Music, Jay-z | featured news

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.

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.

Otis is back, Otis is back! The King of Soul may have passed 40-plus years ago, but Jay-Z and Kanye West have resurrected Redding's spirit on a new track off their highly anticipated Watch the Throne LP.

In its first season, "Glee" featured some weirdly eclectic song choices: Remember "Thong Song" and "Sweet Caroline" in the "Mash-Up" episode? But in the season-two premiere on September 21, the show will outdo itself.

Forbes' annual report on top-earning musicians shows Beyonce at the number three spot, earning $87 million, while her husband Jay-Z comes in at number six with $63 million. Forbes compiles the list by calculating artists' album sales, ticket sales,...