ContactMusic — Beyonce Knowles celebrated her 30th birthday with husband Jay-Z in Italy yesterday (04. 09. 11). The singer - who announced at last month's MTV Video Music Awards she is pregnant - sported a radiant maxi patterned dress as she enjoyed a romantic dinn... more info

ContactMusic — Beyonce Knowles celebrated her 30th birthday in Italy with her husband Jay-Z yesterday (04. 09. 11). The 'Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)' hitmaker revealed at last month's MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) that she and her rapper spouse are expecting t... more info

ContactMusic — Rap superstar Jay Z has come under fire from members of a carpentry union after hiring a private firm to renovate his New York sports bar. The Empire State of Mind hitmaker shut down the Manhattan branch of his 40/40 Club in June (11) to give the ven... more info

ContactMusic — Beyonce Knowles wants to "stay busy" during her pregnancy. The 'Best Thing I Never Had' hitmaker - who turns 30 today (04. 09. 11) - is currently four months pregnant with her first child with music mogul Jay-Z, but intends to keep working. A sour... more info

NME — Giant inflatable rats are set up outside '40/40 Club' to highlight 'substandard wage' conditions more info

Guardian Music — From humble beginnings in student digs, the record label Def Jam is credited with bringing New York's street culture and music to the masses – and even helping to elect a president'Without hip-hop we wouldn't have Obama," says Russell Simmons, co-f... more info

Perez Hilton — Congratulations are in order for Lil' Wayne! Jay-Z and Kanye recently broke the iTunes store's single-week album sales record with their collaborative album, Watch the Throne, but now, the aforementioned rapper's latest, Tha Carter IV, has topped tha... more info

The Hip Hop Chronicle — Krept & Konan have filmed their own version to Jay-Z and Kanye West’s brand new single “Otis”. You can tell these two had fun filming this video.   more info

Guardian Music — Oliver Laughland on the people and stories in the media spotlight in the last seven daysThe storyDestiny's real childThe stroke of a belly and the flash of some camera bulbs sent the world abuzz with excitement at the news that former Destiny's Child... more info

VH1 Blog — Late yesterday afternoon, popular gossip mill MediaTakeOut dropped one of their patented “MTO WORLD EXCLUSIVES” claiming that Rihanna has, and we quote, “decided to DROP Jay Z . . . and his RocNation team as her managers.” They cited a “ROC... more info