Music

Diddy is the proud owner of his clothing brand again -- being reunited with his Sean John line after buying it out of bankruptcy for a steal.

The rap mogul won the rights to Sean John after a bidding war with 4 other parties ... claiming it for about $7.5 million, cash. The deal will be finalized this week, barring any objections -- and safe to say, the guy's pretty excited about it.

He tells TMZ ... "I launched Sean John in 1998 with the goal of building a premium brand that shattered tradition and introduced Hip Hop to high-fashion on a global scale."

Diddy adds, "Seeing how streetwear has evolved to rewrite the rules of fashion and impact culture across categories, I’m ready to reclaim ownership of the brand, build a team of visionary designers and global partners to write the next chapter of Sean John’s legacy."

Like we told you ... the SJ line fell into bankruptcy recently under management firm GBG USA Inc., which had owned 90%. When word of its assets being up for grabs reached Mr. Combs, he'd expressed interest in gaining control once again, especially considering how cheap it was going for earlier this month.

Britney Spears' lawyer says it is an "abomination" her father is asking for even more money now that the conservatorship has been terminated and reports have surfaced alleging the conservatorship was one big money grab.

Mathew Rosengart issued a blistering statement -- "The conservatorship has been terminated and Mr. Spears was suspended ignominiously. Under the circumstances, his petition is not only legally meritless. It is an abomination. Britney poignantly testified about the pain her father caused her and this only adds to it. This is not what a father who loves his daughter does."

Jamie Spears filed legal docs to make Britney's estate pay for his legal fees in winding down the conservatorship, asking that it be paid in a "prompt" fashion.

This all comes on the heels of a blistering report by the New York Times, alleging, among many other things, Jamie received a $40,000 loan from Britney's then business manager, Tri Star Sports & Entertainment early on. According to the NYT, Jamie received $6 million from Britney's estate, while Tri Star benefited to the tune of untold millions.

The report also claims the estate paid for a security company that surveilled members of the #FreeBritney movement who went after Jamie and Tri Star and its owner, Lou Taylor.

And the NYT reports Tri Star donated tens of thousands of dollars from Britney's charitable foundation to a Christian counseling group ... a group in which Taylor was associated.

And, the allegations go on ... that Britney's estate paid for advertisements touting Tri Star and Taylor.

As we previously reported, Tri Star was receiving a percentage of Britney's earnings, which for many years were sky-high. When she stopped performing, Tri Star asked Jamie to approve a minimum guarantee of $500,000 which we're told Jamie approved. This drew heavy criticism because the concept of getting a percentage is that you take the good with the bad.

Jamie's lawyer, Alex Weingarten, has said all expenditures were made with the approval of the court or Britney's court-appointed lawyer, saying, "Jamie has nothing to hide and will therefore hide nothing."

Lil Durk and his soon-to-be Mrs. are living large on the heels of their mid-concert engagement, flying to Aspen for a little last-minute Christmas shopping ... at Louis Vuitton.

The couple was draped in designer clothing for their holiday shopping spree -- Lil Durk wore a blue Chanel jumpsuit, and his new fiancée, India Royale, had on Chanel earmuffs.

But, all that stuff was overshadowed, almost literally, by the new huge diamond on India's left hand!!!

The Colorado getaway comes right after the rapper got down on bended knee during his Saturday night performance in their hometown of Chicago.

He'd brought India, his longtime girlfriend, out on stage to pop the question -- saying, "You've been the realest to me ... Do you wanna be my wife?"

Of course, the crowd ate it up, and later India posted about the engagement -- "I said 'Yes.' #issafiancé".

She was also sure to show off her new sparkling oval-shaped rock, and so did her jeweler. Can't blame 'em ... the thing is freakin' impressive!!!

India and Durk have been together since 2017, and they have a daughter, Willow, together.

A vacant lot next to one of Beyonce's childhood homes is up for sale in Houston... and of course, the sellers are making it all about Bey to try and push the property.

The piece of land, located on Rosedale Street in Houston, is right next to the house where Beyonce spent her early years. The vacant lot was listed for $315k earlier this year but was pulled off-market in November. Interested buyers are still welcome, and there's a number available for them to call and inquire.

We spoke with real estate investor Kevin Wright, who is selling the property, and he tells us that he is asking for an offer close to $315k, but it is negotiable. The lot previously had a home on it, but the house burned down in a fire 4 years ago.

As you can see in photos, realtors are doubling down on the fact Beyonce was the girl next door... even if it was many many years ago. There is a huge sign on the tiny lot -- about a tenth of an acre -- that says "Build On Beyonce's Old Block."

The Knowles family bought their home on the street for $64k in 1981, but moved out before Solange was born in 1986.

It's unclear if they've gotten any offers, but one thing's for sure ... it's bound to attract a Beyhive of attention!!!

Big Time Rush is in the TikTok hot seat after some users accused the group of knowingly exposing fans to COVID after one member tested positive.

If you hadn't seen, Big Time Rush had a show in Manhattan Saturday, and it was announced to fans just before the meet and greet started that band member Kendall Schmidt had tested positive for COVID-19.

From there ... rumors started to swirl, including one claiming Kendall had been in the building and around his bandmates just before getting his test result. Fans started to draw conclusions -- believing the band continued with the meet and greet and performance, even though they'd been around a sick Kendall.

However, a source connected to the band tells us ... Kendall was not near the group or the venue for Saturday's show, and everyone in the band -- including James Maslow, Logan Henderson & Carlos PenaVega -- all tested negative multiple times before arriving for the gig.

We're told all of the guys wore masks during the meet & greet, for extra precaution, and they stood on an elevated platform to increase distance between fans and them.

Billie Eilish is brave for speaking out about how watching porn as a kid hurt her adult sex life ... at least according to a retired XXX star, who says she's on to something and young people should pay attention.

Randy Spears, who starred in and directed adult movies for decades tells TMZ ... Billie is absolutely right about the damage porn can inflict on the developing brain.

The way Randy sees it ... pornographic images and movies are way too much for children to understand, and he agrees with Billie that such experiences can have lasting negative effects.

As we reported ... Billie says she was just 11 years old when she started watching "violent" porn and she thinks it caused her to have nightmares, sleep paralysis and bedroom troubles when she started having sex as she grew older.

Carlos Marin, a member of Il Divo, has died ... this according to his bandmates.

The operatic quartet confirmed Marin's passing Sunday, writing ... "It is with heavy hearts that we are letting you know that our friend and partner, Carlos Marin, has passed away. He will be missed by his friends, family and fans. There wiIl never be another voice or spirit like Carlos."

They add, "For 17 years the four of us have been on this incredible journey of Il Divo together, and we will miss our dear friend. We hope and pray that his beautiful soul will rest in peace. With Love -- David, Sebastien and Urs."

His death might be COVID related ... as his agent reportedly told some media outlets he'd contracted the virus and was recently hospitalized -- this while he was actually on tour with his guys in Europe.

Marin was the only baritone of the group ... with Urs Buhler, David Miller and Sebastien Izambard -- the other 3 singers -- all serving as tenors. The group was formed by Simon Cowell in '03, sort of as a reimagining of the hugely popular Three Tenors from the '90s.

Speaking of Cowell, he too shared his condolences with a sweet tribute ... "I am finding this so difficult to put into words how I feel right now. I am devastated Carlos Marin has passed away. He loved life. He loved performing and always had so much appreciation towards the fans who supported the group from day 1. Rest in peace Carlos. I will miss you."

Il Divo had a prolific run through the 2000s and well into the 2010s ... cranking out 10 studio albums, 2 live albums, lots of collabs and other mashups of their greatest hits over the years. The 4 crooners are credited with pioneering the way for pop opera ... AKA, popera.

They were a big hit ... producing more than 150 certified gold and platinum hits globally, and pumping out around 30 million album sales as well. Il Divo had some of their original songs -- like "Regresa a Mi" ... but were also well known for their covers, including "O Holy Night," "Hallelujah," "Amazing Grace" and others.

Marin was 53.

Kodak Black is clean and sober -- the rapper just successfully completed 90 days of drug rehab, and now he's turning his attention to his career ... prepping to get back on the road.

Kodak had a court hearing this week to reinstate his supervised release -- now that he's out of rehab -- and his lawyer, Bradford Cohen, says the judge was happy with Kodak's progress.

As we previously told you, the rapper and producer was ordered to a rehab facility a few months back after failing a drug test ... a violation of the terms of his supervised release in his federal gun case.

But, now he seems to be turning things around for the better and we're told he's taking his sobriety seriously.

He's already hit the stage too -- Rolling Loud California was his first live performance since his release ... after which, he headed back to Florida.

Cohen says Kodak is looking forward to making good music, and is going to try to stay away from people, places and things that would put him in harm's way, or trigger him to use again.

Lil Mosey says the alleged victim in his rape case admitted to having consensual sex with him in the past, and he's asking the court for the green light to introduce that evidence at trial.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the rapper claims he met the alleged victim back in the day at one of his concerts, and they eventually engaged in consensual sexual activity ... multiple times.

Lil Mosey claims they had sex at a New Year's party, and then again in a car. He says that the second time happened on the same night of the alleged rape, which she alleges happened later in a cabin.

TMZ broke the story ... Lil Mosey was charged with rape back in April with the woman claiming she blacked out from drinking and woke up to Mosey and another man forcing themselves on her. Mosey's pled not guilty.

The case is being tried in Washington, and the state has a "rape shield" statute that generally prohibits evidence of prior sexual relationships and activities with an alleged victim at trial.

However, Lil Mosey is arguing the evidence of a prior consensual sexual relationship should be admitted because he believes it helps him defend against the allegation she did not consent.

Prosecutors are pushing back against allowing the evidence in court. In new legal docs, they say the alleged victim's prior sexual activity is irrelevant to whether she consented, adding he's been charged with second-degree rape which involves an alleged victim who is incapable of consent.

In this case, the woman claimed she had blacked out from drinking and could not possibly have consented.

Canadian artist Snow (real name Darrin Kenneth O'Brien) reggae rapped his way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for more than a month with his 1992 mind-boggling hit single "Informer" ... which paved the way for his debut album "12 Inches Of Snow" which was released in the winter of 1993 on East West Records.

The OG mumble rapper and musician went on to release five more albums over the following decade with epic titles like "Murder Love," "Justuss," "Cooler Conditions" and "Mind On The Moon" ... and even has a 2019 "Informer" remix alongside Daddy Yankee with over a billion plays on Spotify.

Jay-Z may be a rap icon, but he doesn't carry as much weight with today's average hip-hop head like he used to, especially compared to someone like Future -- so says ... well, Future.

Mr. Hendrix himself made the bold statement this weekend -- going on a little tweet spree to declare he's not only bigger than Jigga in the streets but that he'll run up a B (billion) perhaps even faster and easier than Jay did. The latter hit the mark (per Forbes) in 2019.

In addition to his Jay-Z tweet, Future had other things to say, including ... "Everything I do legendary or it want get done. Tuh," as well as ... "I’m the only one can get YE to pull up whenever wherever..tuh." And let's not forget ... "100M’s not the goal anymore."

Sounds like Future was on one for whatever reason, and wanted to puff his chest a bit. Still, that original claim of his -- that he's "bigger" than Jay -- is getting A LOT of pushback ... and at the same time, some agreement as well.

Of course, lots of users responded ... giving Future the virtual side-eye and even laughing him off. Even at Jay's billionaire status -- many say Future will never have the pull (not to mention the music bona fides) that Shawn Carter has ... and to compare is ludicrous.

One person pointed out Jay's accolades (there are many) ... while openly wondering why it's become fashionable for modern-day rappers to size themselves up against living legends.

And yet ... there's a small handful of folks who actually seem to agree with Future, saying ... yeah, the guy IS actually bigger than Jay (in the streets), suggesting HOV simply doesn't have the street cred/influence on the culture from the ground floor ... like he once did.

Interesting take ... and is obviously up for debate. Sounds like that argument boils down to relevance, and to whom it applies. We can acknowledge Future's music does tend to be popular (among the youth) today and generally performs better on the charts than recent Jay-Z releases.

Snoop has responded to Drakeo's death, taking to Twitter with a sorrowful message.

SD says he was informed about the stabbing while he was in his dressing room, and immediately left the grounds. In the same breath, he sent condolences to Drakeo's family.

L.A. rapper Drakeo the Ruler is dead after a stabbing at the Snoop Dogg-headlined Once Upon a Time festival concert ... TMZ has learned.

Drakeo was one of the dozens of billed performers at the huge all-day event Saturday in L.A.'s Exposition Park.

He was backstage around 8:30 PM when a fight broke out -- and during the altercation, he got stabbed ... according to law enforcement sources

We're told LAPD, California Highway Patrol and the fire department responded, and Drakeo was rushed to a hospital -- but multiple sources tell us he died from his injuries.

There are reports he was stabbed in the neck, but we haven't confirmed that yet.

We're told cops are investigating and will try to interview all artists and their entourages who were in the area when the fight started.

After the fight and Drakeo's stabbing, concert organizers shut down the festival -- so headliners like Snoop and 50 Cent never even took the stage.

Lil Durk's finally locking it down with his longtime GF, and he definitely put the pressure on when he popped the question ... in front of a packed arena in their hometown of Chicago.

Durk performed Saturday night at a local radio station's Big Jam concert at the United Center, and at one point he brought India Royale out on stage with him ... and then did it all traditional, getting down on one knee.

LD first buttered her up ... thanking India for holding him down and being "the realest," and then said, "Do you wanna be my wife?"

Before India -- an IG model and influencer -- could even answer, the crowd erupted with cheers -- makes sense, they're both from Chicago ... so, you know they had tons of support onstage and off of it. India did eventually say yes.

The couple got together back in 2017, and had a baby girl, Willow Banks, back in November 2018. India has a cosmetics line called India Royale Beauty, which Durk often promotes ... sometimes in his songs.

They've been through a lot together -- besides parenthood, Durk and India were the victims, back in July, of a home invasion and aggravated assault in Georgia.

Good times ahead, though -- now, they've got a wedding to plan. Gotta wonder if Durk's new collab partner, Morgan Wallen, will make the cut for the guest list ... or maybe even perform. Although, "Broadway Girls" is hardly first dance material.

Everyone says they hate the 'Island Boys' -- the Florida twins behind that train wreck of a TikTok "song" -- and it turns out lots of those haters were waiting for the boys in the crowd at Jake Paul's boxing match.

The brothers did NOT get a warm welcome Saturday night in their home state -- as soon as they entered Tampa's Amalie Arena and walked to their ringside seats, the boos started raining down.

Now, we're not saying they had targets on their backs, but Flyysoulja and Kodiyakredd's bleach-blond spiky faux locks make 'em stand out in any crowd -- and after the boos came actual booze. Several objects were hurled their way, including at least one full beer.

We all know, stadium beers ain't cheap ... so you gotta really hate to toss one of those. Then again, we present exhibit A.

The 20-year-old twins dropped their poolside freestyle back in October, which instantly went viral ... and not because people were loving it.

Still, the Island Boys persisted ... cranking out an official music video this month to go with the nonsensical bars they dropped -- and yeah, that's a viral hit too.

Cases of COVID-19 are ramping up again in the United States -- and the omicron variant has firmly planted roots -- but that doesn't mean things will slow down on the Las Vegas Strip, which is set to go buck wild for NYE.

We've spoken with club sources across Sin City who all tell us the same thing -- their hyped-up party plans to ring in 2022 aren't changing a bit. In fact, Vegas might become an even bigger party destination for the big night if other cities start to shut down.

As for some of the bigger events ...
- The Chainsmokers will be at XS Nightclub
- Zedd at Zouk Nightclub
- Lil Jon at JEWEL Nightclub
- Rick Ross at Drais
- Steve Aoki at Omnia

Almost every party still has tickets available online, meaning venue capacity can still hold more people.

However, we are told casinos and clubs will continue to adhere to the mask mandate put in place by NV Governor Steve Sisolak. The mandate asks patrons to wear masks while inside indoor spaces unless eating or drinking, but as you can imagine, there will be plenty of drinking on NYE.

Of course, those government regulations could get much stricter if the situation worsens -- but as of now, it's full steam ahead.

Eric Clapton went after a woman who was trying to hawk one of his CDs -- a bootleg one, no less -- for about $11 ... and now he's won, meaning she's gotta pay a lot more than that.

Deutsche Welle reports a judgement was filed in Clapton's favor earlier this week at a court in the Düsseldorf area of Germany ... where he'd sued this 55-year-old widow, who says her late husband bought the album years ago at a record store -- arguing she didn't know it was fake or infringing on his copyright.

The woman was reportedly trying to sell it on eBay for less than $12 -- something Eric and his team apparently caught wind of somehow, and decided to fight it tooth and nail.

Word is, they'd reached out this lady ... demanding she take down her eBay sale -- but word is, she told Eric and co. to kick rocks and to stop harassing her. The Guardian reports she even said if they were that bothered with the $11 sale, then go ahead and sue her.

Well, sue her he did ... and after her arguments of ignorance fell flat with the court following an appeal -- issuing an injunction preventing her from hawking the thing. She's also gotta pay the legal fees of both parties, which reports say amounts to about $3,800. If she keeps it up on eBay, she could be fine hundreds of thousands ... or even go to prison for half a year.

Clapton's team told the Guardian, "Germany is a country where sales of bootleg and counterfeit CDs are rife, which damages the industry and customers with poor quality and misleading recordings. Along with a number of other major artists and record companies, over a number of years Eric Clapton has, through German lawyers, successfully pursued hundreds of bootleg cases in the German courts under routine German copyright procedures."