Jay-Z is no stranger to sitting high on the charts when it comes to his music career, which makes the Brooklyn rapper's No. 3 debut on 'The New York Times' Best Sellers list an expected achievement.The Roc Nation head honcho's memoir 'Decoded' landed on the Hardcover Nonfiction edition of the newspaper's Best Sellers list for the week of December 5. Coming in at the top of the list are George W. Bush's 'Decision Points' and Lauren Hillenbrand's 'Unbroken.'
Hov's book has been received warmly by fans and critics alike. Perhaps 'Decoded's success has much to do with 'The Blueprint 3' creator's partnership with Microsoft search engine Bing before the book's release. Together, Bing and the rapper previewed excerpts from the memoir through a viral marketing campaign with clues that pointed Jay-Z fans toward unique locations – from Brooklyn to London – where select pages from the book could be found.
'Decoded,' which highlights the stories behind Jay-Z's songs, including 'Blue Magic,' even scored a spot on Oprah's highly anticipated "Favorite Things" show and is currently in the top 10 sellers on Amazon.com.
Drake Rakes in $155K Per Show Not only is rapper Drake one of the most successful members of Young Money, but he lives by his group's moniker. The 24-year-old emcee is among one of the highest paid hip-hop acts on the concert circuit, with recently released documents revealing that it costs a hefty $155,000 to book the Toronto native for a gig.Though the paycheck may seem pretty high, he's still not at the top of his touring game. Compared to other acts, Drizzy is at the lower end of the totem pole, with Rascal Flatts leading the pack with a whopping $702,500 price tag, Kiss with a $500,000 minimum requirement and Keith Urban right nearby with $487,500 necessary to be booked. Drake bests pop tween Selena Gomez ($100,000), 'American Idol' winner Kris Allen ($12,500) and 'Nashville Star' winner Chris Young ($7,500).
Drake recently wrapped up his nationwide Light Dreams and Nightmares tour in Las Vegas. During the tour's finale, he brought out Young Money chief Lil Wayne as a surprise guest, performing 'Miss Me' off his debut 'Thank Me Later.' Drizzy recently announced that the official title for his upcoming sophomore LP is 'Take Care,' which he is currently recording in anticipation of a 2011 release.
Lil Kim & Foxy Brown Fire Back At Nicki Minaj In New Diss SongsFoxy struck first by accusing Minaj of lying about a conversation she said they had.
Last week, rapper Nicki Minaj sat down with Angie Martinez on Hot 97 to talk about her album and she talked about how the drama began with her and Lil Kim . Nicki mentioned that a few people, including rapper Foxy Brown, pulled her to the side and told her that Kim had been talking shit about her. So Nicki felt betrayed and let down and confused by it all because she had "shown Kim respect" and told Kim she had mad love for her already. But Foxy doesn't recall that conversation at all. She tweeted: "For the record..."Nikki and I never had that conversation, ever." (Toyaz-World)
Kim went a bit harder by dropping a new diss record teaser called "Black Friday" aimed at Minaj.
Lil Kim has been quiet as Nicki Minaj has had disparaging remarks to her rival, but now Kim has returned fire with a new diss song called "Black Friday." The song, which has leaked online, has Lil Kim lyrically challenging the now-dominantNicki Minaj. On the song, Kim spews, "I'm turning Pink Friday to Friday The 13th." "Aight, you Lil Kim clone clown / all this buffoonery s**t stops now / Time for you to lay down / I'm sick of the fraud / I'll put hands on this b**ch like Obama's guards," Kim says. "We all know your last name / what got you your job / You a put together gimmick / something like a collage." (All Hip Hop)
Polow Da Don Discusses Working With Dr. Dre on 'Detox'While the rest of the world continues to wait for Dr. Dre's 'Detox,' Polow Da Don wants to assure fans that the album will be well worth the wait. The producer, who has worked with the likes of Usher, Keri Hilson, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown has been in the studio with Dre cooking up some musical magic.
"He has it," Polow told The BoomBox of the quality of the album. "He approaches hip-hop from a classical perspective. He's not a producer, he's beyond a producer, he's now a conductor. That's how he approaches his album, it's like an orchestra but it's hip-hop. It's crazy."
Dre has been pretty much teasing the release of 'Detox' for years now and with the recent leaks of 'Under Pressure,' 'Kush' and the Eminem feature 'I Need a Doctor,' Dre says the album will finally see the light of day in February of 2011. Check out the Jay-Z assisted 'Under Pressure' below, which leaked before it was finished and will now not make the final 'Detox' cut.
Kanye West's "Fantasy" To Outsell Nicki Minaj & Lloyd Banks W/ 575K Projected SalesGrammy-winning rapper Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is reportedly en route to outsell new albums from Nicki Minaj and Lloyd Banks with projections up to 575,000 sold copies.Based on one-day reports, R&B crooner Ne-Yo's new Libra Scale album will also be fractioned into the sales competition.
The Roc-A-Fella/IDJ renaissance hip-hop icon and awards show provocateur lives up to his own lofty ambitions with a chart-topping debut for his latest rap opus, on target for between 525-575k, surpassing all pre-release forecasts. Cash Money/Universal Motown's red-hot Nicki Minaj also bested pre-release predictions, with a total in the 375-425k range for her hotly anticipated debut, Pink Friday, though the upcoming Black Friday could render these estimates a little less accurate than usual. Def Jam/IDJ R&B songwriter/producer Ne-Yo's fourth album, Libra Scale, should do in the 115-140k range.
Joell Ortiz Confirms Slaughterhouse/Eminem Deal, "We Will Be Signing To Shady"Slaughterhouse's Joell Ortiz has updated eager fans begging to find out when and if his four-member crew are still planning to ink a deal with Eminem's Shady Records.
Speaking on a Sirius/XL satellite radio broadcast, Ortiz said there was no doubt Slaughterhouse would slowly but surely be under Em's wing.
"We're right now in talks with Shady Records and we are going back and forth with some legal stuff," Joell explained in a video. "Yes, we will be signing to Shady. Is it finalized now? No it's not but it is in the workings. Eminem is excited, the group is excited so you can really expect a Slaughterhouse release with Shady Records. I'm excited about that because shoot, being a dude that came up listening to real lyricism, real emcees, Mr. Marshall Mathers is one of the top notch there. You understand? And for him to show interest in myself and my group, it's just a beautiful thing and a blessing. I'm looking forward to that just as much as you -- the answer to your question, 'Are we going to sign to Shady,' is yes we are and it's in the workings right now so be on the look-out.
Kanye Talks Bush, Taylor Swift, Matt Lauer at NY ShowKanye West took over New York City's Bowery Ballroom for a surprise show to commemorate the release of his fifth album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," dazzling audience members including Lyor Cohen and Questlove with reconfigured renditions of his tracks.
But the highlight of the gig wasn't just guest appearances from Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Ryan Leslie, Pusha T and more. 'Ye finished up with a heated nine-minute speech, doting on everything from Taylor Swift and President Bush to his first-week album sales.
Kanye began by sharing his estimated first week numbers. "To do an album after the year I had, [...] and to come back and do 100,000 the first day digital alone and to be slated to do 600,000 in the first week," he said. "I usually don't talk about the numbers, but what that number says is that people want me to keep making music and not give up. No radio singles. No number one record. No top 10 record. They had to reorder. They sold out in Chicago. They sold out in Best Buy on 14th street tonight."
He also touched on the Taylor Swift incident where he crashed the stage at the 2009 MTV VMAs. "When you do things like what happened last year, it's disrespectful to everyone that's creative. It's a slap in the face to everyone who tries to do something real. If I wasn't drunk, I would have been on stage longer. Am I the only one who's not crazy here??"
Speaking on how his haters turned into fans after his comments on George Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina, he drew a parallel between his and Taylor Swift's handling of the incident. "Just as Taylor never came to my defense in any interview and rode the wave, just the way I rode the wave of the Bush comment. It's not about popular opinion. It's about when you look in your heart and know what's right and wrong."
'Ye also touched on his heated interview with the 'Today' show's Matt Lauer, saying he was sure that Lauer was "a good guy." West put emphasis on how much he values his words, and how he would have worded his Bush comments differently. "I am very particular with my words and the emotion that I felt at that time wasn't worded exactly right," he said. "And the whole time I'm thinking in my mind, that's not exactly what I wanted to say. But I rode it."
He capped his tirade by thanking those for supporting him in spite of the controversy. "People stood up for me this week. 600,000, coming off being the most hated person this time last year," he said. "I can't be your role model, I can't be your savior, your Antichrist. I don't know what the fuck the Illuminati is. I like clothes and I still like girls, I don't give a fuck what you think. And on that note, I love y'all and all my family that came out to help out with that album."
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