TMZ Hip Hop - Page 42

The judge in Diddy's criminal trial is issuing a warning to Mark Geragos over his public comments about the case, and vows he'll be watching and listening weekly to his podcast, "2 Angry Men."

Judge Arun Subramanian called Geragos into chambers Tuesday -- on day 2 of jury selection -- for a tête-à-tête about the famed attorney referring to the federal prosecuting team as a "6-pack of white women" during last week's episode of the podcast he co-hosts with TMZ's Harvey Levin.

Prosecutors alerted the judge to the comment, which they claimed violated court rules because Geragos appears to be consulting with Diddy's defense team. The rule bars prosecutors and attorneys involved in a trial from making public comments that could influence the jury.

Diddy judge Arun Subramanian looked more like a student heading into a building to attend class today -- instead of his day job, which is presiding over the disgraced music mogul's federal sex trafficking trial.

On Wednesday morning, TMZ shot video of Judge Subramanian as he zipped inside the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, where he's overseeing Diddy's infamous trial, which is in its third day of jury selection.

Subramanian is in his mid-40s, but he appears much younger, with a thin build and a spring in his step. What's more, Subramanian is wearing a backpack with chunky headphones over his ears, giving off more of a college vibe.

Diddy's legal team hasn't won the case yet ... but, they're off to a good start in the wardrobe department -- crushing prosecutors in the battle of fashion.

We have reporters inside the courtroom monitoring the trial ... and, they say the defense team's style choices are causing a stir among some members of the gallery. We also caught a few of Diddy's female attorneys coming out of the courthouse in their fancy duds -- and one of them actually spoke to our photog about her fashion sense. Check out our video.

Meanwhile, three women who make the "Rotten Mango" podcast were particularly floored by Teny Geragos, daughter of Mark Geragos (who cohosts our "2 Angry Men" podcast) ... she wore a chic ensemble -- a black print Veronica Beard dress accompanied by a short matching blazer. She finished off the look with 4.5-inch pointy black suede Aquazzura heels, complete with bows decorating the backs. She also sported a vintage black Chanel bag.

Diddy's defense team and federal prosecutors are adding 16 more potential jurors to the pool ... and one of them has strong feelings about the Cassie beating video.

After 2 days of jury selection, there are now a total of 35 people in the jury pool. Today's selections break down like this: 5 white men, 4 Black men, 3 Black women, 2 white women, 1 Latino man and 1 woman whose ethnicity isn't clear.

Perhaps the most interesting selection among that group was a man who told the judge he had seen the hotel surveillance video of Diddy attacking Cassie. He said Diddy looked "angry and hostile and entitled" during the brutal scene.

DDG says streaming is the perfect way for artists to reinvent themselves nowadays ... because the usual music industry promotional hustle has simply become a snore, bore and chore all wrapped in one!!!

TMZ Hip Hop recently caught up with DDG and his new haircut out on the town in L.A., celebrating the release of "blame the chat" ... the 15-track album he recorded on live stream right in front of fans' eyes.

The album features Wiz Khalifa, Offset, Rob49, PlaqueBoyMax and many more, details fans were privy to as the songs were being recorded in real-time.

The absence of Diddy's kids during jury selection this week ain't a sign of trouble -- they're still riding hard for their dad, TMZ has learned.

Family sources tell TMZ they’re just waiting for jury selection to wrap, and you better believe they’ll be there once things kick off, showing up for their dad like they always have in court.

To confirm, we're told there’s zero bad blood between Diddy and his kids -- in fact, it’s all love. Right now, his twin daughters Jessie and D’Lila have been busy juggling prom and school, but again, the whole crew still plans to pull up to court to support their dad.

It took nearly 5 years, but Spectacular Blue Smith has officially put his Disney World arrest behind him ... prosecutors just dropped the case!!!

We broke the story back in December 2020 ... the Pretty Ricky rapper was charged with battery after being accused of punching an employee at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom, where he was arrested ... for the first time in his life!!!

The criminal battery charge was officially dropped back in November ... and now Spec is celebrating a win in the civil case over the incident.

Diddy's lawyers and prosecutors are making headway on putting together a jury pool ... but, it's slow going -- 'cause there are so many landmines that are getting people tossed.

The second day of jury selection is proceeding in a Manhattan federal courthouse Tuesday ... and, while some people are making it through to the next round of jury selection, many more have been excused for cause.

Juror 149 -- one of many potential jurors who have been questioned to begin this week -- told the judge his son was beaten up and robbed while at George Washington University.

A$AP Rocky's whirlwind Met Gala hosting duties wouldn't have been possible had he been found guilty at his shooting trial ... a moment that's affected his music career -- but boosted his filmography!!!

While speaking to Variety, Rocky spoke out on how the attempted murder allegations levied by his ex-associate A$AP Relli were both “gut-wrenching and nerve-racking," but he was able to channel his emotions through his "Yung Felon" character in Spike Lee's "Highest 2 Lowest" film.

The trailer was released to match Met Gala's energy ... Rocky says portraying an inmate allowed him "to act like a piece of s*** who was going away for a long time but didn’t realize the consequences, because in real life, I knew exactly what the consequences felt like."

Bebe Rexha clapped back at Azealia Banks and other Met Gala haters, revealing she recently went through a pregnancy loss ... and urging people to think twice before tearing someone down over a red carpet look.

It all kicked off with Azealia, who -- while not at the Met -- took it upon herself to roast celebs from the comfort of her couch Monday night.

And she went in hard on Bebe ... "Sis gives me - hormonal birth control implant or something. It’s giving implanon/nuvaring she needs removed or depo shot that needs to stop happening (I’m not even tryna play her)."

Kanye West and Piers Morgan's latest interview came to a screeching halt -- and both guys have totally conflicting reports on what went wrong!!!

Ye and his new streaming buddy Sneako were live Tuesday with Piers from the same Mallorca, Spain mansion where they've been releasing new and old music ... when the conversation took a turn.

Ye can be seen telling Piers that he'll have to live with the response to the questions for the time being, before yanking out his earpiece within the early moments of the interview.

Rihanna says when the sun shines, we shine together ... but, when it rains, it's better to stay far apart -- 'cause the singer-songwriter took an umbrella to the face in stormy weather!

The singer-songwriter was out in New York City before the Met Gala on Monday ... and, while marching into the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan, she came up behind a man holding his own umbrella.

Check out the clip ... the man turns and his umbrella comes under RiRi's own -- which she's holding herself -- and appears to smack her right in the cheek.

Diddy's former employee Rodney Jones will have to refile his lawsuit against Cuba Gooding Jr. and Justin Combs if he wants to pursue legal action ... because the case has been dismissed due to failure to serve them papers.

The case was dismissed Tuesday morning ... with the court pointing to Jones' attorney Tyrone Blackburn's inability to effectively serve the two stars as the main reasons for the dismissal without prejudice.

According to the docs, Blackburn waited until the service deadline was imminent before making any meaningful efforts to serve them ... and failed to show any good reason for failing to get it done. Jones' lawsuit was filed back in February 2024.

Jay-Z has a new beef with his Jane Doe accuser -- even though she's dropped her lawsuit, he says she's on social media bragging she stands by her allegation he raped her.

Jay just filed an amendment to the defamation suit he filed against her and her attorney, Tony Buzbee. In the new docs, he calls out a TikTok she allegedly posted last month featuring some pretty angry lip-synched audio -- "You couldn't pay me a million dollars to get an apology video out of me, I stand on what I said, f*** you."

According to the suit, Doe publicly standing by her original claim she was raped "continues to display a shocking and reckless disregard for the truth that is both intentional and malicious."

Diddy has added a second Black attorney to his team of legal eagles ... because he just hired Nicole Westmoreland to work with his seven other lawyers to try to get him acquitted at his federal trial in NYC.

Westmoreland will work alongside another Black attorney, Xavier Robert Donaldson, and Diddy's leading trial lawyers Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos, who are both white.

Having two African American lawyers on Diddy's legal team is an interesting move, considering that his camp pointed to race as a major factor in what they say is a federal takedown of a rich, successful Black man.

Diddy's successfully excluded a prospective juror who took a cynical look at the legal system ... keeping a woman off the jury who thought the rap mogul might be able to purchase his freedom.

The exchange went down in court Tuesday ... with a judge asking Juror 48 if they answered "yes"  to any questions posed on the questionnaire -- and, she admitted there was one where she gave the affirmative, because of an alleged attempted rape.

While she didn't say she couldn't be fair, apparently she wrote on the questionnaire that the rap mogul has money and could potentially buy his way out of trouble.