He’s had more Number One albums than Elvis Presley. He hangs with Barack Obama at the White House. And he’s riding high after leaving his longtime label Def Jam to work a $150 million deal with Live Nation, delivering some of his best live performances ever. At the age of 40, Jay-Z qualifies as an elder statesman of hip-hop, a fact that’s more remarkable considering other rap peers have hung up the mike to pursue careers in Hollywood. So how does he run the game?

In the latest issue, Rolling Stone goes one-on-one with the New York legend, watching Jay-Z try on a new suit in his sprawling Manhattan office and tagging along to the Four Seasons, where the rapper goofs by mispronouncing actor Kelsey Grammer’s name at a watch auction (after calling the Frasier star “Chelsea,” he asks Rolling Stone how to spell “faux pas”). It seems the man who made his name rhyming about hustling and hos in Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects is actually more comfortable around an unlikely new crowd: indie rockers. “I love the energy coming out indie rock right now,” he says, name-checking Grizzly Bear. “It has this rebellion thing that hip-hop is missing now, the thing that made hip-hop hip-hop.”

While Jay is notoriously private about his life with wife Beyoncé, Rolling Stone gets the rapper to let down his guard, and Jay reveals his superstar better half vetoed a piece of artwork he’d bought for their 8,000-square-foot Tribeca penthouse. The black-and-white Laurie Simmons photograph in question depicted “a noirishly lit pistol with a pair of women’s legs emerging from the handle… Beyoncé sent it back and had it replaced with a similar Simmons piece, only depicting a perfume bottle instead of a gun.” Rolling Stone also encourages Jay to open up about his biggest challenges as president of Def Jam (the most frustrating meeting? “Honestly? All of them”) and his one and only experience in therapy, when as Rolling Stone writes, “The psychiatrist gave him tea that made him sleepy and asked him questions like, ‘Who are your best friends?’ ”

Find out why Jay isn’t trying to lure pal LeBron James to the Nets and why he thinks many rappers have failed to age gracefully in the new issue of Rolling Stone on newsstands nationwide Friday.

Source

Fame

Is Beyoncé pregnant? That’s the latest rumor swirling around the Grammy-winning singer and her rap-mogul husband, Jay-Z. But an eyewitness at NYC hot spot 1Oak tells Life & Style that the diva was sipping on champagne during Robin Thicke’s 33rd birthday on March 17.

“She certainly didn’t look pregnant,” says the eyewitness. “She sipped on bubbly throughout the night while sitting next to Jay Z at their VIP table. She and Jay were dancing and having a great time.”

“She was there from 12:45 a.m. until she left around 3 a.m.,” says the eyewitness. “The drinking, dancing, and late night sure doesn’t support the rumor.”

When asked recently on Good Morning America about stating a family, Beyoncé, 28, said, “When it’s supposed to happen, it will. I have time.”

Source

Fame

One of the men savagely beaten outside of Jay-Z’s Atlantic City nightclub last month is finally fighting back — dropping a serious lawsuit on the club and the bouncers who were caught beating him on tape.

Bryant Norwood — the first man attacked in the video — is demanding a “substantial amount of money” from the 40/40 Club and the bouncers, claiming the “bullies” attacked him for “no reason” as he left the establishment back in November.

TMZ spoke to Norwood’s attorney, who told us, “These so-called security personnel are going to have to answer why Mr. Norwood was lying on the ground being kicked and why he was punched in the head as he tried to escape from them.”

The attorney added, “The 40/40 Club is going to have to answer why they hired people like this to supposedly protect their patrons and maintain order in their establishment.”

According to the lawsuit, filed in state court in New Jersey, Norwood sustained “diverse personal injuries” and “permanent injuries.”

We’re told the other two men attacked in the brawl are also planning on filing lawsuits in the near future.

Calls to the 40/40 Club have not been returned.

Source, Bauer-Griffin

PCN

Jay-Z has one big ambition he’s yet to fulfill – he wants to fly to the moon.

The Grammy Award-winning rapper has built up a strong reputation as a businessman in the music and fashion industries, but there’s one life goal he’s yet to check off his list – and it’s truly out-of-this-world.

When asked what he’s got left to accomplish, he tells Gotham magazine, “Go to the moon.”

Source, Bauer-Griffin