TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Drake is throwing more support to his fellow Canadian Tory Lanez as he serves out his 10-year sentence in the Megan Thee Stallion case ... but Champagne Papi wants him out ASAP!!!

Following the Cleveland show of his, "It's All a Blur - Big As the What?" tour, Drake tossed up a black-and-white photo of Tory and captioned the flick "3 you" ... as in free the "Alone At Prom" singer from his current predicament.

Tory was found guilty of shooting MTS last August and promptly sentenced to 10 years ... and was eventually denied bond.

Megan's lawyer told us Drake and other doubters would eat crow ahead of the verdict but Drake's going Team Canada all the way.

Despite Drake's wishes, it appears Tory will be staying put for the time being ... a scenario Tory says he's since made peace with.

Fans are pissed at Drake for still standing by Tory and this isn't the first time he rubbed them the wrong way.

Keyshia Cole's music has transcended several generations ... just ask the group of middle schoolers the R&B songstress just floored with a surprise performance of one of her earlier hits!!!

A choir of middle schoolers at Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta were recently belting out Keyshia's 2005 track "Love" at a concert ... but were caught off guard when Clark stopped and cut the music mid-way, instructing them to sing it more like the originator.

The gag could've potentially killed the little guy leading the choir's confidence... Clark told him he wasn't bringing enough heart and soul to the show!!! 😬

Little did they know, the originator was waiting in the back to crash the party ... and the kids completely lost their minds when Keyshia showed up and joined them in a super "Love" sing-along.

The song has been blowin' up on TikTok and is also a go-to for up-and-coming singers to show off their vocal range.

Coco Jones covered "Love" a few years ago and won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance!!!

Tragedy has hit Beyoncé's family ... the megastar's uncle has passed away.

Bey's mom, Tina Knowles, delivered the news on Instagram just hours ago, revealing her brother, Rowland Martin Buyince, who went by Butch, died over the weekend. No word yet on how what happened.

Tina uploaded a black and white photo of Butch in a United States Air Force uniform with a caption honoring his memory.

She called Butch her "Beautiful big brother" who was now with God in heaven, while expressing she'll miss him "so much."

She described Butch as a handsome "career Airforce man” who had a passion for riding motorcycles and was a black belt in karate.

Tina noted Butch's "beautiful green eyes," while emphasizing that he was a "great story teller" and was beloved by his incredible wife Jeanette, daughter Dana, and two grandchildren Yvette and Roland.

So far, Bey has not commented on Butch's passing ... but we expect something from her to down the pike.

As you know, Bey's been making headlines lately with her recent pivot to country music, releasing the hit country song, "Texas Hold 'Em."

Butch was 77.

Bad Bunny's got animal rights activists up in arms for a stunt during his new show ... and PETA's not horsin' around in their response.

ICYMI ... singer-songwriter kicked off his "Most Wanted" tour in Salt Lake City Wednesday night, and at one point he trotted out in style -- on the back of a horse.

Check out the video ... BB's in an all-denim 'fit on the back of a chestnut-colored horse heading out to the spotlight with tons of fans screaming for him.

PETA wasn't cheering Bad Bunny on though, posting the video to TikTok with a sharp condemnation attached in white lettering.

Their main point ... horses are skittish animals who have no business being near the loud noise and bright lights of a concert setting, and adding the horse, the crowd or even Bad Bunny himself coulda been hurt.

If all this feels vaguely familiar ... it's 'cause PETA's called out other artists for this exact same thing before. Notably, CeeLo Green, who fell off a horse last year.

Remember ... Green wanted to make an impact with his entrance to Shawty Lo's birthday party last April. The horse was clearly nervous at the time, jolted forward then slipped on the tile floor, spilling CeeLo from its back.

PETA told us at the time the fall was essentially inevitable ... for all the same reasons they think BB shouldn't have been on a horse. Loud noises and flashing lights and horses just don't mix.

Busta Rhymes seemingly got into an altercation at a club last night ... with fellow rapper Nizzle Man, appearing to draw much of his ire.

Here's the deal ... video of a melee leaked to the popular IG account The Shade Room, and it seems to show Busta getting right in Nizzle Man's face.

Nizzle Man appears to have fallen down the stairs -- whether he tripped or was pushed is unclear -- and Busta's running right after him, grabbing the guy by the wrist to have a word with him.

Not clear exactly what went down ... but BR's not happy with the dude one bit, berating him as a couple other guys drag the 23-year-old rapper down a corridor away from the action.

A few people make to follow after Nizzle and Busta, but several others who look like event security step in front and block them from going any further.

We've checked ... doesn't look like their any pre-standing beef between the two MCs as far as we can tell.

This all reportedly went down at French Montana's album release party in NYC ... the mixtape, "Mac & Cheese 5 (Versions)" is a gigantic project with over six hours of content packed into it -- and French told us all about it in a recent interview.

We've reached out to Busta's team for comment ... so far, no word back.

Don't anticipate Jack Harlow to force out a remix of his blockbuster jam "Lovin On Me" ... that track is a 1 of 1!!!

ICYMI ... Jack revealed to TMZ Hip Hop earlier this week that his lovable dog would remain nameless -- and he also told us there's a fat chance there will be a sequel to "Lovin On Me" -- his biggest hit to date!!!

You can see Jack pause for a moment and mentally debate on the possibility of remixing a track before shutting down the idea completely.

If it ain't broke, no need to fix it or even reach for the glue ... the song's been killing since releasing in November with nearly 500 million Spotify streams and 75 million plays on YouTube!!!

It also returned to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the 6th time this week -- which you gotta admit, has boosted Jack's skin in the music game.

Not even new songs from Beyoncé and Kanye West could slow down his bop.

Bobbi Althoff's leaked AI deepfake video nearly broke the internet recently ... and even though she called it fake as hell, TMZ knows how the technology fooled thousands.

Paul Dawes, CEO of More.AI, gave TMZ the lowdown ... saying it scours all available 2D footage to find patterns to create original content. In Bobbi's case, there's already a ton of online content for AI to use as a basis for creating the deepfake vid.

The same goes for other celebs, politicians, and any branded entities ... all prime targets for AI manipulation.

AI programs have a harder time deepfaking 3D images ... but judging how quickly things are evolving with the technology, it's only a matter of time before it masters that too.

What's more ... a lot of these AI programs are open-source, so even if a company shuts down, the open-source code is still available for the public to use. Yikes.

Of course, he reminds us social media has a big responsibility in controlling the content being distributed. Unfortunately, online platforms are inundated with all sorts of offending content without much oversight.

For now, he says the best we can do is buy enough time so regulatory tools can prevent people from being subjected to sexually explicit images of their likenesses.

Of course, AI has already violated the privacy of Bobbi and many others ... so the misuse of AI-generated content is definitely a concerning issue in the new age of the internet.

French Montana has returned to his mixtape roots with his new “Mac & Cheese 5” project and it’s catering to every kind of fan out there … there’s a version bursting with 126 tracks!!!

The Diamond-selling rapper connected with TMZ Hip Hop on Friday and eased everyone’s fears that he wasn’t out to spam streaming companies with a massive hack job.

French tells us the tracklist is simple science he adopted from Taylor Swift when she surpassed every artist on the PLANET by recreating her old hits … as we know, made her catalog boom as a result.

The Bronx native also credited City Girl JT and her team for making her “Sideways” banger accessible in multiple formats and figured that was the new wave.

French explains “MC5” has 21 songs on 5 different versions … the standard, acapella, and instrumentals for the DJs and sped-up and slowed installments for TikTok, which add up to its 126-song grand tally!!!

Fans not complaining noticed “MC5” features Kanye West on not one but TWO tracks — perfect timing with his “Vultures 1” currently dominating the Billboard charts.

French says Ye was in his corner when he first got signed so he’s not about to abandon him when his antisemitic rants were making him a liability to many.

Benzino thinks he destroyed Eminem in their most recent battle -- and is dancing on Slim Shady's grave ... at least that's how he sees things, anyway.

In a new interview with "Art Of Dialogue," Benzino maintained he nailed Em's coffin shut with his "Rap Elvis" diss ... all because Marshall is still delinquent on responding.

Em did respond to Benzino's first shot of 2024 with a diss of his own but the former Source magazine owner threatened to release another one if he continued to be met with radio silence.

He also wants the history books to call him "The Eminem Slayer" ... it's been 20 years and Benzino claims he's the only rapper with the cojones to wage war with Marshall Mathers for so long.

Em's loyal Stans also caught a stray for being "soft and cuddly" but they called him much worse after the beef caused him to break down crying during his latest "Drink Champs" interview.

According to Benzino, crying helps him balance out his violent emotions and he says his vulnerability is immune to any of Em's future disses. Basically, he's not going out the way B-Rabbit beat Papa Doc.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori are doing the fashion thing in Milan right now -- and if you're wondering what Bianca was wearing ... well, it basically amounted to a skimpy tarp.

The couple posed for cameras Friday for Fashion Week, where they put on their best attire and stood shoulder-to-shoulder as Italy's "it" couple -- and by that ... we mean fabric and clothing material, 'cause these aren't the most stylish getups, at least in our eyes anyway.

Take a look for yourself, specifically as it pertains to Bianca -- who's in a VERY revealing ensemble, which looks more like a bag made of leather than an actual outfit.

Indeed, she appears to be butt-ass naked under there ... and when you see her from the side, you'll see a lot of skin, even more than usual you might say. Ye is just ... well, Ye.

The only thing to really note about this look here is that he's still going strong on his permanent tooth grill thing -- a titanium plate that's cemented at the top of his mouth.

Truth be told, the real star here is Bianca ... who continues to turn heads with her eye-popping costumes -- frankly, that's sorta the best way to describe them at this point.

Ye's definitely into her bod ... and he seems insistent on showing it off to the world, too.

What she's wearing here isn't too different from what she was rocking on Thursday at Kanye's 'Vultures' listening event -- where he seemed to have a packed stadium full of Italians ready to jam out. That 'fit made us blush, this one's making us melt!

Anyway, they did their thing at the show ... and went out to dinner afterward, where you could really see what BC looked like from the front and back. Solid angles here, for sure.

She's also still rocking her new bangs ... but that's the last thing anyone's noticing about her.

It's funny ... so much of Bianca has been revealed at this point -- figuratively and literally -- and just when we think we've seen it all, she somehow tops herself and shows even more.

Then again ... she can be pretty shy at times -- completely covering up, and ducking away from cameras. On Friday, however, she was more than ready for the spotlight with Ye.

Bianca Censori is once again showing off her assets at Kanye West's latest listening party for his new album ... only this time, it's not just her bod on display -- it's her new 'do.

Ye's wife switched up her look big time for Thursday's "Vultures" event over in Italy ... it's the first time we've seen her rocking bangs since she's been with Kanye -- usually, her hair is slicked back, or just short and messy. Here, however, it's very "Amelie"-like.

Bianca's not getting away from her bread and butter despite the new 'do ... namely, she's once again showing off her curves in yet another eye-popping outfit -- which is kinda her M.O. these days.

Check out this video that's circulating online -- her breasts and butt are totally visible in the see-through getup she's got on ... and, per usual, she has no shame in her game.

FWIW, this ain't the first time she's worn something like this ... we've seen her in a similar fit, albeit that one was white.

Anyway, with what she's wearing ... you might've not even noticed what she was actually doing here -- look again, she's recording her hubby as he belts out his new tunes to the Italian crowd, and it seems she's even singing along with the Backstreet Boys-inspired track.

If you're wondering what Ye and co. are even doing over in Europe (again) -- they're out there promoting his new "Vultures" album with a bunch of listening events/concerts, it seems. He tried doing a couple here ... but said he was having trouble booking venues.

The first listening party is going down right now in Milan, and there's another one on tap for Saturday in Bologna ... before Kanye leaves Italy and heads to France for a Sunday event in Paris. It would appear Western Europe has been more receptive to him than the States.

Nonetheless, the place looks pretty rocking tonight ... and Bianca's having a good time supporting her man -- just as she has been for the past year or so they've been an item.

Say what you want about her ... but she's had Kanye's back through thick and thin -- and he certainly seems smitten with her too. They dress pretty funky ... but hey, they're in love.

And despite controversy, Ye continues to carry on ... "Vultures" has actually performed pretty decently for him -- so on its face, you could argue he feels like he's "back."

Whether that's actually true or not ... well, depends on who you ask, we suppose.

Rubi Rose has a promising career as a contortionist if her rap career doesn't pan out ... at least that's what we can gather from her very flexible moves here, including wall splits.

NYC-based celebrity trainer Wade Jones recently invited RR to his studio where he trained her on the proper technique of getting low on the flo' ... promising her stronger shoulders in the process.

Rubi's been an advocate for the modern-day flexible woman for years but even she admitted her workout with Wade pushed her to the limit ... in ways she couldn't imagine.

Wade's given lessons to other female artists such as Cardi B, Lizzo, and DreamDoll in the past and is currently on tour.

"The Joe Budden Podcast" argued Kanye West's rapping on his "Vultures 1" album left a lot to be desired ... but all the guest rappers stole the show in their opinion, especially Freddie Gibbs!!!

On episode 699 "TherapIsh," Joe Budden dinged Ye's performances on the entire project by calling his efforts "bad, bad rapping" ... but he and the 'JBP' crew were unanimously impressed with Freddie's contribution on the track "Back To Me."

They crowned Freddie's verse the best out of the bunch on the album but feel everyone pretty much did their thing lyrically 'cept for Ye ... at least his beats were on point!!!

Despite the mixed reviews, the album still has buzz in the streets. On Thursday, Freddie posted a vid of himself in Italy ahead of tonight's listening sesh inside the Milan Forum ... and the album still is sitting pretty at #1 on the Billboard Albums chart.

Eminem posts to social media on rare occasions and there now appears to be a clear-cut explanation ... Slim Shady still uses his freakin' BlackBerry!!!

On Thursday, DJ Whoo Kid posted a flick of him, Em and D12's Mr. Porter inside an L.A. dressing room, exposing Em's favoritism towards the outdated tech in the process.

The rap G.O.A.T. was also rocking a shirt with Too Short's classic "Short Dog's in the House" album ... ever the avid hip hop head!!!

The 3 amigos were slyly promoting Em's "Mom's Spaghetti" after a viral negative review knocked the restaurant, with the Shade 45 host joking like he swindled Em's last box of pasta.

Earlier this week, a food critic named Mr. Chimetime declared "Mom's Spaghetti" as the worst dish he's ever had because it tasted stale ... which is the exact basis of the restaurant's existence -- to recreate the satisfaction of a leftover, microwaved meal after a Midwestern hard day's work.

Jack Harlow's currently dominating the Billboard Hot 100 -- but says the real celeb is his pet pooch ... and he's got a tight leash on the animal's true identity, which he won't reveal.

We shot the breeze with JH in Bev. Hills this week as the Kentucky-born rapper's hit is killing the charts -- his "Lovin On Me" smash hit returned to #1 for the sixth time this week ... and Jack humbly tells us he's currently the act to beat in the rap game.

He totally has the motion to back it up ... his cameo in Ben Affleck's star-studded Dunkin Donuts ad earned high marks on Super Bowl Sunday -- allowing for all the exclusive merch to sell out in minutes!!!

Jack says Ben's relatability made shooting the spot easy-peasy... apparently, they gelled through their connection as actors -- something JH says he appreciated as they collab'd.

Jack's clearly not running from the limelight but when we asked his dog's name, he refused to give it to us ... out of respect for her privacy!!! Aww ... 🥰

The adorable doggy helped JH sell the single to the masses -- he used the doggo in promoting it -- but we respect the insistence on secrecy all the same. Dogs have rights too, dammit!

Nobody knows her name at this point ... and it sounds like Jack's keeping it that way.

One last thing that was kinda funny about this ... we're not 100% sure, but it looks like Jack's pup here might've left a little mess behind. Hard to tell for certain if the crap came from his dog -- it looks a little big for that small thing if we're being honest -- but there it lay.

Hollywood is collectively saying "howdy" to cowboy hats ... hopping on a trend that's being fueled by Beyoncé's transition to country music.

With Queen B playing some poker on the charts, celebs lately are going full country ... and busting out their Western wear ... particularly above the shoulders. Kim Kardashian, Pharrell Williams, Diplo and Bella Hadid are among the stars being lassoed in to this latest look.

Of course, the poster child for the cowboy hat resurgence is Beyoncé. She's been rocking these 10-gallon hats a lot in recent months ... and we gotta say, she wears them well.

Bey incorporated the look into her "Renaissance" tour, but it's really catching fire now that she's galloping into country with two new songs ... "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages."

Some celebs are really going all in, like "Selling Sunset" stars Emma Hernan, Chelsea Lazkani and Chrishell Stause ... pairing their cowboy hats with cowboy boots and chaps, plus a riding bull to boot!!! Safe to say, the cowboy/cowgirl look is all the rage.