Official Jay-Z

Jay-Z is clearly living a charmed life. One of the Brooklyn rapper’s most successful business is the 40/40 Club in New York City. Last night, he hosted a celebrity filled 10-year anniversary party at the high end sports bar.

LeSean McCoy, Hot 97′s Angie Martinez, R&B singer Maxwell and New York Knicks forward Amar’e Stoudemire. Some of Hova’s Roc Nation Sports clients were also in the house including Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees and Geno Smith of the New York Jets. And that was just the red carpet.

Inside were T.I. and his wife Tiny, Busta Rhymes, Fabolous, Meek Mill and more. Even Memphis Bleek made an appearance. Check out photos of the festivities in the following pages.

Jay-Z’s new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, will be out starting July 4.

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Photos: WENN.com

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Even Jay-Z must be caught up in the excitement of the forthcoming release of his 12th album, Magna Carta Holy Grail. The rapper/mogul went on an extended Twitter rant today that lasted an impressive five messages.

Considering that Hova keeps the tweeting to a relative minimum, this was an important occurrence on the Internets. The “Already Home” rapper set things off with a message alluding to reports that Samsung already purchased a million copies of his album to give away via the “Magna Carta” app on their phones. He also threw in some Roman numerals to keep things interesting. “If 1 Million records gets SOLD and billboard doesnt report it, did it happen? Ha. #newrules #magnacartaholygrail Platinum!!! VII IV XIII,” he tweeted.

For those unable to keep up, the Roman numbers translate to 7-14-13, aka the date (July 4, 2013) the album will be available to Samsung Galaxy users. Hova then dropped messages using his #newrules hashtag and bigging up buddies (J. Cole, Wale and Kanye West) that are also dropping LPs shortly.

Peeps Jigga’s tweets in the following pages. He allegedly won’t be dropping new messages anytime soon.

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Photo: Instagram

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Nowadays, any major Jay-Z announcement is an event. Such is the case with the reveal of the Brooklyn native’s forthcoming 12th album, Magna Carta Holy Grail.

The title along means this isn’t going to be a throwaway album. The announcement, via a savvy Samsung commercial, also set up the project’s mystique. In the spot, Jay-Z is in a studio with production talent that is often referred to as “genius”; Rick Rubin, Pharrell Williams, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz. Landing anyone of these guys would be a coup for most artists.

It’s not like Jigga hasn’t don it before (all four contributed to The Black Album, for example), but to see them all in one room collaborating, with Hova steering the ship, was exciting even if you’re not a fan.

Needless to say, the Internets went nuts before the commercial was even finished. Check out some of the more interesting reactions in the following pages.

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Photo: YouTube

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Jay-Z’s new album doesn’t drop until July 4, if you have a Samsung Galaxy, but he has already won. According to reports, Samsung paid $5 for each of the one million copies of the rapper/mogul’s new Magna Carta Holy Grail album it plans on giving away to users for free.

Yesterday during the NBA Finals, Hova and Samsung premiered a commercial touting the release of the rapper’s new project. Besides bigging up its grandeur since Pharrell, Rick Rubin, Timbaland and Swizz Beatz all contributed to the album, the spot revealed it would be available on July 4 to Samsung Galaxy users that download the “Magna Carta” app.

The Wall Street Journal reports more details about about the Jay-Z and Samsung alliance including the former’s financial windfall.

The connection: Samsung has purchased 1 million copies of Jay-Z’s coming album, entitled “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” slated for release July 4, and plans to give them to Samsung Galaxy smartphone users for free – 72 hours ahead of the release. The users are to receive the music through an app they’ll receive later this month. (Recipients won’t be able to share it until the official release date.)

Samsung paid $5 apiece for the albums, according to a person familiar with the matter. It wasn’t immediately clear if Nielsen SoundScan will count Samsung’s purchases in its sales tallies.

That’s a gross of five milli in Jigga’s pocket (or Roc Nation/Universal’s) off top before the album hits stores, or gets pirated on the Internet. The game done changed.

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Photo: YouTube

Jay-Z is just playing on another level right now. That special announcement that he teased this past Friday turned out to be that his new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, is finished, and will be out July 4.

Hova made the announcement via a commercial that aired during game five of the NBA Finals. The spot features a murderer’s row of producers that contributed to the project; Pharrell Williams, Swizz Beatz, Timbaland and the legendary Rick Rubin.

“The idea is to really finish the album and drops it,” Jigga tells Rubin. Now what’s Samsung—who the rapper/mogul reportedly inked a $20 million dollar deal with—have to do with this?

JAY Z’s new album “Magna Carta Holy Grail” comes to Samsung Galaxy fans first. Be among the first million to download the app on June 24th and get the album free July 4th, three days before the rest of the world. Learn more: http://magnacartaholygrail.com

Turns out if you get the app (it will be available starting June 24), you’ll have the album at 12:01 am on July 4. Everyone else will get their hands on the project 72 hours later on July 7.

Those beats playing during the commercial sounded like official business, too. Check out the Samsung spot below and get more info on #MagnaCarta on the flip.

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Photo: YouTube

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Jay-Z is one for dramatic entrances. A couple of weeks ago news broke that Hova was about to sign a $20 million dollar deal with Samsung Mobile. Now a cryptic photo teases that some type of announcement regarding the relationship between Jigga’s brand and the electronics company will be made during this Sunday’s NBA Finals game between the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs. 

The photo features a gold Roc-a-fella chain (covering and a Samsung Galaxy phone. Jay-Z’s name is seen on the screen along with the instruction to “Tune in” and “Turn up the volume” this Sunday, June 16 at 9:15 pm. Since the game has a 8 pm tip off, this puts the Jay-Z/Samsung reveal sometime in the second quarter…maybe?

Worth noting is that LeBron James is already a Samsung celebrity endorser. it is also rumored that the “Hola Hovito” rapper’s deal with Samsung will include a music streaming servies that will heavily involve Roc Nation’s roster. Unless more details are shared in the interim, we’ll find out what exactly the big announcement, or commercial, is on Sunday night.

Let us know what you think Jay-Z is up to in the comments, check out the full teaser photo on the flip.

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Photo: Samsung/Roc Nation

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Looks like Kevin Durant is making some major moves after his shortened playoff run this year. Reportedly, the perennial NBA All-Star has left his longtime agent and is looking to sign to Jay-Z’s ever growing Roc Nation Sports. 

“Kevin Durant is leaving Landmark Sports. Sources expect him to join Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports,” tweeted Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal a couple of days ago. She followed up yesterday (June with, “Kevin Durant has left his agent. Multiple sources expect him to join Jay-Z’s @RocNation Sports.

Landmark Sports, is run by Rob Pelinka. Fans of the Fab 5 days may remember the name since he was as a Michigan shooting guard during those times.

Pelinka confirmed that Durant has left his agency but reps stopped short of confirming that he will be joining the Roc. “We are honored and blessed to have worked on behalf of Kevin, for a brief period of time,” said Pelinka via a press statement. “He is an amazing person & athlete, and we are proud of our work and service towards advancing his brand in a manner that reflects the mutual qualities we share with Kevin. We wish him nothing but success in his future endeavors.”

Although Landmark Sports lost a marquee client in Durant, they still rep a number of NBA players including Kobe Bryant, Andre Iguodala and James Harden.

There has been no comment from Roc Nation Sports or Durant, yet.

Let us know what you think of KD5′s move in the comments.

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Photo: Twitter

Kanye West‘s circle of Hip-Hop friends is rather elite. Yesterday (June was Yeezy’s birthday, and he spent at least part of it kicking it with Jay-Z and Nas.

God’s Son shared a flick from the day on his Instagram. “Yeezus x Hov x Godson …. The 3 Gods. Happy Birthday to my brotha Kanye!,” read the pic’s caption. Yeezy’s buddy Ibn Jasper also managed to catch some flicks of the party, which went down at Miss Tilly’s in NYC.

West’s girlfriend Kim Kardashian also shared a message to her future baby daddy on Instagram, too. “Happy Birthday to my best friend, the ❤of my life, my soul!!!! I love you beyond words!,” was the note attached to a collage of photos of her and the G.O.O.D. Music rapper.

Kanye West’s new album, Yeezus, is in stores June 18. Check out the photos from the Chicago native’s born day, his 36th in the gallery.
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Photos: Instagram

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The biggest non-secret in Hip-Hop is that Jay-Z is working on an album. There is no inkling of a release date yet, but Hova was spotted in the studio with Nas, Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. 

Jigga’s personal A&R, Lenny S, is the man that snapped the flick and shared it on Instagram, adding this caption: “JAY x JT x NAS x TIMBO Rat Pack shit. For some this is “Work”… For us it’s just Fun. #RocNation.” Other artists the “Change Clothes” rapper has been spotted with in the studio recently include Drake and Raekwon.

Jay-Z and Timberlake will kick off their Legends of the Fall stadium tour on July 17 in Ontario.

Check out the full flick and more pics of Jay-Z and his homies cooking up work in the gallery.
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Photos: Instagram

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Jay-Z will not lose. The latest brand poised to get a boost from the rapper/mogul’s influential stature in Hip-Hop culture—and the world, period—is Samsung.

Page Six reports:

Jay-Z is about to ink a hugely lucrative deal with Samsung Mobile, sources tell Page Six. The contract is said to be worth as much as $20 million.

One source said, “The eight-figure deal will be inked in the next few weeks, and is the biggest of its kind. You can speculate that he’ll want to develop some kind of new music-streaming service to promote his acts and music on mobile devices.”

After Hot 97′s Sunday Summer Jam at MetLife Stadium, Jay-Z and Beyoncé, who’s been dashing pregnancy rumors, celebrated by partying at W.i.P. till 3:30 a.m. yesterday with rappers Fabolous, Miguel, Wale, Meek Mill, Busta Rhymes and Omarion, taking over two tables.

Samsung has been quite successful with its Galaxy mobile phones and counts LeBron James as an endorser. A streaming music service would put Jay-Z in competition with Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine’s forthcoming “Daisy” subscription service.

Seven years ago, Jay-Z starred in an HP computers spot that debuted during the NBA Finals as part of the brand’s “The Computer is Personal Again” marketing campaign. It’s safe bet to say the cost of doing business with Hova has gone up since then.

It will be interesting to see how this Jay-Z/Galaxy connection will go down.

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Photo: Instagram