TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Drake is honoring Kobe Bryant once again ... this time the rapper laid out the Mamba's Lakers jerseys in his new "Toosie Slide" music video -- and the tribute is pretty awesome.

Drake debuted the vid for his soon-to-be-smash-hit song Thursday ... and it didn't even take a full minute into the footage before the NBA superfan paid homage to Kobe.

You can see in the video ... Drake laid out Bryant's #8 and #24 jerseys on the table, and he let the camera pan to them as he danced around his Toronto-area mansion.

Of course, Drizzy is a HUGE Kobe fan despite his Raptors roots ... and after Bryant's death in January, Drake's paid homage to the L.A. legend every chance he's had.

In an Instagram post, just hours after Kobe's helicopter crashed on Jan. 26, Drake threw up a picture of him in a "Farewell Mamba" jacket with the caption, "It can't be."

Drake also painted the numbers 8 and 24 on his in-home basketball court just a few weeks ago as well.

Kanye West is venturing out for essential business -- as in, feeding himself ... and he satisfied his hunger with a Mickey D's run.

Yeezy headed out Thursday to a Golden Arches in Calabasas and picked up some fast-food and coffee. It's the first time we've seen the music and fashion mogul out and about since California went under a stay-at-home order.

Lucky for Kanye and McDonald's ... the shelter-in-place mandate allows residents to leave their homes for essential errands ... which, obviously, includes getting some grub.

Many smaller restaurants are closing up, but huge chains like McDonald's are weathering the pandemic by continuing to serve at drive-thru windows.

That's music to Kanye's ears ... who, apparently, shares a love for McDonald's with President Trump. Well, let's be real, Ye couldn't possibly love it as much as POTUS does.

Moments after Pop Smoke was shot someone called 911, but the only thing the dispatcher on the other end could hear was pandemonium and no one willing to provide details.

TMZ's obtained the 911 call made from the Hollywood Hills rental property where the rapper was shot and killed in February. The call began with commotion in the background and the 911 dispatcher continually asking, "Hello?"

Finally, someone desperately answered the dispatcher but offered little to no details. The dispatcher tried to find out if the shooter or shooters were still on the scene ... but the caller interrupted with, "I can't talk to you anymore?"

The dispatcher fired back, "Listen to me. I'm gonna tell you how to help this person."

TMZ broke the story ... the budding rapper was brutally gunned down at a house owned by 'RHOBH' star Teddi Mellencamp.

As we've reported ... the murder remains a mystery as investigators struggle to find neutral witnesses. It appears the murder was a targeted hit and not a robbery ... but our law enforcement sources say they're still having trouble coming up with a motive.

If Cardi B was serious about raising cash for Joe Exotic via GoFundMe, she's about to be stopped in her tiger tracks ... because the company won't allow it.

Money CANNOT be raised on its platform to fund the defense of inmates convicted of violent crimes, plain and simple ... this according to a GFM rep. It's in their terms of service and everyone, including Cardi, who uses GoFundMe has to abide.

Of course, the 'Tiger King' star is in prison after a jury found him guilty in a murder-for-hire plot to kill his archnemesis, Carole Baskin. He was also convicted of animal-related crimes.

Funny enough, not too long after Cardi vowed to free Joe via GoFundMe, an actual account with her name popped up to do just that. It's been yanked, though ... and the $100 it raised was refunded. We're told it was a bogus account, NOT associated with the real CB.

Cardi seems to be fully wrapped up in the docuseries, like many of us, and might have been joking about launching a Free Joe campaign. If she, or anyone else, is serious ... GoFundMe won't be a party to it.

Drake's finally ready to show us what his kid looks like -- and if you had blonde hair and blue-ish eyes in your office Adonis pool ... you're a big winner.

The rapper posted the first-ever photos of his 2-year-old son, Adonis, early Monday morning, including some of him and his boy ... as well as one with his baby mama, Sophie Brussaux, in the mix too -- with all 3 of them posing for a sweet family photo.

As you can see ... Adonis is not short in the hair department!!! We don't know when Drake and fam took these pics, but at the time Adonis had blue-green eyes and a 'fro that might make the Jackson 5 blush.

Seemingly trying to explain the blonde hair ... Drake included a younger shot of his mother -- Adonis' grandma -- who did have a dirty blonde 'do.

Drizzy was certainly in some type of self-help mood when he posted these, writing ... "What is most important for you right now is to connect to your own inner light. This will create the biggest opening of all."

He continued, "Trust that you have all of the power within to make this happen, and in order to do that connect to the people and things that bring you a lot of joy. Drake got even more philosophical, telling folks to look within and ... yada, yada, yada ... you get it.

He finished with ... "I love and miss my beautiful family and friends and I can’t wait for the joyful day when we are all able to reunite. Until then please keep your lights on."

Alright, it's time to put the masks back on ... so says Future, who's donating a boatload of custom-sewn masks to medical professionals who desperately need 'em.

The rapper's nonprofit, The FreeWishes Foundation, is teaming up with Atlanta Sewing Style to produce hand-crafted face masks for countless doctors, nurses, scientists and others working in hospitals and around COVID-19 patients. They'll have a team of 500 people dedicated to the task -- although it's unclear how many they're aiming to churn out.

Future's org said in a statement Saturday, "As most people adapt to the new normal of staying quarantined to protect themselves from the coronavirus, healthcare professionals do not have this privilege." They continued, "In addition, they do not even have enough supplies to protect themselves from contracting coronavirus."

Just an FYI ... reports say there's such a shortage of face masks right now, the homemade ones are more than welcome by the pros on the ground.

Anyway, Future's sis, Tia-Wilburn Anderson, added it was important for her, Future and their family to service their community during this pandemic and throughout the year. Sounds like they'll be working well into summer should the outbreak persist -- and all signs point to just that.

BTW, this endeavor that Future and his family is embarking on is aptly called ... Mask On. Of course, his "Mask Off" song blew up a few years ago ... so it's only appropriate he of all people would circle back.

Rep the set ... gotta rep the set.

The incarcerated Joe Exotic has one new champion in his corner -- and it's someone with a big voice and a major platform ... one Cardi B, who says she wants him freed.

The NY rapper went on a Twitter rant late-Friday night, with a bunch of messages in support of the 'Tiger King' star -- who's currently locked up for allegedly attempting to facilitate the murder of his onscreen nemesis, Carole Baskin, who Cardi doesn't like either.

She wrote of Baskin -- who runs a big cat animal rescue out of Florida, seemingly on the up-and-up -- with contempt, saying ... "Carol you think you slick bitch 😑😑😑😑." CB went on to say, "Who you think is more wrong? Narcissist joe? Or Greedy Carol? And Why?"

Very Trump-like, eh? BTW, Cardi also retweeted a meme that perpetuated a theory floated throughout the entire docuseries ... that Carole might've had her multi-millionaire husband killed and fed him to the tigers they had. She's vehemently denied that several times, and no evidence ever suggested she did that. No arrests were ever made in the case either.

The biggest vote of confidence, however, came when Cardi tweeted that she was itching to start a GoFundMe account for Joe, adding ... "He shall be free." Seems like she sympathized with his side of the story -- even though he was convicted and ultimately jailed.

As we reported ... Joe filed a $94 million lawsuit from prison pretty recently, accusing different governmental agencies of railroading him and allegedly discriminating against him with the animal cruelty charges he got slapped with and for which he was convicted.

The bus driver in Lil Wayne's 2015 bus shooting thinks Birdman and Young Thug struck secret deals with prosecutors ... and now he's demanding to know why they've never been indicted.

In docs, obtained by TMZ, Alvin Lewis says he finds it unusual Cobb County, Georgia prosecutors would describe Birdman and YT as co-conspirators in the alleged shooter's indictment, but not bring any charges against them.

Lewis claims there's overwhelming evidence of complicity between Jimmy Winfrey, the alleged shooter, and Birdman and Young Thug -- from phone call records and recorded confessions, to promises of payment.

The driver claims he suffered spinal cord, rotator cuff and psychological injuries in April 2015 when Weezy's bus was shot up in Atlanta. According to the docs, Lewis says prosecutors have kept him informed about Winfrey's case, but he's rebuffed whenever he asked about Birdman and Young Thug.

Winfrey is currently being retried, because the Georgia Supreme Court overturned his 2015 conviction.

Lewis is asking the judge to force the Cobb County D.A.'s Office to turn over any information related to deals that might have been struck between prosecutors and Birdman or Young Thug.

Today in Drake's self-quarantine adventures ... Drizzy takes us on a walk through his unbelievable shoe collection!!!

And, yeah ... sneakerheads will be drooling by the end of this post.

Of course, Aubrey has plenty of time to kill in his Toronto mansion after he hung out with Kevin Durant in L.A. 2 weeks ago ... with the Brooklyn Nets superstar later testing positive for coronavirus.

Drake showed off his kicks on IG Monday (probably out of complete boredom) ... and the collection has everything from the $2,000 super rare Air Diors (reportedly only 8,500 pairs made) to an entire section of Kobe Bryant's signature shoes.

On top of that, Drake shows off his Off-White Jordan 5s ... Supreme Air Force 1s and the Jordan 5 Tokyo T23, which currently go for the $3,000 to $4,000 range.

And, don't forget -- Drizzy can wear these expensive-ass shoes on his OVO indoor court from the comfort of his own home ... but we hope he doesn't hoop in these!!

Tekashi 6ix9nine is so desperate to escape the coronavirus he'd rather take his chances outside of prison than risk the disease killing him while he's locked up.

6ix9ine's attorney, Lance Lazzaro, wrote a letter to the judge Sunday night citing serious concerns for Tekashi's wellbeing behind bars. Lazzaro says Tekashi suffers from asthma -- making catching coronavirus that much more serious -- and he wants him out ASAP.

In the letter -- obtained by TMZ -- Lazzaro also reveals Tekashi was diagnosed with bronchitis and sinusitis late last year and was hospitalized for treatment.

According to Lazzaro, the rapper has recently had shortness of breath, but prison officials won't let him see a doctor.

Tekashi has only a few months left of his 24-month sentence ... but Lazzaro says Tekashi can't risk staying locked up any longer ... his life is on the line.

Future's alleged baby mama is bringing receipts in the lawsuit the rapper brought against her ... calling his invasion of privacy suit laughable 'cause his tea's been spilled PLENTY of times.

Eliza Seraphin filed legal docs and laid out bullet point after bullet point why she thinks Future's lawsuit should be dismissed. In docs, obtained by TMZ, Eliza says Future's argument -- that had he known Eliza would kiss and tell he would have never slept with her -- is BS.

She says, for starters, if Future didn't wanna get caught up in a paternity case he should have wrapped it up. But, he didn't ... triggering his SEVENTH case of baby mama drama.

And, speaking of baby mama drama ... Eliza claims Future can't call airing his dirty laundry through a paternity case invasion of privacy because his sexual relations with a bunch of other women with whom he's fathered kids with "are all documented and widely reported on the internet and discussed on social media. It is unknown why he would think this one would be any different." Boom.

Eliza wasn't done yet. She also said if Future didn't want her talking about their sex life, he should have just taken a paternity test. She says a hookup that results in the birth of a child is not a private matter when the mother's "had to resort to the court system because the child's father refuses to acknowledge paternity."

According to docs, Future complains about Eliza's allegations that he's the biological father of her 11-month old daughter but, she says, "it should be noted that while [Future] has not admitted to being the child's father, he has not actually denied it either."

Problem for Eliza is ... her motion was TOO LONG cause the judge denied it on a technicality ... turns out her motion exceeded the page limit. But, she can try to refile a shorter version or ask for a page-limit extension down the road.