunnid chain swung like an anchor around his neck ... and fans should get used to seeing them together again.

Hitmaka is distancing himself from all Hit-Boy comparisons -- due to their similar handles -- and he ruthlessly adds ... only one of them is actually living up to the name!!!

The artist formally known as Yung Berg was recently on Hot 97 with Jim Jones to promote their upcoming "Back In My Prime" collab album, when Ebro Darden triggered Hitmaka by using his and Hit-Boy's names in the same sentence.

Hitmaka shot back, "See, but I'm on the radio. Hit-Boy's not on the radio" ... which sparked an all-out explosion among the guests, even making Jim's jaw drop.

Hit-Boy has spent the last 2 years working exclusively on Nas' last 4 albums, and they won a Grammy for 2020's "King's Disease."

Meanwhile, Hitmaka's been collaborating with rappers like Fabolous and Toosii, and R&B singers like Tink and Chloe Bailey -- the latter's track is the controversial Chris Brown duet "How Does It Feel." All of that fueled his saucy response to Ebro for bringing up HB's name.

We caught Hitmaka following the interview and he was still booming with confidence ... naming Dr. Dre and Kanye West hip hop's best producers of all-time but adding, at the current moment, he's numero uno!!! 👑

HB wasted no time recording a response to Hitmaka, threatening to snatch the "hit" outta his name but also dragged down Metro Boomin, Mustard and Southside for lacking his versatility.

Logic's recent cover of Ice Cube's iconic track, "It Was A Good Day," was universally panned, and Joe Budden feels it's a sign 'o the times ... for Logic to officially join him in permanent rap retirement!!!

Budden went in on the Maryland-born rapper on a recent episode of his podcast "The Joe Budden Podcast" ... urging him to never promise his fans another record because his music is now "really, really bad!!!"

JB admitted he enjoyed ribbing Logic from time to time in the past, but admits he's soured on him since his 2017 suicide awareness track "1-800-273-8255" -- but, he says turning Cube's classic into a folk song is an unforgivable hip hop infraction.

Budden also accused Logic of pandering to the Black community for years due to his own identity crisis. That being said, it can all be forgotten ... as long as Logic tosses his mic!!! 😭

A Texas meteorologist used Snoop Dogg's lyrics to serve up a TV weather report ... and he won major props from the hip hop legend himself!

Adam Krueger accepted a challenge from one of his fans on TikTok to intertwine the words to Snoop's first solo single, "Who Am I?(What's My Name?)," in his forecast at CW39 in Houston.

Check out the vid -- as he assures viewers it's gonna be a nice day in the Houston area, he drops some bars from the Dogg -- "From the depths of the sea, to the back of the block."

BTW ... major coincidence. Snoop's lyrics are super similar to the first local anchor ever --Jerry Dunphy -- who opened his newscast with ... "From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California, a good evening."

Back to Krueger -- he mixed it up a bit by voicing the title to a different Snoop song -- "Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat" -- which also featured Dr. Dre. "We’re gonna be warm and humid, with highs in the 80s, guess what, 'it’s like that, rat tat tat tat.'"

Snoop apparently watched the video and was so impressed that he reposted the clip on his Instagram page.

Others on social media also gave Krueger props. One person said, "Man I absolutely love this! As stressful as the world may be the weatherman is sneaking SNOOP lyrics into the forecast!!!!"

Cher and Alexander Edwards are getting involved with each other's kids ... another sign the singer and her music executive fiancé are serious about their relationship.

We got Alexander at Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills on Wednesday and he told our photog Cher's sons, Chaz Bono and Elijah Blue Allman, are "my guys."

Alexander has a son of his own with Amber Rose ... and when we asked him how Cher gets along with little Slash, he told us Cher's "amazing."

Remember ... Cher and AE have a 40-year age gap and they've only been together a few months ... so getting involved with the children is another big step. Cher's sons are older than Alexander, after all.

AE gave Cher a huge diamond ring over the holidays, and she told paps back in January the engagement was going along well.

There's no word on a wedding date and our photog prodded AE for info ... but it sounds like their sons are the priority, at least for now.

Master P's son, Mercy, balled out with 18 points in a huge playoff win over Sierra Canyon on Tuesday ... officially bringing Bronny James' high school basketball career to an end.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame -- the #1 seed -- easily handled S.C. in the CIF Southern California Division 1 Regional, 80-61 ... punching its ticket to the state finals later this week.

There were some big names in the crowd as N.D. secured the win ... including Mercy's rap legend dad and French Montana.

Notre Dame's Caleb Foster -- who's committed to play for Duke -- dropped 28 points in the win ... with Isaiah Elohim, a Kansas and Illinois recruit, adding 16 for Sierra Canyon.

Mercy -- a junior -- has a bright future on the hardwood ... and is set to play college ball at Houston.

Bronny had 10 points in his final high school game ... but his NBA superstar dad, LeBron, was not in attendance for the contest (the Lakers had a game).

Tony Yayo isn't vibing with Lil Uzi Vert's recent performance where he chanted he "made a City Girl" believe in Satan -- in fact, Tony doesn't even wanna touch the topic with a 10-foot pole!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught the G-Unit rap star Tuesday in NYC, and he thinks Uzi took things too far during his Rolling Loud California set ... and really didn't have advice for Uzi's girlfriend, JT of City Girls, about whether she should run for the hills.

Yayo tells us he grew up in the church, so he's allergic to all things Satanic ... a stark contrast to the strong critique R&B superstar Summer Walker leveled at Uzi.

Summer questioned whether he's actually the devil's advocate, or just following the trend in rap that pumps up "demons" at every turn.

Avril Lavigne's looking carefree with her new BF, but her ex-fiancé, Mod Sun, is having a hard time watching her move on so quickly and so publicly.

Sources close to Mod Sun tell TMZ … he's been down in the dumps since his split from Avril, which, as we first reported, was far from a mutual decision. As if being blindsided by the abrupt end to their engagement wasn't bad enough -- we're told he feels absolutely devastated by her budding romance with Tyga.

Avril and Tyga have been together all over Paris for Fashion Week, and they're pouring on the PDA pretty heavily... we just shared shots of them locking lips Monday night at one event.

Those pics are especially triggering for Mod.

Our sources pointed out Avril and her new guy are making out in the same city where Mod got down on bended knee to propose almost a year ago -- so, he views Avril parading around Paris as a huge slap in the face ... or even vengeful toward him.

We're told he feels he did nothing wrong, which is what makes Avril's new relationship a tough pill to swallow.

TMZ broke the story ... Avril recently called off their engagement, just a few days after Mod started touring in support of his "God Save The Teen" album.

According to sources close to Avril, they'd been "off and on" for months, and it just wasn't working -- but Mod sources claim they were together without interruption and living together.

You'll recall, MS recently opened up about the breakup on IG ... saying his fans and tour life were helping him get through it all.

Finesse2tymes is shaking his head at the blame tossed his way following his performance at the ill-fated Rochester, NY GloRilla concert where 2 people were trampled to death.

The Mob Ties rapper gave his condolences when we caught him out in NYC on Tuesday ... but also clarified his IG post about the incident.

Finesse2tymes took a page from his own "Back End" song lyrics -- "It's cool when they do it, it's a problem when I do it" -- to hammer his point, which is that he's being unfairly targeted.

Video footage of the grisly aftermath shows dozens of bodies sprawled out across the ground of the venue Main Street Armory, with a police investigation determining fans panicked after thinking they heard shots fired after the concert ended ... causing several jams inside exit ways.

In addition to the 2 fatalities, 7 other concertgoers were treated for injuries.

Both Finesse and GloRilla were actually gone from the venue when the stampede happened -- but the "F.N.F" rapper also shared her condolences after learning what happened.

Local media has also speculated the Armory was over its 5000-person capacity welcoming 2 of hip hop's hottest new rappers.

Metro Boomin's long string of hits is proving to be a cash cow ... the hip hop superproducer just sold off a portion of his catalog publishing rights for a whopping $70 million!!!

Shamrock Capital reportedly closed the deal Tuesday and came up on several high-profile recordings such as Migos' "Bad and Boujee," Post Malone and Quavo's "Congratulations" and "Heartless" by The Weeknd -- all of which went #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Shamrock also recently acquired a chunk of Dr. Dre's catalog for $200 million, and famously bought the rights to Taylor Swift's first 6 albums back in 2020 -- so, the investment firm appears to be the go-to spot for blockbuster music to get a second shelf life.

In spite of his already historic career, Metro has been leveling up for months ... following the release of his chart-topping last album "HEROES & VILLAINS."

The Atlanta native is in charge of pumping the superhero-level music for the upcoming "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" film ... and the film's writer and producer, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, recently told Hailee Steinfeld how excited they are for his inclusion.

Miley Cyrus topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 6 weeks with her latest single "Flowers" ... and Mike WiLL Made-It is predicting even more success with their collaborations on her new album!!!

The hip hop superproducer is announcing the restart of the "Mike WiLL x Miley Cyrus wave" ... with a few braggadocious tweets ahead of Friday's release of her album, "Endless Summer Vacation"

The pair have been frequent collaborators since going platinum with 2013's hit, "We Can't Stop" and the EarDrummers leader has production credits on several of the upcoming "Endless Summer" tracks, including "Thousand Miles" and "Violet Chemistry."

Flavor Flav couldn't believe his ears when we told him what Melle Mel said about Lil Wayne ... but one thing's for sure, he has no problem with hearing artists using Auto-Tune!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught the legendary Public Enemy rapper and his icy new clock Tuesday outside Il Pastaio in Bev Hills ... and he instantly became intrigued when he realized Melle was capping on Wayne.

Ultimately though, he disagreed with the notion Auto-Tune is a stain on the Young Money lyricist's career.

Flav says Auto-Tune is simply an instrument, no different than a horn or piano, but he drew the line when we asked if Public Enemy ever got their T-Pain on in the studio.

Flav also has a soft spot for Wayne's raps -- he still gets namedrops and shoutouts from Weezy from time to time!!!

Flav isn't the only Public Enemy member attempting to clarify Melle's dated delivery ... Chuck D recently compared the Furious Five rapper to NBA great Wilt Chamberlain ... who often gets omitted from conversations as the years go by.

Eric Bellinger understands his longtime collaborator Chris Brown's perspective when he hurled a fan's phone deep into the audience last week, but ultimately thinks it was overkill.

We caught up with EB at LAX, where he assessed both sides of CB's interaction last week with a fan in Berlin. In Eric's view ... the fan wanted to capture the moment firsthand, while Chris felt like his intimate performance was the moment.

EB couldn't help but laugh at Chris' zany nature at the end of the day and noted being the lead performer with dancers, bright lights and an earpiece can be a lot to take on.

The Grammy winner also felt like Chaka Khan was out of pocket when she referred to Mary J. Blige's rendition of her "Sweet Thing" classic track as "flat" ... before apologizing when fans went on the warpath on social media.

Like many fans, EB disagrees Mary's version was flat and notes both iconic singers have totally different styles and strengths ... pointing out how Chaka can't bop on stage like Mary!!!

Chaka blamed her acidic comments on her disdain for Rolling Stone's best singers list and EB thinks her apology was much needed.

Kevin Gates doesn't agree with Melle Mel that Eminem's race gives him white privilege when it comes to hip hop props, and, personally, he's got Marshall in his Top 5 ... dead or alive!!!

We caught the "Bread Winner" rapper ahead of his bang-up Rolling Loud California set and he defended Em ... saying the fact he wrote the iconic track "Stan" back in 2000 should be enough to put him near the top of anyone's list.

Billboard's 50 best rapper list has stirred up emotions left and right, and Melle's just the latest artist to skewer it after he was placed at #48, while Em was #5.

KG acknowledges Melle's right to his own opinion, but says he doesn't see people as "black or white" ... just "real and fake," but ultimately he doesn't care the Furious Five legend is yapping about the list.

What Kevin does care about these days is eating and living healthy ... the primary reason he partnered with Ambrosia Collective last year for his custom line of superfood supplements and products.

He copped to being somewhat of a fair-weather vegan, though, on account of some of his bedroom activities with his woman, if you get our drift. If ya don't ... watch the clip.

Suge Knight's son was one of the many folks laughing his ass off at Chris Rock's 'Suge Smith' line ... but he's certain Will Smith's got nothing on the OG!!!

Suge J. Knight tells TMZ ... it was pretty dope to hear his dad's name thrown in during CR's comedy set -- even though it wasn't a positive reference, and his father will remain behind bars for years to come.

He says, "We all know Suge Knight as that guy who's all about that action. It's funny to see that Suge has been in jail for a minute but he still has this legendary status."

As we reported, Chris finally addressed Will infamously slapping him at the Oscars during his live Netflix special, "Selective Outrage."

CR didn't hold back at all, and the reality is ... calling Will "Suge Smith" was probably the most gentle jab Chris threw at him or his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

ESPN's Bomani Jones is planting 🚩🚩🚩 all around the Ja Morant gun situation, and thinks the NBA star could find himself in a fatal tragedy -- much like Young Dolph -- if he keeps messing around in Memphis.

Bomani and Domonique Foxworth were discussing the now infamous scenario on "The Right Time" podcast when they brought up former Memphis Grizzlies All-Star Zach Randolph ... who experienced a few obstacles himself trying to shake the streets once he began playing in arenas.

According to Bomani, Zach's credentials in the streets actually stacked up while Ja's hood demeanor is questionable -- and he thinks it's highly relevant that Dolph was murdered at a seemingly neutral zone, like a cookie shop.

The popular Memphis-born rapper was shot and killed on the way to his annual Thanksgiving turkey drive in 2021 ... and Bomani says Ja's playing with guns with "regular people" in a city that is currently in the top 10 for murders.

For his part, Randolph started the NLess Entertainment record label that propelled Moneybagg Yo to prominence and has become a philanthropic beacon for years. Ja might need a similar turnaround.