Play video content Instagram / @therealsmilez If you’re invited to hoop at Drake‘s mansion, now you better come prepared … ’cause the rap star’s basketball game has seriously improved!!! The Certified Lover Boy’s friend, Smilez, posted video of the 35-year-old in a pickup game this week … showing the dude going off. Clips show the

The Doja Cat “rapper” debate will come to an end, eventually, and probably sooner than later based on her new declaration. Doja Cat looked past her latest album “Planet Her” (which broke Billboard and Spotify records) and told Elle her next body of work will be bars-heavy. DC says, “I’ve rapped since the beginning, and

Play video content TMZ.com Lupe Fiasco will be dishing out higher learning as part of MIT’s MLK Visiting Professors and Scholars Program, and Jermaine Dupri hopes it’s the start of a new hip hop/schooling trend. TMZ Hip Hop ran into the So So Def Records founder Tuesday at LAX, where he told us not only

Kourtney Kardashian is changing her name to Kourtney Kardashian Barker … at least on social media … taking her husband’s last name after marrying Travis in Italy. Kourtney made the name change Monday on her official Instagram page, which now shows Travis’ last name tacked on to her name, with a flaming heart emoji. KKB

Kanye West is breaking his social media silence to let folks know what he’s been cooking up … a new design for McDonald’s packaging. That’s right. Kanye posted about his new business venture, Monday, on Instagram … after being ghosted from the platform for the last few months. Waiting for your permission to load the

Flavor Flav is making monthly child support payments for his 3-year-old son, but he’s still got a pretty big balance owed to his baby mama. According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Flav found out in 2019, shortly after little Jordan was born, that he was the dad, with the help of a DNA test.

Kim Kardashian took to the streets of Portofino, Italy Sunday … and she was like a Pied Piper. Kim strolled through the streets with North and Penolope, with an entourage — including her glam team — and bodyguards in tow. It’s pretty clear … Italians are at the very least curious about the big fuss

Play video content @richforever Rick Ross‘s Georgia estate looks more like 5 different dealerships on one lot — because his first annual Car and Bike Show is underway … and it’s a who’s-who of automobiles. The hip-hop mogul is hosting the debut event Saturday, and he’s been documenting all the goings-on on his social media

Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are living it up in Portofino, Italy, ahead of their ceremonial wedding, aka wedding ceremony #3! The already-married couple couldn’t keep their hands off each other — or their tongues — as they strolled the streets of the scenic city. Kourt and Trav took her son Reign for a stroll

“American Idol” finalist Caleb Kennedy is getting sprung from jail, but he won’t be free, as he awaits his fate in his deadly DUI case. The singer has been locked up in South Carolina since February after he was arrested for felony DUI resulting in death. Cops say Kennedy drove his 2011 Ford pickup truck

Play video content TMZ Hip Hop When DJ Akademiks talks, hip hop pays attention — which is why he joined us on today’s episode of “TMZ Hip Hop” to drop jewels and share his intel on some big stories. Top order of business was the Migos breakup rumors, which got gassed up like a Chevron

Play video content TMZ.com Bobby Shmurda is dancing for joy … literally, now that the New York State Senate has signed off on the “Rap Music on Trial” bill. The newly proposed law prevents cops and prosecutors from using rappers’ lyrics against them in court cases. The bill has been championed by the likes of

Play video content BACKGRID Quavo and Offset are on the outs again, and this time it means Migos is done as a group — at least that’s the online buzz, and Quavo isn’t doing anything to put out that fire. Huncho was at LAX Thursday when a photog asked him about reports the trio is

This will definitely put a smile on your face!! A youth tee-ball player turned his walk to the batter’s box into an all-out dancing sesh — showing off his moves as Big Pun‘s “Still Not a Player” blared over the speakers … and the video is adorable. The clip is going viral on TikTok …

Play video content TMZ.com Kendrick Lamar‘s new album “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” is officially his last for Top Dawg Entertainment, and that has labelmates, like Sir, pondering what the future holds for K Dot. We got the Inglewood-born crooner Thursday at LAX, and picked his brain about King Kendrick’s departure. He echoed some

Young Thug claims he’s sleeping in a “dungeon” — after being named an alleged mastermind of a criminal organization — but jailhouse officials say he’s just whining about the standard jail experience. We broke the story … Thug and his legal team filed an emergency petition last week, citing all sorts of inhumanity in his

Yo Gotti isn’t waiting around for gift cards for his 41st birthday, instead he’s treating himself … to more than a million bucks worth of super-luxury rides!!! The Collective Music Group CEO recorded himself riding around with copious amounts of cash … ultimately choosing to stunt on his haters with not one but two Rolls

Steve Aoki might be able to throw a cake with pinpoint accuracy — but he sure as hell can’t do the same with a baseball, ’cause he absolutely airmailed the ceremonial first pitch at the Red Sox game on Monday night … and it was truly awful. The DJ took the mound just minutes before

The late Tupac Shakur‘s last studio album “The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory” is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and it’s being pushed into the digital world. That means creating an NFT — non-fungible token — from the original artwork … a controversial piece depicting Pac as Jesus Christ wearing his crown of

Lil Keed complained to his friends and family he was suffering from serious stomach pain in the days leading up to his death … with things getting so bad he had to go to the hospital. Multiple sources close to Keed tell us … the YSL label rapper had his battles over the years with

Johnny Cash is arguably the greatest country singer ever, so it was fitting for his hometown in Arkansas to put his silhouette on a water tower, but someone decided to enhance the image with a bullet, and the results are hilarious! The bullet hit squarely on Johnny’s junk, penetrating the water tower in the process,

Play video content NBC Travis Scott‘s comeback is officially in full effect — the guy just hit the Billboard Music Awards, marking his first televised gig since the Astroworld tragedy. The rapper performed “Mafia” and “Lost Forever” Sunday at the show, in a highly anticipated moment in the show. For TS standards, the performance was

Justin Bieber didn’t waste time addressing the mass shooting in Buffalo while performing there this weekend — right off the bat, he spoke on it … making for a moving night. The singer was in town Saturday as part of his Justice Tour, taking the stage at KeyBank Center just hours after a man allegedly

There was a scary reminder of the Astroworld tragedy Saturday night in Vegas, when a stampede erupted after people thought they heard gunshots, and several people were trampled. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department tells TMZ … “Shortly after 10 PM, gunfire was reportedly heard near the site of the Lovers & Friends Festival, causing

R. Kelly‘s legacy is being fiercely debated amid new Kendrick Lamar lyrics that touch on the now-disgraced/convicted R&B legend — question being … did he make good music??? That’s what Twitter’s arguing about right now, this after somebody apparently responded to one of Kenny’s new songs on his album, ‘Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers,’

Gunna was a busy man before surrendering to authorities in his RICO case … carving out time to see family and making sure his business plans were in line before turning himself in. Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … it was important for him to see his relatives before going to jail … we’re

Play video content TMZ Hip Hop Legendary West Coast spitter Xzibit — aka Mr. X to tha Z — chopped it up with “TMZ Hip Hop,” dropping a plethora of updates … including a few methods behind Dr. Dre’s music-releasing madness. Dr. Dre has been teasing new music on Instagram these past few months, posting

Kendrick Lamar’s new Apple and Spotify-crashing album ”Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” isn’t even 24 hours old and it’s already creating major shockwaves in rap and live music! The 18-track effort features Ghostface Killah, Summer Walker and Baby Keem, with beats from Pharrell, Alchemist, Boi-1da and, as the “TMZ Hip Hop” crew will tell

As Young Thug, Gunna and dozens of other YSL members stare down pages of racketeering and gang charges … they’re getting a wave of public support from famous friends in rap. Leading the charge was Lil Keed — the 2020 XXL Freshman and YSL affiliate NOT busted in the 56-count RICO indictment. The 24-year-old is

Travis Scott is among several defendants — including Live Nation, Scoremore Holdings, ASM Global — being sued by a woman who claims she suffered injuries so severe at Astroworld, they resulted in a miscarriage. Shanazia Williamson says she attended Astroworld back in November and was trampled during a crowd surge and sustained injuries to her