'Watch The Throne': Inside Jay-Z's Private Listening Session

Jay-Z held a private listening session for Watch the Throne, his highly anticipated collaborative album with Kanye West, Thursday, July 7 in New York City.

The listening was held in a suite on the second floor of the Mercer Hotel, in SoHo, and lasted for roughly three hours, with Jay-Z playing eleven songs from an Apple laptop for a select group of music journalists and two teenage fans who had won access to the session for being the first two customers to pre-order the album through Jay-Z's lifestyle site, Life and Times, which began accepting pre-orders on Monday, July 4. West did not attend.

Following the eleventh song, Jay-Z invited those in the room to have an informal conversation that lasted for about an hour.

"We can have a conversation," he said. "I don't want to do an interview. Put your pads away - we can talk all night."

MTV previews new Evanescence song

It's been nearly four years since Evanescence have released a single, and during that time, it appeared very likely they'd never release another. But on Monday (July 11), the wait — and all the drama that surrounded it — finally came to an end, because Evanescence are officially back, with a roaring new single called "What You Want.



More info on the single and their comeback here.

Rebecca Black to Release New Single

Rebecca Black is releasing a new single, her first since “Friday” became a viral video sensation.

“My Moment” will debut on Black’s Youtube channel starting at 8:00 p.m. on July 18 as well as the singer’s official website, RebeccaBlackOnline.com. The following day, the song will be available for purchase on iTunes and other online retailers.

Written by Brandon "Blue" Hamilton, whose credits included a track on Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never: The Remixes, and Quinton Tolbert and produced by Charlton Pettus (Tears for Fears, Hilary Duff), its accompanying video features footage of Black receiving an award at her junior high school and attending red carpet premieres to “tell the story of her sudden rise to fame,” according to a statement. “It’s a fairytale story, but it happened in real life.”

Black is also putting the finishing touches on a five-track EP, which she will self-release in August, foregoing the traditional route of signing with a label.

It caps off a tremendous year for the 14-year-old, who most recently scored a co-starring role in Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night” music video. Black’s video for “Friday” surpassed Bieber’s “Baby” to become the most played Youtube clip of all time, with 167 million views and counting.

Source

New Edition Album 'In The Making,' Bobby Brown Says

Don't let the fancy footwork fool you: Bobby Brown says it took him two years to get back enough "muscle memory" to pull off the smoove moves that earned his group, New Edition, a permanent place in the annals of boy bands.

OK, maybe not two years, but Brown — whose shirtless onstage dancing once got him arrested, during his '90s heyday, in the state of Georgia — admitted it took some time when we caught up with him and his bandmates at last weekend's 2011 Essence Music Festival.

Preview: Demi Lovato - "Skyscraper"

Doomtree to release "Wugazi" album on July 13th

Wugazi is a labor of love by Cecil Otter & Swiss Andy. A year’s worth of cutting up every imaginable Fugazi record and trying out every Wu-Tang acapella they could get their hands on, resulted in Wugazi: 13 Chambers (a must listen for anyone who even looked at a skateboard in the 90’s).

Samples can be found at the Source