Music

YFN Lucci is not a witness to be used against Young Thug in his RICO case ... this according to the rapper's attorney.

YFN Lucci’s attorneym Drew Findling, tells TMZ … Rayshawn Bennett, AKA Lucci, has not been named as a witness in the YSL case, whatsoever. He makes it clear that Lucci has never been interviewed or subpoenaed by law enforcement, the Fulton County District Attorney's office or any of the party's regarding the YSL case.

We're told, "Any party can announce for example that Abraham Lincoln is on their witness list, but those words alone are meaningless. So, to be 100% clear, Rayshawn Bennett (Lucci) will not be a witness in the YSL case."

In case you didn't know, Lucci is currently sitting behind bars and awaiting trial on murder charges. YT and YFN are both Georgia rappers, who are known to have beef for several years which caused folks on social media to suspect he might be working with Thug's prosecutors in order to cut his own plea deal.

However, Lucci's attorney says, "His focus, as it should be, is on his pending Fulton County case."

As we've reported, YT and fellow YSL rapper Gunna were arrested back in May on gang-related charges tied to a 56-count indictment.

Gunna was locked up for several months before taking a plea deal by pleading guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge. He was sentenced to 5 years with one year commuted for the time he's already served. The other 4 will be suspended and replaced with community service and other demands.

On the other hand, Thug has been in custody for 7 months and he's slated for trial in January.

Young Thug might soon be fighting more than charges ... as a COVID-19 outbreak has hit several of his codefendants in his RICO case.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, a bunch of the defendants and attorneys in Young Thug's ongoing case have tested positive for COVID. The court order states Young Thug could also be at risk of getting COVID and says he must get tested.

The court order, stamped on 12/28, does not have results from Young Thug's COVID test.

As we reported, Young Thug has been in custody for more than 7 months ... he was arrested back in May on gang-related charges tied to a 56-count indictment. He's slated for trial in January, with jury selection beginning on January 5.

Where in the world is Kanye West?

Ye's ex-business manager says Kim Kardashian's ex has been playing a cat-and-mouse game for weeks, all over a lawsuit.

The biz manager, Thomas St. John, is suing Ye for $4.5 mil and is frustrated because he can't serve him with the necessary legal docs, this according to the US Sun.

The suit, over unpaid fees, can't move forward until Kanye gets served, either directly or through other means. St. John says he can't find a legit address on Ye.

Kanye has been spotted several times in the last 2 weeks ... both times in L.A.

TMZ broke the story, Kanye's been leading a nomadic life for months, traveling here and there and not really having a home base.

As for St. John and Kanye, that relationship blew up last January, according to St. John, when Ye screamed at him in aggressive fashion and pulled the plug on their relationship.

Drake is denying rumors from a woman who claims the rapper flew her out for a romantic night, but then gave her the boot once she started recording him.

The Canadian rapper issued a statement Wednesday on Instagram, apparently addressing the women's TikTok video about their alleged encounter. Drake wrote, "Never met. Never spoke. Never flew." He added, "I hope people start doing more with the one life we are given s*** is sad out here".

In her TikTok video, the woman states that Drake direct messaged her after she posted a story mentioning the music icon while she was clad in lingerie.

She says they began talking, which led to Drake booking her a flight to see him. Before anything went down between them, Drake made her sign an NDA or so she claims.

At one point she says, "he kept on rubbing on my stomach and asking me questions like 'do you want kids?'" She went on to say they started drinking and vibing ... and eventually, things escalated to them having unprotected sex.

The woman also claims Drake became angry when she began recording him ... saying he slapped her phone out her hand and kicked her out his crib.

Of course, the woman's video went viral  ... but the clip has been deleted now that Drake has entered the conversation, calling BS on her accusations.

But, the woman insists she has proof that what she says about Drake is TRUE!!!

The Jewish Federation of L.A. is fighting antisemitism with billboards all over the city ... and the org.'s CCO believes it can help thwart the proliferation of hate.

Rob Goldenberg joined us on "TMZ Live," telling us all about his org.'s new campaign -- focusing on harmony and love, while looking to shut down hate toward Jewish people.

He underscores the negativity's ramped up in recent years, and believes now's the time to bring positivity into the equation.

FYI -- the Federation's billboards use ancient Jewish texts as inspirational messages ... and with L.A. having the 2nd largest Jewish population outside of Israel, they've partnered with Outfront Media to spread the word.

Former Kanye West collaborator Theophilus London has vanished without a trace, so says his family ... who's now pulling out all the stops to lock down his whereabouts.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Hip Hop that London's relatives filed a missing person report with the LAPD on Tuesday ... and cops are now investigating the situation.

According to London's family, the last time the Trinidad and Tobago-born artist was heard from was July. They said they flew into L.A. this week to file the police report.

"Theo, your Dad loves you, son," London's father said in a statement this week in the hopes of locating the 35-year-old. "We miss you. And all your friends and relatives are searching for you. Wherever you are send us some signal."

"No matter what we will come get you son."

London's family described Theophilus -- who was famously front and center in the creation of Kanye's "Donda" album -- as 6'2", 175 pounds, with dark brown eyes. Of course, his likeness can be found all over YouTube from the millions of views his music videos amassed over the years.

Fivio Foreign pissed off his girlfriend/baby mama Jasmine Giselle after he got a little too cozy on TikTok with Asian Doll.

FF and AD have been teasing a music collab for some time ... but they recently connected on a TikTok video and enjoyed a bit of seductive teasing ... the two rappers were bumping and grinding to an Ice Spice song.

But, once Jasmine got wind of the clip, she laid into Fivio on Instagram Live … roasting him for putting on a facade that he was a single man. Jasmine said people had sent her the video and accused Fivio of trying to publicly embarrass her.

Fivio didn't seem to care much ... he danced the night away before climbing into bed and staying mum about Jasmine's claims.

Yung Joc is a man of his word when it comes to losing his bets … even if it means turning his head into a cue ball.

The outspoken OG rapper was forced to eat crow and had his head shaved after betting his "Streetz Morning Crew" cohost Mrz Shyneka that Tory Lanez would be exonerated for shooting Megan Thee Stallion at his recent trial. As the world now knows, that, of course, didn't happen.

Last Friday, a jury found Tory guilty on three separate charges ... discharging a firearm with gross negligence, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and carrying a loaded, unregistered firearm. The judge promptly remanded Tory to the L.A. County Jail to await his January 27 sentencing. The rapper faces a max of 22 years in prison and deportation back to his native Canada.

Shyneka actually did the honors of giving Joc the buzz cut, leaving his head totally hairless. Throughout the video, it seems, Shyneka is having a blast moving the electric razor over Joc's scalp as if it were a handheld lawn mower. It's all pretty darn funny ... unless, of course, you're Joc ... who, we must say, was a good sport the whole time.

In the end, Joc was able to turn lemons into lemonade by creating ads of his new noggin to promote his morning show!!!

Tristan Thompson and Khloe Kardashian have their differences, but something clearly binds them ... their daughter, True.

Tristan posted this video of 4-year-old True, dancing up a storm in a kitchen. It's unclear if this was shot in Tristan or Khloe's house, but either way ... pretty cute.

They're dancing to "There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back." Watch ... True shows off her vocals!

It's unclear what the child custody arrangement is ... but clearly Tristan was able to spend some holiday time with his daughter.

Our sources say Tristan and Khloe are getting along ... despite the fact she learned he had gotten another woman pregnant while lobbying her to go for a second child via surrogate -- which they did.

G Herbo recorded himself hitting the high notes from Usher's famed "Superstar" challenge Tuesday night — and it elicited a cryptic jab from the R&B star himself.

Herb kicked things off by light-heartedly posting to Instagram that he could sing better than Usher on his "worst day."

Clearly, Usher wasn't amused 'cuz he responded with a 🧢 emoji, which means "You're lying." Of course, the legendary crooner has good reason to be a little irritable ... he recently paid homage to his grandmother, who died earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, Herb captured himself on a separate IG vid squaring off against his "No Regrets" collaborator YK Dee in a B-Boy dance … the Chicago rapper was sipping a clear liquid -- or some liquid courage as they say -- with every pop lock and two-step.

Herb's fans, including Lil Wayne's daughter Reginae Carter, were eating up his brand of humor, commenting with laughing emojis.

Jeremiah Green, drummer for Grammy-nominated rock band Modest Mouse, is fighting late-stage cancer, this according to his family.

His mom, Carol Namatame, posted a Facebook message about Jeremiah's diagnosis, but did not reveal his specific type of cancer. Carol asked everyone to "send healing vibes" to her son, whom she described as "so strong" and "so brave."

Seattle radio DJ Marco Collins also took to FB to give an update about his friend, saying Green had to slam the breaks on touring with the band so he could receive chemotherapy. Still, Collins says Green's "prognosis is good!"

Modest Mouse had been touring to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its popular second album, "The Lonesome Crowded West." Green, who's 45 years old, was last seen performing Dec. 1 in Los Angeles.

Drake's one of the biggest things to ever happen in music -- which makes it all the more surprising some of his lyrics from his early days allegedly ended up in the trash -- and are now up for sale.

That's right, Drake fans with serious passion and some serious cash can own a piece of Drizzy history for $20K according to the good folks over at Moments In Time.

A rep for the MIT auction house tells us Drake was working in his uncle's Memphis furniture factory as a youth and the lyrics were found in the dumpster when the factory eventually closed down. Now, they'll be posted for sale.

You can see the greatness brewing in Drake's alleged bars, even though the lyrics weren't fully realized just yet. The pages read like poems, with lines like, "Plates/passed around for collection/Raising money for cheap cell phones with no reception."

Young Drizzy also supposedly penned a song called "Come Spring" which OG fans will recognize eventually evolved into "Come Winter" from his pre-fame debut mixtape "Room For Improvement."

He apparently was a "Certified Lover Boy" even back then, too. Someone by the name of Syliva has her Toronto-based phone number that appears on one of the pages, likely waiting for him when he returned to The 6ix.

Practice makes perfect and naturally, Drake evolved into quite the dominant artist ... ranking #3 globally for most streams in 2022, partially due to the pair of No. 1 albums he dropped this year!!!

Bob Marley's grandson, reggae artist Joseph 'Jo' Mersa Marley, has died.

Sources tell TMZ Joseph, known in the music world as Jo Mersa, passed away Tuesday due to asthma-related conditions ... although the specifics surrounding his death are unclear.

Joseph, son of Stephen Marley, took to Miami Dade College and studied audio engineering after spending his early years in Jamaica.

He went on to drop an EP in 2014 called "Comfortable" ... which held some tracks like "Rock and Swing" and "Bogus." He also released the hit single, "Burn It Down," in 2016 -- and put out a 2nd EP, "Eternal," last year.

He was only 31.

Diddy just dropped something major on social media, and it ain't new music -- it's the first full look at his beautiful new baby girl.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs put up the cute pic Tuesday ... showin' off his daughter, Love Sean Combs, to the world -- this after spending the holiday weekend with his family in the Caribbean.

The comment section is going nuts, BTW ... because just about everyone thinks she's perfect. One even wrote, "What in the most beautiful baby in the world is going on here 🥺."

As we reported, Love was born on October 15 in Newport Beach, CA ... and he had her with 28-year-old cyber security specialist Dana Tran.

Yung Miami, someone Diddy's also publically dated, recently confirmed he made her aware of the upcoming newborn before October, too.

In case you missed it, fans almost got a glimpse of Love's face the other day ... but Diddy had to tease everyone, facin' her away from the camera.

Country singer Zach Bryan clearly ain't holdin' back on Ticketmaster ... because he dropped a brand new album that's putting the company on blast for spikes in ticket sales.

Zach released his latest album Sunday, called "All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live From Red Rocks)" ... and along with it, a statement to his fans -- firing shots at the ticket honchos for its insane price jumps in sales.

He says he's talked to fans that have paid "upwards of four-hundred bucks" to watch him perform, and he's sick of it ... saying he's chosen to only play a select amount of concerts as a result.

Zach continued, "I am so tired of people saying things can't be done about this massive issue while huge monopolies sit there stealing money from working-class people." He never calls out Ticketmaster directly in his statement -- but the album name alone should be enough proof of who he's pointin' at.

Ticketmaster has been in the line of fire for weeks now ... TMZ broke the story, Taylor Swift fans are alleging the company essentially got into bed with scalpers by allowing bots to block real fans from getting tickets to her latest tour -- and the reason comes down to money. They claim Ticketmaster benefits financially when scalpers resell tickets.

Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried must be worried about serious prison time for his multiple fraud charges ... but have no fear -- because "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli's advice is to listen to some rap before hitting the slammer.

Shkreli, the once-pharmaceutical exec and hedge fund manager, offered his questionable tips and tricks to Bankman-Fried while on Laura Shin's "Unchained" podcast ... saying he should be educating himself about gang culture and "the streets" -- claiming a good dose of rap music should do the trick.

He also thinks shaving his head is a must to ft in ... adding Bankman-Fried comes off as pretty effeminate. Shkreli says deepening his voice while locked up could do him some good, too.

As we reported, Shkreli was released early from prison this year ... after being convicted on securities fraud charges back in 2017 -- and raising the price of the life-saving drug Daraprim, an antiparasitic medication commonly used by AIDS patients and others with suppressed immune systems, from $13.50 per pill to $750.

And as for Bankman-Fried, he was arrested in the Bahamas and charged with wire fraud, money laundering, and more ... and he reportedly could be facing 115 years behind bars if found guilty on all counts.