Jay-Z Discusses Experience of Performing at the World Series

New York, NY – The Yankees making to the World Series has excited many people in New York and all over, if you’re a diehard Yankee fan, then you know the feeling. Alongsidethose fans, Jay-Z has always boasted the representation of his city through their beloved baseball team. Hov has always worn his Yankee fitted cap proudly representing his city to the undying fullest, alongside every other NY artist that takes their city seriously.

It was an experience for Jay-Z to even perform at the opening of this year’s World Series game at the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Alongside R&B vixen Alicia Keys, they performed the powerful New York anthem ‘Empire State of Mind’ for thousands of Yankee fans at the stadium and the millions watching at home. The pivotal track came exactly at the right time, it was as if Hov predicted the Yankees making it to the World Series this year as he released the album just months before.

Hov recently spoke to Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN about his incredible experience performing before the opening pitch. He reminisced about being kid walking on the diamond green for the first time.

These were his comments:

“I felt like a kid, the field is beautiful. I’ve never been that close to the field. Walking around, I jumped over the center-field fence and everything, like I was catching a home run.

Incredible, beyond explanation, just the whole fact, being in Yankee Stadium, really interacting, knowing the players. I grew up a fan of the Yankees — Reggie Jackson, Mickey Rivers, Chris Chambliss, God bless Thurman Munson, all these guys. To be there and interact with all these guys [the current Yankee team], they’re throwing the Roc sign up — it’s fantastic.”

Minutes after the performance, he hopped into a Maybach and caught a flight to Canada. Even though he was upset that he couldn’t watch the rest of the game, he kept hope alive as he knew his team could follow through. Yankees lost Game 1.

At press time, Hov’s ‘The Blueprint 3’ has sold over a million copies making this his eleventh solo studio album to go platinum. He is currently promoting the release of DJ Hero alongside Eminem as his music and Em’s are currently on the Renegade Edition of the game following in the same format as Guitar Hero, with the exception of the DJ set.

Hov is still at the top of his game. 11 albums to go platinum, talk about icon status. It must have been an experience to perform at new Yankee Stadium. Must have felt like the first time he performed at Madison Square Garden some years ago. Many experiences through his life and this one will be one of them.

Lil Wayne Goes In Heavy on Rock Album Rebirth

New York, NY – For several years now, Lil Wayne has been known for his albums being pushed back several months, sometimes even over a year. However, within that elapsed period of time he was able to record more material to add or omit from the first draft that was slated for release, so in the end, the delay must have been worth it. This is possibly the reason why Wayne seems to release mixtapes like it was nobody’s business on the regular, and like it or not his dedicated fans follow him ever so closely.

Now even in light of his recent guilty plea to gun possession, his mind is still on the music and still on the focus that his next album will be that of a genre switching complex format, in short he still has his mind set on releasing his debut Rock album. The only difference into that is now it has been amended to be a double disc accompanied by a Young Money compilation. So not only do the fans get to capture the idea of Wayne on guitar, Young Money tracks will be accompanying the Rock album. He recently spoke to Billboard about the upcoming ‘Rebirth,’ and seemed quite enthused and confident about the whole idea. This interview had to be before his court hearing that took place sometime last week.

These were his comments to Billboard concerning his debut Rock album:

“Yes, the album is still rock. I play guitar on 80 percent of the songs, and there’s a lot of rock influences and rock beats. I also have Travis Barker on the album. But I don’t want people to think I’m trying to do something I can’t do. Don’t think you’re going to put on the album and hear me screaming and singing. … Don’t worry about that. [Laughs.] When people hear me say rock, they may get a little scared like, ‘Oh, God. What is he going to do?’ When I said I was doing a rock album, it was about doing a freedom thing. This album isn’t hip-hop. When I do my Carter albums, I know I’ve got to rap, I know I’ve got to spit. I know the words I’ve got to say and the subjects I’ve got to talk about. I also know the things I shouldn’t say, the things I shouldn’t talk about. There’s none of those limits on this album. I say what I want, how I want. That’s what this album is: a freedom album.”

Even though several tracks from that album have leaked online as new material seems to always do, Wayne states that he bought it back to the lab to keep his material fresh and current, I guess the delay came in handy again:

“I had to add new cuts, because a lot of things leaked, making people think they had an idea of what I was doing with Rebirth and what it would sound like and I hated that, because I never want anybody to think they know what I’m doing until I present it. So what I did was make it totally different. I flipped it.”

At press time, that double disc album has been officially slated to be released on December 15, making it just in time for a Christmas present. Wayne is also personally overlooking Drake solo project ‘Thank Me Later’ which he expects should be released early 2010.

In related news, Wayne is due to appear in court on February of 2010 for his sentencing. Keep posted to 24hourhiphop.com for updated news on Lil Wayne.

On the real, I think the only reason Universal has delayed Rebirth so many times are because they have no faith in it. They are afraid that their top selling artist will suddenly flop and the album won’t be accepted by his fans. Either way, for promotional reasons or basically an excuse, they decided to make it a double disc with Young Money to cover a larger genre than that of what Wayne is anticipating.

Video of 50 Cent Going In on Ja Rule. Rick Ross, Fat Joe, and Jay-Z

I found this random video on WorldStarHipHop.com with 50 Cent being interviewed by an unknown DJ Ekin. This interviewer asks 50 some questions about certain artists and 50 goes in on them talking something ridiculous about a death blow, saying he gave those artists a death blow, he is seriously clowning. He even pokes fun at Triple Cs and their upcoming album sales, somebody better tell him that G-Unit sales slumped worse than anyone else’s, he needs to calm down. Either way, 50 also adds some insight into Dre’s mythological ‘Detox’ and clowns on Jay-Z’s age. This shit is ridiculous. Something you need to watch.