Music

Britney Spears mentioning Justin Timberlake at all is one thing, but specifically acknowledging their 2002 breakup in a shout-out video to her ex has everyone's heads spinning ... and JT LOLin'.

Britney's very bored, said so herself, but boredom wasn't enough to get her to join TikTok "or whatever the cool thing you're supposed to do these days." Instead, Britney went on Instagram and danced along to JT's track "Filthy" from his last album "Man of the Woods."

That was pretty significant in and of itself but then she dropped a massive bombshell in her captions saying, "PS I know we had one of the world's biggest breakups 20 years ago ..... but hey the man is a genius!!!! Great song JT."

And to everyone's astonishment ... JT responded with a slew of emojis!!!

Lots to unpack here. It's the first time Britney's directly addressed her breakup with JT. They dated for 3 years before their abrupt breakup in 2002. They were both around 21 at the time.

Later that year, Justin dropped "Cry Me a River" ... which he wrote in 2 hours. Fans have long suspected it's about his failed relationship with Britney. A year later, Britney fired back with "Toxic."

Of course, everyone's moved on nearly 2 decades later ... Britney's had 2 kids with Kevin Federline and she's been dating Sam Asghari for a while now. Justin's married to Jessica Biel and they have a son together.

But leave it to Britney to give y'all one helluva #ThrowbackThursday. BTW, in her caption, she also acknowledges that what she's doing is not really dancing. This may have something to do with it. Either way, thanks for the coronavirus distraction, Brit!!!

Cardi B unloaded on President Trump ... and Bernie Sanders relished the moment cause he couldn't stop himself from laughing his ass off.

The dynamic duo teamed up Tuesday night for an Instagram Live interview that was as bizarre as it was strategic. But, mostly, it was a vehicle for Cardi to vent to her beloved "Uncle Bernie."

The interview started with Bernie -- who in January encouraged Cardi to jump into politics -- asking Cardi how his nails look. The rapper quickly shot back with her trademark wit, saying she can tell he's been in quarantine. Hilarious.

But, then things got downright serious ... Cardi teed off on 45 -- she refused to mention Trump by name -- saying 45 doesn't need any help from Democrats to make himself look bad cause he makes himself look bad. Ouch.

Cardi -- an ardent Bernie supporter -- also took the opportunity to ask why uncle Bernie endorsed Joe Biden for president. Or ... as she framed it, "A lot of people like the youth, they don't rock with Joe Biden. I want you to explain to my platform, why are you endorsing him?"

And, there's the answer to why Bernie hopped on IG Live with Cardi, who has nearly 63M followers -- she provided a platform where Bernie can plea to his supporters to back Biden.

"He was the basketball version of me, and I was the rap version of him, and that’s facts!"

That's Kanye West ... explaining why he and Kobe Bryant were one and the same -- LEGENDARY -- and in typical Kanye style, he's not holding back.

It's spelled out in a candid (just released) interview with GQ that went down back in February, less than a month after his good pal Kobe died in a helicopter crash very close to Kanye's Calabasas-area home.

As part of the interview, Kanye agreed to take photos on a basketball court -- and admitted, it was therapeutic.

"One thing I thought was really amazing is that we were able to find a groove with the photographs today even as out of it as I was with the loss of Kobe," Kanye said.

"We were able to just go to the court and play ball."

Kanye says he often drives on a street near the spot of the helicopter crash ... and it makes him motivated to dominate in life like his friend Kobe did.

"There’s no way for me not to be as determined as Kobe every time I drive down that street. It’s game time. There’s no move that we can’t make, or that we’ll wait to make."

Of course, Kanye and Kobe were close friends for years -- they trained together, starred in Nike commercials together ... and Kanye was even courtside for Kobe's last game.

Now, Kanye says he continues to draw motivation from Kobe -- attacking challenges in life and business with that trademark Mamba Mentality.

"Everyone in our life is now a member of the Lakers on one of Kobe’s championship teams. The way that Kobe would say that we all have to come together and win this championship is the way I look at life now."

Selena Gomez is done playing games with gaming companies she says are using her fame to line their pockets ... and now she's suing for a whopping $10 million.

Selena just filed a lawsuit against a slew of software and technology firms and the honchos who run them, accusing them of profiting off her image, name and likeness without her permission.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Selena claims she was shocked to learn her celebrity was being peddled to turn profits in the mobile game "Clothes Forever - Styling Game."

In the docs, Selena says the game blatantly ripped off her cover photo from the fashion publication Flare and slapped it on their app, which appeared in the Apple App Store.

Selena says she's worked her entire career to build up a strong brand -- claiming her sponsored posts are worth as much as $800,000 each -- and she says now her rep's being diminished by this unapproved association with a "bug-riddled" game. Yes, she threw in a jab about the game getting terrible reviews.

The pop singer is suing for damages, a cut of the profits and for the game to stop its alleged unlawful activity and business practices.

Playboi Carti went all Johnny Badass on a cop who pulled him over -- according to the cop, anyway, Carti dragged the deputy's daughter into it!!!

TMZ got a hold of the police report detailing Carti's arrest about a week ago in Clayton County, Georgia -- and cops say the rapper was mouthing off big time when a Sheriff's deputy pulled him over and smelled weed.

The deputy says he asked Carti to get out, and the bad attitude started right away. Carti allegedly told the officer to take him to jail and said he didn't even care anymore.

Upon conducting a search, the deputy says he found drugs and guns inside Carti's Lambo -- specifically, marijuana, Xanax, codeine and oxycodone and 2 handguns. Carti had a pal with him and cops arrested both of them ... but the trash-talking wasn't done yet.

According to the officer, Carti told him he'd "f*** my daughter" and that he had a hot wife. He also allegedly said he didn't give a damn about his exotic sports car, cause he'd just buy another one anyway.

In the end, Carti was booked for expired tags, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and failure to move over. His buddy ended up getting busted for the harder drug and gun possession charges.

Carti was released on bond shortly afterward.

Tekashi 6ix9ine is embracing his role as a rat ... or so it seems based on what he told Tory Lanez.

So, here's what went down ... Tory was hosting his Quarantine Radio Monday night on Instagram Live when, out of nowhere, you see Tekashi's IG handle pop up in the group chat. Tekashi typed, "lemme play this new s**t or ima snitch on u. you not even from America u from Canada."

Ya gotta watch Tory's reaction. It's pretty epic. Unclear if Tekashi actually has some new music he wants to show the masses, but now that he's on house arrest it's not so far fetched to think he's got something up his sleeve.

As for snitching on Tory ... it's unclear what about. Tory, btw, just last week had his Instagram Live session privileges restored by IG, which banned Tory from going Live after some nudity appeared in one of his sessions.

But no beef seems to be brewing between the rappers. Tekashi and Tory have some history ... good history. Tekashi's 2018 track "Kika" on the "Dummy Boy" album features Tory.

Again ... Tekashi just seems to be embracing the snitch role.

India-born vocalist Barry Hay was 25 years old when he shot to stardom for his rockin' vocals in the Dutch rock band, Golden Earring ... who unleashed the worldwide rock anthem, "Radar Love" in the early '70s, and then "Twilight Zone" in the early '80s.

Barry Hay and all of the original bandmates of Golden Earring are all still involved in the classic rock consortium including George Kooymans on guitar and back-up vocals, Rinus Gerritsen on bass and keyboards and Cesar Zuiderwijk on the skins.

Golden Earring played as recently as last November ... and have plans to play live later this year.

Rita Wilson going viral for spittin' "Hip Hop Hooray" -- and the remix that followed -- is giving Naughty By Nature a new lease on life ... one they're using to help others.

The rap trio came on "TMZ Live" Monday to tell us about the coolest part of their collab with Rita -- all the money from it is going to the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. Treach, Vin and Kay Gee told us exactly who will benefit from the fund ... and turns out, his timing couldn't be any better.

Fact is ... several people working behind the scenes on some of the biggest records and musical performances we all enjoy are struggling immensely right now, and NBN wanted to make sure the proceeds from their remix with Rita went directly into those folks' pockets.

Of course, this all comes after Rita posted a video of herself rapping to the classic '90s tune -- which then turned into a full-fledged collaboration between her and the boys here. The remix features Rita rapping in place of Vinnie ... and she plugs in seamlessly.

As for how Rita got this good at rapping the song, well ... the fellas get into that story too. Turns out, she had to learn it for a movie role -- and the rest is hip-hop history, as they say.

There's another silver lining too in this joining of forces -- Naughty By Nature tells us the renewed interest in their music couldn't have happened at a better time, when people are at home and have nothing but time on their hands to discover old gems.

Joe Exotic's antics on 'Tiger King' have already made him a pop culture icon, but don't forget ... he's also a musician -- sort of -- and the popularity of his tunes is soaring too.

A rep for Spotify tells TMZ ... ever since Joe's track, "I Saw a Tiger," was added to the platform on March 30, he's gained listeners in every single one of Spotify's 79 markets.

As for which market's clamoring for the song the most ... the answer is Denmark!!! Yeah, go figure. We're told the Danish folks are streaming it at a higher rate than any other country, followed by people in the UK, Ireland and Iceland.

Americans, however, have listened to it the most times ... primarily thanks to a much larger population, but ya gotta believe it's because Joe is one of our own.

North Dakota's ranked as the state listening to Exotic at the highest rate, followed by Mississippi, Montana, Kentucky and West Virginia. For what it's worth ... Nevada, Hawaii and California are listening the least.

Spotify says along with his vast reach increase over the past 2 weeks, Exotic's averaging an 18 percent DAILY increase with his share of streams. We're told millennials are his biggest fans -- ages 25-29 are consuming Joe's music at the highest rate, followed by the 30-34 age range.

Of course, all of this is besides the fact the infamous imprisoned tiger breeder doesn't even write or sing his own songs ... that's all done by The Clinton Johnson Band. As we first told you ... the band's hoping to cash in on Joe's success too.

For more on 'Tiger King' ... check out a 'TMZ Investigates' special tonight on FOX at 9/8c.

Kate Beckinsale is proving she's got a type -- spry, strapping lads, 30 or younger -- and in this case, her new fella's on the younger end of the spectrum.

The actress was spotted out Sunday in Brentwood, where she was holding hands with Goody Grace ... a Canadian musician. Who also just happens to be 22. Heyo!!!

They seem pretty cozy here, and the PDA almost certainly signals dating. It seems they've been an item for at least a few months now -- Kate and Goody were also seen hanging out together back in January, and they definitely looked like a bit more than just pals.

Also of note, Kate's newest boo thang follows a trend of her going after young dudes -- especially lately. We're talking, of course, about Pete Davidson and comedian Matt Rife ... both in their 20s.

Kate's also been romantic with Jack Whitehall, who's in his 30s. Kate, BTW, is a smoking hot 46.

Speaking of that, it's worth mentioning Kate seems to be doing what LOTS of older successful men often do ... date way below their respective age group.