Music

G Herbo and his Swervin' Through Stress foundation is partnering with Dion's Chicago Dream to tackle the city's food insecurity crisis, as an estimated 500,000 citizens are living in a food desert ... desperate for essential nutrition.

Sources in G Herbo's camp tell TMZ Hip Hop the "Survivor's Remorse" rapper will provide the org with a monthly financial contribution, in addition to using his celebrity to raise awareness for the cause.

Their goal is to raise $500K to clear out the extensive wait list ... which has grown to 450 Chicago families.

Dion is a Navy vet who's experienced homelessness and Herbo's a vet of the unforgiving Chicago streets. We're told they've bonded over their shared desire to end their community's struggles.

Herbo earned his ambassador stripes ... taking to the streets with Dion and surprising a Chicago resident who couldn't believe a local hero was delivering fresh food to his doorstep.

Elon Musk's Twitter regime is royally pissing off Doja Cat and she's not afraid to curse him out for it ... even though she's also asking for his help.

Doja was up early Thursday furiously ripping the new $8 Twitter Blue subscription ... and noticed she couldn't remove her Twitter subheader name after changing it to "Christmas."

Doja posed the question, "Why can't I change my name on here" -- and then aimed her scorn directly at the Chief Twit, saying ... "also f*** you Elon."

Elon got a kick out of being publicly dragged but assured the superstar artist he was diligently working on the bugs behind-the-scenes.

Doja isn't the only one feeling the brunt of the pay-for-clout subscription.

A fake LeBron James tweet about leaving the Lakers recently sent the sports world into a temporary frenzy and several high-profile accounts have vowed to stop tweeting.

Takeoff’s life is being celebrated in the exact Houston location where he was shot and killed.

The memorial for the Migos rapper -- complete with flowers, photos, heart-shaped balloons, and a sign that reads "R.I.P Takeoff" -- was set up outside of 810 Billiards & Bowling, right in the hallway where someone opened fire last week following an argument with Quavo.

As we reported, the hail of gunfire struck Takeoff and 2 other people, who survived their injuries.

Fans are flocking there to pay their respects by leaving lit candles. They've also removed petals from flowers and placed them on the ground in a line to symbolize Takeoff resting in peace.

Let It Slide -- a nonprofit anti-violence organization -- traveled from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to the memorial site to spread their message ... stopping the bloodshed and choosing peace.

As we reported, Takeoff's funeral will be held Friday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

French Montana's birthday checklist is complete -- celeb guests, fancy mansion party and exotic animals chillin' with said celebs ... check, check and check!!!

The rapper rang in his 38th at his Hidden Hills mansion Wednesday night, surrounded by Jamie Foxx, Vin Diesel, Soulja Boy and Swizz Beatz.

Tiffany Haddish was also there, and she came ready to party ... as she spent most of the night at the center of the dance floor, alongside her pals Jamie and the birthday guy.

BTW, Swizz gets credit for arriving with the most "Unforgettable" gift for French -- dude pulled up with a damn camel!! They joke around about it spitting, but for real -- where ya gonna put that thing?

As we reported, French was honored last month at the 2022 Pencils of Promise Gala ... for helping raise more than $226 million for healthcare in Africa.

Aaron and Nick Carter had a tumultuous relationship over the years, and the brothers were never able to have a one-on-one conversation to bury the hatchet before Aaron's death.

Family sources tell TMZ … Aaron believed he was on good terms with Nick in his final days, but he never actually had a conversation with Nick himself.

We're told in the months leading up to Aaron's death, his estranged sister, Angel, got word to Aaron that she and Nick loved him and wanted him to get healthy ... and because of this, Aaron felt Nick and Angel were being supportive and they were all on good terms.

Our sources say Aaron further believed things were okay between him and Nick because past correspondences with his family were usually explosive, and the recent signals coming from Angel and Nick stood in stark contrast to the past.

Remember ... Nick and Angel each had a restraining order against Aaron, so any direct correspondence between the siblings would have been out of the question ... at least legally.

As we first told you, Nick first got the restraining order back in 2019 after claiming Aaron threatened to kill Nick's pregnant wife and unborn child. Angel got her restraining order the same year, accusing Aaron of threatening to send hit men to her door.

It sounds like the ice was finally thawing ... and we're told Aaron felt Angel's message was Nick's way of getting word to Aaron that the brothers were back on good terms.

When Nick paid tribute to Aaron at a concert this week, he mentioned how he still loved his little brother despite their rocky relationship, saying Aaron's death broke his heart.

The Country Music Awards has some interesting moments Wednesday night ... and one of the baddest-ass moments was divorcées Kelsea Ballerini, Carly Pearce, and Kelly Clarkson rockin' out together.

The 3 singers joined forces for Country's biggest night in Nashville ... bringin' it all for a rendition of Kelsea's latest hit, "You're Drunk, Go Home." Needless to say, the crowd was lovin' it.

TMZ broke the story ... production sources for the CMAs told us the trio was planning the powerful performance last month -- doing a song all about female empowerment, and about guys who hit on women at bars after getting plastered.

As you know, Kelly and Carly both filed for divorce in June, 2020 ... Kelly from Brandon Blackstock after 7 years of marriage, and Carly from Michael Ray after less than a year.

As for Kelsea, she pulled the plug on her 5-year marriage with Morgan Evans -- the 2 finalized their divorce a week ago. She's been very open about how tough divorce can be ... recently posting an emotional confessional from the bathtub.

Al Sharpton is laying into individuals who blame hip hop culture for Takeoff's homicide, and says social media only fools you into thinking rappers are more violent than society, at-large.

We caught up with Rev. Al Wednesday in NYC, where he pointed out hip hop is filled with artists who are responsible and actively lift up their communities. He says it's unfortunate the advent of social media helps to amplify violent incidents way more than the good ones.

The Rev accurately pointed out all the other music genres where violence has occurred for decades -- and he largely agreed with what Method Man told us about the Takeoff tragedy.

The Wu-Tang Clan star was peeved over the slain Migos rapper's passing, and equally annoyed over all the scapegoating of rap.

In fact, Rev. Al is giving hip hop credit for being proactive when it comes to spreading awareness against gun violence.

Late 1980s rap songs such as Stop the Violence Movement's "Self Destruction" and West Coast All Stars' "We're All In The Same Gang" are evidence of that.

Sharpton also recalls R&B singers getting into shootouts before the dominance of rap ... a fact to which superproducer Teddy Riley can cosign.

In 1989, entourages for Teddy's group Guy and New Edition began beefing ... leading to NE’s production manager Ronald Byrd fatally shooting Guy’s security chief, Anthony Bee.

The biggest night in country music turned into a bit of a roast of Eli Manning -- with Peyton tossing several barbs his little bro's way throughout the evening ... and it was all hilarious!!

The Indianapolis Colts legend was co-hosting the annual CMA Awards show with Luke Bryan in Nashville -- and while a bunch of music stars caught playful shade from the duo ... Eli appeared to find himself as the butt of the jokes more often than not.

In fact, it only took about 10 minutes into the show for Peyton to make his first dig at the former New York Giants star, who he co-hosts his weekly "Monday Night Football" "Manningcast" with.

"Peyton, let me break it to you, I don't prepare," Bryan said during the opening monologue. "I'm just kind of a wing it kind of host."

"Trust me, that's clear," Peyton responded. "So, what you're saying is, this is my worst nightmare. But it's actually OK, because I do a show with my brother Eli -- I'm used to this lack of professionalism."

A couple hours later, Peyton threw some more quills Eli's way while chatting with the Brothers Osborne.

"So, let me guess," Peyton said turning to the country music group. "Your mom makes you work with your brother too, right?"

Eli certainly noticed it all -- and took to Twitter to gripe about his older bro.

"If my math is correct," the younger Manning said, "that is the 3rd shot Peyton has taken at me on the CMA's."

Snoop Dogg's life story will soon be everybody's entertainment on the big screen!!!

Tha Doggfather announced Wednesday his biopic would mark the 1st production for his newly-minted Death Row Films with famed director Allen Hughes of Hughes Brothers' fame set to direct.

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" co-writer Joe Cole will pen the script and Snoop will produce the feature flick with Hughes and his Death Row Films partner Sara Ramaker.

From his time as a Crip-walking, Long Beach shorty down to his globally-massive rap career, Snoop's movie could be just as action-packed as fan-favorite films "Menace II Society" and "The Book of Eli" ... which Hughes co-directed.

Rappers have enamored audiences at theaters for years through their bios -- even posthumously.

The late, great Biggie Smalls had his "Notorious" feature released in 2009 ... over a decade after he was killed and Tupac's "All Eyez on Me" dropped in 2017, over 20 years after his murder.

The 9-man Wu-Tang Clan took their story to the next level ... carving out a television series now on its third season that even uses rappers Joey Bada$$ and Dave East as cast members.

And as far as accolades go, the N.W.A biopic "Straight Outta Compton" chronicled the lives of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and the rest of the posse and famously earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay ... and Eminem became the first rapper to ever win an Oscar thanks to his "8 Mile" soundtrack classic "Lose Yourself."

Quality Control’s Bankroll Freddie hopefully can find time to exercise “patience” like his recent hit with Lil Baby suggests -- the feds are charging the Arkansas rapper in a firearms and drug case.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Hip Hop the 28-year Freddie Gladney was part of a massive 61-count indictment ... along with 34 other defendants, and is currently in custody.

We're told Wednesday's round-up is part of a larger investigation involving around 70 people all facing similar charges and circumstances.

According to the indictment, Freddie and his East AR crew conspired to sell massive amounts of crack cocaine and marijuana between March 2021 to October 2022.

Freddie is also facing weapons charges for allegedly possessing multiple firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.

We're told the feds also seized jewelry and cash from several of the defendants totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Shawn Mendes is making a strong case to be Canada's finest export ... for the latest evidence, look no further than these pics of him taking a stroll without a shirt!!!

The "Treat You Better" singer ditched his shirt Wednesday and went on a hike on one of Los Angeles' many trails ... looking like a certified hunk.

Shawn worked up a sweat on his journey ... which only made him look even hotter.

The guy's checking all the boxes here ... flowing dark hair, the right mix of tattoos, six-pack abs, and just enough body hair. Yes, please!!!

Handsome looks aside, it's good to see Shawn looking happy and healthy ... remember, he's not performing right now because he canceled his world tour for a mental health break.

TMZ broke the story ... Shawn told us he pressed pause on his tour to enjoy the simple things in life, along with some therapy, in order to regain his life balance.

The last time we saw Shawn, he was going to church with Justin Bieber, who also put his tour on ice for a mental health break.

Kanye West's Yeezy designs will, in fact, live on at Adidas after all ... but they'll have a completely different title when they drop.

Adidas honchos announced Wednesday the company plans to continue selling more of the Ye-inspired shoes starting as early as 2023, but without a trace of the Yeezy name ... according to Insider.

Adidas reportedly emphasized to their shareholders the company remains the sole owner of the core designs of the current Yeezys in circulation ... including shoe silhouettes and colorways. As such, they feel they have every right to keep hawking them.

Adidas also gave some sobering financial numbers -- noting it expects to lose up to half a billion dollars in annual revenue as a result of ending the partnership with Ye.

Previously, execs said they'd take a $247 million hit, this year alone.

Unclear if they're going to discard the Yeezy inventory they have right now, or retweak and rerelease them. In any case, it sounds like sneakerheads will see "Yeezys" on the market again soon enough.

Adidas had already signaled this move when it first cut ties with Kanye -- explicitly saying the shoe designs belonged to them. Kanye hasn't publicly said anything about that stance or the company's plan to sell rebranded Yeezys.

We know Kanye's griped in the past about ownership. As it stands, at least on paper, he only owns the patent to Yeezy Slides.

FWIW, there are 14 different Yeezy shoe products (sans the Slides) that have been released over the years, and lord knows they've been popular and profitable thus far.

Alicia Keys is performing at Takeoff's memorial service this week ... TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge of the event tell us AK is scheduled to take the stage Friday at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta for the Migos rapper's sendoff. It's unclear how long Alicia will perform, or what exactly she might be singing ... but we do know she'll be there and mic'd up to sing.

Alicia doesn't have any solo tracks with Takeoff specifically, but she and Migos were all featured on Kanye West's last 'Donda' album -- so there is a connection there.

She also posted a tribute to Takeoff after his shooting death, saying ... "This is too much. It's like every day. RIP Takeoff. Sending light to your family and loved ones. We are losing too many too soon!!"

Tickets for Takeoff's memorial are already sold out ... and as we first told you, Justin Bieber is also set to perform at the service.

Snoop Dogg's calling big 🧢 on a claim his ex-blunt-roller serves him 150 joints daily -- and now even the blunt roller herself is cosigning, telling us her words were taken outta context!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with Ranagade PerRana, the professional blunt-roller whose rep is going up in smoke over what she says was some wayward reporting down unda.

During a recent appearance on Australian radio’s “The Kyle And Jackie Show,” Ranagade estimated she had rolled around 450,000 blunts since 2016 when she turned pro.

Ranagade specified she was referring to Snoop as well as her other clientele … but several publications and social media blogs fumbled her statements, applying the massive number only to Snoop.

She told us that's a huge disservice to Snoop and her, and that's plain as day in the interview -- Ranagade never says she rolled that many for Snoop, but the falsehood has snowballed.

She says spilling her clients’ joint count or even their favorite strain of Kush would be unethical, and something she'd never do.

Tha Doggfather himself reacted to the embellished tale on social media in typical Snoop fashion … and, unfortunately, also seemed to buy the fake news.

Ranagade says she doesn’t speak to Snoop directly, but wants him to know she feels terrible about how the misquote spread like wildfire.

Eminem received his flowers from the Rock Hall of Fame and shouted out a ton of hip hop legends ... but the current crop of Detroit rappers, such as Icewear Vezzo, think he could do more for the new wave they're currently experiencing.

Icewear visited The Breakfast Club Wednesday to discuss his recent signing with Quality Control and the loss of Takeoff -- when recent comments made by Detroit hip hop gatekeeper Royce Da 5'9" were brought up.

Royce feels there's a disconnect between himself and Eminem's generation ... a point Icewear agreed with. Detroit rap is having a marquee moment thanks to the likes of Babyface Ray, 42 Dugg, Peezy, Sada Baby and others and Icewear says Eminem's reclusive nature has left a hole in the timeline.

Royce was credited for diverting attention to spotlight the younger class ... but Icewear says he can't name anyone aside from Nickel who's ever met Eminem, let alone seen him in person!!!

Icewear contends Eminem is a GOAT rapper and has done great things for the city of Detroit ... but has left the up-and-comers hanging when it comes down to passing knowledge and spitting game.

Philly rapper Tierra Whack had a rough time at her hometown airport ... the enigmatic lyricist was detained and cited for disorderly conduct after she allegedly brought a loaded gun into the building.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Hip Hop Tierra's bag was searched by Homeland Security officials at an X-ray checkpoint inside Philadelphia International Airport ... when they discovered the gun loaded with 6 live rounds in the magazine and none in the chamber.

We're told authorities believe it was an honest mistake and Tierra wasn't intentionally trying to bring the weapon onboard ... nor did she intend to hurt someone.

Tierra is actually licensed to carry a firearm in the state of Pennsylvania ... but that doesn’t mean you can bring it on an airplane, which is prohibited under federal law. We’re told the gun was confiscated and, after a short detention, Tierra was issued a disorderly conduct citation and released.