TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Rapper YBN Cordae is livin' the dream right now -- he's got a tennis superstar girlfriend, he made XXL's prestigious "Freshman Class" list, and he just dropped a debut album that's getting great reviews.

Yeah ... that's probably why the dude was so chipper when we saw him out in NYC!!!

As we previously reported ... the 21-year-old and Naomi Osaka -- #2-ranked tennis player in the world -- were getting close back in April and spending a lot of time together.

The young couple is officially official now (our source is pretty rock solid) ... but Cordae makes it clear he has to earn every dub ... at least on the tennis court.

Cordae says his tennis skills are improving ... but tells us Naomi doesn't take it easy on him.

FYI -- the YBN rapper just dropped his first project, "The Lost Boy." We gotta say, it's really dope ... and it's got features from huge names like Pusha T, Meek Mill, Anderson .Paak and Chance the Rapper.

Dude's winning on all levels.

Woodstock 50 has taken another body blow ... Jay-Z and John Fogerty are pulling the plug on the festival.

The event's supposed to go down in just 3 weeks, and this kind of news could cause a stampede.

It's all kind of come full circle but not in the way Woodstock would have wanted -- it was Fogerty, along with Common and festival founder Michael Lang, who announced back in March that Jay-Z would perform at Woodstock 50.

Jay-Z was the big get for W50. He was slated to close the 3-day festival, which has faced a devastating series of setbacks.

As we reported ... the major blow came back in June when Watkins Glen International -- an upstate NY racetrack where the event was supposed to go down -- pulled the plug. There were major money issues as well that dogged the festival.

The event's now being held at the Merriweather Post Pavilion ... an outdoor amphitheater in Columbia, Maryland.

Chance the Rapper is here to make sure you don't feel bad about all the money you've spent on Postmates ... because you probably can't come close to the huge tab he's racked up.

The rapper is one of Postmates' most dedicated customers ... because the company tells us he started getting deliveries way back in 2015 and he's since dropped more than $30,000, including $4,000 in tips!!!

Chance is being featured on a Postmates series, The Receipt, which profiles celebs who are big spenders ... sharing their strangest requests and favorite orders.

Baked goods keep Chance going in the studio ... his new album just dropped, and while he was working on "The Big Day," Chance kept his team fueled with fresh croissants, cake and coffee.

Chance's first order was for chicken wings from Harold's Chicken Shack on March 4, 2015, and since then he's racked up 632 orders for 1,992 items across 26 cities.

Lots of those orders were for Portillo's Hot Dogs in Chicago, with Chance getting delivery once every two days from Dec. 2015 to Jan. 2016 ... chowing down on a burger, fries and a drink each time.

Grub isn't the only thing Chance orders on the go ... he purchased a ton of board games for a pre-Grammys party in 2017 -- Uno, Connect Four and Twister -- and just last summer he ordered a $440 Apple iPad Mini.

Diddy and Steve Harvey's 22-year-old daughter were out and about in NYC again Wednesday night ... this time in matching outfits, further fueling dating rumors.

Diddy and Lori Harvey were strolling in SoHo around midnight ... and while Lori was all smiles, Diddy, who is 49, couldn't look more shocked running into paps.

As we reported ... sources close to Diddy shot down rumors back in March that they're not a couple, saying Lori's just a family friend and that's it.

These family friends have traveled the country ... showing up at Nobu in Malibu just last week, and a reggae festival in Miami back in March.

Lori famously dated and broke up with soccer superstar Memphis Depay last year, and it was pretty nasty. BTW, she also dated 25-year-old Justin Combs, Diddy's son.

No word on how Steve feels about the situation ... what an awesome "Family Feud" that would be!!!

A$AP Rocky has just been charged with a crime after spending weeks in a Swedish jail ... prosecutors just hit him with Assault Causing Actual Bodily Harm stemming from a street brawl in the country's capital ... and if convicted he could spend 2 years behind bars.

The prosecutor said A$AP will continue to be held in jail pending a trial ... and the trial date has not been set, although it could be today. A rep for the prosecutor tells TMZ the trial will be held within the next 2 weeks. The prosecutor expects the trial will last 3 days.

Two members of Rocky's crew have also been charged with the same crime and they will also be held pending trial.

The Swedish prosecutor just boasted he had access to more information than people on the internet. He said he's reviewed video and also talked to witnesses, and determined the claims by Rocky and his 2 crew members of self defense and provocation didn't hold water, despite the fact the alleged victim is the one who unrelentingly harassed and attacked Rocky and his crew first.

The prosecutor says he also considered the alleged victim's statement, which he says was supported by witness statements. We're told the alleged victim admits striking A$AP's bodyguard with a set of headphones, but only after the bodyguard lifted him off the ground by his neck, so the prosecutor viewed the headphones attack as self defense. BTW, the lifting by the neck is not on video, and interestingly, if the prosecutor really felt the bodyguard was the aggressor he would have been presumably charged ... and the bodyguard has already been cleared.

The charge has been 3 weeks in the making ... A$AP has been in jail alongside two of his associates since turning himself in to Swedish authorities earlier this month. Prosecutors inadvertently played their hand last week, announcing they were going to charge the Harlem rapper ... and on Thursday the hammer finally dropped.

The only good news for Rocky ... he and his crew will not be charged with Aggravated Assault, a more serious crime which carries a 6-year prison sentence.

As we reported ... the man who attacked A$AP's crew in the streets of Stockholm will NOT be prosecuted for any crime, even though he incited the violence and kept harassing Rocky until he eventually snapped.

In the initial video ... you hear A$AP attempting to diffuse the situation, playing peacemaker and saying no one wants to go to jail.

In video from the street brawl ... A$AP finally loses his cool, throwing his attacker to the ground and absolutely pummeling the guy.

The Swedish justice system is not bowing to pressure from the U.S. government ... with the Prime Minister essentially telling President Trump and the State Dept. to butt out after their attempts to free A$AP.

A$AP's mom thinks Sweden is out to get her son, and she believes it's because he's black ... even though A$AP himself says he won't make race an issue in his assault case.

The man at the center of the A$AP Rocky assault case -- the man who provoked the rapper and even attacked him before A$AP reluctantly snapped back -- was convicted of criminal assault in Sweden 3 years ago.

Mustafa Jafari, Rocky's alleged victim, was convicted of striking a man in his forehead and beating the victim's face back in 2016, when Jafari was 16 years old. It happened on the streets of Stockholm, the very place Jafari harassed and assaulted A$AP and his crew earlier this month.

Jafari was prosecuted and convicted of assault, and his sentence ... 30 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay his victim around $500 in cash.

Jafari was also convicted of 2 minor drug offenses ... one in November 2017 and the other in May 2018. He was ordered to pay a fine for both, but served no jail time.

As we reported, Jafari was the instigator in the A$AP Rocky incident -- he's the guy in the white shirt. Prosecutors have cleared him, claiming he was acting in self-defense.

Lil Nas X is using his popularity to jack old songs and rack up millions of views -- and dollars -- without rights to do so ... according to a new lawsuit.

The 20-year-old rapper -- who's been the hottest thing in hip-hop and possibly country this year -- is being sued, along with Sony, by a company called The Music Force for jacking the 1982 Bobby Caldwell song, "Carry On."

According to the suit ... X posted a track on YouTube, Spotify and Soundcloud that appropriated parts of "Carry On" without permission, and as of early July it had nearly 4 million YT views.

The Music Force alleges Lil Nas was "motivated by greed and malicious intent."

The company is also suing Sony because it recently signed the rapper to a record deal ... and it says it should made sure its artist got the song cleared.

The Music Force is asking for a whopping $25 million, claiming X has destroyed the value of its Bobby Caldwell song by jacking it.

We reached out to Lil Nas and Sony ... no word back so far.

Kanye West wants to be holier-than-thou when it comes to hawking apparel embossed with his now-famous Sunday Service, because he's asking the feds to allow him to corner the market.

Ye just filed legal docs asking for exclusive ownership of clothing, dresses, footwear, headwear, jackets loungewear, scarves, shirts, socks and clothing tops.

If approved, he'll get a trademark that gives his exclusive rights to sell the merch.

Kanye had a merch booth at Coachella during his Sunday Service on Easter Sunday. He sold hoodies for $165 and $225 a pop and socks for ... $50!!!

He took some heat from some folks on social media who felt it was untoward to make a buck on such a holy day.

The Sunday Service has become quite the thing ... riddled with celebs such as Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Kid Cudi and, of course, the entire Kardashian Klan.

Wendy Williams says rappers should absolutely follow the money if it leads them to Sweden ... she says there's no point in turning down shows in the country because of A$AP Rocky.

We got Wendy out in New York City Tuesday and she told us she's totally against the proposed rap industry boycott of Sweden ... because it's money over everything.

The beloved talk show host says rappers have to do what's best for them, and if that means booking shows in Sweden, so be it ... after all, she says they've got to pay their bills by any means necessary.

Wendy's stance on the potential boycott is opposite Slim Jxmmi's position ... the Rae Sremmurd rapper said Monday there's no reason for artists to perform in Sweden as long as A$AP is rotting in a Swedish jail.

Wendy wants A$AP freed, and she feels like he was baited into the street brawl that landed him behind bars ... but she doesn't see the sense in others hurting their bottom lines as a show of support.

The stakes are not only high for A$AP Rocky in his Swedish assault case ... the European nation itself could be forced to pay UNTOLD MILLIONS if he's ultimately cleared.

There's something we found about Swedish law that ups the stakes dramatically ... if someone is charged with a crime and is found not guilty, the country could be on the hook for all the money the victorious defendant lost as a result of incarceration and the trial.

In A$AP's case ... that's a fortune. He's already been in jail for going on 3 weeks and it's all but certain he'll be formally charged Thursday with aggravated assault. The chances of getting sprung from jail once he's charged are slim to none, because Sweden considers him a flight risk.

By the time he goes to trial, months may have passed, and that means a bunch of scheduled concert dates will go down the tubes.

He's already had to cancel 12 shows and is booked for 7 more through the month of September.

It's unclear exactly how much Rocky gets paid for each gig -- but between 2014 and 2017, reported booking fees from each concert range from $80k to $120k. It's 2019, so let's just say his flat quote these days is north of $100k.

The longer he sits in jail, the more the stakes go up ... $2 mil, and maybe a lot more.

Future wanted to kick some ass before a melee broke out that left his bodyguard knocked out cold ... but his team pulled him away, fearing he'd end up like A$AP Rocky ... behind bars.

As we reported, a group of around 10 guys started harassing Future and his crew at the Ibiza Airport ... and sources connected to Future say it was full-on racist attack, which began with racial epithets. A fight erupted, and Future's bodyguard did some street justice with 6 of the guys before he got coldcocked with an alleged rock to the head.

We're told before the fighting began, Future was fully engaged and enraged, but his team had A$AP on the brain and didn't want the rapper to end up in a Spanish jail, so they literally pulled him away from the scene. That's when the bodyguard took over.

Future clearly wanted in on the action, because his anger was apparent hours later when he referred to the attackers as "fake goons" and other choice words.

It's interesting ... it sure looks like Sweden is trying to send a message to black rappers that they come to the country at their peril. The message seems to have been received loud and clear, and rappers visiting other European countries are adjusting their moves accordingly ... clearly out of fear the justice system will screw them.

By the way ... eyewitnesses tell us the sucker punch video is edited to make it look like Future was watching nearby with no concern for his bodyguard ... but fact is he didn't see it and had already left the scene.

The good news ... our sources say the bodyguard is doing fine.

As you know ... things played out much differently for A$AP in Stockholm earlier this month, where a man allegedly harassed and attacked the rapper's bodyguard. Rocky tried to diffuse the situation but eventually snapped and now has hell to pay.

Diddy's search for mentors is OVER ... O-Town's offering their services if Diddy needs a hand for his "Making the Band" reboot.

We got the band out Monday in NYC and had to get their take on Diddy bringing back the famed reality show. If ya missed it ... Diddy announced earlier this month he's bringing back the MTV series that helped launch bands like O-Town and Danity Kane. It's set for a 2020 return.

The guys were in the middle of dishing some advice for the reboot but also took it a step further ... shooting their shot and literally telling Diddy to call them about possibly serving as mentors on the show.

Slim Jxmmi is fully supporting a rap industry boycott of Sweden ... and he says it's all because of the country's awful treatment of A$AP Rocky.

The Rae Sremmurd rapper is calling for all rap artists to stop touring in Sweden, and it sounds like the boycott could be indefinite ... because Jxmmi says no one should perform there until A$AP is released from jail and gives his blessing.

Slim has performed in Sweden in the past, but he says that's all over now ... he promises he won't return to the European nation until they change their laws and right their wrongs with A$AP.

As for the dangers posed by touring overseas ... Slim says it's real tricky, claiming he was almost detained once for smoking weed at a festival. His story sounds a little like the one Quavo shared with us last week, when he told our photog he was almost arrested in Sweden.

As we first reported ... A$AP's mom thinks Sweden is trying to make an example of her son -- who is has been in jail for weeks without being charged with a crime -- and she says there's a good chance race is factor.

A$AP Rocky's mom believes the country of Sweden is trying to make an example of her son ... and there's very a good chance it's only because of the color of his skin.

Renee Black says she's run out of ideas to help get her son out of jail ... thinking President Trump's involvement would have been enough of a push to free Rocky. Renee has only spoken to Rocky one time since he was locked up earlier this month, but says he sounded strong.

While Renee tells our camera guy she doesn't want to pull the race card, it's hard for her to ignore the signs ... saying, "if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, then it's a duck."

Swedish prosecutors have maintained the only reason they're holding A$AP is because they consider him a flight risk ... and have until Thursday to decide whether or not to charge him with assault.

It was early July when Rocky and members of his team were seen on video beating a man in Stockholm after the man allegedly followed and harassed them for a long period of time.

A$AP Rocky is getting a groundswell of support from fans on the ground in Sweden ... posters calling for his release are popping up all over Stockholm, and people are snapping pics to bring attention to his plight.

Smash Fest, the music festival A$AP performed at days before he turned himself into police in Stockholm, has started a #JusticeForRocky campaign in the country's capital ... and festival honchos tell us they've printed out and put up thousands of posters that read, "FREE A$AP ROCKY ASAP."

We're told Smash Fest created the signage to show support for A$AP and urge Swedish authorities to release him ... and people have been showing their support for the Harlem rapper by taking pics with the posters and posting them all over social media.

It's interesting ... we're told many of the posters were taken down soon after going up, but Smash Fest printed new ones and replaced them almost immediately.

One A$AP supporter in Stockholm tells us he's been walking around the city with a poster as a silent protest ... and he says most people have been sympathetic and supportive.

Smash Fest tells us they stand with A$AP and they feel sorry for fans who will miss him this summer ... as he's already missing out on tons of previously scheduled shows across Europe.

A$AP remains in a Swedish jail ... and later this week prosecutors are expected to formally charge him with aggravated assault.

Future's bodyguard was knocked the f out and a source close to the rapper says it was a racially-motivated attack.

The incident went down Monday in Ibiza, Spain at the International Airport. We're told Future had just arrived and was walking through the terminal when 10 guys approached and asked for a photo. Future said, "Not today, guys," because he was tired and had just gotten off a long flight.

We're told the guys then erupted in anger, and began hurling racial slurs and other epithets.

Our sources say Future's bodyguard stepped in and tried to block the guys and get Future to his ride on the curb.

The sources say the bodyguard actually beat up several of the guys before someone came from behind and sucker punched him. The sources claim the person who struck the bodyguard did so with a rock.