Music

Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter is the target of a fame seeker ... so says Brian Littrell who claims the rape allegations levied against his bandmate are garbage.

We got Brian out at LAX Tuesday and wondered what would happen to the band should Nick get slapped with rape charges. TMZ broke the story ... the case now rests in the hands of the L.A. County D.A.

As we first reported ... Nick's accused of raping Dream singer Melissa Schuman in 2002, but she only filed a police report 7 months ago.

Fresh off his shot at rappers, Eric Benet says black R&B artists are getting shaded ... by white singers and the music biz, in general, and he calls it a clear case of history repeating itself.

The singer was on Van Lathan's 'The Red Pill' podcast when he broke down the current state of his genre. Eric says R&B's still a big draw, but mostly when the songs don't come from black singers.

While Sam Smith and Adele get the "genius" label, Eric says established black singers, like Kenny Lattimore, don't get nearly as much attention. He says it's the same crap that's been going on since Elvis got more shine than his black peers.

Benet's full of hot takes -- he just ripped some hip-hop artists for promoting white supremacy through their lyrics. Fat Joe's already fired back on that one. Maybe Adele wants next?

Check out the full episode with Eric below, and catch 'The Red Pill' weekly on SoundCloud.

Lil Wayne wants his bling, bling back -- claiming NBA player Frank Mason ditched his Young Money sports agency ... and refuses to give back his YM chain.

Backstory ... Mason signed to Weezy's Young Money APAA Sports Group back in April 2017 ... right before the NBA Draft (he was selected in the 2nd round by the Sacramento Kings).

As part of the deal, YM says it advanced Mason $40,000, agreed to pay his pre-draft expenses (totaling $52k) and hooked him up with an $11,000 diamond Young Money chain. Pretty standard stuff.

The catch, YM says Mason's contract stated that if he ever left the agency, he had to repay the money and give back his jewelry.

Well, in April 2018 -- toward the end of Mason's rookie season -- Mason fired Young Money "at the urging of a former YM employee" but never gave back the stuff, according to a lawsuit obtained by TMZ Sports.

Now, Young Money is asking the judge to force Mason's hand -- demanding $92k in cash plus the chain PLUS damages.

FYI, Mason's NBA contract isn't super rich -- he only made $1.3 mil last season and will make similar money for the next 2 years.

What's interesting, Mason appeared on the "TMZ Sports" TV show right after he signed with Young Money and told the guys why he was pumped to be in business with Lil Wayne.

No word on what changed after the interview ...

Billie Eilish is a newly-minted millionaire, because we've learned the 16-year-old singer is raking in $2.6 million for an advance on her music.

We've obtained her minor's contract that was filed in L.A. County Superior Court. It says she inked a deal with Universal Music Corp. According to the contract, the advance is for a minimum of 5 new songs.

According to the deal, Billie gets $1.5 million within days of the time the deal is signed.

It gets even better ... if Universal extends the deal beyond the initial 3-year term, she'll get up to a $7 million advance.

Billie started on SoundCloud when she was just 14 and gained a huge following. She's now on tour with Florence + the Machine. She also has a song on the second season of the "13 Reasons Why" soundtrack with Khalid. And she has a single in next year's 'Men in Black' movie.

Ray J says the reason his beanie seemed to have a mind of its own this week on 'Love & Hip Hop' has more to do with Hollywood magic than any real hat trick.

Ray broke down the 50 seconds of the episode everyone's talking about -- not for anything he or Safaree Samuels said, but because Ray's hat seemed to have a mind of its own!! In the brief scene, the knitted hat was in at least 6 different positions.

Fans of the show noticed, then made sure the Internet noticed. Viral video and meme hilarity ensued.

Ray gently put the blame on editing, as he revealed exactly how long they were actually shooting the scene. Hint: It's MUCH longer than what you saw on VH1 or the web.

Considering the hat has stolen the spotlight, Ray tells us it could be getting a bigger role in upcoming episodes. As he puts it ... the hat's in negotiations.

Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin ride bikes as a couple and let the tears flow as a couple ... but it's hard to tell what's got them so stirred up.

JB and HB were out for a spin around NYC Tuesday when something went down that turned their summer outing into a roller coaster of emotions. At one point, Hailey was hugging and comforting her fiance as he wiped his eyes, but later at a cafe ... the roles were reversed.

It also looks like they might be praying together at one point.

Forget Von Miller and Case Keenum ... the hottest autographed Denver Broncos jersey is TAYLOR SWIFT!

The singer signed a #13 jersey for the NFL team's big Kickoff Luncheon charity auction -- and it's already getting more heat than some of the biggest players on the team.

At time of post, bidding is already at $450 -- more than twice the price for an autographed helmet from Terrell Davis ... who's a HALL OF FAMER!!!

Some of the other items up for auction -- a Peyton Manning signed football (less than Swift), Tiger Woods signed hat (way less than Swift) and a Ryan Tannehill signed helmet (not even close).

As for the Swift jersey, the Broncos say she signed the uni during her May concert at Mile High Stadium and she got #13 because it's her lucky number. Also, she was born on Dec. 13.

The money from the auction will be donated to the Boys and Girls Club -- so get in there and SPEND SOME MONEY.

Stephen Belafonte's feeling like a million bucks after finally settling his long, bitter divorce from Mel B -- and he'll get a ton of money on top of it.

Stephen's thrilled with the outcome of the ex-couple's case because all abuse allegations made against him by Mel were dropped ... and he's not losing any parenting rights with their daughter either.

So, here's what he gets ... $5,000 a month in child support, and that's on top of the $15k a month in spousal support that he's already been getting. Mel B must also pay his lawyer's fees -- $350,000 to be exact.

Stephen and Mel B finally agreed to sell their Hollywood Hills home and split the profits 50/50.

As we reported, Mel B got a restraining order against Stephen after claiming abuse, and she dropped it. He also dropped his restraining order. They did agree to stay 200 yards clear of each other at all times.

Belafonte and Mel B share 50/50 custody of their daughter.

EA Sports has fixed the Colin Kaepernick "mistake" -- removing the edit that scrubbed the QB's name from a song that's on the soundtrack for the Madden NFL 19 video game.

As we previously reported, Colin's name is a part of the original lyrics for YG's track, "Big Bank" -- which is featured in the game. But, on the version released on Madden, Kaep's name was mysteriously absent.

EA Sports claimed they made "an unfortunate mistake" when "members of our team misunderstood the fact that while we don’t have rights to include Colin Kaepernick in the game, this doesn’t affect soundtracks."

EA added, "We messed up, and the edit should never have happened. We will make it right, with an update to Madden NFL 19 on August 6 that will include the reference again."

Turns out, EA kept their word on that -- and now, Colin's name can be heard on the song in the game.

Lil Pump's nightmare set at Lollapalooza was nearly upstaged by what went down in his Lambo ... while talking about the Lollapalooza nightmare.

We got the "Gucci Gang" rapper out on Sunset Blvd. Monday and asked him about his performance in Chi Town over the weekend. ICYMI ... Pump's set was cut short when event organizers and cops felt the crowd was getting outta control.

Some fans bitched about the mess on social media -- but LP told us he blames Lolla officials, and he kiiinda throws his fans under the bus. The catch here is, our whole convo with him went down while he was behind the wheel of his Lamborghini Aventador.

6:15 AM PT -- HGTV has now been announced as the winning bidder for the iconic Hollywood home. The company claims it intends to return it to its "1970s glory."

Lance Bass has someone who is squarely siding with him in the mess over the sale of the 'Brady Bunch' house ... that someone is his real estate broker, who says his client was shamelessly defrauded.

Lance's real estate broker tells TMZ, there was no misunderstanding ... the realtor for the seller of the 'Brady Bunch' house made it crystal clear ... Lance was the highest bidder and the house was his.

The broker says before Lance submitted his bid, which was just under $3 million, the seller's realtor was unambiguous ... the cutoff for submitting offers was last Thursday at 3 PM and they would take NO OTHER OFFERS after that. The highest bidder would get the house. Period.

Lance was indeed the highest bidder, and his broker tells us the seller's realtor even doubled down and said the house was Lance's. What's more, Lance's broker says the seller's realtor even sent paperwork to him to finalize the deal.

Lance's broker says the seller's realtor told him this was a solid "gentleman's agreement," with paperwork to follow, which it did.

This must really be God's plan. Drake is looking to lock up the rights to the phrase "God's Plan" as the rapper continues cashing in on his hit song.

According to docs obtained by TMZ ... Drake is aiming to use "God's Plan" for a bunch of clothing merch and a TV game show ... plus the usual things like downloadable music, music videos, audio recordings, marketing and promotion.

Drake's filing comes about a month after the release of his 5th studio album, "Scorpion." The music video for "God's Plan" has over 760 MILLION views, and Drake boasts in the vid about giving away just shy of $1 million to strangers -- the trademark means he's now ready to cash in for himself.

Tamar Braxton isn't mad at Delta Airlines after one of their pilots ridiculed her on a flight -- which her sis chalked up to #flyingwhileblack -- but she does think they make crappy hires.

We got the former co-host of "The Real" at LAX just a few days after her sister, Towanda, posted a video of a Delta pilot chastising Tamar and condescendingly asking if she could follow simple direction from flight attendants.

Towanda blamed the confrontation on race, but Tamar thinks it has more to do with how she's portrayed in the media -- specifically, on TV.

She hasn't been on "The Real" since 2016, but did recently ink a deal with Steve Harvey's production company for her own talk show. She's also made appearances on VH1's "Hip Hop Squares," where she's had some confrontations.

Fat Joe thinks Eric Benet is TRIPPINNNN' by saying "rich and famous" rappers that glorify the darker sides of hip-hop are proxies to white supremacy ... 'cause they're just tunes, bro.

We got the legendary New York MC over on the West Coast Monday in Bev Hills, where our photog asked if Joe had seen Eric's hot take on certain rap serving a nefarious purpose.

Eric posted a message on IG saying that rappers who promote killing black people, degrading black women, abusing drugs, materialization or living a low life are not artists ... but actual agents of white supremacy -- and are being used to destroy their own race.

King Yellowman says Snoop Dogg needs to keep his alter-ego, Snoop Lion, in retirement -- 'cause the hip-hop superstar's reggae album wasn't up to snuff ... by Jamaica's standards, anyway.

The dancehall reggae legend arrived in L.A. for a festival show, and we asked him about Snoop's reggae one-off album from 2013. You'll recall, Snoop was inspired after taking a trip to Jamrock -- but Yellowman says the locals were not impressed.

He reminded us, even Bob Marley's old Wailers partner, Bunny Wailer, gave da Lion da thumbs down.

Still, we're betting a little ganja would go a long way to settle this real quick. Especially because Yellowman also told us he'd be down to collab with Snoop.

Dogg, that is. Irie?

Shiggy -- the dude behind the "In My Feelings" challenge -- says he never intended for the dance to start with people jumping outta moving cars ... and he wants the insanity to stop RIGHT NOW.

Shiggy tells TMZ ... Drake fans are putting themselves in real danger when they bust out the viral dance on the street and in real traffic. There have been TONS of videos posted of fans getting seriously injured while trying to put the steps together.

He points out ... the whole moving car thing was NOT his idea, and it's not at all something he's recommending fans do. Yes, he's seen some of your Shiggy #Fails ...

He does have some location suggestions for your next #ShiggyChallenge.

Watch the vid ... Shiggy also gives us his pick on the celeb nobody's topped yet. And, he's right.