TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Detective Melissa Mercado -- the NYPD detective who went viral for appearing as a stripper in a raunchy music video -- has been taken off active sex crimes cases pending the results of a police review.

Law enforcement sources confirm to TMZ ... Melissa -- who is known as a good investigator -- isn't catching active cases in the Special Victims Unit, which looks into alleged sex crimes, while under review.

We're told police officials have to determine if she submitted off-duty paperwork ... documents every NYPD officer must file if they're working another job off the clock.

Rihanna is honoring International Women's Day by showing off never-before-seen photos of her two sons right after they were born.

The iconic singer jumped on Instagram Saturday and posted two pics of herself cradling the infants in hospital beds after she gave birth to them in 2022 and 2023.

As you know, Rihanna shares RZA, 2, and Riot Rose, 1, with rapper A$AP Rocky, her longtime boyfriend.

Master P is jumpin' into his new gig as head honcho for the University of New Orleans' basketball program ... and the rap legend may have a secret weapon when it comes to landing top talent!

Ellen DeGeneres! Yes, you read that right.

TMZ Sports caught up with P in Los Angeles this week and we asked him whether he was concerned he wouldn't be able to lure hoopers to NOLA.

Tupac Shakur's expansive posthumous catalog could grow even bigger ... if any hardcore collectors have the cash to unearth some of his pre-Death Row Records tracks!!!

Momentsintime.com is selling the lyrics and audio capsule of unreleased Tupac music stemming from late 1990 to early 1991, when the late rap martyr was recruited for his budding talent.

Tupac composed and recorded an unreleased album for a group called Jesse and the Kidz ... which never dropped due to the unspecified death of one of the band members.

Joe Rogan's had some controversial guests on his podcast ... but, it looks like he's not planning on making Kanye West one of him -- despite the rapper's claims to the contrary.

Here's the deal ... West shared screenshots that he said were images of talks he's having with Joe about setting up an interview on the host's super successful podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience."

During the chat, this person -- who West claims is Joe -- asks if they can talk about all of the antisemitic remarks Ye has made in recent months ... to which Kanye replies absolutely.

Bhad Bhabie is getting the hell out of L.A. for a bit ... and who could blame her after the harrowing week she's had?!

Bhabie was snapped at LAX on Friday for a flight that appeared to be heading to Atlanta ... the first time she's been seen since a trio of armed gunmen tried to break into her house while she was home.

As we reported ... BB had a horrifying encounter on Thursday when the suspects showed up ... but fled before the cops arrived.

DDG is leveling a pretty serious accusation against his ex Halle Bailey ... and it all revolves around their child.

The rapper, born Daryl Dwayne Granberry Jr., slammed Halle recently when he claimed he's not allowed to see his son, Halo.

DDG first brought up the alleged situation on Friday when he posted to X ... “been fighting to see my son for months now… shoutout to all the Dads who try their best to be there. this s*** sucks.” He eventually scrubbed that post from his account.

Rihanna was finally able to get back to her favorite restaurant Giorgio Baldi for the first time in months ... and she decided to have some me time.

RiRi was snapped at the swanky Santa Monica Italian joint Friday night ... looking flawless as usual in a black trench coat.

Giorgio Baldi was among the few lucky spots spared amid the tragic Palisades fires, which ravaged L.A. in January.

Diddy's parties were legendary in Hollywood circles, and he looked like the king of the world in video from his 2010 New Year's party ... footage of which TMZ has just obtained.

The rapper hosted a soirée in Miami, Florida on December 31, 2009 to ring in the new decade ... and, video from the event serves as a reminder of just how popular all his bashes were.

Check out the clip ... the party is going down at a beautiful mansion with a massive pool in the backyard -- and tons of people gathered around Diddy, who's speaking to the assembled group through a P.A. system.

The second suspect in the murder of rapper G$ Lil Ronnie has been arrested ... TMZ has confirmed.

According to online records, 21-year-old Jakobie Russell -- the second person cops announced as a suspect in the shooting death of Ronnie and his five-year-old daughter -- was arrested Friday for capital Murder of multiple persons, along with assault of a pregnant person and assault causing bodily harm.

It's not clear where he was arrested ... but, he's being held at the Lon Evans Corrections Center in Fort Worth.

Big Sean's 2015 smash hit "IDFWU" is teetering on Diamond status, but the track almost didn't see the light of day ... that is, had he taken Beyoncé's advice over Jay-Z's!!! 🫣

Sean Don was a recent guest on NFL brothers' Equanimeous and Amon-Ra St. Brown's podcast and said he considered bottling the biggest hit of his career after Queen Bey deemed it pretty disrespectful.

The Mustard-produced jam is a thinly veiled diss at his ex-girlfriend, the late Naya Rivera, after they split and Beyoncé suggested he add Nicki Minaj on the track to give the ladies a platform for their scorn to even things out.

Bhad Bhabie had a super scary Thursday afternoon ... three gunmen allegedly tried to storm inside the rapper's Los Angeles area home -- but she called police and the trio got out of dodge.

What's more, Bhabie's on-and-off BF Le Vaughn was also at her house, arriving there just minutes before the armed suspects attempted to break in through a side door, according to our law enforcement sources.

Our sources say either Bhabie or LV first spotted the perpetrators ... but it was Bhabie who called the cops. Police raced to the scene, but the trespassers were already gone.

S-Quire and Picture Perfect, the rapper and director behind the week's hottest rap music video, aren't celebrating the viral moment their video vixen turned out to be an NYPD detective ... she was such a pro, they hired her from a legit casting agency!!!

TMZ Hip Hop spoke to both artists about their "Doin That" video, now infamous for Detective Melissa Mercado's thong-twerking and pole-dancing moves inside a strip club rented out for the video.

S-Quire says having the "cop rap video" is not a tag he wants on his jacket and reveals the onscreen chemistry he and Mercado shared was simply showmanship ... which you can see in the BTS footage below.

Getting R. Kelly on the phone from prison put podcasters April Smith and Patricia Dillard in a serious dilemma ... one where they risked backlash from the public, and even their own families.

As we reported, April and Patricia made the decision to post their interview with the convicted felon, which they did for their "Inmate Tea with A&P" podcast -- and during their chat Patricia, in particular, was feeling it when Kelly started singing.

The duo told us scoring the Kelly interview happened totally by accident ... they were interviewing a different inmate who mentioned Kelly was in the same prison, and he managed to get him on the line.

Tina Knowles says she's not looking into dating anyone ... but, if she decides to jump back in the dating pool, she says there's no way she's getting with anyone younger than her.

We caught up with Knowles at For The Love Of Our Children Gala -- the 10th edition of the National CARES Mentoring Movement's gala -- in NYC ... and, we had to ask her about her dating prospects since Kanye West shared a photo of The Game allegedly sliding into Tina's DMs.

TK says she's got no time for younger men ... 'cause she doesn't want to get compared to their mom -- and, she doesn't want to be "anyone's sugar mama."

Kevin Hart's new animated series "Lil Kev" gives viewers a glimpse into his Philly upbringing ... but listeners get a full-stop tour through Compton, thanks to its theme song creators -- DJ Quik and JasonMartin!!!

The series dropped on BET+ this week featuring a star-studded cast ... JasonMartin tells TMZ Hip Hop that the "Lil Kev" theme came about through a random convo he and Quik had while working on their "Chupacabra" album last spring.

Quik was fully immersed in album-mode and couldn't wrap his head around making a record for the TV show concept.