Music

DMX's Fiancée Desiree Lindstrom says their son, Exodus, is the apple that doesn't fall far from the tree -- he could follow in his dad's footsteps -- but for now, he's staying strong after X's passing.

Desiree was on "It's Tricky with Raquel Harper," when she opened up about whether her 5-year-old might become a rapper ... and turns out he's flashing some skills. She told Raq, "He loves to sing. I was like, 'Is my son gonna be an R&B singer?'"

She says Exodus can beatbox pretty well too, sooo ... place your bets.

As for the traumatic loss of his father -- Desiree says Exodus has been very strong, even comforting her when she gets down. If she starts tearing up, her little boy reassures her DMX is always watching over from Heaven.

She tells Raq he's eager to learn, too -- choosing to write over playing with toys! She couldn't be prouder of who he's becoming, and knows X would feel the same way.

Drake is seeking court-ordered protection from a woman he claims keeps showing up at his home and wishing death upon him.

The rapper's lawyer, Larry Stein, beelined it to court for a temporary restraining order ... to protect Drake and his family from a 29-year-old woman he claims has been harassing him for years.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Drake claims the woman was arrested at his Hidden Hills estate back in April 2017 and convicted of trespassing, but that's just the tip of the iceberg ... Drake says the woman has threatened his life as well as the lives of his family members.

It's scary ... in the docs, Drake's lawyer says the woman sent him emails last month where she says Drake should "put a bullet through your head now bitch."

Champagne Papi claims the woman's been trying to track him down by filing a $4 billion defamation case against him and seeking a restraining order of her own ... and he says he's suffering emotional distress and fearing for his and his family's safety as a result of her "harassment and obsession with me."

Britney Spears thinks there's something not quite right about how Brittany Murphy died a sudden death, and she has good reason to wonder ... because there's a direct connection between them.

The singer just posted about the late actress, saying she finds it "curious" Brittany died at just 32, and doesn't seem to buy the official explanation. Britney admits she's a bit late to the discussion -- she references a People cover story from last October.

As you know ... Brittany was found unresponsive back in 2009 in her Hollywood Hills home, and the coroner ultimately determined she died of drug intoxication and untreated pneumonia.

What's interesting is the fact Murphy bought that house from Spears, who lived there back when she was dating Justin Timberlake.

Even eerier ... Murphy's husband, Simon Monjack, also died in that house 5 months later, and also from drug intoxication and pneumonia.

Along with the People story, there was also an HBO documentary last year about Murphy's death -- which has clearly piqued Britney's interest.

Spears didn't mention her connection to Murphy in her IG post -- but both Britney and Brittany didn't like staying in the house.

Monjack once said Murphy considered the home "unlucky" ... while Spears reportedly thought the place had bad spirits.

The Murphy family sold the mansion in 2011, and in 2013 it was razed and an all-new home was built.

"Euphoria" star Angus Cloud says his show doesn't glorify substance abuse, and insists drugs are not something to take lightly.

We got Angus Thursday leaving the Revolve Social Club in L.A., and he talked about all things "Euphoria" -- mainly, if the hit HBO dramedy is sending the wrong message to young viewers about drugs.

He thinks the claims against the series are BS ... adding drugs aren't fun and games.

Fans of the show know Angus' character, Fezco, plays an important role ... originally supplying drugs to Zendaya's Rue Bennett before cutting her off.

As we reported ... anti-drug organization D.A.R.E. recently called out the series for glamorizing drug abuse, with a rep telling TMZ the show dangerously portrays severe addictions as common in high schools.

"Euphoria" producers say all they're trying to do is accurately depict the downfalls of addiction.

Angus also addressed whether the show paints an accurate picture of modern high school culture. Watch, he gives us a very honest answer.

YFN Lucci is desperate to get out of jail as he awaits trial in his murder case ... because he thinks he might literally die behind bars if he stays locked up.

According to new legal docs, the rapper claims a fellow inmate at the Fulton County Jail stabbed him last month ... and he also says he's been told there's a bounty on his head among inmates.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, YFN Lucci claims he was stabbed from behind while on a video call with someone on the outside ... and he says the other inmate used a homemade shank to stab him.

Since the alleged stabbing back on Feb. 9, YFN Lucci claims he's been told there's a price on his head ... and he fears his life is in jeopardy if he remains in custody.

As a result, YFN Lucci is asking the judge to grant him bond so he can get the hell outta jail ... and he says he would be down with 24-hour home confinement and wear a monitoring device if he gets out.

Remember ... Lucci is in jail right now because prosecutors said he violated the previous bond conditions in his murder case by going to a strip club and a recording studio.

So, it will be interesting to see if he gets another shot.

We reached out to YFN Lucci's lawyer and the jail ... so far no word back.

Gene Simmons says Kanye West needs to man up and back off Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson ... and he thinks a bitch slap might just be the wake-up call Kanye needs.

We got the KISS rocker Thursday at Kings Road Cafe and gauged his opinion on Kanye's repeated online attacks aimed at his estranged wife and her new boyfriend, and Ye's behavior since the divorce.

Gene says Kanye needs to get a hobby other than obsessing over Kim and Pete ... and he suggests a slap to the face to set Kanye straight.

What's more, Gene finds it pretty childish for Kanye to be waltzing around in Miami with a new girl who just so happens to look like Kim ... and he's got a message for Chaney Jones too.

While Gene is siding with Kim and Pete here, he does acknowledge the fact something might be off with Kanye ... and points out Ye has admitted as much in the past.

Saweetie tapped in for an epic dance-off with the mascot at the Clippers game on Thursday ... droppin' low and shaking it in front of the whole arena -- and TMZ Sports has the vid!!!

The stars flocked to Crypto.com Arena to watch the Lakers get wrecked by the Clips ... with Justin Bieber, Rami Malek, Normani, Israel Adesanya and more getting a front-row seat for the matchup.

But, it was the "Best Friend" rapper who ended up stealing the show during the 4th quarter ... getting up and dancing with Chuck the Condor as "Conga" by Gloria Estefan blared over the speakers.

Check out the vid -- the fans in attendance went nuts for the spontaneous dance competition ... with folks cheering and whistling as it unfolded.

Safe to say Saweetie came away with the W ... but you can't say that about the Lakers, who stunk up the place once again in the 132-111 defeat.

The Lakers are now 27-35 and have lost 4 games in a row.

Evan McPherson went from watching Snoop Dogg to going straight into the dog house ... 'cause one of his Bengals coaches said he's still sour the star kicker stayed on the field at the Super Bowl to watch the halftime show.

Nearly a month after McPherson was spotted on the sidelines grooving to Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Mary J. Blige and others instead of hearing locker room speeches -- Cincinnati special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons said he's still not happy about it all.

"That's a sore subject," Simmons told The Athletic this week. "That's a real sore subject."

Simmons didn't elaborate further (at least on the record) ... but it's clear he's pissed McPherson didn't head in with his teammates during the Super Bowl break.

Of course, Simmons probably should have seen it coming ... because, after all, McPherson told TMZ Sports just days earlier his plan was to stay out for the show.

Cardi B's legal victory over a blogger who defamed her isn't stopping the woman from trashing Cardi ... so now, the rapper wants a judge to gag her forever.

Cardi filed docs Thursday night in federal court, demanding a permanent injunction against Tasha K, whom Cardi defeated in a defamation trial back in January. The jury awarded Cardi about $4 million ... but in the docs she says that's done nothing to stop Tasha from spreading the very lies that landed her in court.

As we've reported, Tasha's falsely claimed Cardi committed adultery, has STIs and was a prostitute.

According to the docs, Tasha bragged back in August ... "Even if they did sue, bitch I ain't got but a dollar to my name bitch, what are you going to get? And there's always bankruptcy bitch." Tasha even said, "I'm going to pull a 50 Cent on that bitch" ... referring to Fiddy's bankruptcy filing back in 2015.

Cardi also accuses Tasha of fraudulently moving assets to make it more difficult to collect the millions -- a move she's allegedly boasted about on her YouTube vlog, saying "Let me tell you how this was a blessing though. Cause can't nobody else sue me, and even if they do, I ain't got no money. We've got estate lawyers, we've got every mother f***ing thing. I ain't got s*** in my name bitch."

In fact, Tasha even testified during the trial she wouldn't stop repeating defamatory lies unless the court forces her to do so.

Aaaand that's exactly what Cardi's asking for now -- an injunction to stop Tasha from saying any defamatory statements now, and in the future, and to force her to delete all past videos or posts containing those lies.

Grace Franklin -- 16-year-old granddaughter of Aretha Franklin -- is opening up after not making it past the auditions on "American Idol" ... a TV moment that's shocked the country.

Grace -- joined by her dad and Aretha's son, Kecalf -- tells TMZ ... in the moment of being rejected from going to Hollywood, she was pretty disappointed ... but it was the words of judge Lionel Richie that made her realize there's a silver lining to all of this.

Judge Lionel mentioned he didn't want her to stumble too early in her career -- something she's noticed happens to some younger singers. She took his words to heart, coming from a place of love and concern.

Grace says, "I'm a good artist, I know that, but I do know I need to work on some things."

Kecalf couldn't be prouder of his daughter, telling us she's bold for stepping out of her comfort zone and chasing her dreams.

However, Grace says auditioning for 'Idol' in the future isn't likely ... telling us she'd rather try to release some music while working on her voice.

It's been over a week since the NBA All-Star Game ... but Macy Gray is STILL wondering if LeBron James was laughing at her anthem performance.

The singer took to TikTok on Wednesday to try to get clarity on the situation, asking her 100,000 followers if they think LBJ was really cracking up over her rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

"Ya'll really think LeBron was laughing at me?" she asked. "I heard he wasn't but maybe."

If you missed it ... in the buildup to the Association's All-Star contest, Gray took center court and belted out a unique version of the national anthem.

Some found it fun, some found quirky -- and many believed LeBron found it straight-up funny, as the King was snickering throughout the song.

People, though, speculated LeBron was giggling about something else -- perhaps Steph Curry related. LeBron never clarified, leaving everyone wondering, what was so funny??

Seems Gray is still trying to get to the bottom of it ... but at this point, it probably ain't happening. So, what do you think, yes or no?!

Marilyn Manson is suing Evan Rachel Wood, alleging she cooked up a massive scheme to manufacture sexual abuse accusations against him ... and committed crimes in the process.

The rocker just filed a shocking lawsuit against his ex and her partner, Illma Gore, with whom ERW has reportedly been romantically involved on and off for years. In the suit, obtained by TMZ, Manson alleges both women have engaged in fraud, conspiracy and defamation in furtherance of a calculated plot to take him down and ruin his career.

According to the docs, filed by attorney Howard King and obtained by TMZ, Manson's legal team lays out a series of alleged events between 2019 and 2021 that suggest Wood and Gore planned an elaborate ruse to smear him and profit from it -- even conceding, by and large, they succeeded in the court of public opinion ... despite the fact he says it's all lies.

Manson claims Gore teamed up with Wood to create a nonprofit called the Phoenix Act that purported to help abused women, but in reality ... was allegedly just a cover for a money-making ploy they were about to embark on against Marilyn.

To that end, he claims Gore sent out a bulk email to a number of Manson's former romantic partners, asking them to share experiences they might've had in common with Wood ... obviously in reference to MM.

Once they got some people in their orbit, Manson and co. claim Wood and Gore then started to persuade these women that they had, in fact, been abused by Manson during their time with him ... by insisting their trauma was buried under repressed memories.

Manson then claims Wood and Gore started systematically coordinating the women's allegations ... with checklists and even scripts Manson alleges were being produced, distributed and hammered home by Wood and Gore, all in an effort to make the allegations more believable.

Perhaps the most shocking part ... Manson alleges Wood and Gore literally concocted a fake letter from the FBI in which they posed as a real agent, and alluded to a criminal investigation of Manson, while also making it seem Wood and/or any of his alleged victims and their families might be in danger.

Manson says Wood and Gore forged this agent's signature -- whom Manson says later confirmed she never wrote it -- and then distributed it among alleged victims, as well as media members ... again, all to make this story about Manson seem credible and serious.

Of course, Manson has since fallen in the crosshairs of the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept. -- which carried out a very real raid of his home last year -- but as far as any FBI probe ... Manson and co. say that's total BS, and that Wood/Gore were trying to drum up hysteria.

There's more ... Manson claims that Gore actually created fake email accounts to pose as him, and then fabricated correspondence full of compromising content -- including pornographic material, threats, admissions, etc. -- that Manson says were explicitly being exchanged (as if it was him) to further make it seem like he was a monster ... and to plant "evidence" that he'd left a damning paper trail. Manson says none of that stuff is real.

Other crimes Manson claims Gore committed ... alleged hacking of personal computer files and social media accounts he runs, as well as the unauthorized use of his SSN.

On top of that ... Manson also claims Gore swatted him last February, calling in an "emergency" while posing as a concerned friend of his. Not just that, but he says the fact that paparazzi captured all this fuss -- in the midst of Wood going public with her accusations against him -- is no coincidence ... and was also likely coordinated by Wood/Gore.

Finally, Manson alleges that Gore -- working in unison with Wood -- slandered him by making up a story that he'd featured a minor in a short film from the '90s, and that the flick included child pornography. He flatly denies the claim, insisting the woman was 22 at the time -- a fact he says Gore was well aware of when pushing the tale about alleged child abuse.

Manson wants damages and a court order preventing Wood and Gore from continuing on with their conduct.

Jack Harlow's acting career is poppin' -- the rap star just reportedly landed the lead role in the "White Men Can't Jump" reboot ... after his FIRST EVER audition.

The "Nail Tech" MC will play Billy Hoyle, which was Woody Harrelson's role in the original film back in 1992, according to Deadline.

23-year-old Harlow -- who has zero acting experience -- apparently wowed producers from the jump ... helping pave the way to his first on-screen gig.

Of course, the OG flick starred Harrelson and Wesley Snipes -- which followed the story of two on-court rivals who team up to start hustling people on the court.

Harlow is known to be a pretty solid hooper in real life -- he's been in numerous celebrity basketball games over the years ... most recently, the NBA Celeb Game during All-Star Weekend in Cleveland, where he showed off his range with multiple 4-point plays.

The reboot is produced by Kenya Barris and his Khalabo Ink Society banner ... and executive produced by NBA star Blake Griffin, NFLer Ryan Kalil and Noah Weinstein of Mortal Media.

The big issue remaining in the Kim and Kanye divorce is child custody, and his new lawyer hedged in court Tuesday on how it will shake out ... but we're told it's highly likely it'll end up so that Kim will be home base and Kanye can see his 4 kids pretty much whenever he chooses.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... based on Kanye's schedule, which involves significant global travel, the typical custody arrangement spells out in detail who gets the kids and when is simply impractical.

For instance, they've attended birthday parties and other functions together as a family, without any kind of formal structure. It's possible they'd create a structure for XMAS, Thanksgiving and other holidays, but Kanye is a global traveler because of his various businesses, so planning ahead may be unrealistic.

Our sources say as crazy as the divorce has been, the custody issues for the most part have been handled peacefully. Whenever Kanye's in L.A. and wants to see the kids, Kim has facilitated it. For example, the other day Kanye wanted to take one of the kids to a basketball game, and Kim gladly obliged. In other words, there's an open-door policy when it comes to custody.

Kanye also typically gets the kids every Sunday for his Sunday Service.

It's been a bitter pill for Kim to swallow at times. You may recall, when Kanye took Saint and North to the Super Bowl a few weeks ago -- in full mask -- there were some boos, which isn't great for the kids. Nevertheless, it never became an issue for either Kim or Kanye.

DMX's fiancée Desiree Lindstrom opened up on "It's Tricky with Raquel Harper" about how she's been after her beau's passing ... and how things are going with their son, Exodus.

"My life changed so fast," Desiree told Raq. "Holidays get lonely ... because Earl was my family, but I do have Exodus and I try to make the best of it, because I know that's what he would've wanted me to do."

The emotional discussion is tough for her ... but she thanks everyone that's checked on her and their son. She thinks X's fans played a big part in keeping her going in the months following his death.

TMZ broke the story ... the legendary rapper was rushed to the hospital following an overdose. After a week of being on life support last April, he passed away ... survived by his 15 children.

At his celebration of life, tons of artists came to say goodbye -- Ye, Swizz Beatz, and Nas were just a few. Desiree gave a tear-jerking speech about how much he meant to her ... ending it with "Forever X."

New York City native Lil Mama (real name Niatia Jessica Kirkland) was only 17 years old when she shot to stardom after she released her Billboard charting first -- and only -- album 'Voice Of The Young People' back in 2008 ... which included the smash single "Shawty Get Loose," -- plus "G-Slide (Tour Bus)" and of course "Lip Gloss."

Lil Mama continued her success by pivoting into hosting and acting roles and could be spotted on shows like "America's Next Top Model" and "The Reel" ... but her standout acting credit was her role as Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes in the 2013 VH1 Biopic "CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story."