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Tag: Jay-Z

  • Jay-Z Song ‘Open Letter’ Hits SoundCloud

    Jay-Z Song ‘Open Letter’ Hits SoundCloud

    Jay-Z has been in the headlines a lot this week for more than one reason. Reports came out that he was looking to divest his ownership share of the Brooklyn Nets. His trip (with Beyonce) to Cuba has also been talked about a lot in on political sites.

    The couple took a trip to the country to celebrate their anniversary. Senator Marco Rubio said the cuban government was using the trip for “propaganda purposes”. He put out a statement saying the Obama Administration should “clarify its enforcement policy on Americans that travel to cuba:

    “U.S. law clearly bans tourism to Cuba by American citizens because it provides money to a cruel, repressive and murderous regime. Since their inception, the Obama Administration’s ‘people to people’ cultural exchange programs have been abused by tourists who have no interest in the Cuban people’s freedom and either don’t realize or don’t care that they’re essentially funding the regime’s systematic trampling of people’s human rights.

    “According to recent news reports, Jay-Z and Beyonce’s Cuba trip, which the regime seized on for propaganda purposes, was fully licensed by the Treasury Department. If true, the Obama Administration should explain exactly how trips like these comply with U.S. law and regulations governing travel to Cuba and it should disclose how many more of these trips they have licensed.”

    Well, Jay-Z has responded to critics with a song called “Open Letter,” which is available on SoundCloud:

    Jay-Z mentions Obama in the song, but the White House is distancing itself from the whole thing, saying the President had nothing to do with the trip.

  • Jay-Z to Sell Nets to Expand Sports Rep Business

    Rapper/producer Jay-Z owns a portion of the Brooklyn Nets. However, Jay-Z this year launched a new sports representation venture called Roc Nation Sports. This could become a conflict of intrest if the rapper were to ever represent NBA players.

    Yahoo Sports is reporting that Jay-Z is now looking to sell off his share of the Nets to expand Roc Nation into representing basketball players. The NBA Players Association requires that certified agents not be owners of any NBA team.

    Jay-Z founded Roc Nation in early April, and he is rumored to be planning on becoming a certified sports agent. The agency has already signed New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Canó.

    The report cites unnamed sources as saying Jay-Z’s sell-off should be complete in time for Roc Nation to sign players in the NBA draft this June. The sources also mentioned that other sports agents are becoming “anxious,” believing that Jay-Z’s fame and marketing resources could lue players to Roc Nation.

    (Image courtesy Mikamote/Wikimedia Commons)

  • Beyonce: Miscarriage Produced Sad Song

    Beyonce: Miscarriage Produced Sad Song

    Beyonce is opening up about a heartbreaking event no woman wants to go through, and says that music turned out to be the best form of therapy for her.

    Before she became pregnant with Blue Ivy, she said, she was pregnant with another child who lost the heartbeat early in the first trimester. The star said that hearing the sound of her baby’s heart had been the most “beautiful music” she’d ever heard, and to lose that was devastating.

    “I picked out names,” she said. “I envisioned what my child would look like . . . I was feeling very maternal. I flew back to New York to get my check up — and no heartbeat. Literally the week before I went to the doctor, everything was fine, but there was no heartbeat.”

    Using music as a way to overcome that emotional time, Beyonce wrote a song about her loss; it would be the first one she’d write for her album.

    “I went into the studio and wrote the saddest song I’ve ever written in my life. And it was the best form of therapy for me, because it was the saddest thing I’ve ever been through,” she said.

    Beyonce and hubby, Jay-Z, have been extremely doting parents and were fairly secretive about her pregnancy with Blue Ivy, and now we know why. They’re still highly protective of her, rarely allowing her to be photographed by the media. But, she says, keeping the baby a secret was difficult.

    “Being pregnant was very much like falling in love,” she said. “You are so open. You are so overjoyed. There’s no words that can express having a baby growing inside of you, so of course you want to scream it out and tell everyone.”

    The superstar is set to perform the halftime show at the Super Bowl this weekend, after much speculation regarding her performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” at President Obama’s inauguration earlier this month.

  • Jay-Z On The Subway With Awesome Older Lady

    Jay-Z is every inch the gentleman you’d think he would be (Beyonce chose him out of the millions of men on the planet for a reason), and this video proves it.

    When caught up in a media blitz while getting on the subway recently, Jay chose a seat next to a sweet older lady who asked him–with flashbulbs sparking–if he was famous. His response was a humble, “Yes. Not very famous, you don’t know me.”

    He then struck up a conversation with Ellen, who is rumored to be artist Ellen Grossman, and when he gave his full name she said, “Oh, you’re Jay-Z! I know about Jay-Z!”

    So adorable. Skip ahead to about 19:24 for the interaction.

  • Rihanna And Chris Brown Take In Jay-Z Concert

    Rihanna and Chris Brown have been spotted together a couple of times recently, and though rumors will always fly about the couple no matter what they do, fans are concerned that they really are back together despite the fact that Brown is still on probation for a brutal assault on Rihanna in 2009.

    The duo was seen together on Wednesday, taking in a Jay-Z show in Brooklyn while cozied up together. They were also spotted earlier that night leaving the same hotel, although separately.

    Rihanna recently sat down for an in-depth interview with Oprah, where she talked about Brown and what happened directly after the assault and his arrest. The singer admitted that she still loves him, and will always love him.

    “I felt protective,” she said. “I felt like the only person they hate right now is him. It was a weird confusing space to be in because to be as angry and as hurt and betrayed, I just felt like he made that mistake because he needed help, and who’s gonna help him? Nobody’s gonna say he needs help. Everybody’s gonna say he’s a monster without looking at the source. I was more concerned about him.”

    It’s doubtful either one of them will admit any time soon that something is going on, but they aren’t exactly trying to keep it a secret, either. Meanwhile, Brown’s girlfriend, Karrueche Tran, has been posting odd things on Twitter.

  • Jay-Z, Budweiser’s Made in America Festival to Stream Live on YouTube & Pandora [REPORT]

    Jay-Z, Budweiser’s Made in America Festival to Stream Live on YouTube & Pandora [REPORT]

    28 performances, on 3 stages, over the course of one weekend. That’s the pitch for the Budweiser-sponsored “Made in America Fest,” set to kick off this Saturday in Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Parkway. It’s the inaugural Made in America music festival, and if you can’t make it to the city of brotherly love, YouTube and Pandora apparently have your back.

    Mashable is reporting that both YouTube and Pandora will be live streaming the festival to music lovers everywhere. For YouTube, this is old (but still cool) news. They’ve been streaming festivals like Bonnaroo, Coachella, and Lollapalooza for years. But this does mark the first time that Pandora will dedicate itself to streaming a weekend music festival.

    You should be able to access the live streams from 2pm to 11pm on both days of the concert. Clips from the festival should remain available on YouTube for a month after the festival is over.

    Made in America is rapper Jay-Z’s baby, as he has curated all of the talent. Performers included Skrillex, Passion Pit, D’Angelo, Pearl Jam, Drake, Odd Future, Mike Snow, and more. Yesterday, we heard that Ron Howard has signed on to direct the film of the festival. He told the Hollywood Reporter that the film will be “a reflection of the fabric of what it means to be Made in America — what the festival represents, why Jay is doing it and how he relates to each artist” – not just your typical concert documentary.

  • Beyonce Letter: Michelle Obama Is A Role Model

    Singer and new mother Beyonce has penned a heartfelt, handwritten letter to First Lady Michelle Obama and posted it on her website for public view.

    Beyonce and Jay-Z are the proud parents of baby girl Blue Ivy, and perhaps it is the new role she has stepped into as a mama that has made her so appreciative of a strong female leader. The letter thanks the First Lady for being a positive role model and goes on to give the ultimate compliment:

    “I am proud to have my daughter grow up in a world where she has you to look up to,” Beyonce writes.

    The “Single Ladies” singer and her man are known supporters of President Obama and have been known to rub elbows with them at White House functions; Beyonce recently partnered with the First Lady to battle childhood obesity. And the president has made it clear that his music choices run toward the super-couple, telling a reporter recently that he preferred Jay-Z over Kanye West, who is a “jackass”.

    It can only be to the first family’s credit that the superstars support them; Beyonce’s influence has a long arm. This is, after all, the woman who (finally) started a Twitter account recently and has almost 4 million followers already despite a single tweet.

    (image)@Beyonce
    Beyonce Knowles    Hey World, It’s B!
    I’m so excited to invite you to my new http://t.co/fZxlrtAh – we’ve been working
    hard, and it’s finally ready for you XO(image) 8 days ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Beyonce Back on Tour After Baby Blue

    Beyonce is set to return to the stage in May despite rumors that she would take a long break after giving birth to Blue Ivy. Jay-Z has been putting a lot of effort into his plans to make Beyonce’s comeback epic.

    While a world tour is in the near future, the 16 Grammy award winning songstress will resurface by performing three concerts in New Jersey at Atlantic City’s Revel Resorts. Revel said Monday that the shows will be held over Memorial Day weekend for the premiere of the $2.4 billion resort.

    (image)

    Sources told the New York Post that, “Just weeks after the birth of Blue Ivy, Jay met with Live Nation to discuss a tour for Beyoncé. He wanted a deal worth about $150million, but they countered with a lower offer.” Beyoncé had earlier hinted that she may tour again this year.

    (image)

    Reps for Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and Live Nation declined to comment on the deatils surrounding the world tour.

    Tickets for the May 25 through May 27 concerts go on sale April 6. Beyoncé will perform in the Ovation Hall, which has 5,050 seats.

    Her fans are very excited about her upcoming concerts and wonder if baby Blue will be tagging along.

  • Watch the Throne: Kanye West and Jay-Z Take Over Twitter

    Fans rejoice, as you can now download the much-anticipated album “Watch The Throne,” the collaboration of Kanye West and Jay-Z.

    The digital copy was released at midnight and right now, it is available exclusively on iTunes. The physical release is set for August 12th and those who want a deluxe edition in their hands can grab that exclusively at Best Buy. It will hit other retailers on August 23rd.

    This method of release has caused a bit of a controversy within the retail world, as record shops and larger retailers everywhere lament the decision to give iTunes and Best Buy “preferential treatment.” They feel like the exclusivity of the release will amount to nothing but “crumbs” being left for them once people buy the album in the opening windows.

    And they may be right, as the initial buzz surrounding the album is massive.

    Check out this Twitter trends box from just now. Note that along with #ThroneDay, 6 of the other 9 top trends are individual tracks from the album. What an amazing domination of Twitter Mr. West and Jay-Z have pulled off.

    @questlove
    Questo of The Roots    OMG at “Welcome To The Jungle” #watchthethrone. 8 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @sblackdelia
    Sofia Black-D’Elia    #LivingLegends #InAwe #ThroneDay 22 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @arriestotle
    Arrie H.    I like how the entire track list is slowly trending lol #throneday 2 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    If you want to check out the tracks, here’s a YouTube playlist where you can do that. Here’s a compilation of the tracks, played out in 30 second snippets: