TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Dr. Dre's wife is not getting divorced without a fight, because she's challenging their prenup and $1 billion is on the line.

Nicole Young just filed legal docs, obtained by TMZ, in which she claims she was forced to sign the prenup back in 1996.

Nicole says Dre is now worth $1 bil, and says before they tied the knot, "I was extremely reluctant, resistant and afraid to sign the agreement and felt backed into a corner. Given the extraordinary pressure and intimidation by Andre, I was left with no option but to hire a lawyer (of course, with the help of Andre's team of professionals) and unwillingly signed the agreement very shortly before our marriage."

She then says 2 years into the marriage, "Andre acknowledged to me that he felt ashamed he had pressured me into signing a premarital agreement and he tore up multiple copies of the agreement in front of me. Since the day he tore up the agreements, we both understood that there was no premarital agreement, and that it was null and void."

Sources connected to Dre beg to differ, telling TMZ, he never expressed shame over the prenup and he never tore it up or said it was invalid. Our sources also say Nicole had her own lawyer and she had a clear choice on whether to sign or not.

Our sources say Dre has made it clear ... he will pay spousal support and all her expenses, but clearly Nicole wants a big piece of the pie, claiming he amassed most of his fortune during the marriage.

Is this really happening?!?

J. Cole is getting his first shot at making his NBA dream come true ... with the Detroit Pistons offering the rapper a tryout!!!

As we previously reported, rap legend Master P says the 35-year-old North Carolina native is training like crazy to get a shot at the league ... and even asked P for advice on how to turn from MC to baller while working on a Puma commercial together.

Considering P landed 2 NBA contracts in the '90s with the Raptors and Hornets, it wouldn't be the first time a rapper has hit the hardwood as a pro ... and Cole is known for being a legit threat with his game.

The Pistons got wind of our interview with P ... and used their official Twitter account to let Jermaine know they'd love to be the team to give him a legit shot at making it to the NBA -- and even used his own lyrics in the offer.

"We see you out here. You said they only got 12 slots on the Pistons," the team said, referencing his song, "FRIENDS."

"Hit us up for that tryout. This is for all the dreamers."

Look ... this could very well all be for publicity. But, then again, stranger things have happened.

After all, the Pistons went 20-46 last season ... so they can use all the help they can get.

You know what to do now, J. -- pick up the phone!!!

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are trying to navigate an extremely rough patch in their relationship, and hope a family trip will help to set things straight ... before it's beyond repair.

Sources close to the couple tell TMZ ... the couple decided to jump on a jet Sunday and take a private family vacation to try and work things out. We're told the trip was something the couple discussed when Kim visited Kanye in an emotional trip to Wyoming last weekend.

As of late ... things between Kim and Kanye have been icy. They hadn't seen each other much at all for months ... Yeezy was doing his thing at the ranch and Kim's been taking care of their four young children.

Kanye said during his South Carolina rally he asked Kim for a divorce last year and he raised the subject of divorce several times at the event. We're told it's something that has definitely been discussed.

TMZ broke the story ... Kim and Ye reunited this week in Wyoming for the first time since Kanye's off-the-rails campaign rally in South Carolina, which ignited a bitter back and forth that saw KKW trying to get Yeezy treatment for a serious bipolar episode.

The family trip will mark one of the first they've taken in a long time ... and outside the vacation, Kim and Kanye hadn't spent much time together outside family birthdays and holidays.

As we've reported ... the list of grievances from Kim to Kanye is pretty long -- we're told it's everything from him continuing his presidential campaign, to his Twitter rants and what he said at his rally.

Tekashi 6ix9ine is fully free, having just completed house arrest, and he's already out shooting a music video.

We got this vid of Tekashi out in Brooklyn Sunday, bright and early (7:30 AM) .... alongside some super wild rides.

It's no surprise ... a few security guards were patrolling the area, along with a massive entourage. Security was blocking several streets, stopping drivers from coming through. It's pretty clear they had permits to shoot the video ... otherwise, cops would have shut it down.

The cars are crazy -- 2 colorful Lambos, an orange McLaren, a yellow Dodge Charger and a Benz.

Tekashi, who was released from house arrest Saturday, is on 5 years supervised probation. Most people thought he'd go into witness protection, but he's shunned that, and the music video is evidence ... he's not hiding from anyone.

Kanye West is getting quality time with his kids ... jetting off somewhere with at least one member of his brood -- and possibly the whole fam -- for a last-minute trip.

Ye was at a landing strip Sunday in Cody, WY -- where he and Saint were both seen getting inside the same private jet, with what appears to be security in tow. No sign of Kim Kardashian or any of the other kids, but we know the jet took off from L.A. this morning ... so it's quite possible she and the other kids were already on board when these pics were taken.

Seems unlikely Kim would put 4-year-old Saint on a PJ by himself to visit Dad. We know the plane's taken off, but no word on where it's heading.

Kanye's been living at the family's Wyoming ranch for several weeks now while he's been in the grips of what Kim, and others, say is a bipolar episode.

Wherever the jet's going ... this is some long overdue face time between Kanye and his family. Other than Kim's visit last week, he's been without them while at the ranch working on his new album and his Presidential campaign.

Of course, it's been rocky lately between Kim and Ye. She went out there to see him last week and had a very emotional conversation in the car ... which left her in tears. She left Cody by herself without Kaye tagging along. Since then, hard to say where things stand.

So, if this is a full family getaway it's the most positive sign we've seen in several weeks.

Kanye West's presidential campaign just got serious, because he's gunning to get on the Ohio ballot, and that state could be a determining factor in who occupies the White House.

Kanye hired a company, Let the Voters Decide, to amass voter signatures in 3 states ... Ohio, West Virginia and Arkansas.

Ye needs 5,000 signatures in Ohio by Wednesday to qualify. We're told more than roughly 90 people are canvassing Ohio, gathering the required number of John Hancocks.

Ohio is one of the 4 swing states that could be a major factor in November. In 2016, Trump won the state by fewer than 500,000 votes. Kanye's not gonna win, but he could be a spoiler. It's unclear who gets hurt more if Ye siphons off votes -- Trump or Biden.

We're told Let the Voters Decide is confident it'll get the necessary 5,000 votes in time to qualify for the ballot.

Tekashi 6ix9ine is enjoying his first taste of freedom in about 21 months -- his home confinement and GPS-monitored days are officially ending.

The rapper's attorney, Lance Lazzaro, tells TMZ ... Tekashi's federal probation officer is going to the rapper's home Saturday to remove his ankle monitor. We're told 6ix9ine will also be provided a schedule for when he needs to check in with his PO during his 5 years of supervised release.

It's a momentous occasion for Tekashi ... remember, the rapper-turned-state's witness (aka snitch) proudly showed off his ankle monitor when he dropped his first music video following his prison stint.

While T69 can now leave his house, he's not exactly free to move about the country, as they say.

Lazzaro says Tekashi will need to get permission from his PO whenever he wants to leave the state or the country, including when he travels for a performance or recording session. No business trip exceptions!

The good news for 69 is as long as he's within NY state borders, we're told he doesn't have to check in with the PO for every little thing he does. So, considering he's been locked up since November 2018 ... this is pretty damn close to his life before prison.

Wisely, we're told he's not going hog wild ... he's got nothing special on the calendar, other than hitting the studio and making music.

J. Cole is currently training his ass off in hopes of getting a shot to make an NBA roster ... so says Master P, who offered the rap star some pretty sound advice.

First, let's talk J. Cole -- the "No Role Models" rapper was a solid hooper back in high school and famously tried out for St. Johns during his stint in college, but ultimately decided to focus on music.

Cole is a regular on the celebrity basketball circuit and is widely known as one of the best non-pro celebrity ballers in the country.

The 35-year-old recently hooked up with Master P for a Puma commercial where it's strongly insinuated that Cole is training for a shot with an NBA team ... which makes sense since P basically did the same thing back in the day.

Master P says he earned an NBA contract with 2 different teams in the '90s -- after he was already a famous rap mogul -- and he knows what it takes to get to the top level.

P -- whose music and hoops careers are documented in BET's "No Limit Chronicles" -- tells TMZ Sports he had a lengthy conversation with J. Cole about his hoop dreams ... and says he's convinced the rapper is dead serious.

"When I talked to J. Cole, he was like 'You know, big dog you did it. What do you think I would have to do to make it happen?'"

"I said to get one of these NBA jerseys, it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be a lot of hate, it's gonna be a lot of people not believing in you but you know J. Cole -- he got the right size, he in the gym!"

"But, what I told him ... this a different time we're in. They're going to pick you apart! You're gonna have to be able to hit every shot and if you don't hit every shot, they -- you know in the NBA, they don't hit every shot but they believe in them. So, you're gonna have to go somewhere where the team really believe in you and the players believe in you."

P says Cole won't get a pass just because he's famous -- in fact, he'll have to work even harder than everyone else to prove he's for real.

"They've been putting their whole life into this. So, you're gonna have to prove you're worthy of being on that court."

P adds, "I believe in him and I believe that he's a youngster that has a lot of desire."

Bottom line -- P says if Cole does get an opportunity, he's gonna have to show out.

"Either you're gonna be good enough to play or you're gonna get exposed."

Nicki Minaj's husband really wants to be there for the birth of the couple's first child ... a once-in-a-lifetime moment he might have to miss due to his pending criminal case.

Kenneth Petty just submitted legal docs, obtained by TMZ, begging the judge to modify the terms of his pretrial release conditions so he can travel with Nicki periodically on business as her manager and attend the upcoming birth of their baby.

As you know ... Kenneth recently registered as a sex offender in Cali after getting arrested for allegedly failing to do so when he moved to the state with Nicki. Some of the terms of his pretrial release -- he has a curfew and his travel is restricted to California.

According to the docs, Kenneth wants the judge to tweak his release conditions so he can be by Nicki's side if she gives birth outside his curfew hours.

Kenneth says the U.S. Attorney's Office and pretrial services office don't oppose his request, so now it's up to the judge to sign off.

As we reported ... Nicki announced her pregnancy earlier this month, and it looks like she's at least 6 months along. So the baby could be coming soon.

BTW ... Kenneth's status as a sex offender stems from a 1995 New York conviction for first-degree attempted rape. Petty pled not guilty to failing to register as a sex offender, and a judge recently gave him permission to surf the web.

Now, Kenneth's hoping to go 2-for-2 with the judge.

All eyez will be on Drake with his new twin Tupac Jesus pendants.

Mr. OVO is the new owner of what soon will become 2 of America's most wanted ... these Tupac pendants dripping with diamonds and gold. The rapper commissioned the celeb jeweler, Jason of Beverly Hills, to pull off the twin pendants depicting Pac with white and yellow diamond crowns of thorns.

Each pendant comes with a diamond chain with a total of approximately 70 carats of flawless white and yellow diamonds, plus ... over a HALF KILO of gold in total. Total price for each piece was $300k!!!

We're told Jason and his crew spent about 5 weeks completing the Pac-Jesus pieces. Drake initially came to Jason with an idea about what he wanted ... and they worked together to come up with the final tribute.

Kanye West's self-proclaimed running mate -- though she's yet to confirm this herself -- has returned online with her "spiritual coaching" site ... but gives no indication she's campaigning for West/Tidball 2020.

Michelle Tidball was name-dropped by Kanye as his VP pick in his Forbes interview -- following his surprise July 4 announcement that he's running for Prez -- but very little was known about her ... and her website got yanked shortly afterward.

As we first told you ... Michelle's site, Yarash.org, touted her as a "Biblical life coach" but also included some odd takes on mental health -- such as doing your dishes and making your bed to combat mental illness.

The Yarash site is back up, and though it's been revamped and edited ... it STILL doesn't mention anything about Kanye, being his Veep, or anything political at all really.

Instead, the site is gussied up with new animated graphics, an autumnal color scheme, Hebrew-style font, and tighter copy ... but features her same smiling portrait.

Michelle's old teleconferences and Bible study sessions -- where we discovered her mental health advice -- have been taken down. Her bio has been toned down quite a bit too ... but she's still advertising 50-minute life-coaching sessions for $65.

The Wyoming woman recently stated Kanye was doing "fine" and there was nothing to worry about ... amid his erratic behavior and wild Twitter rants, but she dodged any VP talk.

Tekashi 6ix9ine sees the light at the end of the tunnel, but before he can be truly free, he's gotta give back to the community ... and he wants to make sure he survives it.

T69's attorney, Lance Lazzaro, tells us his client will be released from home confinement by Saturday -- which will allow him to move into the next phase of his sentence ... community service. We're told 6ix9ine hasn't done a single hour since he's been stuck at home.

Now that he'll be able to get out again ... Lance says there's a new problem his legal team is circling -- namely, where the hell to put the guy so he can complete 300 hours of community service.

It's gonna take him a while to complete that, and his team's concern is Tekashi could be a sitting duck for anyone seeking revenge ... while he's doing good to make good on his sentence.

Luckily for him ... Lance and co. are already making arrangements to keep their client safe. One of the ways they plan to do that is by asking Tekashi's probation officer to let him do his time at a highly secured facility, like a VA hospital or even a learning institution of some kind.

Anywhere where there's lots of people and maybe even armed guards and/or cops around would be the ticket in their eyes.

We're told Lance feels the probation officer assigned will take these pleas into consideration and act appropriately -- otherwise, it could spell trouble for Tekashi.

Dr. Dre just filed his answer to his wife’s divorce petition, and he revealed something she didn’t – there’s a prenup.

Dre’s wife, Nicole Young, filed for divorce on June 29, citing irreconcilable differences. She is asking for spousal support and a division of property.

Dre says in his answer, filed by Disso Queen Laura Wasser, that he’s fine paying Nicole spousal support but he says any distribution of property should be governed by their prenuptial agreement.

Nicole made no mention of a prenup in her petition ... and sources connected with her told TMZ there was no prenup. That is not the case.

As for the prenup ... Dre's estimated worth is $800 million.

There are no issues relating to child support or custody ... their 3 kids are all adults.

Dre lists the date of separation as March 27, 2020 ... just weeks after the coronavirus lockdown began.

Kanye West is getting super serious in his bid for the White House ... his campaign is beefing up its staff and bringing in tons of folks with political know-how.

Sources close to Kanye tell TMZ ... Yeezy's hired a crack team of political advisors and people with experience to help him navigate how to get on the ballot in more states.

We're told Kanye's advisors are hiring people to work on the campaign. They're also recruiting volunteers, and they've contracted third-party organizations to assist with spreading campaign awareness and getting boots on the ground across the United States.

Our sources say the campaign's main objective right now is gathering enough signatures to get Kanye on the ballot in each of the remaining states.

We're told volunteers are canvassing for signatures in West Virginia -- hitting popular spots like restaurants and shopping malls -- and campaign staffers are working in New York ahead of Thursday's deadline to qualify for the ballot.

In West Virginia, the Secretary of State's office tells us Kanye needs 7,144 signatures by Monday to get on the ballot. If Yeezy gets enough signatures, it will trigger a review to verify every person is indeed a registered voter.

TMZ broke the story ... Kanye's facing a huge hurdle back in his home state, Illinois, where there are several objections over the validity of signatures gathered to get Ye on that state's ballot.

As we reported ... Yeezy's already submitted paperwork to get on the ballot in New Jersey, Oklahoma, Illinois and Missouri.

Tyga wants to throw struggling restaurants and eateries a lifeline ... he's opening a virtual restaurant and his secret chicken recipe and delivery plan could help the joints survive.

The rapper joined us on "TMZ Live" and unveiled his virtual restaurant concept ... Tyga Bites -- baked, boneless and free of antibiotics.

Here's how it works ... Tyga's targeting 500 restaurants and kitchens trying to make enough cash to survive during the pandemic. He and his company will teach the chefs how to make the oven-baked chicken tenders. He's partnering with Grubhub which will deliver the food. So, Tyga won't have a single, brick and mortar restaurant, but he'll cover the country. Kinda genius.

There will be 3 types of chicken and 12 sauces ... and that does the trick. He's marketing it as a healthy, delicious choice -- black garlic, lemon black pepper and peri-peri. He's also serving Tyga Tots (love the name) -- regular and sweet potato -- and chocolate chip cookies. And, there are beverages to wash it all down.

It could be a blueprint for other celebs to start a virtual restaurant and help struggling restaurants.

Kim Kardashian is back in California after what seems to have been a very difficult visit with Kanye West in Wyoming ... and she flew back solo.

Kim landed in L.A. Tuesday morning, and as you can see, she was all by herself as she walked down the stairs of her private jet. Kanye's still at the ranch.

We broke the story ... Kim and Kanye reunited Monday in Wyoming for the first time since Yeezy's off-the-rails campaign rally in South Carolina ignited a bitter back and forth that saw Kim desperately trying to get Ye treatment for a serious, bipolar episode.

As we reported ... the couple stopped at a Wendy's drive-thru in Wyoming, and things got super emotional in the car, with Kim breaking down crying.

As for why Kanye didn't fly back with Kim ... we're told he's deep into the final touches of his album.

As you know ... Kanye talked about divorcing Kim, but he apologized Saturday for a comment he made to hurt his wife, and we're guessing it's the abortion talk.