In the small hours of June 5, Kanye West released the official video for “Monster” featuring Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj and Rick Ross on his official website. Previously, an unfinished version of the video had leaked in February featuring decapitated models and a sadomasochistic Nicki Minaj segment. New to the official version of the video–a disclaimer.

In what appears to be an attempt by West’s camp to deter a public relations scandal, the video opens with a disclaimer instead of it’s original Rick Ross cut. In February, the leaked version of the video prompted petitions to Universal Music Group and MTV asking senior management to cut support for the video due to images of “eroticized violence against women.” Despite garnering over 15,000 signatures on the online petition, few changes have been made to the video and instead, a disclaimer was added to the final production. After a minute into the video this much is clear, Kanye West certainly has a controversial interpretation of what it means to be a “monster,” one he’s well aware he will have to defend in the wake of the release.

As promised, Roc Nation signee, J. Cole has released another record, “Return of Simba.” Cole promises his forthcoming album is well on it’s way and doesn’t anticipate any additional delays. The singles are all complete but J. Cole describes “Return of Simba” as a b-sides track for the fans. Read more for the stream and download.

In the “Run the Wolrd (Girls)” video Beyonce pops and locks, has a pet lion, and blows things up–all whilst leading a brigade of dancers in the desert. This doesn’t come as a surprise for the Houston songress who has made a name for herself producing high energy, choreography packed productions. “Run the World (Girls)” is a single off of Beyonce’s forthcoming album, 4 (June 28) and the video was directed by Francis Lawrence. Lawrence says he’s sure the video will not disappoint. ”It’ll be big, it’ll probably be one of the bigger Beyoncé music videos ever done,” he said to MTV. Read more to see the lastest from Bey.

What do you think, did B make another hit?

Jay Electronica’s relationship with his fans is very unorthodox and completely worth it.

My first direct message was from Jay Electronica in 2008, days after Christmas. I had just joined twitter and made the premature decision to follow every rapper on the network and Jay followed me back. Soon after, he sent a direct message—no words, just this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kGPhpvqtOc&feature=related

It was a YouTube link to a music video of “I Put a Spell on You” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins—I’ll leave delving into the implications of this message for my readers.

Later that year, I was unfollowed. But I wasn’t alone. It was “The Great Unfollowing of 2009.” Jay Electronica unfollowed nearly all of his fans, truncating his follower list to less than 200. A year later, high off the heels of announcing his signing to Roc Nation, he followed everyone back—sort of.

In the small hours of Nov. 15, Jay Electronica announced he would follow back anyone who hit him up. And they did. Jay Elect was the proud recipient of over 1500 mentions just an hour after the announcement. He has since followed about 1600 fans, a Dave Chappelle impersonator, Joe Budden, and me.

Jay Elect also opened his AIM and ichat (SN: Jay Electronica) to the masses and encouraged fans to submit their Blackberry chat pins—a common practice for the crescent city emcee.

But is it worth his time? Affording fans access to everything from your AIM screen name and twitter direct messages to your cell phone pin? In a word: yes.

Jay Electronica goes the distance, and his fans take notice. Amidst the flurry of “please follow me” tweets were tales of Jay encounters by super fans.

Katie P. (@KPappsmear), of Los Angeles recalls a few Blackberry messenger conversations last year. While holiday shopping, Jay Elect messaged her about being nervous as he was preparing for a performance.

DJ Critical Hype (@criticalhype) got a few direct messages as well. Despite being an emerging DJ, he kept the conversation fan to artist. Student, Reggie Noble (@kidnoble) did too. He remembers the conversation feeling less like a fan to artist transaction and more like a normal conversation. He was spoken to, “just as a person.”

The most remarkable fan story came from Kevin Cooper (@cooperkm89), perhaps the biggest Jay Electronica fan on twitter.

Cooper has a Jay Electronica shirt he likes to wear to shows. Inscribed on it the infamous line from “Exhibit C”— “Call me Jay Elec-Hannukah / Jay Elec-Yarmulke…”— but more on that later.

At Cooper’s fourth Jay show, the New Orleans rapper pulled him and a crowd of fans onto the stage while opening for Kid Cudi in October at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign).

“At one point during the show, Jay got back on stage and turned to me; And we proceeded to rap over his songs, face-to-face in center stage,” said Cooper chronicling his account.

“He was acknowledging that I knew all his sh*t, and that acknowledgment was much appreciated.“

But that wasn’t all. To security’s chagrin, Jay snuck Cooper backstage. No weed, no liquor, just talk. About music—fellow opener Chip the Rip and headliner Kid Cudi (whom Jay Elect had never met at the time). They even watched Cudi’s set together. Jay was intrigued by Cudi’s command of the crowd.

They soon after parted ways. Cooper could’ve joined Jay’s entourage for the night, but in fear of being a burden or exhibiting utter and complete stannery—he passed.

“I shook Jay’s hand, said great show once again. He asked, ‘Did you have a good time?’ To which I replied ‘Oh yeah!’ Or something else equally dull but spurred on by an awed star-struck state that had not yet dissipated,” said Cooper.

But wait, there’s more. Remember when Jay Electronica punched a concertgoer at a Disco Biscuits show in Chicago? Cooper does. And yes, he was wearing that shirt.

After what Cooper says were pleas by Jay to stop fans from throwing items at him, he punched a DB fan after being hit with a beer bottle. Everyone in the venue had turned against Jay Electronica.

Subsequently, Jay Elect spent the rest of his set rapping to a handful of his fans in the crowd. He even jumped passed the barricade for a proper introduction. And when it came time to perform “Exhibit C,” our boy Cooper was a star.

“He pointed directly at me and did the verse on my shirt,” said Cooper. “Basically reading the verse off of my shirt, so as to draw attention to it.”

“That was really cool of him to do.”

And on Nov. 15, Cooper got a follow.

Jay Electronica doesn’t have fans, but brand evangelists. He breeds them. It’s not enough to make music people enjoy. Artists who take the time to develop a relationship with listeners build a stronger fan base.

For a previously unsigned artist with a few sporadic releases, his following is remarkably strong. In the wake of Jay Electronica’s Roc Nation announcement, he gained about 3k followers and an additional 3k after tweeting about his following spree—he previously averaged a 450 daily follower gain and currently has a total of over 128k followers.

Prior to joining Roc Nation, Jay Electronica had garnered a magazine cover, a track ranked amongst iTunes’ top 10 selling hip-hop music downloads and “the most buzz worthy artist” title by numerous media outlets—success unprecedented by an artist with no formal projects released or a record deal.

There aren’t too many artists who really engage on Twitter but artists like Jay Electronica prove that tactics that bring music back to the fans yield results. At a time where the record industry is in a severe decline, new strategy is crucial to its turnaround—just ask Cooper.

“I still get excited thinking about it,” Cooper says. “I’ve seen Jay four times now, and I’ve learned that if you show your appreciation, he will acknowledge you and be grateful.”

“Yep. Jay Elect reigns supreme…over everything.”

—@SincerelyJane

This post was republished from social media and hip-hop blog, BornIn88.com, courtesy of the author.

Photo: culurebully.com

The clock struck midnight and J. Cole’s blog, Dream Villain, went down. The influx of Cole fans has the website bandwidth acting up so there is no download in sight for Friday Night Lights. Stay tuned for a link when the dust settles.

Update: The link for the download has arrived. J. Cole – Friday Night Lights | Download Here or Here

01 Friday Night Lights (Intro)

02 Too Deep For The Intro

06 Villematic

07 Enchanted

08 Blow Up

09 Higher

10 In The Morning

11 2Face

12 The Autograph

13 Best Friend

14 Cost Me A Lot

15 Premeditated Murder

16 Home For The Holidays

17 Love Me Not

18 See World

19 Farewell

20 Looking For Trouble (Bonus)

Jay-Z looks like a gangbanger. Or at least the Miami Police Department seems to think so. On their website, he is pictured twice posing with a group of fictional gangbangers on a banner that read: “Report Gang Activity.”

Jay-Z is currently gearing up for his upcoming album The Hits Collection Vol. 1, scheduled for a Nov. 22 release, and is on the cover of this month’s issue of Forbes. He is the founder of Roc Nation, co-owner of The 40/40 Club, creator of clothing line Rocawear, part owner of the New Jersey Nets, is the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings and was among the original founders of Roc-A-Fella Records. Clearly, this is the career path of gangbanger on Wall Street.

The Miami Police Department has since taken the banner down, presumably after the Miami New Times first reported of Jay-Z making the department’s front page.

Here are the original photos of Jay-Z that inspired the gang banger banner:

After a fruitful press tour of sorts Kanye West hit the studio and has been recording with everyone from Jay Electronica and Raekwon to Kobe Bryant and Mos Def. This time he gets big brother, Jay-Z to remix his single “Power.” Stream after the jump.

Kanye West - Power (remix) Ft. Jay-Z

Uncle Charlie by the way/And I’m a let you finish but I got Beyonce on the track

“See Me Now” Ft. Beyonce and Charlie Wilson (yes, Charlie Wilson) premiered last night on Angie Martinez’s Hot 97 radio show. Expect a remix with none other than Jay-Z later this week. How do we feel about the new, enlightened Kanye West?

More new material from Usher, this time featuring Jay-Z. And in the Usher fashion, it’s a song about cheating. Enjoy.

HT – Usher feat. Jay-Z by user7183165

Update: Billboard reports that Thank Me Later debuted at No. 1 on the “Billboard 200″ chart and sold 447,000 copies in it’s first week.

The long awaited follow-up to mixtape, So Far Gone (2009), Thank Me Later has garnered early success. Drake’s debut album allegedly sold 462,989 copies in its first week according to Hits Daily Double — expect a confirmation from Billboard tomorrow. A considerable high in light of his album’s web leak and overall decline in record sales.

Thank Me Later, dropped last Tuesday, and featured artists Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, T.I., The Dream and fellow Young Money label mate, Nicki Minaj.

Despite mixed reviews, the album received support from a bevy of fans, artists and industry professionals including street wear brand Crooks and Castles who bought out the dozens of Thank Me Later copies in their local Best Buy’s inventory.

25 Magazine’s Letese Clark gives Drake’s Thank Me Later a first listen.

WORDS BY LETESE CLARK

The Canadian native Aubrey Graham, better known as Drake, has finally released his debut album Thank Me Later after much anticipation. It seems as if it was yesterday when he was Jimmy on the hit television series Degrassi. Drake established fame as one of the strongest emerging artists today with his mixtape So Far Gone, and Thank Me Later marks the beginning of what will probably be a long, lucrative career. The album includes production by Kanye West, Noah “40” Shebib, Boi-1da, Swizz Beatz and Timbaland. For Drake’s sake, here’s hoping that Thank Me Later slow sells a million.

1. “Fireworks” Feat. Alicia Keys
The opening track is the beginning of never-ending story and celebration, hence the firework sound effects at the start. Alicia Key’s soulful vocals foreshadows the story that unfolds throughout the album.

2. “Karaoke”
This tracks to be one of the more lack luster exudes a R&B vibe, nothing too exciting.

3. “The Resistance”
Drake continues with the R&B flow on this track, this time speaking on the resistance to changing one’s character.

4. “Over”
The leading single is a return to hip-hop and the heavy hitting Drake as he dismisses the naysayers and continues to do him until it is all over—no the most original motto but still apreciated. This by far is the best track off the album and has the makings of an anthem.

5. “Show Me A Good Time”
Drake was never one for humility. He works hard and isn’t afraid to let it be known. On this track, Drake is looking forward to being shown a good time as a reward for putting in work.

6. “Up All Night” Feat. Nicki Minaj
Another track declaring to the haters that he is on top of his game but this time Drake shouts out his Young Money crew and their contributions to his fame. Nicki Minaj offers a laid-back but nevertheless hard-hitting verse minus her usual theatrics.

7. “Fancy” Feat. Swizz Beatz
Finally, a track for the ladies. This collaboration is an anthem for the independent, intelligent, well-kept and well, fancy woman.

8. “Shut It Down” Feat. The Dream
Drake has teamed up with The Dream to produce another hit strictly for the ladies. With one particular female in mind, the rapper proclaims that she is shutting it down in every aspect of her life. A likely follow-up to “Best I Ever Had.”

9. “Unforgettable” Feat.Young Jezzy
This track features a sample from the late Aaliyah. Both rappers plead fans to disregard the images presented by the paparazzi and remember them for their lyrics—lyrics they consider unforgettable.

10. “Light Up” Feat. Jay-Z
Late night studio sessions while everybody else is out partying and hating critics, this track is a testament to the strenuous music grind. Welcome to the industry.

11. “Miss Me” Feat. Lil Wayne
The album wouldn’t be complete without a lengthily verse from mentor, Lil Wayne. Drake goes on to rap about a variety of things on this track most notably, his love for Nicki Minaj, but in the ends he just wants fans to miss him when he’s gone.

12. “Cece’s Interlude”
This R&B interlude has Drake open, aching for the one that got away. Another joint for the woman he’s tripped up over.

13. “Find Your Love”
The large Caribbean population in Canada has not left Drake untouched. This second single offers an island take to Drake’s ongoing love affairs.

14. “Thank Me Now”
“Thank Me Later, yeah I know what I said but later doesn’t always come so instead you can thank me now” Drake could not have found a better track to close out his debut album with as he declares his spot in hip hop.

RAAAAAAAANDY (a.k.a. comedian Aziz Ansari) is AAAAAAAANGRY. Randy with Eight A’s has released a “diss track,” “AAAAAAAANGRY,” with producer Dave Sitek calling out rappers Kid Cudi, Jay-Z, Ludacris, Drake, Wu-Tang Clan, Dr. Dre, Eminem, The Clipse, MF Doom, Mos Def, and Kanye West for not sending in their verses for his upcoming mixtape.

“Clipse! What are y’all making more Playcloths? How about putting on some work clothes on and sending us a verse? Next time you guys are baking some crack ,can you look in that oven and see if any lyrics crawled in there that you can rap into a microphone. I asked you guys, I was like ‘hey can you get verses back to me in a couple of weeks’ and y’all were like ‘yuhhh,’ I thought that meant yes but I guess not.” — Randy with Eight A’s – “AAAAAAAANGRY” excerpt

“Some of y’all, alright most of yall are probably like what are these guys talking about they never sent me any beats, well you’re probably right, we’re calling you out, so send us your verses,” says Ansari on the track.

RAAAAAAAANDY Mixtape is set to release, “whenever the f*ck we want it to.” If the “AAAAAAAANGRY” track is a prelude to what’s to come of the project, RAAAAAAAANDY Mixtape may become one of the better mixtapes of the year. #veryfunny

“AAAAAAAANGRY” – RAAAAAAAANDY | Download Here

Jay-Z told MTV, “I think “We Are the World” is like “Thriller” to me. I don’t ever wanna see it touched,” on his thoughts for the “We Are the World” 25th Anniversary re-recording and Haiti earthquake disaster tribute. The remake includes contributions from Wyclef Jean, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Jennifer Hudson, and others.  The interview took place at the “2 Kings” dinner during the NBA All-Star weekend.

Jay-Z, along with Rihanna, Bono and The Edge recorded “Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)” in tribute as well in an effort to raise funds for disaster relief. Compare the two performances after the jump!

Wale Speaks On Haiti x Charles Hamilton x 2010 from 25 Magazine on Vimeo.

We caught up with Wale after his performance for the Hands for Haiti benefit concert at Howard University for a follow up to this interview. Check it out!

It’s on youtube too!

Jay-Z, Swizz Beatz, and U2 team up to record song for the Haiti relief effort.

Musical superstars Jay-Z, Swizz Beatz and U2 joined forces to record a song that will benefit the victims of the tragic earthquake that rocked Port-Au-Prince, Haiti on Janurary 12, 2010. Swizz Beatz announced on Twitter that a song was in the works. Although the content of the song has not been released it has been recorded with contributions from all three stars.

Shouts to HipHopDX!

We caught up with Wale after his set in the DMV Helps Haiti Benefit Concert at Club 930 for a quick interview, check it out!

Check out Jay-Z and Mr. Hudson’s new video to “Young Forever” off The Blueprint 3, released in September 2009.

25 Magazine’s Kiah McBride reviews Robin Thicke’s fourth studio album Sex Therapy: The Experience.

Words by Kiah McBride

Robin Thicke has strayed from the classic soul style of his previous albums towards a more contemporary R&B sound mixed with Electronic and Pop. On December 15 he released his fourth studio album Sex Therapy: The Experience, and as implied by the title, the album oozes sexual allusions and stimulating beats. As if that isn’t enough to keep the audience begging for more, he also took the idea of role-playing to another level and took on the persona of a sex therapist through various tracks. He solidifies the album with a wide variety of guest artists including Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, and Estelle. In Spring 2009, Thicke co-headlined a six-week national tour with Jennifer Hudson and he performed at the 2009 Soul Train Awards. With the release of his new album, we don’t expect him to lose his stroke as he returns to educate us on the art of “sex therapy.”

Sex Therapy: The Experience takes on an erotic tone from the beginning, with the opening track “911” establishing a sexy patient-therapist relationship that thrives throughout the album. On “I Got U,” a woman says in a lustful tone “doctor I have a pain all over my body, can you help me?” in which Thick responds “we have some chocolate-covered strawberries, if you like.” Robin Thicke gives us a taste of his sexual clock in tracks such as “It’s In the Mornin’” featuring Snoop Dogg where he says “You know I like it first thing/ Cuz you let it marinate, let it marinate.”

Based on the beginning tracks it can be assumed that Sex Therapy: The Experience is solely built around—well—sex. However as the album progresses, Thicke gives us more than just that. On “Rollacoasta,” he combines a fun beat with the quick, pulsating sound of a tuba. On this fast-paced track he shows that he would do anything to save his relationship as he says “slap me in the face/punch me in the eye/ do me how you want baby/but just don’t say goodbye.” On the track “Elevatas” featuring Kid Cudi, he alludes to fame being a dark hole that many get sucked into, singing “I’m fallin, fallin/ I’m moving so fast I might never go back.” Robin’s change in song content does well to keep the tracks from becoming redundant.

 Musical variety and the narrative journey will keep the album in heavy rotation. You will easily find yourself craving for more of his sensual vocals as he takes you to a world where the stress of fame and maintaining relationships collide. His collaborations with fellow artists add to the credibility and flavor of the tracks. Fans may be surprised that some of the tracks do start to stray away from the risqué theme and become more about crooning for love. This however, doesn’t detract from the overall appeal of the album. Thicke’s gentlemen-like persona is all we knew before, but after entering his bedroom we now see that he has no place for softness.

Steven Colbert joins Alicia Keys for a special rendition of “Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down” on The Colbert Report. #veryfunny

We couldn’t resist! Talk about 99 problems…

Brooklyn strategist Mike Arauz designed the infographic as well as a chart detailing who would be interested in it. We fall in the geek/hip hop sector, haha!

NPR has released their list of the 50 Most Important Recordings of The Decade. Rap and R&B only accounted for about a dozen and included albums from the usual suspects, Jay-Z and Beyonce as well as the less expected, Little Brother. See the complete list after the jump.

The 50 Most Important Recordings Of The Decade

01. John Adams: On The Transmigration Of Souls
02. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
03. The Arcade Fire: Funeral
04. The Bad Plus: These Are The Vistas
05. Beyonce: Dangerously In Love
06. Bon Iver: For Emma, Forever Ago
07. Bright Eyes: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
08. Burial: Untrue
09. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: S/T
10. Kelly Clarkson: Breakaway
11. Coldplay: A Rush Of Blood To The Head
12. Danger Mouse: The Grey Album
13. Death Cab For Cutie: Transatlanticism
14. The Decemberists: The Crane Wife
15. Eminem: The Marshall Mathers LP
16. The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
17. Osvaldo Golijov: La Pasión Segun San Marcos (Saint Mark’s Passion)
18. Green Day: American Idiot
19. Iron And Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days
20. Jay-Z: The Blueprint
21. Norah Jones: Come Away With Me
22. Juanes: Fijate Bien
23. LCD Soundsystem: Sound Of Silver
24. Lil’ Wayne: Tha Carter III
25. Little Brother: The Listening
26. M.I.A.: Kala
27. Yo-Yo Ma: Silk Road Journeys: When Strangers Meet
28. Mastodon: Black Stars
29. Jason Moran: Black Stars
30. OutKast: Stankonia
31. Brad Paisley: 5th Gear
32. Panda Bear: Person Pitch
33. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: The Rising
34. The Postal Service: Give Up
35. Radiohead: In Rainbows
36. Radiohead: Kid A
37. Shakira: Fijación Oral, Vol. 1
38. Sigur Ros: ( )
39. Britney Spears: In The Zone
40. Sufjan Stevens: Illinois
41. The Strokes: Is This It
42. The Swell Season: Once Soundtrack
43. Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate: In The Heart of the Moon
44. TV On The Radio: Return To Cookie Mountain
45. Various: Garden State Soundtrack
46. Various: O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack
47. Kanye West: The College Dropout
48. The White Stripes: White Blood Cells
49. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
50. Amy Winehouse: Back To Black

We think some notables are missing from the list, what do you think?

The cover art for for Jay-Z’s recent LP, Blueprint 3, was hardly a Photoshop effort. Photographer Dan Tobin Smith actually built the white instruments structure and painted on the red stripes. Check out the behind-the- scenes video after the jump!

Check out Rhapsody’s latest commercial chronicling Jay-Z’s catalog over the years though his album covers.

New remix to Beyonce’s “Ego” featuring Kanye West, sorry guys it has a few drops. Read more for download.

“Could’ve let the dream killers kill my self esteem,  Or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams.”….sound familiar? This isn’t the first time Kanye has recycled his own bars, especially from the “Last Call” track from his debut album College Dropout. Guess in a recession you can’t let any rhyme go unheard.

“Ego Remix” Feat. Kanye West – Beyonce | Download Here