TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Playboi Carti blocked out all distractions recording his new album -- and likely much of the world -- 'cause he was belting out rhymes inside a freakin' cave!!!

The reclusive rap star told German pub Numéro Berlin he dedicated 3 months of his life recording his latest album inside a hole in Mother Earth -- this while out in Paris, and he says the end results are "chaotic and crazy" ... pretty much his musical MO.

Carti says the key is to stay outta his head ... and his phone in order to make music that meets his standards.

Fans have been drooling for new Carti music since he topped the charts on Christmas Day 2020 with his cult classic album "Whole Lotta Red" and they'll be happy to know he didn't solely rely on cave-dwelling for quality control.

The "Magnolia" rapper explained he tested the album's sonics inside a glass house in the hills, as well as his Atlanta habitat and suggested it met his approval ... although he didn't give a timeline on when he was dropping.

Carti recently pushed his Antagonist Tour back to 2024 so there's a good indicator the album release date will align but fans still have his back -- just ask Jaden Smith, who dressed up like him for Halloween.

J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar could have predated super collab albums such as Drake and Future's 'WATTBA' and maybe even Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Watch the Throne" -- that is, if the stars, moons and schedules aligned for them.

Cole looked back at a would-be K. Dot pairing that never materialized during his lengthy new podcast with Lil Yachty. -- and he talked about why the rumored project never came to be.

Take a listen for yourself on his breakdown here -- JC says the two formed a friendship in 2010 just as both of their future careers as hip hop legends were beginning to take off ... and right off the bat, it sounds like there was chemistry between them in style and musical taste.

Neither MC had released an album just yet and Cole says he supplied Kendrick with several beats he made, with Dot even using one of them for his 2011 album "Section.80" on album anchor "HiiiPower."

The two teased fans even further by freestyling on one another's beats for Black Friday 2015 ... but it's been radio silence ever since.

Cole says he and Kendrick would need a full year to make the project of their and fans' dreams and points out neither had the time to commit amid their growing careers -- and family lives.

From the sounds of it, Cole and Kendrick put the idea to bed ... although, if they were able to find a convenient schedule for both of them -- perhaps the possibility to pick it back up again could resurface. J. Cole certainly doesn't seem opposed to the idea of a collab.

Megan Thee Stallion has a lot of baggage to unpack from this year -- and the load appears to be aimed at her ex-boyfriend/collaborator Pardison Fontaine!!!

On "Cobra," her first solo track of 2023, Meg delivers on her promise to bring "raw topics" to the forefront ... addressing her haters while also speaking on depression and even ideas of suicide.

Many fans were also left with the impression Meg takes a huge bite into Pardi when she raps ... "Man, I miss my parents, way too anxious, always cancel my plans/Pulled up, caught him cheating/Getting his d*** sucked in the same spot I'm sleeping!!!"

Pardi has yet to respond to Meg’s cheating accusations … but he did turn off his IG comments -- yeah, Meg’s Hotties were big mad!!!

The two rappers emerged as a couple in 2021 and were lovebirds for 2 years, but things looked shaky when Pardi took on poetry for the first time ... with a cryptic message that pointed to the split.

The end of their relationship was confirmed when Megan was spotted at a wedding with soccer star Romelu Lukaku in May ... and entered her new era, stepping out in a fully see-through bodysuit, shortly after Tory Lanez was found guilty of shooting her.

Pardi’s moved on himself -- he sent flowers to dancehall singer Jada Kingdom shortly after Meg's song dropped, something she proudly posted on social media.

Pardi and Jada have been linked since September ... and some fans think she's the woman he was with when Meg allegedly caught him.

Breakups happen, but rap's biggest critic Joe Budden thinks Meg and Pardi should work out their differences ... for the sake of her music's quality.

In other words, JB thinks Meg needs Pardi's pen, but now folks can decide for themselves if they like her new solo stuff.

Big Boi's performance at a college football game went south real quick when he decided to share the stage with an owl that wasn't exactly feeling the vibe ... and tried to fly the coop, real quick!

Here's the deal, BB hit the stage in Georgia after Kennesaw State University's game with one of his pet owls, Kennesaw State's mascot is an owl, on his arm -- obviously thinking it would be the perfect crowd-pleaser. Ahhh, the best-laid plans of owls and men!

It did NOT go as planned, as you can see in the video... the owl got spooked right away during Big Boi's Saturday night performance and tried to fly away, but he was leashed to rapper's gloved right hand.

Sleepy Brown did his best to distract the crowd while Big Boi called in some help -- hopefully from a professional handler -- and the show went on, but it made for an awkward walk-out nonetheless.

He also shared a clip of him and the owl before the game and, at least backstage, it seemed chill.

Kennesaw State hasn't had a live owl mascot in a few years and its current mascot Scrappy is a costume.

Paul Wall is sipping hard on Texas tea for his new single "Bounce, Rock, Skate," and he's invited a pair of Lonestar legends, Bun B and Chalie Boy ... as TMZ Hip Hop's revealing for the first time.

The Big Swift-produced track is a dedication to Houston's undeniable old-school car culture ... both Paul and Bun drop slick references to the city's slab riders, which sit sideways as CB smooths out the chorus with melody.

"Bounce, Rock, Skate" will serve as the first taste for Paul Weezy's upcoming album ... which we're told will be dropping before the year's up!!!

Paul's been on a tear this year -- he recently told TMZ Hip Hop how his guest feature on That Mexican OT's hit song, "Johnny Dang" brought him back to rap relevance ... and also saw his legacy shine getting a shoutout from Drake during the Houston stop for his "It's All a Blur" tour.

Rae Sremmurd's Slim Jxmmi is back on PlayStation after cutting himself off for his New Year's Resolution, but it's a win in his book ... because he's no longer addicted to the controller!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the "Black Beatles" rapper Wednesday at LAX, and he admits he fell short of the year-long sabbatical he intended for his PS.

As we reported at the top of the year, Jxmmi complained his video game activity was cutting into his time for making music.

Jxmmi tells us he used the video game vacation to record an EP -- in addition to his other 2024 vocal obligations, and only hopped back on the sticks around August-September, roughly 9 months away from the game.

He says he tapped back into "NBA 2K" and "Call Of Duty," but is no longer glued to the TV like he once was and now breaks up his playing by simply going outside and touching grass.

Video game addiction isn't the only thing in Jxmmi's rearview mirror -- he's done with New Year's resolutions too.

Duane "Keefe D" Davis, the man who's allegedly responsible for the murder of Tupac Shakur over 25 years ago finally got his day in court after 2 delays.

Keefe D was present and in handcuffs Thursday morning at a Clark County courtroom in Las Vegas to face his murder charge ... he pled not guilty after being appointed a public defender.

As we reported, the 60-year-old suspect first showed up in court at the beginning of October, but his lawyer never appeared ... delaying the arraignment a couple of weeks. The second hearing was again delayed for the same issue.

After the initial hearing, Clark County D.A. Steve Wolfson said Keefe was expected to plead not guilty to the charge of murder with the use of a deadly weapon.

Remember, Keefe D was arrested near the end of September -- and the body cam footage of the arrest showed him acting pretty calmly while being put in the back of the cop car.

Suge Knight's making an audacious claim about Akon on his new "Collect Call" podcast, accusing Akon of raping underaged girls in studio ... a statement just might land Suge in court.

Akon tells TMZ Hip Hop ... the claims are false, and he's not standing for the slander. He says, "I need to make it very clear that I absolutely deny these outrageous false and disgusting claims Suge Knight made on his podcast about me."

"I've never called, received, or had any contact with Suge Knight since he has been incarcerated. My voice you heard on his podcast was as a soundbite previously recorded from an interview I did with DJ Vlad 3 years ago regarding Suge Knight in 2009."

He continues, "I’ve never been a guest on Suge Knight’s podcast. I always believe in building positivity into the world and my actions and legacy have spoken to that."

"It’s unfortunate that I have to defend myself from these lies and I will be involving my legal team in filing a defamation lawsuit against Mr. Knight, my prayers for him will still continue."

In 2020, Akon addressed a violent confrontation between Suge and Akon's road manager ... which he says came from a business dispute between himself, Suge and Detail.

TMZ broke the story back in 2009 ... Suge was left KO'ed on the pavement and a man in Akon's camp, Robert Carnes Jr., was arrested for felony assault in Scottsdale, AZ.

As we first reported ... Suge launched his podcast with The Source magazine founder Dave Mays to discuss his colorful history as a founder of Death Row. He's recording the pod while doing 28 years for voluntary manslaughter.

J. Cole is reveling in the moment his Drake feature on the "For All The Dogs" album emerged as a chart-topper, and says they got there thanks to loyal fans ... who still buying downloads!!!

Lil Yachty got Cole’s reaction to his first-ever No. 1 hit, "First Person Shooter," on the latest episode of "A Safe Place" podcast." He also asked Cole if he was upset the track was surpassed by another Drake hit -- the Yeat-featured, "IDGAF" -- shortly thereafter.

Cole’s no hater -- he tells Yachty he wasn’t actively rooting for his fans to stream 'FPS' over "IDGAF," but he did credit them for still subscribing to old school, brick-and-mortar ways ... actually purchasing the song by downloading from iTunes.

Billboard reports Drake and Cole sold 4,000 downloads and ranked No. 7 on Digital Song Sales after the first week ... in comparison to its 42.2 million DSP streams and 4.3 million radio streams.

Not exactly staggering figures on the iTunes end, but every bit counts in the race to the top!!!

The track actually gave Drake his 13th top hit, tying him with Michael Jackson for the most among solo male acts … hence all the memes he’s been posting.

Latto has a whole lot to celebrate after her track with Jung Kook broke a record for fastest to reach a billion streams on Spotify ... and she told us why she's HYPED about the big news.

We got Latto Wednesday at LAX and congratulated her on the huge accomplishment for "Seven" ... and the one word she used to sum up her reaction to it is "crazy."

Latto says the track's record-breaking success has made her really grateful. She choked up as she told us about recently losing a dear friend, and said she feels this Spotify record is a sign her late pal still has her back from the afterlife.

In terms of what's next, Latto is more than ready to collab with the BTS member on another hit -- saying she's even got something in the works that'd be perfect for Jung Kook.

She also gives a shoutout to his army of fans -- in the U.S. and abroad -- telling us they've been showing her nothing but love and support, and she's all for making them happy again.

Offset and Quavo are honoring their fallen Migos brother, Takeoff, on the one-year anniversary of his fatal shooting ... sharing a look back at their better days together.

Offset posted about Takeoff Wednesday, which marks a year since he was shot outside a bowling alley in Houston. He wrote, "The times we spent is priceless what we built in this game they never wanted to give us our flowers we influenced the world."

Along with the touching video, Offset added, "I Love you Take you still here with us I just know you are!!!! Migo 4Life!!!!!!"

Quavo also honored his late bandmate and relative -- sharing a pic of Takeoff with the caption, "Can’t forget it won’t Forget It NEVER Forget it 🚀♾️ I Remember!"

He's also been reposting artwork of the guy on his IG story.

Ashanti is definitely in the running for best gift-giver -- 'cause she gave her boo, Nelly, the custom Impala of his dreams for his 49th birthday.

Celebrity car broker Ronnie Garber tells TMZ ... he got a call last week from DJ Envy, saying Ashanti was looking for a specific ride to give Nelly for his big day -- and needed it in Atlanta by Halloween night, a couple days before his birthday.

We're told the artist wanted a custom 1962 Impala convertible -- the candy apple blue ride is equipped with a Corvette L's motor and a sound system with Nelly's logo on it.

She gave him the ride at his big army-themed bash, too ... when he was presented with his cake onstage, she told him about the gift she got him, which set off some fireworks ahead of the reveal.

We're told Nelly wasn't just happy, but he got emotional -- saying it was his dream car from when he was a kid, so it rightfully is goin' down for him as the best gift of all time.

As for the custom car, we're told it set Ashanti back well over $100k ... but it sounds like it was worth it!

Diddy gives zero f****, and proved it with a Batman costume -- complete with a real Batmobile -- that's so dead-on to the 'Dark Knight' movies, it's sure to piss off Warner Bros. ... and maybe even SAG-AFTRA.

Check out the artist's killer look from Tuesday night's festivities -- the dude's a spitting image of the big screen Batman, and on top of his picture-perfect costume, he was riding around Hollywood in Batman's Tumbler ... the Batmobile of choice in the Christopher Nolan movies.

Diddy rented the iconic ride from TV Show Cars out of New Jersey and had it transported across the United States.

As we reported, Diddy told Jimmy Kimmel he was going to step up his Halloween game this year -- after saying last year's insanely good Joker costume resulted in WB claiming it was a copyright violation.

Kimmel told him to just dress up as Heath Ledger's character again, despite the heat, but Diddy warned his costume this year would also have WB lawyers working overtime ... and he was true to his word.

And then there's the actor's union -- SAG said it didn't want its members dressing up as movie characters for Halloween, but Diddy, and several others, are clearly ignoring that demand.

Batman was tripped up by one Halloween goblin ... fuel mileage. His Batmobile ran outta gas on Sunset Blvd!!! Of course, he's got people for that, and one of 'em fetched a gas canister for a refill -- not the hero Diddy deserved, but the one he needed!

Lil Nas X certainly had an interesting look for Halloween this year, mixing gore with feminine hygiene ... and opting to dress as a bloody tampon.

The "Old Town Road" rapper revealed the shocking look on Instagram Tuesday night as celebs took to the platform to show off their looks. Nas' video starts out with a homemade vagina before panning out to the rest of his look ... complete with a blonde wig and high white boots.

Most of his fans found humor in the costume, with comments like, "Really said PERIOD." and "Some would say you have a heavy flow."

However some took offense to the outfit, writing, "I enjoy this look but the fact that you personally have never experienced the stigma, shame or pain involved with having a period makes me pause and think……. But why though?"

Another said, "Not funny. Actually quite misogynistic. And being gay does not give u pass."

Lil Nas X is no stranger to pushing the PC boundaries, especially on social media, so the look shouldn't be THAT shocking ... but clearly, he's still causing a divide.

French Montana's flying private, but his travel plans are still coming with headaches ... because he says authorities in Colombia searched his jet for narcotics.

The rapper says he was trying to fly out of the South American country Tuesday, but he was grounded at the airport while officers combed through his plane in search of cocaine.

French posted video of his encounter with law enforcement, and you see a handful of police officers going through the plane along with a drug-sniffing dog.

He's keeping a cool head about it, for the most part, even petting the K-9 in front of officers. He's also proclaiming his innocence ... saying la policia got the wrong idea about him.

Yes, he named his label (and mixtape series) Cokeboys, but French declares there's no contraband on his ride.

Despite the hard time from Colombian police, French says he's still got love for the country ... though he adds, "you don't have to do me like this!!!"

Diddy says his version of Heath Ledger's Joker was so good last year Warner Bros. sent him a cease and desist from doing the look in the future.

If you recall, Diddy masqueraded around L.A. dressed as Batman's arch nemesis during Halloween 2022 and fooled a lot of people in the process who didn't even realize it was Diddy ... just ask Tyler, The Creator and "Power" actor Michael J. Ferguson.

Diddy told Jimmy Kimmel WB's legal team determined his full-blown makeup infringed on The Joker's copyright ... but for Halloween 2023, he's still planning on making them earn their retainer with another take on one of their properties.

Heath posthumously won an Oscar for his take on Mr J. and Diddy did him justice ... staying in character the whole night.