Jay, showing off his new item.

​After wowing tri-state area crowds during his Watch The Throne shows with Kanye West, Jay-Z was spotted wearing a tshirt that said "Occupy Wall Street(s)"; the shirt was actually a prototype, and his clothing line Rocawear will eventually sell them to the public at large. Good for you, Jay! Following in your fellow throne-sitter Kanye West's footsteps of supporting the 99%, and not even wearing Givenchy while you do it. There's a catch, though—Jay's rep issued a statement saying, in part, "At this time we have not made an official commitment to monetarily support the movement." This has a lot of people talking, naturally.

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Harry Siegel

Protestwear by Givenchy.

​Liveblogging the news that Kanye West was going to bring all his power to Occupy Wall Street, first broken to the world in a tweet from Russell Simmons, after the fact:

3:45 p.m.: Runnin' Scared's Rosie Gray informs me that Kanye is at OWS.

3:46 p.m.: Let the retweeting commence.

3:47 p.m.: Let the worrying commence.

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​We're positive he's great at all of those things, except for maybe the second one. [LIP]

Half the world's money, in happier days

​Perhaps you recall the David Paterson scandal that broke early last week, before a much bigger scandal came along and more or less finished his political career? The one involving Jay-Z and the gambling consortium AEG, the latter of whom won slot a concession from David Paterson at Aqueduct Racetrack, despite submitting nowhere near the highest bid? And who just happened to cut Jay-Z in at a seven percent stake, right before they went about wooing outspoken Jay-Z buddy and fan David Paterson? Well, Def Jam founder Russell Simmons wants you to know that despite having apparently backed another, rival gambling consortium for the bid--see how crazy rap is now?--he's got nothing but love for his good friend Jay-Z, who stole the horse races right out from underneath him. To wit:

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​The Def Jam co-founder will host a Celebration FOR the Turkeys (i.e., not AGAINST) on Sunday, November 22, accompanied by like-minded blowhards Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. Jonathan Safran Foer, a/k/a the guy who ruined Thanksgiving for thousands of families this year with his new Eating Animals, will speak. The occasion is a benefit for Farm Sanctuary, who are circulating a petition to end the cruel American ritual in which the president "pardons" two turkeys, only to send them to Disney World and/or Land, where the vast majority of the birds end up dead within a year of arrival. (After all, what human could withstand this ordeal?) Anyway, Farm Sanctuary is looking to take the birds off Obama's hands, and they've asked Simmons, who believes that humans eating animals is only a small symptom of a bigger moral degradation that's left "our beloved country, America, is standing on its last wobbly legs," for help. $150 will buy you a vegan breakfast and a lecture from the man himself. [h/t our family at Runnin' Scared]

In a confusingly timed Observer piece, an innocent sounding tour-guide walking up Bleecker Street--"Think Jimi Hendrix, think Bob Dylan," he says to his tourist flock--is used as the pivot point to suggest no, in fact, Bleecker Street is primarily a retail strip populated mostly by Ralph Lauren and Intermix stores. "'Think Marc Jacobs,' seems far more accurate today," writes the Observer. This is likely just a matter of an unfortunate lede appended to a piece otherwise about rents (which are still high, even in a recession!) for retail on the historic strip, as surely no one expects to see, say, young Bob Dylan, or Jimi Hendrix, who is dead, walking Bleecker. Also, Sex in the City. But one caveat to this otherwise doleful piece about the death of music culture in Manhattan (which, again, we're just saying, could probably be written about every single block in this city below 14th Street): we know for a fact that Bleecker Street is where Russell Simmons buys the colorful sweaters he wears so charmingly to various music-related events. We even got kicked out of a Ralph Lauren once to make way for him! So while the '60s may be dead, my friends, the age of '80s rap moguls in the West Village may just be beginning. And we'd be happy to put 500 words behind that--for a minimal fee, of course. Also available: a hard-hitting story about the impending demise of CBGBs and nefarious plans of a heretofore unknown clothing designer named John Varvatos.

From Hendrix to Intermix: Bleecker Retail Exits the '60s [Observer, h/t Daily Swarm]

Ah, Russell. I suppose this is him accepting Bill O'Reilly's invitation to appear on FOX News "in response" to his "blog"--fall out from the Jeezy debacle in January. Or not. Simmons is vigorously pushing his website (currently offering $100,000 for photos of Chris Brown and Rihanna together! Hip-hop culture, alive and well!) in all quarters. Let's not fault another man's hustle, but there is something blithe about going on this particular network and having a soothing sit-down with Mike Huckabee, of all people. As a matter of fact, it's Huckabee who seems to have a better handle on the crises of modern rap here:

When we talk about hip-hop, the culture--but specifically relating to music, most genres of music, whether it's blues or rock or even country or bluegrass--had its origins with people essentially in a struggle. And then it became mainstream, and commercially successful. How do you keep the commercial success of the whole hip-hop culture from almost defying--if not ruining--that earthiness and the raw quality from which it was born?

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A frustrated Michael Musto asks: Who Sends More Press Releases--Russell Simmons or a Porn Star?

So a few days ago, successful businessman and avid New Age-weirdo Russell Simmons took upon himself to defend rap from the incursions of successful businessman and avid right wing-psychopath Bill O'Reilly, on where else, the brand-new Huffington Post of hip-hop, Global Grind: "As Editor-In-Chief of Global Grind, I am calling out Bill O' Reilly."

Now whether or not a man who is so far removed from the rap community that he is in fact "friendly and socially connected" to O'Reilly when he's not "calling out" dudes on the internet is the right guy to defend hip-hop from those dudes is more or less immaterial. What did this argument devolve into, in no time at all? Invitations and counter invitations. In the wake of Simmons's bold challenge, O'Reilly did what he usually does and invited him on the show, thus outflanking Simmons in the whose-enterprise-will-get-the-controversy-win? race to the public.

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