Celebrity Feuds

Drake and his OVO Sound compadre PartyNextDoor are putting Kendrick Lamar's Halftime Show shots at them in their rearview mirror ... as they they try to respond to that huge moment in the culture.

Drake and Party unveiled the album cover art Tuesday for their new joint project, "$ome $exy $ongs 4 U," which drops, appropriately, on Friday ... Valentine's Day.

The album cover sets the mood featuring 2 models in fur coats braving the Toronto tundra, and Drake has been teasing some of the songs down in Australia during his "Anita Max Wynn" tour.

Justin Baldoni says he needs time to heal from an intense year ... admitting he's exhausted and anxious from a bunch of stress.

Baldoni opened up and got emotional in a face-to-face interview with Samir Mourani -- host of the "Gent's Talk Podcast" -- talking about his need for some serious self-care.

Justin sat for the interview a month prior to Blake Lively's first court filing accusing the "It Ends With Us" actor-director of sexual harassment and a public smear campaign ... and it's pretty evident his trying time with Blake on set is the cause of all his stress here.

Drake's Down Under on tour, and he was onstage venting about his exes -- just hours before two of them, Serena Williams and SZA, hit the Super Bowl stage with his sworn enemy, Kendrick Lamar.

Drake got spicy onstage, shading past flames who "play you in your f***ing life" ... and telling fans, "If you're doing better than your ex, turn up to this song!" -- before launching into "You Broke My Heart." He was performing a stop for his "Anita Max Win" tour at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia ahead of the Super Bowl kickoff in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Looks like Drake’s exes weren’t exactly crying over him -- they were too busy living it up at Caesars Superdome Sunday, with Serena, who he had a thing with from 2011 to 2015, making a dance cameo to "Not Like Us," the super popular track dissing Drizzy.

5:24 PM PT -- LiAngelo Ball just posted a picture with Rashida Nicole ... seemingly making them Instagram official after Nikki Mudarris accused him of abandoning their family earlier in the day.

LiAngelo Ball is dealing with some baby mama drama ... the mother of his 2 children claims he is walking out on their family after getting another woman pregnant and starting a new life with her.

The "Tweaker" rapper and basketball player has two kids with Nikki Mudarris ... and the reality TV star claims LiAngelo just confessed to cheating on her.

Nikki says ... "I see everyone has been sending me @gelo cheating on me. I want to clear this up and speak my truth. I am just as surprised as you are. We spent 3 1/2 years together, and last week he decided to walk out on his kids and tell me he got someone else pregnant (allegedly) and now is creating a new life with her."

Justin Baldoni is breaking his silence amid his ugly legal battle with Blake Lively, saying in a teary-eyed promo clip for a soon-to-be-aired interview he's had an "intense year."

Baldoni sat down with Samir Mourani -- host of the "Gent's Talk" podcast -- for an emotional face-to-face, recorded a month prior to Lively's first court filing accusing the "It Ends With Us" actor-director of sexual harassment and publicly smearing her name. As you know, Lively starred with Baldoni in the film.

In the short interview clip with quick jump cuts, Baldoni tells Mourani, “I had an intense year" and “This morning I sent a text message ... I had anxiety.”

Ashanti has broken her silence on the death of Irv Gotti ... and her heartfelt message made it clear she cared for him deeply ... but it certainly wasn't always great between the duo.

In her IG message Friday night, Ashanti called the late cofounder of Murder Inc. a "musical genius" who had the "ability to push me to be my best."

The music mega-producer -- who worked with big acts like DMX, Ja Rule and Ashanti -- died Wednesday in New York City. It's currently unclear exactly how he died.

Kendrick Lamar is about to find out if his smash hit "Not Like Us" is as popular with NFL and network lawyers and execs as it is with the public -- and his Super Bowl Halftime Show hangs in the balance.

This is a big day down in the Big Easy, as Kendrick's set list is expected to be handed off to the NFL and FOX honchos gathered in New Orleans for the game. Wednesday is typically the day Halftime Show performers pull back the curtain for the league, and reveal the songs they're going to perform.

But, this year there's extra attention on Kendrick's plans, because of "Not Like Us," and the defamation lawsuit Drake filed against Universal Music Group over the diss track ... which, as we all know, flat-out calls Drake a "certified pedophile."

Justin Baldoni's lawyer has an ace in the hole in his client's legal war with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds ... and the threat of a Taylor Swift deposition can go a long way here.

TMZ has a new podcast with Harvey Levin and Mark Geragos -- "Two Angry Men" -- and in our first episode we broke down the Blake-Baldoni beef with special guest Bryan Freedman, the attorney repping Justin.

Harvey hammers Bryan about potentially deposing Taylor ... because she's central to the dispute by virtue of her involvement in an infamous meeting between Justin, Blake and Ryan.

Comic Cristina Payne says comedian Corey Holcomb is lying about their physical altercation outside a popular comedy club ... she says he hit her, not the other way around -- as Corey is now claiming.

We got Cristina in downtown Los Angeles and our photog asked her about Corey's recent legal filing ... a restraining order request where he alleged she sucker-punched him.

Cristina tells us Corey is flipping the narrative when he's really the attacker here ... and she says he's lying to avoid potential jail time and to protect his new comedy gig.

Drake is still in his feelings when it comes to LeBron James ... 'cause the rap superstar switched up his song lyrics to take shots at the Lakers champion amid their apparent feud.

Drizzy's in Australia for his "Anita Max Wynn Tour" this week ... and when it came time to perform his track, "Nonstop," on Tuesday -- he notably revised a line that name-dropped the King.

The line usually goes, "How I go from 6 to 23 like I'm LeBron?" ... but instead, the 6ix God changed it to "but NOT LeBron."

Don Lemon is firing back at Kanye West’s Grammy rant against him ... telling us he doesn’t get why the rapper had to throw a racial slur into the mix.

We caught up with Don about the situation, and he clarifies he was just trying to ask Kanye a music question on the Grammys red carpet Sunday -- so he has no idea where Ye’s claims that Don was behind the false reports of him getting booted from the ceremony came from.

But Don was clear one thing ... saying Kanye calling him a "k***" was totally unwarranted.

Blake Lively is emotionally zapped, but more than eager to get her day in court for the Justin Baldoni case ... where she is confident her facts will overcome his "sideshow."

A source close to Blake tells TMZ ... the whole Baldoni drama is taking a deep emotional toll on Blake and her family, causing her and Ryan Reynolds severe anguish, which allegedly  started way back on the set of "It Ends With Us" ... and she wants to get this all buttoned up.

Blake and Justin's legal teams were in court Monday for the first time since she sued him for sexual harassment and he fired back with his counter suit against her and the New York Times ... and we're told Blake is grateful with how the first hearing played out.

Blake Lively's living in a fantasy land when it comes to the first court date in the Justin Baldoni case ... at least according to his camp.

Justin's "It Ends With Us" costar and legal foe believes the judge ruled in her favor at Monday's hearing ... but Baldoni's side has a completely opposite takeaway.

Sources close to Justin's team tell TMZ ... "The judge did not rule in Ms. Lively's favor, what they had asked of the court was a gag order, for Blake not to be deposed by Bryan and for the entire case to be dismissed against them -- none of that happened."

Kanye West and Bianca Censori are on the same page regarding her gratuitous displays of public nudity ... Ye's longtime pal has seen the cooperation with his own two eyes!!!

Malik Yusef tells TMZ Hip Hop that Ye and Bianca's marriage union is strong and they make decisions together ... which includes her deciding to get buck naked on the Grammys red carpet!!!

Neither Ye nor Malik won the Grammys they were nominated for on Sunday, but the Internet determined Bianca stole the show -- something the megastar rapper had no problem bragging about this morning.

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively aren’t losing sleep over their legal battle with Justin Baldoni -- they’re all smiles in a new couple’s selfie!

Shared by the "Deadpool" star on IG Monday, Blake looked fab snapping the pic while Ryan kept her close, arm wrapped around her, on a dimly lit street -- showing he's got her back and, judging by those grins, feeling confident they’ve got this legal conflict in the bag.

The selfie is posted in the middle a string of pics -- including one of Ryan visiting Elihu Yale’s tomb in the UK and another from a Q&A at The Paley Center in NYC -- showing he’s booked, busy, and treating this lawsuit war like no biggie.

11:10 AM PT -- Blake Lively's attorneys Michael Gottlieb and Esra Hudson tell TMZ ... “We are pleased with the result of today’s hearing and eager to move forward immediately with discovery in this case. The Court granted our request that all attorneys in the matter actually follow the rule of law and not make any statements that could prejudice a jury. This case deals with serious allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation. We will hold the defendants accountable, and we are confident that once all the evidence is submitted in this matter, Ms. Lively will prevail.”

The judge required both sides to abide by New York Rules of Professional Conduct, which prevents lawyers from making statements with a “substantial likelihood” they could taint a jury. Still, the rules afford attorneys the opportunity to speak with the media to protect their clients from negative publicity.

Baldoni's attorney Bryan Freedman says he's cool with those rules, and for now, so are Blake's attorneys.

Justin Baldoni just scored what he sees as a legal win over Blake Lively ... because the first court hearing in their beef ended with half a gag order for Justin's lawyer.

The "It Ends With Us" stars had their legal teams go before a judge Monday in New York for the first time since Blake filed her sexual harassment lawsuit against Justin, who fired back with his own $400 million defamation suit.

Blake's been trying to get Justin's attorney, Bryan Freedman, to stop blabbing about the case in the media.