TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Travis Scott went live to join in with the fans enjoying his virtual concert on Fortnite, but had to cut it short ... because his adorable daughter, Stormi, demanded more of his attention.

The rapper debuted his new track, "The Scotts," Thursday night within the insanely popular video game, and although it attracted an all-time record audience of 12.3 MILLION concurrent players ... one little 2-year-old was the star of the evening.

Travis, Stormi and mama Kylie Jenner were all online to watch the historic musical/gaming performance ... but the toddler seemed to have other interests.

Check it out -- once Travis finds the remote, thanks to whoever Josh is, Stormi briefly greets her dad's large audience ... then wants to watch a movie. Of course, 2-year-olds usually get what they want.

Tekashi 6ix9ine is getting super close to releasing new music ... because he's begging the judge to let him shoot music videos in his own backyard.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Tekashi's legal team is asking Judge Engelmayer to allow the rapper to spend up to 2 hours in his backyard once a week to work on music videos.

As we first told you ... Judge Engelmayer released Tekashi from prison early following 69's plea to get out to avoid being infected with the novel coronavirus. He's now serving out his time on in-home incarceration.

In the docs, Tekashi's lawyers say his probation officer is aware of the request and has no objection ... so 69 just needs the judge's stamp of approval too.

Remember ... Tekashi scored a lucrative record deal back in October, and now it sounds like new music is dropping soon,

Drake's "Toosie Slide" dance challenge has brought much joy during the coronavirus pandemic, and he took it upon himself to help a group of African kids go viral for their moves ... and spread even more joy.

If you missed it ... the Masaka Kids, comprised of orphans from Uganda who have crazy dancing skills, posted their rendition of the 'Slide' on Friday. When Drake shared it on his Instagram Story the following day, it blew up ... as did the Masaka Kids' social media following.

Suuna Hassan, founder of the organization, tells TMZ ... the children wanted to partake in the challenge because they love the song and hoped Drake would notice, even though it was a long shot.

Fortunately, the kids' rendition instantly began gaining traction on TikTok, Twitter and IG, and Drake did notice ... so he reached out directly to ask if he could post the vid, too.

Hassan says he and the children cried tears of joy at the gesture and spent the next day celebrating and doing what they do best ... more dancing. In fact, they're sharing their most recent performance -- which shows they got a lot more groovin' to do.

Even more awesome ... we're told since Friday, the Masaka Kids Africana account has gained more than 120,000 Instagram followers and the org has received hundreds of dollars in donations.

Tekashi 6ix9ine is wasting no time settling back into the life of a rap superstar following his early prison release ... he's spending tons of cash and getting offers for concerts.

Sources close to Tekashi69 tell TMZ ... the rapper is throwing tons of money around on whips and bling, purchasing a fleet of luxury vehicles that includes an Aventador, McLaren, Rolls-Royce, Mercedes Benz G-Wagon and a Range Rover!!!

Tekashi's getting iced out too ... we're told he splurged on 4 timepieces, including a Richard Mille watch, and dropped another $300,000 on a chain shaped like a shark.

TMZ broke the story ... a judge released 6ix9ine from prison early after his plea to get out to avoid contracting the novel coronavirus. Tekashi's now under supervised release in-home incarceration.

Because 69's on house arrest, our sources say he's making the lavish purchases over the phone with the help of his trusted associates.

Tekashi's still fielding offers for shows despite being labeled a snitch ... we're told venues in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Europe and South America are offering him $500,000 for shows in 2020 and 2021 -- apparently, rats can make bank overseas.

Of course, 6ix9ine is still under house arrest for another 3 months, so he's gonna have to wait a while to take the stage again ... and the coronavirus pandemic is also throwing a wrench in his plans. Once Tekashi's off house arrest, he'll still need to get permission from his probation officer to travel for work, but the opportunities are out there.

Tekashi's got a daily routine at home ... when he's not burning through cash, we're told he's spending time with his family and working on an album, which is expected to drop in the coming months.

Offset says he's lost a member of his family to coronavirus -- his great uncle, Jerry, has died.

The Migos rapper posted the sad news Sunday, taking to his Instagram stories to write ... "Smfh this corona s*** done killed my great uncle 😢 Rip uncle jerry damn man." He continued in another post, "Pray for my family," adding a pic of a stitched-on cross from a jacket.

It's unclear if Offset's great uncle is from his mom or dad's side of the fam, or if he's someone Offset was close with publicly, but clearly the loss has him shaken -- as it's incredibly close to home. Cardi hasn't spoken on the death, neither have other Migos members -- namely, Takeoff and Quavo -- both of whom are related to Offset.

It's tragic, because both Cardi and Offset have been vocal about coronavirus -- the former we've obviously heard from loud and clear on the issue, but Offset himself has also been telling people to take precaution, with a few different social media posts about it.

In late March, he posted a photo of himself wearing a face mask with the caption, "STAY SAFE & STAY PRAYED UP." He's also promoted a music video of his one of YRN crew members, with a middle finger emoji ... saying screw coronavirus, "we still dropping."

It appears Offset himself has heeded the guidelines issued by the CDC -- as he's recently voiced frustration at wanting to go outside too.

Drake has everyone, almost literally, doing the "Toosie Slide" -- his latest single just hit a 10-figure benchmark on TikTok, breaking Kylie Jenner's record.

Sources at the video creation app tell us the hashtag #ToosieSlide hit a billion views in just 2 days ... giving Drake the fastest music trend to reach a billion views on the platform.

That's not to say Drake's OG clip was viewed a billion times on TikTok ... there have been countless recreations of his quarantine-themed music video dance challenge, so the number represents how many times people have viewed #ToosieSlide related content.

Drake's still sliding BIG TIME -- our TikTok sources tell us #ToosieSlide just reached a whopping 3 BILLION views, and it ain't slowing down.

TMZ broke the story ... Kylie's "rise and shine" moment was the fastest-growing TikTok trend back in October, quickly reaching a billion views, but we're told #ToosieSlide reached the benchmark even faster than Kylie's hashtag.

Tons of celebs have been enjoying the #ToosieSlide in isolation ... including Justin Bieber, Chance The Rapper and LeBron James.

Cardi B unloaded on President Trump ... and Bernie Sanders relished the moment cause he couldn't stop himself from laughing his ass off.

The dynamic duo teamed up Tuesday night for an Instagram Live interview that was as bizarre as it was strategic. But, mostly, it was a vehicle for Cardi to vent to her beloved "Uncle Bernie."

The interview started with Bernie -- who in January encouraged Cardi to jump into politics -- asking Cardi how his nails look. The rapper quickly shot back with her trademark wit, saying she can tell he's been in quarantine. Hilarious.

But, then things got downright serious ... Cardi teed off on 45 -- she refused to mention Trump by name -- saying 45 doesn't need any help from Democrats to make himself look bad cause he makes himself look bad. Ouch.

Cardi -- an ardent Bernie supporter -- also took the opportunity to ask why uncle Bernie endorsed Joe Biden for president. Or ... as she framed it, "A lot of people like the youth, they don't rock with Joe Biden. I want you to explain to my platform, why are you endorsing him?"

And, there's the answer to why Bernie hopped on IG Live with Cardi, who has nearly 63M followers -- she provided a platform where Bernie can plea to his supporters to back Biden.

"He was the basketball version of me, and I was the rap version of him, and that’s facts!"

That's Kanye West ... explaining why he and Kobe Bryant were one and the same -- LEGENDARY -- and in typical Kanye style, he's not holding back.

It's spelled out in a candid (just released) interview with GQ that went down back in February, less than a month after his good pal Kobe died in a helicopter crash very close to Kanye's Calabasas-area home.

As part of the interview, Kanye agreed to take photos on a basketball court -- and admitted, it was therapeutic.

"One thing I thought was really amazing is that we were able to find a groove with the photographs today even as out of it as I was with the loss of Kobe," Kanye said.

"We were able to just go to the court and play ball."

Kanye says he often drives on a street near the spot of the helicopter crash ... and it makes him motivated to dominate in life like his friend Kobe did.

"There’s no way for me not to be as determined as Kobe every time I drive down that street. It’s game time. There’s no move that we can’t make, or that we’ll wait to make."

Of course, Kanye and Kobe were close friends for years -- they trained together, starred in Nike commercials together ... and Kanye was even courtside for Kobe's last game.

Now, Kanye says he continues to draw motivation from Kobe -- attacking challenges in life and business with that trademark Mamba Mentality.

"Everyone in our life is now a member of the Lakers on one of Kobe’s championship teams. The way that Kobe would say that we all have to come together and win this championship is the way I look at life now."

Playboi Carti went all Johnny Badass on a cop who pulled him over -- according to the cop, anyway, Carti dragged the deputy's daughter into it!!!

TMZ got a hold of the police report detailing Carti's arrest about a week ago in Clayton County, Georgia -- and cops say the rapper was mouthing off big time when a Sheriff's deputy pulled him over and smelled weed.

The deputy says he asked Carti to get out, and the bad attitude started right away. Carti allegedly told the officer to take him to jail and said he didn't even care anymore.

Upon conducting a search, the deputy says he found drugs and guns inside Carti's Lambo -- specifically, marijuana, Xanax, codeine and oxycodone and 2 handguns. Carti had a pal with him and cops arrested both of them ... but the trash-talking wasn't done yet.

According to the officer, Carti told him he'd "f*** my daughter" and that he had a hot wife. He also allegedly said he didn't give a damn about his exotic sports car, cause he'd just buy another one anyway.

In the end, Carti was booked for expired tags, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and failure to move over. His buddy ended up getting busted for the harder drug and gun possession charges.

Carti was released on bond shortly afterward.