Music

Rapper Fred the Godson has died from coronavirus complications ... according to people very close to him.

The Bronx MC -- popular for tracks like "Toast To That" with Jadakiss and "Doves Fly" featuring Pusha T -- died a couple weeks after announcing he had contracted COVID -19.

Fred revealed his diagnosis on April 6 when he posted a photo from the hospital while wearing an oxygen mask to help him breathe. He asked his fans for prayers and support.

Days later, his wife told local media outlets that doctors were weening the rapper off his ventilator. It seemed like a good sign, but she also said he would have an uphill battle to recover and be released.

It's unclear if he was ever released from the hospital.

DJ Clark Kent remembered his friend's skills, saying ... "His wordplay was INCREDIBLE. He was easily one of the most dangerous MC’s around. Lately he was battling this horrible virus. Today he lost the fight • Rest In Power To One Of My Favorite MC’s."

The Godson, AKA Gordo, was 35.

Tekashi 6ix9ine has been out of prison for weeks now, and his baby mama says he's still ghosting their kid -- but he says that's not what's going on at all.

The rapper's ex, Sara Molina, tells TMZ ... just like before, Tekashi has shown little to no interest in reconnecting with their daughter, Saraiyah. Sara says she wasn't expecting him to change out of nowhere, but she's still disappointed by the radio silence.

She is grateful, however, Tekashi's mother is actively trying to keep a bond alive with the little girl. Sara says grandma's been in close contact over the past month or so ... coming over to see Saraiyah in-person a number of times.

It's interesting ... Sara says Tekashi, while still incarcerated, reached out to her mother, to set up a neutral location for his mom to meet Saraiyah. That apparently went off without a hitch, but Sara says right before 6ix9ine was set to be released ... his mom cut off communication and went off the radar.

So why's Papa 6ix9ine been M.I.A.? Sources close to the guy tell us the only reason he hasn't reached out and attempted to connect yet, is because he wants the coronavirus pandemic under control first, as he wants to put his child's safety first.

We're also told Tekashi is claiming Sara's begging to get back with him ...  suggesting he's afraid she's using their daughter as a ploy to reunite.

That might explain why he's anxious to get a custody arrangement hammered out in court ... according to our Tekashi sources.

For now, Sara says Tekashi's mom is still welcome to visit her granddaughter -- but a daddy-daughter reunion seems to be on the back burner.

Insane Clown Posse's giving Michiganders short on masks a reason to bust open some Faygo and celebrate ... a helpful donation from the Juggalo world.

Detroit's very own horrorcore hip-hop duo delivered more than 300 band shirts Wednesday to be made into masks, which will be distributed to community members and healthcare workers in need.

A member of ICP's record label -- decked out in clown gear, of course -- dropped off the boxes of merchandise at the Detroit Sewn donation center. Every Juggalo would probably love to get their hands on some of these shirts, but let's face it ... they probably already have enough gear.

Glamorous Moms Foundation has partnered with Michigan's Detroit Sewn to take in fabric donations from all around and turn them into masks that are free to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J tell us they linked up with the good cause to simply do their part to help out locally, like so many others are.

We're told it will take a few days for the ICP shirts to be sewn into masks, which will feature the names and faces of the duo ... but mostly 2 Dope, if you believe what J's saying.

ICP also just recently dropped their new app, Custom Clown Clips, as a way to send personalized messages and stay connected with all the Juggalos during the pandemic.

Either way, there's nothing clownish about their good deed.

Post Malone is paying tribute to Kurt Cobain's iconic band with a special concert from home, featuring Nirvana songs ... and it's all for coronavirus relief charities.

The singer put up a somewhat cryptic video Wednesday, showing himself sitting on a stool onstage, with an acoustic guitar in hand ... while an unseen crowd cheers in the background. It's very reminiscent of Kurt's famous ''MTV: Unplugged'' show from back in the '90s.

After the footage plays, a title card reading "Post Malone Nirvana Tribute Livestream" flashes on the screen teasing a Friday YouTube special.

Our sources say Post wanted to honor the Nirvana frontman this month, which marks the 26th anniversary of his death. In the same breath, he also wants to help out in the COVID-19 fight.

Post will have a donate button on his YouTube page on the day of the at-home special -- which we're told will be shot at his living room bar -- and the cash will go toward the United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization -- a newly-created org that uses funds to help train and equip communities to detect and fend off the virus on the ground. YouTube's matching all of PM's donations.

It sounds like the music will be strictly Nirvana, although it's possible he might sprinkle a few other songs in there too.

FYI ... he's got a tattoo on his face that reads "Stay Away," after the Nirvana song of the same name. So yeah, better than average chance you'll hear that one come Friday.

Katy Perry and George Clooney's wax figures in Germany are a cookie-cutter display of life in quarantine -- or at least, an outdated, kinda sexist life.

Check out the figures that came straight from Madame Tussauds' Wax Museum in Berlin, and you'll see what we're talking about. KP and GC have been placed in a picturesque home, where Katy's wax job is cooking at a grill. Georgie boy is kicking back and enjoying the view from a comfy balcony chair.

In a close-up of George, you can see he's got a laptop out and a cup of Joe next to him. Looks like a cushy set-up -- the man chills while the woman handles domestic duties. Ummm, the 1950s postcard in your grandpa's basement called ... and wants its stereotypes back.

The antiquated gender role tropes don't end there -- another shot of wax Katy shows her in the kitchen this time wearing an apron ... only now, she's baking cookies and striking that weird pose at the same time. Those don't change, unfortunately ... just location.

We're guessing Madame Tussaud wouldn't try these poses at their museums in London, or certainly here in the L.A. branch.

Germany certainly marches to its own beat. Guten tag from the last century, y'all 👋🏽.

Madonna is on board with Meek Mill, Michael Rubin, Van Jones, Bob Kraft and Jay-Z ... joining the REFORM Alliance's effort to protect inmates and correctional facility staff from COVID-19.

REFORM is partnering with Madge's Ray of Light Foundation to send 100,000 surgical masks to jails and prisons across the country ... especially some hit hard by the coronavirus.

The massive donation includes 50,000 masks for the Cook County Jail and the Illinois Department of Corrections ... where more than 600 prisoners, staffers and deputies have been infected. At last count, 7 people have died.

Another 20,000 masks are going to the Louisiana Department of Corrections, while the remaining 30,000 masks will be distributed between Vacaville Prison in California, FCI Ray Brook in New York and Suffolk Co. Sheriff’s Dept. in Massachusetts.

76ers partner and REFORM Alliance co-chair Rubin tells us ... "It's absolutely crucial that we protect our inmates and prison staff, especially since social distancing guidelines are difficult to abide by in these facilities."

Jessica Alba's husband, Cash Warren, is also part of the effort -- through his company, Pair of Thieves -- to distribute the PPE at a time when the pandemic seems to be intensifying at several correctional facilities. Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Virginia experienced their first COVID-19 deaths in prisons or jails within the past week.

It's another swing and a miss for R. Kelly -- the judge shot down his 2nd attempt to get released from jail due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The federal judge acknowledged the disease has spread at MCC Chicago, where Kelly is being held awaiting the first of many trials. However, the judge said Kelly's motion for release on bond did not present enough evidence the singer is uniquely at risk to contract the coronavirus.

As for Kelly's argument, he's not a flight risk because he's previously showed up for scheduled court appearances ... the judge wasn't buying that. She said Kelly is now facing more serious charges, including allegedly tampering with witnesses ... so again, no dice on release.

TMZ broke the story ... Kelly's lawyer told the judge the singer's in a vulnerable position at MCC Chicago especially after claiming an inmate on Kelly's floor has recently been hospitalized for COVID-19.

He also insisted Kelly is NOT a flight risk because the singer doesn't really have the means. They pointed out Kelly owes nearly $2 million to Uncle Sam, and any money he does make from royalties is going to pay bills.

The judge's decision didn't reference his financial trouble, but she did address Kelly's insistence he would lay low -- while wearing a GPS monitor -- and stay off social media. She said due to the pandemic and law enforcement resources being stretched ... "They cannot ensure that a defendant with a history, incentive and opportunity to interfere with potential witnesses will not do so."

Life ain't all that beautiful in 2020 ... another music festival is getting scrapped due to concerns over the novel coronavirus.

Life is Beautiful, a three-day outdoor festival in downtown Las Vegas celebrating music, art, food and comedy, has just been canceled due to COVID-19.

The festival was scheduled to take place on multiple stages in Sin City Sept. 18-20, but event organizers say they're taking a one-year hiatus and intend to return in 2021.

Life is Beautiful is still gonna try and make an impact on Vegas even though no bands are coming and no murals will be painted ... festival organizers say they're putting resources towards the local community instead of the event.

Seems festival honchos saw the writing on the wall ... Life is Beautiful says there was just no way the festival could happen as planned due to the health and economic impacts being brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

Killer Mike thinks Georgia's jumped the gun with reopening on Friday -- potentially risking lives -- so, he is NOT rushing to open doors at his chain of barbershops.

The rapper joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" and told us he's concerned about Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's plan to lift much of the state's lockdown restrictions Friday, allowing barbershops, salons, gyms and several other businesses to reopen.

Killer Mike and his wife, Shay, own a string of barbershops in Atlanta, called The Swag Shop, but tells us they're opting to keep all the locations shuttered.

While he sees strong incentives to reopen the shops -- businesses are around to make money -- Mike says concern over the health and safety of his employees and customers outweigh the company's bottom line.

He also admits race is a factor, because African Americans are being impacted by COVID-19 at a very high rate, and that's the community he serves -- so he doesn't want to put anyone in danger by opening too soon.

Sounds like Killer Mike thinks Dr. Anthony Fauci is right when he says lifting restrictions too soon could backfire. Mike's hoping governors and mayors can get on the same page, and formulate a better plan. So far, that hasn't happened in Georgia ... where several mayors are vocally opposed to the Gov. Kemp's move.

Until then, Mike has a message for the average American worker who feels they might need to rush back to work.

Teddy Riley and Babyface put their reading glasses back on for another round of IG Live battling, but even on take 2 ... the event was technology-challenged.

The two R&B icons hopped back on the 'Gram Monday night to pick up where they left off over the weekend -- which went down in a fireball in what proved to be a huge fail. Welp, fortunately, running it back turned out to be a bit more successful (the guys were actually able to play some music and hear each other this time) but eventually ... it came to a halt.

So here's the gist ... Teddy and Face were on the same page at first, and did exactly what artists are supposed to do for these Live battles -- namely, play their biggest hits back and forth, and let the audience tuning in to decide who takes the round. That went on for a solid hour -- IG Live only lets you broadcast for that long -- before the feed finally went dead.

The guys came back on for another session, but for one reason or another ... Teddy's feed cut out completely not too long after they booted back up -- which caused confusion. Babyface -- at first, not entirely sure why Teddy had hopped out -- eventually stopped down and logged off himself to go and see if he could get on Teddy's IG Live sesh.

At this point, it turned into a game of Who's On First -- Teddy had, indeed, started his own IG Live sesh, but was back with a full musical set-up with live instruments. As he was waiting for Face to join the session, he started playing music to kill time, and was going IN doing it. Sadly, he didn't realize Babyface was at the door asking to be let in -- Teddy was that distracted -- and finally, his team got through to him. Everyone in the comments was trying to tell Teddy too, BTW.

This is where the "breaking the Internet" part happened ... Teddy was not able to let Baby back into the chat, try as he did. People chalked it up to him being an elder and unable to figure out the tech, but that's not the case ... it was Instagram's fault. Their network was jacked up because of how many people -- several hundreds of thousands -- watching.

It got so bad, IG finally had to say, "We love how much you're all enjoying the #TeddyRileyvBabyface Live on Instagram! We're experiencing some technical difficulties on mobile apps but we're working on it. In the meantime, live is available on desktop!"

The coronavirus put Lil Xan in the hospital this weekend, not because he contracted it, but because he's super stressed out over the stay-at-home orders.

The rapper tells TMZ he was rushed to the hospital by ambulance Sunday while at his mom's house in, of all places, Corona, CA. He's been quarantining there with her, and she's the one who called 9-1-1 after seeing Xan hallucinating so badly it was freaking her out.

Xan says doctors told him he'd suffered a panic attack, but he doesn't remember much of the episode. As for what might've triggered it ... he says he feels it was caused by anxiety he's been feeling while cooped up inside.

He says he's been in and out of hospitals over anxiety issues for years, but this is the first time it's happened since the coronavirus pandemic hit ... and it was the worst one. Xan's been avoiding the news to keep his head straight, but tells us social media doesn't help.

And yes, he's been quarantining pretty religiously too, only going out for essentials, like groceries.

One of the reasons the crisis has been weighing heavily on him might be about being the breadwinner in his family. Like millions of Americans, and almost all artists, he's out of work right now. His shows have all been canceled, including a festival in Canada.

Adding insult to injury, Xan says his album drop has been delayed and he can't even record now, either -- it's tough to get into a studio because they're not essential.