Music

Offset plus a new bright red Ferrari on the streets of L.A. has to add up to a run-in with cops and a big fat ticket, right? Well, that equation is half right.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ the Migos rapper was pulled over Monday in WeHo by sheriff's deputies after they stopped him for speeding in a red Ferrari Superfast ... yes, that's the name of the model. Thing is, we're told he wasn't going much faster than the posted speed limit ... which is a paltry 35 MPH.

Our sources say Offset was cooperative, and ultimately he was let off with a warning after getting out of the vehicle and having a chat. The cop just told him to slow down a bit, and we're told they even hugged it out.

From the pics we got, it appears Offset was almost saying "My bad" on the scene. If he did ... the polite approach definitely worked.

Besides crushing his insurance premiums, a speeding ticket would've been a sort of christening. Offset just bought the Superfast last week to celebrate the Grammy nom he and Cardi B got for Best Rap Performance.

R. Kelly accuser Lisa Van Allen isn't convinced the singer's alleged sex slave, Joycelyn Savage, really has flipped -- because she claims some of the purported tell-alls doesn't make sense.

Lisa broke down the allegations from Joycelyn's new Patreon account, and told us Monday on "TMZ Live" ... "condoms" set off an alarm. Lisa, who was featured on "Surviving R. Kelly" said "Rob," as she calls him, just doesn't use them.

She added, Joycelyn referring to someone "letting her speak" is odd, because with Kelly locked up, who'd be pulling the strings financially? Watch the clip ... there were even more clues.

Now, don't get it twisted ... Lisa says she still believes the singer's done horrible things to multiple women -- she just doesn't buy Joycelyn's actually speaking freely now.

Tekashi 6ix9ine has at least one legal woe off his plate -- his mall attack case out of Houston has been tossed out ... and the reasons for doing so are interesting.

The State of Texas formally requested to have Tekashi's assault charges stemming from an alleged 2018 altercation completely dismissed, and a judge signed off on it Monday.

As for why it got tossed -- first, the state says the complaining witness -- or the alleged victim in this case -- requested it be so ... which we already knew. The kid who allegedly got choked out by Tekashi later showed up to one of the rapper's court hearings in the matter and posed with him.

You'll recall ... the whole thing started over the kid, Santiago Albarran, recording Tekashi against his wishes, which allegedly resulted in Tekashi putting his hands around SA's throat.

At the hearing, Santiago told Tekashi's attorney that he wanted to drop the charges, and also apparently said he'd expressed that to the prosecution too. Looks like they listened.

Tekashi's attorney, Carl A. Moore, tells TMZ, "“Mr. Hernandez has not been notified yet of the dismissal. We plan to notify him today. I am happy the prosecutors handling this case did what was fair and just today in Dismissing the charge against Mr. Hernandez. We hope that getting this case behind him will assist in him moving forward with his career.”

There's one more reason the state cited for wanting the case dismissed ... prosecutors say moving Tekashi to Texas is a "security risk" now that he's cooperated with the feds in NYC. Of course, they're referring to Tekashi69's snitching ... in which he testified against alleged former associates.

Bebe Rexha's former producer just got slapped with a stiff prison sentence for fraudulently using her credit card and racking up thousands of dollars in charges.

The guy's name is Anthony Evans, but he goes by Devine Evans in the music industry. He's worked with tons of artists and is apparently a Grammy winner too.

Devine was sentenced Monday in L.A. to two years in federal prison after he pled guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft. According to the feds, Devine was milking Bebe's Amex card to book flights and other travel for himself and his family back in 2017.

Prosecutors say this went on for damn near a year, and he ended up charging more than $37k to Bebe's account. Eventually, the singer's business manager caught wind of it and reported the suspicious transactions. Obviously, he got caught up in the whole thing.

Taylor Swift could not have been more gracious accepting the AMA Artist of the Decade award ... and there wasn't a peep about her old songs, Big Machine or Scooter Braun.

Taylor sang most of her biggest hits, including "Love Story," "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "Shake it Off." What's interesting ... she didn't sing "Bad Blood," or "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" ... the latter could be a metaphor for her relationship with Big Machine, so not singing it was interesting. She opened the set with her new song, "The Man."

Swift got huge applause and thanked just about everyone in her life, but no mention about her raging dispute with BM and Braun.

French Montana is having serious health problems ... he's been laid up in ICU for several days, and it appears doctors are still struggling to resolve the issues.

French posted this video early Monday morning which he shot from his hospital bed. There is a dry erase board in the room, with the words "manage pain."

TMZ broke the story ... the "Unforgettable" rapper was rushed to the hospital last week after experiencing intense stomach pain and nausea ... along with an elevated heart rate.

Apparently, when cops arrived at French's home they felt he was intoxicated, at least according to the 911 call. French's people say he was NOT intoxicated.

The Weeknd shut down one of the biggest streets in Vegas to shoot what appears to be a music video ... and we've got the first glimpse at his newest project in over a year.

TMZ obtained this clip of The Weeknd running down world-famous Fremont Street in Downtown Vegas as a film crew captures his every move. He was rocking a red jacket, sunglasses and, most uncomfortably, a pair of dress shoes. Not ideal for sprinting.

Our sources say the video was shot a few weeks ago in the early morning hours. The production crew shut down this section of Freemont next to the Four Queens Casino.

It's been a busy month for The Weeknd ... as we first told you, he just moved into the ultimate bachelor pad, a massive $25 MILLION penthouse in Bev Hills.

He also reactivated his Instagram this week after a long hiatus, leading many fans to believe new music is coming down the pike. He hasn't released any new tunes since his 6-track EP back in March 2018, "My Dear Melancholy."

Kanye West's opera, Nebuchadnezzar, is officially underway at the Hollywood Bowl -- and based on what we can see so far ... it's pretty epic.

Ye's got his Sunday Service choir collective gathered at the Bowl, as well as singer Peter Collins and the music group Infinity's Song on hand ... who are expected to be part of the performance. Longtime collaborator Vanessa Beecroft is directing the opera.

Early footage we got a hold of shows Kanye bringing the dialogue ... and it's a totally full house.

This, of course, comes after Kanye and his choir put on a stupendous performance last week at Joel Osteen's megachurch in Houston. That show went on for 2 plus hours, but there was never a dull moment. It also brought in a record number of viewers across the board.

Ye's opera is based on a biblical story of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar from the Book of Daniel. He's often remembered as the destroyer of Solomon's temple, who went on to hold Jews captive in the city after taking Jerusalem by siege.

Brooklyn born Fredro Starr (real name Fred Lee Scruggs Jr.) was only 22 years old when he shot to stardom with bangers like "Slam," "Shiftee" and "Throw Ya Gunz" as the raspy rapper with a grimey style in the influential east coast rap group, Onyx.

Fredro Starr was in the hardcore hip-hop group alongside Sonny Seeza and Big DS for a portion of their rap reign but has maintained the Queens base Onyx with his longtime partner in rhyme, Sticky Fingaz.

Fun Fact: Starr also has acting credits that include "Save The Last Dance" and "Moesha."

The 2019 AMAs are in full swing, and while things might look pristine on TV and onstage -- wait 'til you get a load of what the stars are doing behind the scenes ... it's even better.

Hollywood's biggest and brightest stars were out in force Sunday at the Microsoft Theater in DTLA, where A-listers like Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Shania Twain, Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Post Malone, Halsey, Dua Lipa, Lil Nas X, Ciara, Christina Aguilera, Carrie Underwood and others arrived dressed to the nines.

Selena, Halsey and even Shawn and Camila were added to the performance lineup just over the past few days -- but everyone will obviously be waiting to see T-Swift do her thing.

As we reported ... she's receiving the Artist of the Decade Award at the show, and is expected to do a compilation of most of her old hits in one performance. Of course, she griped about that recently, claiming Scooter Braun and other Big Machine honchos weren't letting her.

That's all been resolved now though -- Scooter and them gave Taylor's people the licensing rights to her old songs for this performance and any others that get rebroadcast from it -- but as to whether she'll bust out songs like "Shake It Off" or not ... time will tell.

R. Kelly's live-in girlfriend/alleged sex slave has reportedly gone on to make even more bombshell claims against him -- which run the gamut of alleged abuse.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times -- which says it has read Joycelyn Savage's latest Patreon posts since Saturday -- R. Kelly allegedly once impregnated Joycelyn and then forced her to have an abortion procedure in his own home ... this according to Joycelyn, supposedly.

Per CST, Joycelyn wrote that by late 2016, she became aware that she was knocked up -- going to describe it as "I realized I was pregnant by this monster ... Eventually, I ended up getting an abortion I was forced to get the surgery done at his house."

On another alleged occasion, Joycelyn reportedly writes on Patreon that she called R. Kelly "babe" instead of "Daddy" or "Master," and as a result ... she was allegedly attacked by him. She writes, "He grabbed me and choked me until I blacked out."

There's more, per the Chicago Sun-Times, Joycelyn reportedly went on to describe being peed on by R. Kelly "numerous times" and also allegedly being used as a "punching bag."

She also reportedly describes being constantly monitored by R. Kelly's handlers, including during media interviews ... as well as around the house, including while she showered. Joycelyn reportedly says she was once starved for days to rehearse for an on-camera statement.

Joycelyn also goes on to describe other women R. Kelly would allegedly bring home that stayed there "just like me, and they were definitely younger then me" ... per the Sun-Times.

Goo Hara, a former member of the K-Pop group Kara, is dead.

Hara was found dead at her home Sunday in South Korea. Authorities have not released the cause of death ... it's still under investigation.

Hara reportedly attempted suicide in May and was hospitalized for a time. It occurred after an ex-boyfriend tried blackmailing her, threatening to release a sex video.

Her last post on Instagram was Saturday ... a pic of her in bed with the caption, "Good night."

Hara's death comes a month after another former K-Pop singer, Sulli, was found dead and authorities suspect that was suicide.

Hara joined Kara in 2008. She released a solo hit in 2015 and released another song -- "Midnight Queen" -- a few weeks ago.

Hara was 28.

A$AP Rocky says he would love to perform for the people he was locked up with in a Swedish jail, but has his doubts it would ever happen ... however the facility could actually grant his wish.

The Swedish Prison and Probation Service tells TMZ ... they haven't received any formal request from A$AP regarding a potential performance for the inmates, but they say they would take any such request seriously and at least discuss how they could make it happen.

In other words, prison officials tell us it's not an automatic no on their end.

You'll recall ... A$AP told us earlier this week he's going back to Sweden to help immigrants in the European country, and also said he wants to do a show inside the jail he spent a month in after he got into a street brawl in Stockholm.

Rocky told us he doubted a potential jail gig would even be possible because prisoners there aren't allowed out of their cells for more than an hour each day ... but it sounds like the Swedes are willing to work with him if he goes through the proper channels.

In the same convo, A$AP claims some immigrants in the jail wait between 10 months and 2 years to go before a judge ... but Swedish officials tell us Rocky's got his facts wrong, and only 15 percent of inmates go 4 months or more without seeing a judge.

Keep that in the memory bank for your next world trivia game!

Cedric the Entertainer is getting us all in the holiday spirit ... lending his unique voice to a new Christmas album, and taking his first nutcrack at singing!!!

Cedric's already conquered the world of comedy, movies and television ... and now he's making his singing debut on the holiday EP, "A Powerbase Christmas." Ya gotta listen to his version of "Winter Wonderland."

Yes, in the tradition of Bing Crosby, Michael Buble and Johnny Mathis -- Cedric's in the meadow building a snowman ... with a bit more swag.

Give it a listen ... makes ya wonder what took Cedric so long to lay down his first vocals?

Joining Cedric on the 7-track 'Powerbase Christmas' are Grammy-nominated artists Dave Koz and Rascall Flatts' Gary LeVox -- plus Sonna Rele, Sheléa, MAJOR, Matt Cusson, Suri White, Brittany LeVox and pop-country trio Auburn Road.

Other classic tunes on the record -- which comes out on Black Friday -- include "Silver Bells," "Last Christmas" and "Christmas Time is Here." Ced doesn't sing on all of them, but he produced the whole shebang.

One of R. Kelly's alleged sex slaves/live-in girlfriends is breaking her silence on the nature of her relationship with the jailed singer ... and it seems she's turning on him.

Joycelyn Savage -- whom her family believes has been under R. Kelly's control for years now -- posted on Instagram Saturday, saying that she's partnered with a paid-content site called Patreon to put out her side of the story, despite breaking an NDA she says she's signed.

JS's IG caption read, "I am risking my life for many others. ‪This story is 18+ and only for mature audience. I want to make sure my story is very detailed as I can remember." She also used Lizzo's "Truth Hurts" to tease her new venture ... pretty telling if you ask us.

It looks like the first chapter -- "Where It All Started" -- is out. According to the Daily Beast -- which says it's read Joycelyn's debut Patreon post -- Joycelyn seems to be throwing R. Kelly under the bus in her initial recounting and is airing his dirty laundry.

She gets into how she met him at a concert when she was 17, going on to say that it was a fun experience that left her with "mixed emotions." Joycelyn also reportedly added that R. Kelly promised her a music career, allegedly saying he'd make her the next Aaliyah.

Joycelyn then goes on say that she dropped out of college and moved in with him, but says things turned ugly fairly quickly ... as she claims he became incredibly controlling.

For example, Joycelyn reportedly writes ... "After these couple of months Robert started giving me commands, and making sure I call him by certain names. Like 'Master' or 'Daddy' which I didn’t really care for at the time." She continues, "If I wasn’t getting paid or pursuing my dream I would’ve went home, but all of that didn’t stop just yet."

Joycelyn adds, "But It started getting worse by day by day, he would raise his voice at me if I didn’t call him by those two names. If Robert called me I would have to reply with ‘Yes, daddy’ or 'Please daddy' he was so controlling."

She then claims R. Kelly threatened to torpedo her career if she ever left him or tried talking to her parents in private. Joycelyn claims R. Kelly said, "All this can stop today, you want a career? Or do you want to live a normal life."

R. Kelly is currently incarcerated and facing several sex abuse charges from different states.

Steve Aoki sees something special in the 6-year-old Wish Kid who spent a day hanging with the EDM superstar ... so he's hooking lil' man up with a new piano and music lessons!!!

We got Steve at LAX shortly after his special playdate with Jamar, and Aoki couldn't stop raving about the little guy's blossoming music skills and passion for piano.

Steve's definitely serious about giving Jamar every opportunity to follow his dream -- the kid goes by his nickname, DJ Masterpiece -- and Kids Wish Network tells us Aoki set Jamar up with a new keyboard and 3 months of online interactive piano lessons after they hung out.

You'll recall ... Aoki invited Jamar to his Las Vegas home for a playdate and piano duet, plus a private tour and some fun in his playhouse, and KWN set it all up. The charity grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses.

Steve tells us Jamar was instantly drawn to his grand piano ... and now Jamar's got everything he needs to jam out at home.