Backstage Pass

The City apparently hearts "The Heart of the City" tour.

Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige -- or as Jay refers them in their new mixtape collabo "You're Welcome," "Miss No More Drama and Barack Obama" -- have added a third show to their run at Madison Square Garden in May, after the first two shows, as well as a Mar. 27 show at Nassau Coliseum, sold ouot in less than an hour.

Tickets for the Garden show on May 7 go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. The pre-sale starts this morning for Citi card members at http://www.privatepass.citi.com.

"You're Welcome," which has Jay and Mary J. doing what they do best over a Swizz Beatz beat, is probably a sneak preview of what the pair will be doing on tour together, as well as doing songs from their individual albums.

PHOTOS: Universal 

So will "Ain't I" be on "Blueprint 3"? Will "Blueprint 3" be on Def Jam or the "secret label" the blogosphere insists President Carter (can we still call him that?) is starting with Steve Jobs? Hard to say.

One thing for sure, though: The energy Jay picked up working on "American Gangster" continues.

That's right -- Jay-Z's latest disc, "American Gangster" (DefJam) is his 10th to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, according to Billboard.com. The Jigga Man has now tied Elvis Presley for second place in terms of most No. 1 albums on the chart. The Beatles are still a distant first with 19.

"American Gangster" sold 425,000 units -- merely respectable by past standards, but a bona-fide smash in today's dire sales climate.

Jay-Z's debut also set off a domino reaction that helped knock Britney Spears further down the charts.

"American Gangster" pushed last week's chart-topper, The Eagles' "Long Road Out of Eden" (Eagles Recording Co.) down to No. 2, which used to be Spears's spot. But Garth Brooks's "The Ultimate Hits" (Pearl) took No. 3 after selling 352,000 copies, and Chris Brown's sophomore album, "Exclusive" (Jive), took No. 4.

Where does that leave Spears's "Blackout" (Jive)? Down at No. 7, below Carrie Underwood's "Carnival Ride" (19/Arista) and Josh Groban's holiday album "Noel" (143/Reprise).

Part of the blame may lay with Spears's increasingly distasteful public image and dwindling interest from fans: Her disc sold only 87,000 copies, a 70% drop, according to Billlboard.com.

PHOTO: Jay-Z at Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan, Sunday Nov. 11 (AP/Gary He).

And, judging from "Blue Magic," it may actually be worth it.

The thrill of it doesn’t come from his return to raps about the drug trade. It comes from the swagger of a master returning to familiar material. Imagine the hunger of “Reasonable Doubt”-era Jay combined with the older, wiser Island Def Jam President Carter and the picture of how great his “secret” album “American Gangster” may actually be.

“Blue Magic,” with Pharrell building a spare, icy beat and singing a reworked hook from En Vogue’s “Hold On,” is bold and beautiful. Jay boasts, “I don’t spin on my head; I spin my work in the pot so I can spend my bread” and he drops some knowledge. (“Blame Reagan for making me ‘to a monster, blame Oliver North for Iran-Contra,” he rhymes. “I ran contraband that they sponsored.”)

We’ve heard all about Jay-Z showing what he’s got and we know he’s still on top of the world. But “Blue Magic” shows he can still conjure up enough memories to fight at the top of his game too.

Jay-Z was so inspired by the new movie "American Gangster," starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe, that he wrote an entire album based on it.

He announced yesterday that his "American Gangster" will come out on Roc-A-Fella Records on Nov. 6. In a statement, his record company said that the album draws on Jay's past experiences and will "articulate the lure of a gangster's life," as well as discuss the lasting effects of drugs on a community.

 "American Gangster" will be Jay-Z's second album in less than a year, after leaving behind retirement to release last year's "Kingdom Come."

Though Jay-Z’s hefty 79% fall off from his opening week sales has some worried, H.O.V.A. still has the area locked down, as “Kingdom Come” holds down a second week atop the Newsday charts. The Beatles hang tough too, along with Tony Bennett. They all beat the national No. 1 Incubus’ “Light Grenades,” which sold 165,000 copies in its opening week.

Full Billboard report
Newsday's Top Albums and Singles (compiled by Billboard) on the jump

Jay-Z's comeback album "Kingdom Come" (Roc-A-Fella) crushes all competitors, selling a massive 680,000 copies last week -- which was still a bit lower than anticipated, meaning country group Rascal Flatts will likely end the year with the one-week sales crown. Area sales for The Beatles' "Love" (Capitol) and U2's greatest hits were higher than the rest of the country, while sales of Daughtry's debut were a bit lower. And Tony Bennett's "Duets" album continues to be a strong seller in the area, rolling in at No. 5 thanks to interest from his NBC special.

Full Billboard report
Newsday's Top Albums and Singles (compiled by Billboard) on the jump

Jay-Z got it right the first time.

When he "retired" in 2003, he strutted off the stage in near-perfection, with the stunning, powerful legacy-builder "The Black Album" (Roc-a-Fella) and his equally on-point farewell concert at Madison Square Garden memorialized in the movie "Fade to Black."

How could you top all that? Why would you even want to try?

In his years of "retirement," Jay became President Carter, head of Def Jam Records. He made some high-profile appearances on singles from Beyoncé, Rick Ross and Young Jeezy, as well as that hot "Dear Summer" freestyle he did on Hot 97 last year. But it was this summer's spectacular concert marking the 10th anniversary of the release of the "Reasonable Doubt" album that suggested Jay may be able to pull off the near-impossible, that he could somehow top his pre-retirement self with his comeback album "Kingdom Come" (Roc-a-Fella).

Well, he doesn't. But he comes close. [More...]

Listen to "Kingdom Come" here.

Jay-Z played seven concerts in seven cities on Saturday -- Atlanta, Philadelphia, Washington, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas -- to promote his comeback album "Kingdom Come" in stores Tuesday.

The Associated Press went along.
So did MTV and they have video.

After weeks of trying to keep it off the Internet, Roc-a-Fella put Jay-Z's "Kingdome Come" online in its entirety through Clear Channel radio station this morning. Yeah, it's got that annoying audio watermark all the way through it, but at least you can get a sense of the songs before slogging through Limewire or venturing to Chinatown to pick up your, um, early copy. And yes, the weird collabo with Coldplay's Chris Martin made it onto the album.

Listen here.

With the flurry of high-profile hip-hop albums arriving in the next few weeks - from Eminem, The Game, Snoop Dogg, 2Pac, Fat Joe, Young Jeezy, The Clipse and Nas - the questions about how well Jay-Z's return-from-retirement album, "Kingdom Come" (Roc-a-Fella), will do have been flying for months.

Show us what you got, young H.O.V.A.

Well, if the marketing campaign is any indication, Jay has them all beat. His record is so hot, he has other people paying for its advertising.

The ad for Budweiser Select - which, by the way, recently named him co-brand director - is essentially a video for "Show Me What You Got" with a few beers thrown in. And the tagline isn't about the beer, it's the release date for "Kingdom Come," which is Nov. 21, in case, you've been skipping commercials again.

In TNT's new campaign for the NBA, Jay talks about competition. The final image, however, isn't related to games on the cable channel, but to "Kingdom Come" and its release date.

Other musicians have done this kind of trade-off before. Heck, Radio Shack is still running commercials that let people know The Rolling Stones are on tour.

But Jay-Z has taken this sort of marketing campaign to a new level, seemingly without even breaking a sweat. Hands up and wave. And wave. And wave.

Yeah, one-third of the Backstage Pass posse was at The Killers' listening party this week. Yeah, we saw Jay-Z there, representing with the shiniest bling we've seen in a while and definitely the whitest kicks in the place. No, we didn't get the chance to ask whether he really is recording a secret comeback album with Dr, Dre, Timbaland or whoever for release in November. But when you see how effortless Jay makes things look in this video or on the Rick Ross single, you just know he's not rusting away in retirement.

Watch "Deja Vu" on the jump

You know a concert is really hot when a cabbie threatens (jokingly, we hope) to kidnap you so he can take your ticket. You know it’s hot when the scalpers on the street say, “A grand for a floor seat,” to anyone walking by. You know it’s hot when you get a gift bag just for showing up.

Jay-Z’s show, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the release of "Reasonable Doubt," at Radio City Music Hall Sunday night was that kind of hot.

Full review here.

SETLIST: Regrets / Bring It On (w/Sauce Money) / Cashmere Thoughts / Coming of Age (w/Memphis Bleek) / Friend or Foe / Ain't No -- (w/Foxy Brown) / Can I Live / 22 Twos / D'evils / Feelin' It / Dead Presidents II / Brooklyn's Finest / Politics as Usual / Can't Knock the Hustle (w/Beyonce) // SECOND SET: What More Can I Say? / Jigga, My --- / Jigga That ---- / Hola Hovito / Hovi Baby / Public Service Announcement / U Don't Know / In My Lifetime / Streets Is Watching / Where I'm From / Imaginary Player / Money Ain't a Thing / Do My / Best of Me / Who U Wit / I Just Wanna Love U / Jigga What / Big Pimpin' / Encore