Music

South African rapper Costa Titch is dead after collapsing twice onstage, in quick succession, during a weekend performance.

Check out this footage showing Costa, in a white shirt, running on the stage Saturday night with mic in hand at the Ultra South Africa concert near Johannesburg -- he went right into one of his songs and seemed totally fine.

Then the video cuts to Costa belting out another tune later in the concert -- he seems to reach for one of his backup singers before tumbling to the ground. He got back up and finished the song, but soon fell down again.

His team and emergency responders attempted to resuscitate him, but they were unable to save him. His cause of death was not disclosed.

Costa's family released a statement thanking first responders ... while a rep for the Ultra South Africa venue says they're “devastated” by Costa's death and will remember him as a "talented rapper, dancer, singer, songwriter, collaborator and friend to the festival."

Costa was best known for his hit "Big Flexa," which has 45 million views on YouTube and featured Akon on the remix.

Akon, who signed Costa to his Konvict Muzik imprint, paid an emotional to his artist on IG ... praising him for being "hardworking" and noting he died doing what he loved the most.

"Costa Titch had a vision that I knew for sure would take over the music industry globally and was on his way to doing just that when god’s plan intervened, Akon wrote. "It’s been a sad day but what makes me feel better is that I know he died doing what he loved doing the most in this world. God bless you COSTA!!!!!"

Costa was 28.

Lil Uzi Vert is telling everyone concerned about his “I make a City Girl believe in Satan" lyrics to take a chill pill ... he's deep into his music craft, and not cozying up to the devil.

TMZ Hip Hop chopped it up with Uzi out in Bev Hills, where he confirmed the track he previewed at Rolling Loud California -- making it go viral -- will be on his upcoming album, "Pink Tape" ... which he promises will drop in a couple of months.

According to Uzi, he was just metaphorically speaking when he mentioned Satan, and his girlfriend JT didn't blink at the line -- he says she was in the studio when he recorded the track.

His overall point ... they're just lyrics, not real-life beliefs!!!

The song still managed to ruffle feathers in the music community ... 50 Cent's G-Unit soldier Tony Yayo rebuked Uzi's lyrics due to his religious upbringing when we spoke to him last week ... and Summer Walker sent out a stern warning as well.

Uzi says he too has a religious background, but now that he's a grown-up, he doesn't bite his tongue when it comes to delivering his own bars.

Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny are still going strong ... rolling their now-confirmed romance into one of the biggest nights in Hollywood, and once again telegraphing they're a legit couple.

The supermodel and Latin pop star were on the list for Jay-Z and Beyonce's Oscars after-party Sunday in L.A., and while it's unclear if they showed up as a unit ... they certainly left as one, getting into the same car at the end of the night.

Check it out for yourself ... the new couple slipped into the same waiting town car. They still managed to dodge photogs trying to get them in the same frame. Clearly, they're still trying to keep it on the DL, but failing more with each date night.

Kendall was covering her face as they drove off ... BB seemed a little more casual about it all. Fact is, we've seen them together already, and everyone knows what's going on.

Remember, we just saw Kendall and Bunny on a group date last week ... where they hit up a celeb hot spot in West Hollywood. They were caught on camera embracing each other as everyone parted ways.

Anyway, just further proof these 2 are the real deal and currently seeing each other ... on a somewhat serious level, at the very least.

Oh, and take a gander at all the other celebs who were at Bey and Jay's blowout. We'd say it's a who's-who -- but, frankly, the pie was split pretty evenly throughout the weekend. With that said, there was some talent on hand ... Bieber, RiRi, Tyler, just to name a few.

Just about everyone in Hollywood was at the Oscars on Sunday, and just about everyone else was at one of these two after-parties ... courtesy of Elton John and Vanity Fair.

These were the biggest shindigs in town post-award show -- and as you see, they were absolutely packed with star power. Not just actors, BTW, but musicians, comedians, models and socialites were dressed in their best getups.

Check out who showed up where ... over at the VF bash in Bev Hills, we saw faces like Jessica Alba, Jennifer Coolidge, Donald Glover, Trevor Noah, Naomi Watts, Tracee Ellis Ross, Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union, Michael Keaton, Queen Latifah, Olivia Wilde, Sarah Paulson, John Legend, Chrissy Teigen ... and even 2 politicos, Nancy Pelosi and Monica Lewinsky.

Meanwhile, out in WeHo, the Rocket Man himself was hosting an Oscars viewing party through his AIDS foundation ... and that, too, was flowing with glamorous A-listers.

Elton was able to get a solid crowd together himself ... people who swung by include Heidi Klum, Kathy Hilton, Christina Hendricks, Tiffany Haddish, Brooke Shields, Patricia Arquette, Smokey Robinson, Zooey Deschanel, Hilary Duff, Emma Watson and many more.

Of course, everyone there was also dressed to impress ... rocking gowns, suits, tuxes and everything fancy in between. Elton himself was in his traditional heart-shaped shades.

It's just the cherry on top for a pretty great night all around ... everybody seemed to be on their best behavior and was certainly having a ball as they celebrated filmmaking.

Like we told you, all the nominees were in quite the touchy-feely mood behind the scenes at the Dolby Theater itself -- but in a good and respectful way ... meaning, they were just bringing it in for hugs and kisses as they congratulated each other. No slaps or swings.

And, naturally, every person that made their big entrance in front of the cameras was also in their best Sunday 'fits ... with most everybody rocking fairly traditional, elegant outfits.

Not only were the nominees looking pristine ... but so were the presenters, all 40+ of 'em.

As for the highlights of the actual broadcast itself ... well, there were a lot. Ke Huy Quan (the kid from "The Goonies" and 'Temple of Doom') won an Oscar, as did Jamie Lee Curtis and Michelle Yeoh ... as did Brendan Fraser. They took home the top acting honors of the night.

Speaking of "Everything Everywhere All at Once," that movie swept just about every major category it was nominated in ... including Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Director(s) and Best Picture

Drake and 21 Savage are taking their hit-filled "Her Loss" album on the road -- the newly minted duo unveiled their 29-city "It’s All A Blur" tour, appeasing fans' wishes to hear the songs live.

Drake dropped off a montage Monday on his IG that chronicled his extensive touring career ... from his fresh-face days on the initial "Away From Home" tour to his "Aubrey & the Three Migos" campaign and all the glitzy highlights in between.

The 'Blur' tour will undoubtedly feature "Her Loss" tunes heavy ... the album is already platinum following its November 2022 release, when all 16 of its songs debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 list right out of the gate.

Avril Lavigne and Tyga aren't gallivanting around Paris to grab headlines ... they're actually interested in dating and getting to know each other without pressure or expectations.

Sources close to the couple tell TMZ … Avril and Tyga are still in the early stages of figuring one another out, but they're not putting any labels -- ala girlfriend/boyfriend -- on anything just yet.

There's been speculation the two are only hanging out as a publicity stunt in order to generate some buzz around a possible music collab. Our sources say that's not true, and the two don't have any music in the works -- they're just really enjoying hanging out.

It's easy to tell they're more than enjoying each other's company -- packing on the PDA during a recent trip to Paris, including a make out sesh at a fashion week party and strolling hand-in-hand through the streets.

TMZ broke the story, Avril called off her engagement to Mod Sun only a few weeks ago, after our Avril sources told us the whole thing had been unraveling for a few months.

Mod Sun was surprised by the news, but has powered through his concert tour to promote his "God Save The Teen" album ... a project with several songs dedicated to Lavigne herself.

Tom Schwartz hasn't shown too much concern about the outrage over Tom Sandoval's affair with Raquel Leviss -- which makes this performance of Green Day all the more worrisome.

Witnesses tell TMZ ... Schwartz was with pals at The Oaks Tavern in Sherman Oaks for some karaoke -- showin' the crowd his version of Green Day's hit, "Brain Stew."

We're told he picked up his group's tab Wednesday night. It's unclear how long Schwartz and the gang stayed out, but we're told Sandoval definitely wasn't in attendance.

It appears Schwartz isn't all that fazed by what's going on with his best bud right now ... but he should be if ya ask former "Vanderpump Rules" cast member Kristen Doute.

As we reported, Kristen -- who dated Sandoval years ago -- completely dragged Schwartz calling him a "f****** p****" for keeping quiet about his friend's affair. She claims he's expressed concern in texts, but she thinks public actions speak louder.

BTW, Schwartz and Raquel were briefly an item too, having made out during the show's current season ... so, there's a little more drama.

Schwartz has been mum on the cheating affair -- up until Saturday, that is ... when he sat on the fence about who to show his allegiance for ... ultimately tossing up his hands and chalking it up to a major bummer.

GloRilla and Finesse2tymes appear destined for a legal battle over that tragic stampede at their New York concert -- the family of one of the three people who died says they're lawyering up.

Brandy Miller was trampled to death in the chaos that followed the rappers' ill-fated Rochester show earlier this month ... and her sister, Michelle, tells us the family plans to sue Glo and Finesse2tymes, plus the promoters and Main Street Armory.

Michelle says her fam is in the process of retaining an attorney -- they've spoken to several since Brandy was pronounced dead on Monday, and aim to retain someone who's high profile  ... because the family "has no plans to back down."

Finesse and GloRilla had reportedly left the venue before the stampede. They've both expressed how devastated they are about the tragedy, and it doesn't appear either artist is under criminal investigation for the incident at this time.

When TMZ Hip Hop got Finesse in NYC this week, he scoffed at the idea he might be blamed, and flat-out told us he wasn't worried about potential lawsuits.

Shakira put her breakup with longtime partner Gerard Piqué into a song -- one that's taken over the music industry ... and which just won her a crap ton of world record awards.

The Latin pop star hit 'The Tonight Show' Friday night, where she and DJ Bizarrap -- who collaborated with Shakira on 'Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,' a song that's been a chart-topper since January -- chopped it up with Jimmy Fallon about all the success and praise.

Shakira didn't shy away from the fact that this track is, by and large, an FU to her ex ... going on to say that much of her personal life, including the nasty split, motivated her to create an anthem for women everywhere.

As she puts it ... her fan base has now become a sisterhood, one she says she recognizes has had to put up with a lot of "crap," just like she's done the past year and change.

Of course, she's referring to the fact that Piqué has moved on with a much younger woman -- 23-year-old Clara Chia Martí ... with whom GP went public last year. According to reports, she's a PR student who works for Pique's production company and who handles his events.

Anyhoo, Shakira gave the people what they wanted on 'Fallon' ... performing the hit song and getting the whole audience on their feet and dancing. It's clear ... they're on her side.

At some point during her appearance, she also posed backstage with all the Guinness World Records she's broken since the song came out -- a whopping 14 of them, in fact, as the single continues to do numbers and cements her in the history books of music/pop culture.

Among the titles she now holds as a result ... most streamed Latin track on Spotify in 24 hours, the most viewed Latin track on YouTube in 24 hours, the fastest Latin track to reach 100 million views on YouTube, and the most streamed Latin track on Spotify in one week.

There are more ... but you get the gist. The song is absolutely killing it, once again putting Shakira on top -- a testament to her staying power and how beloved she is worldwide.

The fallout from her and Pique's uncoupling has been pretty rough, and for good reason -- they were together for 11 years and share two kids ... Sasha and Milan. A lot of people feel the way he ended things with Shakira was unceremonious ... and fairly scandalous too.

Shakira seems to be doing just fine now, though ... and is still looking pretty fine, at that.

Selena Gomez is confessing to a lie ... that she isn't bothered when people body-shame her, because it's actually a gut punch.

Selena says although she pretended not to be affected by social media posts zeroing in on her weight, she says behind closed doors she would cry her eyes out.

The "Only Murders in the Building" star had a reason ... "I was posting these things saying it doesn't bother me because I didn't want it to bother other people who were experiencing the same thing," adding, "Getting shamed for what they look like, who they are, who they love, I just think it's so unfair."

As you know, Selena was diagnosed in 2014 with lupus, which has various side effects including weight gain. She said, "I was being shamed for gaining weight because of my lupus."

DJ Calvin Harris has been able to pocket a handful of hot stars on his tracks, but now it's your turn to hit the turntables with the music maven and find the switch-ups in the two images. After all, 'this is what you came for!'

The 6'6" star usually towers over his audience, but he may have been upstaged by a pedestrian as he recently stopped by Capital Radio Studios in London, England. Calvin definitely knows how to drop a beat, but can you pick up the changes in these two shots?

Gangsta Boo’s estate is making sure her upcoming posthumous album is airtight with slaps … with Latto, Skepta, La Chat, Crunchy Black and Run The Jewels all pitching in for the late Three 6 Mafia rapstress!!!

Sources close to the project’s creation also tell TMZ Hip Hop they’ve locked in beat contributions from Drumma Boy, Nick Hook and RTJ's El-P … and are planning for an August 7 release date, which would have been GB's 44th birthday.

While DJ Paul and Juicy J are still in mourning, we're hearing they're in talks to provide some production heat, as are Metro Boomin and BeatKing.

GB’s mother, Veronica Mitchell, tells us she can still smile knowing her daughter touched millions of listeners -- which started when she was just performing at home for her parents.

Veronica says, “My daughter Lola was my only baby girl. I was so proud when she would rap as a little girl. She became the Queen of Memphis and God brought her home to be with her daddy Cedric and her brother Derron. I miss her but I know she’s happy with them."

Mom added, "I’ll always remember telling her GO GET THEM DOLLAS, but I had no idea how many people would love my baby girl. I’m grateful all y’all support my daughter. Thank you.”

Earlier this week, GB’s estate launched a new merch website with 10 percent of the proceeds going to Stax Music Academy in her hometown of Memphis.

The veteran rapper was laid to rest back in January after a purported drug overdose.

Lisa Marie Presley's ex-husband Michael Lockwood has filed legal docs to allow him to represent the interests of their twins in an upcoming critical hearing that involves millions of dollars.

According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, Lockwood is asking a judge to appoint him guardian ad litem -- giving him authority to speak for his 14-year-old girls in a hearing over Lisa Marie's trust.

TMZ broke the story ... that trust became flush with cash when Elvis's only child died January 12. As we reported, Lisa Marie had 2 life insurance policies -- one for $25 million and another for $10 million.

Sources connected to the family tell TMZ ... there's a lot of behind-the-scenes drama over who will administer and control the trust. As we reported, Priscilla Presley was a trustee but Lisa Marie booted her from that position several years before her death, and made her oldest daughter Riley the trustee in Priscilla's place.

Our sources tell us Priscilla is going to challenge the validity of the trust, claiming the change in trustees was not properly made. Riley, we're told, does not want Priscilla to take the reins, and this set up a family battle.

As we reported, the beneficiaries of the trust are Riley and the twins, Harper and Finley.

Hit-Boy isn't backing down from claiming the rap producer throne after calling out a few of the other top guys in the game.

On Friday, HB and The Alchemist unveiled their new collaboration "Slipping Into Darkness," with HB expanding on his previous shots aimed at Hitmaka, Metro Boomin, Southside and Mustard with acidic bars,

"I'm like Deebo on his cruiser, how you got no credits without co-producers?/Time to give these n***** the royal flush, no Roto-Rooter/It's Hit-Boy buckin', just so you n***** know the shooter."

The Third Eye Raz-directed visual cleverly features HB rapping on Alchemist's beat and vice versa and ends with HB telling The Game via FaceTme the trend of having multiple high-profile producers loaded onto just one track ... is simply wack.

In his defense, it was Hitmaka who drew first blood when he was disrespectfully adamant on Hot 97 there's no comparison between HB and him ... in any statistical category.

And, the typically reserved Metro Boomin sent a subliminal shot using Kendrick Lamar's "Rich Spirit" lyrics, threatening HB to chill ... or suffer embarrassing consequences.

N.O.R.E.'s attempt to squash the beef between Fat Joe and ex-Terror Squad rapper Cuban Link resulted in Remy Ma laughing so hard, they had to scrub the entire scene from a "Drink Champs" episode!!!

The DC crew huddled up on a recent interview to discuss their decisions not to interview Cuban, Jae Hood and Reek Da Villain due to their long-running conflicts with Joe, The LOX and Busta Rhymes, respectively ... and Remy, being the 1st Lady of TS herself, confirmed that the beef was forever up!!!

In 2021, Cuban Link falsely accused Joe of snitching, which reignited their beef that's been festering since the mid-'00s, causing N.O.R.E. to speak out and admit he had no intentions of interviewing any artist who's against his friends.

N.O.R.E. also addressed his former Def Jam labelmate Keith Murray's recent claims that he was snubbed in person at the last Rock The Bells Festival.

According to N.O.R.E.'s recollection, he was running about 30 deep (thanks to Capone and Tragedy Khadafi's entourages) and didn't want to add to any confusion.

Russell Wilson and Ciara spent time inside a prison last week -- singing and dancing with over 300 inmates -- and the trip was so emotional ... Ciara actually appeared to be moved to tears.

The Denver Broncos star and the "Level Up" singer headed out to Everglades Correctional Institution in Florida to help lead a prayer with incarcerated men ... and you can see in video of their visit, the couple immersed themselves fully with the inmates right away.

Wilson read the group a bible verse ... before Ciara sang to the crowd. God Behind Bars, the org. that helped facilitate the trip, said it was all very powerful.

"The voices of the incarcerated were so loud, it felt like it could be heard by the entire prison," org. officials said in a social media post. "In a place so easily filled with so much division, there was a moment where Incarcerated men put their arms around each other and prayed for those struggling with anxiety and depression."

Wilson also shared his own video from the visit, showing him singing along loudly with inmates -- some of whom are serving life sentences -- to a popular gospel song.