Music

Kanye West and his fellow Geminis Lil Uzi Vert and Steve Lacy clearly believed they had a night worth remembering forever -- getting matching tattoos to commemorate the event.

Both Steve and L.A.-based tattoo artist Mez Afram shared a pic taken in the wee hours of Tuesday night, showcasing their freshly inked arms in the mirror.

The message is kind of hard to read out but Steve and Mez both added clarity by captioning the Instagram moment, “We here forever technically.”

Ye's face says he's really into the moment ... following the latest Pete Davidson outburst, the new needle stick could've been therapeutic for him.

Kanye recently praised Steve for his hit “Gemini Rights” ... calling the album "beautiful" when it was released a few weeks ago, and Uzi and Ye’s relationship goes back several years.

Angela Yee is out of the 'Breakfast Club' after 10 years on the popular morning radio show.

Yee Tweeted Tuesday, "The Breakfast Club is over as you know it."

Yee faced her cohosts Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy on Wednesday, revealing she had been planning an exit strategy even before the pandemic and iHeartRadio approached her with an offer she couldn't refuse.

Both Charlamagne and Envy saluted and supported the move without any blowback.

Shortly after the bittersweet bombshell, Premiere Networks announced the solo afternoon show "Way Up with Angela Yee" would be starting in the fall, given the green light by the station's EVP.

If you haven't taken Cody Simpson's swimming career seriously yet, you definitely should now -- the singer will be representing Australia in a stacked head-to-head meet with the United States this month ... proving he's among the top talents in his country.

It's been a helluva year in the pool for Simpson -- the 25-year-old is fresh off winning a gold and a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games earlier this month ... after placing first in the 4x100 freestyle relay and second in the 4x100 medley relay.

The hot streak will continue for the former swimming prodigy-turned-teenage heartthrob ... as he's been selected to compete for his home country in a big exhibition against the United States -- the Duel In The Pool.

The event is set to go down at Sydney Olympic Park on August 20 and 21 ... and Australia head coach Rohan Taylor says those picked to compete should be honored.

"Any Australian team you make is special, but when presented with the opportunity to face our greatest rival in front of a home crowd I know these athletes will step up to the challenge," Taylor said. "Pressure is a privilege, and it is one we embrace."

Remember, Simpson just decided to get serious about swimming again back in 2020 ... and his personal best times have been drastically improving ever since.

Folks can't seem to get enough of Travis Scott ... look no further than his concerts across the pond, where he made history at the merchandise table.

Sources close to Travis tell TMZ ... the rapper sold more than $1 million in merch at his weekend concerts in London, setting a record for performers in the United Kingdom and knocking BTS from the top spot in the process.

We're told Travis released a new series of merch exclusively for his two shows at The O2 arena in London, where fans arrived hours before the show was set to begin just to make sure they got their hands on the gear.

TS hoodies were going for $100 to $125 a pop, while shirts ranged from $45 to $75 and hats flew off the rack for $45 each.

Our sources say Travis is the only artist to sell at least $1 million in merch in the U.K. We're told BTS did just under $1 mil during their "Love Yourself World Tour" stops.

The tattoo artist who was put on blast by Drake over his dad's tattoo says it wasn't his fault the final product was far from perfect ... and it was straight-up disrespectful to get other artists to fix it.

Money Mike tells TMZ ... he met Drake's dad, Dennis Graham, at a birthday party in 2017 and hit him up to get Dennis' famous son inked on his upper arm. Mike even did it for free, despite not being a fan of Drake -- hoping to get more clients.

As we reported, Drake posted a pic of the tattoo Monday, clearly not feeling it -- captioning it with, "I was sitting here thinking why you do me like this we family 😂 😂." His dad commented, saying he's gotten it touched up 16 times since.

Mike admits the tat didn't come out as good as it could've, but that wasn't on him ... he claims Dennis was in pain at the 4-hour mark, and rushed Mike to finish the job.

Mike claims everyone in the fam was actually diggin' the art -- including Dennis -- but once Drake saw the tat everything changed.

As an independent artist, Russ is always looking to maximize his results … including spending a whopping $1 million on his feature record with Ed Sheeran!!!

Russ released the video to his “Are You Entertained” collaboration with Ed back in July … and hopped on TikTok on Tuesday to break down a little Music Industry 101.

For Russ, the decision to drop big money into the song’s promotion was simple, Ed Sheeran is the biggest artist in the world, towering over The Weeknd, Justin Bieber and Harry Styles for most Spotify listeners at over 81 million a month!

But Russ says money still doesn’t equal hit records … claiming some of his platinum records had $0 financial backing while he wasted money on others.

For Russ' $1M, he says it put $300K into the music video shot in London while the other $700K went into Spotify, radio and other social media campaigns.

The video is doing well, at 17 million views on YouTube, and Russ says the pairing was organic -- having casually met Ed at a restaurant in London before becoming fast friends.

Last time we spoke to Russ, he was adamant about how artists should bank on themselves and should cut record labels out of their career equation.

Morgan Wallen has been touring for a long time, but his latest show might go down as one of his favorites for more reason than one ... because not only did he welcome one of his heroes, they chugged beers together too!!!

Morgan's 'The Dangerous Tour' made a stop in Atlanta over the weekend, and he brought a surprise guest, Jeezy. The rapper's "Put On" blasted through the speakers while Morgan and fellow country artist Hardy shotgunned beers on stage, Jeezy poured a shot.

While the moment was clearly a good time for fans, it was kinda full circle for Morgan, who actually tweeted back in 2012 that Jeezy was one of his favorite artists.

Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers Tour is making people light up with excitement on and off the stage -- just ask Dapper Dan!

The fashion trendsetter got the hip hop surprise of a lifetime when K. Dot, Dave Free, A$AP Ferg & co. surprised him in Harlem at his boutique shop Monday to wish him a Happy-78th-Birthday in person!

It's a heartwarming moment as Kendrick, who's currently on tour, is seen harmonizing with the group while DD's daughter provided a cake shaped like one of his signature Gucci fedoras.

DD has been long credited for pioneering the hip hop fashion game, having started his boutique in Harlem back in the 1980s ... and has stacked his résumé with the names of virtually every star rapper since.

Ferg also escorted Kendrick, his pgLang artist Tanna Leone and several others on a tour of the Black Mecc -- including the stoop where the A$AP Mob solidified their popularity shooting A$AP Rocky’s breakout “Peso” video back in 2011.

Tour life can be grueling and Kendrick didn’t whiff at the chance to get some NYC-style exercise in … by doing pull-ups on the block.

It’s pretty impressive stuff … especially since his competition is about half his size.

Ja Rule is defending his name against Fat Joe’s scorn … after Joe Crack accused him of being a passive participant in Irv Gotti’s explosive “Drink Champs” interview about sleeping with Ashanti.

Fat Joe recently took to Instagram ... calling out both Irv and Ja — referencing Gotti as a straight “sucka” for kissing and telling about his previously unknown relationship with Ashanti.

But the Terror Squad leader didn’t let Ja off the hook either … slamming him for not silencing Irv before the interview got outta control.

The Murder Inc. rapper hopped in the comments of Hollywood Unlocked on Tuesday to defend his own rep writing, “STOP saying I didn’t defend sis and all women when I clearly told Gotti stop calling Ashanti/women the B word same way I told Joe at Verzuz watch the interview before you talk sh*t… NOW LEAVE ME TF OUT THESE GROWN FOLK BUSINESSES… ❤️”

Irv has been taking all sorts of heat since the interview aired, a moment that Joe says tarnishes Irv’s credibility regardless of his legendary work with Jay-Z, DMX and Murder Inc.

We recently spoke to Judge Mathis, who even went a step further and says Ashanti wouldn’t be foolish to pursue legal action if the fallout from the interview was causing her any stress.

Slim Jxmmi, one half of the rap duo Rae Sremmurd -- had a not-so-nice welcome home when he touched down in L.A. ... after authorities discovered there was an outstanding warrant out for his arrest.

LAX law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... when Slim flew in from Canada Sunday, Customs and Border Patrol agents took him into custody. We're told Slim had a warrant out of Georgia stemming from a prior arrest involving possession of marijuana with intent to sell.

We're told Georgia authorities have already gotten a judge to authorize extradition from L.A. to Georgia. He's currently in custody in L.A. being held without bail. The stakes are high ... the maximum sentence in the Georgia case is 30 years in prison.

This isn't the only legal issue he faces ... TMZ broke the story, Slim Jxmmi was arrested back in January for battery after an alleged fight with his girlfriend.

We spoke with him in March after a training session at Dogpound Gym in West Hollywood, and he told us he was looking forward to making some positive changes in his life and, "Be done with the stupid s***."

Jxmmi's attorney, Steve Sadow, says the whole thing happened because of a miscommunication, telling us, "Nearly two years ago, Aaquil entered a plea to a marijuana offense in Cobb County, Georgia. He was placed on probation. In early June 2022, the mother of his child filed a untruthful complaint with the Cobb County Police Department, which led to an arrest warrant being issued."

He continues, "Aaquil was not arrested on that warrant. Instead, a Cobb County Magistrate Judge held a hearing on July 20, 2022 and dismissed the warrant. Unfortunately, the Cobb County Probation Office was not made aware that the arrest warrant was dismissed and thus failed to withdraw its probation violation warrant. When Aaquil came back from Canada into LA airport, he was arrested on the probation violation warrant. We expect that warrant to be withdrawn in the next day or so, and then Aaquil will be released.”

Judge Mathis thinks Ashanti should put an end to Irv Gotti’s recent comments, which include spilling the deets on their past sexual relationship.

If you missed it, Gotti recently disclosed intimate details about his former relationship with Ashanti to the hosts of "Drink Champs." Among some of the claims, Irv says Ashanti's song, "Happy" was created after they had sex ... as you can imagine, a lot of Ashanti fans were pissed.

Judge Mathis was out in NYC Monday, and told our cam he'd advise Ashanti to send Irv a cease-and-desist or even go to court for a gag order. JM says he's not so sure about the validity of Irv's claims, but if Ashanti feels she's being defamed, she should put a legal end to it.

Olivia Newton-John, who soared to international stardom as both a singer and movie star has died.

Olivia's husband, John Easterling, says she died peacefully at her ranch in Southern California Monday morning, surrounded by family and friends. Olivia has battled breast cancer for more than 30 years, a specific cause of death was not given, although a source close to Olivia told TMZ, "After a 30-year cancer journey, she lost her battle to metastatic breast cancer."

Olivia hit it big in 1971 with songs like "If Not for You," and in 1973 "Let Me Be There." She followed that up with a monster hit, "Have You Never Been Mellow."

Her huge break came in 1978, when she starred opposite John Travolta in "Grease." Her role as Sandy was iconic, as were several songs from the movie, "You're the One that I Want," "Summer Nights," and "Hopelessly Devoted to You."

The movie propelled Olivia to new heights, and she followed it up with movies like "Xanadu."

Olivia's biggest hit was "Physical" in 1981, which stayed at #1 for 10 weeks, breaking all records in the '80s. She remained an environmental and animal rights activist throughout her career.

Olivia was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, but it went into remission and it came back in 2013. It went back into remission but surfaced again in 2017.

Olivia, who was British but raised in Australia, married Matt Lattanzi back in 1984 ... they met while filming "Xanadu." They had a child, Chloe Rose in 1986. They divorced in 1995.

She married John Easterling in 2008. He's the founder of Amazon Herb Co.

Olivia was 73. RIP

The war of words between Britney Spears and ex-husband Kevin Federline is raging on ... and now his attorney says their teenage boys are backing Jamie Spears.

K-Fed's lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan, responded to Britney and new husband Sam Asghari's weekend attack on Kevin, telling a photog outside Craig's in WeHo Sam doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.

Britney's ex claims their two kids, 16-year-old Sean Preston and 15-year-old Jayden James, are avoiding their mom on purpose ... and Kaplan says the family member they really miss is their grandfather Jamie.

Brit's boys supporting Jamie creates an interesting family dynamic here ... there's clearly a wall between them and their mom ... and Kaplan makes it sound like the boys will see Jamie before they see Britney, despite a restraining order against grandpa.

Remember ... Kevin ignited the back-and-forth when he did a recent interview with DailyMail, a portion of which was posted Saturday, where he claimed Britney's kids haven't seen their mom in months, skipped her wedding to Sam and are put off by her partially nude social media posts.

Britney and Sam fired a return salvo, ripping K-Fed for talking about her relationship with her kids in public and claiming he's out of work and living off child support payments.

Kevin's attorney took issue with Britney and Sam's coordinated attack ... he claims K-Fed and his wife Victoria work 24/7 to keep Sean and Jayden out of the limelight and says there's no negative words against Britney or Sam in Kevin's household.

Kaplan says Britney should appreciate how much time Kevin logs being a parent and refutes the notion K-Fed is out of work, though he doesn't say what his job is outside of being a full-time dad.

While Kaplan says Sam just doesn't know Kevin well enough to attack him, he says K-Fed understands Sam is Britney’s new hubby, which means Sam is not going to take a position against her.

Britney Spears and Elton John's "Hold Me Closer" remake of the singer's "Tiny Dancer" will have some new elements from the OG version, namely, the song will have a "dance vibe," TMZ has learned.

Sources connected to the project tell us Britney only needed 3 hours to record her verses for the track. We're told she met with producer Andrew Watt at his home in Beverly Hills, and Elton appeared on Zoom to go over the single with Britney -- as he was out of town.

Our sources say Elton only wanted Britney for the remake, and had previously recorded his vocals, so she could listen in and add her parts.

We're told after some mixing, Britney returned to the studio the next day to listen to the finished product ... and couldn't be more excited. The hope is for the song to be out by the end of the month, before the Grammy submission deadline.

Fetty Wap’s pot of legal hot water just raised its temperature now that the “Trap Queen” rapper was just arrested.

According to the arrest warrant — obtained by TMZ — Fetty was arrested in New Jersey by the FBI on Monday … stemming from a December 2021 call where prosecutors claim he waved a gun and threatened to kill a man who called Fetty “a rat” AKA a snitch.

Officials say Fetty’s possession of the firearm violated the conditions put in place when Fetty was released from custody on a $500K bond following his arrest in October 2021 on drug trafficking charges.

Prepare to be blown away.

Duke OL Chance Lytle has some pipes on him ... the 6-foot-7, 300-plus pounder showed off serious vocal skills, putting on a full-blown opera performance in front of his teammates, and the entire thing was awesome!

In a video posted on the Duke football team's TikTok, the big man was front and center as he stood on a chair ... serenading his fellow Blue Devils.

"The voice of an angel," Duke's official football team Twitter account wrote in a tweet. "Always a pleasure singing for ya'll," Lytle replied.

The team stood silent as Lytle performed ... but once the big guy finished, they went crazy, jumping up and down as they crowded around him, yelling, "Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay!"

Lytle joined the Blue Devils football program after graduating from the University of Colorado ... with a dual degree in music and voice performance and psychology, according to The Fayetteville Observer.

Of course, Chance hitting high notes should come as no surprise. In a video posted to the ACC Network's official Facebook page, Lytle introduced himself in vintage fashion -- performing a sweet-sounding opera.

"Meet Duke Football's renaissance man Chance Lytle," the account wrote.

Lytle announced in March he would suit up for the Blue Devils in his final college football season.