Hot Music Beat

Rapper Jay-Z has said he needs to continue to reinvent himself and his sound to remain popular in the hip-hop world.

The husband of singer Beyonce is worried he might be too old for the business as most artists in his genre are under 30.

He told Scotsman.com: “Hip-hop saved my life. When someone does something for you, it’s only right you repay that tenfold, and that was what hip-hop did for me. How could I not protect that or leave it in a good place for the next generation?

“The reason you turn off the hip hop as you mature is because there’s not enough of what you’re going through in your life currently. There’s not a lot of people who have come of age in rap because it’s only 30. As more people come of age, hopefully the topics get broader and then the audience will stay around longer.”

The rapper, real name Shaun Carter, added: “But it’s so much viewed as a young person’s sport right now at this present moment that it’s very difficult. You want to get on the radio, and you’ve got to make a jingle that’s catchy, that sounds like everything else that’s on the radio. Not me, the other guy.”

Jay, who’s new album Blueprint 3 has recently hit the stores, is going to try and reinvent himself to retain his popularity.

The 38-year-old said: “Hip-hop is about the gift of discovery. It’s who has the newest sneakers, who has the new pants.

“So if I go to school with Jay-Z on my iPod, they go, ‘OK, we all know him.’ You have to come to school with some new band that no-one else has heard of. As an artist you’re fighting against everything that’s new. So not only are you swimming upstream, you have someone pulling on your leg: the new guy, the weight of the new guy.”

He continued to say: “It’s like a crowded hallway full of people and you have to walk against it. Some don’t make it to the end of the hall. You’re always in the way. You have to be built for competition.”

The rapper has apparently made an appearance in a court in Yuma, Arizona regarding weapon and drug possession charges. Lil Wayne was supposedly discovered to have had cocaine, ecstasy and a handgun in his tour bus and these were found by the Arizona border patrol… of course, the rapper has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges. Now this is the stuff real rappers are made of. And Lil Wayne is probably going to do hard time for it… not community service or get probation periods. Oh well, it probably pays to have a good lawyer too, considering all of this.

Even though Adam Lambert seems to be the favorite for the first place on American Idol, his competition is not likely to be giving up to easily. Kris Allen goes for a very bold song choice by doing Kanye West’s “Heartless”. The surprising part is that he does it only with his voice and guitar… a bold move for which he is commended by the judges… even Simon Cowell who says that with this performance, Kris Allen managed to wipe away the failure of his first song for the evening. It’s a really tough race it seems and Kris Allen has a good starting speed… especially considering that he actually made Kanye West’s music sound like real music.

While TI isn’t openly admitting to some of his legal problems, he is admitting that he’s having trouble telling unregistered voters in DC “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” Someone should have thought about things more before pleading guilty to felony weapons charges and officially forfeiting his right to vote. However, the Hip Hop Caucus still selected the rapper as their official spokesperson justifying their decision by saying “.I. can’t vote in this election and to come and encourage others to vote, especially young folks from disenfranchised communities, while he still is in the system, is an act of courage and great leadership. Felon disenfranchisement is a major issue that particularly impacts communities of color.”

Clique Girlz have just premiered their first ever music video! Sisters Paris and Destinee and best friend Ariel rock out in the brand new video for “Then I Woke Up” where they let their dreams of being “hip hop queens” and “rock and roll dreams” run wild. Check it out the hottest new girl group here!

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Ice T recently spoke on the sad state of rap music and he’s putting all the blame on Soulja Boy. He says “Fuck Soulja Boy! Eat a dick! This ni–a single handedly killed Hip Hop. That shit is such garbage man. We came all the way from Rakim, we came all the way from Das EFX, we came all the way from motherfuckers flowing like Big Daddy Kane and Ice Cube, and you come with that Superman shit? That shit is garbage. Hurricane (Chris) take them fucking beads out of your hair ni–a! Man up. You ni–as is making me feel real fucking mad about this shit.” Soulja Boy has since responded to Ice T via YouTube in which all he can come up with was how old Ice T was. Lame!

Sneak a behind-the-scenes look at the latest pop/hip-hop sensations in their new EPK where you can find out about Asher, Wesley, Jared, Nathaniel, and Nicky’s performance backgrounds that range from technical lifelong dance training to watching Justin Timberlake’s every move. Also, listen up for “Round & Round,” “These Are The Days,” and “She Bad” off of their recently released EP. V Factory is currently on the Bandemonium tour with NLT, Menudo, and GLOWB.

Fun fact – V Factory’s Jared Murillo appeared in High School Musical 1 & 2 and was discovered by Warner Bros A&R Tommy Page while dancing on the High School Musical Tour.

V Factory EPK:

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If the 17-second leak of the song Madonna and Justin Timberlake did was any indication, then the Queen of Pop is going hip hop on her new album which will be out in April. The singer has changed her style numerous times over the span of her career – a few hits and misses but not so much problems. While many are anxious about this turn in her musical direction, there are also a lot who like the songs that have been leaked thus far. Just hope that she doesn’t rap on anything, otherwise, that’s a whole other story. But if it’s any indication, Rolling Stones magazine heard 5 songs from Madonna’s new album and their in-depth review of it is quite promising!

Go back in the recesses of your mind and recall the 90’s hip-hop duo, Kid ‘N Play. Remember? I even remember their cartoon.

Anyway, apparently Play was caught in the middle of a car chase. He wasn’t being chased by the cops but instead was hit by the fleeing vehicle.

A man named Raul Riva Aldamo, a robbery suspect, was running from police when he slammed into Play (real name Christopher Martin). Play was taken to the hospital that day (December 29) and was released on January 2. Aldamo died from his injuries.

Martin is now teaching at North Carolina Central University.

Rap mogul Diddy’s twins D’Lila Star Combs and Jessie James Combs turned 1 year old last week. Their dad recently told Us Weekly about his and ex Kim Porter’s twins saying “They’re trying to stand up and discover everything. All it takes is one look from them and my heart melts.” Looking at those faces right now, whose heart wouldn’t melt? They are just so adorable!

The 38-year old hip hop mogul has two other children, a 13-year old son named Justin with ex-girlfriend, hip hop fashion stylist Misa Hylton-Brim and a 10-year old son named Christian with Kim Porter.

R Kelly did it again. He might deny it, his label might deny it, but we all know it’s true. R Kelly can’t stand a double tour with a person that threatens to become to tour star. He must be the only one to get all the attention, otherwise…he continues touring alone.
It’s not the first time when a double concert tour needs to be ended. Some years ago, R Kelly parted the tour he was taking with Jay Z.
The Double Up tour he is on had as a performer along his side a young rap singer, called Ne-Yo. It seems that the 24 year old was getting too much attention, and Kelley probably got offended.

BET’s Hip Hop Awards went down in Atlanta over the weekend and Kanye West won ‘Best Hip Hop Video’. Now, for the guy who’s been whining about not getting any awards from MTV, why would he even think of trying to give his BET award away?!

Kanye suddenly gets a piece of humble pie because after he accepted the award for ‘Stronger’ he tried to give it away to his competitors saying that UGK’s song ‘International Players’ which featured OutKast was more deserving. He even handed the award over to Big Boi but Big Boi handed it right back, he has enough awards without Kanye’s grubby fingerprints over them.

Although a jury last week convicted Jose Padilla of supporting terrorism, rapper-actor Mos Def thinks that Padilla may not have gotten the due process the criminal justice system promises.

“We all know the history of insufficient evidence or testimony under duress — at the very least, legal circumstances that demand some sort of reinvestigation, a new consideration for facts, and just the truth — basically saying these people are not the criminals they’re being made out to be,” he told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.

“(It’s) the climate that we live in, people’s rights and liberties being taken advantage of — the whole situation with Jose Padilla,” he said. “Basically the state being able to just charge any individual with anything and prosecute them on the basis of that.”

Mos Def is hoping to draw attention to what he sees as inequities in the United States’ criminal justice system this weekend with the 10th annual “Black August” benefit concert at The Nokia Theater in New York City. Other performers include socially minded rappers such as Talib Kweli and Dead Prez, and rapper Saigon.

Organized by The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, “Black August” was organized to create awareness about the cases of people that the organization believes has been unfairly convicted, such as Assata Shakur, whose image is included on the concert flyer.

Shakur, a member of the Black Liberation Army, escaped prison in 1979 after being convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper and lives in Cuba as a fugitive.

“It’s so interesting how people are doing all this international philanthropic work, but this is real philanthropy — freeing innocent people, clearing their name or calling this system into account for how it responds to the truth. These people are telling the truth,” said Mos Def.

Padilla, a U.S. citizen, was convicted along with two defendants of conspiracy to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas. The three were accused of being part of a North American support cell that provided supplies, money and recruits to groups of Islamic extremists. The defense contended they were trying to help persecuted Muslims in war zones with relief and humanitarian aid.

Kanye West may be beating 50 Cent in the music polls when it comes to pre-orders but that doesn’t mean Kanye can be declared the winner in their rivalry. Proof of that would be the list that Forbes just came out with – the list of the Hip Hop Cash Kings.

Jay-Z, who took in $36 million in 2006, is on top. But what’s interesting with the list is that 50 comes in at #2 with $32 million while Kanye is at #8 wth only $17 million. Doi.

The rest of the top 10 is as follows:
#3 Diddy – $28 million
#4 Timbaland – $21 million
#5 Dr. Dre – $20 million
#6 Eminem – $18 million
#7 Snoop Dogg – $17 million
#9 Pharrell Williams – $17 million
#10 Scott Storch – $17 million

Kanye West’s rival 50 Cent recently lost his cool this week. He was reportedly furious at the fact that a new video of his was leaked to the web. What’s worse? He thinks that the leak was an inside job at Interscope.

The video ‘Follow My Lead’ was intended to drop in October and it features a collaboration with Robin Thicke.

When 50 found out about the leak, he freaked out and supposedly told Interscope execs that he refused to do promo work for his new album and then went on a destructive rampage. He has now refused to contact anyone from the label and Interscope is now doing damage control while rescheduling 50’s public appearances.

Yep, he’s going to retire.

A new 50 Cent video has recently leaked out on youtube. The song is titled “Follow My Lead” featuring Robin Thicke and is confirmed to be 50’s next single. Apparently, this wasn’t supposed to come out until October but someone in 50’s crew leaked it. His new album “Curtis” is due for release on September 11th.
Unfortunately this video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Universal Music Group.

Raymond was scheduled to marry his fiancée Tameka Foster yesterday afternoon. The ceremony was to take place at the home of record executive L.A. Reid. For some reason the wedding never took place. It was mysteriously called off and nobody is certain why. Usher’s spokeswoman Patti Webster announced the cancellation earlier in the day. She also said that no further information was going to be released and that Usher asked for the respect of his privacy. Webster would not comment on whether or not the couple had split up. Foster is expecting Usher’s baby this fall. There is plenty of speculation surrounding Foster’s sister. She recently told the press that Tameka had once served time after becoming involved with a married drug dealer. It’s always nice to see family sell one another out in Hollywood. Apparently this was a secret Tameka had been trying to keep from Usher. I’m pretty sure they say you can’t start a marriage based on lies and secrets. Maybe it’s better to hold off on rushing commitments when you don’t really know all there is to know about each other.

Legendary singer Bob Dylan has consented to the first hip-hop remix of one of his classic songs, Most Likely You’ll Go Your Way (And I’ll Go Mine). Dylan has sanctioned Mark Ronson, the dance world’s hottest producer, to rework on the bittersweet break-up song from his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. After years of declining all offers to remix his records, Dylan, has decided that hip-hop renovation is the finest way to initiate his work to a new teenage audience. Certainly well thought of Dylan, in today’s world it is the survival of the fittest and renovation or innovation is a must to keep oneself as world class. He certainly is a name that his generation would love listening to and his music was ground-breaking. Keep reinventing and keep reincarnating and he will be amazed to see his popularity rise among a new age audience.

The mother of late rapper Tupac Shakur is trying to stop his former record label selling unreleased recordings as part of a bankruptcy settlement.

Afeni Shakur is seeking an injunction in a bankruptcy court claiming Death Row Records is attempting to sell material that belongs to his estate.

Unreleased material should have been turned over to the estate as part of a 1997 agreement, her lawyer said.

The court is expected to consider the request in the next month.

At the same time, it will decide whether Death Row should be allowed to release an album with the unreleased tracks to help pay its debts, according to Ms Shakur’s lawyer Donald David.

The legal team representing Death Row Records was not available for comment.

The label made stars of Shakur and Snoop Dogg, and was home to hip-hop super-producer Dr Dre in the early 1990s.

But its fortunes – and those of its owner, Marion “Suge” Knight – started to slide when Shakur was shot dead in 1996.

The rapper, whose hits include California Love and Ghetto Gospel, was in the passenger seat of Knight’s car when the attack happened.

Hip Hop star been swamped with 10,000 pleas to become his Personal Assistant. The music mogul received these applications in just 4 days after may be not been able to find the right candidate in the entire Hollywood and Music Industry that takes care of top most celebrity stars. The reason for his desperate attempt to find someone suitable could range from his being a notorious person with a track record that suggest he is a task master when it comes to work to the slightly more obvious reason that these shaking bamboo tree like artist are known to be bad pay masters as well. He clearly doesn’t need a personal assistant; he wants to garner publicity from this need of his. He will be selecting a bunch of people from these applications and then there is gonna be a voting to find the most suitable candidate from himself – voting will be done by fans and there are going to be sponsors and money involved to land a nice babe kinda pussy cat that can be seen with him.