TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

DJ Quik was honored as part of Los Angeles radio station KDay's 40th celebration last night -- and he made sure the audience could smell the flowers he was getting, reminding them of all the iconic tracks he's produced for other artists!!!

TMZ Hip Hop got this video of Quik performing Thursday night in L.A., where he put on a brave face for the crowd — he and his family buried his brother Gerald Ray earlier in the day -- but the original Bompton rapper explained why his late sibling would understand.

Quik had his son David Blake Jr. spin through a barrage of his personal hits, along with tracks he lent any bit of studio time to get 'em done -- 2Pac and Snoop Dogg's "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted," Kendrick Lamar's "King Kunte" and 50 Cent's "If I Can't" ... to name just a handful of the classic he played.

He also showed love to YG's super platinum "My Hitta" single -- which Quik says he engineered and recorded but never officially got credit for doing it.

Tha Dogg Pound helped Los Angeles fill in the gaps after the city's faced criticism for lacking Hip Hop 50th celebrations -- but Kurupt and Daz Dillinger were front and center for KDAY's 40th anniversary!!!

The iconic L.A. radio station pioneered the city's rap movement and DPG's admitted, over the years, they owe KDAY big time.

Unlike other Death Row artists back in the day, they didn't have major-label distribution, but their 1995 project, "Dogg Food," still became the first indie rap album to top the Billboard 200 chart.

We got footage of their performance last night ... the West Coast duo appeared lively as they and DJ Battlecat ripped through familiar tracks such as "Who Ride Wit Us" and "Cali Iz Active."

All that West Coastness brought out the ultimate fan in Luenell, who was in the front row rapping along line for line with DPG!!!

She later threw on her Nipsey Hussle jacket and posed for pics with the crew backstage -- nothing but big pimpin' baby!!!

Nick Cannon and Zeus Network are getting put on blast for a competition that pitted "dark skin" and "light skin" women against each other.

Here's the deal, Zeus and Nick collaborated on a live show Thursday night called "Bad vs. Wild Las Vegas" -- pinning "Wild 'N Out" stars from Nick's side against "Baddies" from Zeus' side.

Promo posts online said it would feature several competitions with different themes -- one being a separation by skin tone.

The post was met with a lot of hate because of its colorist implications -- Zeus took it down and uploaded an edited version, which read, "Chocolate Goddesses VS Caramel Goddesses."

That didn't sit well with folks, either ... with many pointing out the name change doesn't alter the intent of the competition.

Zeus' new post also added, "Remember, we’re here to break down stereotypes, not to uphold them."

Still, folks chimed in on the game ... getting comments like "This is still colorist y'all are sad" and "This whole idea should've just been scrapped." One added, "This is just as bad as lightskin vs darkskin....yall didnt do anything but try to put a positive spin on colorism."

Zeus and Nick also had a "BBWs vs. Slim Girls" competition go down on the same night ... which was met with the same disdain.

Quavo just channeled his inner 'Karate Kid' ... breaking a board with just one punch during a sweat sesh in Japan!!!

The Migos rapper hopped in a Gi for the feat ... slamming his fist right through a piece of wood -- and video from the scene is awesome.

You can see the 32-year-old rapper square up with his trainer ... before throwing a right hand that blasted straight through the piece of timber.

Unclear why Quavo was performing the move ... though based on his social media postings this week -- it appears to be for a scene in an upcoming music video.

Nonetheless, Quavo was obviously thrilled with it all ... yelling after breaking the board, "Yeahhhhhhhh! That was nice!"

Some of his millions of fans on social media thought it was hilarious ... with a few dubbing the jab the "Huncho punch."

Common and Jennifer Hudson are talking about a powerful, romantic, soulful collab -- not necessarily a wedding, at this point -- but musically, he'd love to make something together.

The topic came up last night as Common pulled up at LAX, where a photog asked him about the odds of his GF and him hitting the studio anytime soon.

Common says the chances are high, but he's not willing to say exactly when -- he approaches music like relationships ... the records have to happen organically!!!

The Chicago natives have been going strong for well over a year and Common had no problem bigging up his partner ... dubbing her one of the "greatest voices of this generation" oughta score him some points this holiday season.

Common's praise echoed much of what Jennifer told us when we spoke to her in August ... they're not embellishing their union for the public eye, but they're not dodging the PDA moments either.

It's not like Common can really overhype his woman -- Jennifer is the youngest woman to earn EGOT status, and he's just a Tony away from joining that elite status.

Bhad Bhabie aka Danielle Bregoli, is making sure you "cash her bump ousside" ... as she was seen publicly for the first time since her big pregnancy reveal.

The 20-year-old Dr. Phil alum paraded her bump in a black crop top as she left her L.A. home Thursday ... carrying a Jersey's Mike Sub order to combat those pregnancy cravings.

Bhabie's BF, Le Vaughn, emerged shortly after ... confirming they're going stronger than ever as they prepare for parenthood.

TMZ broke the story back in April that they got matching tats ... so, needless to say, it would've been a pain -- quite literally -- if they had split and got the inkings removed.

Their low-key outing comes a week after the rapper revealed on IG she had a bun in the oven.

This is BB's first pregnancy ... and we're not sure how far along she is.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori were Dubai mall rats Thursday ... and her shoes turned heads, but not in a good way.

K&B were both decked out in all-black ensembles ... Bianca went for flair by rocking Balenciaga furry pumps that go for $1,130 out the door.

She was covered pretty much head to toe, except for her face and hands ... it's standard issue in many parts of the Middle East, although Dubai has more relaxed customs than most.

Ye's tank top had both his guns a-blazin' -- a similar wardrobe choice as the one he performed in with Lil Durk, Ty Dolla $ign and Bump J over Thanksgiving weekend.

Nicki Minaj has finally dropped her long-awaited "Pink Friday 2" album ... and, as expected, she sent plenty of shots in hot verses.

For starters, on the song "FTCU," Nicki gets into her metaphor bag with the lyrics, "Stay in your Tory lane, bitch, I'm not Iggy," ... a line that's got fans wondering if she's taking shots at Megan Thee Stallion.

Nicki and Meg have been at odds for years and of course, Meg and Tory Lanez have a horrendous past ... a chapter recently closed after he was convicted of shooting the "Savage" rapper.

Ahead of his sentencing, Tory and Iggy Azalea were collaborating on music and even entertaining dating rumors ... loyalty paid in full when Iggy put her rep on the line when she penned a letter to the judge on behalf of Tory.

Iggy even ripped reports last year that she had issues with Nicki, but may change her tune as she's now being used as a punchline.

Nicki's track stands for "F*** the Club Up" -- the same message Cardi B's friends Latto and GloRilla spread on their track of the same name last year ... but it's clear Nicki wants the title for herself.

Fans also note Nicki used wordplay to shade Latto later on the track "Fallin' For You" ... "Picture not listenin’ when I said you would dread that/I mean locs, ho, you’s a chop ho/ I’m number one, y’all go argue over top four ..."

Post Malone has become so synonymous with the Dallas Cowboys -- he's now joined the famed "88 Club" group text that includes Drew Pearson, Michael Irvin, Dez Bryant and CeeDee Lamb!!!

Pearson revealed the eyebrow-raising fact to TMZ Sports this week ... saying Post has demonstrated so much love to Dallas over the past few years that he and other Cowboys legends have now opened their arms -- and their text messages -- to the "Congratulations" crooner.

It's, of course, a huge deal ... because the "88 Club" has long been limited to Dallas players who have starred while wearing jersey No. 88 -- and only those players.

But, Pearson explained Post has just become that good of a friend and that big of a fan.

"Our honorary guy on the '88 Club' is Post Malone," Pearson said.

Pearson then told us Post actually chimes in on their group chat during games ... saying, "You know he's going crazy!" while watching the action on his TV screen.

"He's on the group text with us," Pearson reiterated. "He's a big fan."

Post has professed his love for the Cowboys for years -- but most recently, he's really kicked things up a notch. In October, he opened up a Dallas-themed Raising Cane's ... and a month later, he helped design a Cowboys clothing line as well.

Ginuwine's throwing water on at least one story from Britney Spears' memoir -- because he has no recollection of Justin Timberlake wiggin' out when they all ran into each other back in the day.

In "The Woman in Me," Britney claimed that JT royally her embarrassed when they were dating by throwing on a "blaccent" for Ginuwine -- going full-blown "fo shiz" with his slang. 🙈

Well, Ginuwine has a different memory of things ... telling People he's the same 'ol G he was back in the early 2000s, so he would've remembered Justin trying too hard to fit in, and would've questioned him on the spot.

Now, Britney also claimed *NSYNC intentionally mingled with Black artists, while the Backstreet Boys positioned themselves as a white group.

Justin hasn't responded to any of Britney's allegations about him -- but his *NSYNC buddies made it clear they have his back this year. They even returned to the Billboard charts with their new song "Better Place" for the 'Trolls' movie.

Kodak Black is behind bars after getting arrested for cocaine possession ... and cops say he tried to hide the evidence right in front of them.

According to the report, cops in Plantation, FL say they spotted a black Bentley SUV blocking a roadway Thursday morning ... which, obviously, they saw as an accident waiting to happen.

Plantation PD says the SUV's window was halfway down, and they found Kodak asleep in the driver's seat ... with a strong odor of cannabis coming from inside the vehicle. They say Kodak admitted there was weed in the SUV, but when the officer noticed a Styrofoam cup that reeked of alcohol ... he told Kodak to exit the vehicle.

The officer says he noticed Kodak turned his back to him, and saw white powder falling on the ground next to Kodak ... as he was standing in front of the patrol vehicle's beaming headlights.

According to the report, the officer then noticed Kodak's mouth full of white powder, and later observed several white rock-like objects on the ground ... which Kodak allegedly said was Percocet.

However, the officer tested the powder on the scene and says it came back positive for cocaine. Kodak was ultimately arrested for possession, tampering with evidence, and violation of his existing probation. On the lesser end, he got a traffic violation for obstructing the road.

His Bentley SUV was towed and cops say the ride looked like it had been in an accident, noting damage to the bumper and door.

New York may be hip hop's birthplace, but New Jersey rappers have plenty of rights to the legacy -- just ask the Garden State All-Stars leading the charge for 'MTV Unplugged's resurrection.

Last month, several Garden State rap pioneers such as Queen Latifah, Wyclef Jean, Redman and Naughty By Nature's Treach, took over the Newark Symphony Hall to celebrate their specific contributions to Hip Hop's 50th anniversary.

Other Jersey-grown talent for the special includes Def Jam's first female act Heather B., Poor Righteous Teachers, Lady Luck, Lords Of The Underground, and "Rapper's Delight" creators The Sugarhill Gang.

Adam Blackstone, the music director who helped Rihanna break Super Bowl numbers back in February, is steering the ship here and is also part of the frat ... he hails from Trenton.

Queen Latifah is one of the co-executive producers for the special, which airs on December 14 on MTV before encoring on BET on Friday and VH1 the following Tuesday.

Def Jam co-founder Russell Simmons is speaking out about multiple rape allegations made against him years ago ... and he's continuing to deny sexually assaulting anyone.

The music mogul opened up about the claims against him on Wednesday's episode of "In Depth with Graham Bensinger" ... saying, "I've never been violent to anybody" -- adding all his relationships "have been consensual."

He owns up to being insensitive and using "crude" language during sexual encounters over the years, but shoots down the notion he's been "forceful" with any past partners.

Further, he complains he's suffered greatly due to the allegations ... saying, "All my five charities have gone down." However, he applauds the #MeToo movement -- which fueled the heat on Simmons in 2017 -- by saying, "It's done a lot of great work for women. It sensitized men in ways they were not sensitized, and for that I'm grateful."

Simmons stops short of flat-out calling his accusers liars, and instead, suggests this is more about changing times and attitudes toward sex. He says he's had thousands of sexual partners over the years, but thinks it's not fair to compare the climate of today to how it was 40 years ago.

As we reported, multiple women came forward claiming Russell sexually assaulted them over the years. He was also sued by Jennifer Jarosik in 2018 over similar allegations -- but the case was dismissed months after she filed. Simmons maintained her allegations were "absolutely untrue."

By the way, Graham flew to Simmons' home in Bali -- where he's lived since 2017 -- to do the interview, but Simmons denies fleeing, saying ... "Because I left and I spend so much time here, people assumed that I really left and ran even though I'm back in America all the time."

There's a good reason Taylor Swift called out Kim Kardashian in TIME over a now 7-year-old phone call with Kanye West -- it's an incident for which Kim still has not apologized ... TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us Kim has never said sorry to Taylor over the notorious "Famous" phone call between Taylor and Kanye in 2016 ... the one Kim and Ye released, attempting to show Taylor was cool with the song's racy line about her.

Remember, at the time of the track's release, Taylor expressed outrage over Ye's lyric ... "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex // Why? I made that bitch famous." In response to Taylor's anger, Kim posted her version of the recorded phone call in an effort to prove Taylor understood exactly what the song would include.

However, the full unedited version of the recorded call eventually came out, and it became clear Kanye had not revealed he'd refer to Taylor as a "bitch."

Our sources say Kim's never apologized to Taylor for the call -- and even after the Time article, it's still crickets.

Interestingly, we're told Taylor would actually accept an apology from Kim on this issue, even all these years later, but only under one specific condition ... it would have to be done publicly.

As one source put it to us, a public shaming calls for a public "I'm sorry."

Our sources say Taylor still feels like Kim and Kanye were in the wrong ... and she was dumbfounded when Kim doubled down on her position even after the full, unedited version of their call got published.

From Kim's POV -- which she made clear in tweets at the time, and in subsequent interviews -- the fact Taylor was looped in on the song, period, vindicated her and Kanye ... but we're told Taylor's position has always been about the use of the word "bitch."

Kim downplayed that in a GQ piece ... saying all rappers use that term, and that it was NBD -- and while this might sound like a lot of hair-splitting ... we're told Taylor still feels she was seriously wronged in the framing of all that, something she touched on in her TIME interview.

Again, we're told Taylor is still willing to bury the hatchet with Kim -- who has since divorced Kanye -- but at this point, our sources say the 2 women have no relationship.

Even more context to all this is, of course, Kanye's infamous tirade interrupting Taylor's 2009 VMAs acceptance speech -- an old feud that got relitigated with the phone call saga in 2016 ... and is now being reopened yet again in 2023.

Houston rapper Sauce Walka is free on bond after police say he attempted to flee at a crazy high speed ... only to find himself in the hospital after wrecking his car.

Harris County Sheriff's Office tells us deputies observed Sauce running a red light Wednesday night and attempted to pull him over -- but he darted away, eventually reaching a top speed of 130 mph during a pursuit that lasted just over 2 miles.

Cops say the rapper then lost control of his vehicle, crashed and ended up needing to be rushed to a hospital. We're told doctors treated him for non-life-threatening injuries.

Sauce was eventually released from the hospital, and booked into the Harris County Joint Processing Center for felony evading in a vehicle.

We're told Sauce was released on $15k bond, and has a court date this Friday ... which he doesn't seem to be worried about.

After getting sprung from jail, SW phoned his homie Sauce Money JC and described the incident as a "catastrophic accident,” but downplayed it by promoting his new music.

Drake's latest Turks & Caicos vacation seems to include a blossoming romance with a bartender named Flacka, who's got the boy's nose wide open ... as he serenaded her in her off-hours.

On Wednesday, Drake and his crew hit an intimate beach club named Noah's Ark which reunited him with Flacka -- he's already nicknamed her “The Pride" of Turks and made sure to get additional face time with her at the bar.

Besides serving up cold drinks, she also helped Drizzy model his T&C-inspired Nike x Nocta drop in March ... and their friendship doesn't end there.

Drake previously shouted her out on his “Her Loss” track “P***y & Millions” and had no issues putting her all over his IG ... for his 144 million followers to see.

The evening ended with more canoodling -- a candlelit dinner where Drake sang his tune "Feel No Ways" ... leaving Flacka blushing!!!

They later posed for pics where she called him a "cutie" and Drake described her as "the one and only!"