TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Lizzo hit the bullseye with her Halloween mission to honor female pioneers in entertainment, and all it took was a colorful impression of "Brazilian Bombshell" Carmen Miranda ... and a whole lot of crystals.

Celebrity designer and "Metal-and-Chain Queen," Laurel DeWitt tells TMZ Hip Hop ... it took her days and HUNDREDS of crystal embellishments to recreate one of Carmen’s iconic headdresses -- the colorful fruit arrangements the Portuguese-born actress popularized in her films throughout the 1930s, '40s and '50s.

Laurel says Lizzo's assortment of berries and florals is actually composed of beaded faux fruit and many colored sequins ... which got pretty heavy when fully assembled, but Lizzo's a showbiz pro and mastered the balancing act.

Stylist power couple Matthew and Reginald Reisman fleshed out the rest of Lizzo's homage to Carmen ... a shimmery gown and floral garnishes that capture the elegance of the Latina icon who broke through with American audiences.

Miranda appeared in dozens of films, and released even more music -- something Lizzo has been looking to mirror within her own award-winning career.

Halloween's a very popular day in the TMZ office, and staffers pulled out all the stops this year ... dressing as some of your favorite celebs and pop culture moments.

We had Barbenheimer, Kendall Jenner plugging 818 Tequila with Bad Bunny, Ariana Grande and Spongebob (aka, her new boyfriend, Ethan Slater), and Britney Spears with her concerning dance companion -- a knife.

Taylor Swift during her "Eras" tour was also another highlight ... as was her new romance with NFL star Travis Kelce.

Who can forget pregnant Rihanna performing at the Super Bowl halftime show surrounded by her backup dancers and adoring fans?

Another highlight was Junkrat, one of the heroes in Overwatch ...

A$AP Rocky was more than willing to chat it up with TMZ Hip Hop during his daily workout, and although his workout is jogging at a swift pace ... he invited us to come along -- and, umm, we did our best!!! 😂

The superstar rapper ran our photog straight outta her shoes as he was jogging Monday afternoon in WeHo .... and belted out a hearty laugh when we asked him about Rihanna's desire to have a couple more kids.

Rocky and Rihanna just welcomed their 2nd child, Riot Rose, this past August and have their hands full ... juggling parenthood and their long-delayed projects!!!

Rocky tells us he's currently working on his next album, "Don't Be Dumb," in real-time and fans will be on the edge of their seats wondering if he'll respond to Drake's shots from his "For All the Dogs" album.

Champagne Papi referred to his sexy time with RiRi as "average," and made it clear he didn't envy Rocky's current situation.

He didn't have much to add to that topic, but did recommend the perfect running shoes for our photog. Watch the clip ... we should definitely take the suggestion. 😉

Jeezy's got a lot to get off his chest amid his pending divorce from Jeannie Mai -- the trap pioneer is dropping a double album entitled, “I Might Forgive, But I Don’t Forget” ... so, sounds like it's about to get real.

According to the announcement, the 29-track project drops Friday and will address "trauma, obstacles, and personal growth," and set the stage for the Snowman to answer fans' pressing questions.

The album will mark Jeezy's first release since fulfilling his Def Jam contract after nearly 20 years and will shift focus to his independent label CTE New World. Def Jam recently recruited Wale to keep their ship steady as well.

Production on "I Might Forgive…" side of the album will be handled by ATL Jacob, Ricky Polo, Cubeatz, Hendrix and more -- while the “But I Don’t Forget” portion is produced entirely by Jeezy's longtime collaborators The J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League.

It's been a busy year for Jeezy ... he promoted life hacks from his New York Times bestselling memoir, "Adversity for Sale," this summer on "TMZ Live."

His family life didn't enjoy the same success ... as he filed for divorce from Jeannie in September. The exes have denied infidelity has anything to do with their split.

Jennifer Hudson used her musical chops to completely transform into Missy Elliott for Halloween, and it was an excellent choice ... according to the costume's inspiration!!!

On Tuesday, Missy gave J-Hud the fire emoji stamp of approval for honoring her most iconic look during the Halloween edition of her talk show.

The costume pays homage to Missy's award-winning "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" music video ... the 1997 visual directed by Hype Williams that went on to become a game-changer in hip hop.

J-Hud went on to celebrate the culture's 50th anniversary and additionally praised Missy for being the first female rapper inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ... an honor that's officially happening this week!!!

Wiz Khalifa channeled his inner rock star at Amber Rose's birthday bash ... belting it out for what turned into an epic karaoke performance!!!

In a video obtained by TMZ, Wiz sang his heart out to Kings of Leon's mega-hit "Use Somebody" ... and the crowd was lovin' it!!

Wiz opened the doors of his swanky house in L.A. this past Saturday to celebrate his ex, Amber's 40th birthday. A real mix of characters were in attendance ... including Abimbola "Bola" and Olabinjo "Ola" Osundairo, A.K.A the brothers involved in Jussie Smollett's fake hate crime.

The Osundairo bros tell us they run in the same circles as Amber ... and the party was awesome! It was a costume party with roughly 100 people in attendance ... and Wiz's house was decked out in Halloween decorations.

The party had all the staples of a great time, with delicious food and great music, including karaoke ... where Wiz clearly stole the show.

Could Flavor Flav do the national anthem at an NBA game again?? Yeahhhh boyyyyyeeeeeee -- 'cause the rap legend tells TMZ Sports he's gotten offers from two more teams after singing at the Milwaukee Bucks game on Sunday!!

The iconic Public Enemy hype man got on the mic and belted out the "Star-Spangled Banner" ahead of the Bucks' home loss to the Atlanta Hawks ... and footage of the rendition quickly went viral.

As it turns out, it was a bucket list moment for Flav ... who explained he always wanted to give it a shot in honor of his family members who fought in the U.S. military -- some who passed in the line of duty.

"When I sang that national anthem, I was singing it for them because they're not here to sing it for themselves," Flav told us. "I did that in honor of my family and also for a lot of other people's families, too, that fought for this country."

Flav -- who got the opportunity thanks to Bucks prez Peter Feigin -- received mixed reviews on the internet ... but he said the positive feedback far outweighs the negatives, and the only thing that really matters is that he had fun doing it.

"I ain't gonna lie, I was kind of proud of myself after I did it."

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer revealed he also got a lot of love from two of his famous fans -- Anthony Anderson and Flo Rida ... who both told him he crushed it!!

Flav said he never gets nervous before taking the stage ... but admitted he had a few jitters before venturing into this new territory.

Sean Paul had to press pause on an interview when an earthquake rocked the building he was in at the time ... and he immediately got busy high-tailing it out of the room!

The rapper was chatting with artist Tofu Jack and director/producer of Vice Documentaries, Dan Zabludovsky, from his native Jamaica when a 5.4 magnitude quake hit near Kingston.

Just as Sean chimed into the convo about the music biz, his camera started shaking and you could see the whole room tremble ... and then he quickly left the frame. You can hear the sound of things shifting around in his room as Dan and Tofu watched in shock.

After some movement, Sean Paul's feed disappears -- unclear if his internet cut out, or if those running the stream got rid of it, anticipating the worst ... but Tofu Jack accidentally brought a bit of humor to the tense situation by adding an ill-timed sound effect.

BTW, the earthquake was a pretty big one for Jamaica .. and it set off some panic, and caused some mild property damage on the island. Thankfully, no injuries have been reported.

Two infamous pieces of Tupac Shakur's past now have a price tag attached to them ... and someone with a lot of dough could secure his booking photo, or even his ID, from his time behind bars.

The big sale is going down on Momentsintime.com -- one of the items is an unseen booking photo from when he served time at Clinton Correctional Facility in New York in 1995.

We're told it's going for $35k on the site -- but that's nothing compared to his incredibly rare prison identification.

Tupac's ID is going for a whopping $75,000 ... and it's actually the one he got as a replacement after losing his OG card.

The wealthy buyer will also get the form he had to fill out when requesting a replacement -- it's got his signature and a note that simply reads, "I lost my ID and need a new one. Thank you."

We're told the ID and booking photos were given to a family member once Pac got out of prison ... and it was passed around over the years before winding up in the hands of a private collector.

You'll recall, Tupac served 9 months for his 1995 sex abuse conviction. His first prison ID was auctioned off back in 2019, eventually fetching $30k after an opening bid of just $2,000.

Some of Bad Bunny's fans might be complaining about astronomical prices to see him live, but latin music mega-producer Sky Rompiendo says real fans always find a way ... and he's speaking from experience.

TMZ Hip Hop ran into Sky in NYC where he was celebrating the release of his own new music -- more on that in a moment -- but he instantly put himself in fans' shoes when we asked about the buzz over Benito's new tour.

His "Most Wanted" tour presale opened this week, and critics are griping about nosebleed seats reportedly going for $150 to $250, while anything down low is pushing $1000 ... depending on the city. And, that's on Ticketmaster, not scalping sites!

Sky acknowledged the prices might be steep, but added ... ever since he was a kid "if I like an artist, I'll do whatever it takes to see them." Bottom line for him -- real fans always find a way. Plus, he added, Bad Bunny "does whatever he wants" ... quoting his 'SNL' monologue.

Sky was in NYC to drop his new single, "Crush," featuring Arcangel and Dei V. He threw a release party Thursday night at Sei Less in Manhattan, where Fat Joe swung by to offer some motivation to the Colombian superstar.

Having produced hits with the likes of Benito, J. Balvin, Karol G and Rauw Alejandro ... Sky knows the genre is bigger than ever, and that means its top artists get to demand top dollar on tour -- just like Taylor Swift, Beyonce or Drake.

A YouTuber's bodyguard punched a guy's lights out -- all of which was caught on video ... and which reeks of déjà vu considering he did this before while working for DaBaby.

We're talking about Jack Doherty, who's pretty famous among the Gen Z crowd ... and who posted a wild clip of a violent altercation that went down Friday night during what looks to be some sort of Halloween party here in L.A. alongside fellow YouTuber Corinna Kopf.

It looks like Jack was arguing with a couple guys who were rolling with Corinna and her crew -- all stemming from an apparent snub she dished out to Jack while at the party -- and they're all bickering back and forth for a while ... until this security dude rolls up.

Eventually, he confronts one of the fellas Jack's facing off with ... and they start to exchange words -- which ultimately ends with JD's hired muscle throwing a haymaker out of nowhere.

The guy who gets punched -- who's way smaller than the bodyguard -- falls straight to the ground ... and his friends (including Corinna) start to yell at the perpetrator, asking him why he did that. The bodyguard backs away and tries cussing them out in his defense.

Jack seemed happy to post the clip online, and he added "context" underneath ... writing, "they were pressing us," which seems to mean that the guys he was initially arguing with were threatening him. But based on the longer version of this incident ... that's iffy at best.

Now, here's the kicker ... this bodyguard was actually wrapped up in something similar a few years back while working for DaBaby -- something the Internet was quick to remember.

We actually covered this at the time ... DB was performing in New Orleans, when he started getting swarmed by fans as he waded into the crowd -- at which point, this same man (who was working for DaBaby) threw a similar punch ... only then, he KO'd a freaking lady.

A closer look shows it is, indeed, the same man ... and we've figured out who the hell he is. He goes by Kane Kongg on social media. He's a content creator himself -- but obviously does bodyguard work on the side for the rich and famous.

50 Cent can't get enough of mocking Madonna -- and now he's even poking fun at her butt, reigniting their beef.

The rapper took to Instagram Friday and posted side-by-side photos comparing Madonna in a silver bodysuit performing onstage to an animated black insect.

His caption got even more personal, zeroing in on her rump. It read, "who the f*** did this? She’s rich how the hell she didn’t get it fixed 🤨I want the f***ing doctors name right now. I mean damn it man ! LOL"

Madonna has yet to comment, but she must be pretty miffed at Fitty who has a track record of dissing the legendary pop star. In June 2022, Fitty posted a racy Madonna snapshot next to images of aliens.

He wrote a caption that read, “I hope she didn’t make her kids take this picture. LOL at 63 somebody tell her to chill out please." Fitty has since deleted the post.

Going back further, Fitty took another shot at Madonna's age in December 2021 after she posted sexy photos of herself on social media.

Fitty wrote on IG, "Yo this is the funniest s***! LOL. That's Madonna under the bed trying to do like a virgin at 63. She shot out, if she don't get her old a** up. LMFAO."

In a lengthy response, Madonna, in part, said, "Here is 50 Cent pretending to be my friend. Now you have decided to talk smack about me! I guess your new career [is] getting attention by trying to humiliate others on social media."

Busta Rhymes is revealing how he was able to assemble the hip hop Avengers of producing -- Pharrell, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz -- for his new album ... and the idea for his unbeatable team first came to him on a boat.

The Dungeon Dragon checked in with TMZ Hip Hop just minutes before he hit the stage in Munich for 50 Cent's "Final Lap" tour to discuss "BlockBusta" ... the album he says has him wildin' out like the Bussa Bus of old.

His last album, 2021's "E.L.E. 2," was widely billed as his 10th studio project when it dropped ... a clerical error Busta clarified with us.

He partnered with Google Play's inaugural launch in 2012 to release his "Year Of The Dragon" album for free but says the system wasn't set up to properly track its stats, so he treats it like the "special" project it is.

Regardless, he promises nothing short of fireworks on his new, appropriately titled, album ... executive produced by the legendary trio!!!

The stakes is high, as Trugoy would say.

Busta says the idea first came about while yachting with the production brass in Miami, and he figured he'd be missing the chance of a lifetime if he didn't slip some rap talk in the mix.

He says the project first started as an EP with the superproducers producing 2 tracks each but then spiraled into a full-blown album.

Coi Leray and BIA costar on the first pair of singles ... Busta agrees with the sentiment female artists are bringing more fans to rap lately, but says he sees artists as "MC 1st," regardless of gender.

While he gives BIA and Coi serious props as MCs and live performers ... he says he'll have a nice blend of men and women featuring on the final tracklist for "BlockBusta."

You can hear it in his voice, Busta's batteries are recharged, and he'll be releasing even more music rapidly. After "BlockBusta," he tells us he and his ace Spliff Star are dropping an album!!!

Adidas shoulda seen Kanye West's antisemitic rants coming -- during one of his first meetings with the company, 11 years ago, he reportedly drew a swastika on a shoe sketch.

Shortly after signing on with the German sneaker giant in 2013, employees presented a bunch of shoe sketches to Kayne, which he did not like -- and, in response, he picked up a marker and drew a swastika over one of the sketches ... according to a NYT report.

That move shocked everyone in the room, especially because the meeting was reportedly going down close to Nuremberg, where Nazis infamously stood trial for war crimes after WW II.

Kanye set the bar with that move, though, because the NYT report claims, in future meetings,  he advised "a Jewish Adidas manager to kiss a picture of Adolf Hitler every day" -- and repeatedly told other Adidas employees what a "master marketer" Hitler was, and praised his "command of propaganda."

Keep in mind, Adidas remained in the Yeezy biz for nearly 10 years, and made a ton of money with Kanye, until last year ... when he started publicly spewing his antisemitic beliefs.

Adidas reportedly tripled Kanye's salary during a 2016 contract negotiation but added a morals clause in the deal -- perhaps because it was, by then, well aware of his affinity for Hitler and the Nazis.

Shaquille O'Neal and Damian Lillard are joining a new kind of super team ... hopping on a rap remix with Rick Ross and Meek Mill!!

The two superstar MCs just dropped their remix to their new track titled "SHAQ & KOBE" on Friday ... enlisting the two hoopers to add verses of their own.

The Bucks All-Star -- AKA Dame D.O.L.L.A -- was the first athlete to deliver his lyrics ... with a few of his basketball highlights playing right before the start -- "Dame from the hash mark, a three, oh my goodness."

Lillard made several sports references throughout his part ... with lines like, "I'm shot callin', not stallin' and not hoggin'/Pass the ball, we runnin' it up and we not joggin'," ... as well as a nod to the G.O.A.T., Michael Jordan.

"Jordan my tongue when I'm on my king s***," Dame said.

Shaq -- who's no stranger to the music industry -- had even more bars about his hoops career ... name-dropping Spurs legend Tim Duncan and his former head coach, Phil Jackson.

"Foreign 'round, flyin' spurs like when I bullied Duncan," the Hall of Famer said ... later adding, "I can hear the money talkin' like if it was Phil."

O'Neal -- who had a stake in the Sacramento Kings until 2022 -- also wrote about his venture into team ownership -- "Did a song with Biggie, it was all a dream, so was ballin' 'til I made it, now we own a team."

Toward the end of Shaq's verse, he mentions his old teammate and friend, Kobe Bryant ... saying, "I'ma bring the drama 'til I'm with the Mamba."

Ras Kass has made peace with his drunken ball drop with Jay-Z from years ago, but now that he knows what he knows ... he'd opt for the $500K in the Jay dinner debate.

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the West Coast MC Wednesday night at Projector L.A.'s Halloween bash, where he told us his wounds from ruining his chance to spearhead Jay's label have long healed.

But, he's learned a valuable lesson: All up-and-coming rappers better be ready to lose themselves at ANY given moment.

And, steer clear of all wack hip hop!!!

RK met up with Jay in NYC in the early 2000s in hopes of being the flagship artist for the developing Roc-A-Fella West label division.

When they arrived at their club destination, RK says paranoia crept in as he got the hunch he and Jay could end up fighting -- so he began downing some liquid courage.

No club brawls took place, but when Jay introduced RK on the mic, he was too slizzard to nail his rhymes ... and Jay lost his number!!!

In hindsight, RK tells us he forgot the real reason he was there that night, and fumbled the bag -- but there's no hard feelings.

While he praises Jay for his shrewd business sense, Ras Kass has no shame in his game ... he says he'd definitely take the imaginary $500K over a second chance meeting with the mogul.

Hey, that's exactly what Jay's advising everyone to do!!!