Money

Drake was toting a camcorder for weeks leading up to his and 21 Savage's No. 1 album "Her Loss," and now that footage's coming out in their "Rich Flex" music vid -- a party romp featuring various celebs and pro athletes.

The visual lives up to his exorbitant billing -- Drake captured A-1 activities ranging from courtside at a Toronto Raptors game with head coach Nick Nurse and DeMar DeRozan to soaking up Jack Harlow's “Come Home The Kids Miss You Tour" ... where the "First Class" rapper stopped the show to give him a special shout out.

Brooklyn Nets hostage Kevin Durant, comedian Druski, 2 Chainz and plenty of strip club singles help round out the star power for the Drake-shot clip.

Drake also got exclusive footage of Lil Wayne's grill during his surprise set at this year's Weezyana Fest, and Lil Yachty is also spotted in the clip ... having brought the Wock back from Poland.

Drake and 21 might have royally pissed off Megan The Stallion, Serena Williams, Nas and Kodak Black with their album rollout, but their antics paid off in Billboard and streaming numbers.

Their "Her Loss" debut was the biggest for an R&B/hip-hop album in 2022 with 404,000 equivalent album units -- making it Drake's 12th No. 1 album and 21's third.

Andy Warhol is long gone, but his artwork lives on ... and is still selling for INSANE amounts of money!!

Case in point ... the iconic artist created a series of 1963 ink and graphite canvas prints depicting a horrible car accident, which just sold for a WHOPPING $85 million.

You heard it right. Sotheby's in New York put the collage of images dubbed "White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times)" on the auction block Wednesday night.

Within minutes, two buyers were throwing out HUGE bids -- $74 million and $85.4 million -- to try to snag the morbid masterpiece. We already know who emerged victorious, but the buyer's name was kept under wraps.

As part of Warhol's "Death and Disaster" series, "White Disaster" depicts a single black and white image of a crashed car 19 times on a 12-foot-tall canvas.

What's even crazier ... in 2013, another Warhol piece from the same series fetched $105 million, setting a record for the pop culture legend, best known for his portraits of Marilyn Monroe.

The house from "A Christmas Story" hit the market this week, and it could end up in the hand of some cast members!!!

Yano Anaya, who played Grover Dill in the 1983 film, tells TMZ ... he and a few other cast members are interested in picking up the property, adding, "It only makes sense to have the cast run the show."

He wouldn't disclose which of his costars are toying with the idea of jumping on board, but he sees it as a major opportunity for fans ... keeping the legacy in-house instead of causing worry over what might happen if the building's bought by someone else.

He tells us there have been tens of thousands of fans who've already expressed concern online in their "A Christmas Story Family" Facebook group. With the new sequel dropping Thursday, it's safe to say there's gonna be a huge wave of people wanting to get a glimpse of the famous pad.

Listing agent Chad Whitmer tells us the current owner bought the Parker's dysfunctional family home in 2004, refurbished it and bought surrounding properties to expand for a museum, gift shop, parking lots and '"The Bumpus House" next door. It became a designated landmark in Cleveland and has welcomed more than a million guests since opening in 2006.

Chad says he's received hundreds of calls, texts and emails from potential buyers since listing the 1.3-acre lot on Monday ... and while there's no public listing price, he expects it to go for 8 figures.

Hopefully, Yano and his castmates will go through with the sale ... we triple-dog dare them!!!

The Houston Astros will have more than just a championship ring to celebrate their World Series win ... the team is also getting custom diamond pendants too!!!

TMZ Sports has learned ... the bling is coming courtesy of Houston rapper Trae Tha Truth and celeb jeweler Iceman Nick -- who were so pumped that the home team got the dub over the Phillies this month, they wanted to get them some drip to show their appreciation.

A total of 60 chains were made by the duo after Houston locked up the Fall Classic ... and most members of the Astros' org. -- including players, coaches, owners and some staff members -- will get them.

The gifts are pretty awesome ... they feature an Astros logo that's encrusted in diamonds. And, we're told each pendant is valued at $5,000!

Some players received the ice at a ceremony on Wednesday -- and the guys were stoked over the new jewelry. Others members of the title squad, we're told, will get them delivered at a later date.

Kanye West released his eleventh studio album "Donda 2" back in February ... sort of, but at least one of the contributors claims he's yet to get a dime for his efforts.

The project never hit digital service providers, and was instead released exclusively on Ye's Stem Player device -- which is currently entangled in a lawsuit with KRS-One's Boogie Down Productions.

Producer ATL Jacob could potentially have a case to sue as well, if the songs actually hit the public radar but not his bank account.

While speaking to VladTV, Jacob revealed he worked on previously touted tracks "Pablo" featuring Future and Travis Scott, "Keep It Burning" with Future again and "Louie Bags" ... which costars Jack Harlow.

Jacob says he gained a lot of production experience throughout his "Donda 2" stint but is still confused to this day about how he's getting paid!!!

According to Jacob, the "Donda 2" album on the Stem Player is full of unfinished demos ... so those who paid $200 didn't really get their money's worth. He also noted how Kanye doesn't actually own the Stem Player ... a point that came up in the court docs for the BDP illegal sample lawsuit.

Jacob produced Future, Drake and Tems' Grammy-nominated No. 1 hit "Wait For U" earlier this year, so he's not lacking accolades or money.

He says he learned a lot in terms of the album creation process and the business side, but still ... an actual paycheck would be nice.

The elusive NBA YoungBoy isn't exactly outside -- due to his legal issues -- but he's peeking his head out into public to pop s**t at his rivals!!!

The Lousiana rapper has been on house arrest since October 2021 and dedicates more focus to the studio than social media these days. He's making an exception, though, to shade a select few artists who sold their music catalogs just to keep up with his bankroll!!! That's how he sees it, anyway.

Making good on his nickname "Never Broke Again," YoungBoy dove into a mini rant while parking his whip ... bragging about owning more cars than one person could ever drive.

Future and Public Enemy's Chuck D are some of the latest rappers to cash in their catalogs ... but one particular rapper YB tends to pick bones with is Kodak Black.

The "Super Gremlin" rapper recently switched to Capitol Records from Atlantic ... and made it clear to his fans he wasn't about to be eating YoungBoy's dust.

Kodak addressed the need to level up on YB in an Instagram Live ahead of the release of his latest album "Kutthroat Bill Vol. 1" -- but will need to kick his studio time into overdrive to truly catch up.

YB has had an extremely prolific year ... releasing 4 solo mixtapes "Colors," "Realer 2," "3800 Degrees," "Ma' I Got a Family" as well as "Better Than You," his collaborative project with DaBaby.

He has another tape scheduled with his artist Quando Rondo, but fans may have to wait until 2023 for that one.

The alarming murder rate in rap these days has hip hop's OGs E-40 and Too Short searching for solutions, and they think social media's a good place to start.

In a new op-ed for The Atlantic, 40 and Short blame the current trend of social media stunting for fueling gun violence in hip hop writing, "Rappers are trying too hard to flex online to the detriment of their safety ... These dudes are getting money at a faster rate than we ever did."

The Bay Area ambassadors are 30-year veterans of hip hop ... dating back to a time before the industry had amassed actual wealth.

Now they feel rap artists are swimming in excess, and wasting their talent and money in places like strip clubs.

The Mt. Westmore duo questions why rappers can spend thousands on their outfits, hop in luxury cars and post wads of money on Instagram with no logical reason for the flex. They note, "With success comes jealousy and anger."

The year 2022 has been a particularly bloody year for hip hop ... with high-profile stars such as JayDaYoungan, PnB Rock, and most recently, Migos rapper Takeoff all being gunned down across the country.

40 and Short are calling for an intervention -- much like Louis Farrakhan did for rappers following the murders of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. in the late 90s.

Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen and Steph Curry -- plus a host of other huge-name athletes and celebs -- have all been sued following the collapse of FTX ... a popular crypto exchange app that they all endorsed.

The class action lawsuit was filed in a Florida federal court on Tuesday ... just days after users of the FTX platform lost their shirts when the co. suddenly collapsed and filed for bankruptcy.

According to the lawsuit, FTX honcho Sam Bankman-Fried created a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme "designed to take advantage of unsophisticated investors from across the country."

Attorneys in the lawsuit allege Bankman-Fried enlisted Brady, Bundchen, Curry, Shaquille O'Neal, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, Trevor Lawrence, Shohei Ohtani, Naomi Osaka, Larry David and Kevin O'Leary to help him facilitate the plan.

The attorneys pointed to an ad that Brady and Gisele did together back in 2021 ... where the two asked everyone they knew if they'd join them on the FTX platform.

The suit also claims an ad featuring Larry David, which, ironically enough, showed the comedian being skeptical of crypto, also contributed to millions of Americans signing on to do business with the org.

Everything fell apart last week, though -- after the company essentially didn't have enough money to cash users out.

A Denver Broncos special teamer is suing the NFL, the Chargers and a bunch of others ... claiming mats placed on the sidelines at SoFi Stadium earlier this year caused him to suffer a severe knee injury.

Aaron Patrick spelled out his allegations in a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports, saying that a series of poor decisions by the league and its L.A. team resulted in his ACL tear back on Oct. 17 during the Broncos vs. Chargers' "Monday Night Football" game.

The 25-year-old Denver outside linebacker said in his suit the injury happened in the overtime period of the contest in L.A. ... while he was attempting to make a tackle on a punt return.

Patrick says because of his effort to make the play on the field, his momentum carried him into the sideline area -- where an NFL official who monitors television timeouts was standing. Patrick claims in the suit in an attempt to avoid the man, he had to step on mats that stadium workers had put down to cover up NFL instant replay sideline monitor cords and cables.

Patrick says, as a result, his foot got caught in the mats and the cords -- causing his knee to bend awkwardly. He was later diagnosed with a torn ACL, and is expected to miss the rest of this season.

Patrick is heaping blame on not only the NFL and the Chargers for it all, but also ESPN, the mat company and others -- claiming they all could have done more to prevent the injury from happening.

Patrick claims all parties should have known the mats presented a dangerous hazard for players. He also says the NFL official shouldn't have been standing where he was.

Patrick is suing for unspecified damages, including lost bonuses and future earning potential.

"Player safety should be the foremost of importance to the NFL and its owners," said Patrick's attorney, William M. Berman of Berman & Riedel. "The NFL is a multi-billion-dollar sports enterprise and business, and it needs to do everything possible to protect its players from non-contact game injuries."

Ticketmaster is in shambles over fans trying to snag Taylor Swift tickets -- and the company's message to frustrated customers is ... bear with us!

The singer's Eras concert is all the rage, and it shows after Ticketmaster's site experienced all kinds of issues Tuesday as folks tried to get their hands on presale passes ... which kinda broke their page, leaving tons of would-be buyers in limbo.

Swifties were up in arms, and Ticketmaster heard all the outrage ... because they issued a statement to calm the waters. Right off the bat, they note there's unprecedented demand for tickets and those who are still in the queue to buy should remain there to the end.

TM says they're still pushing through all the orders they have, but it's just taking time ... ensuring anyone in line will get attended to eventually.

Those on the West Coast, however -- who had their own window today to snatch up tickets at 10 AM PT -- were bumped out to later in the day ... 3 PM PT. There's also another sale window through Capital One that's being rescheduled entirely ... for tomorrow at 2 PM.

Rich the Kid is one of the freshest rappers around … and not even a lil thing like a TMZ Hip Hop camera will disrupt his dental hygiene!!!

We got Rich in NYC, outside of the Sirius XM office, as he was brushing his pearly whites in between appointments. RTK was on the move, but still made time to talk about the good times with his good friend, the late Takeoff.

The slain Migos star was laid to rest last Friday and as fans reminisced on social media, a clip of him teaching Rich how to make it rain inside the club resurfaced … much to the amusement of the "Plug Walk" rapper.

Rich tells us Takeoff was telling him "to chill the f**k out" in money-throwing footage because as you can see, the cash wasn't traveling too far!!!

He says Takeoff taught him a lot of things but he didn't want to get into specifics ... with emotions still so raw after his death.

Rich did, however, open up about his newly inked deal with RCA Records, which he claims made him $40 million richer. Huge number, for sure, but Rich tells us it's not about money ... it's more about having the right team behind him and inspiring him these days.

The 8-figures can't hurt, though.

Former MLB superstar Yasiel Puig is facing up to five years in prison ... after he agreed to plead guilty to lying to the feds during their investigation of an illegal gambling ring.

Federal prosecutors announced the plea deal on Monday afternoon ... saying the ex-Dodgers outfielder intends to make a guilty plea to one count of making false statements at a court hearing later this month.

The charge, according to the feds, carries a maximum sentence of five years behind bars.

Puig -- who's now playing baseball in South Korea after seven seasons in the MLB -- had been accused by officials of placing bets through an illegal gambling business beginning back in May 2019.

Officials say in a matter of weeks, he racked up $282,900 in gambling losses -- and then cut two separate $100K checks to the operators of the illegal gambling biz to pay off his debts ... and continue to make bets.

Authorities say following the payments, he went on to make an additional 899 more bets on the sites from July 2019 to September 2019 on tennis, football and basketball games.

According to officials, Puig was ultimately interviewed over it all -- and they say he lied through his teeth ... prompting the federal charge.

Odell Beckham Jr. is suing Nike ... the NFL superstar claims the Swoosh swindled him out of millions of dollars by suppressing sales of sneakers that would've triggered a contract extension.

The lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports, was filed by 30-year-old Beckham Jr.'s attorney, Daniel Davillier, laid out their claims against the shoewear giant.

Odell claims once his original Nike deal expired in 2017, he considered jumping ship to Adidas ... who offered him a huge contract. Not wanting to lose a marquee talent, Odell says Nike exercised their right to match the Adidas deal. But, he claims the fine print was different ... and it wasn't truly the same deal.

Beckham Jr. says the way the Nike deal was structured made it nearly impossible for him to trigger very valuable extensions of the deal.

OBJ says the relationship with Nike began to sour around March 2022 when he was due a payment of around $2.6 million. But, he claims, without any warning, the company withheld more than $2 million of the payment.

He later learned Nike withheld the money because the company said he committed footwear and glove violations when he altered his equipment towards the end of last season.

Beckham insists he didn't commit the violations -- he said he was forced to personally customize his cleats because Nike failed to give him cleats that matched the colors of his new team.

As for his gloves, Beckham Jr. says he always customizes the equipment to fit his "high fashion brand" and Nike never had a problem with it in the past.

Odell believes Nike manufactured the penalties as a way to pressure him into signing a less lucrative deal with them.

All in all, Odell says the fine print screwed him out of over $20 million ... and now he's suing to collect.

The Super Bowl champ released a statement addressing the suit.

"Being a Nike Athlete and Brand Icon was a dream I've had since being a young boy. I wanted to be the next Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, LeBron James or Kobe Bryant in the Nike Family."

"When Nike exercised its right of first refusal to match the Adidas offer and not only kept me as a Nike Athlete, but also made me one of their Brand Icons – my dream had been fulfilled."

"Unfortunately, Nike did not honor its commitments. Throughout our partnership, I have kept my promise and fulfilled my obligations to the brand. I am extremely disappointed that I’ve had to take these measures to ensure Nike fulfills their obligations and promises."

Beckham Jr. continued ... "Today, I'm taking a stand not just for me, but to set a precedent for all athletes who have dedicated their life to the sport they love – especially those who don't have the means to stand up for themselves. We are held responsible for fulfilling our obligations under our contracts, but we also have to hold powerful companies like Nike accountable for honoring their commitments too."

"I look forward to resolving this issue and hope we can start a real conversation about protecting athletes and their rights. This happens too often in the sports industry and it's time for change."

Former "HQ" host Scott Rogowsky has some incredible items from the world of trivia ... courtesy of Alex Trebek's estate sale, and now he's ready to part ways with some of Trebek's sweet threads.

We got Scott Monday at his shop, "Quiz Daddy's Closet" in Santa Monica, and he says he took a trip to the late "Jeopardy" host's sale back in April and made a beeline directly for the closet items.

Seems to have been the right strategy -- Scott made off with a bunch of goodies, from custom jerseys to rare limited edition T-shirts, and he's using the goods for an auction that'll benefit those who are really in need.

Scott tells us the proceeds from Monday night's live auction will be going to the Lustgarten Foundation -- which supports pancreatic cancer research ... as you know, that's what Alex died of back in 2020.

Anne Heche's fiery car crash into a Los Angeles home almost killed the woman who lived there with her pets, and now they don't have a home ... according to a new lawsuit.

The late actress' estate is being sued over her August car wreck by the woman who lived in the home where Anne crashed her Mini Cooper and ignited a huge blaze.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Lynne Mishele says she was minding her business at home with her pets when suddenly Anne's car came barreling inside, allegedly stopping just a few feet away from the woman, her dogs and her tortoise.

Lynne claims she is still traumatized by the incident -- she says she's startled by loud noises, plagued by nightmares and flashbacks of the crash, terrified of walking outside ... and has no place to live.

In the suit, she claims the house and all of her possessions were completely burned and destroyed as a result of Anne's crash.

She notes Anne was driving erratically before crashing into her home ... remember, Anne also crashed into another home nearby, and also notes a blood analysis showed Anne had cocaine and fentanyl in her system at the time of the crash.

As we reported ... Anne was stuck in her burning car for at least 45 minutes after the crash, and she was transported to a hospital where she later died from smoke inhalation and burn injuries.

Lynne is going after Anne's estate for at least $2 million in damages.

Jeff Bezos is handing off a HUGE chunk of his cash to Dolly Parton ... and he's doing so with Lauren Sanchez right by his side -- and ICYMI, she's not his GF, she's his partner.

Jeff and Lauren sat down with CNN ... announcing Dolly as the recipient of this year's Bezos Courage and Civility Award -- funneling $100M to her, which will go toward her various charities.

Lauren's referred to as Bezos' partner in the interview. And, when he speaks about his charitable efforts he talks about how "we" are donating money.

They have been inseparable for the last 3 years, traveling the world and essentially living together. Lauren revealed she's planning on blasting into space on Bezos' Blue Origin rocket next year, and it's gonna be an all-female crew.