Music

Kanye West turned one of L.A.'s most famous indoor venues into an outdoor oasis as fans gathered to hear his new album, "Jesus is King."

Yeezy faithful flocked to The Forum Wednesday to get a listen to Ye's latest project ... the floor of the arena was covered in long grasses to resemble the field where he first started Sunday Services.

The event -- which was a no-phone zone (except for Kim) -- started out with a screening of Kanye's "Jesus is King" IMAX film ... a 30-minute glimpse inside the Roden Crater with sounds from a gospel choir.

Then, Kanye appeared on a makeshift stage in the middle of one of the patches of long grass to play his album. Fans went nuts, crowding around Ye to vibe to the new music.

As for the album ... the production is top-notch, as expected, but the lyrics are noticeably different than Kanye's other stuff. It's totally gospel-based, with mentions of Jesus and being saved throughout ... there's also minimal -- if any -- cursing.

And yes, there was merch ... fans lined up deep to grab $170 sweaters and $45 hats.

Billie Eilish is one major step closer to being reunited with the ring she believed was "stolen" at Austin City Limits ... because a concertgoer says she's turned it over to event staff.

Here's the deal ... Billie was performing at ACL earlier this month when she came down off the stage and started hugging and singing with fans. But, at the end of the song she ran back onstage and told the crowd, "Somebody stole my f**king ring!!!"

Now, a video circulating on social media shows a woman asking security to pick up the ring off the ground and hand it over to her ... which he did.

We spoke to the woman in the video, and she acknowledges the footage looks shady -- as if she did pocket the teen singer's ring -- but she claims she simply took a picture with it and then turned it over to an ACL staffer. She says she hoped it would be returned to Eilish.

As it turns out, Billie's missing ring isn't super expensive bling ... it's actually costume jewelry from Adina's Jewels, and costs less than $100. Probably why she wasn't all that busted up about it onstage.

Rapper Blueface can breathe a sigh of relief ... he will NOT be prosecuted in his felony gun case ... TMZ has learned.

Blueface appeared in an L.A. court Wednesday afternoon where a court official tells us his case was tossed due to insufficient evidence. That's obviously great news for the rapper ... who had his suspicions about the case from the get-go.

TMZ broke the story ... Blueface claimed the LAPD targeted him because he's black. LAPD had initially said they were in DTLA patrolling an area ravaged by burglaries and they were there to offer protection. The concern, cops said, was that there were robberies in that area by gang members and cops were worried the rappers were easy targets.

LAPD had said Blueface and several others scattered and tossed their guns when they saw cops arriving ... but Blueface from the start called BS. His lawyer said Blueface was never in possession of a firearm.

Bottom line ... it's now case closed.

Lizzo's going to war -- a legal war -- with three songwriters who've been making a lot of noise, claiming they wrote parts of her #1 hit ... but Lizzo says that's BS.

Lizzo filed legal docs Wednesday in federal court asking a judge to declare the 3 men have no copyright on "Truth Hurts," and no right to share in the song's immense profits.

You've probably seen this bubbling up on social media. One of the songwriters -- Justin Raisen -- has claimed he cowrote a song called "Healthy" with Lizzo last year. He claims Lizzo lifted the signature lyric, "I just took a DNA test turns out I'm 100% that bitch" from "Healthy."

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Lizzo says that line is actually from a 2017 tweet that became a popular meme -- and that's why she decided to sing it on the 'Truth' demo. On social media, Lizzo said producer Ricky Reed was the only other person in the room when she wrote 'Truth.'

She says Justin and his brother, Jeremiah, and their reps have on at least 2 occasions acknowledged in writing they have no claim to 'Truth.'

Lizzo suspects they are trying to set up an "opportunistic" lawsuit to cash in on her hit ... which has been #1 for 7 weeks.

Nelly is putting a sexual assault case behind him by reaching an agreement with his accuser to settle the matter out of court.

A woman in England had filed a lawsuit, about a year ago, against Nelly for allegedly sexually assaulting her after a 2017 concert in Essex. The accuser, who filed as Jane Doe, had claimed the rapper forced her to perform oral sex during a meet-and-greet.

According to docs filed Tuesday in federal court, and obtained by TMZ, the accuser has informed the judge that she and Nelly recently settled their dispute.

Neither side is saying whether money changed hands ... terms of the agreement are confidential.

Nelly's girlfriend, Shantel Jackson, is also in the clear now. The accuser had included her in the lawsuit, claiming Shantel lied when she dismissed the accuser as a liar.

Nicki Minaj and Kenneth Petty only got hitched because the clock was ticking on their marriage license ... and they'll have a big bash with friends and family later.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Nicki and Petty got married Monday at a private space in L.A. We're told the only people who attended -- aside from the bride and groom -- was the minister.

As for why the rush ... their marriage license expires at the end of this month, so they had to pull the trigger or start all over again at square one. It's only good for 90 days.

Our sources say Nicki and Kenneth are going the route of Justin and Hailey ... a small, no-frills wedding followed by a church service and massive celebration. As for Nicki and Kenneth ... we're told they're in no rush, but they will plan a big event.

Nicki posted custom bride and groom hats and mugs Monday with the date engraved ... a glimpse into the day's festivities.

Our sources say Nicki and Kenneth were already living as hubby and wife ... even referring to themselves as married, so this isn't a real big change.

One of Offset's baby mamas is taking the rapper to court ... 'cause she wants him to pony up more dough to support their daughter.

Nicole Marie Algarin, who goes by the stage name Shya L'amour, has filed legal docs making several requests but chief among them ... child support for their 4-year-old daughter, Kalea. According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Nicole says the Migos rapper has "provided limited financial support" for Kalea, but she's now looking for the judge to order more. Or, at the very least, to formalize court-ordered payments.

In docs, Nicole says they've already taken DNA tests that confirm Offset is Kalea's father. What's more, she says Offset has publicly acknowledged he's Kalea's father -- Offset earlier this year posed with Kalea and captioned a picture on Instagram "Daddy's Girl."

Nicole says she just wants the court to follow suit and officially recognize him as dear ol' dad.

40 Glocc is close to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in his prostitution case ... he's just cut a plea deal with prosecutors.

According to court docs, obtained by TMZ, the rapper has agreed to plead guilty to 1 felony count of promoting prostitution of an individual. As part of the plea deal ... prosecutors have agreed to drop 2 other felony charges -- fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and engaging in the sex trafficking of an individual.

Under the terms of the deal ... Glocc can argue for a jail sentence of between 4 and 12 months.

For now ... the rapper will be out on bail until his next hearing in February. Until then, Glocc's gotta keep his nose clean.

A judge still has to sign off on the deal and sentence Glocc before it's all official. So, Glocc's not outta the woods just yet, but he's inching closer.

As we first reported ... Glocc was nabbed in a prostitution ring back in 2017. He had allegedly driven a woman to an unknown location after an undercover cop contacted her through an ad posted on Backpage.com.

Paul Shaffer says he had an awesome time on "The Masked Singer" despite his early exit ... once he overcame a small case of claustrophobia.

We got the legendary "Late Show with David Letterman" bandleader at LAX Monday and asked about his time as the Skeleton on the mysterious singing show ... which he calls "hilarious fun."

That is, of course, after he got used to the huge, elaborate costume. Paul says other than getting hot and sweaty in there, he freaked out a little the first time he put the suit on ... and needed to make a quick escape.

The good news -- he tells us the 'Masked Singer' crew took care of him and once he got acclimated it was all good ... no bones about it.

Shaffer also tells us his big reveal as Skeleton came as no surprise to his old pal, Dave. He says after 33 years working nonstop with Letterman, he had him pegged from the start ... and so did all of his friends.

Kevin Hart's slowly but surely getting back on his grind, and that includes carving out time to hang with good friends like Jay-Z.

Kev and Jay were out Monday night in Bev Hills with an impressive crew at Avra. The mogul and the movie star kicked it with Murder Inc. honcho Irv Gotti and LeBron James' right-hand man, Maverick Carter.

They all hung out for about 3 hours inside the joint ... where they played poker, broke bread and exchanged hugs on the way out. We're guessing everyone was congratulating Kevin -- who seemed to be moving around well -- on his amazing recovery from last month's scary crash.

As we've reported, Kev continues to get intensive outpatient therapy, and based on this video ... it is definitely working.

Nicki Minaj says she's married to her high school sweetheart -- and we have every reason to believe her, because the handwriting was on the wall weeks ago.

The Queen MC made the big announcement Monday evening, telling her 106 million followers that her new name is "Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty" ... taking the last name of her new boo, Kenneth Petty ... whom she's been with since at least late last year.

Nicki also posted footage from what appears to be the day they tied the knot ... "10.21.19." In the video that she posted, NM shows off custom bride and groom caps and mugs -- it would seem she and Ken had themselves a party ... this might've been the aftermath.

As we've reported ... Nicki and Ken obtained a marriage license back in June, but told her radio audience in mid-August that she'd gotten it renewed that month ... and would be getting hitched about 80 days from then. Looks like she was right on the money.

Nicki seemed to fall for Kenneth quickly, once they went public. The reason, of course, was they were old flames ... who simply rekindled their romance.

We learned about Ken's old rap sheet -- which includes convictions for manslaughter and attempted rape -- but Nicki made it clear she believes that's all in his past.

Future's pulling out (figuratively speaking, that is) all the stops to ghost a new alleged baby mama ... so she claims in a new paternity case alleging he's fathered his EIGHTH CHILD!!!

Cindy Renae Parker has filed legal docs in Nueces County, Texas alleging Future is the father of her 3-month-old son, Legend Ary Wilburn. No, you didn't read that wrong. Anyway ... according to docs, obtained by TMZ, Cindy claims she's made repeated attempts to serve the rapper with papers, but to no avail.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Cindy says Future agreed to a paternity test but then he went radio silent on her when it came time to get it done. We're told taking Future to court was Cindy's last resort and she wanted to solve this amicably and on their own.

Our sources say Cindy got a judge's permission to serve Future's lawyers in his home state of Georgia ... because cause he's harder to track down than Jimmy Hoffa.

This baby mama drama, of course, is becoming a ritual of sorts for Future. TMZ broke the story ... nearly 2 months ago to the date, Eliza Seraphin filed legal docs in Florida alleging he fathered her 6-month-old daughter.

Eliza, like Cindy, alleged Future ghosted her after she gave birth in April. That case is still pending. No word if Maury Povich has volunteered to offer his services.

Suge Knight's rise and fall is going to be immortalized in writing ... and he says he's tapped Nick Cannon to write the book.

Suge shared the big news Monday during a phone call from his state prison in San Diego ... revealing Nick's plan to author the story of his life.

So, why Nick?!? Suge says he considers him one of the most respected people in Hollywood, and that's why he's trusting Nick with the monumental biography task.

Nick's joining Ray J in helping Suge cash in on his legacy ... as we first told you, the former Death Row Records boss signed over his life rights to Ray J, giving Ray the green light to use his likeness in movies, music, publications and all types of media.

Suge clarified that Ray J won't be the only one calling the shots, saying his fiancee Toi-Linn Kelly has his power of attorney. However, we've seen the contract with Ray, and it gives him creative control.

In fact, Suge says Ray is also going to handle the future of Death Row Records, and it sounds like there's a new album in the works.

Suge sounds confident he'll be out of prison sooner than later. As we've reported, he struck a 28-year plea deal in his murder case last year, but due to prison overcrowding and getting credit for time served ... he could be released in little over a decade.

One thing's for certain ... Suge's got a helluva tale, so Nick's got his work cut out for him.

Eddie Van Halen is not letting cancer kick his ass ... he's still living his rock star lifestyle to the fullest.

Sources close to the Van Halen guitarist tell TMZ ... Eddie's going to the TOOL concert Monday night at Staples Center, and he's super stoked to see the band rock out.

As we first told you ... Eddie has been flying between the United States and Germany to get treatment for throat cancer, which he believes was caused by a metal guitar pick he used back in the day.

The sad medical news had some folks thinking Eddie was on his death bed ... but we're told that's anything but the case.

Eddie seems far from sick ... just this week, the rocker was shopping for exotic cars in Beverly Hills. Eddie stopped by a McLaren dealership and mingled with the sales team, taking pics and even giving one lucky fan a kiss.

Offset, Takeoff, Quavo and Saweetie don't make it rain in the strip club, they make it downpour ... because together they dropped a staggering $45,000 on strippers in less than an hour!!!

Saweetie was at VLive Los Angeles last night hosting the strip club's weekly Reign Sundays promotion when Migos showed up and helped her throw around an insane amount of cash ... and we've got it all on video.

Our sources say Migos pulled up to the club around 1:20 AM and by the time the rappers left at 2 AM, they helped Saweetie drop $45k on exotic dancers. Now that's a nice hourly rate for the girls!!!

The money was flowing, and so was the booze ... we're told the club comped bottle service for Migos and Saweetie -- rose, Patron and Hennessy.

Mally Mall's struck a plea deal with the feds in an illegal prostitution case ... and he's coming out on the losing end this time.

Federal prosecutors in Nevada say the famous producer and 'Love and Hip Hop' star pled guilty to 1 count of use of an interstate facility in aid of unlawful activity. Translation: He was operating a prostitution ring.

Mally Mall was accused of running the illegal biz from April 2002 until September 2014. The feds say he owned, operated and managed several of these sorts of businesses in Clark County, Nevada.

Contrary to what you may believe, prostitution isn't legal everywhere in Nevada ... only certain businesses can get a license. Mally didn't have one.

The feds say he admitted to running the prostitution business while also providing, at times, his own credit card to pay for airfare and travel-related expenses for the prostitutes. He'd also pimp the women on websites like Backpage. He's set to be sentenced on January 21.

As we first reported, Mally Mall had been accused by 3 Nevada prostitutes of having a number of shell companies used to disguise the prostitution business and forcing them to work as prostitutes.