Music

Jesse McCartney thinks he knows what's going to happen on "Game of Thrones," and no spoiler here ... it all comes down to Jon Snow.

We got the singer and huge 'GoT' fan at LAX and asked him what he thought about the season 8 premiere. Jesse says it was solid for teeing up the final 5 episodes ... but he was a little let down by a lack of certain characters.

Still, McCartney's stoked for what's to come -- like millions of other HBO viewers -- and just like every other Thronee out there ... he's got a prediction.

It's a pretty interesting one, and Jesse makes it clear what he would do if he were Jon ... even though he's more of a Tyrion in real life.

Travis Scott's gonna be a little lighter in the pockets ... after a jury just awarded the company suing him for skipping a Super Bowl gig.

A jury decided Travis has to pay the entertainment events company PJAM $382,932.79 after it sued the rapper back in March 2018 claiming Travis skipped out on a concert in Minnesota the night before the Super Bowl.

Travis' attorney, Howard King, tells us, "The jury verdict of $383k is disappointing, but far less than the seven figure demands made by the promoters. We believe the verdict will be substantially reduced or overturned in subsequent proceedings."

As we reported ... PJAM claimed it paid Travis $150k up front and provided him with a private jet but then, hours before the show, he backed out.

A source close to Travis told us at the time it was due to weather and logistics, but according to the lawsuit ... PJAM says Scott "refused to show up to the event." Travis did, however, make other scheduled appearances on Super Bowl Sunday. Kylie gave birth to Stormi a couple of days before on February 1.

PJAM's attorney, Stephen Tomasulo, says he and his client feel vindicated by the verdict.

It's worth noting ... Travis just finished his hugely successful Astroworld Tour, which hit 55 stops and made millions of bucks.

Tekashi69's got a new banger just begging to be heard, but a Danish rapper claims his label's stonewalling it and screwing him over ... so he wants a judge to step in and help him out.

According to new legal docs -- obtained by TMZ -- Tekashi struck a deal with Danish musician Sleiman in September 2018 to drop the vocals on his track, titled "Red Bandnna [sic]/Black Hoodie." Sleiman claims Tekashi signed over the rights to him, and got paid 88,000 euros for his services.

That's nearly $100k in the U.S.

Sleiman claims after the song was recorded, he began working on getting it released when Tekaski's label, 10k Projects, reached out saying it had exclusive rights to Tekashi, so the track couldn't be released without its permission.

According to the docs ... 10k also threatened Sleiman with legal action if he released the track on his own online.

Sleiman claims 10k's meddling has thwarted him landing a recording deal to release the song ... and he's also out the 88k euros.

He's asking the judge to declare him the rightful owner of the track so he can distribute it ... and he wants his Tekashi money back for his troubles.

Cypress Hill is living proof that blazing trails, and trees, can lead you to great things ... like your very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The rap group straight outta South Gate, Cali got their star Thursday on Hollywood Blvd., and the guys tell us they were "blown away" by the honor. Sen Dog says it's something none of them ever expected.

B-Real got even more reflective, talking about how far they've come since they were young men coming up in the biz together. He also got real about the obstacles they've faced over the years due to their unabashed love for cannabis.

Cypress Hill's scheduled to perform at a 4/20 event up in Vancouver Saturday, but there's now pushback from organizers who think a big concert is taking things too far.

The hip-hop legends admit there's an abundance of 4/20 celebrating going on these days, but they're all for it ... and still have every intention of lighting up Vancouver.

Nipsey Hussle's friend who was shot during the fatal attack is about to get sprung from jail.

As we first reported ... Kerry Lathan -- a 56-year-old man who was shot in the back when Nipsey was killed outside his The Marathon clothing store -- was arrested days after because one of his parole conditions is not associating with known gang members. You'll recall cops said Nipsey was a member of the Rollin 60s Crips.

Lathan was transferred to Men's Central Jail in downtown L.A. but a rep with L.A. Superior Court tells us the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation withdrew its petition to revoke his parole.

It's unclear why the Corrections Department is making this move but as you know ... Nipsey's been celebrated as a hero in his community by everyone from L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti to President Obama.

In fact, Nipsey was supposed to meet with city officials the day after he was brutally gunned down ... to hold a gang violence summit with LAPD.

Naomi Osaka is VERY close to being off the market ... 'cause the #1-ranked women's tennis player in the world is getting REAL close with rapper YBN Cordae!!!

In fact, Cordae made a recent cameo on Naomi's IG -- leading many to think the appearance was their public coming out party.

But, sources close to the two tell TMZ Sports ... while they're spending a lot of time together lately -- and they like each other -- they're not "officially" an item. At least, not yet.

As one source put it, "Just give it a week."

21-year-old Osaka has been a BEAST on the pro tennis circuit -- famously beating Serena Williams at the U.S. Open back in 2018. She was also just named in Time's 100 most influential people.

21-year-old Cordae is a fast-rising star in the rap game -- he's backed by Dr. Dre and recently hung out with Diddy. He's the real deal.

Cordae is part of the YBN collective -- one of the hottest young groups in music. He is also expected to be named to XXL's Freshman list in 2019.

Just this week, Osaka posted a video with Cordae -- and captioned it, "Can’t take this guy anywhereeeee lol"

Jordan Clarkson is following up on his passionate nightclub speech on the late Nipsey Hussle with a more permanent tribute ... honoring the slain rapper with a tattoo on his body.

As we previously reported ... the Cleveland Cavaliers guard gave an emotional tribute to Nip at a Scottsdale nightclub hours after Hussle was murdered ... calling for an end to gang and gun violence.

Clarkson decided to go one step further to show love for Nip ... getting the rapper's face tattooed on his left arm on Wednesday ... along with "TMC," for Hussle's "The Marathon Continues" slogan.

JC already has a bunch of body art -- he's almost fully covered now -- but this one has to mean a lot to the baller, hitting up Canada-based artist Steve Wiebe for the job.

You've probably seen Wiebe's work before -- he also works with stars like Future, Kelly Oubre Jr., Rita Ora and P.J. Tucker.

Clarkson joins fellow NBAer J.R. Smith with the permanent tribute to Nip ... who also paid homage with body art.

#RIP

We know Mayor Pete Buttigieg likes to rock out, and if he wins the presidency in 2020 ... sounds like he's down to jam for an extended amount of time after he's sworn in.

Buttigieg was leaving NBC's 30 Rock in NYC Thursday morn when we asked who his dream performers would be at his inauguration ... seems he hasn't really thought about it too much. TBH, that IS a looooong ways down the road.

Still, our guy makes a suggestion -- based on what we know about Pete's musical preferences -- and we're thinking it'll get some fans phired up. If the band's interested, Buttigieg is too.

BTW -- Mayor Pete's been blasting some Phish tracks on the campaign trail ... including the deep cut "Tweezer - Reprise" from their 1992 album "A Picture of Nectar." It's a good jam.

Adam Levine's back in business -- the luxury house-flipping business -- and he's looking to make millions on his incredible home in Beverly Hills.

The Maroon 5 frontman and his wife, Behati Prinsloo, bought the massive pad from "Will and Grace" creator Max Mutchnick just over a year ago for a cool $35.5 million ... and just put it back on the market.

We're told the couple put $7 million into a complete remodel with a world-famous designer and are now listing it at $47.5 mil. Do the math ... pretty nice profit for a year's work.

The estate -- listed by super real estate agent Kurt Rappaport -- is located on an iconic street in Bev Hills and is over 10,000 square feet of awesomeness ... including a gym, spa, guest house, resort-like pool, 2 kitchens (one just for the chef), a professional screening room, 12 bathrooms and 5 bedrooms ... including a 2,000 sq. ft master suite.

Oh, and Pete Sampras used to live there too, so it also comes with the famous tennis court he installed.

We broke the story ... Adam and Behati recently bought Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner's former home in the Pacific Palisades for $32 mil, so don't worry about them being homeless.

Real estate is kind of a thing for Levine -- he sold 2 other homes last year in Beverly Hills ... including one to John Mayer for $13.5 mil.

No word if any celebs are interested in Adam's new one yet ... but we're sure Rappaport will get a ton of calls.

11:34 AM PT -- Michael Avenatti has waded into the Jussie Smollett drama down in Chicago, saying he almost got directly involved when the case was at its peak in February. Avenatti explains -- in a statement he posted and then deleted from Twitter -- that counsel for the Osundairo brothers reached out to him to see if he could potentially help 'em out.

Avenatti says he ultimately declined, but along the way ... he says he reached out to Kim Foxx to give her a heads-up about his possible involvement as a courtesy. He insists there's nothing improper about this, as he claims it's routine.

There's more -- Avenatti goes on to slam R. Kelly's attorney, Steven Greenberg, saying SG is trying to muck up the Kelly case by personally attacking Avenatti over his own legal woes. What's more, Avenatti says Greenberg is "attempting to create a smokescreen to distract away from the mountain of evidence" Avenatti claims the Cook County State Attorney has against the singer to prove he abused underage girls.

Avenatti says the evidence will speak for itself, adding that he hopes Kim Foxx and co. will bring justice to Kelly's alleged victims. He goes further in praising her, saying she and her staff are "extremely professional, unbiased and focused on the delivery of justice."

It's almost a word-for-word counter to Greenberg's claim that Foxx's office is barely functioning in chaos in the ongoing fallout of the since-dismissed Jussie case.

R. Kelly's legal team thinks Kim Foxx calling the singer a "pedophile" before he's even been given a fair trial is a clear look into how her office is run ... totally dysfunctional.

Kelly's attorney, Steven Greenberg, tells TMZ ... Foxx's texts to a fellow staffer -- in which she implicitly referred to his client as a pedo in comparing his case to Jussie Smollett's -- was outrageous, considering Kelly hasn't been convicted of any such crime.

Greenberg says Foxx is letting her personal biases color the way she characterizes Kelly's case -- which she implied was a way bigger deal than Jussie's in her correspondence that was made public Tuesday.

As we reported ... Foxx called Jussie a "washed up celeb" who'd been slapped with 16 felony counts, while going on to indirectly compare that to R. Kelly only getting charged with 10 counts ... saying there was a discrepancy there as far as priorities go.

Of course, her office ultimately dropped all the charges against Jussie.

Greenberg tells us that the fact that Foxx is even having these types of conversations with her staff in this manner paints a larger picture about the Cook County State Attorney's Office ... he calls it "dysfunctional and chaotic." He also thinks Foxx lacks objectivity.

That said, Greenberg says he isn't calling for Foxx to be removed from the Kelly case just yet. He tells us there's evidence and discovery he wants to get his hands on first before doing anything.

Greenberg adds ... once he and his team get everything they need, they'll make a decision on what to ask as far as Foxx's involvement is concerned.

Nipsey Hussle was in the middle of some big plans to give back to his Crenshaw neighborhood with his own foundation ... and now that baton is being passed to his relatives.

Sources close to Nip's family tell TMZ ... he was in the process of creating a foundation designed to improve the quality of life in his community -- primarily for young people -- and he started laying the groundwork long before his murder.

Nipsey's vision for his foundation looked something like this: Working with schools to rebuild playgrounds, helping improve public parks in Crenshaw and moving forward with STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programs for students.

Turns out, Nip had already started some of this work. L.A. City Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson tells TMZ, the rapper donated shoes to kids at 59th Street Elementary, and also repaved the basketball courts there.

We're told Nipsey had a total of 14 businesses, but his family is making the foundation their top priority. One of the first things they'll be addressing is naming the foundation.

As you know, Nipsey loved giving back to his community ... he opened his Marathon Clothing store at the intersection of Slauson and Crenshaw, seeing an opportunity to invest in his hood and give people jobs.

Plus, he was heavily involved in Destination Crenshaw -- a beautification project to turn a 1.3 mile stretch of Crenshaw Blvd. into an open-air art museum. We're told his family intends to keep contributing to that project.

As we reported ... Nipsey also had a meeting scheduled -- sadly, the day after his murder -- with L.A. Police Commissioner Steve Soboroff to help prevent gang violence.

P!nk ain't afraid to get down and dirty ... not when it comes to cleaning her own Hollywood star, and especially when it's for Jimmy Kimmel's cameras.

The pop singer was going to town on her star Tuesday around 7:30 PM in the middle of Hollywood ... as cameras from paps and bystanders rolled. What ya didn't know is some of those cameras were rolling for Kimmel's show. P!nk was filming at Kimmel's studio yesterday, and it appears they took the skits to the streets.

Check out the vid ... you can see P!nk -- who got her star back in February -- down on her knees wiping away with some disinfecting wipes. She also had a roll of paper towels and a scrub.

Some might call it dirty business, but in Hollywood ... it's just show business, baby.

TIME Magazine just released their annual list of the 100 most influential people -- and the outlet's catching serious backlash for including a guy many have dubbed a villain ... as well as his alleged victim.

Both Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh are among TIME's 100, and lots of folks are taking issue with Justice Kavanaugh's nomination ... courtesy of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who penned Brett's relatively brief entry.

McConnell says when "unhinged partisanship and special interests sought to distract" the Senate from considering Kavanaugh's sterling record as a judge, the country "saw his resilience and commitment to public service."

His actual testimony was a bit more raucous than how Mitch characterizes it here, but either way ... people are NOT happy he's in there with Blasey Ford, who got categorized with the "Icons" of the list. Senator Kamala Harris praised her courage for coming forward with her story of sexual violence, saying she forced the country to reckon with the issue.

There were some other notable entries in the Top 100 list as well, with some stars transcending into the icons category while others were left behind as just "Artists."

Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, and Spike Lee are all icons now. Meanwhile, Ariana Grande, BTS, The Rock, Emilia Clarke and Glenn Close are nothing more than artists.

Soulja Boy's home was burglarized a few days after he was thrown in jail for a probation violation ... and the suspects allegedly used his stolen iPhone to brag about the crime on social media.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... a caretaker for Soulja Boy's Agoura Hills home called police Monday night to report a burglary. We're told thieves made off with tons of jewelry, cash, a phone and other personal items.

Sources close to Soulja Boy tell us the stolen jewelry is worth over $500,000 -- a mix of chains, earrings and luxury watches ... and the burglars cleaned out the safe in his room, stealing another $100,000 in cash.

We're told the thieves broke into Soulja's home shortly after we first reported the rapper was back in custody after violating his probation.

And, get this ... cops say a group of 5 men went on Soulja's IG Live bragging about the theft, and police believe these are their burglary suspects -- and they gained access to SB's Instagram through his stolen phone.

We're told the men from the video have also been reaching out to Soulja's celebrity friends ... telling them they're his new artists, claiming Soulja wants their music video posted on the celebs' IG accounts and hounding them for features.

And, because Soulja's behind bars, we're told he hasn't heard a single thing about the burglary.

Not many people know what it's like to balance parenthood with global mega-fame -- but Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake do ... and JT says it's brought them closer together.

In fact, Timberlake just wrote about his friendship with Tiger for Time Magazine -- explaining how the two got to spend some time together last year and really bonded by "talking about being fathers."

Tiger has two kids -- 10 and 11 -- and JT has a 4-year-old son.

"We bonded over the fact that we wanted our children to watch us at our best," Timberlake wrote ... noting that his 4-year-old has just "started to realize what I do."

The coolest part of Justin's story -- Timberlake says in 2018 Tiger told him one of his biggest life goals was to win a major in front of his kids.

Fast forward to April 14 in Augusta ... Tiger wins The Masters and his kids are RIGHT THERE to give him a big 'ol hug.

Timberlake says he couldn't have been happier for his friend -- "What a dream come true."

"All the work he did when people weren't watching allowed him to hug his children on that same hallowed ground he hugged his father 22 years ago, amid all the adulation, a Masters champion once again."

Justin and Tiger have known each other for years and have golfed together a bunch of times.

Tiger has gone on the record praising JT's golf game -- saying the guy has a "beautiful swing" ... but needs to work on his short game if he REALLY wants to get to the next level.

Action Bronson's show got way too lit -- by a strobe light -- which damn near blinded him mid-set ... sending him to the hospital.

The Queens, NY rapper was performing at the Algonquin Commons Theatre up in Ottawa, Canada Monday night when he was blasted in the face by the bright flashing lights.

Check it out ... Bronson immediately puts his hand over his eyes and stumbles back while Meyhem Lauren keeps rapping. He eventually walks off the stage, still looking disoriented.

Action returned for another song but told the crowd he was seeing stars and had to get checked out. A concertgoer tells TMZ the rapper left and didn't come back ... and an announcement was made that he had to leave to receive medical attention.

AB posted about the incident, explaining he couldn't finish the show because he was "blinded and disoriented," but doing better now.

He added about the strobe lights ... "Those things need to never be near me again it was almost really bad. Be careful."

His next gig's Saturday at the National Cannabis Festival at RFK Stadium in D.C. ... hopefully the lighting operator takes it easy on Action's eyes.