Rapper Jay-Z took the stage Thursday night (Jul 2) at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix, AZ to kick off his 5-city tour in support of upcoming Blueprint 3 album, set for release this September. According to a review of the show, the NY native paid his respects to the late Michael Jackson at one point during his 90-minute set:

“Put your hands up for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson,” he said, as the video screens flashed images of the dead superstar in his early days with the Jackson 5 and the group’s hit “I Want You Back” was heard.

“I believe if we let him know how much we loved him while was he here, he’d still be here,” Jay-Z said of Jackson, who died at 50 on Thursday, June 25, in Los Angeles.

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Here’s Jay-Z’s highly anticipated music video for his controversial single, “D.O.A. (Death of Autotune).” Say what you want about this track, but homeboy definitely has pull in the industry seeing as this video made its big premiere following Sunday (Jun 28) night’s 2009 BET Awards, which is one of the biggest and most popular annual events in black entertainment.

His forthcoming eleventh studio album, The Blueprint 3, is set to drop this fall on September 11th 2009 by his own label Roc Nation. It will be distributed by Atlantic Records.

Continue reading to peep the new video, directed by Anthony Mandler!

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The 2009 BET Awards went down this past Sunday (Jun 28) in Los Angeles and if you haven’t had a chance to peep the performances from the show (Keyshia Cole, Monica, Beyonce, Soulja Boy, Jamie Foxx, Jay-Z, Ne-Yo, Jamie Foxx, and more!) and the pre-show yourself, then continue reading to get your fix, courtesy of Mr. Word Premiere.
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Rumors are running rampant on the internet insisting that Jay-Z was the force behind Chris Brown not being able to pay homage to Michael Jackson at the 2009 BET Awards. A rapper just doesn’t have that kind of power. It was the BET execs, and more importantly the Viacom execs, who decided it wouldn’t be good for their “image” to let Chris Brown perform. Believe what and who you want to believe, but our sources can confirm that Jay-Z had NOTHING to do with Chris Brown being axed from the show at the very last minute.

Here Jamie Foxx can be seen paying tribute to Michael Jackson (comedically, of course) as the host of the 2009 BET Awards, which aired live from Los Angeles Sunday night (Jun 28) on BET. Jamie Foxx is probably one of the few people who can make light of a sad situation and have everyone laughing and crying at the same time. The BET Awards was supposed to dedicate the entire show to Michael, per the press release sent out Friday, but failed to impress.

The show itself was pretty good, but they should have never mentioned dedicating the show to MIchael if they didn’t have the time to do it right. That said, we really hope they put together an entire special to honor the late King of Pop so they can at least try to save face. But for now, continue reading for photos of Soulja Boy, Jay-Z, Monica, Beyonce, Ne-Yo and many more celebrities who participated in this year’s BET Awards.

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Ne-Yo and his girlfriend Tenille Jiminez stopped for a quick pic in the audience as they watched the 2009 BET Awards go down at the Shrine Auditorium Sunday (Jun 28) in Los Angeles. Continue reading for lots of pics of celebrities like Beyonce, Kanye West, Soulja Boy, Keri Hilson, Monica, Keyshia Cole, Lil Wayne and much more chilling in the audience and backstage at the show.

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Beyonce kicked off the North American leg of her “I Am… Tour” Sunday (Jun 21) night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. During the opening portion of the show, she surprised concertgoers with a special surprise performance from her husband, rapper Jay-Z. Continue reading for pictures and video!

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BET Networks recently announced via press release that rappers Jay-Z, Fabolous and Young Jeezy and gospel duo Mary Mary have all been added to the official line-up of performers for the 2009 BET Awards. The annual ceremony’s star-studded line-up of performers already includes platinum-selling artists like Beyonce, Kanye West, The Dream, Soulja Boy, Ne-Yo and Maxwell so the new additions to the roster will no doubt be in good company.

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Though Soulja Boy has always respected Jay-Z, he recently told MTV that he didn’t always like his music, mainly because he was young and just didn’t understand what he was talking about. In response to his fans saying a Jay-Z collab wouldn’t work because “he’s lame,” Soulja Boy says that reason is definitely not the case. Now that he’s older and grown up, he’s a fan and would like to work with him in the future.

“Jay-Z, I always respected him. Always. But I didn’t always like his music. I guess because I was too young, and I couldn’t understand what he was saying. … I got signed when I was 16 years old. Before I got signed, I heard the song, and I was like, ‘That’s Jay-Z.’

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Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you “D.O.A. (Death Of Autotune),” a new track from Jay-Z, produced by No ID and Kanye West that was leaked over the weekend. Though this track will most likely be featured on Jay’s upcoming 11th studio album, The Blueprint 3, it is only the street track. The first official single will be “Off That,” which features up and coming rapper Drake. We’re sure you’ve heard of him by now :) Anyway, peep Jay’s new track below!

D/L: JAY-Z “D.O.A. (DEATH OF AUTOTUNE)”