In this exclusive video premiere on TheUrbanDaily, Dan Charnas, author of the epic new book The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, talks about one very interesting event in Jay-Z’s breakup with Dame Dash that you won’t read in Jay-Z’s new bestseller, Decoded.

Check out the video below:

Dan Charnas, author of The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, is the managing editor of InteractiveOne. Charnas, a Pulitzer Prize Fellow, was one of the first writers for the Source magazine and part of the generation of young writers who helped create hip-hop journalism. His writing has appeared in the Village Voice, the Washington Post, GIANT, and newspapers around the country. He spent 15 years in the music business, starting in the mailroom of Profile Records in the late 80s, and was VP of A&R for Rick Rubin’s American Recordings.

• Purchase The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop here
• Learn more about The Big Payback here.
• Think you know hip-hop history? Take “The Big Payback” Quote Quiz here

The massive drug sweep included Matthew Stang, a writer and senior ad rep at High Times magazine, the bible of cannabis culture. Burke, who co-founded Roc-A-Fella with Damon Dash and Jay-Z in 1996,  was nabbed early this morning by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at his home in North Bergen, NJ.

The 18-month investigation into the vast narcotics network  resulted in $1 million in seized profits and 177 pounds of marijuana.

READ MORE AT THE NYPOST

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Beans showed up during an interview 50 Cent was having with the Hotboyz in Philly (Power 99).  (spotted @2dopeboyz)

He gives the real story behind the “two Bentleys”  that Jay-Z spoke about in his response, among other things.

Beans is playing a dangerous game and 50 is going to keep pulling those puppet strings.

“This can’t be life…”
UPDATE: Here is the video of the interview (props to eskay)

VIA HHB:

Roc-A-Fella associate Twista recently updated fans on his relationship with the label’s co-founder Damon Dash and his admiration for Jay-Z.

Speaking on his close relationship with fellow Chi-town rapper Kanye West, Twista also discussed his standings with other current and former Roc-A-Fella artists.

“Jay is like the big brother and to be honest I’m bogus because I need to put a call in,” he said in a recent interview. “He did a lot for me. Everybody got a story about Jay about how bogus he is or whatever but me, I’m a little n*gga from Chicago who he walked up to in the club and told me he remembered me performing with him from way back in the day. Like ’89 or something. He said ‘you deserve it cause you been going hard all these years.’

That’s my story. Dame has always showed me love like a regular n*gga from the crib, that’s why I love Dame. The one I probably keep in contact with the most is probably Freeway. [Memphis] Bleek is cool with one of my mans in Chicago. I did a couple joints with Peedi Crakk, did some stuff with my guys from the Young Gunz on the low. So, I still f*ck with the guys.” (XXLMag)

Despite having over a decade of history within the music industry, Twista’s popularity reached commercial success due to Kanye-produced records “Slow Jamz” and “Overnight Celebrity.”

In fall 2002, Twista hooked up with Ludacris, Jay-Z, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and other rap moguls for the recording of his third album. Kamikaze came out at the beginning of 2004 and promptly hit the Billboard 200, riding the impetus of his No. 1 hit single “Slow Jamz.” (All Music)

Twista recently spoke with SOHH about his upcoming album Category F5.

“I didn’t mean to go that hard,” he explained. “It just started happening once I started doing tracks with some of my favorite artists. We got Akon on the album for sure. We got Static Major on the album. We got Kanye West. I got R. Kelly on the album, that’s the hometown homie. There’s a few more, Lil Boosie, Gucci Mane.” (SOHH)

He has officially parted ways with Atlantic and joined forces with EMI for his new project.

Twista left Atlantic Records in 2007 and launched his own label, Get Money Gang Entertainment, in 2008. However, the “Slow Jamz” hitmaker has now secured a distribution deal with EMI that will see his forthcoming album Category F5 released in a joint venture with Get Money Gang, EMI and Capitol Records. (Soulful Vibes)

Check out these Urban Daily ‘Noisemakers’ below:

I haven’t seen hype like this since Roc-A-Fella when they were talking about these freestyles all the way down in Kent, Ohio.

See why ‘Everybody Loves Drake’ below:

The kid Drake looks like he’s going for Kobe Bryant status in this latest interview. But have they overplayed Drake to the public before he’s gotten a chance to prove his “Rookie of the Year” status?

Check out this interview below:

Mickey Factz may have signed a deal with Jay-Z, but right now the hype is all about that kid from Toronto.

The King of the Bronx only has one question left to ask: Who’s hotter!

Check out the video below and share your thoughts in the comments section:

Courtesy of the ultra funny, MouthPiece sports blog:

“Before today, the only thing I could tell you about Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn’s very own stalled stadium/commercial construction project (South Africa feels you, Atlantic Yards), was that Young Hov was planning on bringing the Nets to Brooklyn. I know this because I listen to a lot of rap music by Jay-Z. I’ll admit it: This is probably not the best way to stay up on the business of the NBA. Fair enough.

Which is why I learned today that not only was the project stalled, its finances are all out of whack, and its proposed bulletproof security measures are basically impossible. To wit:

‘The stratospheric cost of protecting the Atlantic Yards from terrorist attacks could be the death knell for architect Frank Gehry’s flashy NBA basketball arena, the Daily News has learned. The bulletproof glass facade proposed for the glitzy arena will cost a mind-blowing $625 per square foot, a source familiar with the designs told The News.

“I think the owners clearly didn’t have their financing tied down for this project, and that’s going to be the biggest hurdle,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the sky-high prices associated with securing the 850,000-square-foot arena against terrorism. “With the security concerns at the arena, there’s not much you can do to make it that much cheaper,” added the source.‘

Whoops. Given that “potential terrorist attack” is not exactly something you can gloss over when you’re attempting to pack 20,000 people into an arena every night, that sounds bad. Very, very bad. By my calculations, Jay-Z will have to rap until he’s 86 to make the mortgage on that bulletproof glass. I’m not saying I question the man’s ability, but “30 Something” didn’t really work out. 70 Something seems doubtful, too.”

You guys lit the comment section on fire trying to weigh in on whether or not Aaliyah was the cause of Roc-A-Fella CEO’s Jay-Z & Damon Dash breaking up. With so many other high-profile break-ups, it seems that this one got your attention the most. So, check out these photos of the “couples” retreat to the Hamptons and answer this:

Are you SURE Aaliyah didn’t break up the Roc?!

Rapper 50 Cent is constantly in awe of the way Jay-Z handles his critics, likening the hip-hop mogul’s calm approach to spiritual Indian leader Gandhi. The “In Da Club” star, who’s real name Curtis Jackson, admits he could never stand by and see others disrespect him without wanting to retaliate, but it’s a quality he admires in the Roc-A-Fella CEO.

He tells XXL magazine, “Jay-Z is Gandhi… He’ll bear the disrespect for what? For working to be in a great position. So for creating the comfort that he desires for his life, he has to bear the disrespect. Because they’d like to be where he is. That’s an interesting concept because Jay (would) rather just let ‘em go.”

“My take on it is, yeah, I’m gonna say something back, and he gonna wish he never said what he said. He gonna wish he never came around here sniffing around me.”

Gandhi, a celebrated civil rights leader, led India to independence in 1947 using a non-violent approach

The fight that caused the break-up between Jay-Z and Damon Dash from Roc-A-Fella Records is finally being revealed by former BET producer and Roc employee Choke No Joke.

Joke is releasing a documentary next year, titled I Am Choke, No Joke, in which he will give the details about the crumbling of the hip-hop empire founded by former fast friends Jay and Dash.

“Dame was a camera freak. He loved people to tape him, ’cause he started thinking he was a star . . . Ever since the ‘Big Pimpin’ video, he started gettin’ a little light and it started to get to his head,” the New York Post quoted Joke as telling SOHH.com.

According to Joke, it was Dash’s signing of Ol’ Dirty Bastard and his proposal of Cam’ron as a vice president of the label, which Jay-Z rejected, that caused the disagreement between them.

“Jay wasn’t feeling none of that [bleep],” Joke said.

Dash was furious with Jay-Z for dumping him and starting off on his own, and revealed on a video on hiphopofficial.com, when he asked about producing tracks for rappers who slam Jay, that he was put in a position where he has no say.

“What he did to me publicly could be seen as so heinous and foul that how could I ever tell somebody, ‘Don’t do nothin’? . . . Before, I might have taken a bullet or a punch for Jay, now I just don’t get involved. That’s the way he chose it to be. You won’t be hearing me say nothing about him, but I won’t be jumping in a fight for him,” Dash said.

Jay-Z, on the other hand, has revealed that there is nothing wrong between him and Dash. “Dame and I are all good. We’re friends,” he said.

The development of a New York hotel rapper Jay-Z invested in is on hold because the star and his partners cannot pull in further financing for the project.

The Big Pimpin’ hit-maker – real name Shawn Carter - ploughed money into J Hotels, which acquired a $66 million plot to build a high-end hotel in the Big Apple. But due to the ailing economy, partners have failed to pull in investors – and there is now a $370 million shortfall in funds, as even the banks won’t back the property development.

Charles Blaichman, one of Jay-Z’s partners, tells The New York Times, “A year ago it would have seemed a reasonable amount. Not now. Even the banks who want to give us money can’t.”

SOURCE: StarPulse.com

Philadelphia Freeway, speaking exclusively with VladTV.com, talks about his relationship with former Def Jam president – Jay-Z.

Tru Life has already had an interesting career. It has been an enticing one, filled with feuds, fights and rhymes, but the rapper has yet to release a full fledged mainstream debut album. Recently, he spoke on his deal with Roc-A-Fella and his friendship with Jay-Z.

“I was Roc-A-Fella all day first off, let’s get that clear,” he told XXLMag.com. “I signed to Roc La Familia but I was always Roc-A-Fella. I was just Latin, but when that folded it was easy, they just moved me over to Roc-A-Fella.”

Later, he added that Jay spoke to him to let him know he was leaving his position at Def Jam before he made it public.

“I’m a smart business man so when I found out Jay-Z was gonna leave – ’cause I got the heads up, cause that’s my big homie – I didn’t wanna stay there either at Def Jam.”

He went on to speak on the matter with more details, explaining more about his contract and his previous offers.

“As far as Def Jam is concerned, I didn’t wanna be in an upside down situation. …I had seven deals on the table before I took that deal and I only took it because of Jay-Z. So I felt like if he’s leaving, I wanna leave too…It was also in my contract that if they didn’t put out my album, they had to give me $300,000. So being the smart businessman that I am I took that $300,000, they did it under the radar so nobody really knew, but I been was off of Def Jam for a while. We did it before Jay-Z actually left.”

Furthermore, he added that he is still a part of The Roc, despite being off of Def Jam. He noted a recent meeting where both had fun in Las Vegas.

“I left Def Jam, but I’m still with Roc-A-Fella, I’m still with Jay-Z. Me and Jay was just out in Vegas balling out, spending stacks. You can ask Jay.”

No album details have been finalized or made public yet.

SOURCE: HipHopDX.com

Jay-Z and Beyonce like their bling but according to new reports some of it is too expensive to be allowed out in public.

Apparently the ring Hova gave Beyonce when he proposed, valued at around $5 million, isn’t the one she’s been wearing.

Star magazine reports that the rapper also gave his soon to be wife an imitation ring worth a measly $5,000 to wear day to day and when she performs.

Beyonce is supposedly too scared to wear the flawless 18 carat diamond, even with the five bodyguards she has by her side permanently.

Some say when you’ve got it flaunt but in this case maybe it is better staying hidden.

Kanye West apparently isn’t done singing. After an impromptu meeting at a recording studio in Paris last month, it looks like ‘Ye will be working with British rockers Keane. The group’s drummer, Richard Hughes, tells the BBC, “I think Tim [Rice-Oxley, the group’s keyboardist] left another song with him that he wrote a little while back… It’s got a huge gap in it which is for a guest vocalist, and we were hoping Kanye might take a run at that as well. I don’t know, maybe we’ll do a little EP, [and] call it Kanye or something. We’d been thinking about asking him to have a crack at a remix and actually he ended up rapping over a little bit of ‘You Haven’t Told Me Anything.’”

SOURCE: ThatsHipHop.com

First Jay and Dame break up, now everyday I wake up, someone got something to say… SMH!

State Property leader Beanie Sigel, along with Nike ACG, will be presenting a free concert for Philadelphia tonight. Coined the “Brotherly Love Concert” and starring a plethora of Philadelphian rappers like Freeway, E-Ness, and Reed Dollas, the night is meant to dead all existing beefs in the Philadelphia area as well as to unite rappers.

Though Gillie Da Kid will not be in attendance, Sigel has secured another artist for the night that may have an even bigger impact in terms of ending beef; The L.O.X. member Jadakiss [click to read].

Jada and Sigel’s beef dates back to 2001 as both sides were attempting to reach Hip Hop supremacy with their own camps (‘Kiss with The L.O.X. and Sigel with Roc-A-Fella respectively). Since then, they have gotten past their differences and have collaborated on a handful of records. Coincidently, they also share the same record label now in Roc-A-Fella.

The free “Brotherly Love Concert” goes on tonight from 6-9 pm at the Filmore on South Street Philadelphia. Doors open at 5 pm.

SOURCE: HipHopDX.com

The Internet has fast become the new way that the world finds out most of it’s information. Newspapers are steadily becoming dinosaurs with subscriptions falling to an all time low in the last few years. Many newspapers are in danger of closing down if they don’t revamp and either go online or market their websites better. People tend to get their news from blogs and as we all know, most blogs don’t adhere to the standards of journalists. For this reason, publicist Jonathan Hay was able to create the story that his artist Rihanna, was having an affair with Jay-Z to push her single “Pon De Replay”. The rumor made Rihanna a superstar. He also admits that Rihanna nor Jay-Z knew of his plans. Hay is releasing a book titled Publicity Stunt – The Art Of Noise which details how he created the rumor. Here are some excerpts from the book:

“Along with one of my partners, I then began to fabricate stories of Rihanna and Jay-Z, leaking false rumors to tabloids, working internet message boards, etc. We started to get an insane amount of media coverage very fast. There are so many things we did that people don’t even know about, not even Rihanna herself. She was completely unknown and I was paid by Vada Nobles to generate publicity. The mega Island Def Jam deal rumor, we fluffed and fabricated. Rihanna and Vada had no idea what I was doing behind the scenes, but my whole agenda was to get media for the song.”

“I mean leaking out sensational stories and spreading them around in the news – to tabloids such as the ‘National Enquirer,’ music and gossip sites and whatnot. Like when the rumor surfaced that Jay-Z had a new love life and was cheating on Beyonce…that was just to get attention. Rihanna had nothing to do with any of that, nor did she know what we were doing. I was just trying to break the single and stay employed by Vada Nobles. Even Vada didn’t know half the stuff I was doing. I kept my strategy a secret at the time because, honestly, everyone would have been against it, the tactics that I used. But I was only thinking about the end result – and look what happened…gossip sells.”

“I feel awful but, yes, I leaked some of those stories. Looking back, I am ashamed of that; there was zero integrity in that Beyonce & Rihanna maneuver. But this is entertainment and I wanted to obtain publicity – so I came up with some crazy stories and it worked. Rihanna is one of the biggest stars in the world now, and look at how she stormed into the business! Not to take anything from her – she is a great artist – but every artist needs a launching pad and there is nothing better than a good scandal to get the public’s attention.”

Kanye West tried to tell you that he was doing this for “art,” but a part of him still wants to do it for commerce. Check out what his recent blog post reaped:“THANK YOU EVERYBODY FOR MAKING ‘HEARTLESS’ NUMBER ONE ON 106 AND PARK!!!! MY BOY CALLED ME FROM THE A AND TOLD ME IT’S NUMBER ONE DOWN THERE TOO. THIS IS A SONG NOBODY CAN FRONT ON!!! THE BEAT IS ON SOME RZA SHIT AND EVERY LINE COULD MAKE THE ULTIMATE RAP HOOK! I COULD SEE SOMEBODY SAMPLING…. “WE JUST GONE BE ENEMIES!!!” I’VE BEEN HEARING THAT THERE’S PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT THIS ALBUM THAT NEVER BOUGHT ONE OF MY ALBUMS BEFORE. I’VE BEEN HEARING THAT STREET NIGGAS LOVE IT! STREET NIGGAS CALLED ME AND TOLD ME THEY LOVE IT! YOU KNOW GIRLS LOVE IT!! EVERYBODY HAS A DIFFERENT FAVORITE!!! RIGHT NOW. ‘PARANOID’ IS MOST LIKELY GONNA BE THE NEXT SINGLE. IT’S NECK AND NECK WITH ‘ROBOCOP!!!’ I’M NOT GONNA RELEASE EITHER FOR AWHILE BECAUSE I WANT ‘HEARTLESS’ AND ‘LOVE LOCKDOWN’ TO SOAK INTO THE CULTURE!! I’M GONNA WALK THIS ALBUM SLOW LIKE A MORE INDEPENDENT APPROACH. I FEEL LIKE A NEW ARTIST. THERE’S ACTUALLY ARGUMENTS AGAIN. IT REMINDS ME OF THE FIRST ALBUM WHEN EVERYBODY SAID I COULDN’T RAP. I LISTENED TO ‘SAY YOU WILL’ LAST NIGHT AT MY HOUSE AND WAS DAAAMN, THIS SONG IS SOOOO DOOOPE!!! I’M A FAN OF WHAT I’VE MADE. WHEN I MADE ‘GRADUATION’ I WASN’T SATISFIED! I FELT LIKE CERTAIN RECORDS WERE KEEPING IT FROM BEING A PLAY IN EVERY ENVIRONMENT ALBUM. I WAS AT THE COOL STORE IN AUSTRALIA CALLED ASSIN THAT CARRIES RICK OWENS, LANVIN, DIOR ECT… THEY TOLD ME THEY PLAY MY NEW ALBUM IN THE STORE. IT WAS SUCH A BIG COMPLIMENT FOR ME TO HAVE SONGS THAT ARE NUMBER ONE ON 106 AND CAN PLAY RIGHT NEXT TO VAMPIRE WEEKEND, SADE OR SILVERCHAIR IN A HIGH END FASHION STORE! IT’S SUCH A TRIUMPH TO HAVE LOVE LOCK DOWN ON RADIO. WHEN IT COMES IN IT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE ANYTHING ELSE EVER MADE IN HISTORY! THIS IS NEW MUSIC! IT MIGHT TAKES SOME GETTING USE TO BUT WHEN IT SET’S IN IT WILL MAKE ALL THE DIFFERENCE!”

Previously: ‘Damon Dash Fuels Beef With Jay-Z’

“So last night we were at jeweler Waris Ahluwalia’s Belvedere “Uptown Meets Downtown” party at a penthouse in the Plaza, and we ran into hip-hop panda Damon Dash. He’s been having some financial troubles lately, but he was in high spirits! In fact, we chitchatted about his business woes, and he said that these spirits are exactly what gets him through the day: “I go to board meetings high,” he explained. Also, he’s totally counting on his beautiful designer wife to get the two of them through this rough patch. Aw!“

SOURCE: NYMag.com

The New York Daily News claims to have a transcript of the former Roc-A-Fella co-CEO during his interview with Complex magazine. In the interview, which is supposed to run online Wednesday, Dash allegedly takes a jab at his former business partner, by suggesting there’s an equally scintillating feud growing between Hova and Kanye West.

The report says Dash cites a 2003 concert in Chicago, where West was to be presented his own Roc-A-Fella chain and medallion:

“This nigga [Kanye] was like, ‘Wow. [Jay-Z] ain’t going to give me the chain.’ I had to take off my chain and give it to him… and I was heated. I had the real canary diamonds. That shit cost $40,000! I told Kanye, ‘Yo, you got to give that back when we get off this stage!’”

Reps from Ye’s camp tell the Daily News the story is “ridiculous and totally false.”

Equally damaging is Jay’s former mentor during his “Hawaiian Sophie” days in the late 80′s addressing a bar that Jigga threw his way. On the Ludacris single, “I Do It For Hip-Hop,” Hovie pays tribute to classic hip-hop artists while giving Jaz-O a left-handed smack in saying, “Shout out to Grandmaster Flash and to Caz and even Jaz bum ass.”

On a viral video released by TFTV, Jaz suggest he plans to respond by saying, “It’s just a matter of time, and not a whole lot of it. Them things gonna get flung out in the street. It’s gonna be everywhere and you know I know how to respond.“ “All that greatest rapper shit? C’mon, knock it off. I’m Jaz-O. Y’all niggas should know better. Ain’t no dollar amount that’s gonna ever, ever bring you up to even tying my motherfucking shoes.”

Should Jay-Z be worried? You be the judge! Speak on it in the comment section!

According to TMZ, ‘Ye was exiting the Tup Tup nightclub in Newcastle and got physical after a photog pushed his limit. The Louis Vuitton Don has already been released and will not face additional charges. The “victim” also has a history of violence at celebs, so with dude getting close to Mr. Go Hard, Yeezy did what most folks in that situation would do.

What do you think? Were the bobbies necessary? Speak on it!

Jay-Z had the best crew to step out from underneath his huge shadow, but with the game shakin’ up and Roc-A-Fella breakin’ up – you can check out these freestyles to see how good it really was just a week ago…

Part 1:

Part 2: