Jay-Z Sets Billboard Record

Rap superstar Jay-Z has become the hip hop artist with the most Billboard Top 10 hits with his Kanye West-assisted smash "N***as In Paris" jumping to the number eight spot on the charts. The song jumped seven spots in one week. It gives Jay his 18th Top Ten single on the Billboard Hot 100 single, surpassing Ludacris and Lil Wayne.

That gives Jay and Kanye'sWatch the Throne album its first Hot 100 top 10 after "H*A*M" reached No. 29 and "Otis," featuring the late soul legend Otis Redding, rose to No. 12; and, "Who Gon Stop Me" peaked at No. 44.

...Throne has sold 1.1 million copies. As "Paris" climbs. The hit gives West his 14th top 10 single.

Cortez Bryant Confirms "Tha Carter IV"

Lil Wayne manager Cortez Bryant has confirmed that the rapper's highly-anticipated Tha Carter IV will not be delayed again. Bryant says the album is most definitely dropping on August 29th.

"He put the mixtape and the album in my hand the same day. He turned it in [to me] yesterday," Bryant tells Billboard. "It's done for the most part, [around] thirty songs [that] I need to carve down to twelve to sixteen, with four or so bonus tracks."

Rihanna In Video Controversy

Rihanna is stuck in the middle of yet another controversy. And once again, it involves the Parents Television Council. The PTC previously criticized the singer for a sexually-charged primetime performance with fellow pop star Britney Spears at the 2011 Billboard Awards. Now, the organization is balking at Rihanna's video for "Man Down." In the clip, Rihanna shoots a rapist. [video here]

The PTC has a problem with the violent imagery--even mentioning you-know-who in a tweet blasting the video.

“Rihanna's personal story and status as a celebrity superstar provided a golden opportunity for the singer to send an important message to female victims of rape and domestic violence," the organization said via statement. "Instead of telling victims they should seek help, Rihanna released a music video that gives retaliation in the form of premeditated murder the imprimatur of acceptability."

Then the statement added this little zinger:

"If Chris Brown shot a woman in his new video and BET premiered it, the world would stop. Rihanna should not get a pass."

No idea what kind of point the PTC is looking to make by bringing up Chris Brown.

Beyonce Admits Italian Artist's Influence

As Beyonce haters everywhere were lining up to burn her at the stake for 'stealing' her Billboard Awards performance from Italian artist Lorella Cuccarini, the pop megastar sat down with AOL Music and acknowledged that the entire show was influenced by Cuccarini's performance from 2010.

"My makeup artist showed me the performance of Lorella Cuccarini a year ago, and it inspired me so much," Beyonce says. "I then met with the talented people who worked on it. The technology and concept were so genius. Thank god for YouTube or I would have never been exposed to something so inspiring. I never worked so hard on anything in my life as that performance for the Billboard Awards.”

Eminem Hits 1 Billion Mark

Eminem Reaches 1 Billion Mark On YouTube

Rapper Eminem is making history after becoming the third artist and the first rapper to reach 1 billion views on YouTube.

The Detroit spitter has 28 official videos on the popular video sharing site, amassing the ridiculous total.

According the social media tracking site famecount.com, pop stars Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga were the first artists to reach the billion views mark.

Em sits at #5 this week on Billboard's Social 50, behind Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Shakir.

The Social 50 is a popularity list based on a formula that uses the artists' weekly addition of friends, fans and followers on sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

It also calculates songs played from the particular artist on those sites and others such as YouTube.com andiLike.com.