• The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Announce New Album 'Freedom Tower - No Wave Dance Party 2015,' Share Lead Single "Do The Get Down" [LISTEN]

    New York punk trio The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion have announced a new album titled Freedom Tower - No Wave Dance Party 2015 (that's the cover up above), and have shared a music video for the album's lead single "Do The Get Down," which you can check out below. According to Pitchfork, the album is set for release on March 24 through Mom + Pop, and is a concept album about New York City, "a chronicle of grit and terror and love."

  • Is Jay-Z Trying to Buy Hot 97?

    Things are not well in the New York hip-hop family. Two of the biggest players in the community, Jay-Z and Funkmaster Flex, are at odds over actions reportedly taken by people at Jay-Z's site "Life + Times." There appears to be more at stake here, though. According to a report on "mediatakeout.com," citing a "rock-solid source," Jay-Z is a part of a group of investors that includes New York Knicks basketball star Carmelo Anthony who are currently in negotiations to buy Hot 97. According to the site, both sides are serious about getting the deal done. Hot 97 is the radio station where Funkmaster Flex has his own radio show.

  • Funkmaster Flex Attacks Jay-Z on Hot 97 — Twice

    Funkmaster Flex is not happy with Jay-Z. Fed up with recent misconduct revolving around Jay's Life+Times website, Flex has now ripped into the Brooklyn rapper twice on Hot 97 this week. The problem stems from an interview Flex did with L+T about an app he designed. Flex claims that one of Jay's reporters asked several questions about said app but did not use any of the material. Later, Jay released a similar app, which obviously ticked Flex off. Skip ahead to Jan. 15 when an L+T reporter emailed Flex requesting an interview about a Dipset reunion. That was when he decided to hop on Hot 97 and sound off.

  • Travi$ Scott Says Album 'Rodeo' Will Be Released in March

    Houston rapper Travi$ Scott has revealed the tentative release for his debut solo artist album Rodeo. In an interview with CR Fashion Book, Scott revealed that the album would be arriving sometime in March. It was a very typical way for the "Don't Play" rapper to make the announcement that was raised by a mother who was a retailer for Louis Vuitton. He commented on the meaning of the album title, Rodeo in the same interview.

  • Stream 20-Year-Old Jay-Z Demos Recorded Before 'Reasonable Doubt' [LISTEN]

    A recently unearthed collection of demos show off Jay-Z's genius prior to his 1996 debut "Reasonable Doubt." The 11 tracks are truly a special gift for any Hova fan since they show off his skills prior to becoming a multi-millionaire. Tracks like "What's in a Name?" and "Pass the Roc" were made by a 25-year-old lyrical mastermind hungry for a life beyond the streets. Mass Appeal discovered the demos, which feature a few guest spots by Sauce Money. What is most upsetting about the collection is that tons of record labels passed on the rapper after hearing the tracks. Wow. Listen to the compilation below. "Jay-Z was never really a coke rapper. He was also never really the club rat, the jeweler's best friend or the menacing kingpin," "XXL" wrote about the demo collection. "What he was was a carefully constructed latticework of all those things, borrowing bits and pieces of other archetypes and putting them over the day's most forward production."

  • Beyonce Pregnancy Rumors Circle Around Mysterious New Instagram Post [PHOTO]

    When you are a high profile celebrity, in a high profile relationship with another famous person no less, pregnancy rumors can be a dime a dozen. Most recently, pregnancy rumors have been fading in and out regarding Beyonce, who currently has one child with hip hop mogul Jay-Z, Blue Ivy Carter. Now, however, there may be some truth to the rumors.

  • Beyoncé Criticized by Animal Rights Groups for Pics with Tiger, Elephant

    Over the weekend, Beyoncé posted a photo to her Instagram account of herself, Jay-Z and their daughter Blue Ivy petting a tiger cub during their recent trip to Thailand, and though the picture is absolutely adorable for a number of reasons — as you can see up above — not everyone is happy about it. According to "Vulture," animal rights organization World Animal Protection criticized Bey for her photo-op, which took place at Phuket's FantaSea theme park, saying that the animals in these parks are subjected to abuse and suffering. "When you look behind the scenes, vacation snaps like these support an industry that relies on animal cruelty," World Animal Protection wrote in its criticism. "Many tourists unwittingly contribute to the suffering of wild animals like these. They're simply not aware that their 'once in a lifetime' photo means a lifetime of misery for that animal." During this same trip, Mrs. Carter was also photographed riding a baby elephant, which summoned the wrath of One Green Planet, who said that "there is an incredible amount of suffering involved in Thai elephant tourism," and that the elephant in the photo "was likely taken from his mother and forced to endure a six-month 'breaking' period, during which time he was locked in a small enclosure and continuously beaten by his mahouts (trainers)." This is not the first time Queen Bey has been criticized by animal rights groups. In 2013, French designer Isabel Marant created a pair of sneakers for the singer that were made out of the skins of stingrays, crocodiles, anacondas, ostrichs and calfs, which greatly upset PETA. She is not alone, though: You can check out a list of musicians who have angered PETA here.

  • Jay Z Says Hip-Hop Played Important Role In Race Relations in America [WATCH]

    Leading up to the 50th anniversary of the historic Selma to Montgomery marches, Oprah's OWN network will be airing a series of civil rights-related programming. Yesterday the network aired a special "Master Class" episode that featured a variety of firsthand accounts from "iconic masters," including rapper and business mogul Jay Z (born Shawn Carter).

  • 8 Artists with At Least 8 No. 1 Albums: Ranking The Octopping Albums from Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Jay Z and More

    Fifty years ago on this day Elvis Presley released Roustabout, a soundtrack for the film of the same title, starring the performer. It was his eighth no. 1 album, an extension of his record for most albums atop the Billboard 200 by one artist (which would soon be surpassed for good by The Beatles). Interestingly enough, only eight acts have had at least eight albums top the American charts. We at Music Times decided to find out each of those acts' no. 8 no. 1 and measure them up against each other.

  • NME Names Best Albums of Decade: Arctic Monkeys and 'AM' Take Top Spot; Jay Z and Kanye West Earn Best Track with "N----s in Paris"

    While the rest of us music publications were running around compiling our albums-of-the-year lists, NME was going above the crowd and releasing its albums-of-the-decade list (not to say they didn't do an albums-of-the-year list as well). The Arctic Monkeys took top prize for the last four years with its 2013 release AM. The British publication may have given home field advantage to the Monkeys for albums but its pick for track of the decade thus far went to a very American act singing about another region in Europe: "Niggas in Paris" by Jay Z and Kanye West took that prize.

  • Beyonce, Jay Z Instagram [PHOTOS]: “XO” Singer Shares Christmas Pics During Holiday Season

    It looks like New York’s power couple – Beyonce and Jay Z – are having quite the Christmas. How do we know? Bey was kind enough to share with her followers … all 21.9 million of them … some photos of her enjoying the day. So, what are Jay and the “XO” singer doing? Well, not exactly sure but whatever they’re doing consists of a helicopter and some champagne!

  • The-Dream Shares New Song "Fruition" From Upcoming Album [LISTEN]

    Earlier this month, R&B singer-songwriter The-Dream debuted his new single "Fruition" the old-fashioned way: through the radio. Now, a radio rip of the single has surfaced online, which you can check out below. The track is a slick piece of R&B driven by some electric piano, drum machine, and electric guitar licks, and sounds like no other mainstream R&B artist currently working right now.
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