Music

Tekashi 6ix9ine and Trippie Redd were only at each other's throats for publicity -- faking beef to help their careers -- according to a Nine Trey Bloods member.

Anthony "Harv" Ellison is asking a judge for a new trial after being found guilty of kidnapping Tekashi. In new docs -- obtained by TMZ -- he spills the beans on the alleged reason Trippie and Tekashi69 feuded.

Specifically ... Ellison says he was brought on as Tekashi's security after defending 6ix9ine during a "staged publicity beef" with Trippie Redd.

You'll recall ... during Ellison's kidnapping trial, Tekashi claimed Ellison punched Trippie Redd in the mouth during a November 2017 confrontation between the rappers in an NYC hotel lobby.

Now, Ellison says Trippie's manager told Tekashi where to find Redd in order to set up a "staged confrontation."

Johnny Gill says he was watching LIVE when the Seahawks receivers paid homage to New Edition with their TD celebration on Monday ... and tells TMZ Sports he loved every second of it!!!

The 'Hawks turned the gridiron into a dance floor after a 3rd quarter touchdown to David Moore ... re-enacting the iconic "If It Isn't Love" choreography from the boy band's 1988 hit music vid.

The Internet went crazy after the TD celly and the R&B legend appreciated it even more -- not only 'cause he's a Seahawks fan ... but also because they killed it!!!

"That was freakin' hilarious," Gill tells us. "But, you know what's so funny is that they're one of the few that I actually saw, like, they actually had the form and everything down."

"I was watching the game, and I'm going, 'OK! OK! AIGHT!'"

Gill says it was obvious how much time Moore, Tyler Lockett, DK Metcalf and Jaron Brown put into perfecting the dance.

"They really honestly took time and they practiced. I was like 'Yo, they're right in sync and the form is correct.'"

Gill gets serious for a second, pointing out the dance just goes to show how timeless the group's music really is ... and that's what made it even more special.

"True testament to our work, for anybody, when generations come and they’re aware of you and can appreciate what you’ve done. That’s a true testament to the hard work we put in and obviously you can’t even put it into words."

Gill says the group of guys have done a great job all season -- including their 'NSYNC "Bye Bye Bye" tribute.

We also asked Gill if he's ever down to join the WR corps next time they put on a New Edition rendition ... and ya gotta hear his response!!!

Common has some advice for Pete Buttigieg, and any other Democratic candidate, on how to win the black vote -- be yourself and be present.

The rapper, actor and activist was leaving LAX Monday night when he gave us his 2 cents on Mayor Pete's efforts to get black voters' attention. It's been a focal point for Buttigieg's campaign after polls showed him lagging in that department.

To that point, perhaps, Common told us he doesn't know a lot about Pete specifically -- but he offered some tips, saying it's important to spend time in the community and not just for face time. He said the key is sincere engagement with voters on the issues.

Mayor Pete was down in the Carolinas this past weekend, including a trip to meet students at South Carolina State University. Common also advises ... black folks know a real one when they see it.

Shawty Redd -- the hip-hop producer behind hits for Snoop Dogg and Young Jeezy -- wants to know why cops hauled him out of his ATL hotel room -- an arrest he calls totally bogus.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Shawty Redd was busted for disorderly conduct at the Hyatt Centric Midtown Atlanta on Nov. 7 after a manager called cops and said Redd was refusing to leave the property.

TMZ obtained video Shawty recorded as police entered his room, with a manager in tow, and things got heated pretty quickly. Shawty demanded to know why he was being asked to leave the premises, and didn't like the answer. The officer told him the hotel has the right to remove patrons at any time, but Shawty wasn't buying that.

Cops released body cam footage -- so we have the dispute from both angles -- and you can see when they finally move in to slap the cuffs on the man who produced Snoop's "Sensual Seduction."

As for what prompted the call to cops ... sources connected to Shawty tell us he was walking through the lobby with a bottle of beer, and the manager tried to give him the boot. We're told Shawty explained he was a guest and went to his room.

Clearly, the manager didn't take kindly to the way their interaction went down, and called cops. Our Shawty sources say the judge later dropped all charges ... however, the producer's pissed at the hotel, and considering legal action.

Now, let's remember better times ...

Kelly Clarkson probably wishes her lakeside home was already gone, but it's not ... so she's making a big move to get it off the market.

The singer just slashed the price of her 20,000-square-foot mansion in Hendersonville, TN by more than a MILLION DOLLARS ... $1.25 mil to be exact.

Kelly originally listed the gorgeous 7-bedroom palace -- which she bought in 2012 -- for $8.75 mil in March 2017, but it's been relisted with a new $7.5 mil price tag.

The property sits on 4 acres right next to Old Hickory Lake ... just 25 miles from Nashville. It features a long, gated driveway that leads to a central fountain, and inside the front door is a double staircase leading to the grand foyer.

Along with the 7 beds -- including a master suite with a fireplace -- the 3-story house has 8 full bathrooms and 3 half baths. Other highlights include a saloon-themed bar with a pool table, a gym, a playroom with a ping pong table, a media room and a 2-story office ... with a private elevator.

And, that's just the inside. The backyard boasts a large saltwater pool, 2 spas, a garden, a greenhouse, a private dock and an area for outdoor dining. Of course, the home also comes with breathtaking views.

Liam Payne was one with Michael Jackson before he allegedly got manhandled by a bouncer at a Texas bar ... which is a shame, 'cause he was killin' it on the dance floor.

The former One Direction singer proved just how much of a showman he really is Friday night at the Silver Fox in San Antonio -- where he and his 19-year-old Instagram model girlfriend, Maya Henry, were out having a good time before things turned ugly with the staff.

Eyewitnesses tell us it was piano night at the joint, and at one point ... MJ's "Billie Jean" came on, and Liam didn't hesitate to get up and bust a move. He did a bit more than that, though, as you can see here in video we got of him doing his best Michael.

He moonwalks, spins and even does the freakin' splits all with relative ease -- dude's a natural-born performer, obviously. Looks like he was content with his performance too.

Unfortunately, the night went south soon after that.

TMZ broke the story ... Liam appeared to get into an altercation outside with at least one of the bouncers, who wasn't letting him in. In the clip, Liam implies he was pushed by one of them -- and it looks like his shirt confirms that too. It was covered in dirt.

At first, we were told this might have had something to do with his underage GF, but we've now been told differently. Witnesses say Liam had gone in and out of the bar several times that night for smoke breaks and such -- but his last attempt to reenter got halted.

We're told the bouncers asked him for ID -- Liam's 26 years old, BTW -- and he apparently became upset with the request, seeing how he'd already been there for a while.

Antonio Brown is making use of all his downtime by getting in the booth with Sean Kingston to share his story through music ... which, apparently, includes police chases and GETTING SHOT IN THE EAR!!!

The free-agent receiver teased a music project with the "Beautiful Girls" crooner on Monday ... saying he'll be talking about real-life experiences with his lyrics.

"Going to be telling my story in these songs all truth..... I had the biggest police chase at fiu university campus. Mario Cristobal was the coach ask him!"

"Or Me getting shot in the ear In the left 👂 In liberty city pink n grey projects! Then I walk on to CMU !!! 2020 🚕 records."

Did you process that? AB says he got SHOT in the ear and was involved in a POLICE CHASE and somehow, nobody ever found out about it. Crazy!

FWIW -- this is the first time we're hearing about both incidents and yeah, we're trying to get more info!

Unclear how long AB has been working on the project or when it's expected to drop -- though he's teasing a Friday release. So, stay tuned on that ...

AB shared a track snippet off the upcoming project ... and it doesn't sound terrible(?).

Colombian superstar J Balvin properly addressed the political unrest plaguing his native country ... taking the opportunity to do it in his own hometown to a packed house.

The reggaeton singer was performing Saturday night in Medellin, where he hosted tens of thousands of Colombians in the city's Atanasio Girardot Stadium -- which looked quite full.

He's on an international tour right now, and it's clear he wasn't about to pass up the chance to speak on the nationwide protests that have broken out down there over the last week or so ... which has left at least one student dead and several others injured.

The anti-government protests are in response to President Ivan Duque's policies, which many feel are stymieing economic opportunity, access to higher education and better healthcare. Violence is also a major issue. It's a dense topic, but people have taken to the streets.

Enter J Balvin, who's caught a bit of criticism for throwing up sympathetic social media posts on the situation ... but not actually using his voice and clarifying his opinion.

Welp, he didn't shy away from it this weekend -- making it crystal clear where he stands. J Balvin sides with the frustrated citizens (especially the youth) and made a plea to the government ... which got a resounding cheer from the crowd. It's pretty powerful.

Speaking in Spanish, he asked President Duque's administration to listen to people, because if they're demonstrating like they have been ... there's obviously something wrong that needs fixing. He went on to request peace, love and understanding from both sides as well.

Montell Jordan says he sees Kanye West walking the walk when it comes to declaring his Christian faith -- which is enough for him to believe what's in Ye's heart ... aka, Jesus.

The former R&B singer turned minister spoke to us in NYC about Ye's spiritual journey, and while some have questioned Kanye's motives and sincerity in turning to God ... Montell says he's taking the guy at his word (and his actions) that he's embraced Christ as his savior.

He's got a pretty good reason for that too -- noting that there's no true way to know what's in Ye's heart. But, based on outward appearances, it sounds like Montell's convinced.

Of course, Kanye's been on a performance tear lately ... going around the country with his choir collective and doing Sunday Services. He even brought it to Joel Osteen's church. He has also been fairly outspoken about declaring his love and devotion for God and JC.

Still, many have remained speculative as to whether Ye's a true blue religious guy -- considering his background ... and all the ups and downs that have come with it.

MJ touches on that too, explaining that society often judges people (especially artists) on their immediate past, despite what that person may be putting out now. He definitely knows a thing or two about it -- once upon a time, Montell was a walking one-man party.

Bernie Williams will NOT be the next Carlos Beltran ... so says the Yankees legend himself, who tells TMZ Sports he's solely focused on being a musician -- not an MLB manager!!

Hiring ex-stars has been the trendy move for clubs looking for a new leader these days ... and with Bernie's background, he seems to be a great candidate for a job down the road.

But, Williams tells us he has no interest in having that gig at the moment ... saying his guitar has his heart!!

"This music thing has got me, man!" Williams says. "It's got me really hard. And, I'm trying to be the best musician that I can be right now."

If you're unfamiliar, Bernie's been shredding his guitar for years since his retirement in 2006 ... and even got nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2009.

But, he's clearly gunning for more in the music world ... telling us that's his passion right now.

Don't get it twisted, Bernie's still staying around baseball and says he's always down to help Yankees hitters during spring training workouts in Florida.

Liam Payne got into a shouting match with some bouncers who were NOT down to let him and his underage girlfriend into a bar ... and, allegedly, things got physical.

The former One Direction singer was in San Antonio Friday night with his Instagram model GF, Maya Henry -- who's reportedly only 19 years old. As you can see in this video, things got a little feisty when they ended up at a bar called the Silver Fox.

Witnesses tell us Liam and Maya were able to get in at first -- having been recognized by others -- but later came this dust-up with security. In this clip, you see Liam -- who's wearing a white shirt with a bunch of dirt on his back -- trying to come face-to-face with a bouncer, or possibly several. He's being held back, and at one point you hear him say, "Don't f***ing push me again. I swear to God I'll lay your ass out."

Witnesses tell us Liam was, in fact, pushed to the ground -- hence the dirt on his back -- after he and Maya left and tried to reenter the bar. We're told security stopped them because of Maya's age, and when Liam tried forcing his way in ... he allegedly got shoved to the ground and followed up with this.

Eventually, we're told Liam and co. decided to leave on their own. Police were not called.

He took to Instagram to claim he'd been "jumped" by three of the bouncers there, tagging the establishment and threatening to take them to court. He's since deleted that post.

BTW, Maya's from the San Antonio area, so it looks like Liam was in town celebrating Thanksgiving with her.

We've reached out to both parties, including Liam's team ... so far, no word back.

Fun fact: Maya's family is kind of a big deal in San Antonio. Her dad is personal injury attorney Thomas J. Henry, who hired Pitbull and Nick Jonas to perform at Maya's quinceanera!!

Rihanna and Paul McCartney just proved they truly are two peas in a pod -- but in this case, they were two passengers in a plane.

The singers bumped into each other Friday while on a commercial flight to London -- in which they were both riding first class, of course. RiRi documented the whole run-in ... and it's a sweet moment. Must've also been pretty awesome for the other passengers on board.

In her vids, Rihanna says she's about to put Paul on blast ... and then jokingly asks out loud how is it possible he's on her plane. PM played along, pretending not to know her.

Rihanna calls herself a peasant, and Paul ribs her by backing that up (all in jest, mind you). Check it out ... they clearly have a ton of fun together, and it's all love between 'em. Later on, they were seen arriving at the same airport, London's Heathrow ... all smiles.

As you might be aware, Paul and Rihanna are certainly no strangers to each other. Outside of being some of the biggest names in music, they actually collab'd on a song in 2015.

R. Kelly's GF, Joycelyn Savage, might not be behind that bogus Patreon account -- but her parents don't want anyone claiming they started it either, and they're ready to sue over it.

Timothy and Jonjelyn Savage have fired off a cease and desist letter earlier this week to blogger Tasha K, claiming she's been defaming the couple with several social media posts regarding R. Kelly, Joycelyn and her family.

In the letter, obtained by TMZ, the Savages say Tasha made "utterly false statements" regarding alleged drug abuse, possession of a "black box full of audio recordings" and accusing the parents of creating the Patreon account, purportedly owned by Joycelyn.

You'll recall, Patreon shut down the account after a series of posts seemed to reveal Kelly's alleged abuse of Joycelyn -- however, Patreon said it could NOT confirm Joycelyn was the account holder.

Meanwhile, Tasha claimed on her YouTube channel ... she believed Joycelyn's parents were behind the account. The ATL blogger also posted what she claims is an audio recording of Joycelyn's father talking to R. Kelly's team, and saying Kelly can have his daughter.

As we've reported, Tasha K.'s already in a nasty legal battle with Cardi B.

The Savages attorney, Gerald Griggs, says Tasha's statements are "defamation per se in that they depict our clients as engaging in fraudulent activity that violates civil and criminal law."

The Game is officially out of the game ... according to the rapper himself who celebrated his 40th birthday and his retirement on the same night.

We got Game Friday night outside the Sunset Room in Hollywood where he was NOT feeling his oats. Game told us 40 isn't feeling all that old ... due to his diet. Still, he acknowledged he's damn lucky to have lived into his 4th decade.

We'll admit it ... we might have soured the birthday guy's night a little by asking him about his homie, Wack 100's recent comment that Nipsey Hussle shouldn't be considered a legend. Watch the clip, because Game makes it 100 percent clear ... Wack doesn't speak for him.

Now, if you want to give him the legend label -- Game's cool with that, and told us he's satisfied with his stats, so, "it's time to live a little." He's hinted at it before, but last night he stated strongly ... he IS retiring.

As for the Nipsey "legend" question ... we did get Wack heading into the bash, and he was happy to explain why he said what he said.

He said it's nothing personal, it's just about numbers -- and, in his eyes, that's all that determines a "legend." Wack says Nip just wasn't around long enough but believes he would have gotten to the level of Game, Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar.

Chico DeBarge -- the R&B singer known for the '80s hit "Talk to Me" -- probably needs to talk to a lawyer soon ... he's been arrested for drug possession.

The younger bro of the DeBarge family musical group got busted in Burbank, CA earlier this month in a Walmart parking lot after cops saw him using a piece of wire to try to unlock an SUV ... according to police.

Thinking he was trying to break in, officers approached and searched DeBarge ... and allegedly found methamphetamine in his pockets. He was placed under arrest, and cops say they also discovered drug paraphernalia in the SUV.

Oh yeah, it turns out the singer had locked his keys inside ... which is why he was trying to jimmy the door open.

Chico was booked at the Burbank City Jail before being released. We're told formal charges are pending review by the City Attorney.

DeBarge rose to fame in the '80s with his self-titled debut album featuring his hit single and followed it up with a second album ... before he served prison time for drug trafficking.

Kid Rock wants the world to know he HATES Oprah Winfrey (and other talk show hosts), but also ... don't call him racist because of it. His drunken words, not ours.

The country rocker went on a wild tirade last week at his own Honky Tonk bar in Nashville -- which apparently overserved their boss, 'cause the man was clearly intoxicated as he blasted O from the stage ... saying, "F*** Oprah!" and other vulgarities we won't repeat.

Check out the video, 'cause it's truly an ugly sight to behold. He lays into Oprah repeatedly and then goes on to attack Joy Behar and Kathie Lee Gifford. We don't know why he might've gone after Kathy, but he and Joy had beef last year -- he even called her a bitch on TV.

As far as O goes ... he's noted in past interviews that he just doesn't like her, period. No clear reason as to why, though. Adding insult to injury, KR consistently explains that just because he hates these folks -- especially Oprah -- that doesn't make him racist. Some members of the crowd disagreed.

Eventually, Kid -- who's a staunch Trump supporter, BTW -- appeared to be so hammered ... he had to be helped off stage by security. Not a good look at all.