jay-z

Madlib: Show Preview

The Great Gatsby's Soundtrack Doesn't Fit Its Message

Five Straight Rappers Who Support LGBT Rights

As we're sure you're aware, the U.S. Supreme Court is again hearing arguments today about what to do with the issue of same-sex marriage. If the inundation of red profile pics on Twitter and Facebook is any indication, the growing social tide is on the side of the gay folk. Yet another sign that the ... More >>

Jay-Z and Justine Timberlake's 'Legends of the Summer' Tour Is Coming to San Francisco

So that Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake collabo on "Suit & Tie" wasn't a one-off -- and neither was their joint performance at the Grammys. The famed New York rapper and the ex-boy-band leader (who's now making his long-awaited return to pop music) are touring together as Legends of the Summer, and they ... More >>

G.O.O.D. Music's Cruel Summer: A First Listen

Kanye West has officially become the bad guy, people. He's rich, he's rude, he's entitled, he's a rock 'n' roll legend who's awaiting a legit artistic backlash any year now, and he's also a smart businessperson. After Taylor Swift-gate and record sales of his third Pazz & Jop-winning "masterpiece" f ... More >>

Bringing Down da "Great House"

Going for Guinness: Five Artists Into Breaking World Records

If there was a chart depicting competitiveness in the world of music, there would be three levels on it. Stage 1: The Pearl Jam -- for artists who neither want nor need your stinking awards, and will merely shrug at the world when they accidentally win one. Stage 2: The Taylor Swift -- for artists w ... More >>

Awkward! The Top Five Most Uncomfortable Grammy Moments

​This Sunday, Rihanna and Chris Brown are both going to be present at the always-prestigious Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. It's been just three years since they both were forced to drop out of the show last minute, due to Brown having beaten the crap out of Ri-Ri on their way over. We kno ... More >>

Veteran Rappers: Do You Really Need to Continue Making New Records?

There was a time, back in the late '80s, when the legendary Bronx rapper KRS-One was a candidate for the title of Greatest Rapper of All Time. Twenty-five years later, though, the self-anointed Blastmaster's latest long-player, The B.D.P. Album, suggests that compulsory retirement from the recording ... More >>

Jay-Z's 'Glory': The Start of a Sensitive New Era for the Former Hustler

Jay-Z certainly spent much of his career trying to convince everyone he was a grownup. The metrics by which adulthood were measured seemed, ironically, a little juvenile. But it wouldn't be 'button downs' or investing in sports teams that would make the case - it was fatherhood. As hip-hop continues ... More >>

Sizzle & Fizzle: Highs and Lows from the Last Week in S.F. Music

Jay-Z and Kanye West: The 10 Most Opulent Parts of Their Watch the Throne Concert

Christopher VictorioKanye West last night at HP Pavilion​ Jay-Z and Kanye West Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 HP Pavilion, San Jose Better than: Absolute monarchy. Between the rising, screen-sided platform stages, the frequent spew of fire jets, Kanye's skirt/kilt thing, "99 Problems," the ineffab ... More >>

It Was All a Dream

Bump & Grind: The Top Five Pregnant Performances

​What the hell is up with the tabloids and pregnancies? Usually when a lady celebrity has so much as a big lunch, or gets photographed from a bad angle, they announce that an offspring is probably imminent. And here's Beyonce Knowles, being totally upfront about her and Jay-Z's baby-to-be, rubbing ... More >>

Five Hip-Hop Album Covers That Would Make Insanely Difficult Jigsaw Puzzles

This week, a new candidate emerged for the spot of hip-hop's fabled fifth element: The jigsaw puzzle. With a canny eye on the not-too-far-off Christmas season, the Boston-based Get On Down Records has released jigsaw versions of classic rap album covers by Biz Markie, Kool G Rap, Boogie Down Produc ... More >>

Dear Kanye West, Please Leave Amy Winehouse's Music Alone

​ Dear Kanye West,Congratulations. You are officially the most bemusing man in music. We say this because it's been seven years since The College Dropout and we still can't figure out if you're a sly genius or a blinkered buffoon.

Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne: A First Listen

​ Have we been waiting for this? Who knows -- even big fans of Jay-Z and Yeezy know they never shut up for too long. Big-budget collab albums we know aren't Jay-Z's strong suit (Unfinished Business? Collision Course?). And judging by the awful "H*A*M" (now a bonus cut) and the mesmerizing "Ot ... More >>

Can Rising Rapper J Cole Overcome Jay-Z's A&R Curse?

J Cole​ "Jay-Z is the reason I signed to RocNation. It's very hard to say no to the opportunity when Jay-Z is involved." That's J Cole, talking optimistically about his status as the first signing to Jay-Z's RocNation label venture with concert giant LiveNation. But with Cole's debut album now ... More >>

Kanye West's "Monster" Video: Not Gonna Do Kanye's Public Image Many Favors

"Monster," indeed.​The new final clip for Kanye West's "Monster" -- or what may become known as the dead-model orgy video -- makes the rapper look every bit as conceited and shallow and tone-deaf as his detractors say he is. And the disclaimer at the beginning doesn't help one bit. Maybe decoratin ... More >>

Country Star Eric Church Hates Your Hip-Hop Hat and Sagging Jeans

On occasion, All Shook Down gives a listen to the music that is to real America what brine is to a cucumber. This is one of those occasions. Eric Church, "Homeboy" There's a fine bit of bullshit in Jay-Z's Decoded, that tony slab of image-sprucing book art in which the man who once bragg ... More >>

DJ Neil Armstrong on Playing Stadiums with Jay-Z, and How Time Decides the Classics

Conquering the world. ​It was exactly decade ago that DJ Neil Armstrong's release Original changed mixtape culture. Telling a story with every song transition and lyric, he demonstrated how DJ mixes can rival artists' albums. Beginning his turntablist career in the early 90s under the directi ... More >>

J Hova's Wackness: Five Unsportsmanlike Jay-Z Dis Songs

Oh, very mature​In positioning himself as the world's foremost financial investor who also sometimes still deigns to rap, it's understandable that Jay-Z has inspired a certain amount of jealousy along the way to the top. This week, a new book, Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corne ... More >>

Hudson Mohawke: Show Preview

Pre-Decoded: Rap Genius Out Jay-Zs Jay-Z

Why these cats all up on this intentional fallacy nonsense?​Jay-Z, everybody's favorite non-dot-com filthy rich person, is publishing a book tomorrow called Decoded, wherein he explains the references and stories behind thirty-odd of his own songs. But the dedicated exegetes over at Rap Genius hav ... More >>

Please Don't Hurt 'Em: Hammer Beefs With Jay-Z

Now that we've made short work of Texas, it's apparently time to revive that age-old rap rivalry between the East and the West. So who's bringing the vitriol for the Left Coast? The Game? Ice Cube? Lil B? 2Pac's stepbrother Mopreme? Nope! It's Oakland rapper, dancer, entrepreneur, reality TV star, ... More >>

Kanye West on Twitter: Top 8 Things We Want Kanye's Buying Advice On

Kanye and his crew looking ready to dispense some buying advice.​Dear Kanye,In the approximately thirty-four days, five hours and seventeen minutes since you joined Twitter, you have taught the world great deal -- about yourself, about life, and even sometimes about music. But the rarest wisdom ye ... More >>

Oakland Faders' DJ Platurn on Why Song Requests Suck and the Rise of Bottle Service Hip-Hop

www.sfstation.com​Have you ever wondered just how much it pisses off a DJ when you request your favorite guilty pleasures all night? What actually happened to the hyphy movement? What sets Drake out from all the rest? DJ Platurn of the Oakland Faders gave us his candid thoughts on these topics and ... More >>

50 Cent is the last of the millionaire rappers

The Jay-Z state of mind

Track(s) of the Day: Wallpaper. Gives Away Free Mixtape

​Wallpaper.'s remix of Das Racist's hilarious fast food anthem "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" was one of my top singles of 2009. But grabbing the local producer's revision involved far too much Google hunting. Now Wallpaper.'s offering that gem, along with his other party-starting remixes ( ... More >>

NPR: Rap as Geopolitics

Il(l) like Kim Jong: Lil' Wayne National Public Radio has an interesting take  on beef in the rap world: it's essentially a mirror of global politics, according to Marc Lynch, a professor at George Washington University and the director of the Institute of Middle East Studies. ""The way that ... More >>

Wallpaper. Calls It: Booty Tweet is the New Booty Call

Local producer/remixer/comedian Wallpaper. is on a roll. When he's not remixing KFC and Jay-Z, he's cracking wise with dance floor anthems like this one: "Booty Tweet (Is the New Booty Call)". It's pretty hard to resist Eric Frederic's smart ass lines: "Personal business on everyone's RSS feed" and ... More >>

360 Deals Demystified at SFSU

Send Lawyers, Guns and Money: Dina LaPoltThis Thursday, San Francisco State University hosts "The New Deal: 360 & Beyond," a one-day seminar and discussion on the new record label contract. A "360 Deal" is an agreement between artist and label which covers not only record sales, but also ... More >>

MP3 of the Day: M.I.A. feat. Jay-Z

Rapper Buckshot thinks, talks, and records for success

Kanye, Jay-Z, Mary J., and Rihanna clamor for diva status

Jay-Z and Apple Launching a Record Label?

My Tunes: Kelenna Azubuike

Warrior and music lover

Intro to Hip-Hop Statistics

CD Review: Jay-Z -- American Gangster

Jay-Z's New Title: Most Overrated Rapper Ever

New Hamburger Eyes in stores, or should we say Hamburger Ears

Nas

Hip Hop Is Dead (Def Jam)

Misc. Reviews

Trojan War: Carmen Bryan's blank slate

It Was a Year Of ...

Well, lots of things, actually

Pop Quiz

You may indeed call it a comeback — Jay-Z and Rocky are out of retirement! It's boxers vs. ballers.

Lupe Fiasco

Food & Liquor (1st and 15th/Atlantic Records)

Boss S-O-V

Lady Sovereign conquers America, yeah?

Bubble, Toil, and Trouble

Bay Area hip hop ponders a Cristal boycott

Hip Hop, Year 2 A.J.