Jay-Z

By Becky Bain His short-lived project to bring music videos back to MTV (with FNMTV) didn’t last long in a schedule that seems to be desirous of a 25th hour to re-run The Hills, but we’d like to see him return to curating music somewhere. Hello, Spike TV?

By Robbie Daw So maybe it’s a good thing the Hannah Montana singer appears to be leaving younger fans behind in favor of a sexier image and more mature songs—like “We Belong To The Music,” her collabo with hit-maker Timbaland on his upcoming Shock Value II album. (Hear it below!)

By Becky Bain Robin Thicke | MySpace Music Videos The man can work the falsetto. We’re actually kind of dying to hear it again alongside Lil Wayne, who may well be the next to join a list of guests that includes Jay-Z, Estelle, Kid Cudi and Snoop Dogg.

By Becky Jay-Z’s tour of college campuses and arenas was supposed to end Friday night in El Paso Texas, but Hova canceled the rest of his tour dates due to an “unforeseen scheduling conflict.” Obviously it’s because Beyoncé is pregnant, folks. Okay, proooobably not, but neither Jay nor concert pro...

Related articles from Rolling Stone, SOHH, BET.com, 2dopeboyz, Starpulse.com, Hip Hop News from HipHopGalaxy.com.

By Becky A hit with Alicia would certainly round out Drake’s year – his song “Best I Ever Had” peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100; he’s on everyone’s short list when it comes time to pick album guests, following work with Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil Wayne; his profile continues rising with this nic...

By Becky Jay-Z definitely has an ear for British pop tunes—he also signed British trio Sugababes to his label, so we wouldn’t be surprised if he makes a cameo on their upcoming album, Sweet 7. (Maybe he shoulda taken over Keisha’s vocals?) You can pretty much add Jay-Z’s rapping to anything—Fall Ou...

By Robbie 5. Favorite Music Collaboration: Cobra Starship and Leighton Meester (”Good Girls Go Bad”), Lonely Island and T-Pain (”I’m on a Boat”); T.I. and Rihanna (”Live Your Life”); Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat (”Lucky”); Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West (”Run This Town”)

By Maura 6. Girls, Album 8. K’Naan, Troubadour 9. Jay-Z, Blueprint 3 11. Metric, Fantasies 12. Wilco, Wilco (The Album) 13. Passion Pit, Manners 16. Steve Earle, Townes 21. Mastodon, Crack The Skye 23. V/A, Dark Was The Night 25. Steve Martin, The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo

By Maura During the playoffs, A-Rod came out to the Kid Cudi-assisted Blueprint 3 track “Already Home,” which in the eyes of one writer is a direct rebuke of all the people who have made fun of him since his arrival in the Bronx: Jay-Z feat. Kid Cudi - Already Home [YouTube]

By Chris Molanphy Jay Sean’s “Down,” to be fair, isn’t half as bad a song as Lost in Space was a movie. It’s a pleasant little ditty, a Chris Brown‒like midtempo jam with a not-embarrassing supporting rap from prodigal chart hero Lil Wayne. London native Sean — born Kamaljit Singh Jhooti — also earns the happy s...

By Maura Hey, did you hear about that hip-hop artist who showed up on stage unannounced at last night’s VMAs? No, not Kanye West, the other one. Lip-gloss aficionado/MTV dance competition judge Lil Mama also made herself an unwelcome presence on the Video Music Awards’ stage, joining Jay-Z and Al...

By Maura • ”Purists may blanch at a reworking of the teardrops-on-my-keytar hit ‘Forever Young,’ from ’80s German synth-poppers Alphaville (on ‘Young Forever’), but the ladies will probably love it. And the man born Shawn Carter, who turns 40 this December, seems unworried either way. Bluepri...

By Maura On a musical note, “Off That” sounds pretty good, though, so there’s that. “Reminder” has maybe an “uh” or two too many, but I have to say that it’s nice to hear Timbaland flexing his talents in a way that isn’t reminiscent of the worst parts of Chris Cornell’s solo album.

By Jeff Rosenthal Actually, how could Jay-Z sign that contract, since he just was added to the All Points West show like, a week ago? There was no way. Jay-Z was backstage, and it was going to be The Roots and Jay-Z together again, and we were going to be there. But, you know, even if Jay-Z wasn’t going to be there, w...

By Maura Whenever the term “Auto-Tune” is raised to any reasonable music fan, the first three names that come up? T-Pain, Kanye, Wayne, who have all had major success with it. But the absolution leaves very few targets out there for Jay to shoot down. Perhaps the biggest is producer Ron Browz, who’s h...

By Maura Last week, it came to light that Jay-Z had bought the rights to his long-in-the-works album The Blueprint 3 back from Def Jam, the label where he served as president from 2004-2007. The album was his final commitment to his Def Jam contract, and he's now free to put it out on his Live Nation-ba...

By Maura 6. Encore - Jay-Z & Linkin Park 24. Hot Revolver - Lil’ Wayne 41. SLU - Kanye West 42. I’m The Ish Remix - DJ Class & Kanye West 47. Climbing Up The Walls - Chris Cornell & Timbaland 50. Freestyle - Prophet 61. Lost Remix - Coldplay & Jay-Z

By Maura On the show as well were Third Eye Blind and Kelly Clarkson.. I thought that to be the oddest pairing EVER but, soon realized, it’s what I’ve always professed..There is NO such thing as BLACK music or WHITE music only GOOD or BAD music..It’s stupid cool to like things that are not like you, and that g...

By Maura Johnston FAVORITE MALE RAP/HIP-HOP ARTIST Flo Rida Lil Wayne Kanye West FAVORITE RAP/HIP-HOP ALBUM Jay-Z, American Gangster Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III Kayne West, Graduation ARTIST OF THE YEAR Lil Wayne Chris Brown Alicia Keys Eagles Coldplay

By Maura Johnston • "Paper Trail does succeed at banking enough strong singles, including 'Swagga Like Us,' with Jay-Z and Kanye West, and 'Swing Ya Rag,' with Swizz Beatz, to keep T.I. on the charts during his upcoming incarceration. Maybe he can use all that time to decide which side of his personality he pla...

By Dan Gibson I'm a big fan of Jay-Z, but outside of the States and Hip Hop circles, no one really knew who he was until he married Beyonce'," said Fif in the interview. 50 Cent: 'No One Knew Jay-Z Until He Married Beyonce' [HipHopDX] 50 Cent Thinks Beyonce Made Jay-Z [MTV UK]

By Dan Gibson There's still a month or so left on the Janet Jackson/LL Cool J tour (get psyched, Connecticut!), but if the music industry were to have what seems to be its way, the Oct. 22 Dallas date would be both acts' music biz retirement party. LL Cool J Says Def Jam May Be Limiting Album Sales [Streetcred....

By Chris Molanphy 2. T.I., "Whatever You Like" (LW No. 1, 6 weeks) 3. Rihanna, "Disturbia" (LW No. 3, 13 weeks) 5. Jay-Z & T.I. feat. Kanye West & Lil Wayne, "Swagga Like Us" (CHART DEBUT) 7. Ne-Yo, "Closer" (LW No. 8, 22 weeks) 9. Estelle feat. Kanye West, "American Boy" (LW No. 53, 22 weeks)

By Maura Johnston Lyricist of the Year Jay-Z Lil Wayne Nas T.I. Kanye West MVP of the Year DJ Khaled Jay-Z Lil Wayne T.I. Kanye West CD of the Year Jay-Z – American Gangster Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III Lupe Fiasco – Lupe Fiasco’s “The Cool” Nas – Untitled Kanye West – Graduation

By Maura Johnston Kanye West, Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and T.I. twist M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" into "Swagger Like Us," which West says exhibits "THE RAP OLYMPIC TEAM!" (caps and punctuation his, of course). I'm hoping that the video features at least one fancy model who's wearing an outfit that looks like an umpteen-la...

By Maura Johnston The Oasis/Jay-Z feud reaches the perhaps-inevitable "mash-up of 'Jockin Jay-Z' and 'Wonderwall'" phase. It's actually quite well-done, particularly the bits where it sounds like Jay-Z is toasting...

By Maura Johnston The full version of "Jockin' Jay-Z," a Blueprint 3 track produced by Kanye West, has made its way to the Internet in both SFW and NSFW form. [Nah Right]

By Maura Johnston Pollstar's Top 100 Tours chart for 2008 so far is led by Bon Jovi ($56.3 million for 39 shows; average ticket price $87.98) and Bruce Springsteen ($40.8 million for 29 shows; average ticket price $99.02), and a superficial gloss on the overall numbers would indicate that the music business' n...

By Maura Johnston After months of buildup, Jay-Z played his much-discussed headlining set at the Glastonbury Festival last night, and he opened it with a special dedication to Oasis' Noel Gallagher, who had said that Jay was an inappropriate addition to the Glasto bill because it was "built on a traditio...

By Anthony Miccio Best Collaboration DJ Khaled feat. Lil' Wayne, Big Boi, Ludacris, Fat Joe & Young Jeezy-"I'm So Hood (remix)" Keyshia Cole feat. Lil' Kim & Missy Elliott-"Let It Go" Kanye West feat. T-Pain-"Good Life" Flo Rida feat. T-Pain-"Low" Chris Brown feat. T-Pain-"Kiss Kiss"

By Maura Johnston Sure, we've all had a laugh when the ever-staid The New York Times has made second references to "Mr. Pop" and "Mr. Loaf" in its cultural reporting. But why, the Columbia Journalism Review wonders, are the stage names of hip-hop artists like Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and Diddy not given the same treatme...

By Maura Johnston However, Jay-Z and his partner Beyoncé Knowles, recently rumoured to have married, will avoid the stone circle, a place many fans view as the spiritual soul of the Somerset event. "The hippy thing, his manager said, isn't quite up [Jay-Z's] street," Eavis added.

By Maura Johnston 1994 (10 albums) 11. MTV Unplugged in New York, Nirvana 28. Illmatic, Nas 36. CrazySexyCool, TLC 40. Ready to Die, The Notorious B.I.G. 60. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Pavement 70. My Life, Mary J. Blige 77. Dummy, Portishead 81. The Downward Spiral, Nine Inch Nails 82. Grace, Jeff Buckley

By Maura Johnston From time to time, we like to round up the all-important, all-summarizing last sentences of the biggest new-music reviews. Recent events, however, have caused us to canvass the Internet for initial reactions to the acquittal of R. Kelly, which came down earlier today:

By Anthony Miccio Former pro boxer Mitchell Rose believes that Jay-Z first decided to use a "whispering tone" in his raps after Rose handing him a demo in 2001, and has filed a lawsuit. First off, "whispering tone?" Is Rose referring to that annoying sigh Jay-Z uses on somber tracks like "Lost Ones?"? I'm not...

By Maura Johnston People close to Live Nation say the company hasn't veered from its commitment to the 360 strategy, despite disagreements over how many of the deals to strike. Live Nation has held talks for a similar deal with South American rocker Shakira, according to several people involved, though no...

By Anthony Miccio The Game's upcoming album Lax—sorry, L.A.X.—has been pushed back two weeks from its original street date of July 8. His latest single, "Game's Pain," is actually his first top ten track on the Rap Singles chart since 2005's legendarily awful "Dreams" (not to be confused with Big Dreams"), bu...

By Maura Johnston Organizers of the Glastonbury Festival have told the BBC that Amy Winehouse will perform at next month's festival, which has so far been plagued by disappointing ticket sales and public bickering over whether or not Jay-Z is an "appropriate" headliner. Winehouse, who actually managed...

By Anthony Miccio First Noel Gallagher clucked his tongue at Jay-Z, now Shrek The Third campaigners The Fratellis are grousing about the Kings Of Leon headlining the Pyramid Stage right after their performance. No, the Fratellis don't think they should headline instead, they just think Kings Of Leon isn...

By Dan Gibson The Guardian "leaked" most of the Glastonbury lineup this morning, and while there are certainly portions that sound very alluring (especially ignoring the logistical issues of actually traveling to an muddy field in the middle of England), it appears American festivals aren't alon...

By Maura Johnston Gallagher continued: "Sorry, but Jay-Z? Fucking no chance. Glastonbury has a tradition of guitar music, do you know what I mean? Even when they throw the odd curveball in on a Sunday night and you go, Kylie Minogue? Don't know about that."

By Anthony Miccio Registration for tickets to the Glastonbury Festival re-opened today, following relatively sluggish sales since Sunday. In previous years, tickets to the three day British event sold out within hours, but over a fifth of the 137,000 tickets remained unsold after the first day. While so...

By Jess Harvell THE WHAAAA? Pitchfork's (institutional) embrace of the pop charts is still so odd. (That it was one of the weakest years for American pop in my living memory notwithstanding.) For instance, nothing by Lloyd, Ne-Yo, Amerie (who they favorably reviewed, even if she scored no American hits t...

By Jess Harvell 18. Swizz Beatz ft. Lil Wayne, R. Kelly & Jadakiss, "It's Me Bitches (Remix)" (Universal Motown) 12. R. Kelly ft. T.I. & T-Pain, "I'm a Flirt (Remix)" (Jive) 4. Rihanna ft. Jay-Z, "Umbrella" (Def Jam) 3. Kanye West ft. T-Pain, "Good Life" (Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam)