N.E.R.D. are opening for Kanye West at MSG tonight. I hope they play a much smaller venue in NYC before their new album comes out next month. Check out their performance from Letterman last night.....

Continue reading "N.E.R.D. on Letterman (video) -- @ MSG tonight, ACL later"

Kanye West hasn't posted any more rants on his blog lately - just photos of Libeluila Strap-On Rocket Powered Helicopters and what not.

Kanye is on tour with Rihanna, N.E.R.D. and Lupe Fiasco. The NYC show (I'm amazed they never added a 2nd one) at Madison Square Garden is tomorrow (Tuesday, May 13, 2008). Tickets are sold out. All dates below....

Continue reading "Kanye West's Glow in the Dark tour hits MSG Tuesday"

DOWNLOAD: Estelle & Kanye West - American Boy (LAZRtag remix) (MP3)

Terrance Dean, a former executive at music channel MTV, has penned a memoir of his life and times in the hip hop industry as a gay man. It is an explosive exposé of a thriving gay subculture in an aggressively male business, where anti-gay lyrics and public homophobia are common.

Perhaps not surprisingly, many in the industry are nervous about the book's publication this week, fearing that it will expose some of the top black names in music and Hollywood as secretly gay.
[The Guardian]

Yo, anybody that's not a fan; don't come to my show. For what?! To try and throw ya'll two cents in? Ya'll rated my album shitty and now ya'll come to the show and give it a B+. What's a B+ mean? I'm an extremist. It's either pass or fail! A+ or F-! You know what, fuck you and the whole fucking staff!!! I know I shouldn't dignify this with a comment, but the reviewer threw a jab at all the artists. I just wanna know when was the last time you enjoyed yourself. If you can't have fun and lose yourself at this tour it's a good chance you're a very miserable person. I actually feel sorry for you guys. Your job forces you to not have fun anymore. Grab a drink, holla at some nice girls, and party bitch!! You don't know shit about passion and art. You'll never gain credibility at this rate. You're fucking trash! I make art. You can't rate this. I'm a real person. I'm not a pop star. I don't care about anything but making great art. Never come 2 one of my shows ever again, you're not invited and if you see me...BOW!! This is not pop, it's pop art! [Kanye West - ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S NOT INVITED!]

Continue reading "Kanye West loves Houston, says f*ck you to show reviewer"

Continue reading "Justice - Stress (video) (via Kanye West, ha)"

"For more than hour, Estelle proved herself to be the real deal." [Newsday was @ Highline Ballroom]

Video of her David Letterman performance below.....

Continue reading "Estelle played Highline Ballroom & Letterman (video)"

The Cool Kids @ NYU (more by Bao)

Kanye West & Marc Jacobs @ the Brooklyn Museum (Eric Weiss) (via)

* comedy @ Union Hall
* Gary Higgins @ Cake Shop
* Weston is plauying Europa
* Testament is playing BB King's
* Soft Circle are playing Union Pool
* The Cool Kids are playing S.O.B.'s
* Explosions in the Sky in Farmingdale, NY
* The Dirtbombs & Kelley Stoltz @ Maxwell's
* Dodos, No Kids & Silje Nas @ Mercury Lounge
* Kimya Dawson & friends are playing Webster Hall
* Sharon Jones for kids @ the Brooklyn Masonic Temple
* Modern Life is War play their last NYC show ever at Knitting Factory
* Handsome Furs, Violens & Jon Benjamin are playing Bowery Ballroom

The Cool Kids play a show at S.O.B.'s tonight which makes sense since they are a hip hop group and that venue hosts a lot of hip hop shows, but for some reason it still seems more random than their recent match-up with the danicer Crystal Castles at NYU.

Kanye West was playing inside while protesters were protesting outside.

What else?

the Brooklyn Museum, April 3, 2008 (The Brooklyn Paper / Adrian Kinloch)

Outside the Eastern Parkway art institute, hundreds of protestors started gathering at around 6:30 pm to greet more than 1,000 Museum supporters as they entered for cocktails and hors-d'oeuvres of miso-marinated cod and spicy taro with caviar.

Celebrities including designer Marc Jacobs and tennis legend John McEnroe were also on hand.

Protesters condemned the Museum's decision to honor Ratner, some holding signs reading, "Con Artist" and, in a particularly nifty bit of memory, "Dung Deal," a reference to the Museum's 1999 controversy over its "Sensation" exhibition, which featured a painting of the Virgin Mary adorned with elephant dung.

Joining the protesters was former city Department of Environmental Protection commissioner Marilyn Gelber.

Referring to the protesters outside, Borough President Markowitz -- a major support of Atlantic Yards -- smiled and said, "It shows that this is a great country." [Brooklyn Paper]

Rihanna and Kanye West

Escada Moon Sparkle has teamed up with Island Def Jam to recognize Rihanna's latest album Good Girl Gone Bad and her BELIEVE Foundation. Experience an exclusive Rihanna concert at HighLine Ballroom, Wednesday, April 9th, 2008. Tickets ONLY available with a minimum $100 purchase of Escada's latest fragrance, Moon Sparkle at participating Macy's stores - Macy's Herlad Square, Staten Island and Brooklyn - Saturday afternoon, April 5th, 2008. While supplies last.

Rihanna is also going on tour with Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, and N.E.R.D. Video of the Klaxons playing with Rihanna, below...

Continue reading "Rihanna playing NYC, Chicago & CA - perfume comes w/ tix"

Lollapalooza 2008 headliners confirmed
Lollapalooza's Austin, Texas-based promoters C3 Presents are not scheduled to make their official announcement of the acts performing at this year's weekend-long music festival in Grant Park until Monday, but the Sun-Times has confirmed through industry sources all of the major artists.

Art-rock giants Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, the reunited Rage Against the Machine, Jack White's side project the Raconteurs and hometown heroes Wilco and Kanye West will headline the main stages on Aug. 1-3.

The Raconteurs, Wilco and West will each be making their second appearance at the reinvented destination festival. Other repeaters among the more than 100 acts on this year's bill are Gnarls Barkley, the Black Keys, Broken Social Scene, G. Love & Special Sauce, Blues Traveler and Mates of State.

Quite a few of the other acts -- including many of the most promising -- have earlier performed at Chicago's two independently produced music festivals, Pitchfork and Intonation. These include Bloc Party, Cat Power, Stephen Malkmus, Girl Talk, Kid Sister, Office, the Cool Kids, Battles, the Go! Team, Jamie Lidell and Grizzly Bear.

Advance three-day passes are now on sale for a limited time for $190 (after which the price increases to $205) at www.lollapalooza.com. [Chicago Sun Times] (thx Hiro)

August 9 & 10 in Baltimore. Same weekend as All Points West in New Jersey.

Continue reading "Kanye West - Homecoming Ft. Chris Martin (video)"

Lupe Fiasco on MuchMusic

Lupe Fiasco is playing an 'intimate' (even more intimate than the last intimate one in NYC) at SOB's on May 14th. Tickets are on sale. Kanye West showed up last time Lupe played SOB's. Lupe & Kanye are going on tour together starting in April. The SOB's show is actually the night after they play Madision Square Garden.

"Ratner - Hands Off Our Homes" (horseycraze)

Continue reading "Kanye West playing Brooklyn Museum, honoring Bruce Ratner"

British R&B newcomer Estelle crashed onto the U.K. chart at No. 1 yesterday (March 23) with her single featuring Kanye West, "American Boy" (Homeschool/Atlantic). It's the 28-year-old's first domestic top 10 hit. Meanwhile, Duffy's "Rockferry" (A&M/Universal) started a third week as Britain's best-selling album. [Billboard]

Continue reading "Estelle is #1 and playing Highline Ballroom in NYC"

Snoop Dogg plays Blender/Gramercy Theater in NYC on March 11th. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10AM, and there's a presale at the same ticketmaster location starting 5pm tonight. Snoop will also be signing autographs the day after that at a Best Buy, and then the day after that he'll be in Greenpoint filming an episode of VH1 Storytellers.

We are delighted to confirm that second concerts have been added at the Hollywood Bowl and at Jones Beach on May 28 and August 5 respectively.

Continue reading "The Police add 2nd shows @ Jones Beach & Hollywood Bowl"

One (sold out), two (sold out), three... Jay Z & Mary J Blige - May 2nd @ MSG, tickets ($199.75, $129.75, $99.75 & $69.75) on sale March 7th at 10 am.

Kanye West is still only playing one.

"An in depth look at the very disturbing truth behind some of mainstream music's most 'popular' celebrities and their occult practices" below....

Continue reading "Jay-Z & Mary J, a 3rd NYC show at MSG, Kanye, the occult"

Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse

The Arctic Monkeys took best British group and album - both for the second year in a row - while Foo Fighters won best international group and album.

The ceremony saw performances from Amy Winehouse and Sir Paul McCartney, who received a lifetime achievement honour.

Kate Nash won best British female and Mark Ronson was named best British male.

Producer Ronson, who performed with Winehouse and Adele at the Earl's Court show, is the first non-singer to have scooped the solo artist prize....

...US star Kanye West, who was unable to attend the ceremony, was named winner of the best international male prize. "I'm sure there's someone who deserves this more than me, but I just don't know who they are," he said in his acceptance video....

...Rihanna followed with a performance of her number one single 'Umbrella', accompanied by Klaxons. [BBC]

Continue reading "2008 Brit Awards - results, pictures, Beth Ditto, etc"

Tickets (154.50, $99.50 & $49.50) go on sale Wednesday (presale) and Saturday (regular) for the upcoming Kanye West/Rihanna/N.E.R.D/Lupe Fiasco show at MSG.

nobody loves Kanye like Kanye

finally posing with someone more her size *

* that dude doesn't count

Continue reading "Kanye West - updated 2008 Tour Dates, new videos, Feist"

Lupe & Kanye, Lollapalooza 2006

Continue reading "Kanye West & Lupe Fiasco - 2008 Tour Dates (so far)"

On Tuesday Michael Jackson will release a 25th-anniversary edition of it. The expanded CD/DVD package will include the original nine-song album, one unreleased track from the original sessions, and five reworkings with contributions from contemporary artists that range from innocuous to downright damaging.

Associating with will.i.am, Fergie, Akon, and Kanye West is meant to lend Jackson credibility with today's urban music fans, but adding modern flourishes to a record like "Thriller" doesn't do anything to improve it. If anything, it diminishes the one unblemished chapter of Jackson's creative life. [The Boston Globe]

Whether it was the real Daft Punk playing at the Grammy Awards last night is being debated, and it is unknown whether the costumed people inside the pyramid were just pretending to push buttons or actually 'manipulating the track with 4 Lemur sequencers', but nonetheless......

Continue reading "video of Daft Punk & Kanye West @ The Grammys"

also, Bright Eyes won a Grammy

Kanye Daft West Punk @ the Grammys