TMZ Hip Hop - Page 42

Justin Bieber looks happy out in the desert ... enjoying himself at a star-studded event where he apparently performed a song or two Friday night.

The singer-songwriter hung out at Friday Nights in the Desert -- a private event in Thermal, California, not far from where Coachella takes place ... and, he bounced around the event with a grin.

Bieber was seen hanging out with his pals at the event ... lots of laugher at the party thrown by Tao Group Hospitality, REVOLVE -- who held an exclusive festival in Thermal earlier this month -- and Palm Tree Club.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori aren't just meeting up for dinner and a drink ... they're spending a ton of time together -- including arriving side by side to their rendezvous.

TMZ has obtained video of the two stars pulling up to Indian fusion restaurant Cala d’Or Friday evening ... a gourmet spot on Majorca, one of the Balearic Islands.

It's a short clip ... but, KW -- who appears to be wearing a black mask like we've seen him wearing in the past -- and BC are clearly comfortable around one another, walking into the restaurant after seemingly arriving in the same car.

Lil Durk wants the indictment against him dismissed ... arguing prosecutors pointed to a version of a song where Durk allegedly celebrated having Saviay'a Robinson -- Quando Rondo's cousin -- killed, but Durk claims he wasn't involved in decisions over the song.

Here's the deal ... Lil Durk and his lawyer Drew Findling filed the motion Friday -- asking a judge to dismiss the superseding indictment in which Durk is charged with conspiracy and using interstate facilities to assist in the assassination.

Durk's team claims prosecutors pointed to rap lyrics from the song "Wonderful Wayne & Jackie Boy," on which he's featured, where he raps ... "Told me they got an addy (gooo) / Got location (gooo) Green light (go, go, go, go, go) / Look on the news and see your son, You screamin’, 'No, no' (p***y!!!)" as evidence he was involved in the crime.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori look like they're giving their relationship another shot ... because they're traveling together and just had dinner in Spain.

Check out this video of Kanye and Bianca breaking bread Friday at an Indian restaurant in the Balearic Islands ... at least on its face, they appear to have made up after a brief split.

Kanye and Bianca aren't exactly keeping a low profile here ... and they seem relaxed and happy in one another's company.

X-Raided, a rapper who spent time behind bars with the Menendez Brothers, says Erik and Lyle remain "cautiously optimistic" about the prospect of potentially being free men ... despite a recent roadblock.

We got X-Raided -- government name Anerae Brown -- in Los Angeles on Friday and our photog asked him how Erik and Lyle are holding up after their resentencing hearing was delayed.

The guy did hard time with Erik and Lyle back in the day and was so impacted by them, they've kept in touch ever since.

Chanel West Coast's TV show is officially heading off into the sunset ... 'cause it's been canceled after just one season.

Sources close to production told us Chanel's show "West Coast Hustle" will not be returning for a second season ... though they wouldn't say exactly why the program isn't receiving a sophomore campaign.

However, sometimes statistics are worth a thousand words ... and, in this case, the ratings over the last four eps speak volumes.

Yella Beezy had his motion to modify his bond in his ongoing capital murder case denied in court this week ... effectively keeping the star rapper under house arrest, until further notice.

TMZ Hip Hop obtained court documents filed this week in Dallas County, Texas that outline the shutdown.

Yella Beezy filed a petition back in March seeking permission from the court to be able to leave the house, solely for the purpose of attending his minor son's football games ... a measure that would ensure "continued family engagement and stability."

Kendrick Lamar hated the way Drake walked, talked, and dressed on his monster "Euphoria" diss, but let legend tell it: the lyrics left on the cutting room floor could've been much worse for Champagne Papi!!!

According to K. Dot's longtime associate Terrence "Punch" Henderson, the blistering track was toned down a bit to fit the battle modifications.

Punch tells Curtiss King TV that there was a lot of stuff that didn’t make it on the "Euphoria" track after he and Kendrick had an imitate listening session in L.A.

Post Malone's ex-fiancée wants full physical custody of their daughter ... asking a judge to allot the musician visitation rights only, TMZ has learned.

Hee Sung "Jamie" Park filed custody documents in Los Angeles earlier this week, asking the court to award her primary physical custody of their 2-year-old daughter, identified in the docs as "DDP."

She also checked boxes saying she's cool with sharing legal custody of DDP ... and, she's also fine with him being allowed visitation or "parenting time" with their child.

11:53 AM PT -- TMZ has learned "Victim 4" is someone who worked for Diddy, but was not romantically involved with him. We're told the defense argued they wanted that person's name revealed during the trial, so other potential witnesses could come forward with information that might refute the alleged victim's testimony.

Diddy's trial will proceed as scheduled ... 'cause a judge just ruled on his team's motion to delay the trial for two months -- and he's not giving them more time.

The hearing was held in New York City Friday, after Diddy's team accused prosecutors of turning over evidence too slowly ... asking the judge to grant more time so they could comb through all the discovery.

The judge disagreed with Diddy's side ... pointing out the rapper has four law firms representing him who should be able to sort through everything to be ready for the case by the scheduled May 5 start date.

Cassie says Diddy is fishing around, demanding she turn over her bank statements and a book she wrote about him ... and she wants a judge to put the kibosh on his legal request.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Cassie is trying to get the court to kill a subpoena she claims she was served by Diddy's legal team.

Cassie says Diddy sent her a subpoena March 19 demanding she turn over "all draft memoirs, autobiographies, narratives, diaries, journals or notes ... and any communications about plans to publish or threaten to publish such a document."

Wallo267's recent motivational speech about refusing to blindly support Black-owned businesses isn't sitting well with some of his peers!!!

The "Million Dollarz Worth of Game" podcast co-host was recently spotted teaching financial literacy at the "Credit 2 Cash" seminar ... where part of his rant about not falling for the affirmative action hustle was clipped and went viral.

Wallo called the act of promoting a business with race over brand quality or capability nothing but "finesse," and urged everyone to follow his lead!!!

Akon is happily joining the country music boom ... but unlike other rappers, he plans on re-recording his whole discography -- and giving people that honky-tonk twang!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with Akon in NYC this week out signing autographs, and he tells us with a straight face he's been lining up country features for the last 5 years to remake his tracks -- and claims it's happening soon!!!

Akon is one of the rare artists who's achieved mega success on both the artist and executive fronts ... a compilation of his classics could totally be a Billboard winner.

Multiple videos of Diddy beating up Cassie in a hotel hallway show "significant distortion" ... this according to a forensic video technician working for the rapper's team.

Conor McCourt -- a former New York City Police officer with years of experience analyzing video footage -- says in a sworn deposition that he has reviewed the clip CNN published, as well as another video of surveillance footage that was recorded on an iPhone 6 directly.

It's a bit confusing, but basically McCourt takes issue with both versions he's seen, first claiming the CNN vid appears sped up because it was converted from one file type to another in a process called "transcoding" ... which he claims adds, subtracts and duplicates frames.

9:54 AM PT -- A spokesperson for Universal Music Group tells TMZ ... "Drake, unquestionably one of the world's most accomplished artists and with whom we’ve enjoyed at 16-year successful relationship, is being misled by his legal representatives into taking one absurd legal step after another. In Texas last November, his counsel instituted a legal proceeding with much fanfare and bluster. On Monday, they quietly dropped the case."

They continued ... "In New York in January, Drake's counsel filed a defamation lawsuit. Fearful of being sanctioned by the court for asserting false allegations, tonight they amended the complaint to withdraw them only to add more baseless allegations. Two weeks ago, his representatives celebrated a 'win': the granting of a routine discovery motion. That 'win' will become a loss if this frivolous and reckless lawsuit is not dropped in its entirety because Drake will personally be subject to discovery as well. As the old saying goes, ‘be careful what you wish for.’

They concluded ... "Both the Texas and New York proceedings are an affront to all artists and creative expression. Should his legal representatives senselessly keep the New York lawsuit alive, we will demonstrate that all remaining claims are without merit. It is shameful that these foolish and frivolous legal theatrics continue. They are reputationally and financially costly to Drake and have no chance of success."

Drake says he has new ammo in his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group ... and it's all because of Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime show.

Champagne Papi just filed an amended complaint where he specifically mentions Kendrick's performance of "Not Like Us" at Super Bowl LIX.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Drake claims the show "assassinated" his character ... and he says Kendrick excluding the word "pedophile" from the lyrics backs up his claim that the song's content is defamatory.

Nearly 133 million people watched Kendrick Lamar diss Drake during this year's Super Bowl LIX halftime show ... but Lil Wayne swears he wasn't one of them!!!

The legendary rapper is claiming the NFL dangled the opportunity in front of him, only to flip the script and claim they weren't in control of the prestigious show ... while squaring the blame on Jay-Z and Roc Nation!!!

If you recall, Wayne had been campaigning for the hometown SB halftime gig in New Orleans for more than a year, only to reveal how much the snub gutted him in a very public fashion.