Music

Artificial intelligence now has the ability to mimic Kendrick Lamar's voice almost perfectly, and Young Guru says that's cause for concern -- not just in the music biz, but for all mankind.

The venerable studio engineer, who's worked on the bulk of Jay-Z's award-winning albums, sounded the alarm by posting video of a dude rapping bars into an audio filter which magically makes him sound exactly like the legendary Compton rapper!!!

It really is uncanny, and Guru felt compelled to share it with the public with an ominous warning ... "It’s not the tech, it’s the evil that men do with the tech."

He also highlighted another slippery slope: Voices aren't protected by copyright law, and he fears if the situation isn't addressed ... "deep fake" will become the new "I got hacked."

The hip hop community's already had a brush with AI thanks to Capitol Records' failed experiment, FN Meka, who was quickly shuttered by the label once it was deemed an offensive take on Black rapper stereotypes.

Dozens of music industry pundits, including superproducer Hitmaka, frowned upon the move ... fearing the end of human artists as we know them.

With so much concern over the digital landscape, all eyes will be on Def Jam this year -- the label recently signed a virtual NFT band consisting of a bunch of cartoon whales.

Dave Grohl is proving once again why he's just as much a rock star off the stage as he is on it ... putting his BBQ skills to work to feed the less fortunate.

The Foo Fighters' lead man showed up at Hope The Mission in Los Angeles around midnight Wednesday with some overnight gear and a massive meat smoker. Grohl took the next 16 hours (14 to cook and 2 to let the meat rest) whipping up ribs, pork butt, brisket, cabbage, coleslaw and beans.

You can see from the pics we've obtained just how hands-on Dave was through the whole process, making sure everything was just perfect as he worked in the kitchen.

We're told Dave handled all expenses himself and got some sleep here and there in the parking lot while the meat was getting smoked.

When it came time to serve, Dave chatted up Hope The Mission staffers and guests living there in the shelter. In all, we're told his massive BBQ feast helped feed around 450 guests and 50 staffers.

We're all thinking it, right?

Shakira is going after her ex Gerard Pique's new boo ... putting her on blast for seemingly not following the "girl code" of dating.

The singer didn't hold back in a recent interview with Mexican TV network Canal Estrellas, dragging Gerard's 23-year-old GF Clara Chia Marti by saying there's a "special place in hell" for women who don't support each other.

She also says she's become a much more independent woman since last year's split, mentioning she thought she needed a man to truly feel whole -- but that isn't the case anymore.

She notes she was always emotionally dependent on men in the past, but today she stands "sufficient on my own."

As you know, Shakira and Gerard called it quits last year ... after she says she spotted a jar of jam eaten while she was away.

Gerard and Clara went public on Instagram last month, with a close and personal pic that quickly garnered millions of likes.

Madonna was taking care of her late brother, Anthony Ciccone, before his death -- and despite their complicated history, they were far from estranged ... TMZ has learned.

Family sources tell us Madonna was actually footing the bill for Anthony's stay at a Michigan rehab center before he died this weekend. We're told he'd been there for a while, and that 2 days before he passed ... Anthony himself removed the feeding/breathing tubes doctors had him using.

Our sources say he was in failing health toward the end -- having lost a lot of weight -- and he knew the consequences of removing the equipment, which ultimately resulted in his death. We're told some family members -- including his sister, Paula, and his father -- had been visiting in his final days, with Paula being at his bedside throughout most of it.

Anthony's rehab care wasn't just a last-ditch Hail Mary ... our sources tell us Madonna and other relatives have been actively trying to help Anthony for years, but, by and large, he rejected assistance, as living on the streets and drinking had become a way of life.

But, in the last stretch ... we're told the 66-year-old couldn't fend for himself, and the fam stepped in.

We're told he suffered from alcoholism, which led to homelessness -- and, as a result, his relationship with his famous younger sister had always been challenging. With that said, our sources tell us Madonna never considered herself on the outs with him, per se.

As we reported ... Anthony's passing was announced this weekend by the husband of one of Madonna's sisters, Melanie -- who remembered him in a sweet eulogy on social media.

Travis Barker released new images of his grotesque hand injury as goes under the knife today ... and his injuries seem even worse than everyone thought.

The Blink-182 drummer posted a video showing his horribly deformed finger getting massaged by a doctor who asks if he feels pain. Travis responds, "I mean, yeah, it's painful."

He also posted two photos -- one showing a close up of his finger with either a lump or a bone out of place. The other picture depicts him with a Velcro strap over his damaged hand.  His caption read, "Surgery tomorrow 🤞"

Travis actually reinjured the finger ... a few weeks ago he said he was playing the drums during rehearsal and smashed his finger so badly it tore some ligaments.

Here's the problem ... Blink-182 has a world tour that kicks off next month, so it's unclear exactly what condition Travis will be in to perform ... at least on the early dates.

Kourtney Kardashian seemed worried, posting ... "🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼❤️❤️"

Finger's crossed ... maybe a bad choice of words.

Maino is maintaining his now viral throat grab of YouTuber Buba100x was completely planned ... and, in fact, he says his theatrical performance should be his big break in Hollywood!!!

We caught the BK-bred lyricist fresh off his guest hosting gig on Angela Yee's 'Way Up,' and he tells us Buba100x intentionally failed to post the choke out ... in order to make folks think it was authentic. No one would flaunt themselves getting genuinely beat down ... right?

The incident happened a couple of weeks ago during the most recent Daniel's Leather fashion show ... Maino is seen slowly losing his temper as the vlogger continues pressing him to try on his chain, only to see the rapper grab him firmly by his throat!!!

Maino says jaws were dropping at the party because he and Buba100x sold it so well.

Social media users haven't reacted kindly to Maino's actions -- prank or not -- but he assures us he's not worried about backlash because that's what the internet does ... no matter what.

What Maino's not opposed to, is extending his stay on 'Way Up' to a more permanent situation.

He says Angela called him an on-air "natural," and having that kinda finesse is vital for a radio career.

The pouring rain couldn't cool down Wallo267's anger towards Gillie Da Kid when he ruined his motivational speech -- but the storm sure did ruin Gillie's concentration.

On Monday, Gillie posted a video that showed him royally pissing off his "Million Dollarz Worth of Game" cohost after his cousin took a little too long with his motivational speech.

Wallo was yammering for over a minute when Gillie interrupted his train of thought ... urging him to hurry "the f*** up!!!"

Gillie's spew was like a domino effect ... Wallo immediately grew enraged that his one-take shot was ruined with Gillie admitting the tensions didn't subside for a couple of days!!!

Wallo's a veteran speaker for troubled youth and probably had a much more successful time speaking on Capitol Hill with Pooh Shiesty's father by his side.

Drake is wishing he didn't include so many past flames in his lyrics ... a regret Angie Martinez says is understandable because guys shouldn't do that!!!

TMZ Hip Hop caught the IRL Podcast host out in NYC and she praised Drake's maturity ... but also feels he can make things right by sending those affected some shiny new jewelry to ice their pain. After all, diamonds are everyone's best friend!!!

Drake infamously made girls like "Courtney from Hooters on Peachtree" famous in his raps and made the confession to Lil Yachty during their feel-good interview on a Turks & Caicos beach last week.

The megastar rapper's Young Money boss Lil Wayne just made a confession of his own ... he deserves to be ranked over Jay-Z when it comes to the best rappers in the game.

Angie's interviewed Jay several times in her career, so she knows his competitive spirit first-hand, but she feels that Wayne (and any rapper worth their mic skills) should feel like they're #1 at all times.

The veteran radio host admitted she wasn't a good rapper back in her heyday due to her lack of braggadocious audacity and applauded Wayne watching Jay's throne.

We milked Angie's hip hop expertise for all that it's worth and picked her brain on one last topic ... GloRilla's crazy Anyways, Life's Great Tour.

During her last stop in Philly on Sunday, fans tried to snatch Big Glo's wig ... which she later tossed in the crowd to avoid the ruckus.

The scalping capped off a string of wild incidents during the rap rookie's inaugural tour and Angie thinks the "FNF" artist will be fine down the line ... with a few adjustments to her security staff!!!

Wiz Khalifa is all set to portray George Clinton in the upcoming film "Spinning Gold" ... an A-1 pick as far as the iconic musician's book is concerned ... mainly because it increased his cool factor!!! 😎

We spotted the P-Funk legend at LAX, rocking the latest fabrics in Erykah Badu wear, right on the cusp of him going to meet with Wiz to exchange experiences, among other things.

George tells us he loves Wiz's acting chops -- just as much as he loves his smoking skills and was already looking forward to their sesh.

Although George didn't handpick Wiz for the role, it still will be a symbolic moment -- his grandkids costar as Parliament-Funkadelic band members and will be featured throughout the film!!!

George's been busy in other avenues too ... he recently joined Will Smith and T.D. Jakes in helping raise $10M for Ben Crump's Law School.

George and Ben have a lot in common ... they're both Omega Psi Phi frat guys who hail from North Carolina and reside in Tallahassee -- and Ben's helping George and the gang get their royalties back on track.

They just re-recorded their funk classic "Atomic Dog" ... with several other records on the horizon.

John Daly proved once again he's always the life of any party -- the golf legend hopped on the mic and showed off his singing skills at an event with Johnny Damon ... and the performance was impressive!!

It all went down at Damon's Celebrity Golf Classic Sunday at the Reunion Resort Club in Kissimmee, FL ... and Daly provided plenty of entertainment for the star-studded guest list as he had a cigarette and beer in his hand.

Ken Griffey Jr., Alonzo Mourning, CC Sabathia, Plaxico Burress, and a slew of other high-profile names were in attendance for the bash ... but 56-year-old Daly was the MVP when he sang Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heaven's Door."

"Momma I'm still knockin'," Daly said after concluding his performance. He added, "I love y'all."

TMZ's very own Mojo Muhtadi was also present for the event ... dancing with his wife as Daly and Damon sang Garth Brooks' "Friends In Low Places."

Of course, this isn't Daly's first rodeo with singing ... in fact, the pro golfer's karaoke sessions have become a staple over the years.

Daly's larger-than-life personality always shines through in these moments ... and Damon's bash was no different.

Maino was caught in 4K disciplining popular YouTuber, Buba100x after one too many questions about his chain ... but the Brooklyn rapper is claiming it was all for clicks and views!!!

The melee went down at the Daniel's Leather fashion show earlier this month ... as Buba100x and Maino were conducting his typical TikTok style of interviews.

Buba100x made a crack about "beating Maino's ass" ... which immediately aged terribly when the Brooklyn rapper grabbed the jokester by his throat after his fuse was lit!!!

Further footage shows Maino pinning Buba100x down by his neck while reminding him of the consequences of ruffling his feathers!!!

Maino's co-hosting on Angela Yee's new show 'Way Up' this week ... and there's no way they were ignoring this topic, which was addressed head-on.

Maino claims he was 100% acting in the clip and wanted to sell the prank by making it look real with his angry emotions.

Drake is looking back at his entry into Lil Wayne's Young Money Records camp with fondness -- considering their relationship hit the ground so fast, they didn't even get properly introduced!!!

During his Turks and Caicos convo with Lil Yachty, Drake admitted Wayne first thought his name was "Drizzy Drake Rogers" when he rapped it on one of their collaborations ... the 2008 track "Ransom."

Rogers is actually the name of one of Canada's top internet providers and Wayne thought that was Drake's last name, seeing they were sending tracks via email.

When "Ransom" dropped, Drake says he realized the error but didn't have the heart to correct his mentor.

They went on to record plenty of successful collabs following the flub -- both recently earning a spot in the Top 10 of Billboard's Top 50 rappers list, although Wayne largely disagrees with his ranking.

The YM stars were weirdly placed next to each other ... Drake at #8 and Wayne at #7 ... but Wayne recently told Apple Music not Jay-Z, Eminem or even the late greats Tupac and Biggie should be considered better than him!!!

Tommy Fury went from using his hands to using his pipes after beating Jake Paul on Sunday ... singing his heart out with his brother, Tyson, in the locker room to celebrate the huge win.

TNT was the happiest guy in the world after going 8 rounds with the Problem Child in Saudi Arabia ... and the man of the hour received a hero's welcome after exiting the ring.

"There's only one Tommy Fury," the crowd chanted as Tommy entered the room. "Walking along, singing a song, walking in a Fury wonderland."

Tyson couldn't have been more proud of his brother ... smiling from ear to ear as Tommy walked in with his new belt draped over his shoulder.

Tommy has all the bragging rights, but Jake has made it clear he's not riding off into the sunset ... and a rematch seems inevitable.

Jake took his first loss with respect ... thanking his fans for their support and praising the event.

"S*** happens, I guess," Jake said after the fight. "This is still the best job in the world."

1501 Certified Entertainment honcho Carl Crawford is admitting errors in dealing with Megan Thee Stallion, and wants all fences mended going forward -- but says they haven't spoken since 2019!!!

TMZ Hip Hop sat down with Carl and his newly installed 1501 President Kai "Verse" Tyler ... as their label enters a new chapter without the H-Town hottie.

Carl openly admits, as an ex-MLB star, his competitive drive is high but his knowledge of the music industry is somewhat limited ... and that's where Verse enters.

Verse is an industry vet who's had experience dealing with artists' publishing and publicity campaigns ... which led to a convo about 1501's current flagship artist, Erica Banks, and their plans for her career.

Carl also walked back his past vitriol toward Jay-Z and Roc Nation -- he'd previously blamed them for planting evil seeds in Megan's head -- and he came clean about his association with Tory Lanez.

Fans knew the Megan beef was real when Carl and Tory flicked it up last year inside a club, but Carl's admitting he and Tory don't know each other ... and the encounter was just trolling to get back at MTS. Ultimately, he regrets the stunt.

Verse says his focus is boosting the label's artistic reach, and he thinks Erica starting an OnlyFans page is just another aspect of dealing with today's social media generation.

That aside, he's certain the "Bust It" rapper has a banger with Kehlani, and even a cooking show coming up!

Hip-hop heads have been debating for weeks about a new all-time greatest rapper list that has Jay-Z at #1 -- but now Lil Wayne has entered the chat ... and he says he's the G.O.A.T.

Weezy said as much this past week during an appearance on Zane Lowe's Apple Music podcast show, where the topic of Billboard's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time -- which they published on Feb. 8 -- came up ... and to LW's surprise, he clocked in at only #7, below several others.

The outlet has Biggie, Eminem, Tupac, Nas, Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z ahead of him, respectively -- but Wayne begs to differ on all of them, especially among those still living. He says straight up, he's #1 ... and even dares survey-takers to ask the guys ranked higher than him how they feel about it. In his view, he thinks they'd agree ... Wayne is greater than them.

Per usual, this is all subjective ... and it's not really clear what sort of criteria Billboard is even following in deeming anyone better than the other. From the looks of it, it seems like they're pegging Jay as top dog because of overall success -- which he's certainly achieved.

But, if you check Twitter ... it appears many are agreeing with the notion that Wayne is, in fact, better than Jay-Z -- both in terms of rap skill and cultural impact, which really should be how these things are measured. Fact is, Weezy is still spittin' fire in 2023 (see the new DMX collab) ... whereas one could argue Jay isn't really rapping like he used to at his peak.

With that said, their numbers are comparable ... Wayne has 3 #1 hits (Billboard Hot 100) and Jay has 4 #1s of his own. However, Wayne has 25 of his songs in the top 10 historically, whereas Jay only has 22 in the same category. So, on a song-for-song basis ... they're close.

Even on an album count, Jay's 14 #1s to Wayne's 9 (Billboard 200) has 'em almost tied.

We suppose this question is really in the eye of the beholder, but can probably be answered honestly with one simple question -- in your heart of hearts, whose music are you actually bumpin' at the function? And who, truly, has the more memorable repertoire overall???

King Charles might have to get on the mic and croon a tune at his own coronation if Buckingham Palace can't find big-name talent ... which they're reportedly struggling to do.

According to multiple British media outlets that say they're in the know on this, Charles and co. have whiffed on some major players that could've potentially been booked for the May ceremony ... where KC will be officially crowned as the new sovereign in all his glory.

The Sun reports that 3 HUGE stars apparently told the Royals, of late, that they're unable to attend and/or perform ... including The Spice Girls, Harry Styles and Sir Elton John (who's a knight, no less). The reason for preemptively getting out of it ... conflicting schedules.

In Elton's case, he's on his farewell tour ATM ... and around early May (when the coronation goes down) he's actually scheduled to do a slate of shows in Germany before and after the ceremony. Per the Sun, going to and from in that short window isn't feasible.

As for Harry -- who's also touring, and never seems to really stop -- he technically has availability in early May to potentially squeeze in a BP gig ... but the Sun says it's going to be too hard for him to get bandmates together for that, and that they need "downtime."

And, when it comes to the Spice Girls ... apparently, it's too many schedules for too many ladies. That's about all the Sun has to say about that -- so, they ain't performing either.

Of course, there's also Ed Sheeran and Adele ... whom the Palace also reportedly approached, only to be shot down. DM reports both told the King they couldn't do it -- with Ed citing touring conflicts, and Adele apparently not offering (or having) a specific reason.

So, who's actually going to do the gig? At this point, the British media seems to be in agreement that Lionel Richie, Take That (minus Robbie Williams), Olly Murs and a handful of other not-as-famous music acts are in line to step up and carry the torch for HRH.