Music

Three "American Idol" contestants got the boot this week, and Dennis Lorenzo thinks it's complete BS he was one of 'em, just because he was last on the mic.

The former 'Idol' hopeful told us his placement Sunday night in the Top 10 performances might have sunk him even before the voting started. Much like real estate, Dennis believes location is key on 'Idol,' and going last in the lineup meant he had a smaller window to rake in votes.

Dennis says he went along with producers' guarantees that the process was fair regardless of who went first or last -- but after the show, he says folks told him they'd been shut out of the voting process early.

French Montana has ZERO respect for President Trump ... so, with Kanye West showing so much love for 45, French begrudgingly admits it's harder to be down with Kanye.

We got French at LAX on Tuesday, and asked him what he thinks is going on with Kanye rocking Trump's "Make America Great Again" hat. It's already stirred criticism and prompted John Legend to warn Kanye. It's also why Ye came to "TMZ Live" for a discussion in our newsroom that got very heated.

Nicki Minaj grabbed a pair of boobs and slapped 'em on a t-shirt -- but the problem is, that boob design belongs to someone else ... according to a lawsuit.

Nicki just got sued by Isiah Simon, an artist who says he's the creator of the inverted heart design -- which is really just a drawing of 2 big boobs in a bra or bikini. He's used his on "I Love Venice Beach" merchandise.

Isiah says he copyrighted the heart-shaped design in 2015 ... on Valentine's Day, of course. In his lawsuit, he says Nicki and Universal Music Group "brazenly" stole his design for her own gear.

Fans can purchase the "I Love Nicki" shirts on UMG's website, but Isiah wants that shut down immediately.

Daz Dillinger's call for the Crips to beat down Kanye West got him stopped by cops Tuesday in Los Angeles ... but he says he's not backing down.

Tha Dogg Pound rapper was walking past a slew of police cruisers, and said officers wanted to ask him about "this Kanye West s**t." Daz says, luckily he didn't have anything on him, but he seems to think this is just the start of the hassling he's gonna get from law enforcement.

In the video, he wonders out loud if Kris Jenner called the cops on him.

As we reported, Daz issued a green light Monday for all Crips to "f**k up Kanye" on sight.

Kanye West just told the TMZ newsroom why he believes slavery is a choice and why he decided to sport his Make America Great Again hat ... and it all went down Tuesday morning on "TMZ Live."

Kanye appeared on the show with Candace Owens where they explained "free thought" and how it can make the world a better place ... from a place of love.

During the conversation Kanye said, "When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years?! That sounds like a choice."

Van from our newsroom took great offense and fired back. Things got intense and ultimately led to a face-to-face at Van's desk.

There's A LOT more that went down -- and it's all on today on "TMZ Live"

Jimmy Butler can SAAAAANG!

Now that his Minnesota Timberwolves have gon' fishin' ... the NBA superstar took his talents back to Chicago where he decided to put his singing skills on display at PRYSM Nightclub.

The song? "Let Me Love You" by Mario ... and Butler didn't sound too bad!

In fact, the crowd loved it -- especially one female fan who got onstage and started dancing it out with the 28-year-old.

For the record, the headline performer that night was T-Pain ... but Jimmy Buckets stole the show!

We're told Jimmy's performance was totally random and unplanned -- and went down around 2:30 AM.

Of course, Jimmy's a fan favorite in Chicago after killing it with the Bulls for a few seasons.

Nice to see he's still getting love.

Kanye West says Taylor Swift was one of the factors that caused his nervous breakdown in 2016 -- namely, the aftermath of interrupting her at the VMAs and how it affected his radio play.

Ye released his interview with Charlamagne tha God Tuesday -- and in the first few minutes he explains what led to him being hospitalized in late November 2016. He says ever since he and Kim posted video seemingly showing Taylor knew about his infamous "Famous" lyric ahead of time ... his relationship with radio has never been the same.

He admits he wanted major radio play as one of the most popular artists in the world, and says the fact he simply wasn't getting it after he released 'Life of Pablo' screwed with his head.

Kanye also notes that the departure of L.A. Reid from Universal Music might've affected his radio dynamic ... but says it was just one of many stressors in his life at that point.

Danielle Bregoli called David Spade an "ugly ass" to his face and David fired right back at her ... all part of her new music video for her hit song, "Gucci Flip Flops."

Danielle -- aka Bhad Bhabie -- just dropped the vid featuring Lil Yachty, and Spade as the milk man. Danielle's taken shots at Iggy Azalea in one of her tracks, and went surgical on a faux Kylie Jenner for her "These Heaux" vid ... but this is the first time she's scored a big-time celeb to cameo with her.

Spade and Bhabie have some history. If you forgot, back in May 2017, David posed with Danielle for a pic and posted this caption on IG:

Danielle clapped back saying she thought David was the waiter. That was actually pretty hilarious.

Anyway, it's all water under the bridge. We're told Danielle kept in touch with David via social media and reached out to him for the role in her music video.

Kanye West thought he'd get killed while being hospitalized at UCLA after suffering a mental breakdown.

In the newly released interview with Charlamagne tha God, West talks about his 8-day hospitalization in 2016. He says Kim was out of town when it happened, so he was only accompanied by friends when he was first admitted. Kanye said he begged his friends not to leave his side, but at one point they were forced to and Ye calls it the scariest moment of his life.

Kanye mentions he thought docs would drug and kill him while he was alone. However, earlier in the interview he mentions the love he felt from several African-American employees in the hospital.

Daz Dillinger is now on the radar of the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept., after his call to the Crips to pay a not-so-friendly visit to Kanye West.

TMZ called the Sheriff's Dept. Monday to ask if Dillinger's video was something they were looking at. At the time, the Sheriff's Dept. was unaware Dillinger had posted the threat to Kanye, but today a Sheriff's Dept. source told us detectives are now looking at the video to determine if there's a "prosecutable crime."

We're told the Sheriff's Dept. has also reached out to Kanye and his security team, but so far they have not heard back.

Avicii committed suicide with broken glass he used to cut himself ... TMZ has learned.

Multiple sources familiar with the circumstances surrounding the famous DJ's death tell us, he did indeed take his own life ... something his parents alluded to last week.

Our sources say the method of death was a shard of glass that caused massive bleeding. Two sources tell us Avicii broke a bottle and used the glass to inflict the fatal wound. One of the sources says it was a wine bottle.

Two sources tell us the point of injury was Avicii's neck but another strongly denies that, saying it was his wrist. We cannot confirm this, but the sources were privy to specific information about Avicii's death.

As TMZ reported ... the 28-year-old was found dead April 20 in the Middle Eastern country of Oman. He battled alcohol problems for years, and his friends worried those issues would eventually kill him.

Avicii's family released a statement that included the clear message it was suicide ... "He really struggled with thoughts about Meaning, Life, Happiness. He could not go on any longer. He wanted to find peace."

The Game doesn't think Kanye West shouldn't take Daz Dillinger's Crip threat lightly -- 'cause he says his brother from another color means business.

We got the Blood-affiliated MC Monday night at Ace of Diamonds and asked about Daz calling on Crips to "f*** up" Kanye on sight after re-professing his love for President Trump. Game takes a somewhat joking tone -- but also sounds serious ... watch out, Ye.

BTW ... Eric Benet also seemed concerned for Kanye's safety in Calabasas after we told him about Daz's message. Game appears to back that sentiment here.

Yodel Kid's taking more than just country music by storm ... the kid's officially a global superstar and he's got enormous Spotify numbers to prove it.

11-year-old Mason Ramsey -- the boy who became famous after yodeling at a Walmart in Illinois -- racked up more than 600k streams on the giant music streaming service after his "Famous" single dropped Friday. And those numbers only swelled over the weekend -- as of Monday, Mason's got a whopping 2.13 million streams (and counting) to become the most-streamed country song globally on Spotify.

What's more impressive ... we're told Mason's global success has also boosted Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" by more than 2,000%. It's the song Mason yodeled last month during an impromptu performance that set the internet on fire.

But that's not all ... After killing it at Stagecoach, Mason's also now No. 1 on iTunes in the good 'ol US of A and in the UK for country music.

Pardon Kenny G if he toots his own horn, but his legendary saxophone deserves to be immortalized before the one Bill Clinton famously played on the campaign trail ... according to Kenny, anyway.

We got Kenny at LAX Monday, and asked what's gonna happen to his instrument once he's gone. Dark question, we know, but he's obviously thought about it. We suggested it should go to the Smithsonian, but also made him choose -- his or Bill's for the honor? He told us why it's not even close.

Kenny also said if anyone's thinking about snatching his saxes at auction after he dies ... think again! You gotta see what he says about anyone else putting their lips on his instrument.

And super cool ... Kenny shows us one of his oldest saxes, a vintage one he's had since high school!

Eric Benet really WANTS to say Kanye West doesn't have to worry about Crips catching up with him in Calabasas -- but you can tell, he's just too unsure to actually say it.

We got the R&B singer Monday at LAX, where we asked him about Daz Dillinger calling for gang members to "f*** up" Ye on sight ... due to his renewed love of President Trump.

Eric doesn't live too far from Kanye, so he's got a vested interest on several levels -- and admits even their normally peaceful neighborhood might not provide enough cover or security for Kanye.

He was definitely startled by the news and sends Kanye some well wishes.

'NSYNC getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Monday looked a lot like Times Square outside 'TRL' circa 2000 -- hundreds of screaming fans trying to catch a glimpse.

Lance, Justin, Joey, Chris and JC reunited for the first time in nearly 2 years at the unveiling of their star. The last time they were all together was a couple of years ago at JC's 40th birthday bash. The timing was perfect, since Timberlake is in L.A. for his current tour.

Their fans are clearly as passionate as ever -- despite no new music from the guys since 2001 -- and packed both sides of the street for the ceremony ... which is NOT common for these events.

The 'NSYNC faithful didn't get a performance, but Ellen DeGeneres and former 'TRL' host Carson Daly pumped up the crowd with introductions.