Not that I'm down on the man, but I had started to lose a bit of faith in Jay-Z lately. You saw (what turned out to be) the trailer for his and Pharrell's "Blue Magic," but yesterday they released the official Hype Williams-directed video. The first half is all lights and cars. The second half is ... the morning after? and rainbow-colored skull paintings?

It definitely sounds half-of-Neptunes-ish seeing as how Pharrell went at the production alone. But Jay sounds downright reflective on this song. That inspiration he talked about seems pretty clear when he says, "Blame Reagan for makin' me into a monster / Blame Oliver North and Iran Contra / I ran contraband that they sponsored."

Dude might be a NERD but he just landed a major deal with R. Kelly's favorite lyrical and sexual stimulant, Hennessy.

Madonna is in a collaboration mood as of late. Hear her song with Annie Lennox and, now, a full version of "The Beat Goes On" with Pharrell here.

Their first edition of 'Hip-Hop Cash Kings' is the whitest thing to happen to rap since Eminem (He's #6).

Here Pharrell helps out his Star Trak protege, the still LP-less Fam-Lay.

This thing's got more brand logo jacking than a mid-nineties skate catalog.

A Brazilian judge has ruled that the city cannot host Al Gore's concert because of a lack of police officers.

New music from Clipse Pharrell and Star Trak also-ran Fam-Lay? Yes, please.

Though we're still four months out from Halloween, Lupe Fiasco has revealed the holiday as the preliminary release date for his sophomore album, The Cool. Spooky.