Music

Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber are firing back at Tekashi 6ix9ine's claim that she and/or their team illicitly bought their way to #1 this week.

AG took to IG Monday with a celebratory post, highlighting her and Bieb's single, "Stuck with U," which landed at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 list ... beating out Doja Cat's popular "Say So" as well as 6ix9ine's new single, "GOOBA," which came in third.

She said she wanted to thank her fans for getting her there, but also took a good minute addressing 6ix9ine's allegations from just a few hours earlier that she, Biebs and people working for them allegedly maxed out 6 credit cards to purchase 30,000 units at the last minute to secure their spot at #1. Ariana calls BS.

She insists the reason "Stuck with U" moved the way it did is because more people actually purchased their song instead of streamed it, which counts for more units than streaming and explains why it surged to the top. Ariana goes on to say she and Bieber have longtime ride or die fans -- and they're credited with the bump. Nothing more.

She continued with all artists should be grateful and honored by the opportunity to be heard at all, and to work in the biz. She sent love to everyone in the top 10 ... "even number 3."

BTW, Bieber took up for their hit track ... pointing out Billboard rules only allow for 4 units to be purchased per credit card -- so, he's saying Tekashi's allegation couldn't be true.

And, as for Tekashi only calling out Ariana? Justin says, "If you gonna say her name make sure you say mine because it's our song."

Master P and Romeo were done with the fake s**t ... and they desperately tried conveying that to "Growing Up Hip Hop" producers during a heated argument caught on camera.

TMZ's obtained video of Master P going at with producers during a 'GUHH' shoot in NYC back in early March. The issue P and Romeo were beefing with the show about involved what they called "fake drama" over a manufactured storyline involving Romeo and Angela Simmons.

Check out the video ... Master P's talking to a producer and he's fuming over how Romeo's being portrayed. He feels the story should instead revolve around Angela finding herself in wake of her ex-fiance and father of her child being murdered in late 2018.

Romeo also feels his relationship with God's being exploited on the show, and he's not having it anymore.

Master P tells TMZ, "These companies only care about ratings and creating negative edits, short cuts of scenes, focusing on drama for headline clicks and gossip that have been destroying families for years on tv. That's the real reason my son didn't want to talk on camera anymore because he knew that his words would be altered like they did mine."

ICYMI ... Romeo quit the show a few months ago over this very issue you're seeing play out in the video. He had been one of the OG cast members when the show premiered in 2016 on WE tv.

Carl Crawford's home became the site of a double drowning Saturday when a woman and a boy she was watching landed in his pool ... TMZ has learned.

Sources connected to Carl tell us ... the ex-MLB star and current record label chief was hosting a small gathering of 6 people at his north Houston home. The guests included a woman and a young boy -- no more than 5 years old -- in her care for the day.

We're told, at one point while Carl was inside, the boy wandered off and fell into his swimming pool out back. The woman went in after him, but neither were able to exit the pool safely. Our sources say Carl tried reviving them the best he could on the spot, but was unsuccessful.

Paramedics arrived and tried life-saving measures themselves, but to no avail. We're told both have died.

The woman and boy were both unresponsive when taken by ambulance, per KHOU 11 ... which also captured some on-the-scene footage that appears to show Crawford talking to cops. For the record, gatherings of 10 or less are currently allowed in Houston under the stay-at-home order.

Megan Fox is getting chummy with Machine Gun Kelly ... and it's just the latest sign there might be trouble at home.

The actress was spotted with MGK Friday grabbing some coffee and grub to-go near L.A., then hopping in his whip and leaving together -- presumably back to her place in Calabasas, or so we've been told. They seemed super friendly in the car ... and super caj.

It's just the latest sign that something's probably amiss with Megan and her husband, Brian Austin Green, whom she married in 2010. Meg's recently been seen not wearing her wedding ring ... ditto for him. Reports say they're even living separately during quarantine.

Their relationship has famously been on and off throughout the years -- they once called off their initial engagement before getting back together and finally pulling the trigger. Megan also once filed for divorce a few years back, but they got back together yet again.

Megan and Brian made a red carpet appearance together late last year -- the first time they'd done so in a while. They share three children together ... all of them are young.

Maybe take this as a sign of hope, that things can slowly get back to some sort of normal, because some of the folks in Wuhan, China -- where the coronavirus first spread -- are once again able to enjoy themselves with a night of relatively safe dancing.

More than 100 people gathered in the middle of the city Saturday night and it was choreographed for the times -- everyone was spaced 6-feet apart and it seems everyone was wearing a mask.

It's something of a tradition in Wuhan ... mass dances at night. The music ranges from EDM to Japanese pop ... even a little square dancing is mixed in.

The record just scratched on Eric Prydz's marriage ... his wife wants a divorce.

The famous Swedish DJ's wife, Sofie, filed for divorce on April 27 in L.A. citing irreconcilable differences. Eric and Sofie were married for nearly 5 years and have 2 kids together ... a 9-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.

They got married on July 17, 2015 and she lists February 20 as the date of separation ... according to docs obtained by TMZ.

Sophie's asking for joint legal and physical custody. As for spousal support, she's asking for it, and wants the court to enforce the terms of their prenup.

Prydz -- who's known as Pryda and Cirez D professionally -- made headlines in March when he claimed the only solution for the coronavirus pandemic was for all healthy people to get it, and suggested staying at home was misguided.

Yeah, he really said that, and got blasted by health workers. Prydz later apologized

He rose to fame with his 2004 single, "Call on Me," and went on to rack up hits with "Proper Education" and "Pjanoo" in 2008. He released his debut studio album, "Opus," in 2016, and won the Electronic Music Awards DJ of the Year in 2017.

Prydz also owns multiple record labels -- Pryda, Pryda Friends and Mouseville Records ... so splitting up assets in the divorce could get interesting.

Fat Joe had an eye-opening story for Ashanti that almost saw one of her biggest hits go to Jennifer Lopez ... at the would-be behest of Ja Rule and Irv Gotti.

Joe was talking to Ashanti on Instagram Live this week, and recounted an interesting tale about a time he says Ja and Irv called him up in the dead of night and told him to come to the studio. Once there, FJ says they showed him the remixed version of his song "What's Luv?" with Ashanti singing on it ... but told him they wanted to get J Lo on instead.

He goes on to say that Irv and Ja tried pitching him on a Latino angle with himself, Ja and J Lo on the final cut for representation. Joe's Puerto Rican, Jen is too.

Luckily for Ashanti -- who seems seriously stunned at the revelation -- Joe lobbied to keep her on, 'cause he said she sounded amazing on it. Audiences clearly agreed in the end ... Ashanti was kept on as the primary female singer in the remix, and the song went on to peak at No. 2 on the Hot 100 Billboard chart, and stayed on for nearly 20 weeks.

As for Ashanti, she says she never knew this ... and seemed a little pissed at either Ja or Irv (or possibly both) by saying, "He stayed pulling records or trying to pull records from me." Joe tries calming her down by telling her not to go there, but too late ... Ashanti did.

The duo went on to talk about a number of hits Ashanti had on the charts at the time, including one J Lo song she's credited with helping write, "Ain't It Funny" ... the Murder remix, anyway. People online are saying Ashanti doesn't get her due for her pen prowess.

Rich the Kid did some damage in the hood this week ...

The rapper was shooting a music video on Long Island and wanted to film with 4 Lamborghini's in the background. A woman named Irina Pichkhadze, aka @queenofexotics, brought 2 Lambos she owned to the shoot. Rich rented a third Lambo and a buddy of Irina brought the fourth. Each car goes for more than $600k.

Then Rich had an idea ... line up the 4 Lambos and take a pic in front of them while they waited for the videographer.

The shoot did NOT go well ... in fact, it didn't go at all. The videographer was a no show.

And then ... he jumped on the hood of one of Irina's whips, and she just lost it, hurling profanities at the rapper as he clowned on top the car.

Irina tells us when Rich jumped off, he just said, "whatever," and left in his Lambo.

Kim Petras just dropped a new quarantine-friendly music video ... and it's packed to the gills with celebs checking in from home and having a rockin' good time.

The transgender singer's latest hit is called "Malibu" ... and the theme for the music video is people everywhere daydreaming about some fun in the sun once these safer-at-home days are over.

Paris Hilton kicks off the long list of celebrity cameos, followed by Demi Lovato, Jessie J and Charlie XCX.

There are also appearances from Jonathan Van Ness, Madelaine Petsch, Todrick Hall, Pabllo Vittar, Loren Gray, Aquaria, Nikita Dragun, Dorian Electra, Brittany Broski, Bowen Yang, Slayyyter, Daniel Preda and Theodora Quinlivan.

Yeah, Kim's rollin' deep!!!

As you know ... KP loves trolling the hateful, homophobic Westboro Baptist Church, even parading around right in front of the hatemongers' HQ in Topeka, Kansas ... but this video is all about FUN.

The most popular digital strip club -- all the rage during quarantine -- has celebs lining up, virtually, for the first night of Justin LaBoy and Justin Combs' new Demon Time format.

Here's the deal ... LaBoy is moving Demon Time -- the online stripper stage -- from IG Live to OnlyFans, and Friday's launch has a crazy celeb guest list.

Usher, Winnie Harlow, The Weeknd, YG, Trippie Redd, YBN Almighty Jay, Karrueche Tran, Nav, Will Packer and Luka Sabbat are all expected to be in the virtual house ... along with sports stars like Kevin Durant, Odell Beckham Jr., Victor Cruz, Delon Wright and Caris LeVert!!!

Demon Time's been a huge hit on IG with celeb and normie fans, strippers who'd otherwise be out of work now ... and a little someone by the name of Beyonce!!!

Bey gave Demon Fans her stamp of approval on her remix of Megan Thee Stallion's hit, "Savage," so you already know it's gonna be lit!!!

In fact, it was a little too lit for IG Live ... which, we're told, had some issues with some of the sexier performances.

LaBoy's digital club won't have those issues with its new partner, OnlyFans. We're told the remodeled, if you will, Demon Time already has more than 2,000 subscribers on the new platform ... all ready for Friday night's premiere.

Jorge Santana ... the youngest brother of famed guitarist Carlos Santana, and an accomplished musician on his own, has died ... TMZ has learned.

His rep John Regna tells TMZ ... Jorge died of natural causes. Jorge is the youngest of 3 brothers and the second one, after Carlos, to pick up a guitar. Jorge was 14 when he started playing in San Francisco. He'd ultimately join a band in the '60s with some high school friends dubbed The Malibus.

The band's name later was changed in 1970 to Malo ... with help from the band's frontman's mother who'd scream at them "Todos ustedes son malo!" meaning they're awful.

Malo signed with Warner Bros and its self-titled album included the top 20 hit "Suavecito" ... known as the Chicano national anthem played at carne asada kickbacks all over the country. The track was such a huge hit ... Malo would end up performing on "American Bandstand," in 1972.

Malo would produce 3 more albums before breaking up. Jorge had also been playing in a band called The Fania All-Stars, which ended up playing at the classic Yankee Stadium in 1973 in front of more than 63,000 in attendance.

Five years later, Jorge released 2 solo albums titled "Jorge Santana" and in 1979 he dropped "It's all About Love."

He also worked with his famous brother with his management company as a director of artist relations. Jorge toured with Santana but in the '90s and they got together for the 1994 album "Santana Brothers" that included their cousin, Carlos Hernandez.

Not too long ago, Jorge appeared live occasionally with Malo and performed in front of a crowd that immediately reminisced to their high school days in the '70s thanks to "Suavecito."

Katy Perry's not covering a Barenaked Ladies song, but she IS a bare-naked lady for her new music video ... showing off her growing baby bump.

The singer released her "Daisies" music video early Friday morning, and in it, she's not just embracing pregnancy ... she's flaunting it in the buff!! We know, ya probably don't think of pregnant women doing stripteases, but that's what Katy did ... slowly losing her loose white garb with a waterfall in the background.

Katy says she wrote this song a couple of months ago "as a call to remain true to the course you've set for yourself, regardless of what others may think." She added that, recently, that took on a whole new meaning in light of the global pandemic we're all experiencing.

As she put it, "Each of us is one in more than seven billion, with our own story of strength and resilience to tell. I hope it will be the soundtrack to going for your dreams now... especially the ones we left behind."

Katy revealed her pregnancy news back in March when she dropped her "Never Worn White" music video. She and fiancee Orlando Bloom are expecting their first child together.

Did you know Barry Zito had a hell of a curveball AND an amazing voice?!?!

It's true ... the former World Series champ sang his face off all season on "The Masked Singer" -- with his voice even making Nicole Sherzinger cry before he was eliminated from the show Wednesday!!

The 42-year-old sang a rendition of Tim McGraw's "Humble And Kind" under the guise of The Rhino ... and it was so good, the Pussycat Dolls star was moved to tears.

Check out the footage ... Zito's twangy sound really had Nicole wiping away the waterworks!!

But, as it turns out, even that wasn't enough to save the former Cy Young winner from elimination ... he was booted from the show just short of making next week's finale.

Of course, it was a valiant effort from the ex-San Francisco Giant ... he finished in fourth place, and the judges praised him for being super authentic throughout the competition!!

BTW, Zito's been doing the music thing for a while -- and told us back in 2017 why he hopes to add a Grammy to his trophy case one day.

Also, don't feel too bad for Barry about the exit -- it's pretty much the only L Zito is taking in 2020 ... he just had a new baby, and his family is cute as hell!!