Music

Big Time Rush fans were treated to big time sugar rush thanks to their favorite band passing out doughnuts to celebrate the release of their new album!!

We got the guys out in NYC on Friday as they left "Today" to promote the drop of their fourth studio album, "Another Life" ... and, it just so happens to be National Donut Day.

Band member Kendall Schmidt seemed to totally dig his new gig as doughnut man, personally handing out free doughnuts to the screaming fans ... who obviously ate it all up.

Kendall says we can expect a whole lot more in the near future from the band -- including an upcoming tour -- also mentioning they'd love to collab with Taylor Swift.

The boy band, which also features, James Maslow, Logan Henderson, and Carlos PenaVega, first formed back in 2009 after starring in Nickelodeon's, "Big Time Rush."

Gunna is finally responding to his haters after being railroaded for months -- a new track titled "Bread and Butter" has fans believing he's defending his honor against Lil Baby, Lil Durk and even Quality Control boss Pierre "Pee" Thomas.

On Friday, Gunna came out swinging with Auto-Tuned bars denying he ever snitched on Young Thug after taking a plea deal in the YSL RICO case.

He kicks off "Bread and Butter" with the bars ... "Never f****d a nigga, always stayed solid/Kept it real with n****s, never lied and always stay honest."

He also raps, "You bitch-ass n****s got me as the topic of the chat/ You switched on me when you know you in business with a rat/And the boy that’s like your brother, and nobody speak on that?"

Fans are under the belief those bars are aimed at Lil Baby for unfollowing Gunna earlier this year ... and at QC's Pee, for allegedly snitching on someone back in the day.

Gunna also fired back at Durk for his "What happened to Virgil?/He probably gunna tell" song snippet from earlier this year with the lines ... "Had these n****s talkin’, only knew ’em ’cause of Slatt/You rap boys need more streams, heard he put my name on wax.”

Despite Gunna's triumphant return, "Bread and Butter" is failing to impress Lil Gotit, one of the few YSL rappers who didn't get rounded up in the label's massive RICO trial.

Gotit has been insinuating he speaks for Thug since the trial started ... and hopped on IG to tell Gunna the song was trash and even his deceased YSL rapper brother Lil Keed, would've disapproved of Gunna's actions.

Cynthia Weil, one of the most prolific and successful songwriters of all time, has died ... TMZ has learned.

Cynthia's daughter, Dr. Jenn Mann, tells TMZ ... "My mother, Cynthia Weil, was the greatest mother, grandmother and wife our family could ever ask for. She was my best friend, confidant, and my partner in crime and an idol and trailblazer for women in music."

Jenn says her mother, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, passed on Thursday night.

Cynthia's catalog is eyepopping ... The Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin," Dolly Parton's "Here You Come Again," The Drifters' and George Benson's "On Broadway," The Crystals' "Uptown," The Righteous Brothers' "You're My Soul and Inspiration," The Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of this Place."

The list just keeps going, with Paul Revere & the Raiders' "Kicks," The Ronettes' "Walking in the Rain," Chaka Khan's "Through the Fire," which Kanye West sampled for his debut solo single, "Through the Wire" ... and that's a VERY short list of the hits she wrote.

Cynthia's writing partner for many of her hits was her husband, Barry Mann. They were married for 62 years.

They were nominated for an Academy Award and won 2 Grammys for Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram's "Somewhere Out There" from Steven Spielberg's "An American Tail."

She and Barry received the first-ever National Academy of Songwriters Life Achievement Award.

In her early years, Cynthia was an actress, singer and dancer and became a protégé of Tin Pan Alley songwriter Frank Loesser.

Cynthia and Barry had massive hits in the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s.

She worked with other collaborators to produce hits like "Running With The Night" and "Love Will Conquer All" with Lionel Richie. She also worked with David Foster for the soundtrack to "St. Elmo's Fire," including the hit, "For Just a Moment." And then, there's Peabo Bryson's "If Ever You're In My Arms Again,” and "He's So Shy" by The Pointer Sisters.

BTW ... "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" was the most played song of the 20th Century!

Cynthia received 112 pop, country and R&B awards from BMI.

Cynthia and Barry produced another big hit ... their daughter, Jenn Mann, AKA Dr. Jenn, a psychotherapist, author, and host of VH1's "Couple's Therapy." Jenn and her fiance Eric Schiffer were by Cynthia's side when she passed.

The family adds, "Cynthia Weil's Grammy award winning lyrics touched the hearts and souls of hundreds of millions of people around the world, making her one of the most iconic songwriters of the 20th Century. Her husband, Barry Mann, says, "I'm a lucky man. I had two for one, my wife and one of the greatest songwriters in the world, my soul and inspiration."

Cynthia was 82.

Angel Reese went from "you can't see me" to "you can see me everywhere" ... 'cause the LSU superstar is front and center in Latto and Cardi B's new music video!!

The 21-year-old hooper has been on top of the world ever since the Tigers beat Iowa to win the national championship in April ... securing huge opportunities like posing in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue and raking in millions of dollars through endorsement deals.

Now, Reese can add yet another accomplishment to her list -- starring alongside Latto and Cardi in their visuals for the song, "Put It On Da Floor Again" ... which dropped Thursday night.

Reese makes several appearances during the grocery store scenes in the 3-minute video ... pushing Latto in a shopping cart and holding up a makeshift hoop as the Atlanta M.C. dunked a stuffed heart.

But the biggest highlight comes during Cardi's verse ... when she raps "I been ballin' so damn hard, coulda went to LSU" as the camera cuts to a mean-mugging Reese.

Reese tweeted about the cameo ... saying, "i told y’all i wanted to be a video vixen😭"

It's not the only LSU/Latto connection -- Reese's Flau'jae Johnson also dropped her own cover of the same song last month.

Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi aren't walking down the aisle yet, but they're partying like they are ... going all out commemorate their engagement with family members.

The "Stranger Things" star made sure to snap several photos Thursday with her fiancé, Jake -- Bon Jovi's 21-year-old son -- during the private party. And, the couple couldn't look happier, as they posed in front of a sign reading "Mr and Mrs Bongiovi."

19-year-old Millie donned a bridal lace co-ord set -- and Jake was suited and booted in green.

Hairstylist Pete Burkill shared several photos from the celebration, congratulating the young couple and showing off their hair for the event.

As we reported, Millie announced her engagement back in April ... sharing a photo of Jake hugging her, and flaunting her stunning diamond ring.

She captioned the photo with a quote from Taylor Swift's song "Lovers" -- "I've loved you 3 summers now, honey, I want 'em all."

Jake also shared the special moment on his page, posting photos with the caption, "forever."

Millie and Jake have been together since 2021, after initially connecting on social media.

Boosie Badazz is sticking to his G-code when it comes to wishing Gunna the worst ... even with a hypothetical Bezos-sized payday on the line.

TMZ Hip Hop got the Louisiana-bred rap legend Thursday in NYC, where he couldn't resist the opportunity to lump Gunna in with the city's infamous rat infestation.

Boosie makes it clear he believes Gunna snitched on Young Thug when he took a plea deal in the YSL RICO case. The embattled YSL rapper is currently back in the studio ... likely laying down some rebuttals for all his haters.

We asked Boosie if he would swallow his street pride to record with Gunna ... IF someone offered him a billion dollars, but he immediately shut down because -- as he put it -- the convo was about a "rat."

One topic he was happy to address is cars -- Boosie weighed in with some advice for Cardi B, whose current rich people problem is possessing too many luxury automobiles she doesn't even drive.

Boosie flat-out tells us filling up your garage with cars is a waste of money, and says he sold off "damn near" all of his whips.

Paul Stanley is firmly on board with Pride celebrations -- which might shock critics of his comments about gender identity and kids -- but he says all folks should be free to embrace who they are ... with one caveat.

We caught up with the KISS frontman in L.A.'s Beverly Glen neighborhood, and when we asked him if had any message for the transgender community on the first day of Pride month ... he offered his view of what everyone should take from Pride.

Paul says, "Everybody has a right to be who they are, and life's too short to be anyone else." As for being proud of who you are, he says absolutely, but adds that has nothing to do with your gender or sexual preference ... it's about being a "good person."

You'll recall, PS came under fire in April after tweeting his thoughts on gender reassignment for children -- namely, that there's a difference between teaching kids acceptance of all people, and encouraging them to question "their sexual identification."

Some folks backed him up, but for the most part, he got a ton of flak from people who took his tweet as being anti-LGBTQ ... and, fairly or not, found it hypocritical because members of KISS were makeup-wearing glam rockers.

Paul told us he didn't feel the need to clarify that statement any further than he already has.

Grimes is showing off her new look ... a tattoo in red ink covering her whole leg!!!

The singer and mother to two of Elon Musk's kids revealed her latest tattoo Thursday on social media ... and it looks like she spent a lot of time in the tattoo parlor.

Grimes got the out-of-this-world design in red ink ... and that tattoo stretches from her ankle all the way up to her thigh, covering most of her shin and a good amount of her knee.

Ya gotta imagine it was a pretty painful experience ... but Grimes seems super pleased with the final results here.

It looks like Grimes got the tattoo done in Los Angeles, hitting up a tattoo artist named Daniela.

Remy Ma brought Jersey City back to the roarin' '20s last night, thanks to a glitzy birthday bash fashioned after the Prohibition Era that brought out plenty of her famous rap pals!!!

The ultramagnetic MC ushered in year 43 inside the speakeasy-style lounge Casa De Lobo, and was flanked by Fat Joe, Fabolous, Maino and Remy's husband Papoose.

Little did Remy know, but Pap whipped up a super surprise for her at the end of the night -- a personal performance from one of her all-time favorite rappers: Ma$e!!!

The Harlem World rapper popped up on an unsuspecting Remy toward the end of the night, and rocked the mic to his classic, "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down."

Ty Dolla $ign's music industry run has been going strong since his 2013 breakout "Beach House 2" mixtape, a project the Cali crooner is sheepishly admitting he never even heard!!!

The DJ Drama-sponsored LP was home to Ty's double platinum B.o.B collab, "Paranoid," and also kicked off his connection with Wiz Khalifa's Taylor Gang -- but he claims things were moving too fast for him at the time to even bask in his own glory.

While on Apple Music's Beats 1, he told Zane Lowe, "I haven't listened to 'Beach House Two' ... I'm not going to lie. Nah, but it's been huge, definitely a celebration and shout out to everybody that was with me then, the ones that are still with me now from that team, and all the new people I've met that have just been here for this journey."

He proudly added, "It's still going, we're still going … it was more so back then, that trying to get people to hear it or just to be noticed, knowing you make good music and all your homies around you are telling you this is crazy."

Ty$ says the project was still well received from everyone around him, but he remembers spending more time getting accustomed to dealing with managers and the music industry overall.

In 2023, it's understandable he isn't stuck listening to his old tracks. He just dropped his new dance single "Motion," which he says he intentionally released for the summertime ... and has a new EP ready, mixtape and genre-bending album ready for release.

Drake made a cherry-on-top cameo for the season finale of Lil Dicky's "Dave" series -- an episode that also boasted Brad Pitt and Rachel McAdams appearances!!!

As fate would have it, Drake's actually a superfan of the show -- which just wrapped its third season -- and he said exactly that to Dicky, in person.

Dicky says, "Drake is like the top of the mountain top musically and as a rapper," and when they met ... Drake told him "the show is one of the more important shows of our generation."

High praise, for sure, and Dicky told The Hollywood Reporter scoring Drake, Rachel and Brad created a major challenge for his team -- "With all of them, my writers' room was like, 'This is kind of crazy that you’re putting all your eggs in these baskets because what if they say no?' These people don’t even do TV. Drake hasn’t done TV since 'Degrassi."

But he move forward confidently, saying ... "Honestly, I think the show can have a tendency to get overlooked. Once you sit down and watch, it’s kind of objectively a great show. These are like the biggest stars of our time validating our show."

Taylor Swift is laughing all the way to the bank in her latest stretch of massive success, catapulting her to the #2 spot on Forbes' richest women in music list ... a number that's certain to grow after her latest tour wraps.

According to the publication's "Richest Self-Made Women" list, the singer is now worth a staggering $740 million ... making her the second richest woman in music behind Rihanna, who still almost doubles T-Swift at $1.4 billion from her music career and cosmetic line.

It's a super huge milestone ... Taylor now surpasses Madonna, who is said to be worth $580M, as well as Beyoncé whose net worth is reportedly $540M.

The new rankings put Tay at #34 overall on the "Self-Made Women" list ... which includes everyone from Oprah ($2.5B) to Panda Express co-founder Peggy Cherng ($3.2B). BTW, Diane Hendricks of ABC Supply -- a company that sells roofing, siding and windows -- is top of the list at $15B.

Of course, T-Swift has ridden yet another wave of success after dropping "Midnights" back in October, becoming the first artist ever to claim the top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100.

As you know, TS is in the middle of her wildly-successful 'Eras' Tour. Remember, the demand for tickets was so high, Ticketmaster crashed and Congress wound up launching an investigation into the site.

"Snowfall" star Damson Idris is admitting he tapped into the forces of darkness to help his actor's block ... and says he damn near needed an exorcism after the terrifying experience!!!

During The Hollywood Reporter's 2023 TV Drama roundtable, Damson made the shocking confession to Pedro Pascal, Jeff Bridges, Kieran Culkin, and others ... harkening back to the final season of "Snowfall" when he had difficulty bringing out the evil for his character, Franklin Saint.

Damson says after failing at the scenes, he then went into the corner to drum up his dark magic, and repeatedly called to Satan, "Come on, Devil -- come to me!!!"

Fans marveled at Damson's character's transition and subsequent downfall at the end of the series, but the British actor says the conjuring left him with nightmares for a month and he even had to call his mother to "bring him back to life."

Damson claims the spirits were real and not to be trifled with ... a point Lil Uzi Vert also made a few months ago when we asked him about the Satanist accusations that were being levied against him.

Kanye West is getting sued over a heated encounter he had with a photographer -- the one where he pulled over to snatch her phone and throw it into the street.

TMZ broke the story back in January ... as he was driving away from one of North West's basketball games with his wife, Bianca Censori, Ye stopped because he noticed several paparazzi on his tail.

According to one of the photogs, Nichol Lechmanik, Ye was angrily confronting a different paparazzo, going through the man's pockets ... and she claims she feared the rapper might have had a weapon on him.

In the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Lechmanik says she was terrified he would come after her next ... and he did. Video shows Ye approaching her as she sat in the driver's seat of her car, recording him with her phone and yelling, "You all ain't gonna run up on me like that!"

Ye told her, "If I say stop, stop with your cameras." Then he ripped her phone out of her hands and tossed it -- she says it landed in oncoming traffic.

All of this was captured on video by Lechmanik's business partner who was recording from her passenger seat ... and she says Ye walked over to that side of the car and flashed a "death stare" at them. That same day she went to the Sheriff's Department to file a report about the incident.

As we first reported, law enforcement named Ye a suspect in their battery investigation, but ultimately he was not charged.

That being said, Lechmanik says she was traumatized and humiliated ... and lost earnings because she wasn't able to go back to her J-O-B ... snapping photos of celebs.

In the weeks after their encounter, Ye started going straight to law enforcement -- as he did on Valentine's Day -- whenever photogs approached him.

Lechmanik is suing Ye for assault, battery and negligence.

Lil Durk is expected to pull in big numbers with his new "Already Healed" album, and he's taking time out to assist a fan who helped spread awareness of the music ... despite not having a proper roof to blast the tunes!!!

On Thursday, a video surfaced of Durk linking up with L.A. resident Pedro Ramirez, a homeless man who went viral on TikTok for playing Durk and J. Cole's "All My Life" video from inside his tent on a big-screen projector.

Durk thanked Pedro for pumping the music and blessed him with a hotel room for 30 days, a phone, a gift card, and some spending money for being an OTF loyalist.

Earlier in May, Pedro talked to FOX 11 news, and explained how he uses a personal generator to power his projector, and recharges at a nearby Metro station.

Pedro says he's been living on the streets for 2 years and chooses his tent setup over L.A.'s assisted living programs, which he claims treat people like prisoners.

Kanye West has returned to the rap arena for the first time in 2023 ... as the lone feature for Fivio Foreign's surprise EP, "Without Warning."

On Wednesday, Fivio released his new 8-track collection, led by "Concussion," where he and Ye blurt out lyrical randomness — much like an actual concussion.

Ye opens the track channeling Snoop Dogg's infamous Death Row Records-defending rant from the 1995 Source Awards ... "Y'all ain't got no love for Snoop Dogg?/Y'all ain't got no love for Dr. Dre?/Y'all ain't got no love for Ye???"

Fivio released his new offering strictly for the hip hop internet ... with the tracks only appearing on YouTube and SoundCloud and not the traditional DSPs.

In the accompanying documentary, Fivio explained his decision to keep the rollout from the commercial scene, recognizing he's no longer the flashy new artist in the culture, and this is the time to build a legacy.