The Witzard

It almost seems wrong to [mis]label an artist as blatantly prolific and broad-spanning as Shawn "Jay Z" Carter as a mere rapper; Since he's arguably a powerful entrepreneur, businessman, record exec, sports agent, club owner, and 1/2 of a dynamic power-couple. After releasing his Samsung -backed Magna Carta... Holy Grail album on July 4th, he's once again teamed up with iconic "99 Problems" music video director Mark Romanek to create a 10-minute "Picasso Baby" performance art film. Recorded last month at Chelsea 's own Pace Gallery , Romanek's team managed to capture 40+ hours worth of film over a 6-hour period with 8 meticulously-placed cameras. Loosely inspired by a similarly-minded Marina Abramović performance-art piece, The Artist Is Present , Jay Z & Mark Romanek packed the room full of creative types, eager super-fans, and journalists including: Judd Apatow , Alan Cummings, George Condo , Rosie Perez, Fab 5 Freddy , Taraj...

Once you're able to get past the semi-absurd notion that Jay-Z decided to employ former- N'sync er Justin Timberlake to re-sing some Nirvana lyrics, "And we all just / entertainers / and we're stupid / and contagious," "Holy Grail" is actually a pretty awesome album opener/lead single contender. While Jay-Z & Beyoncé were spotted at a Grizzly Bear show pre- Blueprint 3 and Empire of The Sun frontman Luke Steele actually sang back-up vocals on that very album, it seems as though Beyoncé 's 27-year-old Indie Rock -loving little sister Solange really has quite the influence on Jay-Z 's varied musical tastes; Not only does Magna Carta Holy Grail (MCHG) feature interpolated Nirvana & R.E.M. lyrics, but it also makes use of M.I.A. and Alternative Hip-Hop weirdo Gonjasufi samples, "Bad Girls" and "Nikels and Dimes" respectively. Thanks to Samsung Galaxies , MCHG has already "sold" 1 million+ cop...

Ye, I can almost picture it now: Justin Timberlake pleading with his semi-distraught wife, Jessica Biel , "But babe, it's NOT nudity...it's art!" Billboard reports that Timberlake's latest album, The 20/20 Experience has sold 2 million+ plus copies since it's March release and previous singles, "Suit & Tie" and "Mirrors" still remain firmly fixed atop the Billboard Hot 100 . Just in time for Fourth of July Weekend , Justin Timberlake unleashed a steamy new video-single for "Tunnel Vision," which was co-directed by Jonathan Craven, Simon McLoughlin , and Jeff Nicholas . Call it a gentlemen's rivalry, if you will, but some might compare Timberlake's scantily-clad music video to Robin Thicke 's original banned-from- YouTube "Blurred Lines" clip. Although one could also argue that Thicke basically stole Timberlake's Blue-Eyed Soul musical style [SWAG] or even vice versa. "Tunnel Vision...