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Chi Modu -- one of the most famous photographers in hip-hop history, documenting iconic shots from the 1990s -- has died.

An Instagram post announcing the sad news went up Saturday, with a caption that read ... "Our hearts are broken... We continue the fight ©💪🏾 The family request privacy at this time 📷." It was accompanied by a photo of him and his lifespan in years, 1966-2021.

The details surrounding his death weren't released.

Chi had snapped one of the most memorable batches of photos as it pertains to music -- shooting a variety of rappers in the '90s, which went on to grace the covers of memorable albums, as well as T-shirts and stills for years to come.

He's perhaps best known for photographing Prodigy and Havoc of Mobb Deep for the cover of their 1995 album, 'The Infamous' ... but he might be just as known for his black and white photo of a shirtless Tupac, with his hands up near his head and cigarette smoke blowing.

There are countless other legendary artists in his repertoire, including The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, Nas, Diddy, LL Cool J, Wu-Tang Clan, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes, Dr. Dre, Ice-T, Run-DMC, Q-Tip, Gang Starr, Geto Boyz, Redman, Dead Prez, Eminem, Fat Joe, Kris Kross, Mac Miller, Ty Dolla $ign, Common and Flavor Flav.

The list can go on forever -- but bottom line ... your favorite rapper has probably been shot at one point or another by Chi ... whose work is well-documented and seriously unmatched.

The guy started at The Source and was pretty much tasked with getting in with these acts that were bubbling at the time ... and sure enough, they gave him unprecedented access to document their work, lifestyles and their most intimate moments. All the photos made for sick shots, which goes without saying.

His photojournalism went beyond just hip-hop, BTW -- Chi traveled the world and snapped a wealth of pics in countries all over Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Chi's contribution to photography and music culture is unparalleled ... and his death is, frankly, shocking.

He was only 54.

RIP

A Missouri family's emotions had to be through the roof this weekend ... this after a car came smashing down through their actual roof, all thanks to some stupid teens.

Two high schoolers -- who had reportedly just come from a graduation party -- somehow lost control of their vehicle very early Sunday morning while cruising a street near Eureka, MO ... and came toppling down a hill, only to come to a crashing halt via somebody's house.

Yep ... their car literally torpedoed through the ceiling of a family home -- and the car landed mere feet away from where the mister and missus were sleeping in the master bedroom.

According to reports ... the 2 people in the car were actually able to crawl out of the wreck and walk out the front door, seemingly unscathed. And yes, thankfully the couple -- who had at least a couple of kids in the house too, BTW -- were miraculously left unharmed as well.

The local fire department was called ... which captured these gnarly photos of the wreckage.

No word on *how* exactly the presumed grads ended up barreling down an embankment this badly in the first place -- but ya gotta figure the local authorities are investigating, and looking into whether alcohol or drugs might've played a role.

If revenge is a dish best served cold, then The Weeknd has himself some well-chilled hardware from the Billboard Music Awards, which gave him what the Grammy heads didn't.

Abel walked away with the most wins at the BBMAs Sunday ... racking up 10 total at the end of the night (the most out of any artist nominated) with many of the statuettes among the top honors given out, including Top Artist, Hot 100 Song and more.

In other words, Abel made up for lost time at the Grammy Awards and then some ... which completely shut him out from this year's ceremony with zero nominations.

As you know ... The Weeknd's on a campaign of sorts to call out the Recording Academy as corrupt, crooked, outdated, out of touch, you name it. Interestingly, though, he refrained from any Grammy talk during the BBMAs ... and kept it classy.

Franky, he didn't have to say much, because the wins spoke for themselves -- as did his performance later in the show of his hit, "Save Your Tears," which he performed in a parking lot with some sweet coordinated car choreography ... one of the highlights of the night.

As for his postshow celebration, The Weeknd was one of several celebs to hit the Billboard party at The Nice Guy.

Justin Bieber's nest of a hairdo is in the history books -- at least for now -- because the guy's got a fresh cut on his hands, but the question remains ... what caused the change???

We caught the Biebs and his wife, Hailey, leaving Voda Spa in WeHo Sunday, where JB was flashing a whole new look from the shoulders up ... namely, his was much shorter than what we'd seen of late. And yes, that means he's lost the so-called dreadlocks he was rockin'.

Of course, our photog had to ask what inspired the drastic clip -- and if it, perhaps, had anything to do with the criticism he was getting over his recent hairstyle (more on that later).

Unfortunately, Justin didn't seem to be in too chatty of a mood. Instead of answering, the mister and missus hopped into their Tesla and drove away. It sounded like he might've said something in response, but it appears that was just his bodyguards, who were close behind.

As for that backlash ... well, some felt Justin was misappropriating Black culture by rocking the locks with impunity. He had also tied his hair up in pigtails at several points throughout most of this past month ... but never really addressed the elephant in the room.

Maybe it was just a Must-Not-Cut-Hair May type of thing.

Of course, folks weren't necessarily losing sleep over this either. Considering all the different celebs over the years who've been accused of rocking hairstyles that aren't technically in their ethnic wheelhouse, the outrage over Justin's go wasn't nearly as loud in comparison.

A Florida high school is getting dogged for editing yearbook photos of female students whose outfits were deemed too revealing ... and now, they're having to face the music.

Bartram Trail High in St. Johns County caused utter outrage among dozens of families who realized their daughters' yearbook headshots had been horrendously altered after the fact ... all in an apparent attempt to cover up their upper chests and/or slightly exposed cleavage.

An investigation undertaken by News4Jax revealed that a whopping 80 of these yearbook photos had been edited in post, with what appears to be Photoshop. And, yes, you guessed it ... all of the changed photos are from girls. Not a single boy's pic was changed.

It's interesting ... because there are reportedly several guys at the school who are featured in the yearbook wearing skimpy Speedos, but none of those photos were touched up.

News4Jax reports that once the yearbooks were out -- and purchased by scores of students, including many whose photos were changed -- the kids themselves saw their pics had been butchered ... causing their folks to demand answers, not to mention $100 refunds.

Turns out, the yearbook coordinator is the one who made the call for the cover-up ... this per the St. Johns County School District, which confirmed their HS had, in fact, cloaked what they considered scantily-clad young women, some of whom were as young as 14.

Their rationale ... instead of nixing these girls' photos from the yearbook altogether for violating the school's dress code -- what would normally be their regular practice, they say -- officials wanted to try and include everyone this year, so they did some digital scrubbing.

The weird thing is that some of these students claim they'd gotten mixed messaging on their outfits -- including the same ones they wore for picture day. One student claims she wore the same top another day on campus, asked if it was okay ... and was given the a-OK.

As a result, BTHS now says parents who are upset can get their money back if they want -- they just gotta return the yearbooks they bought, which aren't cheap, fully intact.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are back, and they're done hiding it ... because the first clear shots of them together have surfaced, and they look all too pleased in each other's company.

BA flew into Miami Sunday to meet up with his old flame, trying to look incognito in a helluva getup. Dude was rocking sunglasses, a dad hat pulled down low and a face mask for good measure. Yet, even with all that, he kinda stuck out like a sore thumb ... and paps picked up on the scent. Good effort, though, Ben!

It became clear he was in town when he later surfaced at a waterfront mansion J Lo was at -- where Ben came out onto the balcony for a smoke at one point ... facing out towards the cameras, without trying to mask anything. There's no question, that's Ben Freakin' Affleck.

Jen popped in and out herself, but you could only make out her back, as she seemed to be trying to lay a little more low than her boo was. They never came out onto the balcony together -- but it's obvious ... they were sharing the same space, if only temporarily.

Eventually, they gave up the elusive act altogether and walked down a flight of stairs -- with Ben trailing Jennifer, who flashed a big smile ... and couldn't have looked happier. We'd like to say the same for Ben -- but he looked as aloof/pensive as he ever has (in memes and elsewhere).

One of the members of the winning band for this year's Eurovision stands accused of taking a bump during the live broadcast ... but he's denying it, saying it's not what it looks like.

Damiano David -- the lead singer of Maneskin, which took top honors at the singing competition -- could be seen at one point during the broadcast in what looked to many like a compromising position. In the now-viral video of the bizarre moment, you see him leaning down face-first toward the table in front of him, hovering for a bit ... and surfacing again.

There's a giant bowl blocking the camera from seeing what's right below in that shot -- but many saw it as it happened live Saturday, and immediately thought he was doing drugs.

Yeah, at first glance ... it does look like he might be doing a line. But, then again, it's hard to tell what the hell's actually going on down there. Some have also noted there are no visible signs of drug residue as he comes back up -- namely, white powder ... aka, cocaine.

The European Broadcasting Union -- which organizes the Eurovision show -- has said it's aware of the video, and that they're looking into the matter with an investigation of their own. Apparently, they tried getting an on-the-spot drug test done for David right then and there, but weren't able to get it together in time before the band flew out for the night.

However, David and his bandmates say they're more than willing to submit to voluntary drug tests ASAP ... as they insist there was zero drug usage by the singer or anyone else nearby.

A teenager who'd apparently just given birth left her kid with a woman who was grubbing at a New Jersey restaurant -- but, luckily, the baby will get a good home after all.

This happened Wednesday in Jersey City, where Alease Scott and her boyfriend, Walter, were having lunch at a joint called El Patron ... when out of nowhere, this teen girl -- who's said to be just 14 years old -- wanders in somewhat cloaked, carrying a newborn in her arms.

In CCTV footage provided by the restaurant owners, you see the teen walk up to the counter to seemingly ask something, and then sits down at a table ... which is when Scott checks in.

She goes over to the young mother and they appear to have a brief conversation, before the girl finally hands her baby over to Scott who then takes the child, a girl, back to her table as she rocks her. The teenager comes over herself for a bit, but then abruptly walks out ... seemingly fleeing.

Scott later told the authorities that the teen mom was asking for help, and that Scott -- who's trained in CPR and first aid -- asked if she could check the baby's vitals ... which the mother allowed.

Sure enough, the police were called ... and a flock of first-responders showed up to the scene -- even providing oxygen to the baby as she appeared to be having trouble breathing. Reports say the infant also still had some of her umbilical cord attached.

Kevin Spacey is easing back into acting again -- but his first job ain't even here in the States ... dude's heading all the way over to Italy to get back to work.

The disgraced actor -- who has faced a mountain of sexual assault allegations since 2017, and essentially been exiled from mainstream Hollywood -- booked his first acting role since the accusations came to light ... this according to ABC News, who confirmed it.

Spacey is set to star in an Italian film called "L'uomo Che Disegno Dio," which will be directed by famed Italian actor-turned-director Franco Nero ... the guy who played the OG Django waaaay back in the '60s. The title translates to "The Man Who Drew God."

The synopsis says it's about a blind artist who has the God-given ability to draw portraits of people by just listening to their voice ... who then skyrockets to fame and becomes a TV star. It's unclear what role Spacey will play, but he'll be opposite Nero's wife, Vanessa Redgrave.

Of Spacey's casting, Nero tells ABC ... "I'm very happy Kevin agreed to participate in my film." He adds, "I consider him a great actor and I can't wait to start the movie."

KS hasn't been on camera -- besides his own weird home movies, that is -- since he parted ways with Netflix's "House of Cards" in late 2017 ... which revamped the entire final season, killing his character off from the outset and pushing forward with just Robin Wright.

TikTok can draw a crowd for sure, much to the dismay of Huntington Beach residents.

An estimated thousand people swarmed the beachside community Saturday night and police broke up the bash that was called "Adrian's Kickback."

The party was advertised on Tiktok and went viral -- with users all over the country chiming in on the possible bash. The viral vids clearly did the trick, with hordes of people filing the SoCal beach and streets.

The crowd started to form at around 6:30 PM and things got rowdy pretty quickly. By 7:30 it was going full bore and then the fireworks started going off. By around 11:30 PM ... cops made their move, declaring the event an unlawful assembly.

Police used tear gas to break up the crowd. It was pretty much pure pandemonium as everyone started yelling as they either ran away or ran for cover.

At 11:30 PM the City imposed a curfew that lasted until 5:30 AM Sunday.

As for Adrian ... his name is Adrian Lopez and the celebration marked his birthday. All he said on TikTok was "pop out n celebrate my bday." That's all it took.

Dominique Wilkins says he was straight-up denied service at an Atlanta restaurant because of the color of his skin, but the restaurant shot back, saying it was simply enforcing a dress code that was colorblind.

The basketball Hall of Famer says he was denied service at Le Bilboquet restaurant, saying, "In my many years in the world, I've eaten at some of the greatest restaurants in the world, but never have I felt prejudice or been turned away because of the color of my skin, until today in #atlanta in @LeBilboquetAtl #turnedawaybecauseimblack."

The restaurant denied it had anything to do with race, saying, "We, at Le Bilboquet, do our best to accommodate all of our guests. However, we have received consistent complaints from our patrons regarding other guest's wardrobe choices.  As a result, to protect our restaurant's culture, we installed a minimum standard in our 'business casual' attire dress code which includes jeans and sneakers but prohibits baseball caps and athletic clothing including sweat pants and tops."

Wilkins, who played between 1982 and 1994 for the Hawks, wasn't buying it, saying, "They looked me up and down ... and to add insult, talked about how my clothes were not appropriate when I was wearing designer casual pants and a shirt."

Lil Nas X brought 'SNL' to a grand finale Saturday night, but the performance was a little ... well, a little too tight.

Lil Nas was performing "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" during the show, and all the gyrating was too much for his pants, 'cause they split down the front.

It happens at around the 2:20 mark in the video, as he was dancing on a stripper pole. You see him drop low, and that's when his pants do the splits.

He's a pro, so he immediately grabbed his crotch -- Michael Jackson style -- so it wasn't super obvious ... but yeah, it happened.

He boldly glares right into the camera as it happens and then presses on to the end of the song.

Lil Nas X was the musical guest for the season 46 finale. Anya Taylor-Joy did the hosting honors.

He's a funny guy, tweeting after the show, “NOT MY PANTS RIPPED ON LIVE ON TV,” adding, “OMFG NO… I wanted to do my pole routine so bad this what I get lmaoo.”

He followed up saying, "at first i was afraid to even perform. then we rehearsed for 2 weeks, then all of the dancers got removed because one had covid and new ones had to learn the routine in 24 hours, and then i ended up ripping my pants and couldn’t finish. everything happens for a reason tho lol"

Martin Bashir -- the journalist who infamously interviewed Princess Diana and just got trashed for it -- says he didn't do anything wrong or deceitful in nabbing the sit-down ... despite what an independent report has concluded.

Bashir made his first public comments about the scandal to the Sunday Times ... denying any nefarious behavior he and the BBC are alleged to have engaged in back in '95, when Diana agreed to talk to him on camera about her relationship with Prince Charles.

It almost sounds like an apology, but it ain't ... because Bashir straight up says he played no part coming up with alleged fake docs and/or bogus phone calls placed to Diana. He says, "Even in the early 1990s, there were stories and secretly recorded phone calls. I wasn’t the source of any of that."

He goes on to say the idea the interview was somehow something Diana didn't want, or that it was framed in a way that harmed her afterward is simply not true ... regardless of what her boys, Prince William and Prince Harry, might be saying now ... nearly 30 years later.

Bashir says, "Everything we did in terms of the interview was as she wanted, from when she wanted to alert the palace, to when it was broadcast, to its contents," while going on to say he and his family loved the Princess, and they remained close even after the interview aired.

MB goes on to say this, "I don’t feel I can be held responsible for many of the other things that were going on in her life, and the complex issues surrounding those decisions." He went on to say Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, squarely putting the blame of Diana's death on his shoulders was "unreasonable and unfair" -- while also explaining he gets the grief.

After the report came out affirming the BBC had, in fact, undertaken deceptive methods -- including made-up bank statements purportedly showing Palace staffers accepting payment for stories about her -- PC and PH both slammed the outlet, and Bashir by extension.

A handwritten letter featuring Albert Einstein's famous theory of special relativity has sold for a bundle at auction -- fetching a 7-figure amount!!!

The one-page note was written by Einstein in 1946, and sent to fellow physicist Ludwik Silberstein ... who's said to have doubted AE's theories. Translated from German, the part about kinetic energy reads, "Your question can be answered from the E = mc2 formula, without any erudition." Reports say this is the 4th time Albert had mentioned the theory on paper, and it's supposedly the only one made available through a private collection.

It was put up for grabs last week by Boston-based auction house, RR Auction, which says it eventually sold for a cool $1.2 million ... this after an all-out bidding war between five parties that eventually became a two-horse race once it started creeping past the $700k mark.

On Thursday, the sale closed -- with one bidder prevailing ... but they're staying anonymous, only being ID'd as a document collector. A rich one at that, too.

A punk rock band made of four ethnically diverse girls is on its way to producing its first professional record -- 'cause they just got signed ... this after a kickass performance.

The band is called The Linda Lindas, and it features four pre-teen/teenage girls -- aged 10 to 16 -- who describe themselves as "Half Asian/Half Latinx" ... and who rocked the house so hard earlier this month at the L.A. Public Library that landed them a deal with a major label.

Variety confirmed The LLs had been signed to Epitaph Records -- which has had quite the repertoire of rock acts in its roster over the years ... including Green Day, Weezer, Rancid, The Offspring, Pennywise, Bad Religion and scores of other legendary punk bands.

Now, the Linda Lindas are part of that mix -- although the details of their contract aren't out yet. In any case, it's a helluva achievement ... and it's all due to a set they put on in early May as part of AAPI Heritage Month, which got tons of love and famous fanfare.

ICYMI ... the Linda Lindas performed a number of original songs at the library, including one called "Racist Sexist Boy" -- the origin of which they explained had to do with the increased Asian hate that's been rocking the nation of late. To vent, they came up with this banger.

Two Vegas-area police officers used a deaf woman's own children to help interpret while detaining their mother ... which is now being called a blatant violation of the ADA.

The lady's name is Andrea Hollingsworth, and she recorded the encounter last month after running into a North Las Vegas PD cop ... who was responding to a call alleging Hollingsworth was stalking/harassing someone outside of their home.

Hollingsworth makes clear during the incident that she's deaf and can't hear the officer as he tried figuring out what was going on ... but lost his patience constantly. Another officer arrives on the scene not too long after and also expresses frustration with Hollingsworth.

Eventually, the officers get one of her kids -- who was riding with her when they got approached -- to try and be in the intermediary ... this as they put Hollingsworth in cuffs and sat her down on the curb. It's a distressing situation -- you can hear the children crying and Hollingsworth desperately tries to both reassure them and talk to the cops at the same time.

Once everything is calm (relatively speaking), the officers get some context from what sounds like one of Hollingsworth's daughters ... who says they're simply trying to get some money back from a friend who'd recently moved out of an apartment they were sharing.

The officer chastises the mom to the kid ... explaining police procedure and why it's important for people to cooperate, which he says Hollingsworth was not doing, making it all the more difficult to get to the bottom of what had happened. In the end, no charges were filed.

Now, more than a month later ... Nevada's ACLU chapter, as well as some deaf orgs, are crying foul over Hollingsworth's treatment, saying the cops violated the Americans with Disabilities Act -- not to mention police protocol, which says ASL interpreters must be dispatched in these types of run-ins, as they're on call and available 24/7.