Music

The 3 men convicted of murdering XXXTentacion just learned their fate ... with the judge sentencing them to life in prison.

The men -- Michael Boatwright, Trayvon Newsome, and Dedrick Williams -- were previously found guilty of murder in the fatal 2018 shooting.

Robert Allen, the fourth man arrested for the murder, pled guilty to second-degree murder ... he has not yet been sentenced

Remember ... XXX was just 20 years old when he was shot and killed in June 2018 at a South Florida motorcycle dealership, in what prosecutors say was a robbery. The killers were accused of shooting the rapper as he sat in his vehicle, then running off with a Louis Vuitton bag and $50,000 in cash.

A Florida jury also convicted the three men of armed robbery ... with the verdict coming down last month, following 8 days of deliberations.

During the trial, prosecutors linked XXXTentacion's killers to the slaying through surveillance video from inside and outside Riva Motorsports, plus cell phone videos the men recorded showing them flashing $100 bills shortly after the shooting.

XXX's death shocked the rap community, and to this day tons of fans still mourn his loss.

Kanye West's private Christian school only feeds students one thing for lunch, sushi, and they apparently have to eat it on the floor without tables or chairs ... this according to a new lawsuit.

Ye and his Donda Academy are being sued by two Black women who say they were fired from teaching positions at the school for two reasons -- retaliation for sounding the alarm on alleged education, health and safety code violations -- and for their race.

According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, the women say they were the only Black teachers employed by Donda Academy when they were hired full-time earlier this year ... and they say it didn't take long for them to notice numerous health and safety violations, unlawful educational practices and extremely unusual rules at Kanye's school.

Among the alleged issues ... the women say the only lunch option available for students is sushi, every single day, and students are not allowed to bring any outside food or drink, except for water. The suit claims Kanye spends $10,000 a week on sushi.

What's more, the teachers claim Kanye did not allow crossword puzzles or coloring sheets at Donda Academy, classes could not take place on the second floor because Kanye is "afraid of stairs," and Ye didn't want children using forks or utensils.

The suit alleges Kanye did not allow artwork to be hung on walls, and no one was allowed to wear jewelry ... simply because he "did not like jewelry."

The teachers even claim Kanye didn't allow chairs, forcing children to sit on foam cushions or stand, while teachers were relegated to standing or using a stool.

Donda Academy, the suit says, required everyone to wear all black from head-to-toe ... and Nike and Adidas brands were forbidden.

The teachers claim the school doors were physically locked from the outside during the school day, and students weren't allowed to go outside until they went home ... with the entire school, pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, taking lunch and recess at the same time indoors.

The suit claims Donda Academy didn't have a janitor or a school nurse ... and there were no trashcans outside classrooms or in the kitchen. Meanwhile, they say student medications were stored in a closet with other expired medications just scattered around unsecured.

And, get this ... the teachers claim there are no lesson plans or proper disciplinary procedures in place, resulting in students going undisciplined for multiple instances of bullying and physical assaults against peers and teachers.

The teachers claim when they tried to run the alleged issues up the flagpole, they were threatened not to reach out to Kanye.

The women say they were ultimately fired ... and they're blaming their termination on retaliation and racial discrimination. They also claim their paychecks were often short up to $2,700 per pay period ... so they're suing Kanye and Donda Academy for money.

We reached out to Kanye's camp ... so far no word back.

Mötley Crüe co-founder Mick Mars IS going away mad ... as they're in the middle of a farewell tour, without Mick, he's suing his ex-band -- claiming they kicked him out and ripped him off, financially.

The band's lead guitarist announced last fall he wouldn't be joining the Crüe on the road, because he's suffering from a debilitating arthritic disease called ankylosing spondylitis -- but in his lawsuit he says he made it clear he could still record with the band or do limited performances ... he just couldn't handle a full tour with his condition.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, Mick says the band cut his percentage of profits from 25 percent to 5 percent ... after he announced he was stepping back from touring. Furthermore, he claims the band's lawyers made him feel like he should be grateful for even that small cut, because they didn't feel they owed him anything at all.

Mick claims there was a full band meeting and they decided to "unilaterally" remove him from Mötley Crüe.

Some of this is definitely personal for Mick. In the suit -- filed by his attorney Ed McPherson -- Mick repeatedly accused bassist Nikki Sixx of "gaslighting" him about his guitar skills diminishing.

Mick says that's rich coming from Nikki, because he claims Nikki didn't "play a single note on bass" during a recent tour -- and instead, Nikki's parts were pre-recorded.

BTS superstar Suga has a new three-letter combination in his life -- NBA -- 'cause he just became a league ambassador!!

The news just dropped minutes ago ... with the league saying the rapper/producer will help expand the NBA brand around the globe through promotional activities and initiatives.

Of course, Suga is a big hoop fan ... and has been spotted courtside at several games in the past. In fact, he even got to meet Stephen Curry and the Warriors when they played in Japan last September.

Suga addressed the move on Thursday ... saying, "Music and basketball have been shared passions of mine since my youth, and it’s a dream to be named an NBA Ambassador."

"I'm excited to formalize my relationship with the NBA, and I can’t wait to share some exciting collaborations I have planned with the league over the coming months."

"We’re thrilled to join forces with SUGA -- a superstar musician, fashion icon, and passionate NBA fan," league Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum added. "We look forward to working with SUGA to bring the same excitement he engenders from his global fanbase in support of our continued efforts to grow our brand."

The league even says the NBA will have a presence during Suga's first solo world tour ... which sold out in minutes.

Here's a close-up look at Lady Gaga's take on Harley Quinn for the upcoming 'Joker 2' movie ... and this version looks dark and sinister.

Director Todd Phillips shared the in-your-face photo Wednesday on social media, announcing filming has wrapped and it's time for him to hunker down and transform hours of footage into a movie.

Lady Gaga's hair and makeup seem to match up with a scene she filmed earlier this week ... when she was singing and dancing on the very same outdoor Bronx staircase Joaquin Phoenix danced on in the first "Joker" film.

Remember ... we previously saw Lady Gaga in full costume as Harley Quinn last month, but she was sporting a different look than this grimy version.

Before, LG was looking pretty clownish as HQ ... and both versions seem darker than Margot Robbie's take on Harley Quinn, which has been well-received in several different flicks.

"Enough is enough."

That's the message Roc Nation is sending Italian soccer fans -- and people across the entire world -- after Inter Milan's Romelu Lukaku was berated by hateful "fans" making monkey noises during the game against Juventus F.C. on Tuesday.

Jay-Z's agency, which reps Lukaku, purchased a full-page advertisement in Italy's daily sports newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, which is headquartered just a few miles from where the racist incident went down at Allianz Stadium in Turin.

"Dear Italy, Do better. Want better. Be better," the letter, translated into English, begins.

"In professional [soccer], Black players have been subjected to hatred during professional [soccer] games. The hatred has displayed itself in the form of monkey chants, racial slurs and banana peels tossed at the best players in the world, as the world watches, as the children watch, as the players' families watch."

"No one has faced any consequences for this heinous behavior. Nothing has changed. No action has been taken."

Of course, as the ad suggests, this isn't the first time a Black player -- and Romelu in particular -- has been forced to endure racist behavior from fans.

29-year-old Lukaku, who was berated on Tuesday after converting a penalty kick against Juventus in the Coppa Italia semifinal match, was targeted by a racist group of fans in 2019.

Back then, Romelu, who again converted on a PK, was subjected to similarly gross behavior after his squad defeated Cagliari.

Roc Nation talks about the power of soccer to unite and then goes on to ask people around the world to take action to stop these ugly acts.

"We call on the worldwide community of sports - players, team owners, artists, brands and all fans - to denounce this racist behavior and hold bigots accountable to a human standard. One which upholds decency, respect and compassion for others."

American R&B group 112 made waves in the music world with the hit song "Peaches & Cream" back in 2001. The group originally consisted of Daron Jones, Michael Keith, Quinnes "Q" Parker and Marvin Scandrick aka "Slim."

"Peaches & Cream" -- one of their biggest hits -- topped the music charts and scored a Grammy nomination. The group's other popular songs include "Cupid" and "Only You."

Throughout their career, 112 has collabed with some of music's hottest stars including Whitney Houston, P. Diddy and Janet Jackson.

Today, both Mike and Slim continuing to performing and tour as 112, giving stellar performances to all their fans.

Donald Trump just can't get enough of himself -- the guy was listening to his own voice featured on a new rendition of our National Anthem ... sung by the Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

The ex-Prez -- who was just rung up on 34 felony counts in NYC Tuesday -- flew back to Mar-a-Lago following his eventful outing in the Big Apple ... where he fired up his supporters with a speech, and engaged in an odd display.

Check out this video, obtained by TMZ, which we're told was recorded not too long after DT's diatribe from the podium -- where he condemned Manhattan's D.A. Alvin Bragg and others involved in his criminal case.

You can see Trump put his hand over his heart along with the rest of the room as they blast "Justice for All" over the speakers -- a song released by a handful of men currently in prison for their participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots ... now known as the J6 Choir.

The song is basically them singing the "Star Spangled Banner" interlaced with Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance ... which created the awkward sight of Trump standing at attention as he listens to himself.

Patriotic to some, a threat to democracy for others.

The song was put out into the world back in early March and had success on certain charts, believe it or not.

Kelsea Ballerini doesn't regret her groundbreaking performance alongside drag queens on national television, and it definitely wasn't a surprise to showrunners ... TMZ has learned.

Sources with direct knowledge tell us ... the backlash Kelsea's getting for Sunday's CMT Music Awards moment -- having four "RuPaul’s Drag Race" queens come on stage during one of her performances -- is falling on deaf ears ... 'cause she doesn't regret it one bit.

We're told Kelsea fully stands by her decision to feature the drag queens ... which some folks in conservative circles have gone ballistic over -- accusing CMT of going woke.

FWIW, the drag queens' appearance was fully planned. Production sources tell TMZ ... both CMT and CBS were extremely supportive of the cameo and knew about it from the get-go ... we're also told they'd been part of rehearsals since Friday.

One of the drag queens, Manila Luzon, says it was actually Kelsea's idea to involve them -- and she did so cause she's an ally. Manila says the drag queens were super happy with how things went and appreciate the network heads for giving them a platform in front of a new type of audience.

ML adds ... country music is moving forward with the rest of the world. The performance was a celebration of love and a celebration of artistry.

There's a new Snapchat filter in town and it's become a viral sensation ... so much so, it's been used over 1 billion times, making it one of the most popular ever on the app.

The "disgust" lens depicts users looking -- as the name suggests -- totally disgusted at someone or something, and apparently there's lots going on to disgust folks. Politics, sports, and even Bud Light come to mind in recent days.

A rep for Snapchat tells TMZ … it just went live Sunday, and Snap users have already uggo'd up their faces 1.5 billion times and counting.

Celebs such as "House of Gucci" star Jared Leto, singer Meghan Trainor and influencer Charli D'Amelio have hopped on the trend ... with Meghan using it on her husband Darryl Sabara.

We're told, "disgust" just surpassed "sad" ... in the Snap filter world, at least.

The sad, or crying face, filter was similarly used 1.3 billion times in its first three days. For what it's worth ... the "shook" lens had 1 billion engagements when it launched.

Timing is everything, because the sad filter blew up last year right around the time when Amber Heard went viral on social media crying on the stand in her infamous defamation trial against Johnny Depp.

Flavor Flav has officially crossed over into the Ivy Leagues ... after spending today and tomorrow at Harvard University schooling students about the roots of hip hop culture!!!

TMZ Hip Hop obtained video of the Public Enemy legend lending his expertise in the language arts to students within Harvard ... through a table read of Emily Dickinson's 1896 poem “A Clock Stopped” -- and how it tied into rapper's bars over time.

It was a fitting choice of literature, seeing that Flav donated one of his notable clocks to the Hip Hop Archive Research Institute. Professors Henry Louis Gates and Tommie Shelby were on hand to accept the timepiece.

Other guests included Lupe Fiasco, who previously taught at Harvard and now teaches at MIT, rapper Dee-1, DJ Stretch Armstrong, and Khaliah Ali ... daughter of late boxing great Muhammad Ali and longtime personal friend of Flav's.

We're told Flav still has plenty of festivities in the pipeline ... he's scheduled for a writer's workshop, a sitdown with PBS and he's volunteering to feed the homeless inside the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter with a few student groups.

NLE Choppa's "Slut Me Out (Remix)" hasn't even dropped yet, but it's already pissing off some people in the industry ... due to what they see as blatant misogyny.

The Memphis rapper teased the visual for his updated track on Monday, which raised plenty of eyebrows -- it shows him dog-walking his female costars Sukihana and "Pound Town" rookie rapper Sexxy Red by their colorful weaves.

Sukihana's rap career revolves around XXX tropes and Sexxy Red has been going viral for her song's "my booty-hole brown" lyric ... so yeah, NLE's casting for the video was, arguably, spot-on.

However, Lil Mama disapproved of what she witnessed ... only for Sukihana to get wind of the since-deleted comments, and quickly dragged the "Lip Gloss" rapper for her infamous Jay-Z stage crash of 2009.

An unbothered Lil Mama responded to Suki with an eloquent tongue-lashing -- explaining she feels Black women like Suki uphold negative sexual stereotypes, despite history proving it's the wrong route to go.

TMZ Hip Hop spoke to NLE about the track, and he claimed it was an empowerment anthem ... but good luck convincing folks of that, now that the video clip is out.

Rich Homie Quan is feeling some kinda way after being told Roddy Ricch is allegedly why he's not on DJ Drama's new song "FMFU."

An incensed RHQ voiced his frustration Tuesday with Roddy, Drama and even Gucci Mane -- who also appears on the track alongside Lil Wayne -- but doesn't have as good of a verse ... at least, according to RHQ's standards.

Sources close to the project tell TMZ Hip Hop ... Roddy had no say-so whatsoever in the matter, and if Quan has beef, it should be with Drama himself.

The track appears on Drama's new "I'm Really Like That" album, and RHQ says he recorded his track last November ... but only after he negotiated the feature, as he claims Drama's team originally gave him some trash to rap over.

When it dropped last Friday, RHQ says he was embarrassed after telling plenty of people he was gonna be on the project. Now he wants to square things with Roddy through a $10 million wager in a Verzuz battle.

If ya let RHQ tell it, Roddy's only good record is his diamond-selling track "The Box," and the rest of his catalog is absolute garbage.

There's no putting the toothpaste back in the tube now ... RHQ said what he said!!!

Kaya Stewart, the daughter of Eurythmics star Dave Stewart, is off "American Idol" -- despite her Rock HOF lineage ... she made a shocking and tearful exit from the competition's Hollywood Week.

Kaya was supposed to perform a duet on Monday night's episode with 22-year-old Fire -- but she stunned just about everyone when she said she was quitting the show because she'd been ill all week.

She broke down as she told the judges -- Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan -- she'd been unable to fully recover, so she wouldn't be continuing on the show.

Her surprise exit had poor Fire tearing up, but she powered through to sing ... with help from another contestant.

Jayna Elise had been sitting in the audience, and volunteered to duet with Fire ... and they crushed Adam Lambert's hit, "What Do You Want From Me." Fire did most of the vocals and had the judges on their feet, crying for her performance.

As they say ... the show must go on, and Fire did that and then some.

Kaya had been a controversial pick by the judges. Not that she wasn't a good singer, but she auditioned with her superstar father -- who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside Lionel -- playing guitar for her.

It sparked the ol' nepotism, or "nepo baby," conversation again. Haters say her dad's celeb status got her a spot on the show that could have gone to someone else.

Daz Dillinger is offering up yet another Suge Knight horror story from Death Row Records' '90s era, but Tha Dogg Pound rapper happens to be the boogeyman in this tale ... claiming he once strong armed the bulky CEO straight outta $2.5 million!!!

Tha Dogg Pound, and the late Nate Dogg, contributed to the 1996 "Sunset Park" film soundtrack via the song "Just Doggin'" and Daz recalled during an interview with Home Grown Radio the payment still hadn't hit his bank account a year later.

With Tupac Shakur dead and the label's future in jeopardy, Daz says he needed to get what was owed and ran up in the Death Row Records office with Kurupt and Lil Malik Hershey Loc and "hemmed everyone" up until Suge arrived.

Daz says Suge knew he meant business once he saw the determination in his eyes ... and quickly wrote him the $2.5 million check for "Just Doggin.'" We're sure the screwdriver he admits to being armed with also played a significant role in persuasion!!!

Snoop Dogg recently acquired the rights to Death Row and released the catalog onto streaming services, so Daz's royalties should be secure.

Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner were horsing around over the weekend, and they look tight.

The Latin pop star and supermodel appeared to bond over their shared love of horseback riding Sunday at the Hidden Hills Equestrian Center ... taking turns riding horses and even riding one together.

TMZ obtained photos of the fun date ... tooling around at the corral and some nearby trails.

We've seen Kendall riding horses for years, and Bad Bunny's got a couple music videos where he hops on a steed ... so it appears they've found something else in common.

As you see, Kendall couldn't hold back a smile as she snapped smartphone pics of her new beau grabbing the reins ... and he watched her ride solo too.

Folks who were there say Bad Bunny and Kendall spent about 90 minutes riding horses ... including one very romantic ride where he's behind her, holding on tight.

It's hard to say who is the better and more experienced rider ... but it's worth noting Kendall showed up with boots and gloves, while Bad Bunny's wearing Adidas sneakers.

Giddy up!!!