Jay-Z Officially Departs from Def Jam

New York, NY – In some startling and surprising mega news amongst the media and the industry that occurred most recently, it appears as though the icon, Jay-Z, has officially left his longtime label officially this past Thursday morning (May 21). At first, rumors were flooded the media and the airwaves of his departure, regardless of the fact that he owed the legendary imprint one last album, speculation was later confirmed by him to be completely true.

According to reports, apparently Hov bought himself out of his contract from Def Jam for a negotiated $5 million. That amount allowed him to officially exit his contract from Def Jam. After a nearly decade with the imprint, Jay-Z has parted ways and will now begin his next contract over the next decade or so with Live Nation.

On Thursday afternoon, Jay-Z contacted RapRadar.com to confirm his recent departure from Def Jam. These were his comments:

“I can honestly say, working with Doug Morris and L.A. Reid has been a unique and fulfilling experience, and I respect them immensely. I’ve been in the family for almost my entire career. Doug and I spoke directly and had one of the most unique ‘negotiations’ ever. Doug won the toss, but we both won in the end. I thank him for allowing me to be a completely independent artist. Not every artist can say they own or are given the opportunity to own all of their music.”

Jay-Z signed the $150 million contract with Live Nation sometime in April of last year, it was said to be the most expansive contract ever given to any artist. Even before leaving Def Jam, he already negotiated a deal with Live Nation and began his own imprint entitled Roc Nation, while at the same time; Hov also signed a joint deal with heavyweight production team Stargate to head a 50/50 partnership company between both affiliates entitled StarRoc.

Both Jay and Kanye are still attentively working on the third installment to Hov’s Blueprint album series. He states that it is to be best album to date, hence taking his time in the recording process. Kanye is headlining most of the production on the album. It will be the first album to be released under Live Nation. Both the label and Hov are looking for a late September, early October release.

DJ Whoo Kid Discusses 50 Cent Mixtape & Ross Feud

New York, NY – We are all well aware that 50 is in the completing process of his next album ‘Before I Self Destruct,’ which he has been patiently waiting to release since last year. With all the material he has recorded with Dre during the first initial release and the new material he has recorded for this release, it seems as though he has enough recorded material to release a mixtape before the release of his studio LP just to keep his fans bay before the official drop.

G-Unit and Shady DJ, Whoo Kid recently put some time aside to speak with MTV News concerning the upcoming mixtape that was dedicated just for the streets and other projects has been involved in as of late with 50.

These were his comments:

“50’s done 10 freestyles, I’m waiting on like, two more. I guess he’s trying to figure out the tile. And I’ve been a doing a lot of those Radio Planet videos, so I’m gonna put together a radioplanet.tv 50 Cent video. Those are my video mixtapes I’ve been putting out, killing the Web waves.”

According to Whoo Kid, he adds that the new mixtape has nothing to do with the recent feud that was associated with 50 and Ross, this time around its 50 being 50:

“The Rick Ross shit is outta here, it’s over, he’s done his promo. 50 promoted his album very well, so Rick Ross is outta here. Now he’s worried about his own shit. They got the Tia book out there. That should be the last level of anything that has anything to do with Rick Ross.”

50 just recently posted a street single entitled ‘OK, You’re Right’ produced by Dre on Thisis50.com, it has not been confirmed whether or not the track will make the album cut. ‘Before I Self Destruct’ was confirmed by 50 to be released sometime in June.

Keep posted to 24hourhiphop.com for updated news on Jay-Z’s ‘The Blueprint 3 and 50 Cent’s ‘Before I Self Destruct.’