TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

The Quavo and Lori Harvey dating rumor's been fueled by a couple of misleading photos -- and we've learned all they really have in common right now is the same taste in restaurants.

The buzz is the celebs had a hot lunch date at the San Vicente Bungalows -- an exclusive L.A. hot spot -- and while it's true they were there at the same time this week, they were not together.

Sources close to the situation tell TMZ Hip Hop ... Quavo was sitting at a different table from Lori, and he was having a lunch meeting. We're told he was focused purely on business, and not Lori.

Even Lori's tried to squash it by commenting on the TikTok post that claimed they must be dating. She explained she was there with friends, and Quavo co-signed ... calling the post "cap."

Real talk? We're told the pics of them leaving the joint were taken 10 minutes apart. While that's a common tactic celeb couples use to throw off paps, this time it's just a coincidence.

Lori is still dating "Snowfall" star Damson Idris, and Quavo is putting the finishing touches on his "Rocket Power" album, which will feature his collab with Future -- the one with that direct shot at Russell Wilson.

G Herbo might not be facing a gun possession case right now, if it weren't for the simplest of traffic infractions ... at least, according to the cops who busted the "PTSD" rapper.

Chicago police tell us Herbo was pulled over in a vehicle that had failed to display a turn signal in traffic ... and it was during that July 9 stop that cops say they found a Glock 33 in the car.

We also got a hold of Herbo's latest mugshot, and he looks either perplexed or amused over the situation. Let's face it, having a perfectly good Sunday Funday ruined over jail time is guaranteed to dampen your mood.

As we previously reported, Herbo didn't spend long behind bars and was later released on bond.

Drake and 21 Savage must still feel a certain way about Anna Wintour and Vogue on the heels of their nasty lawsuit ... using what appears to be an ugly visual of the fashion giant on their latest tour.

Not only did Drake post the not-so-appealing AI-generated image of a woman with Anna's signature haircut and sunglasses on his Instagram earlier this week ... she's also been popping up in visuals on his "It's All a Blur" tour with 21.

In fact, during the pair's performance of "Jimmy Cooks" -- the apparent Anna-double shows up, opening her mouth to reveal some pretty gnarly teeth.

While neither Drake nor 21 have come out and officially said the image is supposed to represent Anna, it's hard to see anything otherwise.

Of course, there's some unfriendly history between Anna and the rappers. It was back in November when Vogue sued the two for recreating Vogue covers to promote the album "Her Loss" -- both online and throughout cities across the U.S.

Eventually, both sides settled -- Drake and 21 had to reportedly pay up millions -- Condé Nast was seeking at least $4 million in damages.

The Island Boys say there's nothin' romantic going down between them after they smooched online ... in fact, Flyysoulja tells us it's something he'd be up for doing again.

In case you missed it, brothers Kodiyakredd and Flyysoulja had fans scratching their heads -- and even shielding their eyes -- after posting a video of them making out, directing folks to check out Redd's OnlyFans page.

Flyysoulja tells TMZ ... he's got no sexual feelings for his brother despite the controversial clip, adding this isn't the first time they've done this.

He says he'd for sure do it again, too -- adding, "We're both straight males and kissing is not counted as a sexual act," and that it's been boosting their OF subscriber count.

Flyysoulja says they put up the clip for another reason, though ... telling us they wanted to see "how f***ed up this world is." He points out that the attention they've been getting isn't at all the same response to his community outreach.

Ariana Grande is an expert in the studio, even outside her sweet spot of the recording booth ... so claims her longtime collaborator Leon Thomas III!!!

Leon and Ariana starred on the Nickelodeon series "Victorious" together back in the day, and he recalled coaching the megastar singer during a recent sit-down on the "Shirley's Temple" podcast.

Leon says he advised AG, early on, to learn the art of engineering her own music and swears he saw her grow into a master wizard at Pro Tools software.

Their still-developing creativity led them to make their own rendition of Drake and Rihanna's "Take Care" duet.

Leon says he was too mortified to let Drizzy hear, but AG didn't sound half-bad -- about as good as a rookie who was destined to sell more than 90 million records!!!

AG's last album, "Positions," (which Leon helped produce) was released in 2020, and it just may be time for her to fire up those studio skills again ... now that the actors' strike is in full swing.

Michael Jackson and Prince are two names almost guaranteed to be on every artist's collab wishlist ... but not Dr. Dre's!

The hip hop giant says he turned down both late music legends to work in the studio ... because they were just too established. He also admitted to leaving Stevie Wonder in the studio hanging after personally being asked to go half on a track. What's the big deal, Dre?!!?

The music mogul made the puzzling revelations to Kevin Hart on the new season of his "Hart to Hart" podcast and admitted shaping a new artist's career — as we saw with Snoop Dogg and Eminem — is much easier for him than helping a living legend find their sound.

Jay-Z and Robert Kraft are on a mission to thwart the rise of book bans by launching programs to reinstall teachings of slavery, the Holocaust and gender equality back into society.

TMZ Hip Hop has learned both Jay and Robert's organizations -- the Shawn Carter Foundation and the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism -- have donated $1 million to provide pro bono legal services to educators and librarians who've been targeted by local policies banning books.

The American Library Association reportedly documented nearly 1,300 demands last year to remove books -- most highlighting the Black and LGBTQIA+ communities, as well as religious minorities.

We're told the New England Patriots owner and Jay laid down the framework for underserved students to obtain scholarships and financial grants, and hopefully have their works turned into movies, plays, audiobooks, etc. to further the message.

There's also a plan to reprint banned books and have them circulated in adjacent learning centers.

The Brooklyn Public Library launched "Books Unbanned," a nationwide campaign that provides free books to kids, hassle-free, back in April 2022 ... and it's been wildly successful.

The BPL also unveiled Jay's new exhibit "The Book of HOV" on Friday, which showcases the Roc Nation rapper's legacy and written history in an elaborate fashion.

Jayson Tatum's appearance at Drake's concert on Wednesday night turned out to be a very painful experience for one fan ... 'cause during her freak-out over the Celtics star's cameo -- she wiped out down six rows of stairs.

The wild incident happened in the nosebleeds at TD Garden arena during the It's All A Blur Tour's stop in Boston ... after the rapper introduced the NBA star to the sold-out crowd.

The woman started to jump up and down when Tatum got on stage -- and she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Jayson Tatum!!"

But, somehow during the meltdown, she lost her balance ... tripped over a chair -- and then face-planted all the way down several steps.

Check out the footage of the fall ... she hit the pavement HARD.

No word on if she suffered any significant injuries ... but the TikTok user who posted the clip humorously captioned it, "big tatum fan!" -- so we get the vibe she's doing all right.

The night otherwise went off without a hitch ... and Drake seemed to be very pleased with his work inside the Celtics' home -- saying on his IG after the show, "Who else can get the Garden b(l)ooming like this?"

Lil Baby is officially a restaurateur now, after cutting the ribbon on his own Seafood Menu Restaurant & Lounge in his hometown!!!

The Quality Control rapper was flanked by a huge audience of supporters as Atlanta City Councilman Byron Amos commended Baby for opening the establishment in his old neighborhood ... which, if you're in the ATL, is located at 880 M.L.K. Jr Dr. SW.

Baby was holding his son Loyal and nodded as others received their credit for enduring the construction obstacles that delayed and threatened the restaurant's creation.

Baby's said to have been inspired by many restaurants' resilience to stay open during the trying times of the pandemic and created a spot custom to his tastes.

Baby and his partner Chad Dillon intentionally want to disrupt the local scene, and the restaurant's hook is its 7 unique custom sauces, with Baby particularly raving about the Caribbean jerk.

Lil Tjay says his comeback is officially complete ... the Bronx-bred rapper just popped the lid off his first project since being shot multiple times a little over a year ago.

We spoke with Tjay near Times Square at his "222" album release party last night -- and he's extremely confident that he's returned to the top of his rap game.

Tjay's team transformed the Brooklyn Chop House into a soiree dedicated to the "222" project, where Tjay took pics, rapped for fans and kicked it with Fivio Foreign -- who was in the building to support his friend.

The project also sports features from Jadakiss, NBA YoungBoy, The Kid LAROI, Summer Walker, and Coco Jones.

Tjay predicts fans will receive the music very well ... it's been over 2 years since he had a new project and his fate was hanging in the balance this time last year.

TMZ Hip Hop broke the story at the time ... Tjay was shot 7 times on June 22, forcing him into emergency surgery, and he's even had some legal drama amid getting this album out.

He created "222" out of sentiment ... it stands for the time on the clock Tjay says he saw when he was airlifted to the hospital after being shot.

Time apparently doesn't heal all wounds for Future ... 'cause the rapper just seemingly dissed the hell outta Russell Wilson in his latest song.

The Atlanta M.C. dropped the controversial bar in his "Turn Yo Clic Up" collab with Quavo on Friday ... rapping in his verse, "I got it out the field, f*** Russell."

Future hasn't shied away from his thoughts on his ex-fiancée and mother of his child, Ciara, moving on with the NFL quarterback ... going in on the now-married couple multiple times in interviews.

Remember, Future Hendrix bashed Ciara for having Russell around Future Jr. early in their relationship ... telling "The Breakfast Club" in 2015, "You don't bring a man around your son."

"You've known this man for a few months and you're bringing him around your kid? Who does that?"

He later went in on Russell in 2019 ... saying he's not a real man in their relationship.

"He not telling her, 'Chill out with that on the internet. Don't even talk to him. I'm your husband. You better not even bring Future's name up!" he said on Apple Music.

"If that was me, she couldn't even bring his name up. She know that. She couldn't even bring her exes names up."

Russell and Ciara have been married since 2016 ... and they have two kids of their own.

Wilson has since become a father figure for Future Jr. as well ... even spending a lot of time working on their football skills together.

Russell doesn't seem bothered by Future's constant gripes -- this past Father's Day, he said, "Future, Sienna & Win ... I Love You Forever! Glad we get to raise them together Momma! @ciara."

Drake's dad is apparently dealing with a scary situation at home ... police say they responded to Dennis Graham's place after he got some odd and disturbing phone calls late at night.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... someone called twice and texted Dennis over the course of 15 minutes Wednesday night, with the person on the other line allegedly rambling about Freemasonry and Dennis being Drake's dad, and that was enough to get cops involved.

Our sources say LAPD went to Dennis' estate after the alleged incident ... with cops taking an annoying phone calls report.

At this point, our sources say it's unclear who was contacting Dennis or what their motive was, but the case is under investigation.

Lil Durk spent the past week in the hospital with severe dehydration and exhaustion, only to be released yesterday a source close to the situation tells TMZ Hip Hop.

We're told Durk checked into a hospital on July 6, after falling ill in Ohio.

He went to the hospital as a safety measure ... but doctors told him the matter was more serious than he and his team realized and quickly admitted him.

The sudden health scare forced Durk to miss a series of shows across Europe and yesterday's ESPY Awards, and we're told he's still not been cleared by physicians to return to work in any capacity.

Durk tells TMZ Hip Hop ... "My fans mean everything to me, you’re the reason why I do this. I was looking forward to touching all of my European fans, performing this week(end), attending the ESPYs and more but after performing and traveling daily I’ve become severely dehydrated and advised by my doctors not to travel due to exhaustion. Once I get my full energy back, it’s back to business which I’m looking forward to. #StillHealing."

Jeezy knows not all moguls are created equally ... which is why he feels the story behind his success probably resonates with the common man better than billionaires like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk.

The trap rap king joined us on "TMZ Live" Thursday to explain why his new book, "Adversity For Sale: Ya Gotta Believe" offers better keys to success for the average American than most "get rich" books.

Jeezy's leaning in to his early days as a young hustler on the streets of Atlanta -- but says, even back then, he had an idea about where he wanted to end up ... and how music would help him get achieve that.

Along the way, he became one of the biggest forces to ever dominate hip hop ... yet, Jeezy told us he's always been entrepreneurially minded, succeeding in real estate, business ownership and philanthropy. He says rap just happens to be what got his foot in the door.

He hopes his book will influence inner-city youth living in violent surroundings, and show them there is a path to prosperity for them.

Kelly Rowland admits accidentally blowing the gender secret during Beyoncé's first pregnancy still haunts her to this day!!!

The ex-Destiny Child singer remembered her royal screwup while speaking on Billy Mann's "Yeah, I F*cked That Up" podcast, referring to it as the "worst moment" ever.

Back in 2011, she told Bang Showbiz, "[Jay-Z] is going to buy that little girl every single thing possible ... she won't be spoiled but she will be very well looked after" ... and her pronoun choices allowed the world to pick up on the fact the baby was a girl.

She also suggested Bey was even disappointed with her loose lips, but the moment didn't derail their friendship.

The two recently joined forces for Knowles-Rowland Project ... a $7.2 million construction for a 31-unit housing project for homeless residents in Houston.

And of course, that baby girl grew up to be Blue Ivy, who's currently dancing alongside her mother on the "Renaissance" World Tour.

Lil Wayne was undeniably a vital part of this year's ESPY Awards ... the Young Money rap star had every athlete in the building rocking when he opened the event with a sports-themed rendition of his classic banger "A Milli!!!"

The electrifying performance peaked when Wayne went into the crowd and bounced with reigning Super Bowl champ Travis Kelce, but the hip-hop legend wasn't done highlighting the festivities.

Weezy F. Baby later introduced WNBA 🐐 Sue Bird to the podium and linked up with Angel Reese, 2 Chainz and NBA champ Jamal Murray throughout the evening.

Backstage, Wayne and Quavo dapped it up, and we're told it was the first time they've seen one another since Lil Weezyana Fest last year -- which, tragically, was Takeoff's final show before he was killed.

We're also told Wayne's choice of attire was intentional -- he repped for the late Kobe Bryant in a "Mamba Mentality" sweater, and also donned an LSU hat to signify women's accomplishments ... most notably Angel and Flau'jae Johnson, who has a song collab with Wayne dropping soon.