Jay-z | featured news

Along with expected political figures like President Barack Obama (appearing for the eighth time; wife Michelle also holds a slot) and Vice-President Joe Biden, Time also singled out power couple Beyonce and Jay-Z, Oscar winners Jennifer Lawrence and Daniel Day-Lewis, musicians including Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Frank Ocean, television stars like "The Mindy Project's" Mindy Kaling and "Breaking Bad's" Bryan Cranston, and entertainers from other countries such as Bassem Youssef, dubbed the Egyptian "Jon Stewart," who is under investigation in that country for his political satire.

Jay-Z has finally broken his silence over the controversy about his trip to Cuba -- and of course he did it in rap. In a new song, "Open Letter," released via his Web site Thursday, the superstar is defiant, self-pitying -- and eager to let you know how cool his vacation was.

It's official, Beyoncé and Jay-Z's trip to Cuba was legal. Musical power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z traveled to the Communist island legally on an authorized educational trip, the Treasury Department said Tuesday in a letter obtained by the Miami Herald. The trip was organized by a group called Academic Arrangements Abroad, Reuters reports.

Authorities and celebrities were grappling Monday with how to respond to a website that posted what appears to be private financial information about top government officials and stars such as Jay-Z and Mel Gibson....

In addition to a tribute to Whitney Houston, the BET Awards show features Chris Brown, D'Angelo, Kanye West, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj and host Samuel L. Jackson. During Sunday's live telecast of the 2012 BET Awards, anticipation reigned, with questions filling Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium.

Jay-Z and Kanye West's recent hit "Niggas in Paris" is about them. They rap about being so phenomenally rich, about how they "ball so hard," buy Rolexes and cars, pop gold bottles with models in Paris nightclubs, that the rest of us slobs couldn't fathom their lives.

Media reports said Beyonce and Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, paid $1 million to take over a floor and their security guard blocked parents from the neonatal unit for hours. The hospital denied the reports, saying the couple paid the standard rate for an executive suite without disclosing what that is.

The most anticipated celebrity baby of 2012 has arrived: Beyonce and Jay-Z have welcomed their first child. Beyonce gave birth to the baby girl Saturday night at New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital, where the couple reportedly rented out the entire fourth floor for $1.3 million so the “Crazy in Love” singer could deliver in (relative) peace, the New York Daily News reports.

Summer 2011 has given us many things, some of them good. Three months ago, only the earliest adopters had heard of Kreayshawn, the Weeknd, Fall Creek Boys Choir, or countless other current iPod staples. Foster the People are famous now. So are LMFAO (like we said, it’s not all good).

In Sunday’s fading minutes, hip-hop America huddled around the digital watercooler for the exclusive iTunes release of “Watch the Throne,” a galactically hyped collaboration that Jay-Z and Kanye West somehow kept from leaking to the masses.