The Cannon! Don Cannon has been appointed as Def Jam’s Vice President A&R. Cannon will be based in Atlanta and work in conjunction with head A&R, Karen Kwak and President & COO, Steve Bartels. Says Cannon: “A music person can only dream about being at Def Jam, the most important  hip-hop destination in the world. I feel I have a cutting edge vision for where the culture and hip-hop are heading and I’m excited to be joining the team.  I’m already working […]

Hey, it’s the old lady from the train again! Last fall, Ellen Grossman met Jay-Z on the R line en route to the Barclays Center. She was recently invited to the MTV offices to break down his latest set, Magna Carta Holy Grail. “It sounds like he’s really going deep into his heart and into fatherhood and even the meaning of fame. “[He’s saying] that the money’s nice, but there’s life beyond that, that he’s exploring. I picked that up from the papers […]

Inside Groove Chamber‘s inner sanctum, Mike Will Made It filmed himself in the studio with Andre 3000. Although no music is played, hopefully something came out of their session. Stay tuned. hhnm

Fuck the bullshit, Mistah F.A.B. stays on his grind. Before he gets Hella Ratchet, he dumps off a new tune off the project. Produced by League Of Starz.

As-salamu alaykum. Ramadan begins today and during the month-long observance, Muslims abstain from food. Islamic leaders from are calling for the Obama administration to cease force feeding at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. In the video above, Mos Def demonstrates how the procedure is administered. Now would be a good time to put away breakfast. guardian

Hov isn’t the youngest person on Magna Carta Holy Grail. 16 year old producer Wondagurl produced “Crown” on the album and spoke to MTV about how the track landed in Jay-Z’s lap. I was at home one day and I was looking for reggae samples for a while and I finally found this one that was crazy, Sizzla ‘Solid as a Rock,’” she told MTV News of the first steps she took to cook up the beat for Hov’s “Crown” […]

Vado elevates his spit with a verse to Meek Mill’s latest cut. Expect to hear more of these all summer long.  Slime Flu 4 coming later this year.

DJ Jazzy Jeff and MICK (formerly Mick Boogie) bring the heat once again with their annual Summertime mixtape series. Download and stream above. “Jazzy Jeff and I are so thrilled to once again unleash [another] Summertime mix into the world. This is our fourth year,” said Mick in a press statement. “Jeff created something timeless in the ’90s with [the song] ‘Summertime,’ and we are so excited to keep pushing it further and further to new generations. Enjoy it and […]

LL Cool J was down in The Big Easy last night as part of the annual Essence Music Festival. During his performance, he brought out Eric and Parrish for their collaboration, “Rampage”. Still smoking MCs 23 years later. spencerclements 

Shad’s still rolling out the freebies and sets up shop at East 106th Street and Park Avenue with his take over Tha Dogg Pound’s track.