What do you think of the Death Of Autotune video? The opening scenes of Jiggaman in that disused warehouse (or whatever it is), look good and cleverly illustrate the gutter sensibilities of the great song. How big will the Afro get? Similarly, the parts with the band, particularly those where the drummer gives it some during the breakdowns between verses, are wicked too. Lebron James is always a good look. The best bit is when all the brightly coloured shirts are incinerated during the 'colours too bright' lyric.
Not sure about those bits of him in the restaurant though. They don't really seem to be about much. Do people love the whole Mafia steez that much? I guess four or five decades of Hollywood turning out gangsta flicks tells its own story.

This week also saw Jigga bring his Roc Nation imprint to Sony for distribution. This begs the question: why is he not having Blueprint 3 distributed by Sony too? Is it 'cos he really, really wants to link up with Kevin and Lyor again? Is it a simple case of timing? The Atlantic deal was sorted out before the Sony situation was signed and sealed? Maybe he knows that every time he signs a deal, or even sneezes, he gets his face all over the place. Free promotion is always free promotion. Or is it because he's not taking a chance with his own album? For that to be true, Atlantic would have to be better at this distribution ish than Sony, and has that been proven?

This year's biggest new artist Drake has ended all the speculation and signed with Young Money. It's only right seeing as it was Weezy who put him on and introduced him to the masses. I bet the industry must have paid him very nicely cos if he'd decided to go independent and cake up off the numbers he's likely to do, then that would have made majors seem even less attractive to the average new rapper. Their power has already decreased ridiculously and they couldn't take any further l's.
So at what point in 2009 is the, as yet untitled, album likely to drop? They should either do it asap (and capitalize off the Best I Ever Had) or wait until November/December time. Right at the end of the fourth quarter when heads are spending that Christmas money.

Every hood in America has at least one Martin Luther King Boulevard. How long before every hood has at least one street named after a local hip hop hero? Queens looks like being first. No prizes for guessing who received the honour. Run, DMC and Jam Master Jay achieved a long list of well documented firsts for rap music and hip hop culture and are highly deserving of such an accolade. Much respect to Rev Run and DMC. JMJ rest in peace.

Rest in peace also to Vibe magazine. These are definitely tough times for print media. Who will be next? Vibe, around since the early nineties, had some classic times and some classic issues. Yeah, they sometimes leaned too far into the bougie side of things, but that side of black culture needs an outlet too. And there's plenty good stuff to remember. That issue with Biggie and Puffy during the height of the Bad Boy/Death Row saga (two crews, however big, doesn't mean two coasts) was so memorable it was even featured in Notorious. Were they adding fuel to the fire? Or simply reporting the hottest story of the time?  That joint issue with Lauryn and Wyclef around '98, '99 was also good. They finally admitted what everyone had known for years. When Tribe sadly broke up (still not over that btw, if we can't get an album, what about a single or mixtape?) they had a great interview in there too. On a quick sidenote - there is some good news for Tribe fans this week though, as Q-Tip's lost 2001 album Kamaal The Abstract finally has a release date, Sept 15th on Jive/Sony.

Back to Vibe though; with the one and only Quincy Jones (brap, brap, brap) at the helm they were able to get Michael Jackson to grace their cover during the promo run for his last album Invincible. So props are due.  Speaking of which, the best tribute to Michael is on the Public Enemy website. Take five minutes and check it out. Their montage, which runs over Who's Loving You?, is very telling. Most striking of all is the image of Michael and his father Joe smiling and sharing a joke towards the end. It's an image that can't be more than a few years old at the very most. Now, everybody and their auntie knows that Kanye didn't drop that 'now i'm mad, real mad, Joe Jackson' line for nothing. Joe Jackson is like the original Suge Knight, 'don't uff with him type bredda' in the industry. But blood is thicker than mud. It's a family affair. It can't have been all bad all the time and it's nice to see that reflected real quick while all the mainstream press can do is speculate about whether Michael has cut him out of his will or not.

Anyone looking forward to those Weezy shows in Europe will obviously be disappointed that they've been postponed due to 'illness'. As many will know, Weezy doesn't have a perfect track record when it comes to concerts. On the bright side this must mean he's making sure his new album, be it Rebirth or not, is gonna be as good as The Carter III. He doesn't want Drake to be outshining him now does he? I joke, I joke.

The record label released a 4 line statement about illness or whatever but does anyone really take that seriously? It's easier to blame a nameless doctor I suppose. Please excuse our cynicism but it wouldn't be the first time...

(Of course if he really is sick we wish him a speedy recovery!)

Anyone in the UK this weekend should check the one and only Kanye West at the o2 wireless festival in London's Hyde Park, if you need a little more persuasion how about Dizzee Rascal, Afrika Bambaataa, Q-Tip, Kid Cudi, Young Jeezy, Melanie Fiona, Chipmunk, Flo Rida and more - big line up!

If you missed last week's news, click HERE