TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Nicki Minaj's tour is breaking records and now she getting into the shoe game ... with her new custom sneaker line!!!

On Friday, Nicki and UK-based brand LØCI made their partnership official and debuted her Pink Friday footwear with a futuristic rollout and unveiled a pink low-top casual sneaker with red shoestrings and a portrait of Nicki's mug sealed on the tongue.

We're hearing Nicki's personally gravitated to the brand on account of her keen stylist sense and signed on as an owner and collaborator.

Turns out real estate's not all about location, location, location ... 'cause Kanye West's gutted Malibu mansion's not a hot ticket item -- and he's slashed the cost a lot to sell it.

TMZ has learned the mansion's price came down Wednesday ... It started with a $53 million price tag in January ... and has now dropped to $39 million this week. For those bad at math ... that's a $14 million price reduction.

The drop isn't totally shocking ... the house doesn't even really have walls, and it basically feels somewhat uninhabitable at this point -- so, whoever buys it needs to make serious renovations to the property, and it'll probably end up costing a ton of dough to do that.

Sisqó costarred on Mýa's debut single "It's All About Me" all the way back in 1997 -- and the two R&B forces are now combining their talents again for a long overdue sequel ... TMZ Hip Hop has learned.

Sisqó's team tells us he and Mýa have always kept a strong rapport on social media, and when seeing each other on the road.

Fans have been asking for a follow-up track for ages, and Sisqó and Mýa bowed to popular demand. They snapped a pic in the studio and confirmed the record is hot off the presses and should be dropping soon on Sisqó's new album!!!

They're often booked on the same R&B circuits -- they have a big concert this September -- and are known to surprise the crowd with a performance of their classic song.

The album is titled "Exodus" and will mark "The Thong Song" singer's first project in almost a decade, and his 4th overall.

Sisqó's team says the music is so electric, that it needs to drop when it’s hot outside ... so they're eyeing a late spring/early summer independent release.

Polo G's New York City trip to gear up for his long-delayed 4th album came to a screeching halt on Wednesday ... 'cause he was busted for gun possession.

Our law enforcement sources tell us ... the NYPD's 1st Precinct was notified that an employee of The Dominick Hotel found a loaded firearm inside one of their rooms.

We're told officers were able to ID Polo as being the occupant of the room ... and our sources say it was registered under his name, Taurus Bartlett, and the DOB also matched up.

Manhattan District Attorney's Office executed a search warrant for the hotel room and found a loaded Glock 23 firearm inside the bedroom side of the hotel room.

We're told a firearm trace came back negative and the weapon wasn't flagged as stolen ... and an arrest warrant for Polo was drawn up as a result. NYPD officers arrested Polo around 12:50 PM Wednesday and charged him with Criminal Possession of a Weapon in both the 2nd and 3rd degree.

Cops also say Polo was carrying more than $23k in cash at the time of his arrest. It's been a rough few months for Polo and his family.

We broke the initial story in November ... Polo's caught a separate gun charge and his brother Trench Baby was arrested for murder in California.

To make matters worse, Polo's mother and sister just engaged in a very nasty spat on social media that started with a fistfight on Easter Sunday.

We just caught Polo in NYC this week ... he was genuinely excited about finally launching his "Hood Poet" album and promised big surprises along the way.

Jeezy is now asking for primary custody of his and Jeannie Mai's young daughter amid their divorce ... claiming Jeannie isn't even taking care of their kid herself.

The rapper just filed new legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- asking a judge to toss out the current custody and parenting time arrangement he hashed out in mediation with his estranged wife ... and requesting that his daughter be allowed to live with him full-time.

Jeezy says he initially agreed to move to the basement amid their breakup. However, he says Jeannie later moved out of their family home, and took their little girl with her.

Ice Spice is dipping her toe into acting ... as the rapper has been cast in Spike Lee's new feature film, where she'll be doing her thing opposite Denzel Washington.

The rapper is set to appear in Spike's reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 thriller "High and Low." However, Ice Spice is only set to have a small role, as her part has been described as more of a cameo than anything.

Still, Ice Spice has already begun filming her portion of the film -- which is an Apple Original Films and A24 collab ... who confirmed production was well underway.

Drake's officially out of all Astroworld lawsuits ... a judge granted a motion for summary judgment, and has dismissed all the claims against him.

According to court documents obtained by TMZ ... a judge in Harris County, Texas heard the arguments and decided to dismiss all claims against Drake with prejudice.

Remember ... Drake was named as a defendant in some lawsuits following the 2021 crowd crush tragedy in Houston -- with plaintiffs alleging that because he took the stage with Travis Scott, they believed he helped incite the crowd into the frenzy.

Chris Brown just released the deluxe edition to his "11:11" album ... and he's doubling down on his beef with Quavo ... with a new fiery shot about the women they've both banged.

On the song "Freak," CB snaps on Quavo with clever punch lines over a super-charged version of Nelly's "Air Force Ones" ... "F****** my old bitches ain't gone make us equal/Sipping that 1942 cause I don't do no Cuervo [Quavo]/Freak bitch she like Casamigos. not the Migos."

Quavo and CB's ex-GF Karrueche Tran have been suspected of casual dating for years -- a clear trigger for the R&B superstar, despite having broken up with the "Claws" actress since 2015. We've seen Chris and Quavo bristle over this in the past, but not as overtly as this.

Kanye West seems to be trying a bit of a do-over in terms of style with his wife Bianca Censori -- 'cause the two of them were in all-white ... and it's giving Kim Kardashian.

The rapper/producer hit the town in L.A. Wednesday night with BC in town -- with the both of them attending Ty Dolla $ign's birthday bash at the Nice Guy in WeHo ... and of course, everyone was paying attention to what they were wearing, especially Bianca.

As you can see, she was rocking a unique getup ... some kind of dress that had a big slit down the middle and which exposed some cleavage and a bit of her stomach too.

DJ Mister Cee -- a prominent fixture in hip hop's radio culture -- has died ... TMZ has confirmed.

Hot 97, the station where Mister Cee built his foundation, sent out a heartfelt statement to signify his life and career ... "As a family at HOT 97 and WBLS, we’re deeply saddened by the passing of our beloved Mister Cee. He wasn’t just a DJ; he was a pillar of our stations, bringing joy to countless listeners with his legendary 'Throwback at Noon and Friday Night Live' sets."

The station adds ... "Mr. Cee’s influence stretched far beyond the airwaves, shaping the very fabric of NYC’s DJ culture. Our hearts are heavy as we send our love and condolences to his family and the fans whose lives he touched through his music. Rest easy, Mr. Cee. Your legacy will live forever."

Bobb'e J. Thompson claims Tracy Morgan mistreated him on the set of their old sitcom back in the 2000s -- alleging the dude was a straight-up bully ... all 'cause the kid was funny.

The former child actor -- who costarred alongside Tracy in "The Tracy Morgan Show" between 2003 and 2004 -- hopped on the Comedy Hype podcast to make his claims ... and he details a pretty disturbing story about how he says Morgan dealt with him back in those days.

Based on the way Bobb'e describes the alleged tale, it's a little hard to decipher if this was just a one-off, or if happened repeatedly -- but he claims Tracy had severely berated him.

Joe Budden's name quickly became a trending topic following J. Cole's apology to Kendrick Lamar for his "7 Minute Drill" diss ... fans were eager to hear JB unload on the situation -- and unload he did!!!

JB hails from the East Coast battle space, and seems willing to accept Cole just ain't cut from that same cloth -- but Joe told his podcast crew that Cole building up the diss ... to then turn his back on supporters was nasty work.

Budden couldn't stomach watching Cole's apology, yet he still applauded the "Middle Child" rapper for what he calls a rare mature look for hip hop.

But, in the next breath, he rips Cole for faking like he was "the one" all this time -- Budden says thanks to the apology, Kendrick's "Like That" bars have now turned immortal!!!

Even worse, he says Cole was cosplaying as a rapper who wanted the throne, because he's too damn quick to crown not only Kendrick ... but Drake, too!!!

Budden might think he washed his hands with the Cole situation, but Ari Lennox -- the 1st Lady of Dreamville -- isn't letting him off the hook.

Saweetie's determined to push her long-delayed debut out to the masses, and the "My Type" rapper is dropping all kinds of hints to her record label to make it happen.

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with Saweetie outside Ocean Prime this week in Bev. Hills ... where she confirmed her album's still titled, "Pretty Bitch Music," and she made it clear it needs to be released ASAP!!!

We also asked about any potential touring once her album's released -- that is how these things typically work, and Saweetie agrees ... there needs to be a tour.

Of course, she's signed to Warner Records, and the label has the final say-so on her rollout, which probably explains why she didn't declare any specific release or tour dates ... but her frustrations have been mounting.

She recently lashed out at WB for not approving her budget as she promoted an upcoming track ... a somewhat puzzling move, considering Saweetie has had several multi-platinum and Billboard 100 hits.

They recently repackaged several of her old hits for an EP to rally around her new song "Richtivities" in the meantime. 🤷🏼‍♀️

J. Cole squashed all assumptions his Kendrick Lamar apology broke his spirit for good last night in NYC -- 'cause he made a surprise guest appearance at his artist's concert.

Dreamville rapper Bas' current tour wrapped last night in NYC -- and fans were treated to a pop-in appearance from Cole himself ... which seems to have taken everyone aback, even Bas ... who said he had no clue JC was gonna be there.

Anyway ... it's interesting to see Cole surface so soon after his public apology to K. Dot.

Bas picked an eager fan to get onstage to rap Cole's verse from their 2013 collab "Lit" ... the fan was killing it word-for-word when Cole hopped on the Irving Plaza stage.

Cole congratulated the fan and stuck around with Bas to perform their latest duet "H.Y.B." ... the track features several TMZ shout-outs and is featured on Cole's controversial new project "Might Delete Later" ... a big reason fans didn't expect Cole to be there in the first place.

His "7 Minute Drill" diss to Kendrick still remains on streaming services as of now but his apology during the Dreamville Fest is still a big part of the rap chit-chats.

Kash Doll is rethinking parts of her career ahead of the birth of her next child -- mainly her rap name ... a tag she says she's outgrown!!!

While speaking to Angela Yee on "Way Up," Kash admitted she was sick of being called a doll at this stage in her life, and was debating rapping under her a condensed version of her government name, Arkeisha.

KD's career popped off several years ago at a time when "Doll" was the new "Lil' for rap names ... a point she also acknowledged in the interview.

Notable rappers Asian Doll, DreamDoll, Cuban Doll also emerged around that time.

Because of the similarities, KD says she's always being compared to those artists, and would rather separate herself from the debates ... despite feeling like she's the one who laid the foundation for hip hop "Dolls" in the first place.

Kash hasn't named her album her next album yet, but she has a more important name to figure out -- that of her soon-to-be-born daughter, her 2nd kid with boyfriend Tracy T.

Megan Thee Stallion stripped down for her latest magazine cover -- and while the pictures are grabby in and of themselves ... there's a lot of substance in the actual interview as well.

The rapper debuted on the latest cover of Women's Health Wednesday, showing off her toned body -- which she says is owed to swapping whole meals for smoothies ... nixing soda and juice and switching from cognac to tequila.

Of course, she also says she works out a ton, and that's evident from these gorgeous shots.