Kanye West is getting in the game. The hip-hop superstar will close out Activision’s first-ever Call of Duty XP celebration over Labor Day weekend.


The ticketed event will be held in a secure 12-acre compound in Los Angeles on September 2-3 and is expected to draw 6,000 video gamers, some of who will compete in a $1 million Call of Duty tournament.

Kanye will provide the live entertainment on September 3, performing for fans of the shooter video game franchise.

Tickets are available to purchase online for $150, with 100% of proceeds benefitting The Call of Duty Endowment, a non-profit, public benefit corporation that assists veterans.

Jay-Z and Kanye West were crowned kings on the albums chart this week with Watch the Throne. The highly-anticipated collaboration from the hip-hop superstars reigns at No. 1.


Throne secures the top spot on the Billboard 200, selling 436,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It’s the second-largest sales week of the year, only trailing Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, which opened with 1.1 million in May.

The dynamic duo’s album was available exclusively through iTunes from August 8-11 prior to expanding sales at all digital and physical retailers on August 12. Only three official days of physical sales were counted due to the staggered release.

Throne was legally downloaded 321,000 times, giving it the second-largest digital week ever, behind Gaga’s Born This Way (662,000). Sources tell Billboard that the album also broke iTunes’ one-week sales record with 290,000 digital copies.

If that weren’t enough, Jay-Z also claims his 12th No. 1, while Kanye earns his fifth chart-topper with Throne. Jay holds his record as the solo act with the most No. 1 albums in history.

If Throne’s numbers seem low to some, that’s because the album has yet to have a full week’s worth of digital and physical sales. Those figures will be accounted for next week.

Kanye West has come a long way. In a newly-released clip from 2002, the fresh-faced rapper gets the keys to a brand new Mercedes-Benz G550. “I had a lot of memories in this car,” he says about upgrading from his old ML430 to the $100,000-plus SUV. The footage was filmed the same day that ‘Ye collaborated with Jay-Z for the first time on The Blueprint 2. Nearly a decade later, history was made with Watch the Throne.

KANYE WEST OTHER OTHER BENZ from Creative Control on Vimeo.

Eminem has earned yet another accolade. Rolling Stone has bestowed the rap titan with its current King of Hip-Hop title based on his album sales, YouTube views, and social-media scores.


Not far behind Marshall Mathers is Lil Wayne, who claims second place based on his album and ticket sales, online rankings, and awards, while his Young Money cohort Drake comes in third.

The list is not a ranking of all-time greatest MCs. Instead, the magazine selected 20 solo rappers who have dropped an album from 2009 through the first seven months of 2011. The positions were determined by album sales, rankings on the R&B/hip-hop and rap charts, YouTube views, social media, concert grosses, industry awards, and critics’ ratings.

Contenders included Big Boi, B.o.B, Diddy, Drake, Eminem, Fabolous, Lupe Fiasco, Gucci Mane, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Lil Wayne, Ludacris, Nicki Minaj, Pitbull, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg, T.I., Waka Flocka Flame, Kanye West, and Wiz Khalifa.

Despite the “king” title, Nicki Minaj is the sole female on the list, beating out some of her male peers for the No. 6 spot. See the full list below.

Rolling Stone’s “Kings of Hip-Hop” List

1. Eminem
2. Lil Wayne
3. Drake
4. Kanye West
5. Jay-Z
6. Nicki Minaj
7. Rick Ross
8. Ludacris
9. Gucci Mane
10. T.I.
11. Snoop Dogg
12. Diddy
13. Pitbull
14. Fabolous
15. Wiz Khalifa
16. B.o.B
17. Waka Flocka Flame
18. Lupe Fiasco
19. Kid Cudi
20. Big Boi

Jay-Z and Kanye West are on their way to conquering the charts. The rap kings’ monumental album Watch the Throne is shaping up to have a blockbuster week.


The album only hit iTunes today, but early estimates are already in. In less than 24 hours, Throne has hit No. 1 on iTunes in over 20 countries. The album, which avoided leaking in advance, is on track to sell at least 400,000 to 500,000 copies in its first week in the U.S., according to Billboard.

Based on these figures, that would give Jay and Kanye the second-largest sales week of the year, behind Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, which opened with 1.1 million units.

Watch the Throne is available exclusively at iTunes until Friday, when it expands to other digital retailers and physical stores. Best Buy will carry the deluxe version exclusively from August 12-22.

Official first-week sales will be released on Wednesday, August 17.

Technically, this arty black-and-white trailer is for the duo’s upcoming Watch The Throne tour, but it gets us even more excited for the joint LP’s release on iTunes this coming Monday. And not a moment before — Jay-Z’s manager John Meneilly has assured “It is not going to leak,” as digital and physical copy releases were staggered to prevent such a thing from happening. Maybe Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Kelly Clarkson should employ the same method for their next records?

“Ya’ll in for a hell of a night tonight. I’m in New York City. I came to show my ass,” announced Young Jeezy at his anniversary show at Highline Ballroom on Monday night. “This is a celebration, baby! This is Thug Motivation 101.”

Six years after the release of his debut album Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, the rapper they call the Snowman proved that he hasn’t lost his cool. After getting a late start, he kicked things off with “Standing Ovation” before delving into more of his street anthems.

Jay-Z joined him for the “Go Crazy (Remix),” he “Put On” for his city with Kanye West, and shared the stage with his peers Fabolous, Bun B, and The Lox during the 75-minute set.

Before capping the momentous evening, he announced a release date for his next project, TM103.

If you missed it, catch Jeezy’s entire set below.

The U.S. leg of Rihanna’s “LOUD” tour came to a close in Boston on Sunday (July 24). Along the way, she was joined by her pals Drake, Jay-Z, and Kanye West, who performed “All of the Lights” and “Run This Town” with her at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Long Island, New York. In this behind-the-scenes footage, the superstars are seen preparing to go on stage. Watch as they meet up backstage, mingle with Heidi Klum, and perform “All of the Lights.”

Jay-Z and Kanye West have kept fans waiting with news of their heavily-guarded album Watch the Throne, but the hip-hop titans finally made it official by announcing the formation of their supergroup, an official album release date, and a once-in-a-lifetime tour.


The rappers have combined their talents to create a group dubbed “The Throne” and will release their collaborative album exclusively to iTunes on August 8. It will be available at additional physical and digital retailers on August 12 featuring the lead track “Otis,” as well as contributions from Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Mr Hudson, The Neptunes, and RZA.

On the same day as the iTunes release, tickets for their fall tour will go on sale to the public. The North American trek kicks off September 22 in Detroit and travels to cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Atlanta, currently wrapping November 3 in Boston.

Starting July 28, fans that visit Live Nation’s website will have access to pre-sale tickets, which includes a digital copy of the album.

Watch the Throne Tour Dates

Sept. 22 – Detroit, MI – Palace of Auburn Hills
Sept. 24 – Toronto, ON – Air Canada Centre
Sept. 25 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
Sept. 27 – East Rutherford, NJ – Izod Center
Sept. 28 – East Rutherford, NJ – Izod Center
Sept. 28 – Washington, DC – Verizon Center
Oct. 4 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Oct. 6 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Oct. 7 – Chicago, IL – United Center
Oct. 8 – Minneapolis, MN – Target Center
Oct. 10 – Denver, CO – Pepsi Center
Oct. 13 – Tacoma, WA – Tacoma Dome
Oct. 14 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
Oct. 16 – San Jose, CA – HP Pavilion
Oct. 17 – Sacramento, CA – Power Balance Pavilion
Oct. 19 – Los Angeles, CA – Staples Center
Oct. 20 – Los Angeles, CA – Staples Center
Oct. 21 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena
Oct. 25 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Center
Oct. 26 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
Oct. 29 – Atlanta, GA – Philips Arena
Oct. 30 – Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Coliseum
Nov. 1 – Baltimore, MD – 1st Mariner Arena
Nov. 3 – Boston, MA – TD Garden

The throne is in sight. After rampant speculation, Life + Times reveals the official tracklisting for Watch the Throne, Kanye West and Jay-Z’s highly-anticipated collaborative album, rumored to be dropping on August 2. The 12-track standard edition features Beyoncé (“Lift Off”), Frank Ocean (“No Church in the Wild,” “Sweet Baby Jesus”), and Mr Hudson (“Love You So”). There are four additional songs on the deluxe including the G.O.O.D. Friday freebie “The Joy” and single “H•A•M.” Watch the tracklisting below.


Watch the Throne Tracklisting

1. “No Church in the Wild” feat. Frank Ocean
2. “Lift Off” feat. Beyoncé
3. “Niggas in Paris”
4. “Otis” feat. Otis Redding
5. “Gotta Have It”
6. “New Day”
7. “Prime Time”
8. “Who Gon Stop Me”
9. “Murder to Excellence”
10. “Welcome to the Jungle”
11. “Sweet Baby Jesus” feat. Frank Ocean
12. “Love You So” feat. Mr Hudson

Bonus
13. “Illest Motherfucker Alive”
14. “H•A•M”
15. “That’s My Bitch”
16. “The Joy” feat. Curtis Mayfield

The sounds of G.O.O.D. Music filled the Seaholm Power Plant in Austin, Texas, during SXSW in March. In addition to performing his solo set, Kanye West brought out his big bro Jay-Z for “H•A•M.” The electrifying night also featured performances from Kid Cudi (“Pursuit of Happiness”), Big Sean (“My Last”), Pusha T (“My God”), and Mos Def (“Oh No”). Watch the HD footage below.

Last night Billboard fired off a series of tweets detailing a roughly three-hour listening session for Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch The Throne, which Hova himself hosted at the Mercer Hotel in downtown New York. (Rap Radar posted the above photo from the event.) “Roughly 20 people in the room, mostly journalists, including stephen hill of BET and the producer mike dean,” the publication noted. Over 11 songs were played. Catch the new details on the album below.

“Kanye west wasn’t there. No release date was given, but Jay-Z said the album was ‘coming soon’,” Billboard tweeted. It was said that Odd Future’s Frank Ocean appears on two tracks on the long-awaited LP, while Jay-Z’s wife, “Best Thing I Never Had” songstress Beyonce, is featured on one that’s currently titled “Lift Off.” (Jay wants to shoot a video for the latter, but prefers not to release a traditional single off the album.)

Jay and ‘Ye recorded their verses together in the same rooms, rather than mail rhymes back and forth to each other.

The music industry publication also wrote that Jay-Z said Watch The Throne was recorded over the past year in England, Australia, the States (New York and Los Angeles) and in Paris, France, mostly in hotel rooms. Hova apparently also indicated that sometimes songs were recorded then scrapped for being, as Billboard wrote, “too big and calculating.”

The version of the album that Jay-Z played for journalists last night on his Mac laptop was the third iteration of the project. The rapper said “his favorite song from the project changes everyday, but right now ‘no church’ – first song he played – is favorite.”

As for Jay’s next solo album, Billboard tweeted, “Jay-z said two songs already completed for his next solo album, and four concepts banked. Frank ocean appears on one already done.”

All very interesting. And given Jay and Kanye’s overblown winter single “H.A.M.” and, particularly, the lukewarm response it received, we can see why they scrapped some of the recordings for being too grandiose in nature.

Watch The Throne will be available in both standard and deluxe editions — the deluxe comes with four bonus tracks. Due out Aug 2nd!

Does this insight to Watch The Throne have you looking forward to the album? Let us know below!

Kanye West performed at the 2011 MoMA Party In The Garden Benefit at The Museum of Modern Art yesterday in New York City. He was seen wearing what appears to be an American Apparel Salt and Pepper Zip Hoody ($48), his favorite Balmain belt and distressed light blue denim jeans ($890), with the same high-top navy blue Lanvin sneakers that he wore during his performance at Coachella.

Kanye West has teamed up with French art and design partnership M/M (Paris) consisting of Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag to create a limited edition line of scarves that feature the original artwork by George Condo for his platinum selling album My Beautiful Dark and Twisted Fantasy. The rapper claimed that the artwork was banned because many retailers such as Walmart disapproved of the album cover art that depicted a naked Phoenix laying on top of his naked body. Mr. West eventually replaced the artwork, but is now releasing 5 silk scarves that are based on Condo’s controversial paintings, which he named Power, Phoenix, Ballerina, Face and Priest. Each scarf is priced at ($364) and only a 100 of each will be available on Monday, May 9th through MMParis.com and Colette.fr.

Kanye West closed out the 2011 Coachella fest on Sunday night by performing a three-act string of his biggest hits and fan favorites. At times minimal (if you can call a set featuring nearly two dozen dancers minimal), touching and powerful, West tore through songs like “Power,” “Love Lockdown,” “Say You Will,” “Jesus Walks,” “All Of The Lights” and “Gold Digger.” Sadly, Rihanna, who was at the festival, did not join ‘Ye on stage. Watch his full set after the jump.

Snoop Dogg gets a dose of G.O.O.D. Music on “Eyez Closed” featuring Kanye West and John Legend. The electric guitar-ripped track, which previously leaked to the web without Snoop’s verses, boasts lyrics where he questions his mortality before passing it off to Yeezy.

“I done came from a long path, only God knows how long left the Dogg has/ ‘Cause lifetime, we all pass, so if you ever taste success, just pray it’s from a tall glass,” advises Uncle Snoop.

Open your eyes to the cut from the Doggumentary, in stores next Tuesday.

Katy Perry and Kanye West are ready to beam their video for “E.T.” down to earth. The pop starlet and rapper’s collaborative clip is set to arrive on March 31, when fans will get a chance to see the intergalactic visuals directed by Floria Sigismondi. The single, a remix to the original off Perry’s Grammy-nominated album Teenage Dream, has already cracked the top 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, currently sitting at No. 3. Mark your calendar for the alien invasion.

Kanye West rolls out the red carpet for more of his famous friends on the unfinished remix to “All of the Lights,” the Rihanna-assisted single off his platinum album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Maintaining the original beat, the revamped tune touts new verses from Lil Wayne, Drake, and G.O.O.D. Music’s Big Sean, with ‘Ye letting the guest stars do all the work.

“It’s cold as hell, I show and tell/ Weezy home, our n***a out of jail,” spits a triumphant Tunechi, throwing it to Sean and Drizzy for their all-star appearances. Get lost in the flashing lights.

Kanye WestKanye West's love for fashion is no secret. Lately, rumors have even swirled that Kanye would pursue a master's degree in fashion as news organizations reported that Kanye had applied to Central Saint Martins—the prestigious design university in London—and was denied admission. Now, a CSM official confirms that, while Kanye did visit the school last week, the rapper never actually submitted an application.

Considering Kanye has no legitimate fashion background to speak of, even he must know that love alone won't help him stitch a thesis collection. Besides, Kanye has records to sell and money to make—who has time for a full-time program?

If Kanye still wants to dabble in higher education a la James Franco, may we suggest a fashion design 101 course at Parson's or FIT?

While tweeting his support for Chicago during the Bears vs. Packers game yesterday, Kanye West was also very forthcoming with info about his upcoming releases. “WATCH THE THRONE COMING IN 2 MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!” he wrote on Twitter about his upcoming joint album with Jay-Z, which spawned the current single “H.A.M.” But it was the 2011 Coachella headliner’s next tweet that was truly eyebrow-raising.

“MY NEW ALBUM COMING THIS SUMMER,” ‘Ye informed his Twitter followers. If true, that would mean we’d be seeing three LPs from West in a roughly seven-month period (including the chart-topping My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which dropped in November, and the Jay-Z collaboration Watch The Throne).

Next up caps-friendly Kanye tweeted, “ALL THE LIGHTS VIDEO IN 1 WEEK!!!!!!” Uh, what about finishing the extremely creepy “Monster” first? Or has an “official” clip now been abandoned?

Do you think we’ll actually see a brand new album from Kanye West so soon after the release of his last one?