Music

Young Dolph's shooting suspect certainly didn't cover his tracks well -- twisting his music career with murder, perhaps handing investigators much-needed clues to connect him to the case.

Cops announced Wednesday 23-year-old Justin Johnson is wanted for murdering Dolph. Johnson is a Memphis-area rapper who goes by the name Straight Drop -- and used areas around the city as the background to many of his music videos.

However, it's his music video for the song "Going Straight In" released on November 21, 2021, that had fans making an eerie connection.

Shortly after Dolph was killed, detectives tracked down the getaway car -- a white Mercedes -- to a Memphis-area home. You can see very clearly, Johnson uses the same home as the backdrop to his "Going Straight In" music video.

Shockingly enough -- Dolph was murdered November 17, which means that the music video was actually posted to YouTube AFTER he was gunned down.

Kanye West is filling the third and final headliner spot at this year's Coachella ... which almost certainly means Travis Scott is getting left out of the festival -- at least according to a new report.

Variety says they have sources who claim Kanye has signed on as one of the famous event's big names for 2022 ... joining the other two headliners in Billie Eilish and Swedish House Mafia.

Coachella is coming back after two years off due to the pandemic ... and the 2020 edition had Frank Ocean, Rage Against the Machine and Travis Scott as the headliners before it was scrapped.

If Kanye joins the fold, it appears highly unlikely Travis will take the stage at Coachella this April in Indio, CA ... but there's yet to be an official announcement either way.

Kanye will certainly be a big draw and he's got some new music to perform too ... remember, he recently dropped his latest album, "Donda."

Yeezy performed a few "Donda" listening parties last year ... and just last month he took the stage with Drake for the 'Free Larry Hoover' benefit concert in Los Angeles.

One woman says the crowd at a Harry Styles concert in Los Angeles got so rowdy it left her injured ... and now she's filed a lawsuit against the venue.

The woman claims she attended Harry's "Fine Line" album release show at The Forum in December 2019. According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, she says during the show, a mass of folks surged towards the stage, causing her to be knocked to the ground by other concertgoers.

From there, the woman says other folks in the crowd crushed her body, causing serious injury.

Harry is not named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, but she's suing The Forum, show promoters and ticketing services -- including Live Nation, Stubhub and Ticketmaster.

In her suit, the woman claims the venue, promoters and ticketing services failed to provide sufficient seating, lighting, security, supervision and crowd control that night ... and says folks in front of the stage were left in harm's way during the crowd surges.

The fan is looking to get paid ... claiming her alleged injuries are chronic and debilitating and are diminishing her quality of life.

We reached out to MSG, which owned The Forum at the time of the alleged incident ... so far, no word back.

There's been a break in the investigation into Young Dolph's death  ... law enforcement says a suspect has been identified and is wanted for murder.

The U.S. Marshals, Memphis Police Department and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation say one of the suspects is a 23-year-old man named Justin Johnson.

Authorities released a mug shot of the suspect Wednesday and say Johnson is wanted for a slew of charges, including first-degree murder.

According to his social media page, Johnson appears to be a local rapper who goes by the name StraightDrop. His page is flooded with pics of himself flaunting clothes, money and expensive cars.

Law enforcement says Johnson is on the TBI Most Wanted list, has ties to organized crime and should be considered armed and dangerous ... and there's a combined reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to his capture.

As we reported ... Young Dolph was gunned down in November while he was inside a cookie shop in Memphis, and 2 masked gunmen were caught on surveillance footage before fleeing in a getaway car.

The feds allege Johnson shot Young Dolph to death ... and they say he also has an outstanding warrant for violating his federal supervised release from a separate weapons offense.

Billie Eilish will fill a headliner spot at this year's Coachella -- making her the second out of three names -- and a big question mark for Travis Scott's status with the festival.

A source with knowledge tells us Eilish has signed on as one of the event's big names for 2022. 2020's edition had Frank Ocean, Rage Against the Machine and Travis Scott as the three headliners before it was canceled because of COVID-19.

Frank is now committed to 2023's festival, and Rage Against the Machine is reportedly not headlining 2022's edition ... which left 2 empty spots with Travis.

The first was filled by Swedish House Mafia, who announced their return to music a couple months ago -- and now the 2nd will be Billie.

Kanye West is in the midst of a pretty romantic tour with Julia Fox, hitting up NYC Tuesday night ... on the heels of introducing her to his close pals, including N.O.R.E., during a whirlwind weekend in Miami.

Tuesday night Ye and the actress did a classic New York date -- a Broadway play, followed by dinner at Carbone. The couple drew plenty of attention as they entered the restaurant.

By the way, they'd just taken in a popular, provocative and perhaps appropriate play -- Julia and Ye had tickets to see "Slave Play." The acclaimed production deals with race, sex, gender, traumatic experiences and ... interracial relationships. It's been nominated for 12 Tony Awards.

The couple clearly loves the menu at Carbone, because that's also where they dined Monday night ... but that was down in Miami, where they had a double date with Drink Champs host Noreaga and his wife, Neri.

For those keeping track, we're told that was date #3 for Ye and Julia, who seemed pretty comfortable as she whispered in his ear during the MIA dinner.

N.O.R.E. and Ye have been friends for years, and here's a fun fact ... Kanye's nickname for his firstborn -- Nori -- is inspired by his old buddy.

Anyway, we're told there was nothing low-key about their outing -- plenty of fans in the restaurant spotted the famous couples and snapped shots with them.

Ye and the actress -- best known for "Uncut Gems" -- have been nearly inseparable since date #1 ... which came New Year's Day in Miami.

Our sources say they managed to keep date #2, presumably on Sunday, more out of the public eye ... but also met up with some of his friends for that one.

We're told the friend that time was none other than Future! No word if he was third-wheeling or had his own date.

Lil Durk doesn't want to be the last rapper to collab with Morgan Wallen ... he's encouraging Kendrick Lamar and others to work with him too, telling us Morgan's no racist.

We got Lil Durk Tuesday on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and asked him if Kendrick should get in the studio with Morgan, less than a year after the country superstar was seen using the n-word in public.

Lil Durk vouches for Morgan and says they had a long talk about the controversy while they were working together on their new hit single, "Broadway Girls."

Morgan's not hiding the fact he wants to work with other rappers like Kendrick ... and Lil Durk says the 2 giants of their genres should definitely link up ASAP.

As you know ... TMZ obtained video back in February, shot by one of Morgan's neighbors, showing him using the n-word after a drunken night out with friends. Backlash from the industry came swiftly, as the country singer was banned from award shows and radio stations stopped spinning his tunes.

Radio stations are starting to play Morgan again, and Lil Durk believes it's all water under the bridge now. BTW, he wouldn't have any talk about the c-word -- canceled -- as it applies to his new friend.

Check out Durk's full comments ... it's a strong stamp of approval from him.

Jason Derulo has a zero-tolerance policy for being mistaken for another R&B superstar -- so much so, he attacked 2 guys at a Las Vegas hotel for calling him ... Usher.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ... cops were called to the ARIA hotel during the early hours of Tuesday morning after Derulo threw fists with the men.

Eyewitnesses tell us Derulo and one of the men were passing each other on an escalator when the guy seemed to troll Derulo by yelling, "Hey, Usher! F*** you, bitch!!!" That's when Derulo got pissed and punched him right in the face, sending the dude to the floor.

It didn't end there ... Jason allegedly also slapped the second guy moments later, and security had to step in to break up the scrum. You can see part of the fight in the video ... even though Jason was walking with a large dude, perhaps his bodyguard ... he still charged directly at the guys after the Usher line.

At the time, the 2 victims did not want to press charges, but there's always the possibility of a lawsuit. Either way, they have up to one year to change their minds and move forward with charges. Jason did get a trespassing notice from ARIA, and was removed from the property.

Spice wants to show women how much can be accomplished on their own, and tells us making Grammy history with her debut album is a big step toward that goal.

The Queen of Dancehall is one of 2 female dancehall artists -- the other being Etana -- to be nominated for Best Reggae Album. That's a first for the Grammys, and on Tuesday's "TMZ Live" she told us about her rags to riches tale ... in life and the industry.

The title of her nominated album is "10" -- fitting because she says, "For the past 10 years I've managed myself. I've been my own record label, my stylist and everything, so I'm just super gleeful and excited."

Spice tells us she wants to show people it is possible to make dreams a reality ... "When one door closes you can open another one," she says.

This has been a huge year for the dancehall artist and "Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta" star.

She released her hit album back in August ... and a large part of that success came from the lead single, "Go Down Deh" ft. Shaggy and Sean Paul.

Folks in the music scene aren't the only ones who agree either. Just last month, the song even made it to former Prez Obama's 2021 playlist.

Spice says her slogan is "from homeless to greatness," and indeed she is living that out ... she told us she just bought a home in ATL and she has been doing extremely well for herself.

Giveon had royalty present during his concert in L.A. on Monday ... 'cause the R&B singer brought out Lakers superstar LeBron James in the middle of his show!!

LeBron -- who was enjoying the Lakers' day off -- made a special guest appearance at the L.A. Live concert ... and judging from the reaction of the crowd, everyone was pumped.

The "Heartbreak Anniversary" crooner had to playfully persuade King James to come out and address the crowd ... chanting "LeBron, LeBron. LeBron," before the 4-time champ strolled out on stage.

"Make some noise for LeBron, please," Giveon said.

The entire interaction was dope ... as Bron -- who routinely shows love for his favorite musical artists -- embraced the songwriter in front of the packed crowd.

Of course, LBJ made sure to return the favor by giving a shoutout on his Instagram saying, "A star flat out. My brother @Giveon love my brother."

"Thank you to the GOAT @kingjames for coming out ... my brother 4L," Giveon replied.

If you listen closely enough, you can even hear chants of "MVP" from some of the concertgoers in the building.

And, judging from his latest string of performances, it's not hard to see why fans would be moved to shower LBJ with such high praise.

Drake's been working out ... and he really wants you to know it.

The rapper posted a series of photos from a recent beachside vacay -- which is full of shots of him shirtless and showing off his toned goods ... abs, pecs, back and arms.

As you can see ... the dude is jacked, looking super chiseled from the back and the front -- alongside a group of buddies, who are obviously keeping up with Drake. Or maybe he's keeping up with them? 🤷🏽‍♂️

Drizzy captioned the upload with, "The reward for hard work is more work…kno dat." Indeed, it does appear as though Mr. Graham's been hard at work in the gym -- which he also hammered home by posing with a full-body exercise machine, arms up. So, consider it known, Papi!

No word on where exactly or when the photos were taken -- but you gotta imagine it might well have been from his trip to St. Barts for the New Year, where he was partying to celebrate the holiday.

Jetting down to the Caribbean has become a regular pastime for Drake in recent years -- just last year during the summer, he was in Barbados ... where there, too, he was showing off his bod, not to mention the ink featured on it.

The guy suing Nirvana for featuring his naked baby body on their famous 1991 album cover seems to have forgotten to come as he was to court -- so now his lawsuit's been thrown out.

Spencer Elden's lawsuit against the band -- not to mention Kurt Cobain's estate -- has been dismissed, for now, with the judge noting dude and his lawyers failed to respond to a motion to toss the entire thing filed by the defendants ... a deadline for which had been set on Dec. 30.

That day apparently came and went without any word from Elden and co. -- so, the judge granted Nirvana's wish of nixing the whole suit ... at least for the time being. Elden now has until Jan. 13 to submit an amended complaint if he wants to keep pressing the issue.

As for what was in that motion that Elden never came to the table for ... it was full of arguments from Nirvana's attorneys that said not only did this guy wait too long to file his child pornography claims -- but also that Elden himself had apparently leaned into his Nirvana fame on several occasions over the years.

As we reported ... Elden claimed he was violated when his then 4-month-old naked self was plastered on the "Nevermind" album after alleged promises it would be censored ... saying it caused him to suffer lifelong damages. He was asking for a pretty penny to make himself whole.

Elden's legal team refused to comment on the latest update or any future plans. A strange U-turn, no doubt -- almost as if he sat down and thought ... never mind!

Eli Manning is the newest member of Death Row ... and if you don't believe it, check out his new birthday chain -- courtesy of Snoop Dogg!!!

Snoop was the special guest during the third quarter of the Browns vs. Steelers "Manning Cast" on ESPN2 Monday night ... which just so happened to be Eli's 41st birthday.

And, D-O-Double-G was ready for the occasion ... whipping out a "Death Row Records" gold and diamond chain for the birthday boy -- and Eli's reaction is priceless!!

"Eli, I would like to present to you this Death Row chain for being so hip-hop! For being so hip!" Snoop said.

"That's yours, baby, when I see you. Put that around your neck. Happy 41st birthday Eli!"

Eli's mouth was wide open as Snoop shared the gift via video chat ... in complete disbelief over the gesture.

Snoop was showing nothing but love for Peyton and Eli throughout his appearance -- in fact, he even asked the bros to adopt him during the show.

"I love the way you guys won, I love the way you guys did y'all thing and I'm happy for y'all off the field with this show that you got and all your endeavors," he said. "Y'all keep up the great work."

"I wish I was a Manning," Snoop asked. "Can I be adopted?" ... and Peyton "absolutely" accepted his request.

YG's been suspected of robbery for nearly two years now, but he finally has an answer on whether he'll be prosecuted ... and that answer is a resounding no.

The L.A. District Attorney's Office declined to file charges against the rapper because it says there wasn't enough evidence to link him to the crime ... this according to docs obtained by TMZ.

It's interesting though because it sounds like YG might have been on the scene during whatever the heck was happening. In the docs, the D.A.'s Office says, "Not enough evidence of what defendant did to aid and abet the crime. Presence during the crime alone is not sufficient."

We still don't know exactly what this was all about to begin with -- YG was arrested in January 2020 during an early morning raid on his house. Cops came heavily armed, with weapons and warrants, but, at the time, his powerhouse attorney, Joe Tacopina, assured us his client would be cleared.

It took a while, but turns out he was right ... Tacopina says the D.A.'s decision is a happy Christmas gift for his client. He tells us he actually had conversations with the D.A. over this matter, and got them to see the light -- namely, that YG hadn't done anything wrong ... and that charging him wasn't in anyone's best interest.

Tacopina thinks cops had a grudge against YG, and we're simply hassling him.

Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme's allegedly threatened to kill his ex-wife's new boyfriend ... and now the guy just got court-ordered protection.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Josh allegedly started making death threats after Gunner Foxx started seeing Josh's ex-wife, Brody Dalle, back in 2020 ... and Foxx says things finally came to a head this past Christmas Eve.

Gunner claims he was doing some Christmas shopping at a mall in Thousand Oaks, CA when Josh approached him and threatened to throw him off a balcony.

In the docs, Gunner claims Josh first got in his face inside an Apple Store, telling him ... "I'm going to kill you, you f****** p****" ... and seemingly challenging him to a fight.

Foxx claims Josh approached him again outside the Apple Store, viciously berating him and threatening to kill him, and toss him over the second-floor balcony. He says at one point Josh actually grabbed his arm and tried to throw him over the railing.

In the docs, he claims Josh dug his fingernails into his hand during the altercation, and he truly believed Josh was going to throw him to his death.

Gunner claims he called law enforcement and cops responded, but not before Josh got the hell outta there -- still, he went ahead and filed a police report.

In the docs, Gunner says he lives with Josh's ex and their children in Malibu ... and thinks Josh broke into the home and even slashed his tires.

Foxx beelined it to court and a judge granted him a temporary restraining order requiring Josh to stay at least 50 yards away from Gunner and Gunner's 2 daughters.

Big Daddy Weave's Jason "Jay" Weaver is dead after suffering complications from COVID-19.

In a heartfelt message on Instagram his brother and fellow band member, Mike, shared the tragic news ... "I'm sorry to bring this news, but I am excited to celebrate where he is right now. My brother Jay went to be with Jesus just a couple hours ago."

Jay was a bass player and vocalist for the Christian band and had a history of health complications. Back in 2016, he was rushed to the hospital and had to get both feet amputated to fight an infection in his body.

In his message, Mike thanked everyone for their prayers and support for his late brother throughout his battles with his health ... "you've seen him walk the uphill battle and you guys helped carry him through so much."

"Even though COVID took his last breath, Jesus was right there to catch him," he said.

Big Daddy Weave started in 1998, dropping their first album in 2001 and touring with big hits in the Christian music scene ever since.

Mike talked about his brother's impact -- "The Lord used him in such a mighty way out on the road for many years."

He says their family will deal with the heartache "as it comes" but for now, they are turning to their faith to celebrate Jay ... "The prayers of healing can now turn into prayers of thanksgiving now that Jay is in God's presence."

Jay was 42.