Music

Kanye West has taken a lot of L's lately ... so he's hoping one person, who recently scored Johnny Depp a big W, can come to his rescue.

Sources close to Ye tell us he's recently hired Camille Vasquez and the Brown Rudnick firm. Vasquez should be a very familiar name ... she's the same attorney who gained global attention for her legal skills in the Amber Heard Trial.

We're told Camille will be among a group of attorneys representing Kanye's business interests -- contracts, deals, the works.

As we reported, Kanye's already lost one major partner in Balenciaga in the fallout from his continued antisemitic attacks, claims surrounding the death of George Floyd and when he wore a 'White Lives Matter' shirt to his Yeezy fashion show.

TMZ broke the story, Ye recently hired Melinda Gates' former divorce attorney, Bob Cohen, to represent him in his ongoing divorce with Kim Kardashian. We're told Camille and team will not be involved in the divorce.

If Kim and Kanye can't come to an agreement by December, the divorce will go to trial ... and given Kanye's actions of late, Kim will likely get much of what she asks for from the judge.

Proud Bay Area rapper Mistah F.A.B. is now a certified Oakland legend … having been bestowed the key to his beloved hometown.

F.A.B. tells TMZ Hip Hop he mentally prepared for the moment his entire life … first manifesting the key in his early rap lyrics, and later watching R&B star Keyshia Cole receive a key a few years prior.

He was initially shocked when the mayor contacted him for the distinction, but says Keyshia instilled inspiration from the weight of her career -- and he plans on doing the same for any “desolate minds” ... as he puts it.

Thursday's event marked the first annual Love Life Day where community leaders from The City get their just due.

F.A.B. was honored -- alongside several other activists and educators -- by Mayor Libby Schaaf, citing the veteran MC for his annual holiday giveaways and extensive aid to cancer and domestic violence survivors.

The crowd sang along to his 2005 hit “N.E.W. Oakland" with reverence for all the years he’s been active on the hip hop scene ... locally and nationally.

While F.A.B. says he’ll never abandon rapping, he nods to his booming businesses -- his Dope Era clothing store and nail salons throughout the city.

There's also the opening of a Bay Area museum around the corner -- á la T.I.’s trap museums in Atlanta -- with planned exhibits for Too $hort, Mac Dre and others.

Bronny James put on a show for a star-studded crowd at Overtime Elite's opening night on Thursday ... hitting four 3-pointers on a 16-point night in front of Quavo and Swae Lee!!

"OTE" -- a pro basketball league for 16-19-year-olds -- held an exhibition in Atlanta ... with Bronny's California Basketball Club going up against City Reapers.

The celebs picked a good game to get a glimpse of Bronny -- because the Sierra Canyon point guard made it rain from behind the arc several times.

Paolo Banchero, Jalen Suggs, Druski, K Camp, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, and Mike WiLL Made-It were also in the building to witness Bronny's outing.

Bronny was one of the main offensive options for CBC throughout the night -- finishing the game with 16 points in 35 minutes of action, which was good for the second-leading scorer on his squad.

Puma star Mikey Willams and former NBA star Carlos Boozer's sons, Cayden and Cameron, hit up the game as well to check out King James' son.

17-year-old Bronny has been on cloud nine lately ... he recently inked an NIL deal with Beats by Dre, following in LeBron's footsteps after signing with Nike.

Johnny Depp and Jeff Beck are firing back at the author who claimed they jacked lyrics to one of their songs from an old poem ... calling the whole thing a cash grab.

Johnny and Jeff just filed a lawsuit against folklorist Bruce Jackson, who accused the duo of stealing the lyrics to their song "Sad Motherf*****g Parade" from an old toast performed by an inmate and shared in one of Jackson's books.

According to the suit, obtained by TMZ, Johnny and Jeff say the toast, known as "Hobo Ben," doesn't have clear origins, and they claim Jackson even admitted the person who shared the poem with him admitted it was passed down over time like an old folktale.

In other words, they say it belongs to no one.

The "Hobo Ben" toast goes ... "Ladies of culture and beauty so refined, is there one among you that would grant me wine? I'm raggedy I know, but I have no stink, and God bless the lady that'll buy me a drink. Heavy-hipted Hattie turned to Nadine with a laugh, and said, 'What that funky motherf***** really need, child, is a bath.'"

The song lyrics on Johnny and Jeff's new album feature similar lines to the "Hobo Ben" poem ... "I'm raggedy, I know, but I have no stink. God bless a lady that'll buy me a drink" ... and "What that funky motherf***** really need, child, is a bath."

In their suit, Johnny and Jeff claim Jackson fired off legal letters asserting he was the rightful owner of the "the only known authorized transcription and recording of 'Hobo Ben"' ... but the pair claims Jackson tellingly never said he owned the rights to the toast itself because he knew he couldn't own a copyright to an old folktale.

Jackson's also blasted Johnny and Jeff in the media, telling Rolling Stone ... "I've been publishing stuff for 50 years, and this is the first time anybody has just ripped something off and put his own name on it."

Kanye West has just had one of his most important relationships in the fashion world ended ... Balenciaga has reportedly cut ties with Ye.

According to Women's Wear Daily, Kering, the French fashion house parent company to Balenciaga has released a statement saying, "Balenciaga has no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist."

While the statement did not expand further, you have to imagine the decision was made after Kanye's repeated antisemitic attacks and controversies over the past few months.

Kanye and Balenciaga have a long history, and most recently partnered for a Yeezy Gap Engineered by Balenciaga collection that sold like wildfire.

Kanye also opened Balenciaga's Paris Fashion Week show, walking the runway -- and generating a ton of attention for the brand.

Of course, Kanye still has a multi-billion-dollar deal with Adidas -- a partnership the brand has reportedly said was "under review."

Taylor Swift's highly anticipated new album hit a glitch on Spotify Thursday night when the streaming giant literally crashed as her record dropped, causing mass confusion online.

The Grammy-award-winning artist released her 10th album, "Midnights," right at the stroke of midnight and, not coincidentally, that's when Spotify went down.

But, things got right back on track for Taylor ... as Spotify quickly repaired the problem so her millions of "Swifties" could enjoy the music.

During the outage, though, her fans went into panic mode on social media.

“Spotify crashed following the release of Taylor Swift’s new album #TSmidnighTS,” one freaked-out fan wrote, adding, “something went wrong.”

“YALL DONE BROKE SPOTIFY," said another nervous fan.

A third "Swiftie" said, “Spotify literally broke for like a minute!!! I was in panic mode,” before a fourth posted the app’s error message, tweeting, “Really @Spotify? On a night like this? I am fuming #TSmidnightTS.”

But, all's well that ends well. Taylor treated her "Swifties" to a special edition of the album with seven extra tunes that dropped 3 hours later on Spotify.

Kanye West is catching heat for using the r-word to describe President Biden ... condemned by folks who advocate for folks with Down syndrome and disabilities.

Ye lashed out at Biden in his interview with Piers Morgan, saying POTUS is "f***ing r-word" for not seeking input from Elon Musk, and now the epithet is sparking outrage.

Jordan Kough, Executive Director of the National Down Syndrome Congress, tells TMZ ... the r-word is hateful to all people with disabilities, and it's very disappointing to see Kanye embrace it. Even worse, Kough believes Ye knows it's highly offensive.

The NDSC says the r-word strips humanity from folks with disabilities ... and Kough is encouraging Kanye, and others with big platforms, to consider the power of their words.

Over at the National Disability Rights Network, Kanye's losing tons of support. Executive Director Marlene Sallo says disability advocates appreciated when Kanye once said his bipolar disorder was his superpower, but now those same people are super upset to see Ye use an "outdated and hateful" word.

The NDRN is going a step further ... calling for Kanye to apologize. Good luck with that.

Ye's also being denounced by the National Down Syndrome Society ... a rep there tells us the r-word has no place in public discourse, regardless of whether it's aimed at someone with a disability or not.

As we reported, Kanye's on a tear against lots of groups ... making a slew of antisemitic remarks ... most recently during his chat with Piers, when he stated he only wanted to go "death con 3" on Jews who have screwed him over.

Fivio Foreign is blaming arena production staffers for his recent performance woes during the Brooklyn Nets' halftime show ... and says he needs a redo to make the city proud.

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with Fivio at the scene of the crime -- Barclays Center, the Nets' homecourt -- and his view of the disastrous performance is his production team would've handled things perfectly, unlike the one he worked with that night.

Fivio says everything was fine during soundcheck, but at halftime, his inner earpiece was lower than the crowd noise ... and the sound was delayed in his ear.

ICYMI, Fivio got fried on social media because the Brooklyn rapper seemed to forget his lyrics altogether for a full 3 songs.

Fivio tells us Internet reactions didn't phase him much ... he remembers getting trashed online when his sound went out performing with Kanye West during one of his many Donda events last year.

He's also laughing off haters claiming he was too high to remember the words -- Fivio tells us that chapter of his life is over, and he dropped a few bars about it.

Jay-Z famously sips on D'Ussé, but he no longer wants to own the liquor brand -- TMZ Hip Hop's learned he's selling it to his partners at Bacardi, but he suspects the company's playing a high stakes "shell game."

As we first reported ... Jay's filed docs demanding Bacardi open up the books on its 50/50 partnership with him on D'Ussé -- the top-shelf cognac they've co-owned since 2012 -- and now we know why.

According to docs, Jay's company, SC Liquor, exercised its right to a buyout about a year ago. Under their agreement, Bacardi now has to "negotiate in good faith" to come up with a fair price for Jay's stake in D'Ussé. Therein lies the problem ... Jay thinks they're not playing fair.

In the docs, SC Liquor says Bacardi's subsidiary, Empire Investments Inc., is trying to "stall and stonewall" all efforts to get financial info on the valuation of D'Ussé.

Keep in mind, no one's done more than Jay to hype the brand, shouting it out in countless verses -- and after a year of Bacardi dragging its feet, Jay thinks their endgame is lowballing him on the price.

Even further, Jay accuses Bacardi of mismanaging in all sorts of ways with the intent of lowering profits.

As for how much it might be worth -- the documents reference a potential value, but Jay's lawyers redacted those numbers. We do know both sides are not seeing eye-to-eye on the value, because they've each thrown out a potential value -- again, it's redacted -- but Jay described their number as "well below" fair value.

If you're wondering why Jay-Z -- who's already a billionaire many times over -- might be haggling over the price, there's BIG liquor money at stake here. Remember, George Clooney and Rande Gerber sold their stake in Casamigos tequila back in 2017 ... for nearly $1 billion!!!

Zion Williamson's NBA return was one for the books ... but before the Pelicans star hit the court at Barclays Center, he received a custom "Terror Squad" chain from Joey Crack himself, Fat Joe!

TMZ Sports has learned Joe wanted to hook up the NBA superstar with something nice, so he gifted him a custom TS piece made by Avi Davidov, owner of Pristine Jewelers in NYC.

The chain's made with gold and diamonds ... and there really wasn't a special occasion outside of the South Bronx rapper being a fan of Williamson.

But, Zion didn't just walk away with the Terror Squad piece ... Avi tells us he also copped a new timepiece that took the jeweler 10 days to make, and is worth 6 figures!

With Zion's latest purchase, he joins Diddy, Meek Mill, Nas, DJ Khaled, N.O.R.E., and Gucci Mane on the list of celebs who own a timepiece from the world-renowned jeweler.

Before Wednesday night's game, Williamson hadn't played an NBA game since May 2021 ... thanks to a foot injury that sidelined him for the entire 2022 season.

Peter Rosenberg says it's startling to hear Kanye West drop his name during his antisemitic rants, but doesn't believe Kanye has the ability to influence folks enough to cause harm.

The famous radio DJ joined us on "TMZ Live" and talked about Kanye singling him out, and if there was a reason for Kanye's ire ... like, for example, being snubbed from an interview.

Ye claims Jewish people in the media are trying to blackball him and keep him from being interviewed, but Peter says there's no real reason for Kanye to have a bone to pick with him and his Hot 97 radio station. For Peter, it's just baseless bigotry from Kanye.

As you know ... Kanye has been going after Jewish people a lot recently, and Peter says the antisemites are starting to come out of the woodwork, telling us it's a scary situation for him and other Jewish people because he says it's similar to what happened at the start of the Holocaust.

While Peter says he sees and hears all the noise, he's got his fingers crossed Kanye won't be able to steer folks into doing something really bad to Jewish people ... pointing to Ye's political track record.

Festival organizers are working to put the legal fallout from Travis Scott's Astroworld tragedy behind them ... reaching a settlement with one victim's family, marking the first known settlement of all of the cases surrounding the deadly music festival.

Attorney Tony Buzbee, who reps the family of Axel Acosta, tells TMZ ... the family settled out of court after suing Travis, Live Nation and others.

Remember ... 21-year-old Axel died from injuries suffered at the November 2021 concert. Buzbee previously told us Axel traveled all the way from Washington to see the Houston festival and was a huge Travis fan.

Terms of the settlement are confidential, Buzbee says, and the family wants people to remember Axel as a "beloved son, brother and student" who was also "kind and loving" and is "greatly missed."

While Travis is done with the first of the many lawsuits against him ... the legal side is far from over. There were 10 people in total who died at Astroworld, and Travis is still dealing with lawsuits filed by others impacted by the tragic incident.

Conor Kennedy, who briefly dated Taylor Swift, recently opened up about a scary period in his life -- one where he went overseas to fight in the war in Ukraine.

Conor took to Instagram, saying he, like many others, was moved by what was happening in Ukraine, and wanted to help -- he realized the best way to do that would be to go to the embassy and enlist.

He writes, "Going in, I had no prior military experience and wasn’t a great shot, but I could carry heavy things and learned fast. I was also willing to die there. So they soon agreed to send me to the northeastern front."

Conor admits his time in the country wasn't long, but calls the experience "scary" ... adding he's lucky to have made it back alive, and "I would also take all the risks we took over again."

He's been met with an outpour of love in his comments ... with many calling him inspiration for the dangerous feat.

Ari Emanuel, CEO of William Morris Endeavor, has some stern advice for any companies still doing business with Kanye West ... telling them to back out of their deals following his antisemitic comments.

Emanuel issued the warning in an op-ed posted by the Financial Times Wednesday ... urging companies associated with Kanye to stop working with him -- including streaming services like Apple and Spotify that have his music available on their platforms.

He even points to Parler -- a conservative-leaning social media app that the rapper is planning to purchase ... telling them to refuse the sale.

Emanuel talks about Kanye's impact on society, writing "He is a pop culture icon with millions of fans around the world ... and among them are young people whose views are still being formed. This is why it is necessary for all of us to speak out. Hatred and antisemitism should have no place in our society, no matter how much money is at stake.”

Kodak Black can't stomach the thought of Kanye West becoming president in 2024 ... and that's largely due to the Florida rapper's allegiance to Donald Trump.

An incredulous Kodak took to IG Live Wednesday night to slam Ye's recent claims on "Drink Champs" he had the support and backing of Jay-Z and Beyonce for his next crack at the Oval Office.

Kodak says Kanye's 'bats**t crazy" for even attempting to derail Trump's return to the White House, but he's also taking issue with the 22nd Amendment -- y'know, the one that limits candidates to just 2 elected terms as U.S. President.

Trump can still get elected again and pull a Grover Cleveland, who was America's 22nd and 24th President, but Kodak thinks "Uncle Trump" -- as he's taken to calling him -- deserves infinite terms in the White House.

He's gonna be disappointed once he finds out how difficult it is to amend the Constitution -- Kanye getting elected might be more likely!!!

Fivio Foreign was excited to bring his hit singles to the Brooklyn Nets season opener at Barclays Center ... but something was clearly off with his performance, and the fans let him have it.

Fivio took center court at halftime to deliver a medley of "Say My Name," "City of Gods" and "Big Drip" but there were apparently some technical difficulties ... the Brooklyn rapper missed the cue on most of his lyrics, resulting in a live performance of ad-libs.

Fans split the blame down the middle ... with some blaming the Nets audio crew and others just chalking it up to Fivio being a slouch on the job.

Of course, Twitter users let him have it, writing, "If you’re illegally streaming this Nets game you know that this fivio foreign halftime performance is one of the worst things in history." Another wrote, "I don’t know who fivio foreign is, but this one of the worst halftime shows I ever seen."

T.I., being the experienced rapper, noted Fivio's lack of in-ear headphones to hear the songs properly.

The glitchy performance certainly didn't inspire the home team ... Zion Williamson and the New Orleans Pelicans blew out the Nets on their home floor 130-108.