In The Meantime... What Happened in August?

Let's continue with the recap of the biggest music news to have occurred during my bloggeritis. Welcome to August 2011! August has one major popular music moment and that's the VMAs, and with such an awards show comes quite a lot to blog about. Here's what we (or rather I) missed.

August 19: On the evening of August 18th, blogs all over America (and some Billboard aficionados from across the globe) were wondering if Katy would do it. What would "it" be, you might be wondering? Well "it" is the only album other than Michael Jackson's Bad to score five Billboard Hot 100 number ones. Come the next day, it was officially confirmed when Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" rose to the summit to take the honor as the fifth number one from Teenage Dream and the first time in Billboard history for a female's album to secure five chart-toppers. Would Ms. Perry break the record?

Watching the "Throne" - When Will Kanye & Jay-Z's Album Get Released?

The number of push-backs Jigga and Yeezy's collaboration album has experienced are too numerous to count, but rumor has it that a digital version may hit the web on the 4th of July. The Source magazine was the first to hint at this date and sources close to the label are suggesting the early release as well. This comes after the physical release date for the album was pushed back further to January 2012, ten months later than the original release date in March 2011 and a year after the lead single "H.A.M." was released.

The reasoning behind it is to prevent an early leak of the tracks from cutting into sales, a fear that has plagued virtually every artist in the digital age. In particular, Jay's wife Beyonce witnessed her entire album leak nearly a month before the album's release date this past Tuesday, but first week sales seem to not be taking much of a tumble from first-day sales predictions.

Do you think we'll get an Independence Day treat from the two?

Kanye West & Jay-Z Perform At MoMA

Kanye West honored New York City's Museum of Modern Art by performing at their annual charity event which raises funds for the museum's budget. A connoisseur of modern art himself, West performed a string of his biggest hits such as "Gold Digger," "Runaway," and "Monster." In addition to his own songs, the Chi-town emcee performed a cover of Stevie Wonder's song "They Won't Go When I Go."

After thanking the crowd and his fans, the rapper surprised everyone by inviting his biggest mentor (and advocate) Jay-Z to the stage where the two performed a version of "Empire State of Mind" and "H.A.M." The performance has been included after the jump.

In other Jay-Z and Kanye news, their collaboration album Watch The Throne is expecting a summer release (tentatively July) and will include several collaborations, including one with Mrs. Carter herself (Beyonce for those who are confused) and Bruno Mars.

Gwenyth & Jay? Quite The Possibility!

Some people called me crazy when I decided to post about Gwyneth Paltrow's musical endeavors. I will not begin to post the criticisms, but in a nutshell, most people thought a singer like Paltrow was "too old" and not seasoned enough to attempt a career in pop music. I, on the other hand, proceeded in posting about her musical journey, finding something particularly titillating in what she has to offer. Now the Oscar-winning actress has revealed exactly who she would love to collaborate with one a song. Why is this blogworthy? This collaboration could be monumental and could be very possible.

NEW MUSIC: "H.A.M. (Travis Barker Remix)" by Kanye West & Jay-Z

Remember when Travis Barker remixed Soulja Boy's "Crank That?" Well the drummer of Blink-182 has chosen to add his percussion magic to the lead single off Kanye West and Jay-Z's new album Watch The Throne.

Listen to the track below:

Kanye's and Jay-Z's "Watch the Throne" Official Release Date

Kanye West has let his twitter followers in on the release date (or at least month) of the most anticipated hip-hop album of the next few months. According to the "Runaway" rapper, "I'll be back this SUMMER!!!!!!!!!! WATCH THE THRONE COMING IN 2 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!"

Listen to "All The Lights" below:

Britney Storms the Billboard Hot 100

Britney Spears has a lot to be happy about today, this after her new single "Hold It Against Me" becomes the 18th song in Billboard history to debut atop the Hot 100 and the first since Kesha's "We R Who We R" achieved that feat late last year. If that isn't enough, she earns the distinction of having the greatest debut sales week for a digital song by a female with 411,000 copies sold, besting Taylor Swift's "Today Was A Fairytale" which sold 325,000 copies its first week back in February 2010. 

Check out the other big debuts and the top ten on this week's Hot 100 below:

Jay-Z Signs K Kote To Roc Nation Label

Although it appears UK's Cher Lloyd, who was originally rumored to have signed to Roc Nation, has inked a deal with Simon Cowell's Syco Records, Jay-Z is still working to bring some UK talent to the states as British rapper K Kote has been signed to the Brooklyn emcee's label. The London native has made a name for himself in the underground hip hop scene in the UK and is now hoping to expand his musical horizons by releasing a mixtape Pure Koke Volume 2 later this year.

Listen to the three UK hip hop artists below:

Who Might Dominate? 'Ye and Jigga or Drizzy and Weezy?

Picture Source

We know for sure that Kanye West and Jay-Z are working on a hip-hop collaboration album, but is a reported Drizzy Drake and Weezy album on the back burner, and if so, who might dominate? According to sources, the oft-discussed collaborative effort is in the process of being recorded and a Drake interview with Tim Westwood seems to corroborate these reports.

REVIEW: "H.A.M." by Kanye West & Jay-Z

Are you hard as a motherf*****? Well that's what the acronym H.A.M. represents, the title of the first Kanye West/Jay-Z collaboration from their upcoming album Watching The Throne, and both rappers want to convince you that they certainly are. The Lex Luger-produced track features a one minute verse from each rapper, beginning with Kanye West informing his enemies that he is back, so "forgettaboutit!" Surprisingly, for the hype surrounding the song, West's verse is largely subdued and hardly as hard as the chorus alludes: "I'm about to go H.A.M. Harder as a motherf*****, let these n*****s know who I am."

53rd Annual Grammy Awards Predictions

It is January and that means Grammy prediction time! The nominations, which were revealed last month, have been dominated by Eminem's staggering 10 nods, followed by Bruno Mars at seven, Jay-Z, Lady Antebellum, and Lady Gaga with six, while B.o.B and John Legend share five nominations each. With so many big names in music competing against each other, it will be very interesting to see who ends up the big winner of 2011. But until February 13th arrives, here are some predictions of mine for the winners of the upcoming ceremony.

Record of the Year

Nothin' On You - B.o.B featuring Bruno Mars

Love The Way You Lie - Eminem featuring Rihanna

F*** You - Cee-Lo Green

Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys

Need You Now - Lady Antebellum

Jay-Z, Alicia Keys Rock 2009 World Series

Less than an hour ago, Hip Hop and R&B heavyweights Jay-Z and Alicia Keys performed at the 2009 World Series, performing their hit single "Empire State of Mind" in front of a cheering New York crowd.

Overall, a nice performance, even if the feedback from the microphone did get a bit annoying. The duo were scheduled to perform the song yesterday evening before Game 1 of the World Series but poor weather canceled the performance, fearing that the stage would damage the soft field for game play. This song is one of the most anthemic songs to be released in a very long time and seeing the two perform seems never to get tiring. The video is scheduled to premiere soon and you can click here to get a sneak peak of the video.

2009 BET Hip Hop Awards

The 2009 BET Hip Hop Awards aired yesterday evening with Jay-Z leading the pack of winners with four awards under his belt.

Source

The award ceremony was nothing spectacular but entertaining nonetheless, with hip hop A-listers Gucci Mane, Snoop Dogg, Mario, Fabolous, Ludacris, and Young Jeezy taking the stage among others. As for the winners, T.I. came in second with the most wins, scoring three awards (two of which he shared with Rihanna for their hit single "Live Your Life"), while Drake and Kanye West came in with two awards. While I do have some disagreements with the nominations of some awards, I think BET did a good job in awarding the winners of each category, since I had virtually no disagreements with the winners. As for awards shows, there is still a ways until the 52nd Grammy Awards, which are slated for January 31, 2010.

Click here for some of the performances of last nights show.