Music

Nicki Minaj is swooping in like a crisis negotiator -- or some sorta rap whisperer -- to put an end to Soulja Boy's reign of internet rants at J. Cole ... even convincing the "Crank Dat" rapper to apologize.

ICYMI, SB totally blew his top over Cole bringing his name up as a prime example of someone with much different taste in hip hop music than himself.

Cole told Lil Yachty, SB's music once went against everything he stood for as an artist, but would listen to his music in mixed company ... a statement Soulja took as disrespect -- that is, until Nicki convinced him it wasn't.

Nicki joined SB's IG live stream Monday -- as his Twitter fingers were sending brutal tweets at Cole -- and managed to calm him down.

She never showed her face on the stream, but stressed the importance of Soulja having real love in his life outside the internet, but more importantly, pointed out Cole was giving him props, and his temper tantrum was misguided.

Wyclef Jean is confident his group The Fugees are solidified in history, even with their lack of albums ... they've been perfecting their craft since childhood.

TMZ Hip Hop caught up with the 'Carnival' creator at LAX right before his L.A. leg as a part of Lauryn Hill's "Miseducation" 25th-anniversary tour (more on that later) ... and he told us flat-out the trio's legacy surpassed all his expectations!!!

Clef recalled starting the group with Lauryn and Pras all the way back in high school in Jersey in the '80s ... the precursor to their monumental, 22x Platinum-selling album "The Score," which dropped in 1996.

Wyclef says U2's Bono told him The Fugees were "Hip Hop's Beatles" at the height of the album's success, a compliment lost on him at the time but says the years of having fans sell out their shows -- or wait for them at airports -- validated the honor for him.

He's hinted at them finally preparing a release after all this time ... a topic Pras played coy with us when we spoke to him last. Something big's obviously on the horizon!!!

Fast forward to the present day, the trio is still seeing their fans attend their droves .... with some special provisions added to the fray.

Lauryn defended her historic lateness during her first L.A. show on Friday, basically telling fans they should be grateful she's onstage to begin with.

Despite Ms. Hill's shade, fans were still treated at the 2nd L.A. set -- Lil Wayne surprised and performed to The Fugees' "Ready or Not" beat while rocking his own "A Milli" classic.

Nas also showed up to congratulate Lauryn for earning a Diamond plaque for her "Miseducation" album ... and stayed to perform their duets "Nobody" and "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)."

Their track record speaks for itself ... now seems like the perfect time to add to it!!!

New Edition is set to take Vegas by storm ... the famed R&B powerhouse just announced a residency for Wynn Las Vegas’ Encore Theater -- and it's coming at ya next year.

The six-man supergroup revealed the six-date details to Sherri Shepard's TV audience on Monday ... with Johnny Gill promising nothing short of a blockbuster, not to mention a more intimate performance than what fans have gotten accustomed to.

NE has been packing arenas on tour for the past two years and says they want to give their diehards a more streamlined experience on stage.

“This is going to be more theatrical than our Legacy and Culture tours,” Bobby Brown told the AP, adding, “This will be a lot more intimate. We wanted it to be up, close and personal for our fans.”

The last time we spoke to Bobby, he told us NE was "forever" and they take pride in everything they do ... looks like nothing's changed on that front!!!

The festivities kick off on February 28 with tickets going on sale Friday.

Jennifer Lopez is married to Ben Affleck -- and wants all the other ladies who still might have eyes for him to know it ... evidenced in how she barked at some onlookers Sunday.

The couple was out on the town in L.A. this weekend, and before Monday rolled around -- they were leaving dinner at The Ivy together ... with BA playing the gentleman for his wife and opening the car door for her, while going around the other side once she was in.

Right then and there, though, a group of women in another car driving by happened to see Ben as he was coming around to his door -- and they did a good old-fashioned hollah!

Check it out ... as soon as JLo heard 'em cat-calling at her hubby, she let 'em know how she felt about it right on the spot -- telling the ladies to "back up, bitch!" ... and in emphatic terms.

Ya gotta see the video, because J Lo's feisty clap-back is classic Jenny from the Block -- although, it's unclear if the women on the other end heard her. One person who certainly did hear her jab was Ben himself ... so he definitely knows he's hers and hers alone.

Jennifer López está casada con Ben Affleck y quiere que todas las damas que puedan tener sus ojos puestos en él lo sepan, si nos guiamos por la forma en que les ladró a algunas de sus fanáticas el domingo.

La pareja estaba en la ciudad de Los Ángeles este fin de semana, saliendo de la cena en The Ivy juntos. Ben Affleck estaba jugando el caballero con su esposa, abriéndole la puerta de su carro, mientras se daba la vuelta hacia para volver hacia su lado.

Justo en ese momento, sin embargo, un grupo de mujeres que estaba en otro vehículo vio a Ben acomodándose en su puerta y le hicieron un buen saludo al actor.

Fíjense bien, en cuanto Jennifer las escucha saludando a su marido les hizo saber lo que sentía diciéndoles a las señoras "¡atrás, zorras!", y en términos muy enfáticos.

Tienen que ver el video, porque el contragolpe de J-Lo es clásico de Jenny from the Block, aunque no está claro si las mujeres en el otro extremo la escucharon. Alguien que sin duda escuchó su contragolpe fue el propio Ben, por lo que definitivamente sabe que es de ella y solo de ella.

Taylor Swift's concert film is still playing in Israel -- this despite some who thought she'd yanked the flick to make a political statement ... which we've learned ain't the case at all.

Here's the deal ... the 'Eras' movie just started hitting cinemas in Israel last week -- the first time it'd reached that territory as the international rollout continues -- and folks were happy to go see it.

However, come Monday ... some were having technical issues in snapping up tickets for this week, and as a result -- a frenzy started to ensue over the perceived halt.

As far as what exactly the problem was ... people who were going to Taylor's official website for the 'Eras' movie could not pull up Israeli locations at all. When you searched for Israel, the site automatically kicked users to other areas in the Middle East ... like Lebanon.

As a result, a lot of people started jumping to conclusions, and speculating that Taylor and/or her team had done this intentionally ... as a way to signal their stance on Israel-Palestine.

Of course, Taylor's close friendship with Gigi Hadid -- with whom she had just dined this past weekend -- also jumped into people's minds ... as they assumed this (would-be) move to yank the flick in Israeli theaters was a result of GH getting into T-Swift's ear on this issue.

That couldn't be further from the truth though ... because, as of right now -- people can access those Israel tickets from her site ... and we have an explanation for what happened that made it inaccessible in the first place.

As it turns out ... we're told there's actually a third-party company that deals with posting Taylor's worldwide showtimes on her official 'Eras' movie website -- aka, this isn't something she or her team deal with themselves.

It's unclear what the holdup was in uploading this week's showtimes ... but rest assured it was merely a delay on the third-party company's part, and we're told the issue has now been rectified -- with showings available for purchase in and around Israel.

Long story short ... there is NO political statement that Taylor is trying to take here, and she was NOT trying to stick it to Israel over what's going on in Gaza.

We did extra digging on this to make sure it wasn't just a pivot only after people noticed, BTW ... because even while tickets in Israel were temporarily not available to the public on TS's site, we confirmed you could still go to individual Israeli theater chains/sites and purchase tickets there -- which just speak to this someone dragging their feet by mistake.

La película del concierto de Taylor Swift todavía se está proyectando en Israel, a pesar de algunos rumores que decían que la estrella del pop había retirado la película para hacer una declaración política, lo que hemos indagado que no es el caso en absoluto.

Esto es lo que pasó... la película "Eras" recién empezó a llegar a los cines de Israel la semana pasada. Esta es la primera vez que el filme se proyecta en ese territorio mientras su despliegue internacional continúa, y la gente estaba muy feliz de ir a verla.

Sin embargo, algunos estaban teniendo problemas técnicos para comprar entradas el lunes, y como resultado, se desató un frenesí sobre esta posible interrupción.

Cuando las personas iban al sitio oficial de la película, no podían obtener locaciones en Israel en absoluto. Cuando los usuarios buscaban alternativas para Israel, el sitio automáticamente los llevaba a otras áreas en el Medio Oriente, como el Líbano.

Como resultado, mucha gente empezó a sacar conclusiones y a especular que Taylor y su equipo habían hecho esto intencionalmente como una manera de señalar su postura sobre el conflicto entre Israel-Palestina.

Por supuesto, la estrecha amistad de Taylor con Gigi Hadid, con quien acaba de cenar el pasado fin de semana, también se le vino a la mente a la gente, ya que asumieron que este (posible) movimiento de retirar la película de los cines israelíes había sido resultado de la influencia de Gigi Hadid sobre el tema.

La cuestión es que eso no podría estar más lejos de la verdad, porque, a partir de ahora las personas sí pueden acceder a los boletos de Israel desde su sitio oficial y tenemos una explicación de lo que sucedió con ellos en primer lugar.

Nos dicen que en realidad es otra empresa la que se encarga de publicar los horarios de Taylor en todo el mundo en su sitio web oficial. Es decir, esto no es algo de lo que ella o su equipo se ocupen directamente.

No está claro cuál fue el retraso en la carga de los horarios de esta semana, pero tengan por seguro que fue simplemente un retraso por parte de la empresa. Nos han dicho que el problema ya ha sido rectificado y que hay proyecciones disponibles para su compra en Israel y sus alrededores.

En pocas palabras, no hay ninguna declaración política que Taylor esté intentando hacer y tampoco está tratando de lastimar a Israel por lo que está pasando en Gaza.

Hicimos una investigación adicional  para asegurarnos de que las funciones estén disponibles e incluso si los boletos no estuviesen temporalmente disponibles para el público en el sitio de Taylor, confirmamos que todavía se puede ir a las cadenas de teatro israelíes individuales y comprar entradas allí, por lo que solo habla de que alguien cometió un error.

Selena Gomez trató de hablar sobre Israel/Palestina, pero terminó diciendo un montón de ideas difusas, ahora, su compañía parece estar aclarando cuál es su posición.

La compañía de la cantante y actriz, Rare Beauty, de la que es fundadora y presidenta, acaba de publicar un extenso comunicado sobre la guerra en Oriente Medio y al parecer, se inclinan más a favor de Palestina.

La cuenta de Instagram de Rare Beauty publicó una foto con las palabras "Crisis humanitaria en Gaza" superpuestas debajo. Así que sí, solo eso ya te dice cómo ven las cosas.

La empresa deja claro que no aprueba ni apoya lo que está pasando en el lado palestino de esta situación y saben que Israel se mueve en la zona tratando de acabar con Hamás.

Por supuesto, ha habido un montón de víctimas en el camino, y ahí es donde Rare Beauty traza la línea, diciendo: "Miles de civiles palestinos inocentes han muerto en ataques aéreos israelíes y millones de civiles han sido desplazados y sin acceso a alimentos, agua, medicamentos o necesidades básicas para la supervivencia. Un gran número de estas víctimas son niños. Hay que proteger a los civiles palestinos y punto".

La empresa continúa: "Seguimos con el corazón roto por el horrible ataque terrorista contra civiles inocentes en Israel el siete de octubre, muchos de ellos también niños. No hay ninguna situación en la que los ataques contra civiles sean aceptables. Denunciamos enérgicamente todas y cada una de las formas de antisemitismo e islamofobia".

Aquí, están reconociendo la matanza de 1.400 israelíes y diciendo que los ataques contra civiles están mal. Sin embargo, parece que se están centrando en Palestina en ese sentido.

Lo que es interesante acerca de la postura de Rare Beauty es que parece ser un mensaje mucho más claro que lo que Selena publicó inicialmente la semana pasada, cuando trató de meterse en la controversia, pero recibió un montón de críticas por aparentemente ponerse a ella misma en el foco principal.

Ella dijo que no está a favor de ningún acto de odio, y ante cualquier duda que pueda surgir, Rare Beauty lo aclara, NINGUN acto de NINGUN lado.

Lo que no se puede negar es que sienten que la respuesta de Israel es demasiado agresiva, evidenciado una crisis en Gaza. Ha habido manifestaciones masivas en todo el país y son en su mayoría pro-Palestina.

Mientras Selena podría haber tenido dificultades para comunicar sus sentimientos, su equipo intervino y habló en su nombre. Sabemos que no publicarían esto sin su firma.

Emotional day for Aaron Carter's family ... with his son visiting the late singer's grave site, exactly one year after his death.

Sunday marked the first anniversary of Aaron's passing, and his fam stopped by his headstone at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

Aaron's ex-fiancée Melanie Martin brought their son Prince with her ... and folks who were there tell us Aaron's twin sister, Angel, was already at the gravesite when Melanie and Prince arrived.

In addition to Aaron's mourning family, we're told fans also showed up to pay their respects ... many leaving candles and flowers.

TMZ broke the story ... Aaron was found dead in his Lancaster, CA home Nov. 5, 2022, and the official cause of death was drowning as a result of being under the influence.

On Aaron's death anniversary, we're told Prince walked up to his father's gravestone and counted all the candles left by fans -- there were 20 -- and Melanie hung around until the cemetery closed for a private moment at Aaron's grave.

Selena Gomez tried speaking on Israel-Palestine -- but ended up saying a whole lot of nothing/getting dragged ... but now, her company seems to be clarifying where she stands.

The singer-actress's very own Rare Beauty -- of which she is the founder and chairwoman -- just posted a lengthy statement on the war in the Middle East ... and right off the bat, it seems like they're leaning way more pro-Palestine here.

Rare Beauty's IG account threw up a photo of a maroon square with the words "Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza" superimposed below. So, yes -- that alone tells you how they view things.

Their caption is a mouthful, and they certainly try to walk the line ... but even there, RB makes clear that they do not condone or support what's going on on the Palestinian side of this situation -- namely, Israel moving in to the area and trying to snuff out Hamas.

Of course ... there've been a lot of casualties along the way, and that's where Rare Beauty draws the line -- saying, "Thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes & millions of civilians have been displaced & left without access to food, water, medicine, or basic necessities for survival. A large number of these victims are children. Palestinian civilians must be protected, period."

The company continues ... "We remain heartbroken by the horrible terror attack against innocent civilians in Israel on October 7th, many of them also children. There is no situation where attacks on civilians are acceptable. We strongly denounce any & all forms of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia."

Here, they're acknowledging the slaughter of 1,400 Israelis ... and saying that attacks on civilians are wrong. However, at this point, it seems they're focusing on Palestine in that regard.

What's interesting about Rare Beauty's stance here is that it seems to be a much more clear message than what Selena initially posted last week ... when she attempted to wade into the controversy, but caught a lot of flak by seemingly putting the focus on herself.

She did say that she doesn't stand for any act of hate -- but it was a little vague on which side of the aisle she was saying that for. Now, Rare Beauty is clarifying ... it's both sides.

But, what can't be denied is that they feel like Israel's response is overboard at this point -- evidenced by what they characterize as a crisis in Gaza. That echoes the mass demonstrations taking place all over the country right now ... most of which are pro-Palestine.

While Selena might've had a hard time communicating her feelings, her LLC stepped in and appears to have spoken on her behalf. You know they wouldn't post this without her sign-off.

Travis Kelce and the Chiefs were playing across the pond, but Taylor Swift and her fellow Kansas City wives and girlfriends still showed support for their men on Sunday ... with a group of ladies making their way to the singer's NYC apartment to tune in to the game!!

Former Chiefs backup quarterback Shane Buechele's wife, Paige, and tight end Blake Bell's partner, Lyndsay, were all smiles after K.C. pulled off the 21-14 win over the Miami Dolphins in Germany ... exiting Taylor's TriBeCa pad following the matchup.

Patrick and Brittany Mahomes' good pal Miranda Hogue -- whose hubby, Summitt, played alongside the two-time Super Bowl champ at Texas Tech -- was also present for the watch party.

We're told the fun didn't stop after the final whistle ... as Swift, Brittany and the crew took the hang over to Casa Cipriani (one of Taylor's favorite spots), where they celebrated the victory for hours.

Of course, Brittany has been spending a ton of time with Swift recently -- as we previously reported, they all went out in the Big Apple together the night prior ... enlisting Selena Gomez, Sophie Turner, Gigi Hadid and Cara Delevingne for the occasion.

Brittany also spent some time with the WAGs on Saturday ... sharing some snaps from their quick East Coast trip on social media.

Swift has had no issue fitting in with Chiefs Kingdom ... and coincidentally, Kelce plays much better when she's at his games.

Fans are probably hoping she'll return soon, as Kelce only had three receptions for 14 yards in Sunday's win.

Chris Brown lives by the motto that a broken clock is right twice a day -- his upcoming album, "11:11," is gonna have two different sides to hear ... in both the AM and PM!

The R&B star made a major announcement Monday -- saying his new album is gonna be double trouble ... touting Future, Fridayy, Davido and a few more surprise guests as part of the project. Like we said, there'll be an A side and a B side ... with 11 tracks on each.

The rollout news also confirmed fans' suspicions that Breezy still loves his long LPs. His last 2 albums both spiraled over 30 songs a piece ... 22 songs is still a heaping dose of new tunes, though!!!

All signs point to CB sticking close to the Afrobeats/light riddims this time around.

He's already dropped a pair of songs from the album -- "Sensational" featuring Davido and Lojay and the track "Summer Too Hot" and is teasing a similarly themed vibe with UK dancehall singer Byron Messia for the next single!!!

Dee-1 and Rick Ross have been engaged in a war of words on IG for days ... all stemming from Dee's open disapproval of Rozay's new "Shaq & Kobe" collab with Meek Mill.

The "Uno" rapper recently appeared on Sway's Universe ... where Dee called out Ross, Meek and Jim Jones for still glorifying killing people in their music after so many hip hop artists have been slain.

Dee lumped Meek, Jim and Rozay into a category he calls "DGs" -- aka disappointing grown-ups, and told a story of how he once spearheaded a shoe giveaway in his New Orleans hometown for Meek's Reform Alliance ... speaking to the movement's strength.

Meek claimed 1st Amendment for his part but Ross didn't take too kindly and dissed Dee for questioning his place in the community, citing his Thanksgiving turkey drives and other contributions for 20 straight years across Miami-Dade!!!

Dee took Ross' "baskethead" snipes in stride but explained to the MMG rapper he was actually criticizing his status as a Hip Hop OG who's still detailing graphic murders like he did on the "Shaq & Kobe" track.

Dee also explained to Rozay that he wasn't clout-chasing ... he's collaborated with several of Rozay's peers and has a long track record of giving back himself, although that wasn't the point of the debate.

3:55 PM PT -- Time hasn't cooled Soulja Boy's jets ... he's still dumping on J. Cole well into Monday afternoon and now is threatening to do the Dreamville rapper bodily harm.

He's also noting to fans that Drake just gave Cole his first No. 1 song when he wrote his first one at age 17. SB thinks there's no career comparison.

Soulja Boy isn't taking any perceived disrespect from J. Cole and Big Sean -- and he's letting them both know about it ... in only a way that Soulja himself could.

The "Crank Dat" rapper held court with his IG followers this weekend, where he gave both Cole and Sean a tongue-lashing for the ages ... all 'cause he feels like they're dogging him and his legacy, especially JC -- who spoke on Soulja pretty recently.

Of course, we're referring to Cole's interview with Lil Yachty the other week -- in which he attempted to give SB his props as a trailblazer -- but in the same breath, admitting he wasn't a fan of the dude at first, and that he simply didn't mesh with his rap purist taste.

Ultimately, it was a compliment ... but Soulja Boy took it as a back-handed one -- which is why he's cussing Cole out here. As for Sean, he got roped into this over past anti-SB remarks.

Soulja took the opportunity to slam both of 'em ... and said they owe their careers to him.

BTW, SB used his trendsetter status to deliver what he felt was the final nail in Cole's coffin -- thousands of people dressed up as him for Halloween this year ... while nobody wanted to copy Cole's unique dressed-down look.

Time will tell if SB will move past this beef -- but we assume Cole is somewhere thinking this is exactly why I don't do interviews!!!

Kanye West ha estado pasando el rato en el Medio Oriente últimamente y ahora, su hija North lo acompaña en sus aventuras.

La hija mayor de Ye —que al parecer le gusta estar con su padre más que su madre, Kim K— fue vista de la mano con su padre el pasado fin de semana, caminando por un centro comercial. Se les ve rodeados por un séquito, sin embargo, parece que lograron tener algo de privacidad.

Otros videos de Kanye y North han circulado en redes sociales los últimos días. Parece que podría haber estado en Arabia Saudita codeándose con los fans.

Vale la pena señalar que no vemos a ninguno de sus otros hijos por ahí y lo mismo ocurre con su esposa, Bianca, por lo que parece que solo North está con él en este momento.

Últimamente, Kanye tiene a los chicos de uno en uno, y por lo general, todos se quedan con Kim en California.

Por supuesto, también es notable que es North quien está aquí con papá, sabemos que ella es una gran fan de él y al parecer prefiere estar con él, al menos según Kim Kardashian. Recordemos que en un episodio reciente de "Kardashians", Kim reveló que a North le encanta el apartamento desvencijado de Ye.

Eso fue doblemente confirmado por la elección de disfraces de North para Halloween este año. Se disfrazó del famoso oso "Graduation" de Kanye, rindiendo homenaje al legado musical de su padre.

Kanye West has been hanging out in the Middle East lately -- and now, his daughter North is there too ... chillin' with her pops in what seems to be some one-on-one quality time.

Ye's eldest kid -- who seems to like being with her dad more than her mom, Kim K -- was spotted hand-in-hand with her father this past weekend ... walking through a mall. They're surrounded by an entourage, but it seems they had some relative privacy here.

Other clips of KW and North have been floating around on social media these past few days -- looks like they might've been in neighboring Saudi Arabia as well, hobnobbing with fans.

Worth noting ... we don't see any of his other children out there -- and ditto for his wife, Bianca -- so, it seems only North's with him at the moment, which kinda jibes with the parenting style Ye shares with his children these days.

As of late, he tends to bring them along one at a time ... even though they're all usually staying with Kim in California.

Of course, it's also notable that it's North who's here with Dad ... we know she's a huge fan of his and apparently actually prefers to be with him -- at least according to KK. Remember, in a recent 'Kardashians' episode ... Kim revealed North loves Ye's ratty apartment.

That was doubly confirmed by North's costume choice for Halloween this year ... she dressed up as Kanye's famous 'Graduation' bear, paying homage to her father's music legacy.