Jay-Z

[UPDATED with Chancellor Response and Investigation:] UC Irvine Asian-American Fraternity Members Produce Blackface Music Video

Read the response from UCI's chancellor at the end of this post. ORIGINAL POST, APRIL 25, 6 A.M.: Another day, another frat bro in blackface. Lambda Theta Delta (LTD), the largest and oldest Asian American fraternity at UC Irvine, is under fire after members produced a music video inspired by the ... More >>

On The Line: Chris Sarkissian of Medii Kitchen, Part Two

Most of the time, we have follow-up questions with our chef subjects so they can elaborate on some of their shorter responses. This was not one of those instances. Read our interview with Chris Sarkissian of Medii Kitchen, Part One.And now, on to Part Two . . . . When you're not in the kitchen, what ... More >>

Our Mardi Gras Phat Tuesday Playlist

That's right folks, it's Mardi Gras. The day before Lent kicks off with the solemn Ash Wednesday where absurdly excessive partying hits its absolute peak. Of course, whether you're a Catholic or not, Fat Tuesday is a fantastic excuse to cut loose and have the absolute most fun one can have on a Tues ... More >>

Five Mash-Up Ideas Girl Talk Should Never Attempt (And Hear What They Would Sound Like!)

If there's one mash-up artist we at the Weekly adore, it's Girl Talk. Who else could have given us an appreciation for elements of songs we wouldn't have noticed without their being re-contextualized, while simultaneously tapping into our nostalgia and rocking a party all night long? While we would ... More >>

Obama Gets The Jay-Z Mash-up Treatment With "99 Problems (But Mitt's Not One)"

With the first round of the 2012 Presidential Debate happening tomorrow, we're sure both President Obama and Mitt Romney are busy stretching, meditating and fishing through their iPods for the perfect hype music to pump them up for talks about domestic policy. So it seems like a good time to share a ... More >>

Adventure Club

The Observatory

Top Ten Rap Albums For People Who Don't Know Shit About Hip-Hop

Our good friends over at LA Weekly ran a post today recommending ten rap albums for people whose knowledge of the genre is limited to Kanye West -- and only then because Obama called him an asshole for interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech. Naturally, the comments section has exploded with " ... More >>

Dom Kennedy

The Observatory

"Nigga in Paris": Jay-Z and Kanye Set a New Record, Which We Pretty Much Predicted

Sayre Berman​When we heard Jay-Z and Kanye West were playing the song "Niggas in Paris" multiple times during their Watch The Throne tour, we scratched out some highly scientific tabulations and calculated they would perform it 13 times in L.A. Here's how it all began. On the tour's first ni ... More >>

Jay-Z and Kanye West at Staples Center Last Night

Christopher Victorio​Jay-Z and Kanye West Staples Center December 11, 2011 From the Givenchy-designed gold cover to lyrics dripping with foreign luxury brand references like "Hublot" and "Margiela" to the video in which they chop up a $350,000 Maybach for giggles, Jay-Z and Kanye West's albu ... More >>

Aziz Ansari Recreates "Niggas in Paris" Using Emojis

​See also: It's Not Them, It's You: Stop Projecting Your Financial Woes onto Jay-Z and Kanye We're going a little Jay/'Ye crazy today, and why not? The Hublot-wearing, Maybach-wrecking duo hit L.A. this weekend for three sold-out shows. Turns out, we aren't the only ones. Aziz Ansari, Parks ... More >>

Russell Simmons Defends Jay-Z Selling 'Occupy All Streets' T-Shirts That Won't Actually Benefit #OWS

​The controversy surrounding the Occupy Wall Street movement has hit the fashion world, thanks to a controversial T-shirt that was supposed to be released by hip-hop artist and clothing designer Jay-Z.

Kanye West Announces New Album on Twitter

Laila Derakhshanian/OC Weekly​ Who needs a publicist when you've got 140 characters to spare and 4,675,077 follwers on Twitter? Definitely not Kanye West, who tweeted that his next album is coming out in the spring of 2012. Aaaand it will probably be a compilation from his label Good Music, since ... More >>

Portishead's Geoff Barrow On Touring Third, Misconceptions About Dummy and His Upcoming Hip-Hop Record

​Thirteen years after their last North American tour, pioneering British trio Portishead are back to finally make the rounds in support of their latest album, Third, released in 2008. It's been a while, but for good reason; between having babies and working on new musical projects, they've been qu ... More >>

Jay-Z Course, Now Offered at Georgetown University

Andrew Youssef/OC Weekly​When MTV broke the news that educator Michael Eric Dyson, who teaches at Georgetown University, was offering a 3-credit course called "Sociology of Hip-Hop: Jay-Z" this semester, the Interwebz went wild. But really, isn't it about time? After all, Lady Gaga has been a sub ... More >>

Kanye West At the Call Of Duty XP Last Saturday

Idolator​Kanye WestSeptember 3, 2011The Stages At Playa Vista, Los AngelesIt's common knowledge at big-name concerts that a headlining act will, almost always, never show up on time. Even if you arrive late, you will still reach the venue a good half hour before the performer themselves (guaran ... More >>

Kanye and Jay-Z release "Watch the Throne", Bon Iver surprised to be on it

​Kanye West has been more of the "do shit, think later" type, so Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver)'s discovery that his hook had been used on "That's My Bitch" off the newly-dropped Watch the Throne couldn't have come as too much of a surprise to the indie-rocker.

Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne Tour Dates Changed

​According to a press statement sent out today, the demand for Jay-Z and Kanye West's groundbreaking Watch the Throne tour is so overwhelming, additional shows are being added as we speak. As a result, the tour schedule has been modified. The new presale date moves to Tuesday, August 2, and the n ... More >>

Kanye West Jay Z = The Throne: They're a Hip-Hop Supergroup About to Go on Tour

​Now they've done it. Jay-Z and Kanye West have formed a hip-hop supergroup called The Throne. And yes, there will be an album, and yes, there will be a tour called (wait for it) Watch the Throne. It will be available digitally on August 8, exclusively on iTunes. On the same day, tickets will be ... More >>

Kanye Tweets for the First Time in Nearly Two Months, Reveals Album Cover

​Not to be outshone by America's Independence Day, Kanye West broke his near two-month long Twitter silence (last tweet was May 15) last Monday, July 4.

Volcom Sues Jay-Z

[Mental Notes] More important, what's going on for Record Store Day in OC?

Battle for the Diamond: Surf Brand Volcom Sues Jay-Z Over Trademark Infringement

Jay-Z may need to find a new shape.​De Beers lied to us. A diamond is not forever. Jay-Z has been throwing around that diamond hand signal for a few years now and using it as the logo for his music company, but a Costa Mesa surf brand is taking legal action to get its diamond back.Volcom is suing ... More >>

An 'Ode to Women' From Your Best Friend's Ex--Really?

​For Canadian rap-rockers Your Best Friend's Ex, the definition of an ode as a lyrical verse in praise of something inspiring somehow got horribly lost in the mix. Their cheap trick of a first single, "Ode to Women," manages to peddle "I said, bitch, shut your mouth" as a chorus. Feeling poetic ... More >>

Top 5 Break-Up Albums for Valentine's Day

Myspace.comThe Cure​​Not that you care, but last week, my girlfriend of 11 years and I broke up, which I guess makes me somewhat of an expert on the subject of really good records to listen to if you're feeling the loss of someone today. Like anyone who was with another person for a long enough ... More >>

Six Most Anticipated Albums of 2011

Christopher Victorio/OC WeeklyRadiohead at the Henry Fonda Theater on Jan. 25, 2010​Last year looked like it might be bleak in terms of truly great albums, but a few artists (Beach House, the National, Yeasayer, Kanye West) managed to produce some future classics in 2010. And now that we've turned ... More >>

Record Review: Rick Ross, 'Teflon Don'

​Borrowing the nickname of iconic crime boss John Gotti, Rick Ross' newest effort employs an Escalade-full of gaudy, bone-rattling beats to remind us exactly how hard he's shining with his latest album, Teflon Don (out today on Def Jam).

What You Missed: Coachella, Coachella Parties, America's Family Pet Expo, Anaheim Comic Con

Andrew YoussefClockwise from top left: Alison Mossheart of the Dead Weather, Jay-Z, Zooey Deschanel of She & Him, Matt Bellamy of Muse.​It's all over! Three long days of music, crowds, tents that smell like armpit and more--Coachella 2010! We hope you kept up with us throughout our up-to-date ... More >>

Where's Water?

[Coachella 2010] Finding these items in the illustration may be easier than finding them at Coachella

RIP Alex Chilton, Jack White Records with Jay-Z, Dixie Chicks Return, Learn Guitar from Polyphonic Spree

Highly influential Big Star and Box Tops singer/songwriter Alex Chilton--a power pop mastermind--has died.This needs to be heard ASAP: Jack White records song with Jay-Z.

Jay-Z Disses 'We Are the World' Remake, John Mayer to Direct Porn (?), Slash, Wayne Coyne

Finally, someone--OK, someone famous and credible--has spoken up about the well-intentioned foolishness of remaking "We Are the World." Thanks Jay-Z!Flaming Lips front man Wayne Coyne has the coolest house in the whole wide world!"Vivid Entertainment offers John Mayer his 'dream' job to write porn ... More >>

Jay-Z, Muse, Gorillaz, Pavement, Muse, Thom Yorke, Faith No More to Headline Coachella

Let the rumors end--finally. The Coachella roster has been confirmed. Jay-Z ranks as the biggie for the fest that takes place April 16-18 in the desert/aka Empire Polo Field, Indio, but the rad reunions go to Pavement and Faith No More. As for blasts from the past, we're stoked to see Sly and the Fa ... More >>

Today in Music News: Lil Wayne, Jack White, Wanda Jackson, Courtney Love

Lil Wayne video for "On Fire" officially out (see above). Not sure if I'm feeling it.Speaking of Weezy, he's gonna voice Jesus!Jack White--the coolest and hardest working man in music--readies new Dead Weather album; produces record by rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson covering Amy Winehouse's "You Kn ... More >>

[Year In Review] Revisiting the Greatest Orange County Concerts of 2009

Top 10 Orange County Concerts of 2009, No. 4: Jay-Z, August 8, Honda Center, Anaheim

Editor's Note: Having spent hours perusing the Heard Mentality archives for a Concert Year in Review feature running in the print issue that streets Jan. 1, I compiled a Top 10 list of the coolest shows to come through Orange County in 2009. I'm posting one per day for the rest of the year. Jay-Z w ... More >>

Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself

​I've been bear-hugged by Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo Green. Talked politics with Toby Keith. Sat with Norah Jones just weeks after her multi-platinum debut dropped and killed a pint of Bushmills with AC/DC singer Brian Johnson. All of this went down during the past decade while writing for Florida ... More >>

Six Albums That Came Out on 9/11

September 11, 2001 was a lot of things, but it was also a Tuesday, meaning that it was the day new CDs were out in stores (the iTunes Store was still a year and a half away from existence--how did we survive back then?). And not just any records, but quite a few fairly significant ones. Here are six ... More >>

Last Night: Powerhouse at Honda Center

​Last Night: Powerhouse 2009 at the Honda Center featuring Jay-Z, Black Eyed Peas, Pitbull, Lil' John, Flo Rida, Sean Paul, LMFAO, Kid Cudi, Far East Movement, New Boyz and Ya Boy.Better Than: A long, shitty drive to San Manuel Casino.Download: Pssh, like you really need ME to tell you what to dow ... More >>

Incoming: Jay-Z at Honda Center in Anaheim

Take that, non-smoking laws!Jay-Z has recently declared Auto-Tune dead via his (kind of awesome) new single "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune);" possibly a weird sentiment given his close association to noted Auto-Tune proponent Kanye West, but hey, it's Hova, man. You can't tell that guy what to do. He d ... More >>

Play On, Playah

The Game

LowBallVideoChatter: Mediocre Chinese Hip-Hop

I'm not sure what I think about this Chinese hip-hop video from an act called T.H.P., other than the fact that it's depressing how they take the worst elements of the worst contemporary American hip-hop videos and duplicate them, as if all those Jay-Z and 50 Cent clips were pieces of highly conceptu ... More >>

Heart of 
Orange County

Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z

Jay-Z/Mary J. Blige Ask Fans to Build Set List for Tour

Really rich rapper Jay-Z and R&B diva Mary J. Blige are slated to play the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine April 18 as part of their Heart of the City Tour. If you purchase tickets via the exclusive fan pre-sale that begins Feb. 25, you can make song suggestions to the duo and thereby have a ... More >>

Letters

“Why can’t polygamists be more like Mike Carona? He only has one wife (and a mistress and a couple of girlfriends)”

Spin City DJ Competition

Last night at Spin City (held at Sutra, that place is sooo beautiful), another 2 hopeful DJs made it a little bit closer to the Winter Music Fest in Miami. And I got just a little bit closer to destroying my liver. The competition, which consisted of 20 minute sets, started off with Peter J spinn ... More >>

Hova-rated

Jay-Z’s American Gangster Proves He Ain’t All That—and Never Was

Snap to It

WEB EXCLUSIVE!: Comeback kids, rhymin Limeys and songs about partying defined Hip-Hop Nation in 2006

Indie Vs. Major: Who's Got the Flavor

Urban music in 2006 was typified by what it wasnt as much as what it was

Live Previews

Trio Dreams

Midnight Movies are ready for their close-up

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