Jay-Z

By Kira Cochrane Days before her 21st birthday R&B star Rihanna was viciously beaten by her then boyfriend, the singer Chris Brown. The shocking police photo told the whole story. But now, with a new album, she explains why she's no victim • The album Rated R is out on Monday.

By Caroline Sullivan A live preview of selected tracks from her new album," said the tickets, and if that didn't convey the idea that this was an Event, the live Twitter feed displayed on giant screens either side of the stage did. As we waited for Rihanna, a stream of tweets flashed up: "OMG I'm really excited – go...

By Jonathan Haynes Pete Doherty and Carl Barat's former band are hailed for their debut album Up The Bracket but it is The Strokes' first release Is This It that takes top spot in best 50 list compiled by NME. 4. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not 22. Jay-Z - The Blueprint

By Pete Cashmore 5) The Game 9) Wale 0) Rapper has designs on lead singer's wife 4) Rapper found them in magazine article about "the next Coldplay" 5) Heavy drug use on the part of the rapper 6) Rapper fancies a bit of that Wyclef money 4) Makes Coldplay and Jay-Z's Lost sound like Rebel Without A Pause

By Rosie Swash Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Pixie Lott all picked up gongs at the Berlin bash. And, thankfully, Kanye West wasn't around to spoil things ... Women reigned supreme at the MTV Europe music awards last night (5 November) and, thankfully, there was no Kanye West around to ruin the fun.

By Kate Connolly The organisers of the event, the music network MTV, erected a two-metre high "sight barrier" to exclude those without one of 10,000 free tickets from catching a glimpse of the band. The irony was not lost on fans, some of whom said they would boycott the event in protest.

By Caroline Sullivan are only a few bands big enough to ask artists who are at the very top of their own genres to work as their support act. It tells you all you need to know about Coldplay's status that they launched a four-night UK stadium jaunt with the world's best-known rapper as their opening act – even if fron...

By Alexis Petridis People talking about, Hova take it back," raps Jay-Z on his 11th studio album. "I'm doing better than before, why would I do that?" He sounds bullish – in fairness, Jay-Z always sounds bullish, timidity not getting one terribly far in the world of hip-hop – but there's a detectable defensiv...

By Malik Meer Over here Jay-Z is best known for his triumphant 2008 Glastonbury performance, after the rock'n'roll bores ruled that a rapper shouldn't be headlining the UK's premier music festival. • Run This Town is out on Mon; The Blueprint 3 is out on 14 Sep

By Rosie Swash, Peter Sale, Alexis Petridis, Alex Needham Singles Club returns with a bang, as guardian.co.uk's Culture edtior Alex Needham hails hip-hop's "big three" – Jay-Z, Kanye West and Rihanna – on new track Run This town. Alexis comes over all retro with Shit Robot's DFA-distributed track Simple Things, while Rosie enjoys silly wordplay...

By Paul MacInnes, Rosie Swash Rosie rushes back to the pod to join Paul MacInnes and guest Will Dean to review new music from Discovery, Magnolia Electric Co and Jay-Z (hopefully a diverse enough group to keep you lot happy). Everyone likes Discovery, but opinions are split on the latest output from both Jason Molina's...

By Sean Michaels Jay-Z's highly anticipated Blueprint 3 will be an "anti-Auto-Tune album," producer Kanye West – and one of the reigning kings of Auto-Tune – has declared. The follow-up to 2001's The Blueprint and 2002's The Blueprint 2 was initially expected in January, but has been delayed as the rappe...