TMZ Hip Hop - Page 50

Lil Wayne is deep in the hole with his ex-manager to the tune of more than $20 mil ... at least according to a new lawsuit.

According to docs, obtained by TMZ, Ronald Sweeney claims Wayne hired him in 2005 to help renegotiate his deal with Cash Money. You'll recall Weezy beefed with Cash Money honcho Birdman over how much Cash Money paid out to Wayne's label, Young Money.

Long story short ... Lil Wayne settled that Cash Money lawsuit in May 2018, but Sweeney now claims he only got a few payments from that settlement ... and they were nowhere near what he says his full cut should be.

Then there's this ... in the suit, filed by attorney Ed McPherson,  Sweeney says back in May 2018, Lil Wayne asked him to fire Cortez Bryant -- Weezy's manager and childhood friend -- over a conflict of interest in a legal dispute involving Drake and Cash Money.

Sweeney says he did so, and took over Bryant's duties and got Wayne to give him a pay bump from 10% to 17% commission. But, Sweeney claims Bryant and Mack Maine then conspired to drive a wedge between Wayne and Sweeney, which allegedly worked. Sweeney says Wayne fired him in September 2018.

Then, this past June, Lil Wayne sold his masters to Universal Music Group for more than $100 million. Sweeney doesn't seem to be asking for any money from that deal ... but brings it up seemingly to point out Wayne has the cash to pay him what he claims he's owed.

Post Malone's got a new line of custom Crocs, and to test them out ... he put a new pair on the feet of every single kid at his old school FOR FREE.

The Post Malone x Crocs Duet Max Clog II hit the market for the first time Tuesday, and sold out within a few hours -- but one group that was for sure able to snag some before they were swept up was the entire academic body of Grapevine High School in Grapevine, TX.

Sources tell us Posty hooked up his alma mater with a new pair of PM Crocs of their own -- and we're talking every single student and every single faculty member. What does that mean numbers-wise??? Well, Grapevine HS has a student body of about 1,900 and with maybe 100 or so teachers ... we're talking somewhere in the 2,000 range.

Grapevine's principal, Alex Fingers, made the announcement to everyone this week ... saying Post had noticed all the good work they'd been doing for the community of late, so he decided to give back a little himself. Principal Fingers even flashed his own set of Crocs.

We're told a Google spreadsheet was distributed throughout the entire school last week, where everyone was told to put down their shoe size ... and then the Principal dropped the news.

He also posted photos of kids on campus opening their bags of PM Crocs -- and as you can see, people seemed pretty pleased. BTW, we're told these were distributed as safely as possible ... clearly, Grapevine's one of the schools in this country that's open right now.

Rick Ross says he's been exactly where millions of Americans are today -- avoiding doctor visits due to lack of healthcare -- which is why he's backing an affordable new option.

Da Boss and healthcare vet/entrepreneur Tommy Duncan joined us on "TMZ Live" to discuss their telehealth app, Jetdoc ... and reveal why the music mogul jumped into healthcare. Rick told us part of it is personal, and part of is addressing what's become an obvious need.

As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic forced clinics/hospitals to pivot and rethink how doctors can treat and diagnose patients during lockdowns. As a result, nearly 25 million people used a telehealth service between March and October, and the vast majority of them were satisfied with the service.

Enter Rick Ross and Tommy, who've both coped with serious health issues -- Rick's battled seizures, and Tommy suffered a stroke at just 30 years old. Still, the rapper says he knows all too well that people who don't have access to health insurance avoid getting medical care ... and he wants to change that.

The duo told us Jetdoc, available for download on Google Play and the App Store, is incredibly reasonable at just $20 for the first virtual urgent care visit or $10 a month for an unlimited membership.

Chance the Rapper is a study in redundancy ... this according to none other than Dionne Warwick, and her words sent Chance into orbit!!!

Dionne tweeted Saturday night, "If you are very obviously a rapper why did you put it in your stage name? I cannot stop thinking about this."

Solid point, Dionne. Chance flipped out, but not because of Dionne's note. He fired back, "Sorry I'm still freaking out that u know who I am. This is amazing!"

Dionne, who's a big fan of Chance and loves "Holy," responded, "Of course I know you.  You're THE rapper. Let's rap together." Our take ... THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!!

But, Dionne wasn't done ... after calling herself "Dionne the Singer," she wondered, "The Weeknd is next. Why?  It's not even spelled correctly?"

He then responded ... "I got roasted by Dionne Warwick and I feel honored! You just made my day."

Rihanna really does have love on the brain ... and A$AP Rocky close by her side points to all signs they're an item.

The singer was out for a chilly stroll with the rapper Wednesday night in NYC ... both were bundled up in huge winter jackets. They also covered their faces with masks ... but that's more about the pandemic and NYC's mask mandate than the temperature. They probably thought it would help keep them concealed from photogs ... but to no avail.

Anyway ... it seems RiRi and Rocky -- friends since at least 2013 when he opened for her Diamonds World Tour -- started fueling dating rumors after they were seen having dinner together with friends at the Beatrice Inn in NYC over the Thanksgiving weekend.

That they've spent time together's nothing new. Again, they're longtime friends. In fact ... she included him in her Fenty Skin campaign earlier this summer and conducted several interviews together promoting the collab.

But, now that we've seen them out together -- just the two of 'em -- it's certainly all but confirming what they've yet set out to do ... announce they're a new couple.

Post Malone's easing the pain of a brutal season for his Dallas Cowboys with lots and lots of diamonds -- which won't bring back Dak Prescott, but man do they shine!!!

The rapper added to his 'boys bling collection after hitting up Angel City Jewelers in L.A. for a new pendant. This one's 14-karat gold, weighs 207 grams and, most importantly, features a whopping 29 carats of diamonds.

You can see the pendant's a tribute to America's Team and its NFL birth year ... 1960. The pendant also features an American flag, in case anyone forgets their nickname. The pendant's value is over $50k, which falls way short of the $250k he dropped for his other Cowboys chain ... but still, it's insane.

There's a nice custom touch on the back ... the words "A Star is Born July 4th" -- PM's birthday -- and the oh-so-humble title of "#1 Fan."

Tough to argue with that, though, when Post's still dropping 5-figures to celebrate a team that's struggling hard.

Forget Brad Pitt, there's a new "Fight Club" in town -- and this time, it's Snoop Dogg calling the shots!

The rapper has teamed up with Triller co-owner Ryan Kavanaugh to launch a brand new pro boxing league called "The Fight Club" ... and we're told there's already a blockbuster event in the works!

TMZ Sports was talking with Kavanaugh about Snoop's wildly entertaining performance as a commentator at the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. fight ... when Ryan dropped the bombshell on us.

"This was the first event of a league that we have called 'The Fight Club,'" Kavanaugh said.

"It's a league owned by Proxima, which is the parent company to Triller and Snoop, and this was the first of many, many events."

Kavanaugh says Snoop is a co-owner of the league -- plus, he'll be doing fight commentary and helping book the fights and musical acts!

"This is gonna be big," Kavanaugh says ... "The whole idea is we want to change up the way that boxing is done."

The plan is for "The Fight Club" to put on both sanctioned fights and non-sanctioned fights ... basically, like the Mike Tyson card.

Kavanaugh says he's already got a MAJOR sanctioned fight in the works involving some huge stars.

"I can tell you that the main fight — I can't say it yet — but it’s gonna be something that everybody wants to see. If you thought [Tyson vs. Jones Jr.] is big, I think that this would be even larger from a worldwide-appetite perspective and something that people want to see."

Kavanaugh says the undercard will be stacked too -- they're currently looking at social media stars, actors, musicians, athletes and pro boxers to get in on the action.

Cardi B's getting inspiration today from a little girl named Lyric ... whose story, Cardi says, should remind all of us to be kind and appreciate everything we have.

As Cardi says ... Lyric is a "very strong girl" from Houston who is fighting brain cancer and has undergone 4 surgeries, but she's still smiling and spreading joy.

That's evident by the fact the rapper says so many people have DM'd her about Lyric ... and obviously, love her and want her to get better.

Funny thing is, Lyric seems to be making other people better by being such a shining light despite her ordeal, and putting a smile on their faces. Cardi's so moved, she poured out her heart about Lyric ... saying she feels like she has it tough sometimes, but now realizes it's nothing compared to what Lyric is going through, and that's truly inspiring.

Lil Wayne is blaming an "unrelated 3rd party" for screwing up his plans to perform at the Mike Tyson fight -- telling TMZ Sports there's no bad blood between himself and Triller.

Our Weezy sources tell us the rapper cut short his Thanksgiving weekend celebration with his family in Louisiana so he could be in L.A. to perform at the fight -- and he DID actually make the trip out.

But, something went wrong on the day of the fight leading Wayne to bail on the entire event.

So, what happened?

"Unfortunately there was an unrelated 3rd party who attempted to insert themselves in the production process between Triller and Lil Wayne the night before the event and the morning of and it unfortunately caused enough of an issue that Wayne couldn’t perform," Triller said in a statement co-issued by Wayne.

The details behind the scenes are unclear -- but one source put it this way ... one of the event's producers "interfered with Triller and Lil Wayne at the last minute trying to insert themselves and ended up creating a mess and all around confusion. At a certain point, Wayne got frustrated and decided it was best to pull out of the performance. By the time Triller learned about the mess it was too late."

Wayne -- who is actually a co-owner of Triller -- said he's proud of the way the event turned out, "but was truly disappointed I was precluded from performing by the 3rd party."

Tekashi 6ix9ine had deep concerns about COVID when he was in prison, which is why he got out early ... but those concerns have evaporated in a big way, 'cause dude hit a packed strip club ... and didn't seem too concerned anymore about catching the 'rona.

The New York rapper celebrated his girlfriend Jade's birthday Sunday by walking into a gentleman's club with two human-size sacks full of cash ... which he and the crew dragged over to a VIP section and started unloading singles on dancers.

Based on what we can see ... it looks like they might've rolled in there with upwards of $200k on hand -- at least that's what Jade's claiming.

Speaking of her, 69's GF documented much of their good time on IG -- where she was seen wearing a body-hugging, green bodysuit ... while Tekashi was decked out in all black with a ton of bling and a new mustache. One thing they weren't seen wearing at all ... face masks. Nobody in the video seems to be rockin' one.

We should note that it looks like they were somewhere in Florida here -- just the night prior, there were reports that 6ix9ine and co. had been spotted in Miami.

It's perfectly legal there to be up in the club right now -- even without face coverings, although it'd be wise to wear one. That said ... it's funny how Tekashi's urgent fears of catching COVID-19 just earlier this year have vanished.

You'll recall ... part of the reason why Tekashi was even allowed to finish his sentence from home was because he cited asthma and other underlying conditions he claimed made him susceptible to contracting the disease from inside prison walls -- and a judge believed it and let him out early.

Lil Wayne will NOT be performing at the Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr. fight after all -- even though he signed a contract saying he would ... TMZ has learned.

Sources tell us ... organizers for the mega event this weekend had a flight booked for Weezy so he could take the stage Saturday ahead of the fight set to go down at Staples Center in L.A. in just a few hours. We're told LW simply never got on the plane.

Sounds like it was a last-minute cancelation -- we're working on getting more info about why that happened, but in any case ... it's a no-show for Wayne, and our sources say folks at Triller are working on adding another big name to the lineup.

So far, rapper SAINt JHN has stepped in and signed on to perform at the fight. We're told there's a real possibility Snoop Dogg could get on the mic, too. He's an investor at Triller, so it's feasible he'd do that.

Even with Weezy out, there's a stellar entertainment lineup -- featuring performances from stars like Ne-Yo, Wiz Khalifa, French Montana and YG.

Plus, THE FIGHTS! Both Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. have said they're gunning for knockouts -- and they looked in incredible shape during Friday's weigh-in.

Plus, the undercard features Jake Paul vs. ex-NBA star Nate Robinson -- and those dudes HATE each other. Should be a good scrap.

As for Wayne, it's strange that he wouldn't follow through if it wasn't an emergency -- the dude was literally plugging his involvement in the fight just on Friday night (on the heels of him dropping his 'No Ceilings 3' mixtape, to much fanfare).

We've reached out to Wayne's camp as well for an explanation and to make sure everything's okay ... so far, no word back.

Drake is in love ... and it shows.

Drizzy posted this super sweet pic of him, asleep on the shoulder of his son, 3-year-old Adonis, and it kinda melts your heart.

Adonis lives with his mom, Sophie Brussaux, but Drake definitely spends time with his son. When Adonis turned 3 last month, Drake celebrated with him at his Toronto estate. He and Adonis are partying hard, around a swarm of white, black and silver balloons.

Drake was initially coy about his parental status with Adonis, but he officially disclosed their relationship on his 2018 album, "Scorpion."

Megan Thee Stallion has inspired untold numbers of people, so add a turkey to the list.

This little gizzard -- posted on TikTok by one Joel Erkkinen -- couldn't stay still for Megan's "Body" challenge as it shook its rump and slightly spread its wings. Pretty hilarious, don't ya think?

The challenge is officially a thing. We knew that earlier in the week, when a Starbucks employee got down with it. MTS posted a video Tuesday of Hunter Gallagher doing the "Body" dance moves from behind the counter. Megan liked it so much she reposted it.

Drake almost finds humor in the Grammys which inexplicably snubbed The Weeknd, essentially saying those little trophies really don't mean crap.

Drake said Wednesday night, "I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after."

And, then the zinger ... "It's like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just can't change their ways."

A$AP Rocky's not one to forget where he came from ... which is why he personally delivered 120 meals to families at a homeless shelter where he and his mom once used to live.

The rapper personally turned himself into a Postmates delivery guy on the eve of Thanksgiving Day to deliver 120 hot meals from one of his favorite joints in Harlem ... Amy Ruth's Restaurant.

The two-time Grammy-nominated rapper delivered the grub to the Regent Family Residence ... a homeless shelter on the upper west side serving 83 families, including 111 kids. The org's part of the Volunteers of America - Greater New York ... which has provided affordable housing assistance since 1896.

Don't worry ... Rocky adhered to all COVID-19 safety protocols to contactlessly deliver the meals. This selfless act for this shelter, no doubt, tugged at the rapper's heartstrings ... he and his mother, Renee Black, stayed at the shelter back in the early 2000s.

Chris Brown is the proud new owner of a massive tank-like vehicle that could probably survive an apocalypse -- and it's all thanks to a generous Kanye West.

Sources tell us Ye had a special delivery for CB Tuesday ... sending over his manager, Bu Thiam, and other personnel to drop off a YEEZY Truck at Chris' Tarzana home. The gift made a grand entrance as it rolled through Chris' gates.

We're told there was no other reason for the gift other than Kanye wanting to honor Chris' career and talent while he was still here -- so he penned a hand-written letter to that effect, saying ... "Congratulations to Chris brown, 20 years in the game you have overcome many hurdles and obstacles, you deserve the recognition for all the hard work you have put in." Kanye himself wasn't there for the handoff.

Chris seemed pretty stoked about the gesture -- he thanked Ye on camera, and then later posed with the YEEZY Truck on his driveway.

Now, for the record ... this beast of a machine you're seeing here is actually a SHERP ATV. Kanye's been using a lot of them at his properties lately and seems to have piggybacked on Teslas' Cybertruck hype with a nickname of his own.

These things are used for extreme travel -- it can maneuver through mud, ice, snow, mountainous terrain ... you name it. A new one can retail anywhere in the ballpark of $120k too -- so they don't come cheap at all.