The first battle of the dollsnatch is one which sees Jay-Z's woman go head to head. So how do they match up? Let's jump straight in to it. But first it's well known how much Jigga liked Biggie and we all know that when Biggie settled down with Faith, he still had L’il Kim and Charli Baltimore on the side. So Beyonce read Faith and Rihanna read queen bee or the one with the pink hair.

With Rihanna the newcomer on the scene you would think that B has this on lock but now she's already looking to settle down Jigga perhaps has cold feet and understandably so if the rumours are true and he's dipping into Rihanna. What 33 year-old wouldn't go for a slice of younger talent if he could get it?

When it comes to singing then Beyonce takes this one easy but then the dollsnatch battle doesn't take this into consideration.

While it took Beyonce years before she went from potential to 'god damn' material Rihanna managed this feat in less than a year. Check the progress from Pon De Replay to S.o.S. Impressive.

Only recently have we seen the daddy's girl roots disappear from Beyonce, just look at her in the controversal Deja Vu video - But grabbing Jay-Z's belt and pushing up on him looks as though she is trying too hard.

In the style stakes this would seem an easy one for B, as she has been around much longer than our Barbadian rookie. Yet letting your mum dress you when you're a kid may just about slide, when that shit is still going on at 24 it has to stop. I know mother Knowles has to be on the payroll doing something but couldn't she just turn up and wear T-shirts of her offspring like Allen Iverson mum does, rather than design those skanky dresses. Then again as impressive as Rihanna looks in the S.O.S vid, I can't help but think that when she is dancing by those mirrors, her haircut makes her look like that Big Brother crossdresser Kamal. Bonor-killer.

While Jay-Z has the best of both worlds (no R Kelly)and is easily the overall winner here, it's the younger model Rihanna that beats her older counterpart here. It certainly isn't a myth - an older bloke will always trade for a younger model if he can get it. Call it a mid-life crisis or something...

This is the first of depending on how arsed I am reviews of the current music videos hitting an MTV Base, Channel U, You Tube screen near you. To get things under way I thought I would start with the video that has drawn a lot of controversy since it debuted, Beyonce and Jay-Z's Deja Vu.

Here is the video for those stuck under a rock or can't afford a TV (but still have Broadband).



First observation is that as noted earlier on this site, you have to be pretty sad at venting your anger at a video to the point you feel the need to petition its pulling off air. After all it's not like someones laying on a cross now is it? (shout to Nas).

Putting a media studies qualification to the test I figured that with the song being called Deja Vu and with lyrics mentioning B sees some old acquaintance everywhere she looks, this would be why she is running around in her country bumpkin dress through some woods.

Eventually she finds her man (Jigga) who is strangely sat in some disused shed, but seems to be happy on B's arrival. From the weird dance moves Beyonce seems happy too, even going as far as kneeling over and tugging on Jay's belt. Ahem. Maybe she was listening to Me & You that day.

At this point we get to the peak of the song and the part where B goes belting out with the vocals. If I saw a girl in a club dancing like she does here, I would assume she was either crazy or had downed too much Red Bull and tart fuel (Bacardi Breezers etc. for the American readers). But as it's Beyonce doing it and not some pramface the erratic moves are pulled off.

The final outro of the song has Beyonce out at night with a few more moves, then it's over and the campaigning begun. Again putting the media studies qualification to use I would say that although the song is as upbeat as Crazy In Love, visually it doesn't match it although full credit goes to Beyonce for the acknowledging who wears the trousers in the Jayonce household with her belt tugging.

1. The days when we get hot weather - pimms o'clock (so ghetto)
2. Black music artists reaching the festivals like V, Leeds and Reading etc.
3. The start of the football season (real football, not the overpaid premiership pansies)
4. Office woman in their summer work outfits
5. That Janet Jackson cover (god damn!)

1. Stuck in the office when we get hot weather - shirt and tie is not a good look
2. The lack of solely black music festivals
3. The Media Guardian thinking Touch is the only black music mag out there when they pride themsleves on being the best at media comment
4. Being stuck on the tube in this weather
5. Office woman in their sweaty work outfits

At the informative media Guardian who thinks Touch is the only black music publication out on the newsagents rack and Hip-Hop Connection is a US publication. When will they ever learn?...

Click and scroll

Kiss FM are going to be relaunching with new DJ's and shows with the aim of taking it back to its original roots as a more dance orientated, forward moving station. These days the music it plays has got so popular that the more generic records are being played constantly on most stations around the country. It's unsure whether this move will effect Logan Sama's monday night slot, but one would assume that if they are looking to move forward with new sounds and breaking more music then this show will stay with perhaps more growth in that area.

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Surprisingly there hasn't been as much opinion expressed by artists over the comments made by David Cameron in June over Radio 1 being blamed for gun voilence in this country. Although Lethal B hit back in the Guardian (must get it delivered) there hasn't been the widespread response a topic like this deserves. Although some of the points are right and some music does glorify it rather than just paint the picture, not much has come out to defend it. Rhymefest recently wrote a letter to Cameron and which can be read here. Out of all the coverage given to it he puts across the most valid viewpoint I've seen which sits in between both arguments as the most balance read on the subject. Take a look...

Finally the album is here. Over the past 18 months we've heard more than a dozen tracks from one of R'n'b's most gifted flying around. Who knows what Jive were doing in the interim period but if the handling of the Clipse and the comments Donell made in a recent Blues & Soul interview are anything to go by, then it seems not a lot.

For the first time in his career Donnell has stepped reached out to producers other than longtime collaborator Eddie F with Tim & Bob, Ryan Leslie and Mike City responsible for some of the albums bright moments.

You're always guaranteed qaulity with Donell and again this album doesn't disappoint. Although there isn't a track with the potential chart success of U Know What's Up, his biggest hit to date, the is plenty for the the r'n'b/soul fraternity to coo about. One of Ryan Leslie's best productions Better Start Talking was a club anthem towards the latter part of 2005 this still rings true now. The track Special Girl, which I reviewed last year also holds its appeal despite being around for a while now.

Other mid-tempo numbers include the I'm Gonna Be, Lust Or Love and what must be the next single, Spend The Night.

Bun B of UGK assists on If U Want and this could work well in a DJ's warm up set. When it comes to the slow and sultry numbers, Portrait Of A Woman paints a picture of women so well lyrically, it makes most love songs look cheesy.

Donell Jones is an artist that should be so much bigger than he is, I'm talking the R Kelly, Usher platform. The guy doesn't dilute his music and oozes quality. He has the females weak at the knees and the fellas can relate to the lyrics. In a genre that has gone a bit stale of late with artists trying to have their own beef and a lot of music too similar. R'n'B needs someone like Donell and Ne-Yo right now. It's just a shame while Ne-Yo's stock keeps rising, Donell isn't getting the success he deserves.

The genre of R'n'B is something that has taken a lot of knocks in recent years and there has been plenty of criticism, some warranted and some that was unfair. But now certain artists are opening it up for more criticism with their actions.

RL of Next fame and of his not so famous solo outing has been taking a Hip-Hop stance by calling out fellow R'n'B artists and aligning himself with the predominately Hip-Hop label G-Unit. DJ Whoo Kid recently assisted new G-Unit signing Kev Samples who released a mixtape full of pop shots at artists like Ne-Yo and Ray J.

The tactics have worked in the Hip-Hop arena but when people voice their concern that singers are trying too much to live up to their Hip-Hop counterparts this seems like further degrading of the genre.

Way back when it was all the rage for Hip-Hop acts to get an R'n'B singer(s) on the chorus to attract a bigger audience. The tides then turned and we were flooded with R'n'B acts chasing guest verses from rappers that can range from taking the song to a new level to an unnessecary waste of time. Now rather than the genre taking itself back to its roots it seems that people are looking at the rappers of today as an influence, rather than the repsected singers of yesteryear like Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye and Teddy Pendergrass.
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What's becoming as big a trend as downloading music in recent years is the pushing back of artist’s albums. Normally the two are closely linked like the case of past big releases like Eminem and 50 Cent and has happened again this year with Lupe Fiasco.

But the following albums from Pharrell, The Clipse and Rhymefest have all had months of delay with no valid reason. In the case of Pharrell it could be that they couldn’t follow up the success of Can I Have It Like That because the material was of no good and so it was back to the drawing board. This could explain the inconsistent end product. But more of that in the review coming later this week.

Although I've yet to check it out myself the Blue Collar album by Rhymefest has gone down well and could become quite an underrated album when those end of year lists come around. Sadly it took eight months to get it out when it had perfect leverage with the Kanye West assisted track Brand New.

Now we are finally getting a firm date for the release of the much anticipated Clipse album, four years after Lord Willin and about two after we first heard flashes of news that one was on the way. Pusha T and Malice have now recorded the album from scratch and ditched the material that they previously sat on ahead of the October release of Hell Hath No Fury.

Are the two previous artists mentioned examples of albums being pushed back due to poor material, or does the blame lie with incompetent label heads not knowing what to do. I'm pretty sure that it's similar to when an artist puts back his album after heavy downloading; the sales are never as high as what they might have been. Now with these albums not being released after their first singles we can expect the same results. Pharrell was flogging his third single before his album saw the light and the bandwagon for that has slowed so it will be interesting to see the numbers for when the Clipse and Lupe Fiasco drop.

The long running internal feuding in the G-Unit camp seems to have come to an end now that The Game has been officially moved to another Interscope imprint, Geffen Records.

How this affects his relationship with Dre is anyone’s guess but I'm sure we'll find out in the days to come. There were rumours that The Game was keen to get off the label so not to have his latest long player released under the G-Unit Records name. It will be interesting to see whether Dre tried to stop the move but it does look as though it's actually 50 Cent and not the Dr that has the pull of Interscope head Jimmy Iovine. I'm sure The Game has his batch of Dre productions already in the hatch for the upcoming album release but if Fiddy does have all the pull then I wouldn't expect any more beats from him in the future.

Despite the stranglehold that Interscope have on the market the G-Unit/Aftermath label hasn't exaclty been firing on all cylinders of late and will be hoping people aren't tired of Fiddy when he next drops an album. With Eminem unlikely to make a Jay-Z like comeback, Busta Rhymes not doing as well as expected and albums from Tony Yayo and Mobb Deep flunking a lot will rest on the G-Unit/Aftermath heads with their eventual albums.

The tracklisting for Justin Timberlake's new album Future Sex/Love Sounds has been released, revealing some interesting collaborations. The self proclaimed King Of The South and man of the moment T.I drops by on My Love, while fellow R'n'B crooner Mario and the most surprising collaborator, neo-soul songstress India Aria teams up on Lose Your Way and Nocturn respectively. The albums main producer Timbaland and Nelly Furtado make up the collaborations. On Justified only Pusha T and Malice made guest appearences outside of the producers Timbaland and The Neptunes. The album drops 11th September.

1. Another Song
2. What Goes Around Comes Around
3. Sexyback
4. Crowd Control (feat. Nelly Furtado)
5. Lines (feat. Timbaland)
6. The One You Have Not Seen
7. Help Me Breathe
8. Lose Your Way (feat. Mario)
9. Nocturne (feat. India Arie)
10. I Walk Alone
11. No Connection
12. The Darkest Childe
13. My Love (feat. T.I)
14. Your Tongue Like The Sun In My Mouth

Words really can't describe what you are about to witness...

After wetting my appetite looking at that monster of a burger I had to go in search of what is the worlds largest one. After searching high and low (on Google) I managed to track down the 29.5-pound burger from Foxwoods Resort Casino, Fuddruckers restaurant. This one is Guiness certified and the beef itself is 29.5 pounds as apposed to the 50 pound in total one from last week on this site. This time 48 hours warning is needed and it will set you back $250. Just looking at that picture is giving me a heart attack.

Everyone and their dog has had a say about the darling of MurdochSpace, Lily Allen. After much anticipation and the number one single Smile the album Alright Still is upon us.

The tracks you're already familiar with LDN and Smile are great tracks but it shows the strength in depth of the album when these aren't the strongest songs. There are probably seven potential choices for the next single from the upbeat Wonderful Things to the plea to her lazy brother to get off his ass (Alfie).

The cheeky lyrics will have her already being compared to Mike Skinner and it is at its mot prominent on Knock Em Out and Not Big. Other highlights include the take on post pub clubbing on Friday Night and the Shame For You.

In a time where girls are trying to have the perfect figure and that celeb look down it's refreshing to hear an artist not give a shit and be herself. While Paris Hilton et al has to rely heavily on their image to sell any copies of their CD it's good that Lily is about so much more. Hearing her sing about Friday nights on the lash have her down as someone we'd want to be with on a night out. Much better than some bimbo checking out the mirror all night. Her interviews are refreshing, blogs entertaining and despite heavily being labelled as the sound of the summer, has the talent to be delighting us for years to come.

Someone really had too much time on their hands when they decided to start a petition against Beyonce and Columbia Records over the Deja Vu video. The reasons are that the video doesn't reflect the standard of previous projects and the interaction between her and the other half is apparently unacceptable. Here is the aforementioned video. And if you have nothing better to do or aren't so worried about things like the conflict in Israel or whether there will be a 6th series of Curb Your Enthusiasm, you can find the petition link after.



Have you got nothing better to do?

According to various reports Jay-Z will make an album after all. I'll give you a few moments to get over how much an out of the blue shock this news obviously is for you.

When he announced his retirement I thought he would have managed to refrain from releasing another album for longer than the two and a half years it's been. But I suppose with the artists on Def Jam hardly selling big the CEO is (apart from Kanye) the only A star artist who can go out and match those 50 Cent numbers.

This is a big album that will see Def Jam going for broke. If it doesn't become a critical success then people will question why Jay bothered returning, commercially if Jay doesn't sell big then expect some artists to be released to cover costs of the undoubted marketing bonanza that will be rolled out.

Artists like DMX and Camron voiced their concern when Jay took the hot seat, and I'd expect more discontent from the remaining artists who may have their releases scheduled around the same time. Since Jay retired those artists have been striving to fill the gap with the added pressure of that gap being vacated by their new boss. It could easily be taken as an indirect diss that on being unhappy with sales numbers from Ghostface and the unpredictable forecast of the upcoming Roots and Lupe Fiasco figures, Def Jam's acocunts need a long player from Jay. You can guarantee a big difference in how much these albums have and will be pushed in comparison.

Sadly with all this on the line and the news leaked that Timbaland and The Neptunes are already working on tracks for the album, it looks like the material won't stray too far from the formula of his catalogue. What I'm sure the rap world would want to see in light of the Reasonable Doubt anniversary is material to match that, or at least deliver the album we were promised when he dropped his final for the time being fling, The Black Album.

The hype surrounding the album was building up all year with the promise of 12 solid tracks - one each from 12 of the best producers around. Yet sadly all we got was an album that lacked any cohesion and apart from the singles 99 Problems and Encore was a poor way to bow out.

On Moment Of Clarity he rapped 'truth be told I'd probably be/lyrically like Talib Kweli' well this album should be that one. To come out with another album talking about Cristal (Dom P) cash, clothes and wifey, would be a disjustice to himself and Hip-Hop. Instead make the album deep down he's always wanted and maybe surprise us a bit.

If Premo can make a pop hit for Christina Aguilera, then I'm sure he can ignite the passion to make a classic Hip-Hop record for Jay. Surely Dr. Dre owes Jay a favour for all that ghost writing, Kweli is hardly going to knock going toe to toe and maybe just maybe Memphis Bleek will actually hold the weed and leave the mic alone. Rick Rubin gave Jay his hardest sounding hit for years and would surely welcome working with him again.

Sadly, I expect something more on the lines of TRL crossovers, Beyonce choruses and another 'thanks for letting me spit 16 bars in return for holding your chain' verse from Bleek.

This album has more than a need for getting five mics and platinum plaques surrounding it - it's detrimental to the future of Def Jam. A lot of people in Hip-Hop get lamented for living in the past and craving those golden era's, but maybe a trip to the past will ignite a stale scene and help towards it's future...

Buying Hip-Hop magazines that would like to lead us to believe that certain sub-standard acts are actually the future of rap stopped for me along time ago. But while buying records at the weekend and seeing Ice Cube staring at me from The Source I thought I'd give it ago. What's the worst that could happen as those Dr.Pepper adverts would like us to believe. It was their 200th issue so perhaps it would be nice to see what they would do for it. Looking at the cover while waiting to pay the early signs were encouraging, Lupe Fiasco was on the cover, Little Brother too. When I managed to flick through I realised it would only take one trip to the bathroom to get through the garbage inside. For a magazine that has been through the rough the last three years you would think they would use the 200th issue as an opportunity to reflect back on the good days while using it as a stepping stone for the future.

But ain't a damn thing changed. A guy wrote about a column he used to write many moons ago without actually revealing anything interesting from those days or give an opinion on anything like one would assume he used to. Seeing the likes of Dead Prez and the like is a good thing, but rather than giving them some valuable pages they had them instead commenting on slept on albums and songs they wished they recorded.

The mags reflection on the years of Hip-Hop in the time of The Source only made for a sad reflection of the calibre of acts they used to feature heavily (A Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde) to the the noughties (Cash Money, Nelly & Chingy).

What once was a bible for Hip-Hop has seen better days and granted is still trying to turn around the damage left from the Benzino anti-Interscope era, but there is a still a long way to go before they will ever instill that excitement into buying an issue again, especially when you can find out pretty much everything on the internet these days.

I'm a massive fan of Dave Chappelle and was gutted when he went AWOL after being unhappy with the white executives at HBO and the direction of where his show was going. Some of the hilarious sayings from the previous two shows skits had begun to nag him when everywhere he went people would be shouting them at him. Below are two skits from the lost episodes now showing in America that go along with the mixed ratings it's been receiving. One is a hilarious skit about the new Tupac song and how ahead of its time the lyrics are, the other is perhaps the skit which made Chappelle realise he'd gone too far.

When Americans aren't watching or taking part in one of their beloved sports like men’s rounders or basketball, they like to indulge in another of their favourite sports - eating. Even though Soccer (sic) has become much more popular than it was a few years ago I would still say it falls below eating as far as sports popularity is concerned. I mean take a look at the size of this burger.

That's 50 pounds of burger to be demolished. Apparently it serves 30 but going by the size of the people last time I went to America I reckon half the number could do it. The bar made this to combat a rival pub that had outdone their original record breaker. Remember if you're thinking of tackling this then give the guys 24 hours notice. I think I’ve lost my appetite.
Make reservations here