Music

Kanye West appears dead set on burying Pete Davidson -- or at least the cartoon version -- he just imagined the burial of his ex-wife's boyfriend in a music video for a song where he rips the 'SNL' star.

Ye just dropped the music vid Wednesday for his song "Eazy" with The Game. The track features the verse, "God saved me from the crash, just so I can beat Pete Davidson's ass" ... and the video shows animated Pete being buried alive by Kanye.

The video -- interestingly debuting on the very day the judge declared Kim and Kanye single -- is mostly clay animation and at one point, Kanye's character is dragging a body tied up by ropes with a bag over the head. Kanye then pulls off the bag to reveal Pete's face and sprinkles some rose seeds over his head.

Later in the video, Pete's got roses coming from his head, and the roses are loaded into the back of a pickup truck. The whole thing is a creepy connection to the truckload Kanye sent Kim Kardashian for Valentine's Day.

Kanye's not done sending not-so-subtle messages to Kim's BF ... the last 3 frames in the video feature another jab at Pete.

Ye ends with this ... "EVERYONE LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER / EXCEPT SKETE YOU KNOW WHO / JK HE'S FINE."

From the pit to ... one of the biggest stages in music?!

Antonio Brown announced that is his next move ... revealing Tuesday night he's set to perform at this year's Rolling Loud festival.

The NFL star broke the news on his social media page ... posting Rolling Loud's flyer, which shows he'll be rapping on the festival's first day in Miami just before Kanye West takes the stage.

Brown will rap as "AB" ... and it's a big deal, considering his name is up there on the flyer with top musicians like Kendrick Lamar and Lil Baby.

The 3-day weekend festival starts on July 22 at Hard Rock Stadium .. and, given his newfound friendship with Ye, it's no surprise Brown's performance will come minutes before the "Donda" artist.

Remember, AB and Ye have been best buds since his infamous exit from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this year -- with the two dining out, partying and even hittin' the studio constantly.

Brown did say he was collaborating with Ye on a song ... so seems there's a good chance the two will perform together at the festival.

Even if they don't, though ... Brown still has his two hit singles -- "Whole Lotta Money" and "Pit Not The Palace" -- to rile up the crowd with.

The 33-year-old wideout has been involved in music even when he was at the top of his football game ... launching his own label in 2020 and releasing several songs, mixtapes and music videos through the years.

Darren Criss' older brother, Charles Criss, has died by suicide -- and his sibling is sending out a powerful message about mental health in the wake of such a tragedy.

The actor revealed the sad news Wednesday in a social media post, throwing up a bunch of photos of his bro, as well as a lengthy statement about what had happened ... and what the takeaway is for him as a result.

Charles -- who Darren refers to as Chuck -- took his own life sometime last month ... although the exact circumstances are unclear.

What is clear, however, is how much thought Darren put into breaking this to the public -- because his note here is incredibly powerful and well worth a read in full.

To sum it up, he says that Chuck -- with whom Darren actually started a band -- had apparently suffered from depression ... something DC says he and his family were somewhat aware of, but not to the extent they thought it would ever lead to this.

He says his brother lost sight to the darkness -- despite the fact he was so very loved -- and also takes a moment to acknowledge ... this is something that cannot be discussed in just a sentence or two, going on to acknowledge the complexities of mental health that any one individual may be going through ... even if everything looks okay from the outside.

Darren writes, "There is simply no sense, nay, compassion or decency, to try to find blame in any direction other than the inner most tragedy of an untreated illness," going on to add ... "Which is why it is paramount for me to remind anyone reading this that may be feeling consumed by any similar kind of darkness -- that there is absolutely no shame in feeling shame, and furthermore, nothing wrong whatsoever with seeking help."

He also makes sure to hit this point home ... that Chuck's life is not defined by his suicide, and that it was so much more than just that -- acknowledging the great things he contributed to this world, including three young children that he leaves behind.

Darren's brother was just 36. RIP

Paris Jackson is about to go on tour for the first time ever ... one of her stops is being promoted by the same company behind her dad's last tour ... cut short before it began because of MJ's death.

Sources close to Paris tell TMZ ... Michael's daughter is hitting the road this month, marking her debut tour as a solo artist. We're told she'll be jetting off to Paris this weekend for a show ... one that's going to be promoted by AEG, which is interesting. More on that in a bit.

Anyway, later in March ... Paris will be coming back home for a string of gigs in the States alongside musician Patrick Droney ... with whom she'll tour and perform concerts in cities like Vegas, L.A., Seattle, Portland and others.

That's all well and good ... but back to AEG, which she's teamed up with for her Paris gig ... which also has a rocky history with the Jackson family.

You’ll recall… MJ’s mom Katherine sued AEG for wrongful death back in 2010, claiming it was partially to blame for the King of Pop’s 2009 death based on its alleged ill-fated hiring of Dr. Conrad Murray.

The jury ultimately decided in AEG’s favor, deciding Michael's death was caused by his drug abuse, and AEG was not responsible for protecting his health.

Dua Lipa might be on Cloud 9 over her success with her smash hit song, "Levitating," but there's one band that wants to kick in the gravity ... because they're suing her over it.

A band called Artikal Sound System just filed suit against the British pop star -- who's absolutely blown up over the past couple years of the pandemic with the help of her new album, and this track by extension ... one that's dominated the charts and streaming game.

Unfortunately for DL ... these guys are claiming she ripped off the catchy tune from their own reggae song, "Live Your Life," which they dropped in 2017 ... to some notable success.

This is a simple allegation of copyright infringement. According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Artikal simply states ... Dua and her team heard their earworm pre-2020 (when they started writing "Levitating") and trotted out a carbon copy.

There's nothing laid out in their claim to explain *why* they believe that to be the case ... but presumably, that'll get hashed out in court as this thing plays out.

We'll say this ... the two songs do sound awfully similar, especially the chorus. Different lyrics, obviously, but the beat comes across as damn near the same -- and Artikal obviously felt strong enough about this to sue.

In addition to Dua herself, Artikal has named Warner Records (her label) and others as defendants -- and they're asking for any profits they may have made off of "Levitating," plus damages.

As Putin invades Ukraine, there are a handful of big-name bands and musicians scheduled to perform in Mother Russia ... and not a whole lot of answers on whether they'll proceed.

A good handful of artists have already announced they're nixing any further concerts in Ukraine and Russia -- including Imagine Dragons, Green Day and Louis Tomlinson ... most of whom did so out of protest, or just sheer safety for their fans.

And yet ... there are even more set to take the stage in cities like St. Petersburg or Moscow -- including acts like Eric Clapton, Judas Priest, Bjork, Korn, Slipknot, Gorillaz and Five Finger Death Punch.

All these bands have shows booked between May and July -- be it one-off solo shows, 2 or 3 shows, or even as part of a larger organized event. We reached out to all of them ... only to hear back from Korn, who told us they had no comment on their plans.

For everyone else ... the jury's still out on what they're going to do.

The Killers -- who were going to play the Park Live Festival along with a handful of the above-mentioned bands -- just told us Monday they're refusing to play in Russia ... so it would seem some of these musicians are more decisive on the issue than others.

In all fairness, it's possible there are folks who are waiting to see how things shake out over the next few weeks -- perhaps in hopes that this thing gets resolved before their gigs.

The Killers are drawing a line in the sand ... pulling out of an upcoming performance in Moscow, and it's all because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A rep for the group tells TMZ ... The Killers will no longer be playing in the Park Live Festival ... which is set for July in the Russian capital.

The international music festival is held every summer in Moscow, and it usually draws huge crowds and big-name bands from across the globe.

This year's lineup includes acts like My Chemical Romance, Sum 41, Gorillaz, Deftones, Iggy Pop, Five Finger Death Punch, Slipknot and Limp Bizkit ... so it will be interesting to see if others follow The Killers and drop out.

As you know ... Russia's not only being hit with financial sanctions due to the conflict in Ukraine, athletes and sports teams are refusing to play in or against Russia and FIFA even banned the national team from competing in this year's World Cup.

Now, The Killers are joining the movement.

Joe Perry doesn't have to dream on when it comes to unloading a prime piece of real estate -- 'cause the dude's got himself a buyer ... and the sale's about to make him a bundle.

The Aerosmith rocker's Massachusetts estate in Duxbury -- consisting of more than 7 acres of land and a 7,181 sq. foot palace of a home -- is currently under contract with someone who's ready to make a deal and claim the property for themselves very soon, we're told.

The price Joe was asking -- a cool $4.5 million. And you can bet JP and his wife, Billie, are cleaning up on profit -- they reportedly snapped up this place back in the late '80s, and have done quite a bit of work to turn it into the paradise you see here.

The 5-bed, 8-bath home is as picturesque as you can imagine a countryside retreat could be -- in addition to the massive number of rooms, there are a ton of amenities too.

For starters, there's a whole detached stone front carriage house that stands alone from the main house, and there's also a 3-stall barn with a tack room ... plus a marsh and pond nearby. So, yeah ... we're talking serious "Green Acres" vibes here.

On top of that, there's a pool, a rooftop garden, 3 fireplaces, a game room, a media room, a state-of-the-art kitchen and incredible vaulted ceilings -- not to mention the fact this place is totally gated and offers the utmost privacy.

And did we bring up the gorgeous nature all around???

Before this happy little kid was bringing smiles to faces with her music and quirky television characters, she was just another southern sweetie with a bright future growing up on a ranch in Oklahoma.

While this star shared a throwback in a sepia tone shot ... you might have better luck guessing who is in the old school shot if you knew she was known for her ravishing red hair!

If you are still having a hard time tracking down the cute kid maybe try listening to some of her number 1 hits including "Rumor Has It," "You Lie" and "Walk On."

Every so often, Amerie's hit single '1 Thing' crops up online -- and like clockwork, a fierce debate gets fired up ... inevitably bringing Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez into the convo.

Here's the deal ... the 2005 track -- featured on Amerie's 2nd album, 'Touch' -- resurfaces on Twitter every few months, like it's doing now, with many arguing her mainstream success was cut short ... and not just that, but that she was allegedly done dirty by the industry.

The reason folks feel like that ... her fans say this unique sound featured on the song, which is often referred to as "go-go" and was quite popular at the time, is one that ended up also getting used by stars like Bey and J Lo, among other female R&B singers back then.

With tracks of theirs like "Crazy In Love" and "Get Right," respectively, employing similar break beats and drum patterns -- some have even gone so far as to claim that B and J (Lo) actually hijacked Amerie's whole aesthetic ... and, thus, robbed her of her thunder.

Of course, a proper timeline of events is necessary here to put things in context ... as is an explanation of who the heck Rich Harrison is, because he's at the center of all of this -- and the main reason for the comparisons being made in the first place.

Harrison was a producer in the 2000s who was working a lot with Columbia Records -- who had all these ladies under their roster in the early to mid-2000s. Fact is, he was making "go-go" beats for just about all them, and others in the game too ... including Toni Braxton, Kelly Rowland and even Mary J. Blige. Everybody was dipping their toe into the RH pool here.

As for who did what first -- between Bey, J and Amerie, that is -- it would appear Beyonce was, in fact, the first of the 3 to trot out Harrison's sound with 'CIL' ('03), even though KR might've arguably had it first with '02's "Can't Nobody" -- and perhaps others used it even before then. Amerie and J Lo, meanwhile, came out with their songs, "1 Thing" and "Get Right," around the same time in 2005 ... with JL getting a slightly earlier release in January.

And spoiler alert ... ALL of these songs were produced by Harrison, so of course they sound alike!

So that settles that, or so it seems. However, there's one other element here that's also getting some attention as it relates to Amerie and J Lo, specifically ... namely, old stories/rumors that Jen was allegedly getting prioritized over labelmates/contemporaries.

This has been a recurring theme in J Lo's music career -- Fat Joe even touched on it not too long ago -- but the alleged tale goes ... '1 Thing' was supposedly being shopped to J Lo BTS, and the Columbia label heads actually wanted it to go to her instead of Amerie.

Upon learning this, they say Amerie went ahead and leaked '1 Thing' to radio stations on her own, and because it became so popular ... Columbia had to back down and let it be.

'SNL' broke from tradition Saturday night ... there were no laughs in the cold open -- instead, there was a moving tribute to Ukraine.

The show opened with Kate McKinnon and Cecily Strong somberly introducing the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York. The choir sang a mournful song called "Prayer for Ukraine."

The Chorus has a deep connection to both Ukraine and the U.S. ... Ukrainian immigrants back in the 1940's created the Chorus to preserve their Ukrainian heritage and celebrate music ... something deeply important in Ukrainian culture.

A table filled with candles was center stage, spelling the name of the capital -- Kyiv.

'SNL' has broken from tradition with serious cold opens only a few times in the past -- notably, after 9/11 Paul Simon sang "The Boxer" as first responders and then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani stood by.

Another Memphis rapper has been shot and killed ... just in the last few months.

Snootie Wild succumbed to his injuries after being shot Friday in Houston. His death was announced Saturday night on his Instagram page ... "Gone in body, but your NAME & LEGACY will live forever! #TeamYayo4Life."

Wild was shot in the neck ... discovered laying in a ditch, beside an SUV. A Houston cop told the ABC Houston station, "It looks like he backed in there accidentally. Then the other vehicle pulled up, and folks got out of the car," adding "They were talking for a little bit, and then all of a sudden, gunfire went off. Only one shot, actually."

He was rushed to a hospital, but doctors were unable to save him.

You'll recall, Young Dolph was shot and killed in Memphis outside a bakery in a clear ambush. Three people have been arrested, but Gotti was not implicated.

Kanye West certainly has a new muse in Kim Kardashian look-alike Chaney Jones, but the two don't consider themselves a couple, at least not yet.

Sources close to the two tell us ... while they've been together here and there over the last couple weeks, it's all for fun. We're told Kanye's obviously attracted to Chaney ... undeniably drawn to her because of her similarities to Kim.

As for how they met ... nothing fancy. We're told Chaney slid into Kanye's DMs and things went from there.

Of course, Chaney and Ye started hanging out shortly after he and Julia Fox split up -- Julia herself had admitted things were never that serious -- and our Kanye sources echo that ... he's not looking for commitment with anyone right now.

Chaney's style lately has almost been a carbon copy of Kim ... especially the tight-fitting bodysuits. She's even worn the same sunglasses as Kim.

Louis Tomlinson is ready and willing to pump the brakes on his live shows if one of his fans goes down, and after a Minneapolis show ... it's evident his security is also ready to react quickly.

The former One Direction member put on a sold-out show Thursday night, and as he neared the end of the show -- singing his hit, "Walls" -- he looked into the standing-room-only audience, stopped the song abruptly and then called out on the mic for help.

As security guards rushed over to a female fan in distress, Louis urged the crowd to let them get through. He and the guards yelled, "Make a hole" ... and then LT waited calmly onstage to let the responders do their job.

When security began taking her out of the theater, Louis decided to bring the lights up and take 5. Fans around the incident quickly cooperated and made a clear path to the doors.

This latest incident seals it ... artists are definitely more attentive to audience members who are sick or injured. Of course, Billie Eilish did it weeks ago at a show in Atlanta, giving the whole crowd a chance to relax, sit down and take a step back from the stage.

Billie even passed her inhaler to a fan in need a few weeks ago ... saying she likes to guarantee her fans are safe at her shows. John Mayer also slowed things down for a fan during an L.A. gig.

As we reported ... some people, most notably Kanye West, took Billie's comments as a dig at Travis Scott, whose Astroworld event ended with the death of 10 people, including children.

Kanye West might not be able to have Kim Kardashian -- but he's got the next best thing, it seems, in her look-alike ... who's almost like her carbon copy down to a curvaceous T!

As you know ... Ye's been trotting out his new flame, Chaney Jones, more and more lately -- stepping out in public with her in full view, whereas before ... he seemed to be trying to keep their relationship low-key.

The parading continued into the weekend, with Ye and Chaney leaving ZZ's Club in Miami very early Friday morning at around 3:30 AM ET ... coming down an escalator together, staring deeply into each other's eyes and then departing in the same SUV.

Just like she usually does, CJ was looking like a dead ringer for KK -- and Ye seemed to be all about it ... flashing a huge grin as they walked side by side.

As you know ... he still is very much trying to halt his divorce from Kim at the moment -- and seems desperate to get her back any way he can. It would appear that until he can have her to himself again -- which is probably NOT going to happen -- he's willing to settle for Chaney.

She's certainly not the worst consolation prize by any means, though ... evidenced in what she put on display Saturday at the beach -- namely, her rockin' bod, which she showed off from the front and the back.

Indeed, she's got the hourglass figure -- with quite the caboose -- just like Kim does ... so, you can see what Kanye digs about her in the looks department.

Kanye West has just made it clear ... he's not gonna end his marriage without a fight, but the fight he's waging is, well, bizarre.

Kanye just filed legal docs ... trying to make his social media posts attacking Kim, Pete and others inadmissible in next week's hearing. As we reported, a judge will decide next week whether to restore Kim's single status.

Kanye's argument -- How does Kim really know he wrote those posts? His lawyer is arguing these social media posts are not only hearsay ... they're double hearsay!

Ye's lawyer says, "Kim claims she read something online allegedly by Kanye and characterizes the posts in her declaration as misinformation ... Kim needed to offer the social media posts into evidence, and show that the posts were written by Kanye."

The docs never say Kanye didn't write the posts ... just that Kim hasn't jumped through all the hoops.

But, that's not all ... Kanye's lawyer now says the prenup can't be viewed as valid, at least not now. Ye's attorney says there's a presumption in California that prenups signed after 2001 are invalid, and the only way they can be validated is either during a trial or if both parties agree. So, it seems Kanye is saying he hasn't agreed it's valid, so it can't be enforced until there's a full-blown trial, and that means a big delay.

What Kanye is doing is throwing up roadblocks to stop Kim from becoming single. He previously filed docs saying he would agree to it, but one of the conditions is that all assets be frozen for now. The thing is ... they have a prenup that makes all their property separate and Kim needs that money to run her businesses.

It's highly unlikely the judge will buy what Ye's lawyer is selling ... restoring single status is a routine procedure, and the very point is to separate division of assets from marital status.