Keys started singing “Put It In A Love Song.” Then, Beyonce unexpectedly emerged on stage to join her in the performance at Madison Square Garden, which caused fans to scream.   

The concert was part of Key’s multi-city tour.  The duet appears on Keys’ album “The Element of Freedom.”

Later on in the show, Beyonce’s husband Jay-Z also made an unexpected appearance on stage with Keys.  He performed “Empire State of Mind,” which is his popular duet with Keys. 

A short video clip of Keys and Beyonce performing during the concert is posted below.

Celebrity power couple Jay-Z and Beyonce had front-row seats together in Dallas during an NBA basketball game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Lakers. 

The couple looked like they were having a good time at the game.  Jay-Z and Beyonce usually shy away from affection in public because they want to keep their relationship private, and that’s understandable.  But it was good to see them photographed together at the game. 

During Beyonce’s acceptance speech at the Grammy’s a few weeks ago, she said “I love you” to Jay-Z.  That was unusual because they typically refuse to show any physical or verbal affection in public. 

In fact, for a long time, they refused to publicly acknowledge they were in a relationship or even married.

During an interview with Access Hollywood, Beyonce said “He was shocked.  He was just like ‘What did you say?’ I was so happy, I could’ve said anything.  That’s why I ran off the stage.  I just looked up, and he was the first face I saw.  And I was like “What did I just do?’ No, I didn’t just say that.”

Keeping their relationship private seems to be a successful formula for the happy couple.  They’ve managed to stay together when so many Hollywood relationships fail due to the pitfalls of fame.

A photo gallery of Jay-Z and Beyonce at the basketball game is posted below.  Click on the Associated Press photos to enlarge them.

(AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

After I saw the video premiere of the “We Are The World” remake last week,  I wondered to myself why some of the big musicians were missing, such as rapper Jay-Z. 

Proceeds from the songs will benefit the victims of the Haiti earthquake.

According to MTV, Jay-Z explains why he chose not to participate in the “We Are The World” remake. 

 ”I know everybody is gonna take this wrong. ‘We Are the World,’ I love it, and I understand the point and think it’s great. But I think ‘We Are the World’ is like  ‘Thriller’ to me. I don’t ever wanna see it touched. I’m a fan of music. I know the plight and everything that’s going on in Haiti. I applaud the efforts through text to Haiti. So I appreciate the efforts and everything, but ‘We are the World’ is untouchable like ‘Thriller’ is untouchable. Some things are just untouchable. It was a valiant effort, but for me, it’s gonna be untouchable.”

Other big musicians who were not part of the song included Beyonce, Chris Daughtry, Taylor Swift and Whitney Houston, among others.  

I wonder if their reasons were similar to Jay-Z’s or if they weren’t invited altogether.

Jay- Z performed at the grand reopening of the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles in 2008. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

Fans in three southern cities who were hoping to see the biggest rapper in the music industry will be disappointed. 

Jay-Z has cancelled the remaining three dates on his 2009 tour.  The concert’s promoter Live Nation said the concerts in Lubbock, Albuquerque and El Paso are canceled due to an unforseen scheduling conflict. 

It’s unknown exactly what that conflict is, but fans will be reimbursed in those cities.  The good news is Jay-Z will hit the road with Young Jeezy for a tour beginning in February. (assuming he doesn’t cancel those dates too)

Click here for the 2010 dates.

Jay-Z performed during a music festival in New Jersey (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

Jay-Z announced new tour dates for the second leg of his North American tour.  The second leg begins Feb. 22 in Houston and concludes March 26 in Los Angeles.

Young Jeezy will be the opening act.  Tickets go on sale Nov. 13.  The tour schedule for the second leg is posted below.

Feb. 22 Houston @ Toyota Center
Feb. 23 Dallas @ American Airlines Center
Feb. 25 New Orleans @ New Orleans Arena
Feb. 27 Atlanta @ Philips Arena
Feb. 28 Greensboro, North Carolina @ Greensboro Coliseum Complex
March 3 Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
March 7 Norfolk, Virginia @ Scope Arena
March 11 Boston @ TD Garden
March 16 Pittsburgh @ Mellon Arena
March 19 St. Louis @ Scottrade Center
March 20 Indianapolis @ Conseco Fieldhouse
March 22 Denver @ Pepsi Center
March 24 San Jose, California @ HP Pavilion
March 26 Los Angeles @ Staples Center

Jay-Z

U2 and Jay-Z

Shakira

Leona Lewis

Green Day

Katy Perry

Tokio Hotel

Foo Fighters

Beanie Sigel in downtown Philadelphia (AP Photo by Mark Stehle)

Rapper Beanie Sigel is still verbally attacking his former friend and former boss Jay-Z.

Sigel appeared on the Power 99 radio station in Philadelphia (along with 50 Cent) and trashed Jay-Z.

Sigel said Jay-Z “is a crumb. I’m gonna put my foot on his neck until he responds.  Please make a record.  A week’s been out, dog. I’m not taking nothing from Jay as an artist. He ain’t no walk in the park as an artist. All I’m saying is I don’t gotta jog to keep up to him.” 

Sigel also recently recorded a song where he slams Jay-Z.  Click here to read excerpts from the lyrics. 

Despite Sigel’s efforts to bad-mouth him, Jay-Z still won’t hit back.  He chooses to ignore him. 

That’s a smart move on Jay-Z’ s part.  Jay-Z is the biggest name in hip hop music today, and Beanie Sigel is basically a nobody. 

If Jay-Z starts attacking him, the media will hype it up, and Sigel will get free publicity and become a household name.

Beanie should become successful based on his own merits, instead of trying to achieve fame by feuding with Jay-Z.

Jay-Z responded ot Beanie’s comments during a press conference saying he gave Beanie a record label and clothing line, but he blew it. 

The video clip of the interview is posted below.

They performed “Empire State Dreams” which is featured on Jay-Z’s CD “The Blueprint 3.”  The song is currently number 13 on the Billboard charts. 

The video clip of their live performance at the game is posted below followed by a photo gallery.

Beanie Sigel during a photo shoot in 2004 (AP Photo/Jim Cooper)

Rapper Beanie Sigel is releasing a new song in which he verbally attacks his former close friend Jay-Z.  An excerpt from the song is posted below.

“This ain’t a diss record, this a real record
How does it feel to get exposed, don’t you feel naked
I was a fly on the wall and what I witnessed
I can say things to make Bey (Beyonce) look at you different
And my gangsta wasn’t never on trial, I stood up tall, no snitching
But the rapper Shawn called the police on me
Cause I was front row at the Blueprint 3″

Jay-Z and Beanie have been joined at the hip for more than 10 years. Not sure why Beanie is so upset with him.

Maybe it’s because Beanie’s rap career never skyrocketed like Jay-Z’s career.  Or maybe its because Beanie is facing drug possession charges, and Jay-Z never went to bat for him. 

It will be interesting to see if Jay-Z responds with a diss record of his own.

During an interview with the Huffington Post, Jay-Z said when he works out in the gym, he enjoys listening to “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie. 

He said “I really like that song.  I would sing it really loud no matter where I was at in the gym, and I know a couple other guys were singing and they won’t say it, but I’m man enough to say that Fergie’s Big Girls Don’t Cry. I would sing that in the gym.”

Now that Jay-Z is man enough to admit that he sings along to that song, I want to hear from other readers. 

In the comments section below, please tell me an embarrassing song that you enjoy listening to when you’re by yourself, but you’re too ashamed to admit it to anyone else.

It could the Backstreet Boys, Vanilla Ice, Spice Girls, Milli Vanilli–or anything.

Jay-Z and Alicia Keys perform their new song titled "Empire State of Mind" during the MTV Video Music Awards (AP photo by Jason DeCrow)

Everyone was so focused on Kanye West crashing Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech during the MTV Video Music Awards, that everyone seems to overlook that Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ performance was crashed too. 

While Jay-Z and Alicia were performing their duet to the song “Empire State of Mind” during the awards finale, rapper Lil Mama appeared out of nowhere, walked on the stage and stood next to them. 

Rapper Lil Mama apologizes for crashing Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' performance at the MTV Video Music Awards. Lil Mama is also a judge on "America's Best Dance Crew." (AP photo by Mark J. Terrill)

Radio personality Angie Martinez interviewed Jay-Z this week about the incident.   Jay-Z said “Me, personally, I would never do that.  I would never have the nerve to do that. It’s just like, someone’s up there performing, we went through rehearsals, we did run throughs and we worked really hard at the performance to put on a show for people and to interrupt that moment for us, you know, I don’t think that was the right thing to do. I actually thought it was the equivalent of what Kanye did to Taylor Swift.  And I’m cool with her being excited and all that but you have to understand, people put in work to make that performance happen, that took weeks.  I was a little angry to be honest, but what I’ma do, fight Lil Mama?”

Alicia Keys appeared on NBC’s Today Show and discussed the incident.  She said “I would rather not speak about it because the performance was so phenomenal it doesn’t even matter about anything else.  Jay-Z and I are native New Yorkers.  It’s kind of a classic New York song like new Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli.  I can appreciate her being overwhelmed and inspired but we would have preferred she did it from her seat.”

Lil Mama later released a statement apologizing to the performers.  She said 

“I did not mean any disrespect towards Jay-Z or Alicia Keys.  I admire them and look up to them as role models. ‘Empire State of Mind’ had my emotions running high. In that moment I came up onstage to celebrate my two icons singing about NY.”

It seems to me like Lil Mama just wanted some attention. She didn’t want to let Kanye West have all the attention for crashing the stage.

To watch the clip of Lil Mama crashing the stage during Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ performance, the video clip is posted below.  Fast forward the video to the five-minute mark.

In an interview with BBC Radio, Jay-Z said Kanye has always been passionate, but he was still rude to Taylor. 

Excerpts from the interview are posted below. 

“He’s just a super-passionate person, and of course it was rude because it was Swift’s moment, but that’s the way he really felt. But he’s been that passionate from his first record.”

“He used to jump on tables. I was trying to make the first Blueprint, he’s jumping on tables, rapping, and I’m like, ‘Yo, not now.’ That was just him. He’s always been that passionate.”

“I told him I think it was rude, and that he has to watch his passion. At the end of the day, we’re going to celebrate him for his passion more than vilify him for it because his passion, which caused him to make Graduation and all these great records, is the same thing that causes him to step out of line sometimes. So as he grows, he has to learn how to balance that. And he’ll learn that in years to come. That passion right there, that wasn’t fake or staged.  It was how he really felt, and it was just inappropriate. It wasn’t fair to Taylor.”

“I mean, it’s an awards show, really, and I think it’s a bit blown out.  He’s on the cover of every paper, he didn’t kill anybody. Nobody got harmed.  I don’t think he should lay low, I think he should go on tour and have a brilliant career. It’s an awards show.”

I agree with Jay-Z in paragraph above. Yes, it was rude and disrespecful, but no one was killed or physically harmed.  He didn’t beat up anyone like Chris Brown did. 

But, hopefully Kanye will listen to Jay-Z and learn to control his “passion.”

Meanwhile, Kanye is preparing to go on tour this fall and winter with pop singer Lady Gaga.  The tour kicks off Nov. 10 in Phoenix.  Click here for a list of the tour dates.

Rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z is the new king of albums. 

When Jay-Z’s new CD “Blueprint 3″ landed at number one on the Billboard charts this week, he set a record for having the most number one albums by a solo artist–pulling ahead of the legendary Elvis Presley, according to Billboard magazine.

Jay-Z now has 11 number one albums under his belt. 

“Blueprint 3″ sold 476,000 copies when it debuted Wednesday, and it’s expected to keep the number one spot next week. 

The rapper is currently preparing for his upcoming college concert tour.  Click here to view the tour dates.