You Might Want to Rethink

Lil Uzi Vert is stewing over his record deal with Generation Now ... he thinks he's not getting his fair shake, and he wants to hammer out a new contract.

A source familiar with his current deal tells TMZ ... the rapper's being exploited because the contract allows little room for growth and doesn't do enough for his bottom line.

We're told Generation Now is supposed to cover Lil Uzi's studio time and recordings, but the label's refusing to pony up -- so he's being forced to seek financial assistance from people close to him. Sounds like an awkward conversation.

We got one of his rap buddies, Nav, out in NYC this week, and he told us Uzi's gotta fix his situation so they can drop new music.

Lil Uzi's serious about getting out from under his contract ... we're told his side proposed an amended deal, one that's more fair and balanced for the artist. As you might expect, the label is pushing back.

However, another source tells us Generation Now isn't holding up the release of Uzi's upcoming album, "Eternal Atake," and they're definitely NOT exploiting him -- they claim he's been in full control of the project from the jump.

As the label sees it ... Uzi has a production budget for the album and he's been recording in Philadelphia for a while, but hasn't shared any of his work -- making it difficult for the label to set release dates, or figure out marketing and promotion plans.

Financial woes aren't the only problems for Lil Uzi ... his latest single, "Free Uzi," was just yanked from streaming services over licensing issues.

While it sounds like the standoff's getting worse, we're told both sides still hope to meet in the middle.

The prosecutor in the Jussie Smollett case threw shade at the Mayor of Chicago and the Police Superintendent as she bizarrely tried to explain her decision to cut the actor loose from the justice system.

Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx wrote an op-ed piece in the Chicago Tribune, in which she says the case against Smollett was not a slam dunk. Foxx is clearly pointing the finger at Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson, who came out strongly in a news conference after Smollett was charged, saying the evidence was clear -- Smollett paid the Osundairo brothers to stage an "attack."

Foxx says, "For a variety of reasons, including public statements made about the evidence in this case, my office believed the likelihood of securing a conviction was not certain." She doesn't explain how those public statements would affect the case.

Foxx goes on to diminish the alleged crimes, saying Smollett was charged with a low-level felony, "The least serious category, which also covers things like falsely pulling a fire alarm in school and 'draft card mutilation.'" So, Foxx is comparing filing a false police report and falsely alleging a hate crime is like pulling a fire alarm.

She says, "These felonies are routinely resolved, particularly in cases involving suspects with no prior criminal record, long before a case ever nears a courtroom and often without either jail time or monetary penalties." What she's not telling you ... the way these cases are typically resolved is with a plea bargain ... and not outright dismissal. Remember, Jussie did no formal community service.

She then goes after Mayor Emanuel and Superintendent Johnson, saying, "Any law-enforcement leader or elected official not grandstanding or clouded by political expediency understands the purpose of sentencing guidelines." NOTE: Smollett was not sentenced. He was let go.

Stevie Nicks just got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for a second time ... but that doesn't mean she's an expert on music history.

We got this funny video of Stevie after Friday night's induction ceremony at the Barclays Center in New York ... and she mistakenly refers to her good friend Harry Styles as a former member of 'NSYNC. Oops.

It was just a slip of the tongue though ... as the crowd laughs and groans, Stevie immediately recognizes her mistake. She jokes she's "never gonna live that one down" and finally gets it right ... Harry's in One Direction.

Making the innocent faux pas even funnier ... Harry was the one who introduced Stevie on stage earlier in the evening, listing off her accomplishments and calling her his idol.

6:37 PM PT -- Donald Trump Jr. just threw some major shade at Avenatti at his father's political rally in Michigan, joking that Michael's presidential ambitions took a serious hit this week.

Junior jokes that Michael went from "Avenatti 2020 to Avenatti 20 to 25" ... clearly hoping his foe is going to prison for his role in the alleged extortion plot.

Michael Avenatti was loaded for bear Wednesday night, proclaiming his innocence in the extortion case, proclaiming that the R. Kelly case would be unaffected by the extortion case and proclaiming it's only a matter of time before top Nike execs would be led away in handcuffs.

We got the embattled celeb attorney in WeHo Wednesday night ... and we strolled along with him on a long, long walk ... where he unpacked his outrage.

Avenatti said all the talk that his indictment will torpedo the R. Kelly prosecution is BS ... because the evidence is the evidence is the evidence.

And then, he talked Nike. As you know, he's been accused of trying to extort the shoe co. for more than $20 million in return for keeping his silence on alleged misdeeds -- specifically, Nike secretly paid off the families of star high school basketball players in order to direct them to Nike-sponsored colleges.

He goes after Nike execs with a vengeance, saying they are corrupt to the core and it will be exposed. He also insists any money he may have demanded was not a quid pro quo for his silence. Avenatti says he was going to expose Nike regardless of whether the company paid him or not.

The U.S. Attorney claims he has a videotape from a March 21 meeting between Avenatti and Nike attorneys in which he allegedly says, "If [Nike] wants to have one confidential settlement and we're done, they can buy that for $22.5 million and we're done."

George Clooney is calling for a boycott of hotels owned by the Sultan of the Asian country of Brunei -- even the L.A. ones -- a week ahead of the day they'll start killing gay people by stoning.

The actor posted an impassioned open letter on Deadline Thursday, asking consumers not to do business with the 9 hotels owned by the autocratic country's ruler, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, including the famed Beverly Hills Hotel, as well as the Hotel Bel-Air.

Clooney's plea with would-be hotel dwellers comes less than a week before the day Brunei as a nation will implement capital punishment on citizens who are proven to be gay or commit adultery. Those folks will be stoned to death.

That's no joke -- Brunei lives under Islamic sharia law ... one of the few countries in the world to do so.

Interestingly, Clooney notes that there was widespread outrage about this a couple years ago, and people successfully boycotted the two L.A.-area hotels ... if only for a short while. Now, he's asking for renewed attention in light of the looming deadline.

One of Jussie Smollett's "Empire" costars doesn't want to answer for pulling her support when things were hot ... especially now that the case has gone ice cold and been dropped.

We ran into Tasha Smith -- aka, Carol Hardaway (Jussie's aunt on the show) -- leaving Chelsea Studios in NYC Thursday, where our camera guy pointed out that she was one of many "Empire" stars who yanked their initial supportive IG posts when Jussie was arrested.

Of course, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office decided to drop the charges altogether just this week.

Before our photog can get around to a question, Tasha jumps in to jokingly berate him, asking why in the hell he'd ask that about her "family" ... and turns the question on him.

It's a pretty hilarious back-and-forth here -- which ends with her telling us to kiss it where the sun don't shine. And, while Tasha and our guy made peace by the end of it ... she skated around a serious question, and seems to be pulling back from her initial pull-back.

Lil Wayne is demanding the return of a notebook filled with his old lyrics, but the guy trying to sell it for $250k says the rapper's just gonna have to buy it like anyone else off the street.

We broke the story ... Weezy's 1999 notebook is being sold by Moments in Time for a quarter-million dollars, and the dude claiming ownership says he found it lodged in a car that once belonged to Cash Money Records.

Now Wayne's trying like hell to get his work back ... his attorneys fired off a warning letter to Moments in Time, claiming Wayne's the rightful owner, and the broker doesn't have permission to sell or transfer the notebook to anyone.

In the letter, obtained by TMZ, Wayne's legal team says he never abandoned his notebook -- he simply misplaced it and is thrilled it's been found. Weezy's team claims the guy who found it "absconded with the notebook" and hid it for years ... waiting to cash in.

Gary Zimet, the owner of Moments in Time, is firing back ... he says if the Young Money honcho wants the notebook, he'll have to pony up, because the guy who found it "has crystal clear title."

Wendy Williams isn't batting an eyelash about rumors regarding her husband allegedly having a baby with another woman ... but she is batting her ring finger at photogs.

The talk show host was leaving a Pilates studio Wednesday in NYC, where paps were at the ready to fire off questions about how she was doing ... without asking point-blank about her hubby's alleged mistress. It seems they didn't need to though ... based on her reaction.

Wendy told the paps that she was fine and was carrying on with her business -- in fact, she says she was just on her way to a book signing. When one photog asked about her wedding ring, Wendy was happy to flash it ... so it's pretty clear she's not sweating cheating stories.

We know that too. Sources close to the production of her show tell us her hubby's still working on set as an EP, and that he and Wendy have even interacted civilly behind the scenes.

You know what goes horribly with a steak burrito ... STAPLES!!!

But, that's exactly what MMA announcer Jimmy Smith claims he found in his food on Tuesday when he took a bite out of a burrito he bought at a Chipotle in Delray Beach, Florida.

"I took one bite and it was something hard in there and I pulled it out of my tooth and it was 14 staples," Smith says ... "A brick of staples!"

Smith -- who's called fights for the UFC and Bellator -- says he called the restaurant and "freaked out" on the manager ... because he realizes how DANGEROUS swallowing a staple could be.

Smith also says he's LUCKY he didn't ingest the office supplies because he eats like a wild animal -- usually tearing through his food as fast as he can.

Fortunately for Smith -- and Chipotle -- Smith says it does not appear he injured his tooth or his mouth ... or suffered any other injuries from the fully loaded burrito.

Smith says the situation was escalated to Chipotle's corporate offices -- and he has already been contacted by a rep looking to make things right.

Smith says he's not looking for free food or money and does NOT plan on filing a lawsuit -- he just wants the problem corrected so nobody else chows down on 14 STAPLES!!!

"This can't happen to someone else."

Jussie Smollett got off in his criminal case simply because he's a celeb -- so says Chicago's mayor, Rahm Emanuel ... who stops short of calling this a corrupt move, but certainly insinuated it.

Mayor Emanuel went on GMA Wednesday morning following his blistering attack on the Cook County State's Attorney's Office the day before, after they dropped all 16 charges against Jussie and let him walk scot-free.

The Mayor said flat-out ... if he did the same type of thing, he'd have the book thrown at him.

First Assistant to the State's Attorney Joseph Magats says they decided to drop the charges because it wasn't a violent crime -- and thought Jussie coughing up $10k and doing community service sufficed as punishment. Hizzoner says no one on the outside can make sense of it.

Ariana Grande is laying down the law on concert photographers for a perfectly good reason -- she's been taken advantage of by greedy photogs in the past ... and she's over it.

Sources connected to the "thank u, next" singer tell TMZ ... Ariana's new concert photo policy stems from years of being exploited by a number of photo agencies that would often shoot photos of her in concert ... and then turn around to use those to make a profit.

Here's how it would happen ... we're told Ariana would perform, photogs would take as many pics of her as they wanted ... and then, shortly after, merch she didn't approve of would hit the streets with those photos emblazoned on the items. AG never saw a dime from any of it.

A few examples include calendars, photo books, memorabilia and other items that never got the green light from Ari, or her team.

Our sources say after multiple incidents, she and her camp made the decision to tighten things up in the pit. Of course, the National Press Photographers Association doesn't like this new policy one bit -- which is pretty strict -- but we're told Ariana couldn't care less.

Aside from the new rules she has in place, Ariana and her team also have their own in-house photog, and are happy to distribute whatever photos these publications want ... so long as they're approved by her.

While we're told it was only a handful of bad apples who crossed the line with their photo privileges, it was more than enough for Ariana to switch things up.

Dana White says he will not offer Conor McGregor a stake in the UFC to lure the fighter out of retirement ... telling us, "That's never gonna happen."

McGregor announced his retirement on Twitter Monday night -- days after he reiterated his demands to get a slice of the UFC as a part owner instead of a fight paycheck.

White appeared on "TMZ Live" on Tuesday and said he's NOT trying to go to war with Conor -- but he ain't giving away ownership stakes either.

White says if Conor wants UFC ownership, he needs to BUY stakes in the company like everyone else.

"Listen, if you want to own a piece of the company, you have to put up the money to buy a piece of the company," White explained ... "That's how it works."

White says he was surprised by Conor's retirement tweet -- "it came out of nowhere" -- and insists he and Conor are still on good terms.

"I've never had a bad conversation with Conor McGregor since he's been in the UFC."

White is also not concerned about the state of the UFC if Conor is serious about retirement ... saying there will ALWAYS be big stars who take over when other stars leave.

Jussie Smollett had pals of his in the Cook County State's Attorney's ear early on in his case -- and, based on leaked correspondence, it looks like she acted on his behalf.

Texts and emails between State Attorney Kim Foxx and two Jussie allies -- one of which is reported to be a family member of his -- have been leaked, and they show that Foxx was asked to intervene in the case a few days after he'd reported the alleged attack to Chicago PD. It appears that she did exactly that ... and kept Jussie's camp in the loop.

The initial correspondence started when Michelle Obama's former chief of staff, Tina Tchen, emailed Foxx to say that she was reaching out on behalf of Jussie's family to express "concerns" they had with how the investigation at that point was being handled.

Jussie had not been charged with a crime yet, but it's believed Chicago PD was already doubting his story and leaking info to the press pushing that narrative.

Foxx responded to Tchen on Feb. 1, saying ... "Spoke to Superintendent Johnson. I convinced him to Reach out to FBI to ask that they take over the investigation. He is reaching out now and will get back to me shortly."

The same day, an unnamed relative of Jussie's texted Foxx herself, as well, and Foxx said she was working on getting the case sent over to the FBI. The relative replied, "Omg this would a huge victory." Foxx then responded, "I make no guarantees, but I'm trying."

Later, Foxx recused herself from the case when Jussie became a suspect. And, of course, her office just announced Tuesday that it was dropping all of the charges against Jussie, after coming out strong with a 16-count indictment just weeks earlier.

Her official reasoning for dropping the charges ... Jussie has done community service in the community, so we're good. Her office asked a judge to seal the case, and they obliged. Mayor Rahm Emanuel strongly hinted at corruption in the State's Attorney's Office.

The Chicago-Tribune first reported on the leaked texts and emails.

Aaron Donald doesn't seem convinced Rob Gronkowski's played his last game in the NFL ... 'cause the Rams superstar tells TMZ Sports, "He's retired right now ..."

Of course, the topic has been a huge talking point in NFL circles after the future Hall of Famer abruptly announced he's callin' it a career at just 29 years old.

Count Donald in as one of those who needs to see it to believe it ... but if it is, in fact, true, AD has HUGE respect for the Patriots legend's game, regardless.

"Great player, had a great career. Won a couple of rings -- one of the best to do it."

Donald also handed out some advice at the L.A. Sports Awards to a young fan who wanted some tips on how to make it big -- and, shockingly, Donald says it takes hard work!!!

"My main thing is just hard work. Getting the body working."

If ya need proof Donald practices what he preaches, here ya go. You're welcome.

No, this is not the new Republican party intern photo ... it's the NFL's annual head coaches pic -- and as you can tell, it's overflowing with diversity.

IMPORTANT FACT -- Mike Tomlin is missing from the photo ... but so are 5 other white coaches.

As you can probably tell, there is DEFINITELY not enough black representation in the head coaching ranks ... something the NFL has acknowledged.

The league has the Rooney Rule -- which requires NFL teams to interview minority candidates for every available head coaching job ... but as you can see, it ain't always effective.

The good news ... there seems to be a crop of talented, young black assistant coaches who are all making compelling cases for a head coaching gig in the near future, including guys like Kris Richard, Eric Bieniemy and Teryl Austin.

Dr. Dre had good reason to delete his post throwing shade on Lori Loughlin and her daughters ... because, just like Lori, it looks like Dre was pushing his own daughter to become a USC student.

Dre's daughter, Truly Young, posted last May, "Dad pushing me to go to USC." Her expression seems to tell the story.

He caused a big commotion over the weekend when he posted a pic of him and his daughter holding an acceptance letter from USC with the caption, "My daughter got accepted into USC all on her own. No jail time!!!"

Dre took the post down after getting a rash of criticism ... as we reported, he and Jimmy Iovine donated $70 MILLION to the University. They funded and created the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation. It was established to promote entrepreneurship, computer science and engineering, audio and visual design, and the arts.

This is not to say Truly didn't get admitted on the merits, but it certainly casts a shadow given the enormous donation.

As for the comparison to Lori Loughlin's daughter, Olivia Jade, you'll recall she really didn't want to go to college, but her parents had a different idea. The feds say Olivia got in after her parents paid $500,000 ... making it seem like she was going to become a member of the crew team when, in fact, she had never rowed.