By Keir Bristol

Kanye West is hi-jacking hip-hop these days. He’s pretty much the only rapper that is not a member of Young Money that everyone is talking about, whether they love him or hate him. And here’s why:

1. The Hype over the “Power” Remix with… Whoever.

I honestly am not sure about the remix… at first I read that the remix would be debuted last Friday and would be featuring Jay-Z. Now we’re talking maybe Justin Bieber? Stay tuned to Kanye’s Twitter and Kanye’s own blog for more details.

2. See Me Now, Featuring Charlie Wilson and Beyonce

“See Me Now” just dropped last Thursday as the second single from Kanye’s new disc due in the Fall, originally titled “Good Ass Job.” Personally, I’m so grateful he ditched that title. I couldn’t tell if he meant “Good Ass Job” as in emphasis on a job well done, or cosmetic surgery on someone’s gluteus maximus. The album so far is untitled.

Still, the track is pretty hot. Listen to it here!

3. Kanye’s Twitter Account.

Like I said in point Numero Uno, Kanye finally joined Twitter. He gained over 600,000 followers in a month. Guess who he’s following… Justin Bieber. No. I’m not kidding. Just Bieber.

Justin Bieber

[Picture courtesy of Wikipedia.com]

4. Kid Cudi’s “Wylin’ Cuz I’m Young” featuring… You Guessed It! ‘Ye.

New song from Kid Cudi dropped this week, “Wylin’ Cuz I’m Young.” Listen to it here.

Good look for Cudi getting some work with Kanye. Cudi’s one of those rappers that won’t have a lot of hits that will work  on the radio, but fans will buy his albums and download his mixtapes anyway. Kid Cudi has a new album dropping late October.

Kid Cudi

[Sexy. Courtesy of Wikipedia.com]

5. MTV is Giving Kanye Another Chance To Not Interrupt Anyone At the VMA Awards.

You heard it from the horse’s mouth. Kanye has been at every Video Music Awards show since 2004, and this year is no exception. Other performers announced include Drake and Florence and the Machine.

Florence And The Machine

[extremely unattractive picture of Florence Welch, courtesy of Wikipedia.com]

Despite Kanye West’s gigantic ego (and this blog post), other important things happened in music recently! Here are some of them:

• Ra Ra Riot’s New Album Streaming On NPR, Comes Out August 24
• Mark Ronson’s New Album Due In September
• New Dum Dum Girls Track
• New Screaming Females Video, Tour
• Stream Some New Albums Just Released Today

By Keir Bristol

On the first Wednesday/Thursday of the month, I will present you with at least one music-related news piece for each day of the week before that Wednesday or Thursday. Starting now.

Did that make sense?

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28- M.I.A. sounds off on Lady Gaga, which isn’t really news anymore. She also takes a shot at Oprah Winfrey, which IS news. More details here.

THURSDAY, JULY 29- What do Michael Jackson’s doctors and Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” have in common? They’re all off the hook! More details here.

FRIDAY, JULY 30- Michael Jackson’s coming out with a new album in November. Insert obscure Tupac reference here. More details.

SATURDAY, JULY 31- Lady Gaga doesn’t boycott Arizona like everyone else (everyone else being Conor Oberst of “Bright Eyes” fame, Kanye West, and many more artists over at Sound Strike.) Instead, she protests at her show, while still giving her “little monsters” the show they’ve been waiting for. More details here. (Also, hear Bright Eyes’ protest song about SB 1070 after the jump.)

Bright Eyes – \”Coyote Song\”

SUNDAY, AUGUST 1- This didn’t actually happen on August 1st, but Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys got married on July 31! Look at some pictures and envy Alicia’s dress here.

Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys get married.

MONDAY, AUGUST 2- Everyone decides to go on tour. No, really.

• LCD Soundsystem go on tour with Hot Chip, Sleigh Bells
• Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are going on tour
• Black Mountain and Black Angels tour
• Isobell Campbell and Mark Lanegan… you get the picture.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 3- Nicki Minaj announces new album name, Lady Gaga pwns VMA Nominations and renames them Video Monster Awards, Wale comes out with a new mixtape.

Nicki Minaj announces \”Pink Friday\”

By Keir Bristol

Let me start by saying I’m not a huge Rick Ross fan. You may know him from his various beefs with 50 Cent or for his hook-heavy singles. You may know him for just being a big dude that looks like a bodyguard at any given club in New York City. Regardless, I can appreciate a few of his songs, but overall, he’s not really my style.

That said, his latest album “Teflon Don,” released on Tuesday, July 20, was way better than I thought it would be. In fact, the more I listen to it, the more I like it.

Rick Ross – "Teflon Don"

The most successful single off the album so far, “B.M.F. (Blowing Money Fast), I do not like. The biggest reason is because I get confused because he changes his name in the song several times. He refers to himself as Big Meech, Larry Hoover, and Rosay. He’s Rick Ross of course, and the album is the Teflon Don. Confusing? Maybe it’s just me.

I would tell someone to look at some other songs on the album to get a better sense of Ross’s redeeming points. Here are some of the highlights, in my humble opinion.

Track Name- “Tears Of Joy” – Rick Ross & Cee-Lo
Why You Should Listen- This is the humblest I’ve ever heard Ross. Case in point: “Last night I cried tears of joy / what did we do to deserve this?” While equally sentimental Cee-Lo says, “And I ask when someone wants to be me, why? / Not everything can ease my mind / If you could read my mind / My God, I’m scarred / I”m tattooed with tears of joy.”

Track Name- “Live Fast, Die Young” – Rick Ross featuring Kanye West
Why You Should Listen- It’s produced by and featuring Kanye West, which means the beat is sick and the lyrics are hilarious. This song has a bit of a rock feel to it, which is good. It breaks up the hardcore rap of the majority of the album. I really hope there will be a video for this song also, because I can only imagine it would be epic.

Track Name: “Super High” – Rick Ross featuring Ne-Yo
Why You Should Listen- It’s the very first single off of the album. Ne-Yo brings a certain charisma to the song and gives it some extra class, even though it is pretty much about being high as a kite. As for Ross, listen to the first verse and tell me he doesn’t remind you a little bit of the Notorious B.I.G.

Track Name: “Aston Martin Music”- Rick Ross featuring Chrisette Michele and Drake
Why You Should Listen- Again, this song breaks up the hardcore rap feeling of the album and gives Ross’s tracklist a bit of variety. It shows that Ross can pull off as many sounds as he can personalities. It has a little more of a pop and hip-hop feel (obviously, since it’s featuring Drake, and that’s pretty much his signature sound).

• Listen to Rick Ross’s album in it’s entirety here.
• Check out our Youtube playlist dedicated to Rick Ross here.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.com