Music

Nicki Minaj's husband is taking a plea deal that could seriously lighten his punishment for failing to register as a sex offender in California ... TMZ has learned.

According to docs filed by federal prosecutors ... Kenneth Petty has agreed to plead guilty to one count of failing to register, and in return, the feds say they will seek a sentence at the low end of the guidelines.

The judge will ultimately determine exactly what Petty gets, but in the docs -- obtained by TMZ -- the feds note the mandatory minimum sentence is 5 years of supervised release.

If you're wondering why Petty took the deal ... consider that the maximum sentence he could have faced is 10 years in prison with a lifetime of supervised release. He still might end up getting some time behind bars depending on how the judge weighs Petty's criminal history.

You'll recall, Petty was charged back in March 2020. He had moved to Cali with Nicki the previous year, and the feds said he never registered with local authorities as a sex offender -- something he was required to do because of a 1995 conviction in NY for first-degree attempted rape.

Backstreet Boys singer Brian Littrell is suggesting Britney Spears be wary about what she throws up on her social media, because this is a very precarious time for her ... a clear reference to her conservatorship battle.

ICYMI, Britney's been very active on Instagram lately -- sharing thoughts, memes, topless photos and odd tales about locking herself in the bathroom -- so Friday at LAX, we asked Brian what he thinks about her posting spree.

He tells us Britney's under the microscope right now -- more so than usual -- due to her conservatorship case, so he thinks she should be more "cautious" and professional with what she posts.

Brian says, just like everyone else, he wants the best for Britney, but in order to get there she needs to be "diligent" about social media.

We broke the story ... Britney's personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, has acknowledged she has concerns about her mental health, following Britney's dad, Jamie, claiming Jodi referred to her as "mentally sick."

Meanwhile, Brit wants Jamie removed as conservator of her estate immediately and replaced by Jason Rubin.

Brian's right about one thing -- with all the legal battles being waged, there is way more interest in Brit's posts, it's really the only way she speaks out, but Brian's advice seems to be ... say less.

Britney Spears' personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, has fired back at Jamie Spears, but what she's saying also raises issues about Britney's current mental health state.

Montgomery is reacting to Jamie's legal filing Friday, in which he says Jodi raised concern about Britney's mental state, calling her "mentally sick" ... and even suggesting it might require a 5150 involuntary psychiatric hold.

Jodi says, through her lawyer, Jamie misrepresented her position ... "At no time did Ms. Montgomery express to Mr. Spears that Ms. Spears would currently qualify for such a hold. The concern that Ms. Montgomery did raise to Mr. Spears during their telephone call is that forcing Ms. Spears to take the stand to testify or to have her evaluated would move the needle in the wrong direction for her mental health."

As you know, it was actually Britney who told the judge she wanted to testify back in June. And, Jodi's lawyer is not saying Jodi did not raise the issue of a 5150 hold as an option ... the lawyer says Jodi never said she'd qualify for an involuntary psychiatric hold.

The lawyer adds, "Ms. Montgomery does have concerns about Ms. Spears' 'recent behavior and overall mental health' as set forth in Jamie Spears Declaration ... Due to medical privacy, Ms. Montgomery cannot go into those concerns with any further detail except to say that having Jamie Spears continuing to serve as her Conservator instead of a neutral professional fiduciary is having a serious impact on Ms. Spears' mental health."

Jodi's lawyer also notes Jamie said in his legal docs it was Jodi who got Britney into a mental health facility back in 2019. Jodi's lawyer says at the time Jodi was merely a case manager for Britney -- not her conservator -- and she signed the admission papers at the behest of Jamie.

What's interesting here ... when Britney testified in June, she told the judge she was forced into the facility, but Jodi's lawyer seems to take issue with that, saying, "Ms. Spears consented to her placement at the facility in March, 2019."

Renowned record producer Sean Garrett isn't resting on his laurels -- he's still out there looking to discover new talent ... with a modernized "Star Search"-type strategy.

Garrett and music executive Max Gousse co-founded a new record label called Hey Young World, and Sean joined "TMZ Live" to explain how he's not looking for new artists -- instead, he's "Looking for Legends."

He's teaming up with iHeart Radio to find a diverse crop of fresh talent in 5 different categories -- pop, R&B, hip-hop, Latin and country -- and applying is as easy as submitting a video.

From there, the contest will enter a top 30 phase in which the finalists will perform live in front of Sean and some other judges ... with 5 record deals at stake.

And if you aren't familiar ... Garrett's resume includes writing and producing hits for Ciara, Mario, Nicki Minaj, Pussycat Dolls and most famously -- Usher's "Yeah!"

Sean told us he's confident he can find new artists to follow in those huge footsteps, but you gotta submit your video before Aug. 22.

Britney Spears personal conservator told Britney's dad less than a month ago, Britney was so mentally impaired the conservator raised the prospect of putting her under a 5150 psychiatric hold ... this according to Jamie Spears in new legal docs.

In the docs, obtained by TMZ, Jamie says on July 9, 2021, he got a call from Jodi Montgomery, Britney's personal conservator, who sounded "very distraught" and expressed how concerned she was about Britney's recent behavior and overall mental health.

Jamie says Jodi told him Britney was not "timely or properly taking her medications, was not listening to the recommendations of her medical team, and refused to even see some of her doctors."

Jamie says Jodi asked for his help, but he said he did not have access to Britney's medical information since he hadn't been in control since late 2018.

That's when Jamie says Jodi raised a 5150 psychiatric hold as an option.

Jamie also said Jodi acknowledged that many of the statements Britney made in open court last June were false ... attributing the alleged falsehoods to the fact she's "mentally sick."

Jamie then says on July 13, 2021, he got an email from Jodi who backtracked and discounted the need for a 5150.

Also in the docs, Jamie takes aim at Britney's new lawyer, Mat Rosengart, saying Rosengart's allegations of malfeasance were "unsubstantiated, vague accusations."

He makes a specific point of disputing Rosengart's claim Jamie denied Britney a trip to Hawaii. Jamie says that was simply false.

And, Jamie says, his "sole motivation has been his unconditional love for his daughter and a fierce desire to protect her from those trying to take advantage of her."

Jamie also says he's "dutifully and faithfully served as the Conservator of his daughter's Estate without any blemishes on his record." He goes on to say when he came on board, the Estate was in debt and facing 10's of millions of dollars in lawsuit, and he turned it around, so it's now $60+ million strong.

He also says he worked hard with a team of professionals to restore Britney to good health, reunite her with her kids with whom she lost custody and help revive her career.

Britney Spears has made it abundantly clear she wants her father, Jamie, out as conservator of her estate and Jason Rubin to take his place ... and if and when he does, sources tell TMZ he'll put Jamie under the microscope.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... if Rubin is appointed, the first order of business will be to conduct forensic accounting to determine if Jamie mishandled Britney's finances.

Rubin is a CPA who routinely dives into complex businesses and does exactly that, and based on the documents that Britney's new lawyer, Matt Rosengart, has filed, there will be a lot to examine.

One of the big-ticket items Rosengart has flagged ... a $500,000 payment to Britney's former business manager, Tri Star Sports & Entertainment Group. Tri Star had been getting a 5% percent commission on Britney's gross entertainment-related income, and when she was performing the company was getting a bundle because Britney was making an enormous amount of money.

When Britney went on hiatus in 2019, the amount Tri Star was getting dwindled to around $200,000 a year. A rep from the company sent Jamie an email asking to raise the minimum to $500,000, and Jamie approved it, despite an existing agreement that Tri Star allegedly had which did not entitle it to the additional $300,000 a year.

Rosengart also cited Jamie's request for more than $1.3 million in attorney's fees, which included $541,000 for "media matters."  Rosengart clearly thinks "media matters" is B.S.

And, Rosengart took issue with Jamie paying himself $16,000 a month -- Rosengart says that's $2K more than Britney herself got.

TMZ broke the story ... Britney wants her dad out immediately, and either wants the judge to move up the hearing date from late September to August, or suspend Jamie immediately pending the hearing.

A Kanye West fan tried to join the show during the rapper's second "Donda" listening event ... but got taken down by security before he got too close.

About midway through Ye's performance Thursday night at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium -- his second in as many weeks -- a man dressed in orange breached security in the stands and made a break for the stage.

As the guy made his way through the large crowd of backup dancers, that's when a security guard came out of nowhere with the big tackle. Unfortunately, it looks like he may have been injured in the collision.

While we hope the guard's okay, the fan was apprehended by several other guards after the take-down and hauled away. However, it seems police were not involved because we're told they have no record of the incident.

As we told you ... Kim Kardashian and all their kids attended the "Donda" listening party 2.0, which was supposed to lead up to the public release of Kanye's 10th studio album after already being delayed.

Turns out, the second time around yielded the same result, as of Friday 7:30 AM PT ... "Donda" is still not out.

Kim Kardashian and all of her children are showing just how much they love and support Daddy ... they're back in Atlanta for Kanye West's encore "Donda" album release.

Kim and their kids -- North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm -- are on the East Coast yet again to attend Ye's second event at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2 weeks in anticipation of the release of his 10th studio album ... scheduled for Friday.

Kim and the kids are dressed head to toe in Balenciaga, which sorta makes sense ... the creative director behind the event is the head of Balenciaga.

We're told some family friends are also with Kim -- including KKW's Chief Marketing Officer Tracy Romulus and her kids -- to celebrate the rapper's momentous occasion.

Worth noting -- our sources say this is not some sign that Kim and Kanye are getting back together ... the divorce is still happening, but the family support remains strong.

As we first told you ... Kim and the family were also in attendance on July 22 when Kanye first debuted "Donda" ahead of its initial July 23 release date. It never came out, though ... thus his need for round 2.

Our sources say the plan is for Kayne to put a new twist on the second album release event ... which looks like it may involve transforming into a supervillain.

Then again, as Khloe recently told us ... only Kanye truly knows what's in store.

The Offspring are telling people their drummer, Pete Parada, was NOT kicked out of the band due to being unvaccinated ... but as a practical matter, it may be the case.

Jason "Blackball" McLean -- famous for singing "You gotta keep 'em separated" on The Offspring's 1994 hit, "Come Out And Play" -- tells TMZ ... Pete was never given the boot by his bandmates and a mutual agreement was reached ... but frankly, a return is sounding more and more like a pipedream.

We're told there have been several discussions between Pete and the other band members for months about getting back on the road, traveling and touring again ... which would require getting vaccinated.

More and more venues, cities and countries are requiring proof of vaccination to perform ... and we're told the band needs a drummer who's all-in on getting the shot.

Pete says he can't get vaccinated due to a medical issue that's gotten worse since childhood, so he's out ... and there doesn't appear to be a pathway for a return in the foreseeable future.

Drummer Josh Freese will be filling in for The Offspring's upcoming shows -- but the band is telling folks it's not permanent and as soon as things get better and Pete's not required to be vaxxed to be in a venue, there's an open invitation to return.

Thing is ... vaccine mandates don't appear to be going away anytime soon, nor does COVID, and with herd immunity seeming further and further away, it's increasingly hard to imagine Pete getting behind a drum set with The Offspring.

BTW ... though Jason's not an official member of the band, he will be appearing at some of their upcoming shows to perform his iconic lyrics, just like he did on a recent ep. of their "Cockpit Karaoke."

R. Kelly's lawyers submitted a list of questions for potential jurors ... and it's clear they're trying to eliminate anyone who might judge Kelly's sexual preferences or lifestyle.

According to new legal docs obtained by TMZ ... the disgraced singer's legal team wants the judge to include 6 additional questions for prospective jurors to answer during the jury selection process.

Here's the first one on the list, just to paint the picture -- "Do you have any views about heterosexual, lesbian, gay, and/or bisexual people that would affect your ability to be a fair and impartial juror?"

From there, the questions focus on specific gay, lesbian and bisexual scenarios and ask the potential jurors if they have views on them that would affect their ability to be fair and impartial.

This all stems from the latest development in Kelly's case, in which the judge ruled he will allow the new allegations -- that Kelly groomed and molested a 17-year-old male he met at McDonald's -- to be presented during trial.

Dua Lipa's dress screams "IDGAF" ... as in, who cares if you can see her black g-string.

The singer and BF Anwar Hadid got real comfy with each other during a lunch date in Ibiza. They were there with a group of friends, and even though this looked pretty caszh, that didn't stop Dua from dressing to the nines with a beige dress, long earrings and heels ... on the beach, mind you.

And, as you can see, Dua's dress is pretty revealing on the sides ... not that it restricted her mood in any way. She looked to be having a blast at the beachside joint.

Dua snapped a few selfies while laughing it up, and when Anwar rejoined the group after a smoke break ... she couldn't help but throw her arms around him.

Looks like they hung out at their lunch spot until late into the night.

Aaliyah fans who've been waiting years to be able to listen to her music on digital streaming platforms, are about to get it.

According to Blackground Records -- which owns the late singer's masters and is rebranding as Blackground Records 2.0 -- it's partnering with the independent label EMPIRE to bring her songs to streaming services worldwide ... along with catalog material from Timbaland & Magoo, Tank, Toni Braxton and JoJo.

The catalog will be released in near chronological order, starting with Aaliyah's "One in a Million" album on August 20 ... though physical vinyl and CD pre-orders, as well as digital pre-orders and pre-saves, are available now on Blackground's site.

In September, the late singer's self-titled album will be released to streaming, followed by "I Care 4 U" and the "Ultimate Aaliyah" compilation albums in October.

If you didn't know ... her songs have notoriously never been available to download or stream, except for her 1994 album "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number." But, now -- 20 years after Aaliyah tragically died in a plane crash -- her music finally will be available for fans to enjoy.

The big news isn't welcome from everyone, though. As you may know, the reason for the hold-out is a long-standing rift between Aaliyah's uncle, Barry Hankerson -- founder of Blackground Records who owns her masters -- and her mother, Diane Haughton, who controls the rest of her estate.

That contention is still there, as it seems Blackground Music is behind the digital streaming release of Aaliyah's music.

This resulted in the Estate of Aaliyah issuing this response -- "For 20 years we have battled behind the scenes, enduring shadowy tactics of deception with unauthorized projects targeted to tarnish." The Estate also calls the streaming deal an "unscrupulous endeavor to release Aaliyah’s music without any transparency or full accounting to the estate."

Britney Spears is sick of waiting for her day in court ... she wants some action now, to get her dad booted from the conservatorship.

Britney's lawyer, Mathew Rosengart, filed legal docs ... asking the judge to move up the hearing date on removing Jamie from late September to August.

Rosengart says every day Jamie continues to act as conservator of Britney's estate, she feels traumatized and loses sleep. Rosengart quotes Britney's personal conservator, Jodi Montgomery, who says, "Mr. Spears's removal as Conservator is critical to [Britney's] emotional health and well-being and in the best interests of the conservatee."

Montgomery also says, "I have had numerous, ongoing conversations with the medical team and we all agree that it would be best for Ms. Spears' well-being and mental health that her father stop acting as Conservator."

Rosengart says, "every day that passes is another day of avoidable harm and prejudice to Ms. Spears and the Estate."

He also says every day that goes by is a threat to Britney's financial health ... "There has been an evident dissipation of assets of Ms. Spears Estate, and that dissipation is ongoing."

Rosengart says Jamie's litigation counsel alone is asking for more than $1.3 mil in attorney's fees ... this for services performed between October, 2020 and June, 2021. He also says Jamie has submitted $541k for "media matters." He outlines what Jamie is making as Conservator and says it needs to stop now.

It's interesting ... he uses a quote from Lynne Spears ... "It is clear to me that James P. Spears is incapable of putting my daughter's interests ahead of his own on both a professional and a personal level ..." What's interesting is Britney seems to dislike Lynne as much as her dad.

Rosengart says if the court won't move up the hearing at a minimum the judge should suspend Jamie immediately from his duties.

Lil Yachty's posted up with Kanye West inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and from the look of things, Yachty's vibing on "Donda" ... while Ye's morphing into a supervillain.

The "Hit Bout It" rapper paid Kanye a visit at his makeshift ATL home ahead of the second "Donda" listening party set to go down Thursday evening -- and Kanye was wearing his usual full head cover, plus a jacket covered in giant spikes!

Seriously, looks like something from the "Suicide Squad" wardrobe.

Yachty's the latest rapper to visit him inside his quarters at the home of the Atlanta Falcons. Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa have also popped in to see Kanye.

Apple's launched a stream for viewers to "Watch Kanye finishing Donda in Atlanta," but it's intentionally muted the entire time ... which is why you can't hear any sound coming from the video Yachty posted.

As we reported ... Kanye and co. had been trying to figure out how to make this experience different from the first, which as we first reported, broke the Apple Music Global Livestream record with 3.3 million viewers.

Fetty Wap's daughter died as a result of a health issue she'd carried with her since birth ... TMZ has learned.

The rapper and his ex Lisa Pembroke's 4-year-old, Lauren, died from a fatal cardiac arrhythmia due to complications of congenital cardiac anomalies ... this according to the death certificate. Essentially, that means she'd had this heart problem since birth, and the resulting irregular heartbeat killed her.

According to the document, obtained by TMZ, Lauren passed on June 24, 2021 ... at her home in Riverdale, Georgia.

Both Fetty and Lisa have posted touching tributes to their daughter during the last week ... which was the first time they'd definitively shared the heartbreaking news with the public.

Fetty seemed to imply Lauren had passed away a couple weeks ago -- during his set at Rolling Loud, he dedicated the performance to her.

The Rolling Stones can't always get what they want -- they'll be touring without their original drummer for the first time in their nearly 6 decades as he recovers from an unspecified medical procedure.

Charlie Watts is 80 -- the oldest of the Stones -- and has been with the band since its inception in 1962, but he says he's going to have to sit out their upcoming U.S. tour "on the advice of the experts that this will take a while."

The good news ... Watts' medical procedure is said to have been a complete success, but time just isn't on his side to make a recovery before the band is set to resume their No Filter tour with a stadium show in St. Louis on Sept. 26.

They've also sold out many other big shows for the fall tour, and Watts will be replaced by his friend, Steve Jordan ... a veteran musician who's played with Keith Richards for years.

Still, the Stones say this is all "very disappointing to say the least, but it’s also fair to say no one saw this coming."