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Megan Thee Stallion's no longer tethered to the 1501 Certified Ent. label she railed against for years -- and Trinidad James thinks the "Savage" rapper can become an even bigger act.

TJ floated all the possibilities speaking to TMZ Hip Hop at LAX this week but predicts Meg will land all right. He says there's also a possibility momentum fizzles.

Thee Stallion is gearing up to resume her career Monday with a new release after telling fans she was entering a new journey, where she'll be paying out of her own pocket to give fans the good news.

TJ tells us having a solid team is crucial to making money in the music biz and the industry is especially shady when it comes to the needs of women.

Fat Joe suele llevar una vida de lujos a su alrededor, especialmente cuando se trata de sus ruedas. Recientemente, el rapero personalizó un Rolls-Royce Cullinan, por $750K, con un montón de características fuera de este mundo.

El Don ordenó este trabajo hace cuatro meses. Fue una compra improvisada después de que viera una versión de la amplia carrocería Rolls mientras estaba fuera en Dubai.

Nos dicen que Joe, tuvo una llamada de FaceTimed con Will Castro de Unique Whips en Speedvision, el segundo que vio el vehículo y le pidió que le construyera uno.

Will le dice a TMZ Hip Hop que el trabajo resultó ser un reto para el equipo. Joe exige lo mejor y los kits se hacen por encargo y se entregan desde Europa.

En total, desembolsó $100k para el cuerpo del carro y el equipo de Will añadió 24 "ruedas y neumáticos", lo que llevó más de un mes en ser construido.

Will hizo todo el trabajo de carrocería, pintura, etc. y le entregará el carro personalmente a Joe este fin de semana. El último modelo es el tercer Rolls-Royce SUV que Will y su equipo han hecho para el rapero. Solo el año pasado, le hizo un diseño en naranja y negro.

Fat Joe keeps a world of luxury around him, and that includes his wheels ... recently snagging a $750K custom Rolls-Royce Cullinan with a bunch of sick features.

The Don ordered the custom Rolls-Royce 4 months ago -- an impromptu purchase after he saw a version of the wide-body Rolls while he was out in Dubai.

We're told Joe FaceTimed Will Castro from Unique Whips on Speedvision the second he saw the vehicle, and asked Will to build him one.

Will tells TMZ Hip Hop the job proved to be challenging for the team ... Joe demands the absolute best and the kits are made to order and delivered from Europe.

Joe's dropped $100k for the car's body, and Will and his crew added 24” wheels and tires ... the whole thing took the team over a month to build.

Will did all the bodywork, paint, carbon work and will be self-delivering Joe his new car this weekend. The latest cartraption marks the 3rd Rolls-Royce SUV Will and the team has done for Joe ... just last year, they hooked him up with a sweet RR orange-and-black ensemble.

Bummed Khamzat Chimaev vs. Paulo Costa ain't happening on Saturday?! Don't be ... 'cause UFC legend Chuck Liddell says he's actually more pumped for the fight vs. Kamaru Usman!

"I'm excited about it. That card fell apart, and I'm actually more excited about the card now [with Usman fighting Chimaev] than I was before [when Costa was fighting Khamzat]," the UFC legend told TMZ Sports this week at LAX.

Of course, both the main and co-main events of UFC 294 were lost last week ... when Charles Oliveira -- scheduled to fight Islam Makhachev -- and Paulo Costa were both forced out with injuries.

Thankfully, Alex Volkanovski and Kamaru are bonafide badasses ... and both guys agreed to travel thousands of miles and fight on less than two weeks' notice.

(We also talked to Liddell about "Dad Bods" ... hence this ⬇)

We followed up with The Iceman, asking him about the wisdom of stepping in the Octagon with an undefeated fighter on 10 days' notice.

"Kamaru Usman is always ready. He trains all the time. He stays in shape. He's a good guy. I'm excited about this fight. If he took it on 10 days' notice he thinks he's going to win."

Khabib Nurmagomedov was one of, if not the most dominant UFC fighter ever, but the retired, undefeated, former champion wants someone to actually be better than he was ... Islam Makhachev!

Of course, Makhachev is fighting Alex Volkanovski in just a few hours in the main event at UFC 294 ... and we recently spoke with Ali Abdelaziz, Islam and Khabib's manager and close friend, about their relationship.

"Khabib wants Islam to be better. That's what's beautiful about it," Ali said of Nurmagomedov's desire for his pupil to surpass his accomplishments.

Whether 31-year-old Makhachev is better in certain areas (striking, for example) is up for debate ... but when it comes to pure dominance of an opponent, Ali doesn't believe Islam's quiet on Khabib's (29-0) level just yet.

"Islam lost, Khabib never lost. Islan might be all the way technically better, but dominance, I don't think anybody can be as dominant as Khabib is. You see Henry lose, Kamaru. A lot of guys lost. Khabib never even have one blood leave his body. When you have a guy who never bled in 29 fights, it's very hard to match him. It's a very tall order to match him. It's almost impossible."

But, that's exactly what Khabib wants for Islam ... who has a record of 24-1. His sole loss came in 2015.

Abdelaziz does think there's another fighter who is closer to Nurmagomedov's dominance ... Umar Nurmagomedov, Khabib's cousin.

Umar is 16-0, and 4-0 in the UFC ... and the 12th ranked bantamweight.

"The guy who is closer to Khabib than anybody is Umar. I truly believe Umar is the closest to Khabib's dominance."

For Islam, the #3 ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the entire UFC, a win over #2 ranked Volkanovski would be another step towards fulfilling Khabib's wish.

Dee Snider is cool with politicians on both sides using his band's anthem on the campaign trail ... but he's drawing a line when it comes to anyone spewing QAnon conspiracies.

We got the Twisted Sister frontman at LAX and our photog asked him where he stands on politicians playing "We're Not Gonna Take It" ... now that campaign season is about to heat up.

Dee says Republicans and Democrats have his blessing to play the song at rallies, appearances and in ads ... but says the same does not hold true for any candidates who go full QAnon.

The issue with QAnon for Dee ... it's all a bunch of lies and BS, and he feels there's already enough of that in the world.

Dee's made his feelings on QAnon well-known on social media over the years ... and he's doubling down here.

We also asked Dee how he feels about the U.S. military using the song as a battle cry now that another war has erupted ... and he explains why the armed forces are more than welcome to rock out to Twisted Sister.

Bravo allowed its "Real Housewives" stars to get way out of control -- fueling them with booze and a party environment -- which allegedly led to a man hired as a butler to be sexually abused ... according to a lawsuit he's brought against the network.

The guy, Marco Vega, says he was hired on during season 2 of "Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip" as a butler at Dorinda Medley's Blue Stone Manor in Massachusetts the cast visited in September 2021. Vega says the women were drinking heavily -- shots of bourbon and cocktails included.

He says at one point, a woman came out to perform a strip tease for the housewives, and once that stopped, show producers told him to, "go over and get the women dancing!"

In Vega's lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, he claims during the dancing, Phaedra Parks slapped him on the butt and Brandi Glanville ran over to him, pulled him over to her by the back of his shirt and ripped it off ... exposing his bare chest.

Vega says Glanville yelled, "Earn your money, Marco. Take your shirt off. Do something!"

Vega says after the wild party, he returned to his hotel -- and filled his wife in on the night. Vega claims she was very upset, and the whole thing has caused him some serious marital issues.

Marco's suing Bravo because he says the network has a pattern of encouraging the housewives to engage in sexually inappropriate behavior. He's not suing Brandi or Phaedra.

DJ Envy's ex-business partner Cesar Pina was arrested on fraud charges Wednesday ... but reports that federal officials raided the iHeartRadio offices and removed electronic equipment are not true ... this according to federal law enforcement sources.

Envy's lawyer Massimo D'Angelo tells TMZ Hip Hop ... the reports are yet another example of the "continued sensationalization" in the media to attach his client's name to this story ... even though he insists Envy is one of the victims, not a perpetrator, of the alleged fraud.

Law enforcement sources tell us the same, and a source iHeartMedia also confirmed to us that no equipment was removed from the building.

We're told the New Jersey Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI all had a part in investigating the case and officials were at the offices to alert Envy that Pina had been arrested.

Pina was charged with one count of wire fraud ... and pleaded not guilty before being released on a $1 million bond.

He's not allowed to leave the state and is restricted to electronic monitoring.

Britney Spears and Wade Robson had a much deeper affair than what Britney claims in her memoir, so says Britney's former songwriting partner ... who tells us Justin Timberlake found a long breakup letter Britney wrote to Wade which blew the whole thing up.

Annet Artani -- who helped write "Everytime" with Britney in 2003 -- appeared on TMZ Live Friday ... and she dropped a bombshell.

While we know Britney confesses to cheating on JT in her "Woman in Me" memoir, saying she and Robson made out at a bar while she was still dating Justin ... Artani remembers things much differently.

The songwriter says things were much more serious with Britney and Wade than just a one-night makeout sesh. In fact, she claims Britney had written a 14-page breakup letter to Robson which she hid in her makeup bag.

As Annet says ... you don't write a lengthy letter to someone you only kissed.

Shockingly, Artani claims, Justin ended up finding the breakup letter before Britney could give it to Wade ... and Justin learned all about their affair, calling it quits with Britney a short time later.

Britney Spears y Wade Robson tuvieron un romance mucho más profundo de lo que Britney afirma en sus memorias, según dice su ex compositora, quien asegura que Justin Timberlake encontró una larga carta de ruptura de Britney a Wade que incendió las cosas.

Annet Artani, quien ayudó a escribir "Everytime" con Britney en 2003, apareció en TMZ Live este viernes y reveló la primicia.

Aunque sabemos que Britney confiesa haber engañado a Justin en sus memorias "Woman in Me", en donde cuenta que ella y Robson se besaron en un bar mientras todavía salía con Justin, Artani recuerda las cosas de manera muy diferente.

La compositora dice que las cosas fueron más serias que solo un par de besos. De hecho, dice que Britney habría escrito una carta de ruptura de 14 páginas a Robson que escondió en su bolso de maquillaje.

Como dice Annet, nadie escribe una larga carta a alguien que solo ha besado.

Sorprendentemente, Artani afirma que Justin terminó encontrando la carta antes de que Britney se la entregara a Wade. Se enteró de todo el romance y puso fin a su relación con ella poco tiempo después.

Quavo's time away from music last year to mourn the death of his nephew Takeoff left an incomplete collaboration on the table ... but now, he's finished it up.

Up-and-coming rapper Swxm dropped his new single "Swim" Friday which includes a vibrant feature from Quavo ... a track he recorded in Spring 2022 after Swxm sent the track over to one of their mutual friends.

Swxm and Quavo shot the video that summer in both Long Island and Atlanta ... and he and his team worked diligently with clearance attorney lawyer Bob Celestin to get the appropriate paperwork.

Tragedy struck near the day Quavo's label QC/Motown was to sign the side artist waiver agreement -- Takeoff's death on Nov. 1, 2022 -- leaving the song to dwell in purgatory.

Swxm's team tells us Quavo's team reached out just last week excited about dropping the visual, and now we've got the song. Early reactions are good, and the vibes are classic Quavo.

Directed by WillC & Richie4K, the breezy record addresses topics of floating and pushing through life's adversity ... we're told making for an easy bond between Swxm and Quavo.

Swxm lost his mom ahead of the 2020 pandemic and we're told he stays busy by pouring his all into his music.

Since losing Takeoff, Quavo has also been on a mission for the better ... he and his Rocket Foundation just stormed Washington D.C. meeting with members of Congress in an effort to thwart gun violence.

There's a chance Danny Masterson will never see life outside prison walls again, and he agrees, unsurprisingly, that Bijou Phillips should have custody of their 9-year-old daughter.

In legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Danny agrees to give his estranged wife, Bijou, both legal and physical custody of the couple's daughter, Fianna. He asks for visitation, but obviously, that'll be done under the supervision of prison officials if it's granted.

Danny lists the couple's date of separation as September 15 -- just one week after he was sentenced to 30 years to life -- for two counts of forcible rape. The two were married for 11 years, tying the knot in October 2011.

Bijou's filing came as a bit of a surprise considering she'd stuck by Danny's side throughout his criminal trial and even the retrial.

In the filing, Bijou's attorney, Peter A. Lauzon, tells TMZ, "Ms. Phillips has decided to file for divorce from her husband during this unfortunate time. Her priority remains with her daughter."

The statement continues, "This period has been unimaginably hard on the marriage and the family. Mr. Masterson was always present for Ms. Phillips during her most difficult times of her life. Ms. Phillips acknowledges that Mr. Masterson is a wonderful father to their daughter."

Kim Kardashian has been in court this week -- not as a lawyer or litigant, but as a prospective juror in a gang murder case ... TMZ has learned.

Kim was at the Van Nuys Courthouse all week, as part of a jury panel in a case where 2 men have been charged with murdering another man in a gang-related crime. We're told she was there 4 days in total, from Monday to Thursday.

Our producer was in the courtroom during voir dire -- where prospective jurors were questioned by the prosecutor and defense lawyers.

Kim made herself part of the group ... eating snacks in the courthouse hallway during the breaks with other prospective jurors. She dressed fancier than the others Thursday, wearing leather pants, high boots and a sleeveless white blouse.

Late Thursday, the lawyers agreed on 12 jurors and 4 alternates ... before Kim was ever questioned, so she was dismissed and left the courthouse ... having concluded her jury service.

In true Kardashian form, there were cameras from her Hulu show in the parking lot as she jumped in her SUV and left the courthouse.

Our producer says, at least on Thursday, the other prospective jurors were not particularly starstruck ... they treated her like one of them.

During the court session, Kim's bodyguard was seated right next to her in the front row of the peanut gallery.

As you know, Kim's gunning to become a lawyer. She's passed the California "baby bar" and is studying to take the actual bar exam for real.

Kim Kardashian ha estado en los tribunales esta semana. No como abogado ni como litigante, sino como una posible miembro del jurado en un caso de asesinato entre pandillas, según ha indagado TMZ.

Kim estuvo en el Tribunal de Van Nuys toda la semana, como parte del panel del jurado. El caso que se revisaba era el de dos hombres acusados de matar a otro en un crimen relacionado con pandillas. Nos dicen que estuvo allí cuatro días en total, de lunes a jueves.

Nuestro productor estuvo en la sala durante el voir dire (interrogatorio preliminar de un testigo o de un miembro del jurado), en donde todos los posibles miembros del jurado fueron interrogados por el fiscal y los abogados defensores.

Kim se integró al grupo, comiendo bocadillos en el pasillo del tribunal durante las pausas con otros posibles miembros del jurado. Eso sí, estaba más elegante que los demás el jueves, con pantalones de cuero, botas altas y una blusa blanca sin mangas.

A última hora del jueves, los abogados llegaron a un acuerdo sobre 12 miembros del jurado y 4 suplentes, todo esto, antes de que Kim fuera interrogada, por lo que finalmente fue desechada y abandonó el juzgado, así como su servicio como jurado.

Al más puro estilo Kardashian, había cámaras de su programa de Hulu en el estacionamiento, atentos a ella subiendo en su SUV y saliendo de la corte.

Nuestro productor dice que, al menos el jueves, los otros posibles miembros del jurado no estaban particularmente sorprendidos. La trataron como a una más.

Durante la sesión de la corte, el guardaespaldas de Kim estuvo sentado junto a ella en la primera fila de la galería.

Como saben, Kim quiere ser abogada. Ella ya ha pasado el "baby bar" de California y está estudiando para tomar el examen real.

Britney Spears is NOT singing about her pregnancy with Justin Timberlake or her abortion in the hit song "Everytime" ... so says the woman who wrote the song with Britney.

Songwriter Annet Artani tells TMZ … she worked with Britney on the song back in the day, and while Britney contributed, it was about their respective breakups ... and mostly Annet's.

Annet says when she was writing the lyrics she was coming off a fresh split from Britney's musical director ... and the song is mostly about Annet's relationship ... not Britney's unborn child, as some fans now suspect in the wake of Britney's recent bombshell.

Britney had been broken up with Justin for about 9 months at the time, and the song came out after he released "Cry Me a River" ... but Annet says Britney never mentioned a baby or an abortion during the writing process, and neither topic served as inspiration for the track.

Annet tells us she and Britney would sit at the piano together working on the song ... they were friends and were sharing pain, and they were both sad and would play piano together.

As we reported ... the famous lyric that has fans thinking Britney was secretly referencing her abortion is "I guess I need you, baby."

But, Annet says the tagline was just something she wrote about her own experiences with her relationship. To be even clearer, she says it's NOT a reference to an unborn baby.

As for the song's chorus ... "And every time I see you in my dreams I see your face, you're haunting me. I guess I need you, baby" ... Annet says Britney came up with "haunting," though she says they were simply trying to find words with rhymes.

Annet's kind of leaving the door open to the new Britney fan theory though ... she says she was not involved in the music video or the imagery of a woman giving birth, and that was all Britney, so it's possible that visual correlates to the decision she and Justin made to terminate her pregnancy.

Britney Spears NO está cantando sobre su embarazo con Justin Timberlake o su aborto en la exitosa canción "Everytime", así lo dice la mujer que escribió la canción con Britney.

La compositora Annet Artani le dice a TMZ que trabajó con Britney en la canción y nos puede afirmar que se trataba de sus respectivas rupturas... sobre todo la de Annet.

Annet dice que cuando estaba escribiendo la letra que estaba terminando una relación con el director musical de Britney, y la canción es acerca de la relación de Annet y no sobre el hijo por nacer de Britney, como algunos fans sospechaban a raíz de la reciente polémica de Britney.

Britney había roto con Justin por cerca de nueve meses en ese momento, y la canción salió después de que él lanzó "Cry Me a River", pero Annet dice que Britney nunca mencionó un bebé o un aborto durante el proceso de escritura y ninguno de los temas sirvió de inspiración para la pista.

Annet nos dice que ella y Britney se sentaban al piano juntas a trabajar en la canción. Eran amigas y estaban compartiendo el mismo tipo de dolor. Estaban tristes y tocaban el piano juntas.

Como informamos, la famosa letra que tiene a los fans pensando que Britney se refería en secreto a su aborto es "I guess I need you, baby".

Annet dice que el lema era algo que escribió sobre sus propias experiencias con su relación. Para ser aún más clara, dice que NO es una referencia a un bebé no nacido.

En cuanto al estribillo de la canción: "Y cada vez que te veo en mis sueños veo tu cara, me persigues. I guess I need you, baby"... Annet dice que a Britney se le ocurrió "haunting", aunque ella dice que simplemente estaban tratando de encontrar palabras que rimaran.

Annet es una especie de dejar la puerta abierta a la nueva teoría fan de Britney sin embargo ella dice que no estaba involucrado en el video musical o las imágenes de una mujer dando a luz, y que era todo Britney, por lo que es posible que visual se correlaciona con la decisión que ella y Justin hizo para interrumpir su embarazo.