TMZ Hip Hop - Page 38

Jay-Z closed his 40/40 Club after 20 years last year for restructuring ... and its resurfacing looks to be on the horizon -- with a special pop-up happening at Fanatics Fest NYC!!!

Between August 16-18, the 40/40 Club will host a star-studded rollout that reimagines Hov's former playground ... Tom Brady, Derek Jeter, Kevin Durant, Peyton and Eli Manning, Carmelo Anthony and many more legendary athletes are all expected to pop out for the festivities!!!

We're told the new 40/40 Club will happen at NYC's Jacob Javits Convention Center and resemble its glory days ... they're dusting off signed jerseys from the collection, grand chandeliers stadium and selected items from the restaurant's original menu -- not to mention an array of top-notch cocktails.

The manager for Yo Gotti's CMG Records artist EST Gee is dead after a shooting that happened on the heels of the label's homecoming concert -- an event where cops anticipated potential violence.

Louisville police spokesperson Aaron Ellis told local outlets they found 31-year-old EST Big Beach -- real name, Devontae Beach -- with gunshot wounds inside a vehicle close to where the "Sky Dwella" rapper performed Saturday night.

Beach was pronounced dead on the scene shortly after EMS arrived, and police are now searching for suspects.

Chris Brown's "11:11" tour has been marred by some serious thuggery ... according to a new lawsuit accusing the singer of orchestrating the assault of several men.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, Brown, Yella Beezy, CB's entourage lieutenant Sinko Ceej and Live Nation are all facing a lawsuit filed by the 4 alleged victims ... who are seeking a whopping $50 million.

Brown's "11:11" tour hit Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX on July 20 -- and after the show let out, plaintiffs Larry Parker, Joseph Lewis, Charles Bush and Da Marcus Powell say they were invited backstage and escorted there, along with 40 women, for a post-concert hang.

Cardi B is rubbing her political prediction prowess in the faces of her doubters, now that Kamala Harris is the frontrunner to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

After President Biden dropped out and endorsed his Veep, Cardi dialed the clocks back to her June 30 live stream shortly after the first debate where she called the Democratic party selfish for letting Biden, by her account, embarrass himself like the "grandpa" he is.

The Diamond-selling rapper addressed her fans for over 10 minutes ... revealing she had no intentions of voting, but thought Kamala missed her moment not squaring off against Trump at the debate.

Well, now we know ... Bhad Bhabie is passing off the beating she took at the hands of her boyfriend/baby daddy as one bad night, because they're back together in a big way.

Our TMZ Celebrity Tour bus rolled past Avra restaurant in Bev Hills Saturday, and saw the 2 nearby hugging and smooching. Their baby was at home, and this was clearly date night.

As we reported, Bhad Bhabie had posted video early this month of Le Vaughn knocking her to the ground. She also posted a pic of a horrendous bruise on her eye. She deleted both, but what happened to her was clear.

50 Cent took full advantage of his song "Many Men" trending alongside the Donald Trump assassination attempt -- but the song's producer, Darrell "Digga" Branch, sees it as a bittersweet moment.

The veteran beatmaker tells TMZ Hip Hop ... having the classic record go viral in 2024 is definitely a plus, but he's not down with it being used to make Trump look gangsta -- as it turns out, he can't stand the guy.

Digga says his notifications began to light up shortly after DT got hit in Bethel, PA. He admits wondering at the time if it was real or a prank, but of course, we now know the shooting was the real deal.

Everyone from Muhammad Ali, to Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather, have fought in the United States ... so when Eddie Hearn says the upcoming "Riyadh Season" event in L.A., featuring a bunch of top-notch fights, as well as a performance by Eminem, will be the biggest in the history of boxing in 'Merica, that's saying a lot!

"I mean, it's the biggest night of boxing I think America's ever seen," Hearn told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs nightly on FS1).

The August 3 event goes down at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles ... and features a main event bout between Terence Crawford and Israil Madrimov, in addition to scraps between Andy Ruiz and Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller, Jared Anderson and Martin Bakole, "Pitbull" Cruz and Jose Valenzuela, amongst other compelling matchups.

Blueface could be released from jail very soon -- and his mother Karlissa Saffold hopes to spoil him rotten with a surprise party to make it official!!!

Karlissa chopped it up with TMZ Hip Hop in Burbank on Thursday and she told us she's eyeing Blue's upcoming July 29 court hearing, which could be the last barrier to his freedom.

The L.A. rap star's been locked up since January on a probation violation and Karlissa is confident she'll be able to follow through with her party plans the very next day.

Amber Rose did a parody of Vanilla Ice's hit hip-hop classic at the Republican National Convention -- and if you're wondering if the man himself is bent outta shape about ... well, we have an answer.

Vanilla tells TMZ ... he does indeed have ownership rights to "Ice Ice Baby" -- the track that Amber and rapper Forgiato Blow spoofed to promo their support of Donald Trump at the convention this week -- and VI notes he didn't approve the track to be used for GOP purposes.

He goes on to tell us that the publishing company that also holds rights to the song didn't clear it either -- which is why it got yanked off of YouTube ... but in terms of whether Vanilla is actually upset about it ... it doesn't really sound like he is.

Sean Kingston and his mother are now facing federal charges after being accused of defrauding businesses out of more than $1 million.

Federal prosecutors say a Grand Jury in Miami indicted the "Beautiful Girls" singer and his mom, Janice Turner, hitting each with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and 5 counts of wire fraud.

The charges, announced Friday, are for allegations Sean and his mom cooked up a scheme to swindle multiple businesses out of jewelry, luxury vehicles and other goods.

Latto and Ice Spice have been trading small disses with one another on tracks for months -- what would a full-blown contribution to the 2024 Rap Wars look like???

In her new Billboard cover profile, Latto admitted she'd be open to duking it out with Ice Spice and they didn't have any real issues ... it's more like healthy competition.

Thing is, Latto doesn't feel Ice is built for that type of rapping, it's not a slight but more of an observation.

"If I was to do [a battle], it would have to be with somebody I feel like Imma go tit for tat with," Latto told the pub. "I really don’t mean it as shade. Would she even want to do that? I feel like she’s doing her in her lane. It’s two different types of vibes. I don’t even think she gives me like, 'Oh, she wants to engage in an actual rap beef.'"

In February, Latto released her "Sunday Service" single which many pegged to be heat directed at Ice Spice.

The Bronx rapper returned the favor with her track "Think U The Sh*t (Fart)" ... and got trounced by Candace Owens for her effort.

Latto encouraged Ice to keep taking shots but doesn't think the feud will manifest into a main event.

"Everybody gon’ take their lil jabs in the music, and it’s not even that serious to me; I feel like you should do that," Latto continued. But, as far as actual whole diss records to each other, I don’t think she would even want to do that. I feel like… would it even make sense? It wouldn’t."

Big Sean just had a major setback for his major comeback ... hackers leaked the foundations for his new album ... and claimed they did it to avenge Kanye West!!!

If you recall, Sean recently set the record straight against DJ Akademiks' allegations that he was dissing Kendrick Lamar  ... further clarified by DJ Hed that Sean's shots were actually reserved for Kanye!!!

Shortly after, a collection of tracks titled "Feelings & Random Thots" featuring artists such as Nas, Hit-Boy and The-Dream was planted on message boards ... along with the cryptic message that it was middle fingers to him and the entire team!!!

Early this morning, Sean hopped on IG Live and admitted the leak crushed his soul a bit ... the songs were just templates and experiments and he felt a little exposed having that in the public's eye.

Sean wouldn't buy into the hype that Ye was responsible, however ... he sold MILLIONS of records underneath the Good Music umbrella -- their history is deep-rooted!!!

Platinum-selling rapper Blxst is the latest celeb to get caught in the burglary wave hitting L.A. -- surveillance videos show crooks invading his house and snatching a bunch of his shoes in the caper!!!

Blxst posted the clips Friday morning, and you can see the creeping crawlers slink into his backyard. As you'd expect, Blxst is making no apologies for his frustration and anger.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Hip Hop ... the incident happened around 2:30 AM Tuesday -- 3 dudes in hoodies smashed a glass door and broke into the back of the house.

Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre haven't performed together in the UK in 30 years -- but the two hip hop OGs broke that tradition in style last night ... and their celebrity pals were in tow.

Shaquille O'Neal and Yungblud joined forces to host the star-studded shindig inside London's Flipper's Roller Boogie Palace as Snoop, Dre -- and a surprise performance by Eminem lit up the night!!!

We're told the red carpet also extended to Idris and Sabrina Elba, Offset, Rich Paul, Dominic West, Jeremy Renner, Liberty Ross, Jimmy Iovine, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlotte Tilbury, Jude Bellingham and Brian Grazer.

Bianca Censori and Kanye West are at it again ... and this time she's out in public with only a thong covering her below the waist -- a bit of a change from what we're used to.

Ye and his wife broke bread Wednesday at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles and Bianca didn't bother wearing pants, shorts, a skirt ... nothing. It was just her undies out there.

Check out the pics ... Bianca's not wearing a bra either (duh) and folks can see right through her sheer top ... which is doing nothing to cover up her breasts. Still, it's more coverage upstairs than we usually see when she's in public.

Irv Gotti is fighting back against the sexual assault allegations leveled against him in a new lawsuit ... and he's pondering one of his own.

A rep for the Murder Inc. Records head honcho reacted Thursday to the civil lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade County by a Jane Doe, and Gotti's camp is claiming the plaintiff pulled some shady business.

According to the rep, the suit "was filed after Mr. Gotti rejected the attempt by this individual to coerce a payment of money from him. The lawsuit contains a single page of 'facts' which are unsworn to, sparse by any measure, and which Mr. Gotti categorically denies."