Fans are hyped over the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys duet performance (sans Lil’ Mama) on the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Listening to these two heavy hitters on the “Empire State of Mind” track recalls to mind all the other collaborations in music. Songs with one superstar are good, but songs with two or more superstars are even better.

Watch the music videos for some of the hottest track collaborations over the years:

Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West – “Run This Town”

Jay-Z and Alicia Keys – “Empire State of Mind”

Jay-Z and Mary J Blige – “Can’t Knock the Hustle”

T.I., Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z and M.I.A. – “Swagga Like Us”

T.I. and Justin Timberlake – “Dead and Gone”

Ciara and Justin Timberlake – “Love, Sex and Magic”

Diddy, Jermaine Dupri, Murphy Lee and Snoop Dogg – “Welcome To Atlanta (remix)”

Diddy, Faith and 112 – “I’ll Be Missing You”

Busta Rhymes, DMX, Mary J Blige, Missy, Rah Digga, Papoose and Lloyd Banks – “Touch It (remix)”

Busta Rhymes and Janet Jackson – “What’s It Gonna Be”

Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson – “Scream”

R. Kelly and “Mr. Biggs” (The Isley Brothers) saga -

• “Down Low (Nobody Has to Know)”

• “Contagious”

• Kelly Price’s “Friend of Mine (remix)”

Drake and Trey Songz – “Successful”

Left Eye, Lil’ Kim, Missy, Angie Martinez and Da Brat – “Ladies Night”

Brandy and Monica – “The Boy is Mine”

Eminem’s long awaited album Relapse is projected to sell 650,000 its first week out, according to first day sales. This gives the Shady/Aftermath rapper the best selling album of the year, so far. The album is also projected to be the #1 album in the U.K.

Relapse was released on Tuesday May 19. Busta Rhymes’ Back on My B.S. and Method Man and Redman’s Blackout! 2 were also released that day. Busta’s and Meth and Red’s respective albums are projected to sell around 60-70k units their first week out.

Hip-hop fans headed to this year’s Rock the Bells concert have even more reason to rejoice as rap veterans The GZA and Busta Rhymes and new-school artists The Knux have been added to the lineup.

Currently the the largest touring hip-hop festival in the country, Rock the Bells 2009 will also feature performances from Nas and Damien Marley, Raekwon, The RZA, Common, Talib Kweli and more.

Check the flyer below for the newly updated lineup.   

See… CNN does more than just make hilarious videos with The Real. Three/21 Media, Thugged Out Militainment, and SMC Recordings recently debuted Capone-N-Noreaga’s new NSFW video, “Talk To Me (Big Tyme).” Watch it below:

Capone-N-Noreaga – “Talk To Me (Big Tyme)” from Three/21 Films on Vimeo.

I gotta give it to CNN. They keep on keeping on… As an added bonus, watch the star-studded video (if you consider Busta Rhymes and Ron Browz stars) for “Rotate,” the first single from their new album, Channel 10 below. It is also NSFW:

If you were 6’3″, 215 pounds of sinewy musculature and happened to be one of the highest paid athletes to hold your position in the NFL, there may not be much to want for. But if you also have diverse interests and impeccable taste then it’s your duty to share the wealth. Here is New York Jets Safety Kerry Rhodes’s “All I Need” list.

10. Breitling Chronomat Watch in White Gold

9. Under Armour workout gear

8. New Era Yankee Fitted

7. My barber: Cardigan Harris

Check him out in this video:

6. Louis Vuitton carry-all

5. Aqua Di Gio cologne

4. Blackberry Curve

3. My tailor, Clarence “CJ” Jones

2. Axe Body Wash

1. iPod (currently listening to Lil’ Wayne, Jay-Z & Busta Rhymes)

Peep Kerry’s cameo in Busta’s “Arab Money” video here:

For more from Kerry Rhodes, check him out in the upcoming Wendy Williams biopic, Queen of Media, starring Robin Givens.

For more information and sign up for updates on Kerry, check out kerryrhodes.com or conversionsande.com

The cultural purveyor that is Busta Rhymes is killing it in the streets with his new single, “Arab Money.” Peep the video (and learn the dance) below:

Busta Rhymes – “Arab Money” from Three/21 Films on Vimeo.

At least he cleaned up the pronuncation of “Arab” (what no “A-Rab”?). And if one weren’t enough, peep the behind-the-scenes footage from the remix video below:

Busta Rhymes – “Arab Money Remix” Behind The Scenes from Three/21 Films on Vimeo.

If the domain of music videos were to have a ruling monarch, then it was surely Hype Williams who laid claim to the throne during the late 90s. In the era of flash and booties that followed, the natural heir was Hype’s understudy, Little X.  Now, the one rockin’ the crown is Filipino filmmaker Rik Cordero. Creating visuals for the likes of legends such as The Roots and indies including Joell Ortiz, the versatility of his vision has been comprehensive to say the least. GIANT caught up with the director as he shot his latest project and one of his biggest singles yet, “Arab Money,” by the equally prolific Busta Rhymes.

GIANT:  What do you make of the “Arab Money” dance?

Rik Cordero:  I didn’t really know too much about the dance—I just knew how they invented it on the Tim Westwood show. Then I went on Youtube and I saw instructional videos to really teach you how to do it.  It’s funny—it’s a craze. I think Busta has always been known to push the boundaries of creativity and I think this is the first time there is a full-blown dance that he created. He didn’t do it as a gimmick—he was just vibin’ out and it happened. I think it’s dope that a guy who’s been in the game so long is able to generate something fresh and just have fun with it.

GIANT:  What is the concept of the video?

RC: The concept is basically Busta and Spliff Star walking through this lost, deserted city, and they come upon a really wealthy prince who lives in this mansion. As soon as they walk in, the prince showers them with gifts and brings them into his world. The prince and all his friends are these wealthy people from somewhere like Dubai.

GIANT: How will the concept come together?

RC:  (Pointing to the green screen) There’s a mansion right there (laughs). I’m not known for a lot of effects work, so this is my first official stab at doing something like this. I think it works for what the resources are.  We’re not doing it because we’re lazy—this is what we have. For me, it’s not gonna look like something you’ve probably seen before because I’ve never done it (laughs). It’s definitely gonna have a different kind of feel. I think it’s gonna be surprising to a lot of people how we pull this off.

GIANT: How are you staying respectful of the Arabic community?

RC: What we’ve done is really stayed away from any stereotypical Arabic influences. Obviously, there are lyrics that can be taken offensively, but I think in hip-hop, it’s more metaphorical. You’re always making metaphors for things in other cultures. You’re not making fun of it but just identifying it, and that’s what Busta does.

It’s not trying to go over the top with a bunch of people in turbans, trying to offend the Arabic people or Islam. It’s similar to how we approached Nas’s “Be A N***** Too” video. We could have easily just went over the top with it, but it became more than that—it became a visual metaphor of people united. For this, it’s just celebrating how well the Middle Eastern culture is doing in places like Dubai where there’s also a heavy Western influence. And what’s cool is Busta does have ties to the Arab community who support him and know him personally. He’s really respectful of the culture. The guy has met the King and Prince of Saudi Arabia.  It’s just cultures coming together. He just made a song identifying—not mocking—the culture.  It’s celebrating what some of these guys actually do, like being great businessmen.

GIANT:  How have you been able to elevate yourself to the top of the music video game?

RC: I don’t know about that, but give me a couple years. It’s really about being able to contribute something to the culture and being a hip-hop head who really has been inspired by these artists—whether it’s the artists that are coming out now or artists that I grew up on like Nas, Busta, Q-Tip, The Roots, or KRS-One. These are guys that I’ve shot and just been like, “I can’t believe it.” And they know they’re in good hands because it’s more than just a job for me—this is what I do, this is what I think about, this is what I feel. This is more than just a job, so I’m always gonna do more than what’s expected because I really do care about these artists.

When I was a kid, they did so much with their music and made me feel a certain way when I was at home DJing, trying to rock a party, or in the car with a bunch of friends. There’s nothing like that feeling.  When you get in the business, you lose that sometimes because it just becomes about work. But whenever you meet these guys, it all comes flowing back to you.

Some of these guys, like Nas, are good friends.  He invited me to dinner a couple weeks ago and I met Kelis. He didn’t have to do that—he didn’t want anything from me. I wasn’t like, “Yo, when are we gonna do your next video?” It was just straight up respect. I didn’t say anything the whole time, and I was like. “Yo sorry, I’m not much of a talker.” He said something like “A good man listens before he speaks”—just some real insightful shit. It’s cool because when you respect an artist like that and try to just be real cool individuals, it makes everything worth it. It makes going that extra mile when you don’t have a whole lot of money to work with worth it. And the smart ones know that. They stick with you and do things like take you out to dinner (laughs).

-Devin Chanda

Listen up: The Kid Daytona (Flash, Oct/Nov ’08) is one of NYC’s best unsigned rappers. We would say to give this dude a record deal, but he seems to be doing just fine on his own. Hailing from the Bronx, the Cipha Sounds protégé turned heads with his mixtape A Tribe Called Fresh, which reinvented seminal Tribe cuts with a clever, obsessive and laugh-out-loud hilarious attention to detail. Daytona spoke with GIANT about style, swagger and why he’s not into the Olsen Twins.

GIANT: How did growing up in the Bronx shape you as an artist?

Around the time when I grew up, you went through eras. The David Dinkins era was really fucked up. A lot of crime was happening. Giuliani came and shaped things up. Back then the slogan was “Fuck Giuliani” because all the hustlers, it was harder for them to do what they was doing. But in all reality, he shaped everything up. I came up in my high school years in the South Bronx. I went to a catholic school. But it was like a catholic school in the ’hood. You dealt with all the same negativities. Single-parent homes, my boy’s mom used to be working, and we’d go in his crib and do all sorts of crazy shit. You ever seen that movie Kids? Imagine being like sixteen years old. Yeah. It was crazy. Then you have to pick which way you’re gonna go. I come from a good family, so my grades always had to always be on point. My friends, they were doing they thing. I fucked around, but I always made sure I was straight. I knew where I was going. Most of my friends I grew up with, honestly, the majority of them are in jail. They never finished high school, none of that stuff. I come back around the way, and I chill, and it fells kinda weird sometimes because they look at me like I’m on the radio, but in all reality, I’m still trying to make it, too.

How did you get into performing?

In high school, we used to battle. I came up with Jae Millz, JR Writer. We’re all kids battling each other, listening to each other. We came up around each other. That’s basically how I got my whole swag in performing and stuff like that, from performing early on.

You’re look is very put-together. How important is that to you?

It’s important, but it makes me late.

How so?

There are a whole bunch of mirrors in my crib. Before I go to sleep, I try to say, “OK, I’m gonna wear this tomorrow.” But sometimes you put that on and it don’t really look right. Then you gotta change.

How would you describe your style?

I never want to follow anybody else in what they’re doing. I always want to look like an individual. Right now, I’ve got high-top Guccis on and a Versace button-up shirt, but like rolled up, just to look different. When I’m walking down the street, you know it’s Daytona.

Is there anyone you admire for style cues?

I like the way Kanye dresses, Pharrell. If you look at it, them two start trends. You see kids in the ’hood wearing fuckin’ tight pants and skateboarding, and you see kids wearing scarves in the summer time. You just look at what they’re doing, and kids try to emulate that.

In one of your tracks, you say, “You can have on all the fly gear. / But it’s all about how you wear it.” What do you mean by that?

You look fly. But if I put that shirt on, I probably wouldn’t look hot. If we switched outfits, we probably wouldn’t look right. How are you wearing it? It’s you. You bring out the clothes. You could have on $5000 worth of clothes and still look wack.

What’s your hustle like right now?

I never really realized how powerful the Internet was until we put out this [A Tribe Called Fresh] tape. Before, when I was younger, I was like, “I want to get a deal tomorrow. I shoulda got a deal yesterday.” But right now, I’m gaining fans without that. When I come, my album is gonna be done, and we’re gonna put it out, and all they gotta do is distribute it. I’m not thirsty for a deal right now. Whenever it comes is when it’s gonna come, and it has to be the right deal.

Do you have an album in the works?

Yeah. I already got a bunch of people on it. I did a joint with Travis from Gym Class Heroes. He heard the tape and actually reached out to Cipha Sounds like, “Yo, I wanna work with this kid.” So we put that together. I got a joint with Busta that’s crazy. It’s actually Cassie and Busta. Crazy, crazy, crazy. So there’s a lot of things in the works right now. All the people that fit my mode are all the people I want to work with.

Where does your income come from right now?

Mixtapes is free. I got my own hustles. It’s New York City. You can get money. I just get money being me. What I do right now is basically, I’ve always had girls, so it’s like, “Alright, you got girls and we need somebody to fill this table.” We go and they give us bottles, and we just have chicks around us, and they pay us for it. It’s like, “Fuck it. Why not? I’m not starving for nothing.

What can a major offer you that you couldn’t do on your own?

Basically, a major label can just market you and get you out there. They have that money to put your face everywhere. The Internet is cool. You can get so far just being on the net, but when you’re constantly in somebody’s face and on the radio… Politics is crazy. Some of these kids is big on the Internet, and you never heard them on the radio. Not everybody knows about blogs and underground stuff. You gotta search for that. The major helps you just take it there. That extra step.

Where would you want to go right now?

Right now, it’s just so crazy. Like I said, it just has to be the right situation. Everything is wack right now. Even through Busta, Interscope was dope two years ago. And now look at what’s happening. Everybody’s complaining. I don’t understand the game. I don’t understand how some of these people get jobs. It’s like, what are you really doing? Ciph always says, “I wish you were older and you came in the game in like ’97. You would be poppin’ right now.” But I was born when I was born and this is what it is.

I’ve heard you name-check the Olsen Twins more than once. What’s up with that?

That was around the time when I used to see them a lot in the clubs. I always wondered why people thought they were hot because they looked wack in person. Like for real. They’re like four-eight, no ass, nothing. I just didn’t understand.

What’s something I don’t know about the Kid Daytona?

I’m into all nationalities of women, right? But I have a curly-hair fetish. That means you can be any skin complexion, just as long as you have the ability to grow curly hair, I’m with it all day.

[Download the full A Tribe Called Fresh mixtape here]

Hip-hop has often been described as a young man’s game. Since its humble beginnings, the genre has always been about the now, the flash of what’s new and what’s next, without ever truly paying homage to what came before. The rampant success of young acts such as Soulja Boy and Plies had me, a 31-year-old recovering hip-hop addict, headed right to easy-listening rehab. No Ice-T on me, but the fact that Lil Wayne is considered a veteran at the ripe age of 26 should tell you something.

Recently, however, something changed. Throughout the summer I started nodding my head more and more to tracks by Nas, Busta Rhymes and LL Cool J. No, I didn’t buy a satellite radio and crank up the old-school station. These were new songs. And it seemed as though some of hip-hop’s most seasoned veterans (or, as the kids say, “old-ass rappers”) hadn’t faded into the night. Apparently many of these artists still have a couple of hot 16s left in them. Granted some rappers (Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg) transcend age, but even those artists can catch the wrath of a 16-year-old kid who thinks they should hang up their mics. I challenge that kid-and anyone else who feels to same way-not to rock to Nas’s “Fried Chicken” or Busta’s “Don’t Touch Me Now (Throw Da Water on ‘Em)” because, at the end of the day, good music is good music, regardless of an MC’s age.

That being said, we don’t need to go crazy with the old-man rap. I don’t want to hear a new Rev. Run album or see a Salt-N-Pepa music video featuring Keyshia Cole. I still prefer my really old rappers where they belong: on reality TV.