Jay-Z and Lebron James hosted their fourth annual Two Kings Dinner Saturday during NBA All-Star Weekend at the W Hotel in Dallas. Guests included Drake, Diddy and Russell Simmons.
Jay-Z opens up in the Feb. issue of Interview magazine and shares his thoughts on several subjects including his relationships with Kanye West and President Barack Obama.
His relationship has changed with Kanye since they first began working with each other, said the rapper.
“Well, he’s really more of a peer now. You know, before, he was more a new guy trying to get on—a fan of the music that I’ve made and my lifestyle—so things were a little different. But he’s an extraordinary person. He has these ideas and these things that he wants to do and places he wants to go, and he’s really passionate about them. He’s very sincere.”
Jay-Z also dishes about his relationships with Obama and Bill Clinton.
“It’s unbelievable because it’s so far away from where I come from. We were the kids who were ignored by every politician. We didn’t have the numbers, the vote, to put anybody in office, because no matter who was in the office, we didn’t think that it would affect change where we lived. So nobody went out and voted. For me, being with Obama or having dinner with Bill Clinton . . . It’s crazy. It’s mind-blowing, because where I come from is just another world. We were just ignored by politicians—by America in general.”
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After their performance at the World Series, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys are set to drop the video for “Empire State of Mind.” Check it out:
Jay-Z - "Empire State Of Mind" ft. Alicia Keys
Jay-Z | MySpace Video
Kanye West apologized for his outburst on the MTV Video Music Awards during his scheduled appearance last night on the premiere of “The Jay Leno Show.”
Later, West performed “Run this Town” with Rihanna and Jay-Z.
Oprah checked in with BFF Gayle King’s radio show to discuss her interview this past weekend with Jay-Z for an upcoming issue of O Magazine. The two visited the rapper’s childhood home of Marcy Projects in Brooklyn, NY.
“He was so charming and delightful, and he smelled so good,” Winfrey said. “And it’s that kind of thing where you hug a guy, and the scent is sort of buried in them. When we went to the second location, I could still smell him on me. It was like, ‘Oh, this is wonderful.’ “
Kanye West, Rihanna and Jay-Z on the set of the "Run this Town" video
On Sept. 14, Rihanna will make her first television performance since the domestic violence incident with Chris Brown when she performs with Jay-Z and Kanye West on the premiere episode of “The Jay Leno Show.” The trio will perform “Run this Town,” a single from Jay-Z’s new album, “The Blueprint 3,” which will be released Sept. 11.
Fans can thank Kanye West for the creation of Jay-Z’s new single, “D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-tune),” off of his new album, “The Blueprint 3,” being released in September.
“He actually sparked the idea,” Jay-Z told Billboard. “When he heard the beat he said, ‘Man, this is just so hard! This has to be against everything — no auto-tune, none of that type of stuff!’ He didn’t know what I was going to do or where I was going to take it, but it was actually his fault.
“In hip-hop, our job is once a trend becomes a gimmick, to get rid of it. We’ve done that since the beginning of time,” Jay-Z explains. “Now people are using Auto-tune even in Wendy’s commercials, and it’s like, ‘Oh no! That’s has to go!’ It’s become part of main culture. It’s the same thing like when the old lady in Oregon starts saying, ‘bling, bling.’ It’s like, ‘I’m never saying that again.’”
Even though the country is in a recession, hip hop moguls continue to thrive. Forbes announced Thursday the top 20 most successful hip hop artists within the last year. Jay-Z toppled last year’s top earner 50 cent to claim the no.1 spot this year. It is estimated that he earned $35 million from touring. P.Diddy came in second with an estimated $30 million from his Sean John clothing line, Ciroc vodka partnership and MTV reality shows. Kanye is no.3 with $25 million due to sales from his last album, touring and sneaker deals with Nike and Louis Vuitton.
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