Music

John Legend says his friendship with Kanye West dissolved because of who JL supported in the 2020 election -- not so much who Ye's supported of late ... namely, Donald Trump.

The singer did an interview with the New Yorker this weekend, and they covered a range of topics -- but the most interesting, perhaps, was when they talked Kanye and why he and John aren't cool anymore ... something many just chalked up to differing politics.

That's not exactly what ruined things, though, according to John ... who explains that he doesn't just burn bridges because of who someone votes for, but more so the why.

He says, "I don’t feel like politics should be everything in your relationships, and your relationships with people shouldn’t only be determined by who they voted for. But I do believe that certain things you believe in are indicators of your character, and obviously that will affect your friendships."

John continues ... "I don’t want to live a life that’s so consumed by politics that it’s the sole determinant of who can be my friend and who can’t. But values matter and character matters and moral compass matters."

While JL was speaking somewhat broadly here, this answer immediately followed one he gave about Kanye specifically -- so you gotta figure this applies to his old buddy too.

But on why he and Ye aren't cool anymore, explicitly, John says it's more about the fact he didn't get behind KW's presidential campaign ... but, instead, cosigned Joe Biden/Kamala Harris. Apparently, Kanye took great offense to that -- seeing it as a personal betrayal.

Adele and Eminem are on the cusp of becoming EGOT winners, because they just snagged a crucial letter in the acronym ... a couple of Emmys, respectively.

The artists won awards Saturday during the 2-day Creative Arts Emmys ceremony in Los Angeles. Adele's 'One Night Only' show -- where she was singing at the Griffith Observatory last year -- took home five Emmys, in fact ... including for Outstanding Variety Special.

As for Em ... he too won for Outstanding Variety Special, although his was for the live version (Adele's was pre-recorded). As we reported ... him, Dre and the rest of the SB gang are all Emmy winners now for their Halftime Show performance earlier this year.

With Shady, that means he's just a T away from EGOT. His longtime manager, Paul Rosenberg, noted that on Twitter.

Just for a refresher -- Eminem has won an Oscar for Best Original Song in "Lose Yourself" ('8 Mile), tons of Grammys, and now ... an Emmy for his Super Bowl gig. Adele has also won an Oscar for Best Original Song in "Skyfall," Grammys galore, and now this as well.

The Tony is by far the hardest award to win for entertainers who don't normally do theater work (like these two) ... but there's ways to earn one without having to necessarily perform.

They could each write songs for Broadway shows and win that way, or contribute to the musical arrangement of an original song -- which is well within their wheelhouse. Both could easily do something like that and potentially win a Tony, assuming they're interested.

If they each won EGOTs, they'd join a relatively small and prestigious list of past winners -- including Whoopi Goldberg, John Legend, Rita Moreno, Mel Brooks and a handful of others.

For now, though, they're on the list of 4-award winners, sharing company with Liza Minnelli, Barbra Streisand, James Earl Jones, Quincy Jones and Harry Belafonte.

Not a bad crowd!

Pat Stay, known as one of the best battle rappers in the game, is dead after a stabbing incident in Nova Scotia, Canada.

The stabbing happened early Sunday morning in downtown Halifax, according to police -- and while the authorities haven't confirmed Pat as the victim ... his brother, Pete Stay, confirmed his death to CBC.

Police responded just after 12:30 AM, and Pat was taken to a hospital ... but he later died from his injuries. No one's been arrested for the stabbing.

Pat was from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia ... hardly a hotbed for hip hop, but he was still revered within the industry for his freestyling during live rap battles.

Stay had a large social media following, and dropped a new track on YouTube just 2 days ago that rips into The Game -- it's called "The Game DISS."

The video includes brief quotes from Drake, Method Man and Joe Budden ... who all praised Stay's battle rapping.

Drake's take on his skills was, "Pat Stay's definitely one of, if not, the best."

Police are asking anyone with information about the stabbing to call 902-490-5020.

The Weeknd barely got started performing the second of his 2 sold-out shows in L.A. Saturday night when he lost his voice ... and he was almost in tears.

SoFi Stadium was packed with 70,000 fans when 15 minutes in the band started playing "Can't Feel My Face." Thing is ... the Weeknd was nowhere to be seen.

Turns out he was backstage as the song played, trying to figure out what to do because had had no voice. Something happened during the previous song -- he yelled and apparently it blew out his vocal cords.

The audience didn't know what was up ... the song played and there was no Weeknd in sight. When the song ended, he came onstage and told the crowd, "It's killing me," but the show had to abruptly end because he had no voice.

He said, fighting back tears, "I can't give you the concert I want to give you," promising everyone would get their money back and he would reschedule soon.

The Weeknd was profusely apologetic and clearly emotional. This was a big part of his After Hours Til Dawn Tour, and he knew how much the show meant to his fans.

You hear pretty much the entire crowd was on Weeknd's side, applauding him for being transparent.

After he left the venue, The Weeknd posted, "My voice went out during the first song and I’m devastated. Felt it go and my heart dropped. I promise I'll make it up to you with a new date."

This isn't the first speed bump for the tour ... it was postponed twice before because of the pandemic.

The incredible Super Bowl Halftime Show got a big score Saturday night ... an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special, and some very big names took home some hardware.

Dr. Dre, who produced and performed in the show, won along with Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent.

The halftime shows are always big, but this is the first one that was honored with an Emmy.

Now get this ... Eminem is now one award away from an EGOT ... all he needs is a Tony and he joins a very small group.

Everyone in the group except Snoop has also won a Grammy.

The show was electric, with iconic songs like "California Love," "No More Drama," "Lose Yourself" and "Still D.R.E."

Some other Emmy winners -- Adele for "One Night Only," and The Beatles "Get Back" documentary.

Congrats!!!

Dave Grohl had some musical and emotional backup at the tribute concert for the Foo Fighters' late drummer, Taylor Hawkins ... his son got behind the drum set to honor his dad.

The London concert was packed with stars who participated, including Paul McCartney, Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor, Travis Barker, Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock.

Dave got super emotional as he performed "Times Like These."

There were incredibly touching moments ... Tyler's 16-year-old son, Oliver Shane, played drums on "My Hero."

Travis got behind the drum set for a spectacular version of "The Pretender," and "Monkey Wrench."

There were other musicians who joined in ... The Darkness’ Rufus Tiger Taylor and Justin Hawkins, Wolfgang Van Halen, AC/DC's Brian Johnson, Metallica's Lars Ulrich, Rush's Geddy Lee, Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, and Oasis' Liam Gallagher.

As we reported, Taylor was found dead in a hotel room, aged 50, just hours before he was due on stage with his bandmates in Bogota, Colombia, in March. The cause of death was cardiovascular collapse. Taylor was only 50.

There will be a second tribute concert at the Kia Forum in Inglewood Sept. 27th.

Dr. Dre and Diddy’s first-ever studio session brought out the best in everyone in the room ... especially an up-and-coming artist named Pheelz, who soaked up light-years of music wisdom.

Over the course of a pretty legendary night last week, Dre took a liking to the Nigerian singer and producer ... who gave Doc the nickname "Mayowa," which means "joy bringer" in his native tongue.

Pheelz tells TMZ Hip Hop, being within arms reach of Dre, Diddy, Jimmy Iovine and others in the studio that night was a sight to behold ... and he's sure the finished product will be a win for fans.

He says growing up in Nigeria, he developed a connection with Dre through his music ... which impacted his own producing career.

In 2020, Pheelz won Producer of the Year at the Headie Awards -- Nigeria's top hip hop honor -- and says by linking with Dre, his art is that much better following the studio session.

Talk about a night to remember ... Pheelz had a front-row seat as American powerhouses Diddy and Dre joined forces for tracks that will end up on Dre and Snoop's upcoming joint album.

Sources involved in the blockbuster recording session tell us Diddy took Dre's studio coaching to heart, and their chemistry began to build on the spot.

Pheelz has been slowly building his U.S. visibility and this iconic moment will go a long way to that end. He just released his Davido collaboration titled "Electricity" ... and is set to perform at the BMI Awards in Miami next week.

Tekashi 6ix9ine's girlfriend is legally barred from contacting him following her domestic violence arrest, but the rapper tells us he doesn't think the no-contact order is necessary.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Tekashi's girlfriend of 4 years, Jade, is prohibited from having any communication with him, including phone calls, texts, letters and social media.

Jade's also barred from using a third party to contact 6ix9nine ... and she's got to stay at least 500 feet away from 69.

Tekashi tells TMZ ... his relationship with Jade is fine, and he's allowing Jade and her child to stay in his Florida home until the case is resolved. 69 tells us he will shack up in a hotel as the legal process plays out, and when it's over he will move back in with Jade and her kid.

TMZ broke the story ... Jade was arrested last month after getting into a dustup with Tekashi in Miami, with their altercation caught on video.

For his part, 6ix9ine thinks Jade attacked him because she was drunk and was being influenced by her friends.

Kevin Bacon might be the winner of the "It's Corn" challenge ... 'cause he's got a take that's stripped down, but so damn soulful. Seriously, just look at this thing!

Here's the actor taking up his trusty guitar to do a rendition of the now-viral track -- which was recently remixed by the Gregory Brothers ... who took what this little kid named Tariq hilariously said in an interview about his favorite food and turned it into a catchy song.

Of course, the OG clip took the internet by storm ... you got this little kid doing a MOTS interview, where he's eating corn on the cob, and going on and on about how much he loves it with tons of enthusiasm. It's actually super hilarious -- with a lot of quotable lines.

That's exactly why this song was made ... with Tariq's family splitting the profits from its publication and streams. Clearly, it's captured the attention of some very famous people.

We know Kevin's pretty hip when it comes to what the youth is listening to these days ... and he's right on it with this entry. No goats this time around, but it's still a helluva ditty -- especially when you see he's strumming along with the signature vegetable itself.

Kanye West is fired back up again -- now re-focusing his outrage at a specific Adidas executive ... who's plastered all over Ye's Instagram page, with some interesting commentary.

Ye went on the offensive Saturday with a slew of new posts that have Daniel Cherry III in his crosshairs. DC is Adidas' Senior Vice President/General Manager -- and Kanye is dragging him through the coals over what he apparently sees as hijacking his Yeezy brand.

We saw this earlier in the week ... KW was upset over a perceived feeling that he's being iced out of managing Yeezy via Gap -- and now, he's going back to the source in Adidas.

In one of his newest messages -- which looks to be aimed at Cherry -- he references "VCs" ... or venture capitalists. Kanye writes, "VENTURE CAPITALIST WHO'S ONLY ADVENTURE IS CAPITALISM. CANT CREATE SO THEY TRY TO OUT COUNT THE CREATIVES."

Ye adds, "DIE SLOW." There's more  ... Kanye seems to allude to some sort of history he and Cherry share -- alleging DC recently told Lil Uzi Vert that he should've "taken it to the hands" with Ye years ago, which is seriously pissing him off. He says he's already got a fake NYT death cover story in the can for when Cherry gets fired -- something Ye's predicting.

He also writes ... "I GUARANTEE YOU'LL HAVE TO RELOCATE BEFORE I'M LEGALLY FINISHED WITH YOU." Kanye has photoshopped tons of pics of Chery in different scenarios with mocking captions ... alluding to the notion Cherry was hired to manage Yeezy without Kanye's knowledge and is supposedly running it into the ground -- at least from KW's POV.

In one of his new posts ... Kanye also appears to be texting Kim about where their kids should go to school -- picking up where he last left off. Lots on Kanye's mind right now ... and he's airing it all out publicly for the world to see.

Dave Grohl did Taylor Hawkins proud during the latter's tribute show in the UK -- with the Foo Fighters frontman taking on the station that his late bandmate once helmed.

The show is currently underway in London, where Dave and a slew of other artists are doing a huge concert at Wembley Stadium in honor of Hawkins -- who died earlier this year. The lineup is stacked ... with members of several iconic bands scheduled to hit the stage.

Some of those acts include ... Nirvana, Metallica, Queen, Led Zeppelin, RUSH, AC/DC and The Police. Liam Gallagher of Oasis also performed, with Dave backing him on percussion.

There were a number of emotional moments throughout the concert, which is now winding down. At one point ... Dave's voice started to crack a bit when he was talking about Taylor, but he pulled it together and carried on. Safe to say, the vibe was very bittersweet.

As you can imagine, the place was absolutely packed ... which makes total sense. The sheer number of artists on the bill for this is staggering -- which just speaks to how much TH meant to the music community. But yeah, this is a show folks definitely didn't want to miss.

It's actually the first of two tribute concerts that are going to be done on behalf of Taylor -- there's another that's scheduled in Los Angeles later this month ... and that one, too, is likely to be star-studded. Anyone who isn't there now will probably show up in L.A.

As we reported ... Taylor was found dead at his hotel in Colombia, where he was touring with his band. An official cause of death has yet to be released, but an overdose of some sort seems to be what might've killed him -- upwards of 10 different substances were found to be in his system when an autopsy was done.

Jack Harlow might be a big deal in hip-hop circles, but it doesn't seem he's nearly as impactful among the football crowd -- as seen in his now-viral appearance on ESPN.

The rapper was the special guest Saturday for "College GameDay" -- where analysts and pundits sit around talking shop about all the games going down for the day ... and who they got to win, etc. Jack was on the panel too ... but first, let's start with his performance.

JH was at Ohio State here -- who are playing Notre Dame today -- and as he was introduced on a tiny little stage while surrounded by students ... things fell flat fast.

He was doing his song, "First Class," for the kids ... but it became pretty clear that they just weren't into it. Take a look at the reaction from the crowd -- yes, some toward the front are a little hyped ... but most everyone else is just looking on, like deer staring into headlights.

Jack seemed to notice the lack of energy too -- at one point, he appeared to throw his hands up, as if to say ... WHAT THE HELL, GUYS?!? It was very Ja-Rule-At-The-Bucks-Game.

Still, ever the professional ... Jack powered through, and word is he did damn near the whole song -- which is also getting mocked right now. Namely, the fact that nobody at ESPN thought to just pull the plug and move on. The jokes are flying in every direction over this.

That wasn't the only thing that left an impression, though ... Jack's actual football IQ was on display during his sit-down portion of the broadcast, and there too he's leaving 'CGD' viewers less than impressed ... but certainly entertained.

Kevin Federline says his sons haven't seen their mom, Britney Spears, in nearly 6 months, and we've learned the relationship continues to sour -- especially since Britney went after her boys online.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Britney's two boys, 16-year-old Sean Preston and 15-year-old Jayden James, aren't ready to go see their mom after she blasted their conduct as "hateful" in an Instagram post last month.

We're told Britney's post made an already frayed relationship even more strained, and there's a lot of anger built up against her.

Kevin's attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan tells TMZ ... "While I will not comment on whether there were or were not regular custodial exchanges, one must consider that the comments about the boys such as those that were recently published hardly create a pro custodial environment. This is something that the parties involved will have to work out over time."

As we reported, Thursday Britney turned to Instagram to once again post about her boys after 15-year-old Jayden did an interview claiming he felt Britney gave him more attention than Preston. Britney wrote, ""Finally at 40 without the restraints of what my family did to me ... I say to my son Jayden that I send all the love in the world to you every day for the rest of my life!!! My love for my children has no boundaries."

As we told you last month, Kaplan claims the boys feel uncomfortable around their mom, and Kevin posted a series of videos the boys recorded under Britney's care where she disciplined them.

Remember, Britney's been beefing with Kevin recently over his tell-all interview that he shot a few months ago with a UK tabloid about their private lives, and the kids are caught up in the drama.

New clips from that interview are set to air Sunday on "60 Minutes: Australia."

A$AP Rocky has a lot of things on his mind these days … but tending to the car he was riding around in with Kanye West and Antonio Brown apparently isn't one of them.

TMZ spotted the '70s classic station wagon getting towed out of an L.A. neighborhood ... at the request of police.

The tow truck guy tells us the car was parked illegally and as you can see on the windshield, it had racked up months worth of citations.

No telling who actually owns the vehicle ... Rocky, Ye and AB shot something -- most likely a music video -- in the wood-paneled Jeep wagon early in 2022.

From the looks of it, that might have been the last time it was washed too!

Let's face it, Rock’s got bigger issues to deal with than parking tickets -- L.A. prosecutors are saying the Harlem-bred rapper was the triggerman in the November 2021 shooting where his former friend A$AP Relli was hit.

He's since been charged with 2 counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and he's also facing an assault and battery lawsuit.

The woman who cops say broke into Why Don't We band member Daniel Seavey's home and slept in his bed might have a jail bunk in her future ... she's facing criminal charges.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the L.A. City Attorney charged a 23-year-old woman named Eissa Amira with two counts of trespassing.

TMZ broke the story ... police say the woman broke into Daniel's L.A. home back in July. Surveillance footage shows the woman pacing outside his front door holding flowers and then climbing through a window.

Daniel's camp claims the woman rummaged through his closet once she was inside, putting on some of his clothes before climbing into his bed and falling asleep.

Surveillance footage from inside the home shows the woman -- in one of Daniel's hoodies -- digging through his cabinets the following morning, listening to "Can I Get It" by Adele.

The woman ended up leaving Daniel's place in handcuffs ... and she was placed on a temporary psych hold.

She's since been released, and Daniel ended up getting court-ordered protection from her, claiming she repeatedly showed up at his gym.

Joey Badass is looking get his acting career up to the level of his rap game -- especially after his first movie role was in an Oscar-winner -- so now he's got his eye on a biopic.

In a new interview with Revolt, the Pro Era rapper boldly expressed his wish to play late MC Big L, who died in 1999.

Joey says aside from various people telling him how much he favors the Harlem rapper, he hopes to bring more visibility to Big L’s story.

We spoke with Brian Shafton, a partner at RBC Records, which owns several masters to Big L’s music, and he thinks Joey would literally crush it.

Brian also agrees the film would be huge for Big L’s legacy, especially in these streaming times.

Joey’s 2020 film “Two Distant Strangers” -- a big Netflix hit -- took home the Oscar for Best Short Live Action, so the audience potential is definitely there. Brian says the only potential problem is that Big L’s songs are riddled with so many samples ... it would be near impossible to license all the tracks for a film.

In the meantime, Joey's busy honing his acting craft with a steady role on 50 Cent's "Power Book III: Raising Kanan" -- and on the music side, he just wrapped his "2000" tour.

Just a hunch, but a Big L biopic without his music probably wouldn’t fly with fans.