Music

Former OVO Sound artist iLoveMakonnen says he knew his days on Drake's label were numbered when the Canadian rapper allegedly started making snide comments.

Makonnen made the shocking accusations on NPR's recently shuttered "Louder Than A Riot" while discussing his rise and fall in music ... claiming Drake once quipped he was an "Eric Benet-ass-looking-n****" right before they performed together at the 2015 Wireless Festival.

Makonnen says he and Drake shared a dwindling bond prior to that moment. The Canadian megastar helped catapult Makonnen to nationwide success in 2014 via the "Tuesday (Remix)" ... which earned Makonnen his first platinum plaque, and his signing with OVO for a single deal.

But, Makonnen says Drake started treating him differently when he began showing signs of weight loss ... hence the Eric Benet crack, and he claims the label stopped promoting his EPs.

And, to make things worse, fans were literally digging up his old tweets dissing Drake!!! Whoops.

Makonnen says his relationship with Drake imploded for good at Rihanna's VMA after-party in 2016 when he attempted to reconnect, but he claims Drake met him with a facial expression that meant him bodily harm ... and he knew it was time to bounce from the label.

Makonnen came out as gay in January 2017, and believes that decision caused the dissolution of many of his working relationships, and much of his inner circle in Atlanta, too.

Cassidy is scoffing at people who are upset at R. Kelly for his sex crimes, but don't hold the same anger toward the average Joe who they observe doing the exact same thing.

The battle-tested Philly rapper spoke his mind on a recent episode of the Street Starz podcast and expressed his belief that people have a right to be upset over R. Kelly ... but should keep the same energy when it comes to seeing people in their neighborhood scoop up younger girls!

According to Cassidy's recollection, he observed plenty of middle and high-school-age girls dating older guys his entire life and feels all hoods have similar scenarios. He also didn't say anything about reporting anyone so he may be just as culpable if true 🤷🏽‍♂️.

Cassidy and Swizz Beatz scored a Top 5 Billboard Hot 100 hit back in 2003 with assistance from Robert Sylvester several years before the sexual abuse allegations poured in.

Kanye West is full steam ahead on his presidential campaign, bringing his former collaborator Milo Yiannopoulos back into the mix, and their first order of business ... firing Ye's controversial right-hand man, Nick Fuentes.

TMZ obtained emails sent from Milo -- now officially YE2024's Director of Political Operations -- to Nick, and in one he says, "Your services on Ye’s exploratory team are terminated ... and will not be required for any possible future campaign."

You'll recall, Nick is the white nationalist who accompanied West during his trip to see Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last fall.

Milo also fired off an exit email to Ali Alexander, another one of Ye's political advisors, who was recently forced to apologize after being accused of asking teenage boys for sexual pictures.

We reached out to Milo, and he confirmed the details in the e-mails. He also says he's been in L.A. for the past week, talking to Ye about his presidential aspirations.

You'll recall, Milo was reportedly removed from the campaign team last year after Ye's controversial interview with Alex Jones ... and he reportedly blamed Nick and Ali for his firing.

Now that Milo's back in the saddle, it would seem his next mission is finding out just how serious Ye is about running for the White House -- and, after that, addressing the antisemitism West spewed for months.

R&B emeritus Ye Ali doesn't give a damn how much Nick Cannon has to shell out for his kids -- he wants his money, pronto, for an uncleared Chris Brown song he claims Nick swindled from him!!!

Nick was pleasantly enjoying his Thursday on Twitter, joking about impregnating the entire world, when Ye intercepted his message with fiery rebuttals ... making fans aware of his issues with the "Wild 'N Out" creator.

Back in 2021, Nick released his movie "She Ball" ... which featured a snippet of the unreleased CB track "Drive." Ye says he had a hand in creating the song originally cut for a Breezy studio album, and he claims RCA never gave Nick permission to soundtrack it.

According to Ye, Nick's lawyers have been stalling him out, so he felt it was time to take matters public. Nick has yet to respond ... probably because he's busy filling in for Jamie Foxx on his Beat Shazaam TV series.

We reached out to Ye to see if he plans on following through with a lawsuit. No word back -- he's plenty busy stepping on Nick's Twitter neck!!!

The Kid LAROI wants to make things right and THEN some after bailing on a recent restaurant tab -- not only by paying the bill -- but by also including an extremely generous tip.

Sources close to LAROI tell us it was actually his security team who was supposed to provide a card for his meal Tuesday night at Dublin's Pass Irish Pub & Restaurant in Springfield, Missouri ... but somehow, they forgot to get things squared away.

Our sources say LAROI and his team realized the mistake after reading our story, and reached out to restaurant staffers first thing Thursday morning.

We're told not only did LAROI cover the $133.58 bill, he also tipped their server from the night, Monique, a whopping $2,500 for all the trouble.

TMZ broke the story, LAROI and a group of buddies went to the eatery after his show, and pigged out on wings, mac & cheese, brownies and more before taking off with an open bill.

The jury has spoken in Ed Sheeran's copyright trial -- he's been found not liable for ripping off one of Marvin Gaye's classics, "Let's Get It On."

The singer received the verdict on Thursday in a Manhattan federal court after a jury made the decision.

As we reported, the estate of Ed Townsend, co-writer of "Let's Get it On," slapped the lawsuit on Sheeran ... alleging the 2014 hit "Thinking Out Loud" ripped key elements of the 1973 Marvin Gaye classic -- claiming several aspects like the melody and even harmony were a match.

Sheeran was present in court for the legal battle, and even testified during the trial ... part of it in the form of a song! He pulled out his guitar and played the tune in question during his time on the stand as a way to show them his creative process.

He testified Marvin's song was nowhere near his or his co-writer Amy Wadge's minds when they brought his track to life ... claiming he doesn't really put a ton of time into crafting his tracks and just pulls inspiration from whatever's going down in his life at the time.

It was a move that some thought could go a long way -- having a star play for the super small crowd for sure had the potential to sway the jury. He also testified he'd be "quite an idiot to stand on a stage in front of 20,000 people" after ripping off a classic.

Sheeran claimed he'd quit music forever if he lost ... so the decision is good news for Ed's fans.

Lil Durk and NBA YoungBoy's lethal rivalry is coming to a close ... as both artists seemingly confirmed a peace treaty through breadcrumbs dropped for their social media followers.

DJ Akademiks informed his Twitch live stream audience of the Durk/YoungBoy truce on Wednesday ... and when the clips made their rounds on the internet, fans noted Durk liked the tweet containing Ak's update.

Additionally, the YB Instagram "fan account" -- long suspected to actually be run by the Lousiana rapper on account of its 1 million+ followers -- also shared the news for the world to see.

Durk and YB's tensions revolve around the late King Von's issues with Quando Rondo, who's signed to YB's Never Broke Again label.

Von was shot and killed in November 2020, after attacking Quando ... and the two camps have been at odds ever since.

Their peace accord is truly a watershed moment for recent hip hop culture, given the amount of blood spilled in recent years. While we're not hearing any collaboration talks, each rapper's fans are still getting new music.

YB just dropped his new album "Don't Try This At Home" to a Top 5 Billboard 200 debut and has the lead single on the upcoming "Fast X" soundtrack with the song "Won't Back Down."

The Kid LAROI left his server hanging with a triple-digit bill after fleeing an Irish pub & restaurant -- that's what the pissed-off manager of the watering hole is claiming.

LAROI performed Tuesday night in Springfield, MO, and afterward, he and a group of buddies went to Dublin's Pass Irish Pub & Restaurant for some food and drink.

The joint's manager, Autumn Gray, tells TMZ ... the Aussie rapper was kind to all her staff and patrons at first, even posing for photos with some excited fans -- but, ultimately, they seated LAROI and co. in a private room.

Autumn says the group ran up their bill ordering chicken wings, mac & cheese, brownies and more ... and, although they stepped outside for smoke breaks during the meal, they assured their server they weren't leaving.

Of course, that's precisely what happened according to the restaurant. When their server tried to get a head start on bussing dishes from the table ... they discovered everyone had bolted.

As soon as the manager found out about the dine and dash, she says they searched the premises but TKL and his entourage were long gone.

The total bill was $133.58 and while Autumn acknowledges it might have been a careless mistake by LAROI, she points out servers make most of their money through tips ... so, it's messed up one of her employees did all that work for free.

Autumn says she tried contacting TKL, but hasn't gotten a response. We also reached out to a rep, and so far ... no word back.

Priyanka Chopra says she fell into a "deep, deep depression" after a botched nose procedure and thought her career in entertainment was totally over.

Chopra made the revelations during an interview with Howard Stern on his Sirius XM show, going into detail about the dark period earlier in her life.

The actress, who's married to Nick Jonas, told Stern that a physician recommended that she go under the knife to remove a polyp in her nasal cavity.

She followed the doctor's instructions and got the nose job, but, afterward, she says her face looked completely different, causing her to slip into a "deep, deep depression."

Not only did the surgery affect her physical appearance, but it negatively impacted her work. Chopra says she was fired from three films as a result of the bungled procedure, making her think that her career was “over before it started.”

She says things got so bad that she didn't even want to leave her house at times, but her late father -- who was a doctor as well -- convinced her to get corrective surgery despite her misgivings.

Chopra said, “I was terrified of that, but he was like, ‘I will be in the room with you. He held my hands through it and helped me build back my confidence.”

She says she got her career back on track with the help of Bollywood director Anil Sharma, and was grateful to him for giving her a supporting role in a movie, even though she was originally slated to play the lead. Chopra went on to star in several major Hollywood TV series, including Citadel and Quantico.

Timbaland is going against the grain of the music industry ... while most artists and execs push back against AI, he's actually embracing it with a new track featuring AI-generated Notorious B.I.G. vocals!!!

The mega-producer and Verzuz co-creator was bursting with Christmas Day excitement while introducing the song on IG ... and boldly tagged Jay-Z's engineer Young Guru, who's been one of AI's biggest opponents.

Timbaland presented his Biggie bot production as the solution for the AI debate and gave fans a taste of the song.

After pushing play, Timbaland nodded his head furiously as AI Biggie rapped about the late rap icon's typical love for the finer things in life ... while also weirdly screwing with time and space by name-dropping Nipsey Hussle and Pop Smoke.

Both slain rappers came onto the scene decades after B.I.G. died, and Pop wasn't even born until 2 years after the fact.

Guru didn't attack Timbaland's track, but instead dropped a more general, and ominous, message ... warning humans that playing with AI is like playing with fire.

No telling if the track will ever be released as a single (or if Biggie's estate would even allow it), but the reactions to AI advancement have been a mixed bag so far.

Artists like Jojo, Grimes and LaRussell have spoken to AI's upside ... while UMG boss Lucian Grainge has been pulling out all the stops to kill it.

Alabama Barker has no problem giving social media trolls a piece of her mind ... firing back at folks, especially older ones, who have something to say about her wearing a ton of makeup.

The 17-year-old daughter of Travis Barker and Shanna Moakler clapped back at her haters via TikTok ... after some people online shamed her for looking too grown for her age, specifically calling out her wardrobe and makeup.

Alabama posted a video with a full-beat face, lip-synching to the viral audio clip ... "I'd tell you what you look like but you won’t like it." Her caption read, "When Kathryn with 3 kids only waterline liner, 4 different colored blonde & Tom shoes, talk about my makeup or my age."

Of course, her TikTok only fueled more criticism in the comments ... things like, "I think people are just concerned about the over sexualization of youth in Hollywood/LA culture."

Alabama's response ... "Well I'm doing great thank u."

The Menendez brothers want to have their day in court ... again ... they say they have new evidence backing up their defense that their father was sexually abusing them, but there's a new wrinkle involving a member of the '80's boy band "Menudo."

According to new legal docs filed by attorney Mark Geragos, and obtained by TMZ, Erik and Lyle Menendez cited recent allegations by former Menudo star Roy Rossello that he was sexually abused when he was 13 or 14 by Jose Menendez.

Rosello made the accusations against Jose -- a then-RCA record exec -- in a new three part Peacock docuseries, "Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed." In the series, two journalists dove into claims that the band's founder, Edgardo Diaz, brought Rosello to Jose's home in New Jersey to broker a deal between "Menudo" and RCA. But things took a dark turn when Jose allegedly drugged Rossello and then raped the teen.

Per the court docs, Erik and Lyle argued that Rossello's allegations of abuse by their dad only served to strengthen their original contention that they fatally shot Jose and their mom, Kitty, out of self-defense.

The petition also mentioned a letter Erik sent to their cousin, Andy Cano, months before the shootings ... where Erik accused Jose of sexual abuse.

In the letter, which the brothers claimed wasn't shown to the jury at trial, Erik says he wished he could tell his mom about the alleged abuse but says he can't risk it because he feared she would tell Jose. Erik also told Andy his father was continuing to molest him.

The Menendez Brothers say the letter was sent around 8 months before they murdered their parents, and they argued it supported their defense theory that Jose was sexually abusing them and warned them to not speak out about being molested, to the point where they became frightened of their father.

They say jurors never heard from Roy either, and they claimed if the jury knew about Roy's allegations and the letter, things might have turned out differently and they might have bought the defense's theory that the brothers were guilty of manslaughter, instead of murder.

Erik and Lyle filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in an effort to determine whether the new evidence was enough for the court to grant them a new trial or other relief.

Attorney Alan Jackson talked to us in April about the possibility of the Menendez brothers getting a new trial ... and he didn't seem to think it was likely, and told us exactly why.

Dr. Dre's OG secret rap weapon, The D.O.C., has been trying to get his life story out into the world, and thinks he's nearing the finish line after a bit of friction.

TMZ Hip Hop spoke to the "No One Can Do It Better" rapper in the wake of his outburst over the delay of his self-titled film, which screened during the Tribeca Festival ... damn near a year ago.

D.O.C. tells us the forces standing in the way of releasing "The DOC" have subsided, and he's now looking for a suitable distributor for the film. He wants fans to know it features appearances from Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Ice Cube and Dre that are life-changing ... to the core.

The Dallas rapper turned West Coast transplant, infamously damaged his vocal cords in a 1989 car accident, but has since resumed his rap career ... raspy flow and all. Just last month, he rapped on Codefendants' rap/rock mash-up track, "Fast Ones."

It's because he's gotten back on the mic, D.O.C. tells us he's at peace with not using AI to answer the "what if" on his career course -- even though his inbox is flooded with daily requests to license his voice for an AI recording.

Having been around during the glory and the gory days, we also got D.O.C.'s take on Suge Knight's claim Daz Dillinger actually produced Snoop's "Doggystyle" and let Dre take the credit.

Da Brat's wife Jesseca Dupart is attacking the notion they intentionally chose a non-Black sperm donor for their upcoming baby ... and her explanation is pretty in-depth.

On Wednesday, Jesseca came through with a boatload of receipts and broke the whole thing down. The couple recently conducted an interview where they openly admitted their baby's donor wasn't Black after realizing they had limited choices in the gene pool.

Brat also quipped one of the donors looked like Pinocchio's pal Jiminy Cricket.

So, yeah ... you can see how that got lumped into all the donors being cricket-faced killas!!!

Jesseca revealed her existing medical conditions also cut down her chances of carrying a healthy baby, and noted the lack of Black donors in general.

She even cited a Fox5 NY article from March that reports Black men make up less than 2% of sperm donors nationwide!!!

After weighing their options, Jesseca says she and Brat went with the best match, regardless of race.

Jamie Foxx is back in the land of social media for the first time following his mysterious hospitalization ... breaking his silence with a heartfelt message to those who've been wishing him well.

The legendary actor took to Instagram Wednesday, writing "Appreciate all the love!!! Feeling blessed." Fans flooded the comments with more well-wishes for Jamie -- including one that said, "Forever !!❤️ WE LOVE YOU GOAT!!"

He also gave a shoutout to Nick Cannon, who will be filling his hosting shoes on his game show, "Beat Shazam" ... and told people he'll see them all soon.

As we reported, Nick's taking over for Jamie while he copes with his medical condition -- Kelly Osbourne will swap in as the show's DJ, a spot normally held by Jamie's daughter, Corinne. Kelly shared her views from the DJ booth Wednesday, too.

The jury's still out on what exactly went down with Jamie ... but it looks like he's movin' in the right direction, seemingly well enough to thank his legion of fans for lifting him up.

Jamie Foxx has left a big absence in his hosting duties on "Beat Shazam" ... a hole Nick Cannon hopes to fill while Jamie remains hospitalized with a serious mystery condition.

TMZ has confirmed Nick will take over the hosting duties of the popular FOX game show where contestants attempt to guess songs with lyrics from hits of all genres. We're told Kelly Osbourne will work as the show's DJ ... a position held by Jamie's daughter, Corinne, as she takes leave to help with her dad's recovery.

In a social media post Wednesday, Kelly shared a video from the DJ booth on the "Beat Shazam" set.

Kelly's IG video features an emcee in the background, gassing up the studio audience for Nick. Kelly also posted a photo of the show's rundown.

TMZ broke the story ... Jamie's family and those closest to him continue to ask for prayers, echoing, "Pray for Jamie."

Jamie's hosted the show since 2017, and he's also an executive producer. Corinne's been the show's DJ since 2018, working the past 4 seasons.

The hugely popular music lyric game show was scheduled to go into production just days after Jamie was hospitalized with what Corinne described as a "medical complication" but that was delayed. Nick and Kelly started shooting Wednesday.

As you know ... Jamie was in Atlanta working on the movie "Back In Action" earlier this month when he fell ill, and his fill-ins on that project have been a stunt double and body double.

We covered it all on the latest episode of The TMZ Podcast, available on all podcast platforms.