Finally a brave Cleveland radio jockey has asked Barack Obama the hard-hitting political question of the election: What do he and Jay-Z, you know, talk about?

Fortified by a squad of security guards, Jay-Z decided to take the scenic route to his final Barclays Center concert on Saturday, slumming it with the unwashed masses in an R train to Brooklyn.

Very unlikely Barack Obama would approve of this "99 Problems" parody remix — it does put words in the President's mouth, namely a lot of four-letter ones.

United States President Barack Obama paid his respects to Queen Bey and her manservant Jay-Z at a $40,000-a-head campaign fundraiser hosted by the couple at Jay-Z's 40/40 club last night. These three probably email one another all the time.

In a lengthy new T Magazine profile of rap kingpin Jay-Z, novelist Zadie Smith got the Jigga Man to open up about, amongst other things, his feelings on last year's Occupy Wall Street takeover of Zuccotti Park. Smith reports Jay got "agitated" when she brought up OWS before launching into a mini-rant about what he perceived to be the movement's lack of focus:

Forbes has named the brolic and dormant Dr. Dre this year's Hip-Hop Cash King, the result of him taking in $110 million almost entirely from the immense success of his Beats By Dre headphones. Dre, Forbes explains, "collected $100 million pretax when handset maker HTC paid $300 million for a 51% stake in the company last year."

Jay-Z's "99 Problems" has been refashioned as rap-rock so many times (via Danger Mouse and Linkin Park and there's also this alt-country cover that that irritating, self-consciously cheeky and ironically white sensibility that these things usually do). It makes sense — Rick Rubin's original production was riff-based and tougher than Tougher Than Leather. So why not join Pearl Jam onstage on Sunday at Philadelphia's Made in America concert for yet another go? One Judgment Night isn't enough for this guy.

EXT. BEN FRANKLIN PARKWAY IN PHILADELPHIA, PA., INSIDE THE MADE IN AMERICA MUSIC FESTIVAL CURATED BY SEAN "JAY-Z" CARTER — 9:00 p.m.

Caleb Mason, an associate professor of law at Southwestern University, has done us all a service by producing, in a paper for the Saint Louis University Law Journal, the most thorough legal reading of Jay-Z's "99 Problems" yet. The upshot? Jay-Z mostly gets it right, except for one glaring omission. Some highlights:

If you are a best friend or close friend or casual acquaintance of or do not really know Kanye West, chances are you are reading these words under the watchful gaze of a $34,000 gold skull statue recently given to you by Kanye West.

When Jay-Z and Kanye West released Watch the Throne last year, they did so, at least in part, to glorify things. Thing-glorification is a pursuit with a rich and not wholly invalid history in mainstream rap music. And from its opulent golden cover to its braggadocio about cars, clothes, jewelry, and women, Watch the Throne makes sense in the way that Paula Deen using whole tubs of butter makes sense—Jay-Z and Kanye West are rich men who like to revel in rich things.

Why do celebrities publicly endorse certain consumer products? Usually, it's because some company gives them a staggering amount of money to do so. But not Jay-Z—he does it because he really believes in the Duracell Powermat battery-charging device:

When President Obama spoke out in favor of same-sex marriage, some worried what effect this would have among his black supporters — particularly in terms of the traditionally conservative black church. But a recent poll showed a significant increase in support for marriage equality within the black community: 54 percent in favor, up from 41 percent last year.

Following Jay-Z's co-sign of Obama's proclaimed support of gay marriage, rapper T.I. was asked about his thoughts on the issue when on Hot97's morning show yesterday. Here's his take:

This is beautiful. Responding to President Obama's endorsement of gay marriage, commander-in-chief of hip-hop Jay-Z has weighed in with his own support of equality. In the video below, you can see Jay say:

Back in summer 2009, the Beastie Boys were forced to pull out of their scheduled headlining performance at the All Points West music festival in Jersey City, N.J. Yauch had just announced that he'd been diagnosed with cancer, and the group was forced to cancel a lot of shows as he sought treatment.

When it comes to Beyoncé, conspiracy theories abound — and damn it, it's fun to speculate. But for the first time since she gave birth to the littlest Illuminati Blue Ivy, Bey is willing to address those who said she was never pregnant to begin with.

President Obama hasn't changed his mind: He still thinks Kanye West is a jackass.

Earlier this week, The Beyoncé tumblr went live. And there was much rejoicing: across the web, gossip sites and news organizations alike trumpeted her decision to cultivate a web presence. Various articles figure the "release" of the site in vaguely mystical terms: Beyoncé celebrated her fourth anniversary with Jay-Z on April 4th (4/4); she was "born" onto the web on 4/5.

In today's second edition of "Don't Make That Rap Video," Katy Perry covered Kanye and Jay-Z's "Niggas in Paris" over the weekend. It is obviously horrible, but it did leave us with a fascinating chicken-or-egg question: Did Katy Perry beget Karmin, the white-people-rappin' duo featuring Perry doppelganger Amy Heidemann on vocals, or did Karmin's insufferable covers beget Katy Perry trying to be more like Karmin?