Yesterday, rap mogul Jay-Z and R&B songstress, Alicia Keys performed their collaborative single together, “Empire State of Mind” at Game 2 of the 2009 World Series. The two of them brought the house down in Yankee Stadium, Hova wearing his New York Yankees hat and jacket.

The performance was great and I would have loved to been there! They couldn’t have chosen a better pair of performers, especially since Jay-Z loves his team so much. 

Alicia recently said that she’s grateful that Jay-Z hit her up for the song, “Obviously, I’m very grateful to him for reaching out to me and for that type of ability to represent my hometown, like, that was crazy. So we went to the studio. I went to the studio, and … I fell in love from the jump."

She continued,  "He’s like, ‘The piano, the way the style [is], the whole flow, and it couldn’t be the anthem of New York without you.’ "

Check out their performance in Yankee Stadium below!

Why the hell did Lil Wayne plead guilty to the weapons charge? At first I thought that they were trying to pin a illegal weapons charge on him like T.I. but it seems that he plead guilty to just a “attempted possession of an illegal weapons” charge.

Oct. 21, 2009 - New York, New York, USA - Rapper LIL WAYNE, left, exits court after a hearing in his gun possession case. The hearing concerns the use of low copy DNA profiling.

What this means is that he won’t be going to jail for like two to three years like everyone was predicting. Instead he’s expected to serve a year or less in prison. This too could perhaps be reduced if coupled with a community service sentence. It all of course depends on the judge and what he feels Lil Wayne needs.

Lil Wayne is expected to face the judge for his official sentencing at the NY court in February, 2010.

Image: Zummapress

Lil Wayne’s lawyers challenged the validity of a new forensic test that links a persons DNA with a weapon. The gun in question is an illegal gun that was tossed out of Lil Wayne’s tour bus window after being pulled over by police in NY. Police said they pulled over the bus after they noticed marijuana smoke extruding from the windows after a hip hop concert. The Louis Vuitton bag they saw being tossed out of a window contained an illegal hand gun.

Oct. 21, 2009 - New York, New York, USA - Rapper LIL WAYNE exits court after a hearing in his gun possession case. The hearing concerns the use of low copy DNA profiling.

Lil Wayne’s lawyers argued that there were over a dozen people on that bus but charges were only laid on Lil Wayne because of his public status. I’d have to agree with that one. Why else would they go through such length to link a gun to Lil Wayne. There was no murder, only possession. The NY district attorneys spend less time on murder trials then they do on these high profile ridiculous cases.

Let this be a lesson though for anyone thinking of buying an illegal gun… don’t do it! I have no problem with people wanting to own their own gun for protection. Hell, carry it around everywhere you go. Just don’t buy it illegally. If you can’t get a gun legally then good, you probably shouldn’t own a gun anyways. And if you are carrying something illegal don’t throw it out the window when getting pulled over… that’s just plain dumb.

Image: Zumapress

I just heard about this guy so I don’t know a whole lot. From the sound of it Jedi Nemesis is on his way to releasing a record. His mixtape Love For Peace is available to download for free. Jedi is from the Miami, Florida suburb of Liberty City. Not that that means he can rap but it does give him street credibility I guess.

Check out his mixtape by downloading it here. Also chack ou his track in the YouTube Video and let us all know what you think.

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Kid Sister has finally announce the release of her debut album coming in stores November 12, 2009. The Album Ultraviolet is being produced with the help from Downtown Records / Universal Republic. If you haven’t heard this girl sing than check her out at MySpace/KidSister. The music reminds me of some old school hip-hop. A sound that is loosing ground to the likes of auto-tunes and gangster-rap.

Kid Sister - Ultraviolet

If Kid Sister sounds like your kind of artist get ‘fresh with her’ and enter to win a free ticket to one of her upcoming concerts. She’ll be on a national tour of the United States. Check out the dates after the jump…

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Jared Evan has recruited the help of some of the best in the business to help promote his latest mixtape album Radio In My Head.  Though little really needs to be done because the music sells itself.  The mixtape is being presented by the best music video producer of all time Rik Cordero president of Three/21Media and hosted by Polowa Da Don.

Jared Evan - "Radio In My Head"

The album is scheduled to drop in stores on October 15, 2009. So be sure to check that out tomorrow.

Check out Jared Evan single Frozen in the video after the jump…

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Most likely scheduled on purpose, Thank Me Later, the latest and first studio produced album by Drake will drop in stores on Valentine’s Day 2010 (February 14th, 2010). The first confirmed track so far is “Shut It Down” which will be featuring The Dream. When asked about the album, Drake told reporters that “it’s sexy. It’s slow, but there’s an energy to it. I rap on it. Me and Dream both sing on it. It’s cool.”

Drake poses for a photo during the red carpet portion of the MuchMusic Video Awards in downtown Toronto on June 21, 2009.

Drake has been a seemingly over-night success for the rap community. After being mentored by Lil Wayne things really got going. Drake has been an entertainer in Canada for a few years now as an actor and aspiring hip hop artist. But as happens to most Canadian entertainers they go unnoticed and unproduced until they make it in the United States. It’s too bad because I feel like there is allot of talent in Canada. They just need to move to LA or New York to get noticed.

Image: Zumapress

The BET Hip-Hop Awards were held last night October 10, 2009 at the Atlanta Civic Center and many of the top rappers walked away with some of the night’s most prestigious prizes. Ice Cube received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to hip-hop.

Ice Cube

Other winners included Jay-Z who made a surprise appearance to perform “As Real As It Gets” and accept his MVP of the Year Award, beating out Lil Wayne and Drake. Though don’t get mad yet cause Drake took the spotlight when he won in the Rookie of the Year Award – go Canada!

Image: BauerGriffin

Lil Wayne decided to bust out the guitar and try on his rock mantra halfway through a rap concert in London. The concert featured the rapper at the London, England HMV Hammersmith Apollo on October 8th, 2009. After performing his typical raps he decided to finish the concert off with songs from his latest album Rebirth that will drop in stores this December 15th. It’s been a long time waiting for this album and so far producers are still weary of its reception.

Lil Wayne - Rebirth

Lil Wayne has been trying to promote the album but it seems that he’s only able to perform its songs during his rap concerts and only after giving fans a dose of his rap. Whether the rock community will accept Lil Wayne into their fold or his rap fans accepting rock still remains a mystery. We’ll just have to wait and see what will happen. If this pans out for Lil Wayne we might just see a new breed of artists who are no longer stuck in a genre but are making music they love and their fans like.

Image: Amazon

Nas wrote an open letter called  “Open Letter To Young Warriors” on his blog the other day to pay respect for senseless beating death of 16-year-old Chicago honor student Derrion Albert. Chicago is known for their violent crimes and break ins and Nas felt that he needed to say something. The letter stated that people need to know that their enemies are not each other.

Nas

CNN asked Nas to appear on the show for his opinion of the escalating violence. Blaming it all on hip-hop, CNN’s Don Lemon played a track of Nas – “Shoot Em Up” from his 2005 album. Being very diplomatic, Nas pointed out to Don that music in general is about telling everyone you deepest thoughts. Music is a medium by which you can see into the artists soul. Nas said that he raps about reality. Violence is here and it was here before music even existed. It exists now because we still haven’t figuered out how end it.

If lawmakers really want to know how to reduce crime all they need to do is compare two neigbourhoods, one with crime and one crime free. Find out what they do differently and start there. I guarantee you that you’ll find that income, influence and options are what tears communities down. When people have no little or no money they can’t pay for an education, get a good job and will end up stealing to make ends meet. Who cares what music they listened too, what matters is why did they get to a place where they believed that violence was the only way to get ahead in life.

Pleas comment and let me know what you think.

Image: Amazon