Internet search giant Google is gearing up to unveil a online music store that will compete with Apple iTunes.

According to reports The Wall Street Journal:

Sony Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment, Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, and EMI Music are expected to have deals in place to let Google sell their music in time for an announcement Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles.

Reports also state that Warner Music Group is the lone major music publisher holding out, due to concerns over piracy and pricing.

The Google online store would instantly be a competitor and threat to Apple, who's iTunes service has dominated online music sales since it's launch 8 years ago.

More information on this story will be reported once it becomes available.

As most of you might have heard somewhere, Jay-Z and some dude named Kanye West dropped a collaborative album Monday with a peculiar debut that was exclusively limited to the Apple iTunes store for four whole days.

With that said, the first week of sales will come to a close and the numbers will be revealed next Wednesday. Whether or not the no-leak method that the two bragging rappers were able to pull off will equal chart-topping sales is yet to be determined.

Right now the projections are in between 400,000 and 500,000 copies moved which isn't bad at all.

As a matter of fact it only comes second this year to Lady Gaga's 1.1 million first week sales for Born This Way. Go get your copies so the rich can get richer.

On August 8th, Jay-Z and Kanye West will release their album together entitled, Watch The Throne. And the world is doing exactly what they wanted.

But not for the reasons you think. Sure these guys getting together musically is an audio treat for rap fans that want to hear some bragging, depth, wordplay and soul music.

And yes the second leak record lived up to the hype and sparked multiple renditions, freestyles, and barbershop talk about whether the chopped up "Otis" is fire, just cool or unbearable.

However, the industry wasn't ready for the kind of impact that we are seeing in this bootleg, free-download era.
It's August 5th and there are no leaks, torrents, or snippets of the entire album on the Internet.

And how was this achieved? No web access in the studio when they recorded, the songs were totally protected by the engineers and producers, and most of all, no hard copy manufacturing has even happened yet.

Why hadn't anyone thought of this before? Well they have. But this time the throne is being observed and it makes a difference. So on Tuesday, everyone will be rushing to their computers instead of the stores and when they do go to the store, it will only be Best Buy, Target and Wal-mart four days later.

The result could possibly be similar to the 80's and early 90's when you copped an album because you wanted it. You weren't thinking about dubbing it, borrowing it, or listening to someone else's first to see if it was worth your money.

If you're a fan of Hov and you know Ye puts out heat, then you're going to go get it. Well there's only one place for now and that place is tracked by Soundscan. Of course on that day, the links will be available and the entire week will open the door for free downloads, but name a time in history when an album this heavily anticipated wasn't everywhere at least three days before its official release.

The major labels are looking at this blueprint, the rappers are peeping the formula and the people are watching.

Will The Throne live up to expectations? I'm sure it will. I've been alerted that they toss their wealth at us a bit much during these tough financial times, that some concepts outweigh the actual song and Jay and Ye don't always mesh. But for the most part, all 12 of the folks that have heard it are excited and promise that this collaborative joint will be regarded as great. The music, the rhymes, and the features are all placed well enough that critics will be satisfied.

The interesting trend that may be adopted after this is release dates that start out digital and end up in stores at a later date if this all works out for the two emcees. Keep watching.

Watch The Throne Trailer

With everything going digital in the music business, consumers may not be the only ones forgetting about record stores.

Jay-Z and Kanye West decided to give iTunes their Watch The Throne EP on August 8, four days before the physical release, and Best Buy has an exclusive on the deluxe edition of the album for the first ten days of its release.

The independent record store owners have banded together to write an open letter to the Roc boys to let them know how this affects them and the industry.

With only 2,000 stores left that sell vinyl and CDs outside of the Target, Wal-mart and Best Buy stores, by losing exclusivity, the chances anyone will wait to buy the album from them is slim.

So the letter had been written, signed, and they hope to get it published in Billboard magazine. We'd love to see a response from Hov and Ye's reps. Read the full letter below.

"Dear Jay-Z and Kanye West,

Independent record stores serve our communities. Our passion is music, and
we convey this to the millions of customers who come to our stores. That's
what we do.

Four years ago independent music stores across the country banded together
to create Record Store Day. Our goal was to counter the negative media
coverage about the supposed demise of record stores brought on by the
closing of the Tower stores and to respond to the music business practices
that fans deemed to be manipulative and onerous.

We reached out to the artist community to see if they would join us, and the
response was overwhelming with words of support coming in from Paul
McCartney, Erykah Badu, Tom Waits, Chuck D, the Foo Fighters and countless
others. Working with their label partners, many of these musicians created
limited edition works of art, including vinyl and CDs made especially for
music specialty retail. Hundreds of these artists took the opportunity to
perform, DJ, and interact with their fans in our record stores. Here in the
US, Record Store Day lifted the entire music business by 8% and contributed
to the growth in music sales.

Record Store Day is now one of the biggest
music events in history with millions of people participating worldwide. We
also continue to work throughout the year with labels, artists and managers
and run regular promotions via physical independent retail and
recordstoreday.com.

We are responding to the bad news that your new album will not be available
to independent record stores until after iTunes gets a window of
exclusivity. We also learned that the deluxe version (which is what the true
music fans who shop our stores will want by an overwhelming majority) will
only be available at Best Buy exclusively for a period of time.

We believe
this is a short-sighted strategy, and that your decisions will be doing
great damage to over 1,700 independent record stores -- stores that have
supported you and your music for years.

We know that you are busy, and that you put most of your energies into
creating great music, but we are writing to you in the hope that you will
hear us and take the time to rectify this matter. As representatives of the
independent record store music community, we are asking you to allow record
stores and music fans equal access to your new album.

With the utmost respect,

Dedry Jones, The Music Experience
Mike Dreese, Newbury Comics
Judy Negley, Independent Records
Mike Batt, Silver Platters
Tobago Benito, DBS Sounds
Brian Faber, Zia Records
Karen Pearson, Amoeba Music
Bryan Burkert, The Sound Garden
Mike Wise, Monster
Rob Roth, Vintage Vinyl
Joe Nardone, Jr., Gallery of Sound
Jonathan Fernandez, Rasputin Music
Dilyn Radakovitz, Dimple Records
Dustin Hansen, Graywhale Entertainment
Bill Kennedy, BK Music
Jim Bland, Plan Nine
Steve Wilson, Kiefs
Tom King, Central Square Records
Alayna Hill Alderman, Richard Storms, Record Archive
Karl Groeger, Looney Tunes
Paul Epstein, Twist and Shout
Nancy Salzer, Salzer's Records
Rick Ziegler, Indy CD
Laura, Finders Records
Deon Borchard, Nic Fritze, The Long Ear
Chuck Oken, Rhino /Mad Platter
Allan Miller, John Bevis, Disc Exchange
Charlotte Kubat, Magnolia Thunderpussy
John Kunz, Waterloo Records
Chris Avino, Rainbow Records
Mike Fratt, Homers
Rich Koch, Off the Record
Skip Hermans, Skip's Record and CD World
Jason Patton, Oz Music
Quinn Bishop, Cactus Records
John Timmons, ear X tacy
Lou Russell, Lou's Records
Roger Weiss, Streetlight Records
Terry Currier, Music Millenium
Andrew Chinnici, Lakeshore Record Exchange
Michael Bunnell, The Record Exchange
Mike White, Boo Boo Records   
Steve Baron, CD Central   
Eric Levin, Criminal Records   
Pat O'connor, Culture Clash   
Dan Plunkett, End Of An Ear   
Paula Kret, Exile On Main St   
Chris Penn, Good Records   
Doyle Davis, Grimey's   
Travis Searle, Guestroom Records   
Jim Mcguinn, Hot Poop   
Isaac Slusarenko, Jackpot Records   
Jason Nickey & Heath Byers, Landlocked Music   
Todd Robinson, Luna Music   
Darren & Jim Blase, Shake It   
Anna & Chris Brozek, Slowtrain   
Kimber Lanning, Stinkweeds   
Tom 'Papa' Ray, Vintage Vinyl"

Lil B The Based God is making moves in Hip-Hop, going from a member of Cali rap group The Pack to a rap standout with acknowledgment from Lil Wayne and Kanye West.

Known for his off the wall lyrics and "look like" references, B plays off shock value to get his "Based" music noticed but has proven on more than one occasion that he can actually spit.

When he's not showing off his rap skills however, he's putting Hip-Hop up in arms with his off the wall comments including that "he's gay but not totally gay", has "hoes on his d*ck because he looks like Jesus", is a "princess", a "pretty b*tch" and wants to be rap's Lady Gaga.

So what won't B won't say to grab your attention? The world may never know..

Here are some of the most shocking statements from Lil B.

Lil B wants his detractors that claim he softened his album title by putting "I'm Happy" in parentheses to know that he did not cop out. In an interview with Brooklyn Martino, B says he wanted his fans to understand that he is straight.

"How can I cop out when in my head, I had a plan to do that?

Like, I'm not literally a homosexual, but I'm happy...I did it to also embrace the homosexual community also, but some motherf*ckers was like, I copped out, 'Ah B, you should've stuck with the 'I'm Gay' title.' I'm not totally gay, but I am gay. Salute."

The album, I'm Gay was released with no promotion on iTunes, then the based god decided to release it for free. The first week sales of the release were somewhere around 1,700 units despite the media hype surrounding the young XXL freshman.

Some artists have hinted at doing it before. Jay-Z's Black Album was originally supposed to just appear in stores sans promotion or push.

Releasing an album without warning is a testament to true art and a message that music is all that matters, but in Lil B's case, the question will arise if it was a ploy meant to silence critics who thought his album title was a gimmick.

Either way, I'm Gay is for sale exclusively on iTunes right now. Lil B announced via Twitter last night that the album was available without any real leaks other than the artwork.

The word so far is that the content on the LP is void of any issues dealing with homosexuality but it is his best release so far according to some blogsites.

Tell us what you think of I'm Gay and if this was a good idea.

When Alabama resident Antoine Dodson came to his sister's defense on local TV, his unintentionally  humorous rant got him seen by millions of viewers across America and now the video is the most popular on YouTube this year, with a massive 61 million hits.

The video re-make of him "singing" the rant has become familiar to internet users everywhere, "Hide your kids, hide your wife cuz they rapin' everybody out here."

The musicians who re-cut the video split the profits with Dodson, who went as far as performing the iTunes hit at lthe BET Hip-Hop Awards.

As previously reported, Dodson has several projects underway including a reality show and a personal book detailing the day his sister was nearly raped, and the the events leading up to his overnight stardom.

The YouTube celebrity will also be compiling a "dictionary" of all his catch phrases as well as personalized phone greetings with motivational and holiday messages.

MORE  HIP-HOP WIRED NEWS AND VIDEOS

Flo Rida Talks New Album, Eva, Brandy & Secrets To His Success [Video Interview]

 

Wiz Khalifa Dating Natalie Nunn??? [Photos]

 

I Know Jim Jones, The Real Jim Jones: 5 New Artists With Cult Followings

 

Oprah Makes Australian Store Remove Racist “Mamee” Dolls

 

Wrestler Charged With Sexual Assualt Over Controversial Move The "Butt Drag"

Eminem ranked the highest selling artist on iTunes this year.

Alongside ten Grammy award nominations and a double platinum album, Eminem can now crown himself the highest selling artist on iTunes this year.

His Recovery album was the highest selling album on the digital sales chart followed by singer Ke$ha's Animal, Lady Gaga's The Fame and Lady Antebellum's Need You Now.

Drake also ranked highly on the iTunes charts, coming in at #6 with his Thank Me Later.

Eminem's single “Love The Way You Lie” featuring Rihanna was also the third best selling single this year.

MORE  HIP-HOP WIRED NEWS AND VIDEOS

Flo Rida Talks New Album, Eva, Brandy & Secrets To His Success [Video Interview]

Mama's Boys: 10 Celebrities That Take Care Of Their Mothers

DJ Premier Drops New Compilation & Talks Drake, Jay-Z & Keeping Gangstarr Legacy Alive [Video Interview]