Posts Tagged ‘Jay-Z’

If AFFION CROCKETT doesn’t get a talent holding deal based off this clip alone, then there truly is no justice. This is BRILLIANT.Playing CHRIS BROWN, JAY-Z and even a light-skin KANYE WEST, the funny man takes aim at Breezy and takes a look at perhaps what the Run This Town clip really means.

The new JAY-Z album, “Blueprint 3″, doesn’t drop until NEXT Friday, but it’s already been leaked online.

Since it’s already out there . . . illegally, that is . . . Jay has made the entire album available on MTV.com so you can LISTEN to it.

Click the album art or HERE to listen to the FULL ALBUM!!

If you’re someone’s tour manager, it’s probably not best to tweet negative things about that person’s husband.

This is something we hope Beyonce’s tour manager has learned over the past few days.

The fool, Marlon, tweeted that Jay-Z should have had someone else besides Rihanna sing on “Run This Town.”

Quote: “She sound like a cat hurt in the alley.” He also tweeted that Rihanna is “Roc Nation/Def Jam’s Cassie…Terrible voice, Sub Par Dancing, Nude Photos, Shaved Head…Rihanna’s just more successful.”

Marlon since deleted the tweets but thanks to Twitter’s handy search function
you can still find them.

In the future, leather-clad gangs will battle for supremacy on the rubble-strewn streets of New York City. They will carry torches and scowl a lot. There also will be a whole lot of overturned, burned-out vehicles, as is to be expected in any post-apocalyptic scenario. The future, it turns out, is vaguely reminiscent of “300,” or maybe “The Warriors,” or both.

That, in a nutshell, is the basic scenario of “Run This Town,” the much-anticipated video that brings together three of the hugest names in the music industry — Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West — and casts them as warlords in a 23rd-century turf war.

Anyway, here’s what you need to know about “Run This Town”: It’s three of the decade’s biggest artists, appearing on one of the year’s most talked-about songs, promoting the hugest rap album in recent memory (Jay’s The Blueprint 3, due September 11). It really doesn’t matter what they’re doing in the video — their combined wattage is that powerful.

So credit to director Anthony Mandler — who also helmed Jay’s VMA-nominated “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)” clip — for changing things up. Jay and Kanye have never gotten this gritty, and Rihanna hasn’t looked this dark and menacing since her “Disturbia” clip (which, incidentally, was also directed by Mandler). The “Town” video is super-stylish; Mandler’s visuals create a war-torn world that’s dank and dangerous.

Given that “Run This Town” is, by its very definition, a star-driven vehicle, you couldn’t blame everyone involved if they mailed it in and coasted by on name and reputation alone. But no one does that here … not Mandler, not Jay, Rihanna or Kanye (though, strangely, he is noticeably absent for most of the clip’s first three minutes). If all superstars worked this hard, the world would be a better place … until it’s destroyed by the apocalypse, that is.

We already knew that Rihanna and Kanye West appear on “Run This Town,” the second single from Jay-Z’s upcoming The Blueprint 3. And judging by the entire track listing Jigga released on his Web site on Tuesday, he’s going to have plenty of help on the 15 tracks of the eagerly anticipated sequel, which drops on September 11.

The long-in-the-works opus will kick off with “What We Talkin’ About,” a collaboration with eccentric singer Luke Steele of the Australian new-wave act Empire of the Sun. That’s followed by the songs “Thank You” and the album’s first single, “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune).”

Next up is “Empire State of Mind” with Alicia Keys, “Real As It Gets” with Young Jeezy, “On to the Next One” with Swizz Beatz and “Off That” with currently laid-up Lil Wayne protégé Drake. Though vets like Pharrell (”So Ambitious”) and ‘Ye (”Hate”) also make appearances, Jay has plenty of other fresh talent on tap, from Kid Cudi (”Already Home”) to Mr Hudson (”Young Forever”) and rapper J. Cole (”A Star Is Born”).

Jay, who will be among the performers at the 2009 Video Music Awards on September 13, also goes it alone on a couple of other tracks, “Venus Vs. Mars” and “Reminder.”

The track listing does not reveal one of the most intriguing collaborations that was rumored to appear on the album, a hook-up with psychedelic rockers MGMT, but they could still be sampled on one of the songs.

When it comes to his music videos, Jay-Z has logged some pretty serious frequent-flier miles.

The Brooklyn wordsmith ventured up north to Toronto for the “Big Pimpin’ ” video and even trekked overseas to Monaco for his “Show Me What You Got” clip. So where could he go for his next video, “Run This Town,” featuring Kanye West and Rihanna?

Back in time, maybe? Queens, New York? In fact, both!

In a 30-second preview of “Run This Town”, we see an angry, torch-wielded mob surrounding the trio in a post-apocalyptic setting that looks like a scene right out of “Mad Max.”

Anthony Mandler, who directed the video for Jay’s first single “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune),” is the man behind the camera and brings his cinematic touch to the clip. The visuals are unlike anything we’ve come to expect from Jay-Z in the past. From “Roc Boys (And the Winner Is …)” to I Just Wanna Luv U (Give It 2 Me)”, Jay has mastered being the life of the party. But “Run This Town,” with its action sequences and cast of extras is new territory for the MC.

The video was shot in Queens, New York recently and pictures of Jay, Kanye and Rihanna on the set leaked onto the Internet last week, revealing the artists clad in all black. Sources told MTV News at the time that more than 80 extras were on set at the historic Fort Totten Park, a preserved Civil War fortress.

In the preview, a number of extras can be seen, also clad in black and acting unruly while bearing torches.

The video premieres Thursday on MTV — and don’t miss Jay’s performance at the VMAs on September 13!

Jay-Z and Lady GaGa will play live at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York on Sunday September 19th.

Also announced to present awards at the ceremony are Nelly Furtado, Leighton Meester and Miranda Cosgrove.

Lady GaGa is the undoubted pop success story of 2009 and is nominated for a staggering nine Moonmen, including the coveted Video Of The Year award.

Rapper Jay will perform the same week his hotly anticipated Blueprint 3 album is released and could bring some special guests with him- Jigga’s new single Run This Town features both Kanye West and Rihanna.

Previously announced to perform at the VMAs are Green Day, Pink, Taylor Swift and Muse.

CLICK HERE TO GRAB THE DOWNLOAD