Moment 4 Life is probably the dopest song on Nicki Minaj’s album. Check out her performance of it on George Lopez’s show.

George Lopez is actually starting to rival Jimmy Fallon for dope hip-hop performances.

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Nicki did this solo, but the original with Drake is even (just a little bit) hotter.  Pink Friday is a solid album.  Here’s the version with Drake:

It ain’t nothing like hip-hop music…watch Black Milk and eLZhi tear it down as they perform Deadly Medley.

This one is from Black Milk’s stellar Album of the Year.

Kanye West is really killing the game right now. Check out his remix of Power from SNL.

Not only did Kanye change his second verse which originally skewered the SNL cast, he also managed to do a scaled down live version of his groundbreaking video. The new verse is dope, but it’s a bit surprising that he changed it. Big Brother Hov had no problem looking the Yankees in the face at their World Series victory celebration and saying he “made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can…” Given the new image Kanye is crafting, he probably did the right thing to Runaway (check the remix ft Raekwon and Justin Bieber) from the SNL verse on the show.

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Click here to download the SNL version.

The mighty Mos Def performs 2 new songs, Travellin’ Man and 24 Hour Karate School/Workers Comp. Check out the videos.

Words will not do justice to what Kanye West did at the Box last night in NYC.

This video gives a good idea of the energy, but the magic of the night could not be re-captured even if there had been HD cameras and professional recording devices.  It was a special performance, by a special artist for those of us fortunate enough to have attended.  If Kanye continues to get better, he may one day go down as the best who ever did it.

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Full Homecoming video

Full Power video (low fi)

This is what D’Angelo is listening to these days. Can you dig it?

The Urban Daily was fortunate enough to get the first interview with D’Angelo in 9 years.  He primarily discussed where his head is musically these days (check the video above) and avoided the personal drama, but obviously that is more than anyone has heard from him in quite a while.  They also posted this incredible interview of ?estlove discussing the toll the Voodoo tour took on him.  I was fortunate enough to hear a record he did with Mark Ronson recently.  It was very different than what you would expect, but if you study his artistry and allow for the evolution, it makes sense (sort of…).  I hope the demons have retreated a bit and he’s ready to share his gifts with the world again.  If not, here’s a reminder of what we’re missing.