TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

50 Cent's 'Final Lap' tour just summoned its biggest guest yet -- Eminem, who gave the crowd the surprise of a lifetime just outside his hometown.

The tour stopped in Clarkston, MI Sunday night at Pine Knob Amphitheater and you can hear the place practically erupt when Em hit the stage to perform his "Patiently Waiting" verse from Fif's classic LP "Get Rich or Die Tryin."

Em also stuck around to perform "Crack a Bottle" from his own "Relapse" album, and fired up the crowd in celebration of the ongoing HipHop50 celebrations -- a milestone heavily influenced by both artists.

As you've surely heard hundreds of times ... Dr. Dre signed Em, who signed 50 and together they all sold like a kajillion records together!!!

Em called 50 one of the "best friends" he's ever known" -- and the union is still going strong with several other projects scheduled to release in the near future and 50's due for his Diamond cert for 'Get Rich' any minute now.

Halle Berry is still firin' shots at Drake after using a pic of her covered in slime for his new song ... clarifying that he did reach out for her permission, and she said no way.

Folks have been chiming in all weekend about the cover art for Drake's new track, "Slime You Out," featuring SZA ... one fan asked why Halle's so pressed about a photo that's owned by Getty Images.

She had an answer --"Cuz he asked me and I said NO that’s why." She added, "Why ask if you intend to do what you want to do ! That was the f*** you to me. Not cool You get it?"

Halle went online shortly after Drizzy dropped the single Friday, cryptically shading him.

She said Drake didn't get her permission to use the photo of her from the 2012 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards -- "When people you admire disappoint you you have to be the bigger person and move on!"

Drake still hasn't responded, but he also went the cryptic route Sunday, sharing a snap of him at the cards table with a shirt that says, "What the hell is going on?"

Is Halle Berry overreacting by being mad about Drake using her photo for his new track's cover art? Vote below.

Tinashe says she regrets her collaboration with Chris Brown -- something he heard loud and clear, and which he didn't kindly to ... trashing her by suggesting she's not big time.

The singer was on a podcast earlier this week and at one point, she was asked about her R. Kelly and CB joints in 2015 ... which made Tinashe cringe, not to mention explain. She actually laughs out loud in distancing herself, saying she didn't want to work with them.

For the R. Kelly team-up -- 'Let's Be Real Now' -- she says she blocks that memory out of her mind. Tinashe also says it was strictly a label decision ... and says the same thing applied for her Chris collab. From her POV, having him on the song didn't make sense.

Of course, most media outlets ran headlines pointing out Tinashe seemingly bashing Chris -- even though she really didn't go all that hard on him -- and Chris caught wind of it.

He responded to an IG post that captured a headline which read, "Tinashe Regrets 2015 Collaborations with R. Kelly & Chris Brown: 'That Is So Embarrassing.'" In the comments, Chris wrote, "NAME 5 TINASHE songs or die ... EVERYBODY DEAD."

After Chris's burn, the Internet has reacted a couple different ways -- naturally, many people are slamming Chris for trying to diminish Tinashe's career ... and some are even saying they couldn't name 5 Chris Brown songs with a gun to their head. Twitter's calling cap, though.

Fact is, Chris has far more recognizable of a catalog than Tinashe does ... and a more decorated music career in general. Others are also saying the song they did -- that Tinashe now regrets -- is actually a bop ... going on to speculate that she's only saying this because it's fashionable these days to stiff-arm CB over his controversial personal history.

Joyner Lucas put it quite well in a video ... saying he'd defend Chris to the death, and that he wouldn't accept any slander of him. Per usual, everyone's divided on the issue.

As for Tinashe ... she's moving on. On Sunday, she appeared to respond to all the hubbub, taking to Twitter and writing ... "Anyways ... stream NEEDS." It's her new single, and that's clearly what she wants to focus on -- as opposed to ancient history.

Still, it is interesting that Chris continues to be as polarizing as he is. Anytime somebody works with him these days -- or even reflects on working with him -- it creates a buzz.

The saying, "keep your eye on the prize" comes to mind when ya hear the 911 audio from 50 Cent's hurled mic incident -- although a radio DJ suffered a head injury, the dispatcher wanted to know who was performing.

The drama unfolded on August 30 at L.A.'s Crypto.com Arena, and on the emergency call obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, a dispatcher is quite surprised to hear someone had suffered blunt forced trauma ... from a microphone of all things

As we reported, the mic smashed Power 106's Bryhana Monegain square in the forehead, and left her bleeding profusely ... prompting the call to 911. It's unclear why it would be relevant to the injury, but, for some reason, the dispatcher inquired ... "Who's performing tonight?"

Despite the lighthearted query, the dispatcher was sure to send medical assistance to the scene right away. To be fair, he did also ask if Bryhana was awake.

As it turns out, Bryhana suffered multiple lacerations to the head and face after being decked with the mic.

The device apparently had been malfunctioning, and 50 chucked the thing in anger ... but he might end up seriously regretting that.

Law enforcement sources tell us police have completed their investigation, and the case is now at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office being reviewed for possible felony charges.

Drake's new single with SZA is all the rage among his fans, but one person isn't happy about it -- and that would be Halle Berry ... whose image he used to promote the song.

The actress took to IG with a somewhat cryptic post about being the bigger person in certain situations -- this shortly after Drizzy released his new track, "Slime You Out," which just dropped Friday. In the comments of that same post, though, Halle bashes him head-on.

Somebody asked what she thought of Drake using the photo of her from the 2012 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards -- where she famously got slimed while sitting in her seat. There's a close-up shot of Halle with all the green ooze on her, and Drake is using that on social media as a cover image. On the official audio upload, there's alternative art.

Anyway, HB isn't pleased. She responded, writing, "didn't get my permission. That's not cool I thought better of him!" She adds in response to another fan, "hence my post today. When people you admire disappoint you you have to be the bigger person and move on!"

There are other comments she made in response to people on her post, including one where she says it's about the principle of the matter -- which might allude to the fact she likely doesn't even own the rights to the picture in question.

And, of course ... there's also the graphic nature of the song itself, which alludes to sex acts -- and which some have taken offense to on behalf of Halle. She, too, questions this ... writing to one fan who commented on what slime refers to, "exactly! What does that mean?"

It's unclear if Drake got this picture of Halle cleared or not, but it's interesting that she's calling him out on it. He was recently caught up in yet another cover art scandal -- with Vogue, no less -- and that one reportedly cost him a bit of cash after they sued.

Nicki Minaj's husband and some goons were apparently waiting to see Offset outside somewhere on the streets of New York this week -- but the man himself was up in air.

A pal of Kenneth Petty went live on IG Friday night -- which, of course, was captured and reposted by the general public. In the lengthy clips, you can see him, KP and another man all standing on a sidewalk across the street from some building ... calling out Offset.

Seems they thought he'd be leaving this place and planned on confronting him -- evidenced in their ominous remarks in the videos. Kenneth, especially, looks ready for smoke.

Unclear exactly what this is all about -- but some have speculated it might pertain to the VMAs, where Nicki and Cardi both performed ... and where they may have even crossed paths. As we all know -- they have an ugly, violent history between them

Unfortunately for Ken and co. ... Offset never showed, and the reason for that is because he's had a busy past 24 hours. On Friday, he was noticeably live streaming with a famous YouTuber out in Atlanta -- and come Saturday morning, homeboy was in Colorado meeting HC Deion Sanders and raging with all the college kids ahead of the big game.

Offset hopped on social media upon touching down this AM, and he was kinda taunting the fellas who were curbside looking for trouble. Sounds like he finds the whole thing hilarious.

Moments after Blueface got stabbed in a boxing gym, his trainer dialed 911 and the call got pretty intense ... with the operator trying to get details of the attack, as the trainer tried to get medics to save Blue.

TMZ Hip Hop obtained audio of the 911 call that launched paramedics to the bloody scene on August 23 at the Kaminsky Boxing Gym in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley.

On the call, the trainer -- who also owns the gym -- tells the operator a random guy came in and "stabbed my client" ... and then the miscommunication begins.

Seems the gym owner couldn't really hear the operator's questions about whether the assailant was still there -- and the gym owner quickly grew frustrated as he urged the operator to send help right away for Blueface ... who was bleeding from his leg wound.

As we previously reported, the alleged assailant didn't get very far, before eventually surrendered, and LAPD arrested Brandon Henry Snell. We're told the L.A. County D.A. is now reviewing the case to determine charges.

Michael Blackson is feeling more confident about the power of Afrobeats music since the last time we talked to him -- he's now certain the wave will be at least as large as hip hop, if not bigger.

We caught up with Mike at Kids in Africa Afrikicks -- a charitable event put together by Oni Productions, and one which happened after Afrobeats star Rema took home an MTV VMA for his blockbuster hit "Calm Down" with Selena Gomez.

It was the inaugural award for "Best Afrobeats" song, and the vid has been crushing it, garnering over a billion views in just a year's time.

MB thinks the writing's on the wall for his culture to dominate music just as hip hop has for the last 50 years. The Nigerian-born comedian says Afrobeats is just too "fun and loving" to be denied.

He's also using American stars to prove his point ... namely Drake and Chris Brown, who started collaborating with the likes of Wizkid and Davido years ago.

It's obvious record labels are putting a heavy priority on Afrobeats now -- maybe even more than hip hop, which was shut out of Billboard's #1 spot for more than a year.

Hip hop legends Layzie Bone and Xzibit are particularly riled up about the quality of today's music, but unlike most haters, they're at least offering solutions to go along with their customer complaints!!!

They were part of a panel discussion Thursday night, moderated by Justin Hunte and organized by Layzie's manager Steve Lobel in conjunction with the Black Jewish Entertainment Alliance. The event was planned as a celebration of hip hop's 50th anniversary ... but it quickly turned into a convo about how to save the culture.

Layzie encouraged an aspiring female rapper to be true to herself, but didn't hold his tongue in discrediting a lot of the content some female rappers have used to get ahead in the current era. He clearly thinks social media is a big part of the problem, as Layzie flipped IG the bird at one point.

Xzibit called today's rap music "a mockery," and named the issues he says impact hip hop on a larger scale. For instance, he says the internet allows anyone to masquerade as a rapper without actually honing the craft.

Xzibit blames past generations for not unionizing and learning to own their property, and says he's still pursuing legal action against Sony/Columbia Records with Steve's help.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori are here to remind everyone the female body is a work of art -- yes, her boobs have been on display a lot lately, but now they've achieved museum status in Germany.

Ye and the missus are continuing their European getaway in Berlin after causing a stir all over Italy ... and they're still refusing to cover up.

Bianca is once again going out in public with her nipples showing through a skin-tight body stocking. Standards are different over here, hence the blurred-out nipples. Sorry. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Meanwhile, Kanye's back in black ... walking around in socks at Julia Stoschek's video exhibition at Berlin Art Week. He actually took off his head covering at one point, presumably to admire the art -- namely, Bianca! Oh, and the stuff displayed on walls, too.

Remember ... Kanye and Bianca's fashion choices got them banned from a water taxi company in Venice, with some Italians even calling for the couple to be arrested for their antics.

SZA's runaway success following her "SOS" album last year wasn't enough for the MTV VMAs committee to nominate her for Artist of the Year ... a move Top Dawg Entertainment deemed disrespectful enough to yank her from the show.

Terrence 'Punch' Henderson told THR on Friday, he repeatedly attempted to get clarity as to why her album's 10-week run at No. 1 didn't earn her even a nomination alongside Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Doja Cat, Shakira, Karol G and Taylor Swift.

SZA was nominated for other awards, and was scheduled to perform, but as Punch put it ... "Why go perform and do this if she’s not going to be respected to the highest level?"

He says that's why he effectively terminated all things VMAs for SZA this year. As far as who's really beefing ... Punch says it's all him, not SZA, harboring the animosity. He says it's not in SZA's character to hold this kinda grudge.

MTV is boasting its highest-ever VMA impressions on social media, evidence they did something right with the viewing audience -- but it wasn't good enough to get SZA onstage that night.

Jeezy is pulling the plug on his marriage to Jeannie Mai -- the Atlanta rapper filed Thursday to divorce the talk show host in Fulton County Superior Court.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Jeezy filed in Georgia on Thursday … saying their marriage is "irretrievably broken," with "no hope for reconciliation."

Jeezy’s seeking joint legal and physical custody of their 1-year-old daughter, Monaco, and he says they have an existing prenup in place.

The news could've very well been news to Jeannie ... she recently celebrated her soon-to-be ex's book and his accomplishments on a heartfelt IG post just a week ago.

Their union was a relatively short-lived affair ... the pair got hitched in March 2021 at their Atlanta home in the heart of the pandemic.

Former lovers Drake and SZA are giving fans a taste of what's to come from the album "For All The Dogs" ... with the release of their "Slime You Out" duet, a modern-day battle of the sexes!!!

Drake fired off the new song on Friday ... which opens with him scolding women for lacking direction in their lives before belting out all the high notes about being in a low place with his lover.

SZA gets passed the baton midway through the track and holds her own for the women before Drake closes the track with sing-songy rap.

The two megastars have a bit of a testy past ... their dating history was made public after Drake leaked the info on his 2020 "Mr. Right Now" collab with 21 Savage, jeopardizing their potential working relationship ... but it's water under the bridge now!!!

Drake went with a snap of Halle Berry getting slimed at the 2012 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards for the cover art, which he touched on in his bars ... "I'm slimin' you for them kid choices you made."

Offset has the perfect way to promote his new album, or at least that's how Cardi B feels about him live streaming for a full day ... because she says it's super easy to keep tabs on him!

Offset was in the middle of his 24-hour run online with YouTuber Kai Cenat Thursday night when Cardi decided to dial up her hubby and have a chat. When Offset put the call on speaker, she quickly chimed in, "You need to be streaming every single day for 24 hours, so I can know everything you're doing!"

Offset, Kai and a few other fellas in the room laughed it off, but, let's keep it real ... she meant that s**t!

They've had their issues in the past -- cheating accusations and Cardi briefly filing for divorce in 2020 -- but lately they can't keep their hands off each other. Earlier this week, they even faked a sex tape while backstage at the MTV VMAs. Good stuff!

The couple's clearly inspiring to some ... because Kai decided to make the most of having Cardi on the phone, and shot his shot. He nervously asked if Cardi's sister Hennessy was available.

Diddy's star-studded new album dropped Friday and he threw a blowout bash in New York City to match the tracklist!!!

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ Hip Hop Diddy rented out Sei Less NYC for his "Love Album: Off The Grid" release party ... a special occasion seeing as how the restaurant extended its usual midnight shutdown time, so the shindig could go until 4 AM!!!

The moment he entered the bash, Diddy hit up the venue's co-owner Dara Mirjahangiry for a bottle of Ace of Spades, and raised glasses with Yung Miami, Jadakiss, French Montana, Shyne, Jozzy and his sons Quincy and Justin Combs.

We're told the 'Love' album was playing to get the party started, and once the shots from Diddy's DeLeon Tequila began to flow ... they launched into an impromptu karaoke session.

Keyshia Cole led the sing-along to her classic "Love" track and Diddy commanded The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Warning" for the crowd.

Fans have been rallying around the R&B compilation, and its lead-off music vid also dropped on Friday ... "Another One of Me" featuring French, 21 Savage and The Weeknd in his final appearance with that stage name.

Sexyy Red's video shoot in Florida turned into a violent scene Thursday ... after an assailant opened fire, killing one person and wounding another.

The rapper was filming the music video with a bunch of extras at Oakland Park Flea Market in the afternoon when somebody pulled a gun nearby and started firing. The suspect then fled.

Two people were struck and one was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was rushed to a local hospital for treatment. Their condition was not known.

Broward County Sheriff's deputies responded and were investigating whether the bloodshed was related to the video shoot.

Videos posted on Instagram show the apparent aftermath of the shooting ... in one clip, you see one victim lying injured on the ground. In the other, people are walking in an orderly fashion through the strip mall.

We've reached out to Sexyy for comment ... so far, no word back.