Jay-Z and Justin Bieber. Kanye West and T.I. John Legend and Prince.

Hosted by Queen Latifah, Sunday night’s BET Awards promise to be a star-studded affair, and organizers say it will be packed with more performances than in previous years.

West and T.I. will make their TV comebacks on the show. West is set to perform, returning to the spotlight after keeping a low profile since last year’s MTV Video Music Awards, when the rapper swiped the microphone from stunned “Best Female Video” winner Taylor Swift and declared that Beyonce should have won the award. T.I. will also return to the stage for his first televised performance since his release from prison in December.

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Kanye West got Sunday’s BET Awards off to a musical start, opening the show from atop a volcano on stage. In his first TV appearance since dissing Taylor Swift at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards, West stood in a beam of light as he performed his new single, “Power.”

Host Queen Latifah kept the vibe going as she took the stage, first singing to famous members of the audience, then returning to her rap roots and rhyming about the royalty in the audience: herself and Prince, who received the lifetime achievement award at the ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium.

Alicia Keys, who was named best female R&B artist, and Nicki Minaj, who won for female hip-hop artist, accepted early awards, then the performances continued.

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Career Builder: Casual Friday

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6 p.m.

So this isn’t a commercial, but the Jay-Z intro is pretty impressive, because drum beats = drama, and have that lovely orchestral backing that scream “Important sports documentary moment.” And it doesn’t involve Diddy, which everything seemed to about five years ago, so all the better.

You know what’s not a Super Bowl commercial but that I love anyway? Those surreally cheesy Bedding Barn ads with the weird dude in the cape and the women in the costumes playing drums and the big red barn they’ve been using since 1987. It’s the most consistent “What that higgity was that?” moment in advertising, and it’s so awful you gotta love it. Read the full story

Photos: Stylish men of 2010

GQ magazine has compiled a list of the worlds most ‘Stylish Men’ of 2010. Topping off the style-maker list is Johnny Depp.

Clint Eastwood, Brad Pitt, and Jay-Z also made the list.

NEW YORK (AP) — The music world’s top stars are signing on for Friday’s “Hope for Haiti” telethon.

Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban and Alicia Keys are just a few of the performers who will be featured, according to MTV Networks, an integral partner in the two-hour event.

Haiti was devastated and thousands of its citizens killed when an earthquake hit the Caribbean nation last week. Read the full story

By GEOFF BOUCHER and TODD MARTENS

Among the major acts playing Coachella this year are Spoon (featuring lead singer Britt Daniel), Jay-Z and Thom Yorke. (Daniel courtesy spoon.com, Jay-Z courtesy AP, Yorke by Steve Mitchell)

The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival will bring a youth movement to the low desert this year. After several years of greybeard headliners, California’s signature festival is going back to the future with younger acts including Gorillaz, Muse, Jay-Z, Thom Yorke, MGMT, Hot Chip, Spoon, Vampire Weekend and LCD Soundsystem at the very top of the bill for the three-day concert that begins April 16 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio.

There are some flashback acts, including Woodstock icon Sly Stone and the Family Stone, 1980s alt-rock outfit Echo and the Bunnymen and reconstituted college-rock outfit Pavement, but they’re not leading the bill like Paul McCartney, Prince and Roger Waters were in past years.

The presence of rap superstar Jay-Z will raise the eyebrows of those fans who like to think of Coachella as an indie-music oasis on today’s live-music landscape; hip-hop stars such as Kanye West, the Beastie Boys, Lupe Fiasco and Kool Keith have performed at Coachella in the past but none of them tap into the same street imagery and conspicuous consumption ethos that defines the $150-million mogul.
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Beyonce Knowles was reportedly paid $2 million to perform at a private concert in St. Barts for Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of Libyan Muammar Gaddafi.

Hannibal has a history of violence against woman. Just a week prior to the event he allegedly attacked his wife, in a London hotel. Read the full story

Two major-league concerts have tickets on sale this weekend, along with a slew of smaller shows.

Tickets for Jay-Z’s show on Feb. 20 at BankAtlantic Center go on sale on Friday. The Grammy-winning rapper will be touring in support of Blueprint 3, while Young Jeezy will open.

Tickets for the four-date series of Phish concerts at Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena go on sale Saturday. The recently reunited giants of jam will be playing the Bayside arena Dec. 28-31, including a three-set show on New Year’s Eve.
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Jay-Z will be coming South Florida’s BankAtlantic Center on Saturday, February 20.

In the midst of his first college tour, promoting his latest #1 album The Blueprint 3 and his recently released video game DJ Hero: Renegade Edition, Jay-Z confirms North American tour dates for 2010s BP3 tour. Jay-Z will be joined by Grammy-nominated rapper Young Jeezy who will open all dates on the tour.

TICKETS GO ON SALE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH / 10AM

JAY-Z comes to the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise on Saturday, February 20th. Reserved Seat tickets are $129.50, $99.50, $69.50 and $39.50. They go on sale Friday, November 20th, 10AM at www.livenation.com, charge by phone 877-598-8698 and all TicketMaster outlets

JAY-Z BP3 TOUR 2010

Previously announced dates:
Nov 07 Fresno, CA Fresno State University/Save Mart Center
Nov 08 Los Angeles UCLA/Pauley Pavilion
Nov 10 Austin, TX University of Texas at Austin/Frank Erwin Center
Nov 12 Champaign, IL University of Illinois/Assembly Hall

Newly announced dates:
Feb. 20 Sunrise, FL BankAtlantic Center
Feb 22 Houston, TX Toyota Center
Feb 23 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
Feb 25 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena
Feb 27 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
Feb 28 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum Complex
Mar 03 Washington, DC Verizon Center
Mar 11 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden
Mar 16 Pittsburgh, PA Mellon Arena
Mar 19 St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center
Mar 20 Indianapolis, IN Conseco Fieldhouse
Mar 22 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
Mar 24 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion
Mar 26 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center

Jay-Z, performing at the World Series. (AP)

The New York Yankees have been blasting Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” during their playoff run. Now, the team is having the rap king perform the song live to kick off Game 1 of the World Series.

Jay-Z and fellow New Yorker Alicia Keys are set to perform the hit on Wednesday, as the Yankees take on defending World Series champs, the Philadelphia Phillies.

In an interview Monday, Jay-Z was excited about the performance, and said: “Thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee.”

He calls the opportunity a “once in a lifetime experience.”