Here’s today leak: Kanye has a new blog in the works. This should good cause the original blog is already pretty solid.

The official quote: “I’ve been working really hard on this new blog and I’m really excited about it. It should be up this week!”

image: kayneuniversecity.com/blog

Got a new video here from Brooklyn’s battle MC OG, Poison Pen. The Money Shot is Pen’s 2009 release featuring the guest stylings of Immortal Technique, M.O.P., Silkk Da Shocker and others. Check out the album artwork below.

Image: Amazon.com

Brand spanking new, here’s the video for My Dude, check it out.

Fat Joe is about to drop his 10th album… 10th!!! Can you believe it? Feels like only yesterday I heard him lay his first verse on Showbiz & AG’s classic Represent in 1992. Fat Joe has gone through a lot of phases, he always keeps up with the latest trends so it didn’t surprise me that Jeezy was on his new single Slow Down. Also to make sure the beat was as bangin’ as possible, he got Scoop De Ville to lace him with something fierce. Scoop if you didn’t know, was the man who produced Snoop Dogg’s I Wanna Rock. Anyway, Fat Joe’s new album is titled The Darkness, here is a Youtube link to the song, I’ll let you know as soon as the video drops.

The title got you, didn’t it? So, you’ve probably caught wind of the current criticism circled around Jay-Z and camp by now. Headlines are calling Beyonce, Rihanna and Jay-Z everything from Freemason/ Illuminati to Devil Worshipping demons. I’ve watched a handful of youtube flicks upwards of 45 minutes long dissecting music videos for satanic imagery and Freemason symbols. Some even go as far as playing records backwards to hear evil word repetition in the beats. I’ve got a little conspiracy theory of my own and it has nothing to do with the devil and everything to do with free publicity. You’ve heard the expression,”there is no such thing as bad press”? Despite all the current rumors and fanaticism surrounding the Jay-Z Devil Worshipping claims he recently launches this video:

A dark, Marilyn Mansonesque flick, full of evil clowns, goat-headed figure, fire, skulls and the list goes on. Now pick up any current fashion magazine in existence and flip through it. You’ll notice the same imagery, leather, studs, black lipstick, tattoo inspired design, that’s fashion. Jay-Z creating a steezy, style savvy video full of dark imagery at the height of media buzz, that’s good marketing. If money is the root of all evil then call Jay-Z the devil, he’s laughing all the way to the bank.

Beef is a pretty common thing in hip-hop, amongst the biggest are Biggie and 2Pac, MC Shan and KRS, Roxanne Shante and the Real Roxanne. Tonight I was reminded of a pretty down low beef that included Naughty By Nature and a lesser known Jersey cat named Tony D. When Naughty’s debut single OPP dropped in 1991, they blew up pretty fast, that jam was playing everywhere. It Probably took one day for Tony D to hear and and start laughing. See the thing is, Tony made the exact same beat two years prior called Adam’s Nightmare on Sure Shot Records. Anyway, when news got around Tony was calling out Naughty by Nature’s producer Kaygee, his quote was “I never heard his record… OPP has flavor, our album has flavor. Tony D put out an album that was garbage”. Well readers, decide for yourself…

Screw club hopping in this weather, Friday night I’m getting crew together to shoot dice and drink beer. All you need is a couple rolls of quarters (unless you’re core enough to pay with bills), a few friends and the dice. While you’re at it you might as well do it in style with the Mike Giant Rollin High Dice Game Set.

Mike Giant is the co-owner of the San Francisco based clothing brand Rebel8 and legendary graffiti artist. Check out the video below of Wu-Tang’s U-God explaining how to play.

image: rebel8 blog

The Grammy Awards go live in less than 20 minutes but already the winners have been announced, check out the official link here.

Let’s review…

Best Rap Album: Eminem – Relapse

Best Rap Solo Performance: Jay-Z – D.O.A. Death of Autotune

Best Rap Performance by a Duo or a Group: Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent – Crack A Bottle

…and Best Rap Song: Jay-Z, Rihanna, & Kayne West – Run This Town

It’s no life altering discovery but I just want to draw a quick comparison:

to…

and…

to…

Cannot take either one of these dudes seriously! You can’t do the most hilarious stand-up ever and then bust out the pop/ R&B expecting us to switch over like that. I keep watching the video expecting a laugh track to come in at the end. I guess I better warm up to it, Jamie Foxx has been in the music game for a minute now. Eight years to be exact and he’s stockpiling awards. This year he’s up for three Grammy nominations. Let’s see how he does tomorrow.

Jamie’s newest album Body is set to drop May 25th, 2010.

Still cold?

Think back to A Long Hot Summer in 2004 and run out to grab this by Masta Ace. The highly acclaimed concept/ follow up album to 2001’s Disposable Arts. Pump this under your hat and instead of walking through a snow storm you’ll be following Ace and Fats Belvedere through Brooklyn in the heat.

Or you can stay in where it’s warm and buy it here.

image: amazon.com

Hey what’s Brand Nubian been up to lately? It’s been a minute since their classic One For All album dropped. Puba went solo after that, I’m kind of glad he did. Lord Jamar did something, Sadat did Wild Cowboys, I know all this. I mean recently where have they been… Well I know what Sadat X is doing! Drinking lots of wine and sounding like ODB! Sadat’s True Wine Connoisseur is a Youtube series, where he rates wines that are under twenty dollars. In this episode, our favorite Five Percenter rapper opens up a bottle of Castle Rock ($12.99) and lets his sophisticated palate explore the flavors.  Yo X just open that shit up!