Those Watching the Throne will have a hard time looking away.
If there was anyone that could keep this mega-project from being released to the public before the scheduled release date, it was this duo of Jay-Z and Kanye West. With Watch The Throne being distributed digitally first and then physical copies hitting Best Buy shelves August 12th, there seems to be a plan in place to make the most cash possible. The news that these CDs would only be released at Best Buys nationwide caused uproar amongst independently owned record shops- indie stores and privately owned places that have been struggling to stay afloat in a time and age when no one pays for music anymore. But this phenomenon has taken its toll on the entire industry, and that includes the musicians themselves. It seems the only ones making out in all of this are us as the listeners.
John Meneilly, Jigga’s manager, has come out to say this Best Buy only deal was to avoid a leak. I guess the probability of a privately owned record shop employee swiping a copy of the heralded product is higher than a Best Buy employee doing the same- seems bogus. In all reality, a deal may have been worked out between Roc-A-Fella and Best Buy to exclusively push this album. If you look at it from Jay and Kanye’s point of view, they won’t be paid anyways with millions of kids downloading their beats for free, so they might as well take the commercial cash from a big-time distributor and turn some sort of profit. Otherwise, this masterpiece would have been out a week or two ago and the hype would have already died. But let’s not let all the politics surrounding this bad boy bring it down- this quality rap indeed.
Arenas displayed his categorical system of female BBM contacts to the world.
Despite being notorious for keeping firearms in his locker to handle unpaid gambling debts with his own teammates, Gilbert Arenas is seen generally as a good guy. His lady fans may not have been in agreement with that notion after Arenas changed his Twitter avatar to his Blackberry Messenger contact list- 33 ladies categorized in ‘Best at fellatio,’ only 1 in ‘Girls I respect,’ 38 ‘Girls who gave it up on 1st nite,’ and 35 other ‘Girls who like girls.’ Pretty impressive list from a bros perspective, but I doubt any of his BBM ladyfriends will be contacting him anytime soon. Also note his self caption: ‘Jefe’ and the modest tagline of ‘There can only be one me.’ Touche, Gilbert.
It was not long ago that Flight School, Deal or No Deal and Kush & Orange Juice was all Wiz Khalifa had to boast on his resume. After a bidding war over his talents, he ultimately signed with Atlantic Records and began working on his first major-label release. The album would be called Rolling Papers, and it would become one of the most hotly debated albums of the 2011 release line-up. Led by the radio-ready production of tracks like ‘Black and Yellow’ and ‘Roll Up,’ the album’s sugar-coated production and Wiz’ noticeably toned down lyricism didn’t sit well with everyone. There is no denying that Wiz can rap- he proved that on his three prior mixtapes that bumped the speakers of every pothead from Pitt to Cali- but it seems that he figured out he could make more money if we works the system with the Atlantic suits, creating a number of mainstream sing-along songs that could work the simple-minded 15 and up crowd.
Khalifa Covers Rolling Stone.
Not everyone loved it, but the plan to sway towards Pop seemed to work- he got Gold. 2011 has been a huge year for the kid from Pittsburgh. But after the confetti settled and the champagne hangovers subsided, he was right back in the studio with mentor Curren$y and newest G.O.O.D Music prodigy Big Sean as the trio dropped 5 fire tracks 5 days in a row- ‘O.T.T.R. (Off To The Races),’ ‘Flowers,’ ‘Weed Brownies,’ ‘Dot, Dot, Dot,’ and ‘Proceed.’ Young Khalifa goes harder on these tracks then he does any song on Rolling Papers, and now fans are speculating that these three could have a mixtape project in the works. For our sake, let’s hope so. At a time when Jay-Z and ‘Ye are stealing the spotlight with the Watch The Throne release date creeping forth, Wiz’s return to the lyrical mastery that got him here in the first place might be stealing the show.
The Empire 
August 8, 2011
‘Watch The Throne’ Released Without Leak
Those Watching the Throne will have a hard time looking away.
If there was anyone that could keep this mega-project from being released to the public before the scheduled release date, it was this duo of Jay-Z and Kanye West. With Watch The Throne being distributed digitally first and then physical copies hitting Best Buy shelves August 12th, there seems to be a plan in place to make the most cash possible. The news that these CDs would only be released at Best Buys nationwide caused uproar amongst independently owned record shops- indie stores and privately owned places that have been struggling to stay afloat in a time and age when no one pays for music anymore. But this phenomenon has taken its toll on the entire industry, and that includes the musicians themselves. It seems the only ones making out in all of this are us as the listeners.
John Meneilly, Jigga’s manager, has come out to say this Best Buy only deal was to avoid a leak. I guess the probability of a privately owned record shop employee swiping a copy of the heralded product is higher than a Best Buy employee doing the same- seems bogus. In all reality, a deal may have been worked out between Roc-A-Fella and Best Buy to exclusively push this album. If you look at it from Jay and Kanye’s point of view, they won’t be paid anyways with millions of kids downloading their beats for free, so they might as well take the commercial cash from a big-time distributor and turn some sort of profit. Otherwise, this masterpiece would have been out a week or two ago and the hype would have already died. But let’s not let all the politics surrounding this bad boy bring it down- this quality rap indeed.