TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Drake took a big bite out of the Big Apple this week, performing at Madison Square Garden to sold-out crowds and partying into the wee hours with some of his famous friends.

Drake, Travis Scott and French Montana popped into the rooftop lounge at the Dream Hotel in Manhattan after Drake's Wednesday night gig at The Garden. Not surprisingly, the trio was the center of attention, wowing all the guests.

Check out the video, obtained by TMZ, which shows Drake walking around and mingling with security shadowing him. Drake was also spotted chilling with a hot blonde -- and the two seemed to be having a good ol' time together.

Then there was Travis, who hit the DJ booth and grabbed the mic to say a few words before spinning some tunes. We're told Travis took a break at one point to go hang out with his buddy, French.

French arrived with a small posse and was seen texting, yapping on his phone and kicking it with his peeps.

Drake's joining forces with Snapchat to bring one of the social media platform's most popular filters with him on tour ... and the results are quite the sight to see.

Here's the deal, Drake's recently started using a new camera feature on crowd shots at his "It Was All a Blur" Tour ... an augmented reality filter powered by Snapchat technology.

As you can see, the AR lens makes it look like people are crying ... even when they aren't. Drake is using the filter when he performs his hit, "Laugh Now Cry Later," with the stage screens showing the crying lens on audience members.

Champagne Papi debuted the Snapchat tech during his July 17 show in Brooklyn, and we're told he will be using it at each concert for the remainder of his tour.

The crying lens has become one of Snap's most popular lenses and has been used over a billion times. Drake has a long-standing relationship with the company -- he even performed at one of its holiday parties.

Drizzy's busted out a whole bag o' tricks on this tour ... like an ugly Anna Wintour, giant sperm cells, massive Ghostface, and a hologram of the late Virgil Abloh.

Page Kennedy is feeling the burn of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike ... not only putting a damper on his upcoming summer blockbuster, but also reminding him how crappy royalty checks are!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with Page, who says he's in shambles over the strike, which is affecting his upcoming film with Jason Statham "Meg 2: The Trench" ... a real bummer because he says he almost drowned filming the project.

Page reprised his role as "DJ" from the first 'Meg' thriller, but tells us he wasn't fully prepared to film scenes in the ocean -- at one point, he swallowed more water than his gills could handle. Luckily, the crew was able to usher him to safety.

The veteran actor/rapper has dozens of film credits under his belt, but echoed the sentiments of many actors who say their ever-shrinking residuals aren't cutting it -- and he even showed us some of his checks to drive home that point.

For example, his one-episode appearance on FX's popular Western drama "Justified" paid him $123 ... while his time on the short-lived FOX series "Backstrom" just netted him $59.

It might not be a get-rich-quick option, but Page says his love for acting is still there ... even if he feels execs like Disney CEO Bob Iger wear their greed on their sleeves!!!

He's also in the trenches with the picketers every day, and is back in his rapper bag with a new album, "A Book of Pages," slated for an August 4 wide release.

Rauw Alejandro is setting the record straight on his recent split from Rosalía ... debunking the theory that infidelity was to blame for the couple's end.

The Puerto Rican singer took to Instagram Wednesday to let fans know the facts, saying the 2 broke off their engagement a few months ago -- but makes it clear there were no third parties involved in the breakup, and says there was no cheating going down.

He says he never thought he'd have to speak publicly about something like this, but the folks claiming he's been less than faithful was enough to get him to come forward. He doesn't go into details on the split, but he's at least crossing a few theories off the list.

As we reported, Rosalía announced their engagement back in March, and the 2 have been practically joined at the hip ever since their romance began in 2021 ... so the split came as a shock to fans everywhere.

BTW, people online have been speculating Rauw was hooking up with IG model Valeria Duque ... and while Rauw's been taking a beating over the rumors, Valeria's been catching flack, too -- and she's since switched her account, which has 1.4M followers, to private.

Bow Wow's getting dragged for allegedly swindling a child rapper outta her hard-earned pennies when she requested a feature -- but he insists there was no deal with him, the kid just got catfished.

The case is currently pending in a Georgia court, but Bow Wow is claiming the plaintiff fell victim to an all too common online scam. However, on social media -- where no one waits for a verdict -- folks went on the warpath against Bow.

TMZ Hip Hop got ahold of the docs ... the suit was actually filed back in March by a man named Steven Roberson.

According to Steve, he wired Bow Wow $3K via Cash App, back in 2021, to guest star on a song for his daughter back in 2021 called, "Daddy's Girl." He says the deal required Bow Wow to record his feature within 2 weeks of getting the payment, but that never happened.

Bow Wow is now defending his reputation, insisting he never conducts business through Cash App and doesn't intend to in the future. He says this incident marks the 3rd time someone got duped by someone pretending to be him.

The DJ who played 50 Cent tracks -- prompting Rick Ross' longtime pal Gunplay to blow his top in da club -- is speaking out, and hoping like hell to squash their beef.

DJ 305 dropped an IG video Tuesday apologizing to Gunplay and his family for the July 19 incident that led to the rapper threatening to "shoot up" club G5ive Miami.

Gunplay had been celebrating his 44th birthday when DJ 305 dropped not one, but two 50 Cent songs "I Smell P****" and "Many Men" -- both with implications of beef and war (although they were originally created as Ja Rule diss tracks).

You can see for yourself how Gunplay took the musical gesture and he went on to explain, and remarkably, own up to his actions that evening.

DJ 305 says he didn't mean any disrespect behind his song selection and hopes to still be cordial with Gunplay and MMG down the line ... as his stage name references Rick's city!!!

Gunplay hasn't responded to 305's mea culpa just yet, but was in G5ive last night to redo his birthday bash after the previous drama.

Bad news for Travis Scott fans that were hoping to see the rapper perform at one of the 7 wonders of the world ... because just two days before the big event, the show's been canceled.

Live Nation shared the news Wednesday, saying the Utopia show -- which was slated to go down this weekend at Egypt's Pyramids of Giza -- is no longer happening.

The company adds, "Despite highest efforts, complex production issues meant that the show could not be constructed in the desert." Live Nation says issues will be refunded to ticket holders, issuing an apology to those planning on attending.

The reasoning seems a little suspect considering just recently Egypt's Musicians Syndicate announced it wasn't pleased with Travis coming over to perform, saying the org canceled the show's permit ... claiming the type of concerts TS puts on "goes against the cultural identity of the Egyptian people."

Ice Cube has a serious bone to pick with the NBA and Adam Silver ... saying the league talks a good game about equality, but when it comes to supporting a black-owned company --like Cube's BIG3 -- they've completely dropped the ball.

The rap legend and 3-on-3 league founder teed off on the commish while he was on Tucker Carlson's Twitter show ... calling out Silver for making it seem like the league is at the forefront of change -- when, in his opinion, it's not doing much at all.

He said, "The NBA is full of great slogans and they write 'Black Lives Matter' on the court and they do all those things, but pretty full of s*** when the rubber meets the road."

Cube believes promoting the BIG3 would be a layup for the Association to show they're really about the cause ... but instead, their grand gestures have resulted in no real action.

"I'm just saying it's easy for them to put that on the court. It takes a little more effort to really care to work with a league like the BIG3. You really gotta want to make a difference."

Cube has been in an ongoing feud with Silver ... claiming there are several NBA team owners who want to get involved in the BIG3, but the league won't let them.

He's even openly said "I don’t give a f**k about working with the NBA" ... but wants the league to quit trying to keep his organization from growing.

It's not only politics that makes for strange bedfellows -- Ice Cube's unloading on Barack Obama, Black Lives Matter, COVID-19 vaccines and more ... with, of all people, Tucker Carlson.

The duo rolled through South L.A. together for an episode of Tucker's show on Twitter -- and they quickly found common ground on several topics ... starting with former President Obama. Cube said he was proud America had elected a Black man, and thought maybe "this guy is gonna be the guy."

But, ultimately Cube feels Obama -- like all of his White House predecessors -- did nothing to change his life.

Tucker and the rapper/actor also bro'd out on BLM ... Cube's criticism being the org didn't improve things for the Black people he knows and loves, while Tucker's voice-over and editing attacked BLM for allegedly misappropriating millions of dollars.

Interestingly, Tucker -- a staunch and vocal proponent of police -- never asked Cube about writing the song "F**k Tha Police." 🤔 Interesting.

Timbaland's back in the studio -- with real humans, after entertaining the thought of AI -- with his longtime pals Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado!!!

The "Dream Team" trio was apparently up late in the studio on Tuesday night ... sharing several pics of themselves with huge grins, a good sign the tunes are turning out right.

Nelly dialed in remotely from FaceTime while Timbaland and Justin were together in-studio ... but the reunion was still full circle.

Back in 2006, Timbaland oversaw the production of both JT and Nelly's blockbuster albums ... "FutureSex/LoveSounds" and "Loose" ... with both projects selling millions of records, opening the door for more collabs as the artists owned the dance floors for years.

It's no secret Drake loves his mom ... but he proved it in a huge way at his NYC concert Tuesday night, celebrating her in front of a sold-out crowd.

Drake escorted the family matriarch, Sandi Graham, onto the stage at Madison Square Garden and sat down on a leather couch alongside her.

He then cracked open a composition book and started rapping, "Look What You've Done," a 2011 tribute song he wrote for Sandi, his uncle and his grandmother.

As Sandi grooved to the lyrics, Drake slightly turned his head to her and sang, "You love me and I love you."

The two then embraced in a big hug before Drake ended by repeating the phrase, "Look what you've done," causing Sandi to get choked up with tears.

The audience also got emotional, shouting and wildly clapping.

Before this cute kid cheesing for the camera in his Mickey Mouse shirt turned into an EGOT winner, he was just playing on his piano, performing in his church's choir and hangin' with his 3 younger siblings in Springfield, Ohio.

He started to bust out his singing chops under the guidance of Kanye West ... and in more recent years, you've probably heard some of his classic hits like "All Of Me." When he's not "craving" some quality time with his family, you can catch him eating his favorite, rotisserie chicken and steamed veggies.

Netflix is celebrating hip hop's 50th anniversary with a documentary dedicated to all the women of the culture -- well, almost every woman, as fans have peeped the trailer and noticed it excludes Nicki Minaj!!!

On Tuesday, Strong Black Lead pushed out the first look for "Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip-Hop" ... which appears to be a gripping depiction of several female rappers' rise to stardom.

The trailer for the doc features commentary from a generations-spanning group of women -- Queen Latifah, Roxanne Shanté, MC Lyte, Coi Leray, Kash Doll -- while also highlighting content from Ice Spice, Young M.A., Latto, Saweetie and others.

However, the preview had zero sign of Nicki, and when her Barbz fanbase picked up on the snub they exploded on Twitter X.

Livid fans made Nicki the subject of several trending topics while accusing Netflix of intentionally trying to erase her from the history books.

The "Pinkprint" rapper is the highest-selling female rapper of all time by several miles with well over 100 million records sold, which you'd think would be enough for a prominent spot in the doc and its trailer. It's worth noting, the trailer opens up with a shot of Cardi B, so lines in the sand were probably drawn!!!

Snoop Dogg seems to be making a statement to Tinseltown about the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes -- 'cause he's nixing 2 of his big shows here in solidarity with the union members.

The rapper announced the move Tuesday, writing ... "We regret to inform you that due to the ongoing strike and the uncertainty of when this will be over, we need to cancel the Hollywood Bowl show."

Snoop adds, "We continue to stand in solidarity with all of our brothers and sisters in the WGA and SAG/AFTRA during this difficult time and remain hopeful that the AMPTP will come back to the negotiating table with a REAL proposal and we can all get back to work."

Snoop's cancelation of his big L.A. concerts appears to be symbolic ... as he has other gigs lined up elsewhere around the country, which he did not address. Presumably, they're happening as scheduled.

Now, while Snoop's decision might seem like it's coming out of nowhere -- after all, musicians aren't impacted by the SAG/WGA strikes -- it actually tracks with some bold statements he's made lately demanding change in the recording industry.

He recently sounded off on modern-day artists getting stiffed on residuals in the age of streaming -- while also pointing out showbiz writers and actors are fighting over the same stuff in their strikes.

Bottom line ... he's quite privy to the struggle, and is most certainly in SAG/WGA's corner in the ongoing negotiations. Also worth noting, his Death Row guys are on board as well -- as a handful of Death Row artists and affiliates have been seen on the picket lines themselves.

Travis Scott has shifted his focus back to promoting his "Utopia" album after a brief side mission with The Weeknd and Bad Bunny ... and the rollout is nothing shy of a summer blockbuster!!!

On Tuesday, Travis gave fans a sneak peek of the "Circus Maximus" movie that will accompany the "Utopia" release on Thursday ... a montage of scenic visuals from all over the globe he orchestrated with some of his favorite directors.

The film will hit theaters that day and could be a hot ticket. Travis is shown trekking through a cave and sand dunes, and there's a speeding cop car and looming helicopters ... real chaotic stuff.

The Astroworld architect's intense promo run also saw him unveiling an alternative version of the "Utopia" album cover ... a slideshow of several zombie-like individuals with white eyes clutching international currency, sitting in a bombed-out car.

The meaning of the artwork remains unclear, but it won't be the final version ... Travis says he's dropping that one on Thursday.

Cryptic theatrics are totally Travis' specialty, word to his scheduled performance this Friday at the pyramids in Egypt.

Ne-Yo is clearly exercising ALL his options in his post-divorce dating life ... the R&B superstar was recently spotted with not one, but 2 damsels on his arm!!!

The "She Knows" singer happily greeted a fan in Miami on Monday who captured him strolling and holding hands with his dual dates. Even with his hands full, he replied to the fan, "Hey, yo, baby. What up?”

If he only had a third hand.

Some of Ne-Yo's fans had a cow over his openly open lifestyle, but they might wanna chill ... the guy isn't breaking any laws.

Per the story we broke in February, Ne-Yo finalized his divorce from his ex Crystal Renay ... and they still remain friends to this day, so he's free to roam as he pleases.

The last time we spoke to him, he told us the single life couldn't be better and he was even open to dating loyal fans.