Music

T.I.'s had enough of being the "King of the South" and he's touting his next album -- "Kill the King" -- as the official funeral for his famous tagline!!!

TMZ Hip Hop chopped it up with T.I. this week and, for now, he's adamant "Kill the King" will be his last solo album.

The ATL rap icon explains he adopted that regal label after hearing Mystikal refer to himself as "Prince of the South" on the 2001 album "Tarantula." Tip says he spotted a void for the throne and claimed it.

He then got the blessings of legendary peers Outkast, Scarface, 8Ball and MJG ... but Big Boi warned him the "Kang" title would come with a supersized can of worms, which T.I. admits it did.

The royal title sparked a short-lived beef with Ludacris' camp, among other debacles, and T.I. says he's fully confident with deflating his own ego.

There's no timetable to rush greatness, but he revealed Jermaine Dupri just blessed him with a banger so the album is coming along as we speak.

In addition to recording his last hurrah, T.I. has plenty of other projects in the works.

He recently signed on as a brand ambassador for Cignature, a lifestyle brand that provides smoking products to adults, and is also looking ahead toward the 20th anniversary of his classic breakout album "Trap Muzik" ... which will coincide with the Hip Hop 50th celebration in August.

For the 15th anniversary, T.I. and Grand Hustle debuted the now monumental, Trap Museum in Atlanta, but he's keeping details for the upcoming celebration under wraps for now.

Positive K, best known for his '90s hit "I Got A Man", is turning his hip hop roots into humor -- he's getting onstage to tap into the world of comedy.

The rapper's team says, Positive K's still in the biz of putting out new music, but now he's also using the stage for stand-up comedy, and his career is already taking off!

As a rapper, he's best known for his breakout 1993 top 20 single "I Got A Man" ... and he also had memorable collabs with hip hop legend, MC Lyte.

His debut album "The Skills Dat Pay Da Bills" has become highly regarded as a certified classic, especially for his ability to deliver a different rap style on each track and for adding humor ... and we're told that's exactly what planted the seed for his comedy career.

Positive K's Comedy Experience is already making the rounds in ATL ... having played the Uptown Comedy Corner, Atlanta Comedy Theater and the Laugh Factory. Earlier this year he put on a show to remember at the ATL Punchline.

He's even opened up for comedian Mike Epps, in addition to performing on some of the most legendary stages for comedy.

Travis Scott's Cactus Jack Foundation hosted a celebrity softball game yesterday ... and he scored big by carving out loads of opportunities for Historically Black Colleges in honor of Black History Month.

The star-studded game went down Thursday inside Houston's Minute Maid Park -- home to MLB's Astros -- and raised awareness for the Waymon Webster HBCU Scholarship Fund and Cactus Jack HBCU Classic.

LaFlame put out the call and a huge list of famous athletes answered to help in the effort: 9-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, Ken Griffey Jr., Reggie Jackson, Jose Canseco and his daughter Josie, Gary Sheffield, Andre Dawson, Shane Victorino and Nick Swisher. Plus, NFL and NBA greats Terrell Owens, Adrian Peterson, Robert Horry, Vince Young, and Tracy Mcgrady.

Travis' fellow artists came out too ... folks like Scarface, Bun B, Metro Boomin, Slim Thug, Sheck Wes, Trae Tha Truth, Paul Wall, and Dominic Fike.

Following the match (which T.O.'s team won), Travis and his family were presented with the Vanguard award by Daniel Moss, Executive Director of the HBCU Foundation, for their dedication to higher learning within the Black community and the scholarship opportunities they've provided.

To date, Travis' efforts have raised about $1 million for 100 graduating HBCU seniors ... who were all celebrated during Thursday's game.

Chris Brown is singling out Cheetah Girls/3LW singer Kiely Williams amongst the peanut gallery upset he's collaborating with Chloe Bailey ... but Breezy is busting her chops, almost literally!!!

Following Chloe's ill-fated preview of "How Does It Feel," Kiely went on a tirade over the collab like several fans -- accusing Chris of exploiting female Black artists' talent to mask his past domestic violence case with Rihanna.

Breezy's currently overseas on tour, but took time to respond to Kiely's disses and did so with a mix of pity and humor ... to him anyway.

He deemed Kiely to be broken -- either mentally, financially, or both -- for the unprovoked attacks, and then took the low road by taking aim at her lisp. He joked how she sang "promithis, promithis" on her hit song "No More (Baby I’Ma Do Right)," and again through a meme captioned "thop it!!!"

While Breezy didn't hesitate to fire away at Kiely, Chloe still has to deal with her angered fanbase ahead of the release of their song.

Shaquille O'Neal just went scorched Earth on everyone bashing Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime performance Sunday ... saying people need to "shut the f*** up!"

"All you people disrespecting Rihanna, shut your face," O'Neal said on his The Big Podcast with Shaq featuring Nischelle Turner and Candace Parker, passionately defending the 9x Grammy winner.

Many people have been critical of Rihanna's performance on Sunday ... but Shaq isn't one of them. The Big Fella believes RiRi did her thing, adding we live in a world where people have too much freedom to criticize others.

"She did a wonderful job," Shaq said. "She's pregnant. She blessed it. She didn't fall. Just leave it there. All you superstars that's disrespecting and causing beef ... shut it up."

O'Neal said it was the first time he ever saw the "Umbrella" artist perform live ... adding, if he were in A$AP Rocky's shoes, he'd be defending her.

"If she was my woman and I seen one of you superstars do that," Shaq said, "I'm gonna have to get at you." "Rappers. Presidential candidates. I'm gonna have to get at you. Leave her alone."

Shaq didn't mention which rappers or presidential candidates he's calling out ... but it's worth noting former President Donald Trump ripped Rihanna's performance.

Trump wrote ... "EPIC FAIL: Rihanna gave, without question, the single worst Halftime Show in Super Bowl history — This after insulting far more than half of our Nation, which is already in serious DECLINE, with her foul and insulting language. Also, so much for her 'Stylist!'”

DT wasn't the only high-profile name who wasn't a fan of Rihanna's 13-minute set at the SB -- WWE legend Goldberg was "disgusted" by the show and thought it was "horrible."

Trick Daddy recently interrupted his own cooking to show to completely UNLOAD on Uncle Murda .. all because he's fed up with the G-Unit rapper's infamous yearly "Rap Up" anthems.

The Miami hip hop legend was warning viewers of the pitfalls of going viral when he turned his ire towards Murda ... dubbing him "The #1 Clown" in the rap game -- 5 years and running!!!

Trick scolded Murda for stalking countless rappers throughout the years, and preying on their most vulnerable moments.

Of course, Trick was one of the many rappers caught in Murda's crosshairs -- but he's held his tongue about it for a couple of years.

Murda dissed Trick back on the 2021 "Rap Up" over his "Beyonce can't sing" comments and subsequent "coke head" remarks ... but Trick says he's calling Murda out for the guys who can't speak up for themselves in the brutal social media gauntlet.

Travis Kelce proved yet again to be a genius on the microphone -- belting out a rendition of "Fight For Your Right" in a karaoke sesh with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday ... and it was, as it always is, EPIC.

The Super Bowl champ was Fallon's guest on "The Tonight Show" -- and after the two talked about the Big Game, Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs, the Kelce family and the post-win celebration ... Jimmy asked if the star tight end would hop on a mic with him.

Never one to turn down the spotlight, Kelce obliged ... and it was awesome.

For 90-or-so seconds, they sang the Beastie Boys' 1986 classic -- and the crowd ate it up!!!

Of course, Kelce's had a ton of practice with the tune the past few weeks, particularly the song's chorus, as he's been yelling it into postgame mics throughout K.C.'s playoff run.

It might not be the last time we hear him sing it this winter, either ... Kelce revealed to Fallon he's going to host "Saturday Night Live" on March 4 -- and it seems to be a good bet there will be a musical bit or two then.

Kash Doll is defending La La Anthony's portrayal of Markisha Taylor in 50 Cent's hit series "BMF," despite fan uproar that La La's character now looks like a bona fide cradle robber!!!

Fans have been livid this season seeing the adult Markisha interact with Terry Flenory (played by actor Da'Vinchi) ... because his character is still in high school.

To make matters worse, OG trap queen Tonesa Welch also ripped the character -- and the casting -- as it appears Markisha is loosely based on the role Tonesa held during the real-life BMF glory days.

The Detroit rapper linked with TMZ Hip Hop this week during her NYC promo run, and reminded us of "BMF's" disclaimer at the top of each show ... some of it's true and some of it ain't!!!

Kash plays Monique ... the linchpin of the love triangle between herself and warring lead characters "Big Meech" and "Lamar."

Kash is also back on her rapping steez -- after having a baby boy about a year ago -- thanks to her new DJ Drama-led project, "Back On Dexter: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape."

The 11-track effort finds KD flexing Detroit-isms with the likes of Sada Baby, Babyface Ray, Payroll Giovanni, Peezy and more.

UFC bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling wants into the exclusive champ-champ club ... telling us he plans to fight Henry Cejudo in May, and then wishes to go up a weight class to fight champion Alex Volkanovski!

First things first, 33-year-old Aljo, the #7 ranked UFC pound-for-pound fighter, has 36-year-old Triple C in his sights.

"We're slated for May 6, that's what we're thinking right now," Sterling told Babcock on the "TMZ Sports" TV show (airs nightly on FS1), despite admitting he likely won't be totally healthy after tearing his bicep last year.

But, Aljamain says if he decides to fight, there are no excuses.

"If I make the decision to sign on the dotted line, I'm signing on the dotted line and we're gonna fight no matter what it is at the time. I don't give a s**t about that. Henry has some stuff he's dealing with. I have some stuff I'm dealing with. All fighters have stuff they're dealing with. It's just whose the better man that night."

After the Sterling-Cejudo fight, assuming Aljo's victorious, that's when things could really get interesting ... because he believes he'll have earned an opportunity to move up a weight class, and fight

"I fought a lot of the best guys," Aljo says, making his case for a title shot at featherweight. He continued ... "How much do I have to do to say 'Ok, this guy finally deserves an opportunity to go up and see what he can do at 145.' I'm getting older. I'm on an 8-fight win streak right now and I want to test myself and take the opportunity."

Of course, Volkanovski -- the featherweight champ (145 lbs.) -- lost an incredibly close fight to lightweight champ (155 lbs.) Islam Makhachev at UFC 284 ... in his bid to join the double champ club.

As for how a fight with Volk would look ... Aljamain Tweeted last year, saying he believed he could take down and submit Alex, and while it's a 7-month-old message, his opinion hasn't changed all that much.

"There's a couple of factors. That was at 155. So he had a little more weight. Maybe not as depleted as he would be at [145]. I would be coming up to 45, not being as depleted as much as I am at 35."

And, that's why Sterling likes his chances.

FYI, only four fighters in the UFC's history have ever held two belts simultaneously: Conor Mcgregor, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes and Cejudo.

We also talked to Aljo about his side hustle ... making music. Sterling just released a track titled "Go Dumb", featuring his brother Troy, who raps under the name Troy Grindz.

"This is something I always wanted to do, my brother's been the musician of the family, he's always been very, very good lyrically," Sterling says ... but in a competitive industry, his bro's had trouble gaining traction.

Enter Troy's famous brother.

"It's been hard for him to promote himself, but it's something I always wanted to do, but fighting kind of called my name first. I think I was a better fighter than I was a rapper. I always wanted to make a song with him, so this was a cool opportunity now that I had some downtime," Aljo says.

We asked Aljamain if this was a one-time thing, or if he may make more music.

Goldberg absolutely hated Rihanna's Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday ... calling the singer's performance "horrible", and saying it left him feeling "disgusted."

"I thought Rihanna was frickin horrible," Goldberg said on his CarCast podcast with Matt "The Motorator" D'Andria. "I was disgusted by it. That's all. Let's just say that. I thought it was horrible."

D'Andria said he thought Rihanna's performance was "kind of boring," and Goldberg agreed, calling Matt's comment "the understatement of the year."

Goldberg seems to have an issue with RiRi's crotch grab -- he wasn't the only one -- and felt like the "Bitch Better Have My Money" artist made the performance too much about herself.

Of course, Rihanna opted to do her 13-minute set at the Super Bowl without bringing out any surprise guests like other performers in the past have done.

Rihanna's SB halftime show at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ was the first time she's performed in over 6 years ... and we now know, she wasn't exactly alone up there. 👶

Goldberg, however, is a fan of Chris Stapleton, who sang the National Anthem before the Chiefs-Eagles played, applauding the singer-songwriter for doing his job "to the fullest."

Chloe Bailey's second single from her upcoming debut solo album has her fans heated, and not in a good way -- they're infuriated she's included Chris Brown as the featured guest.

On Thursday, Chloe teased her Breezy duet "How Does It Feel" ... only to see her fans raise so much outrage, the song's actually trending from the onslaught of negative tweets.

Fans were upset Chloe would choose to collaborate with CB given his tumultuous history with Rihanna. There's no better barometer of the fan anger than this -- some are even calling out Beyoncé for what they deem mismanagement of her Parkwood Entertainment artists. 😬

The song drops tomorrow and Chloe recently revealed she submitted her finished "In Pieces" album to the label ... with the release date soon to follow.

Fans have really been testing GloRilla's gangsta during her tour ... with the latest incident involving the red-hot rookie becoming a coatface killah while performing on stage.

Video of Big Glo's Valentine's Day performance at Cervantes’ Other Side in Denver hit the web on Thursday with Glo set to perform her new song "Internet Trolls."

Funny enough, there was a real troll in the crowd, who had the nerve to toss their jacket on stage, hitting Glo upside her head in the process.

After a quick scan of the audience, Glo ID'ed a woman with red braids to be the culprit ... and proceeded to cuss her out for the stunt. Glo also told the crowd the flying coat killed her stage-diving mood -- and was met with dejected moans and groans.

The show wasn't a total wash though ... Glo shared more footage of the Denver show with fans getting crazy — without throwing objects at the stage but the budding Memphis rapper has been experiencing the wild side of her newfound celebrity as of late.

During her afterparty in Oakland last week, fans grew angry she hung out at the club without performing and tossed drinks in her direction as she headed towards the exit.

NBA YoungBoy put out 8 albums in 2022 alone to give fans more music than they can realistically handle ... but that doesn't mean the Lousiana rapper doesn't have his favorite tracks.

YoungBoy rattled off his top 3 songs and albums on the recent episode of the Rap Radar podcast ... handpicking the tracks "Valuable Pain," "Outside Today," and "Slime Belief" as the best he's ever recorded!!!

On the album front, YB selected "Top," "38 Baby 2," and "Ma' I Got a Family" as the projects most dear to his heart ... with the latter LP speaking best to his current situation as a married man living in Utah.

YB, who plans to convert to Mormonism after he's released off house arrest, also spoke on his latest music vid "Black" ... which was shot in the neighborhood where he's been living.

If you think the clip looks rambunctious, you're right ... YB admitted he regrets not notifying all his neighbors ahead of filming the Project X-type visual!!!

Interestingly enough, YB admitted he doesn't really listen to his older material, and was optimistic about the future ... revealing he left his longtime label Atlantic Records to try something new.

Billie Eilish's L.A. home became the center of some very unnecessary police action thanks to a prankster who sounded a false alarm that the singer may be in trouble.

Several Glendale PD squad cars and officers ascended on the home Wednesday afternoon. Law enforcement sources tell us they got a call to check on Billie's well-being. We're told when cops got to the home, they made contact with members of Billie's team and determined everything was A-OK ... so it appears someone made a prank call.

While the call Wednesday was a false alarm, Billie and her family recently had a serious issue at the house where she grew up and where her parents still live.

TMZ broke the story -- Billie got a 5-year restraining order against Christopher Anderson after he allegedly broke into the family home last month, professing his love for the singer. The restraining order also protects her mom, dad and brother, Finneas.

As we've reported ... Billie is just another in a string of celebs who have fallen victim to these pesky calls.

YouTuber iShowSpeed's dream of snagging Drake on his live stream finally came true -- but it was very quickly shattered when he laid on the schmooze a little too thick for Drake's liking.

The award-winning streamer connected with Drake Wednesday night, and immediately drew 50,000 viewers as he jumped up and down with excitement and disbelief he was finally linking with the megastar rapper.

At first, Drizzy returned the gratitude ... praising iShowSpeed for amassing such a big following over the years. They also vibed on the Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi debate -- turns out they're both on the Ronaldo bandwagon.

But, then the convo fizzled as iShow started dropping a bunch of compliments on Champagne Papi -- like, "Bro, your voice is so sexy!!! How is it so smooth like that?"

That was all Drake needed to hear, because he instantly hit the big red button, which sent iShowSpeed into a pretty hilarious tantrum.

The Internet personality pleaded his case to his followers, saying he misspoke, but Drake was long gone by then.

If Bruce Springsteen's guitar tech needed a refresher on who "The Boss" is, he got it ... in the form of a flying guitar that ended up striking him right in the head!!!

Now, no one's suggesting Bruce did this on purpose, but it can't make much of a difference to the stage hand's noggin after Bruce and the E. Street Band's Feb. 3 show at Atlanta's State Farm Arena.

As the band was wrapping up a tune, Bruce turned to toss his eclectic guitar to his guitar tech, Kevin Buell ... but instead of it landing in his hands -- as it has hundreds of times -- Bruce's axe hit Kevin in the head, and took him down to the ground.

Looks like Kevin just fumbled the bag this time, and Springsteen was totally surprised as he quickly went over to check on him, but he'd already exited backstage.

Bruce joked on the mic, "One man down!!!"

No word on how Kevin's doing, but we're guessing "I'm On Fire" was playing in his pounding head for a few days.