TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Turns out Drake's recent trip to Memphis was all in support of Young Thug ... as Drizzy shot scenes there for the "Oh U Went" music vid, and picked up a key to the city while he was at it.

The finished product was released Monday ... directors Nick Manterola and Garfield Larmond Jr. splice footage from a more scripted video treatment together with Drake's contributions.

The "Jimmy Cooks" rapper can be spotted in one scene holding a small child as he raps from a stoop and elsewhere, and gets turnt with fans inside the Railgarten venue where the video was shot.

The Memphis City Council awarded Drake a key to the city last month -- aside from shooting the music video there, Drake's dad, Dennis Graham, is a Memphis native.

As for Thug's "Business is Business" album ... it debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 a few weeks ago ... an impressive achievement, considering the YSL leader has been locked up for over a year on criminal racketeering charges.

When we spoke to producer Southside about the project's creation, he declared the reception exceeded his expectations, as they finalized the album -- Drake features and all -- in just 2 weeks.

Lil Baby may have been a little too ambitious in announcing his nationwide tour ... as new reports indicate low ticket sales have forced the superstar rapper to cancel multiple dates.

Interestingly enough, The Kid LAROI has also dropped out of the tour for reasons not fully explained by the Aussie artist.

On Monday, it was revealed Baby's "It's Only Us" tour was dropping 10 cities from those first announced ... Denver, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Louisville, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego -- all cut from the lineup.

Fans who bought tickets to the now-defunct tour stops will receive automatic refunds and the previously announced performers -- GloRilla, Rylo Rodriguez, Gloss Up and Hunxho -- are still on the bill for the remaining dates ... at least for now.

Baby posted the updated tour dates on his IG but still caused a divide amongst Kid LAROI supporters, fans pissed over the aforementioned cancelations, and also Baby's hometown fans who couldn't understand why he didn't have an Atlanta date.

DaBaby's getting behind the camera for a change as the director for MoneyBagg Yo's new music video.

DaBaby's clearly learned a thing or two churning out zany music videos with Reel Goats over the years, and premiered Moneybagg's "F My BM" visual on Monday ... where the Bread Gang turned the courtroom upside down, in 4K!!!

The Memphis rapper followed DaBaby's script and portrayed an unsuspecting cheater who eventually gets dragged into a chaotic courtroom for a battle of the sexes showdown.

The track can be found on Moneybagg's latest "Hard To Love" project and DaBaby's vision totally rips a page outta the book of life ... Moneybagg revealed he had to nip a cheating scandal in the bud with GF Ari Fletcher before getting peace of mind to release the project.

Fabolous thinks there's only one kind of female hip hop winning these days, and he's voicing his concern for the community ... despite recently helping City Girls promote the very same sound he's speaking out against!!!

On Sunday evening, Fab posted an IG story praising women for having complex stories to share, but criticized the output he's been hearing in the music.

It's not exactly a secret that female rappers are running hip hop in 2023 -- Ice Spice is currently tied with Morgan Wallen for most Billboard hits this year, and she's just a rookie -- but Fab hints only women who rap sexual lyrics are getting pushed to the forefront.

He might have a point ... Sexyy Red's "Pound Town" single sparked a huge debate last week on whether it was appropriate for her to perform the raunchy track for high school students, but fans are quick to point out Fab's opinion makes him a walking contradiction, thanks to his recent collab.

Back in May, Fab and City Girls were featured on Diddy's "Act Bad" single ... which highlights Loso rapping about buying girls' BBLs and proudly dealing with gold diggers, which understandably upset many female fans.

Nas is throwing up the proverbial bat signal he's about to drop new music -- scrubbing his IG account last week -- and a new posting hints it's gonna be another sequel within his extensive discography!!!

On Monday, Nas shared a throwback black-and-white video of an escape artist bursting out of a straitjacket with a couple of magic wand emojis ... a sly indicator that his next rollout would be "Magic 2," the follow-up to his surprise 2021 release with Hit-Boy.

The last time we spoke to Hit-Boy, the Diamond-selling producer played it pretty coy ... denying he was working on a "King's Disease 4," but he still confirmed new music with Nas was on the horizon.

Nas' work ethic has been relentless these past few years by dropping a new project every year since 2018. We reached out to Nas' team to see when fans can expect the next trick of his hat ... no confirmation yet!!!

Offset & Cardi B are lookin' to be back to normal after some explosive cheating claims ... because they were both having a blast at their daughter's 5th birthday party.

It was a Mario Bros.-themed bash for Kulture Sunday, and Cardi shared all the highlights on her social media -- which included her kiddo meeting Princess Peach.

There was a ball pit for the little ones, a castle bounce house, and an impressive birthday cake themed perfectly to the iconic video game ... all tying into the theme, "Super Kulture."

The birthday girl's parents were having fun together, too -- Cardi rocked a sparkly gown while Offset kept things casual. Their 1-year-old, Wave Set, was also in the building ... lookin' fly with an iced-out chain!

Safe to say, things between Cardi and Offset have calmed down ... as we reported, the Migos rapper put his wife on blast last month, claiming she's been sleeping around.

Cardi didn't take that lying down -- going on Twitter Spaces to call him out for the post. She even said she'd hit him with a bottle if he tried saying that to her face.

The Quavo and Lori Harvey dating rumor's been fueled by a couple of misleading photos -- and we've learned all they really have in common right now is the same taste in restaurants.

The buzz is the celebs had a hot lunch date at the San Vicente Bungalows -- an exclusive L.A. hot spot -- and while it's true they were there at the same time this week, they were not together.

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ Hip Hop ... Quavo was sitting at a different table from Lori, and he was having a lunch meeting. We're told he was focused purely on business, and not Lori.

Even Lori's tried to squash it by commenting on the TikTok post that claimed they must be dating. She explained she was there with friends, and Quavo co-signed ... calling the post "cap."

Real talk? We're told the pics of them leaving the joint were taken 10 minutes apart. While that's a common tactic celeb couples use to throw off paps, this time it's just a coincidence.

Lori is still dating "Snowfall" star Damson Idris, and Quavo is putting the finishing touches on his "Rocket Power" album, which will feature his collab with Future -- the one with that direct shot at Russell Wilson.

G Herbo might not be facing a gun possession case right now, if it weren't for the simplest of traffic infractions ... at least, according to the cops who busted the "PTSD" rapper.

Chicago police tell us Herbo was pulled over in a vehicle that had failed to display a turn signal in traffic ... and it was during that July 9 stop that cops say they found a Glock 33 in the car.

We also got a hold of Herbo's latest mugshot, and he looks either perplexed or amused over the situation. Let's face it, having a perfectly good Sunday Funday ruined over jail time is guaranteed to dampen your mood.

As we previously reported, Herbo didn't spend long behind bars and was later released on bond.

Drake and 21 Savage must still feel a certain way about Anna Wintour and Vogue on the heels of their nasty lawsuit ... using what appears to be an ugly visual of the fashion giant on their latest tour.

Not only did Drake post the not-so-appealing AI-generated image of a woman with Anna's signature haircut and sunglasses on his Instagram earlier this week ... she's also been popping up in visuals on his "It's All a Blur" tour with 21.

In fact, during the pair's performance of "Jimmy Cooks" -- the apparent Anna-double shows up, opening her mouth to reveal some pretty gnarly teeth.

While neither Drake nor 21 have come out and officially said the image is supposed to represent Anna, it's hard to see anything otherwise.

Of course, there's some unfriendly history between Anna and the rappers. It was back in November when Vogue sued the two for recreating Vogue covers to promote the album "Her Loss" -- both online and throughout cities across the U.S.

Eventually, both sides settled -- Drake and 21 had to reportedly pay up millions -- Condé Nast was seeking at least $4 million in damages.

The Island Boys say there's nothin' romantic going down between them after they smooched online ... in fact, Flyysoulja tells us it's something he'd be up for doing again.

In case you missed it, brothers Kodiyakredd and Flyysoulja had fans scratching their heads -- and even shielding their eyes -- after posting a video of them making out, directing folks to check out Redd's OnlyFans page.

Flyysoulja tells TMZ ... he's got no sexual feelings for his brother despite the controversial clip, adding this isn't the first time they've done this.

He says he'd for sure do it again, too -- adding, "We're both straight males and kissing is not counted as a sexual act," and that it's been boosting their OF subscriber count.

Flyysoulja says they put up the clip for another reason, though ... telling us they wanted to see "how f***ed up this world is." He points out that the attention they've been getting isn't at all the same response to his community outreach.

Ariana Grande is an expert in the studio, even outside her sweet spot of the recording booth ... so claims her longtime collaborator Leon Thomas III!!!

Leon and Ariana starred on the Nickelodeon series "Victorious" together back in the day, and he recalled coaching the megastar singer during a recent sit-down on the "Shirley's Temple" podcast.

Leon says he advised AG, early on, to learn the art of engineering her own music and swears he saw her grow into a master wizard at Pro Tools software.

Their still-developing creativity led them to make their own rendition of Drake and Rihanna's "Take Care" duet.

Leon says he was too mortified to let Drizzy hear, but AG didn't sound half-bad -- about as good as a rookie who was destined to sell more than 90 million records!!!

AG's last album, "Positions," (which Leon helped produce) was released in 2020, and it just may be time for her to fire up those studio skills again ... now that the actors' strike is in full swing.

Michael Jackson and Prince are two names almost guaranteed to be on every artist's collab wishlist ... but not Dr. Dre's!

The hip hop giant says he turned down both late music legends to work in the studio ... because they were just too established. He also admitted to leaving Stevie Wonder in the studio hanging after personally being asked to go half on a track. What's the big deal, Dre?!!?

The music mogul made the puzzling revelations to Kevin Hart on the new season of his "Hart to Hart" podcast and admitted shaping a new artist's career — as we saw with Snoop Dogg and Eminem — is much easier for him than helping a living legend find their sound.

Jay-Z and Robert Kraft are on a mission to thwart the rise of book bans by launching programs to reinstall teachings of slavery, the Holocaust and gender equality back into society.

TMZ Hip Hop has learned both Jay and Robert's organizations -- the Shawn Carter Foundation and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism -- have donated $1 million to provide pro bono legal services to educators and librarians who've been targeted by local policies banning books.

The American Library Association reportedly documented nearly 1,300 demands last year to remove books -- most highlighting the Black and LGBTQIA+ communities, as well as religious minorities.

We're told the New England Patriots owner and Jay laid down the framework for underserved students to obtain scholarships and financial grants, and hopefully have their works turned into movies, plays, audiobooks, etc. to further the message.

There's also a plan to reprint banned books and have them circulated in adjacent learning centers.

The Brooklyn Public Library launched "Books Unbanned," a nationwide campaign that provides free books to kids, hassle-free, back in April 2022 ... and it's been wildly successful.

The BPL also unveiled Jay's new exhibit "The Book of HOV" on Friday, which showcases the Roc Nation rapper's legacy and written history in an elaborate fashion.

Jayson Tatum's appearance at Drake's concert on Wednesday night turned out to be a very painful experience for one fan ... 'cause during her freak-out over the Celtics star's cameo -- she wiped out down six rows of stairs.

The wild incident happened in the nosebleeds at TD Garden arena during the It's All A Blur Tour's stop in Boston ... after the rapper introduced the NBA star to the sold-out crowd.

The woman started to jump up and down when Tatum got on stage -- and she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Jayson Tatum!!"

But, somehow during the meltdown, she lost her balance ... tripped over a chair -- and then face-planted all the way down several steps.

Check out the footage of the fall ... she hit the pavement HARD.

No word on if she suffered any significant injuries ... but the TikTok user who posted the clip humorously captioned it, "big tatum fan!" -- so we get the vibe she's doing all right.

The night otherwise went off without a hitch ... and Drake seemed to be very pleased with his work inside the Celtics' home -- saying on his IG after the show, "Who else can get the Garden b(l)ooming like this?"

Lil Baby is officially a restaurateur now, after cutting the ribbon on his own Seafood Menu Restaurant & Lounge in his hometown!!!

The Quality Control rapper was flanked by a huge audience of supporters as Atlanta City Councilman Byron Amos commended Baby for opening the establishment in his old neighborhood ... which, if you're in the ATL, is located at 880 M.L.K. Jr Dr. SW.

Baby was holding his son Loyal and nodded as others received their credit for enduring the construction obstacles that delayed and threatened the restaurant's creation.

Baby's said to have been inspired by many restaurants' resilience to stay open during the trying times of the pandemic and created a spot custom to his tastes.

Baby and his partner Chad Dillon intentionally want to disrupt the local scene, and the restaurant's hook is its 7 unique custom sauces, with Baby particularly raving about the Caribbean jerk.

Lil Tjay says his comeback is officially complete ... the Bronx-bred rapper just popped the lid off his first project since being shot multiple times a little over a year ago.

We spoke with Tjay near Times Square at his "222" album release party last night -- and he's extremely confident that he's returned to the top of his rap game.

Tjay's team transformed the Brooklyn Chop House into a soiree dedicated to the "222" project, where Tjay took pics, rapped for fans and kicked it with Fivio Foreign -- who was in the building to support his friend.

The project also sports features from Jadakiss, NBA YoungBoy, The Kid LAROI, Summer Walker, and Coco Jones.

Tjay predicts fans will receive the music very well ... it's been over 2 years since he had a new project and his fate was hanging in the balance this time last year.

TMZ Hip Hop broke the story at the time ... Tjay was shot 7 times on June 22, forcing him into emergency surgery, and he's even had some legal drama amid getting this album out.

He created "222" out of sentiment ... it stands for the time on the clock Tjay says he saw when he was airlifted to the hospital after being shot.