Kanye West

Sources say Anna Wintour, whose contract with Vogue will expire soon, is "thinking of retiring. She feels she's done it all and had enough." [P6]

Damon Dash is claiming that a feud between rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West was caused by Jay-Z's refusal to "knight" Mr. West onstage with a "gleaming chain." [R&M]

At a party in Miami, Paris Hilton and Stavros Niachros were "all over each other," just for old time's sake. [Star]  read more »

Time to check back in with Kanye West and 50 Cent, hip-hop’s favorite rivals. It seems Kanye got into another scrap with a paparazzo outside a club in England early Friday morning (the first since his tussle with a cameraman in LA back in September). According to TMZ.com (via MTV.com), Kanye was leaving Newcastle’s Tup Tup club with four girls when a photographer got in his face. A minor fracas allegedly ensued, leaving the pap with a scraped nose and some bruised feelings. So many, in fact, that he had Kanye arrested later that night, though the charges were later dropped.

Never one to miss a good opportunity to rant (particularly when it’s warranted), Kanye had a few things to say about the incident on his blog, namely that there should be laws protecting celebrities like himself from ravenous photogs. “LET US NOT FORGET THE PAPS KILLED PRINCESS DIANA,” Kanye writes.  read more »

After a two month trial, designer Anand Jon was found guilty of sexually assaulting seven aspiring models, the youngest of whom was 14. [LA Times]

Billionaire Ron Perelman and ex-wife Patricia Duff will return to court next month, this time to discuss the order of protection daughter Caleigh filed against her mother this summer over "emotional abuse." [P6]

A Comme des Garcons for H&M dress is already on eBay (it's a size 8 with a starting bid of $750, in case you didn't make yesterday's opening). [The Cut]   read more »

Ever wonder which songs get played the most at those digital jukeboxes popping up in the corner of every bar and club? Well, we do! Thankfully, eCast—the maker of many of those touch-screen wonders—has a list of the most played songs during the month of September. And surprsiingly (or not), Metallica scored six of the ten slots—each from their controversial new record, Death Magnetic. The list below comes courtesy of our friends at Idolator:

1. Metallica, "The Day That Never Comes"
2. Ne-Yo, "Miss Independent"
3. Metallica, "The Unforgiven III"
4. Buckcherry, "Too Drunk To Fuck"
5. Kanye West, "Love Lockdown"
6. Metallica, "All Nightmare Long"
7. Metallica, "That Was Just Your Life"
8.  read more »

While Kanye West—50 Cent’s one-time rival—makes headlines for his actual music, Fiddy seems content to bask in the comfy glow of reality television (and tie-in consumerism). According to a press release on Nah Right (via Idolator), it seems MTV’s “50 Cent: The Money and the Power” (set to premiere on November 6) is a sort of hip-hop version of The Apprentice in which 50 plays The Trump and 14 “wannabe moguls” play Donald’s lowly apprentices. Except, in this case, the poor mini-moguls have to sleep in tents on the floor of some ratty Brooklyn warehouse—which, we kid you not, is called "Camp Curtis.  read more »

Stereogum is right—a "Love Lockdown"/"Reckoner" mash-up was "inevitable." But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth five minutes of your time, particularly considering it’s both an audio mash-up (courtesy of DJ Earworm) and a video mash-up (courtesy of Instamatic). Furthermore, the original Radiohead video actually isn’t by Radiohead at all. It’s by Frenchman Clemont Picon—the a winner of a contest hosted by Aniboom (the YouTube of the animation world) to select the best animated vidoes for a handful of In Rainbows tracks, including “Reckoner.” Thom and Co. liked Picon’s clip so much they decided to make it the official one.

All in all, though, the video splice is a bit of let down.  read more »

So even if you didn’t catch the VMAs earlier this month (we forgive you, by the way), you probably heard about Kanye—which, of course, is precisely the way Kanye likes it. The majority of the post-show coverage focused on the premier performance of Mr. West’s new tune “Love Lockdown,” an R&B ballad from his forthcoming album 808’s & Heartbreak (due out December 16th). Never one to stay far from the spotlight for long, Kanye posted a studio version of the track to his blog just three days later. Not a bad song, we thought. Still, all those auto-tuned vocals were a little much. (Though the cover art for the single is pitch perfect.) Then, two days ago, Kanye posted another, remixed version for our listening pleasure. “Your prayers have been answered!! There's a new version of Love Lockdown coming,” Kanye exclaimed the day before. “We used new taiko drums and I re-sung it... it's being Mastered now...."  read more »

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's West Village neighbors are becoming increasingly irritated by the girls' "military presence" on their block. [P6] 

Kanye West was arrested yesterday for breaking a photographer's camera at LAX. [TMZ] 

At the premiere of their joint venture, Righteous Kill, neither Robert De Niro nor Al Pacino would comment on the swipe director Francis Ford Coppola took at the two of them in GQ. [NYDN]

Barack Obama will join Michael Phelps on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live this weekend. [People]   read more »

At 8:30 p.m. on Monday, September 8, the bi-annual paparazzi bloodbath had already started outside the Marc Jacobs show. Gawkers and cameramen lined Lexington Avenue, which was clogged with town cars, while security guards admitted guests to the Lexington Avenue Armory, a sign that the designer intended to start on time-at 9 p.m. (who could forget the show a year ago, when attendees appearing at the appointed hour were told to "get a drink and come back?").

Inside, the flashbulbs were blinding, accompanied by desperate shouts every time a Kelly Osborne, or a Kim Raver from Lipstick Jungle, or a J. Lo, or a freshly shorn and dyed and pixie-ish Victoria Beckham arrived.

"I'm really a plus one," said bewildered painter John Currin, taking in the scene with wife Rachel Feinstein, an artist and friend of Mr. Jacobs'. "People are better looking," he added, appraising the difference between art and fashion parties. "There's a lot more money, I think, and better-looking women."  read more »

Carolina Herrera, who was ready to begin her show on time this morning, had to wait for special guest Renee Zellweger to arrive. [WWD]

Rachel Zoe felt sorry for herself, but then she got her own reality show. [NY Post] 

Sheer is in for Spring. [The Cut] 

Editors at Justin Timberlake's William Rast show were disappointed upon learning that the pop star would not be performing for them. [WWD] 

Christy Turlington is studying "maternal and child health" at Columbia. [Vogue UK]

Guests at Thakoon's show today were furious as the show started almost an hour late due to Kanye West's late arrival. [WWD] 

Athletes like Maria Sharapova and Nastia Liukin are the new celebrities in the front rows of fashion week. [WWD] 

It started a couple of weeks ago, with the unlikeliest of progenitors: The Boss.

Bruce Springsteen dedicated a live rendition of his hit "Born In The U.S.A." to Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps. Everybody cheered, even though that song isn't really a "go America!" kind of song at heart, and after all these years of defending it, Bruce should know better, but whatever. Good feelings, yes?

No. When confronted with the honor, Phelps shrugged it off, and admitted he was more into hip-hop.

In fact, he put forth, he listens to Young Jeezy to get psyched up for events. Guess he's never heard "Jungleland." Not one to miss an opening in the news cycle, Young Jeezy promptly stepped forward and pronounced Mr.  read more »

Billy Joel and wife Katie Lee held an end-of-summer barbeque in Sagaponack, where Howard Stern played beer pong against Ivanka Trump.  [NYDN]

Levi Johnston, the young gentleman behind 17-year-old Bristol’s Palin’s pregnancy, has changed his Myspace status to “In A Relationship” but still seems a bit ambivalent about his new role. [US Weekly]

A group of “concerned citizens” calling themselves Anonymous plans to picket the opening night of Katie Holmes’s Broadway debut in All My Sons in an effort to “save” the actress. We wish them the best of luck. [The Scoop]  read more »

To celebrate the end of the summer, we decided it would be a fun time to make a playlist of the songs we loved most over the last couple of months.

The Hold Steady's "Constructive Summer"? Check.

Albert Hammond, Jr.'s "GFC"? Check.

Estelle's "American Boy" featuring Kanye West? Ummmmmm, nope.

Much to our surprise, the pop song of the summer (apologies to Ms. Katy Perry) wasn't even available on iTunes when we went to download it this weekend! Insultingly, in its place, was some knock-off version that shockingly ranks #14 on the iTunes Top Songs list.  read more »

On Thursday evening, Kevin Christiana, a Project Runway Season Four veteran, watched as the principal cast of Traitor celebrated the New York premiere of their film at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza. Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, and Saïd Taghmaoui squeezed onto a pair of plush red couches with Jeffrey Nachmanoff, who is making his directorial debut. The Daily Transom wouldn't have pegged Mr. Christina as a fan of international adventure thrillers about counter-espionage operations, but then again, isn't that just a microcosm for Project Runway these days?

"It's a show!" sighed Mr. Christiana, when queried about a recent New York magazine article that chronicled the rivalry between Project Runway judge and recent Marie Claire hire Nina Garcia, and Anne Slowey, Fashion News Director at Elle and the Miranda Priestly-esque star of the CW's forthcoming battle-of-the-fashion-assistants Stylista.  read more »

Roseanne Barr has a blog! And, as Page Six has reported, she’s using it to attack Angelina Jolie for failing to officially endorse Barack Obama’s candidacy. In open letter to the mother of—six now, right?--yesterday, Ms. Barr writes:

...Miss jolie says she likes mccain too and hasn't decided who to endorse....huh? Aren't you supposed to be somewhat enlightened, or do you not know that the african daughter you hold in every picture had parents who suffered and died because of the republican party's worldwide economic assault on africa over the last few decades since reagan? whaaaa...??????!!!! (for that matter, the thai and cambodian sons you are photo'd with weekly too who's pictures you sell to raise money to help the poor? Their families are victims of America's right wing military incursions too…Now go back to making your movies about women who love to handle big guns that shoot hundreds of people to death.

 read more »

Kanye West might collaborate on a line of clothing with the Gap, or appear in a Gap commercial, or both! The hip hop artists was spotted this afternoon in Gap's corporate NYC offices. [Jezebel]

Cartier has filed suit against Donna Karan, charging the designer with stealing the name of the luxury jewelry maker's Tank watch by selling her own model called the Women's Ion-Plated Tank Watch. Cartier's version costs $10,000 and up; Ms. Karan's is $115. [NY Post]

Richie Rich said that his wonderfully whimsical Heatherette line, which he designs with Trevor Rains, is far from being over--even though both of the designers are taking a break from it. [The Cut]  read more »

Attendees expected to attend the Democratic Convention in Denver include Kanye West, Wyclef Jean, N.E.R.D., Ben Affleck, Scarlett Johansson, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Ed Norton Jr. [WashingtonPost]

Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon are fighting to keep St. Vincent's hospital from expanding onto West 12th Street, three blocks from their home. [P6]

Brooke Shields says she got very emotionally involved with the Project Runway contestants when she filmed her upcoming guest judge spot. [The Cut]

The 10 finalists for this year's CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund were announced late yesterday and included: Richard Chai, Alexander Wang, Irene Neuwirth, and Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava.  read more »

It's no Martha Stewart posting pictures from her trip to the Bahamas, but Kanye West has got himself a little blog. Sure, he's been at it for some time now, but it seems that Mr. West's blog hasn't quite found its...identity.  read more »

CONCERTS:

Kanye West, Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco, and N.E.R.D. Can we say power tour?! Catch their Manhattan date May 13 at Madison Square Garden. [On Sale: Saturday, Feb. 23 at noon]

Call him dad rock, but Billy Joel’s July 16 show, which was to be the last concert ever at Shea Stadium, was the fastest sell out in Shea’s history, with 50,000 tickets disappearing in just 48 minutes. In fact that was enough to prompt Mr. Joel to add a second concert two days later, which is now being billed as Shea’s official musical close out. (Sorry ‘bout that early birds!) [On Sale: Saturday, Feb. 23 at 9 a.m.]  read more »

Kanye West (8 nods) and Amy Winehouse (6 nods) top the Grammy Award nominations, announced today. They better bring big tote bags—green friendly!—to the Feb. 10 ceremony because they're looking to take home a lot of those little record player statues.

Read the Grammy press release after the jump.  read more »

Somehow we missed the premiere of the Daft Punk’s “Harder Better Faster Stronger” video, which was shot by more than 250 fans at their Coney Island concert on Aug. 9 with handheld cameras. Where’s my glowstick?

Kanye West will unleash his endless wisdom in book form! You can pre-order it already.

Culturegrrl says Jon Stewart’s art humor is irresponsible. How quaint.

Chris Brown, the youngin who sang that “Run It” club hit a couple years ago, says he switched from making music to starring in movies so he can prove he can sing.

Godspell is holding casting calls! You have two weeks to “learn your lessons well,” kids.

The most popular artists today on Amazon’s new mp3 download service are, in order:  read more »