Music

Things aren't lookin' up for Travis Barker -- the drummer messed up his finger for the second time in 2 weeks ... and he shared the gnarly pic for all to see.

The Blink-182 bandmate posted the injury Sunday, showing his ring finger in pretty bad shape ... with what appears to be some sort of lump, or even a bone out of place.

He captioned the disturbing digit photo, "Again" -- because he messed up the same finger earlier this month, which he also proudly shared with fans.

That time, his finger was also swollen, the patient's one-word description was simply, "F***." He told his fans he smashed his finger during rehearsals, dislocating it and tearing ligaments. Unclear if the latest bang-up is more of the same, though.

Obviously, a finger injury could be brutal for a drummer like Travis ... and he's less than a month away from the Mexico kickoff of his band's world tour.

FYI -- he's supposed to be rockin' out with the group for a year straight.

Ya can't say Trav is holding back in rehearsals, but maybe he should!!!

Someone possibly up to no good must've thought John Mayer's home was a wonderland ... because cops rushed there after his security team spotted a trespasser.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... police hit up John's L.A. area home last month after someone was caught on camera roaming the property. Sources say they got out of the camera's range and then just disappeared.

Cops searched on foot and even with a police helicopter but turned up empty-handed.

Police didn't search inside the house -- John's private security told them no alarm was triggered, and they assured cops the house was safe.

No arrests have been made. BTW, John wasn't home at the time of the incident.

American musician, Chris Ballew was 27 years old when he rose to fame after starting the alternative rock band "The Presidents Of The United States of America" back in 1993, putting out popular hits like "Peaches" and "Lump."

Ballew originally shared the stage with drummer Jason Finn and guitarist Dave Dederer who was replaced by Andrew McKeag in 2004. Although "PotUSA" went their separate ways in 2015, their music still lives on.

Ballew has also had a successful solo career and recently released his album titled "Bone By Bone."

"Movin' to the country, Gonna eat a lot of peaches!"

Happy Presidents Day, y'all!

Rihanna's pops found out about his soon-to-be grandkid same as everyone else -- while watchin' her Super Bowl halftime show ... and he's hoping, once again, for 2 X chromosomes.

Ronald Fenty tells TMZ ... he's over the moon about his daughter and A$AP Rocky's new kiddo, and with 4 grandsons already, he's hoping RiRi can shake things up with a girl.

He says he's excited at the prospect of having a granddaughter ... face it, he had great luck in that department with his famous daughter.

Ronald tells us Rihanna got him tickets to the big game, without telling him she's eating for 2 -- so he was insanely surprised when he spotted the bump from the stands ... telling his partner, "Oh my god! My baby girl looks pregnant!"

As we reported, Ronald was crossing his fingers for a girl this time last year when it was first revealed Rihanna was pregnant ... saying he had a feeling they wouldn't stop at just 1.

Ronald says he hasn't been involved with RiRi and A$AP's son's life yet ... referring to her super busy schedule and his living in Barbados.

Jim Jones is applauding NYC Mayor Eric Adams' efforts all across the board, including their developing plans to introduce the Mayor's Cup of Dance throughout the city this summer!!!

TMZ Hip Hop linked up with the Harlem Capo a couple times this week and he was completely floored that Mayor Adams not only bumped up their meeting but also had his aides immediately reach out to get the ball rolling on the Mayor's Cup.

Jim's spearheading the dance initiative and is getting all the boroughs involved. He says he spoke to Fabolous and Maino to represent Brooklyn and wants Cardi B and Fat Joe to stand up for the Bronx, and Nas and N.O.R.E. to lead Queens. He's also planning to include artists from younger generations.

Jim and Dipset recently felt a ton of love from young fans at Drake's sold-out Apollo Theater -- and says he so appreciated Drake, Future The Prince and the rest of the OVO team giving them a hero's welcome.

In fact, he says he'd love to return the favor via a new collab. C'mon, Drake!!!

Jim admits rap is a young man's game but says old and new challengers should still fear him in the booth, and promises to back that up on his upcoming album, "Back In My Prime" ... produced by Hitmaka.

The convo switched to fashion when we spotted Jim and Juelz Santana out in the streets ... where they praised Pharrell's new position as men's head designer of Louis Vuitton.

The Diplomats recalled having a session with Cam'ron back in the day, where Pharrell showed up wearing a fur coat -- in the summertime 🥵!!!

Kyle Jacobs seemed upbeat and happy in his last social media post -- giving no hint whatsoever he would take his own life just one day later.

The husband of American Idol alum, Kellie Pickler posted a message to Instagram Thursday celebrating the success of country music star Lee Brice's fifth album, "Hey World." Jacobs produced the album and played guitar on it.

Jacobs wrote, "Platinum?! SWEEEET!!! An amazing crew of incredibly talented peeps put this one together."

He continued, "Deeply honored to be a creative part of it…Thank you Jesus!!!"

TMZ broke the story ... the next day, Jacobs died by suicide after shooting himself inside the home he shared with Pickler in Nashville, Tennessee.

Nashville PD said Pickler got worried when she awoke and couldn't find Jacobs. She and an assistant searched and came upon an upstairs bedroom door, which they couldn't open. After they called 911, police gained entry and discovered Jacobs' body inside.

Kellie Pickler's Nashville home is the center of a tragic crime scene, as a man has shot and killed himself on the property.

A rep for The Nashville Police Department tells us they got a call to Pickler's home Friday afternoon for an apparent suicide after a male shot himself.

It's not yet been revealed who the man is, but we know Pickler and her husband, Kyle Jacobs, live at the address.

Pickler placed 6th on Season 5 of "American Idol" back in 2006 ... but went on to have a fairly successful country career of her own. She currently hosts SiriusXM's "The Highway" radio show throughout the week.

Story developing ...

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.