The shows kicked off at Atlanta’s Philips Arena on Friday and the hip-hop stars delighted the crowd by performing their solo hits and their new joint material.

Although West was raised in Chicago, he was born in Atlanta. To the crowd’s delight, he and Jay-Z played up the Dirty South connection several times

Jay-Z struggled through the first few tracks due to problems with his earpiece, and stopped the show so the technical problem could be rectified, telling crew members, “Can you please turn my ear up so I can hear ATLANTA?,” before continuing with the gig.”

Jay-Z repeatedly told the crowd to “put your diamonds up,” and they repeatedly complied, pressing their index fingers and thumbs together.

The pair played joint tracks including “Otis,” “Gotta Have It” and “Run This Town,” while they also performed Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind,” and West’s tracks including “Stronger,” “Power” and Heartless

Taylor Swift at '10 Songrwiters Hall of Fame

During the awards ceremony at the Radio City Music Hall in 2009, West grabbed the microphone away from Swift after she’d just won ‘Best FemaleVideo ‘ and declared that Beyonce should have been victorious instead.

However, after widespread criticism, the rapper has finally apologised to the 20-year-old country pop star, firstly via phone, and then publicly via Twitter. In one of his tweets he wrote, “I’m sorry, Taylor. We’re both artists, and the media and managers are trying to get between us. She deserves the apology more than anyone. Thank you [Twitter co-founders] Biz Stone and Evan Williams for creating a platform where we can communicate directly”.

West is due to perform at this year’s Video Music Awards on September 12th 2010, and speculation has been rife as to whether Swift will join him on-stage in some form of duet. Last month, Chelsea Handler – who will be hosting this year’s awards show – told the Ryan Seacrest radio show that she’d love to reunite the pair, she said, “I’d like to get them together is what I’d like to get… We’ll try and think of something clever to do with them, because that would be really fun”.
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kanye West

The ‘Power’ rapper said that he release not only his own songs but also those by other rappers in a project he’s calling “Good Fridays”.

Kanye wrote on twitter: “”I know y’all need the music so I’m dropping 1 new song every weekend until Xmas. It may be my song it may be a new Jay-Z song etc (sic).

“It’s about the fans. No more holding back. That’s why I dropped ‘See Me Now’… It wasn’t about me, it was about the Summer the BBQs, etc.”

Kanye also said he’s unselfishly been working around the clock to get new tracks ready for release
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Kanye West's Beyonce Collaboration

The hip-hop star announced tracks on the upcoming ‘Dark Twisted Fantasy’ record – which is to be released on November 16 – will also feature the likes of Beyonce’s husband Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, Drake and Nicky Minaj of Young Money fame, and Eminem.

Kanye admitted he purposefully sought out artists who are “original” to appear on his fifth studio album.

He said: “People with that intangible sound. People that everybody copied. The originators. That’s what my thing is: quality. What is the best of the best?”

The Grammy-award winning artist went on to praise hip-hop star Nicky Minaj for her involvement in the album, and stated she has the potential to follow in the footsteps of fellow rapper Eminem.

Kanye added to New York radio station Hot FM: “This is gonna be such a big statement, and such a big thing to fill: The scariest artist right now is definitely Nicki Minaj. I think she has the most potential to be the number-two rapper of all time. Nobody’s gonna be bigger than Eminem.”
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Kanye West’s CD, “Graduation,” won two awards, including favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album. If he was humbled by his win, he didn’t show it in his grandiose acceptance speech.

“I’d like to thank everyone who accepted me trying to break new boundaries in music,” said West. “It’s our responsibility as musicians to keep pushing each other. We will be the new Beatles, the new [Jimi] Hendrix. I want to be Elvis.”

Watch his performance at 2008 American Music Awards below,

“The assistant then is alleged to have grabbed the camera, ripped off the mic and viewfinder and smashed it to the ground.”

The video starts mid-confrontation, and does not show how it began or what might have caused it to escalate.

Photo credit: Wire Image

Kanye West has been arrested at an airport on suspicion of vandalism after an altercation with a photographer.

A Los Angeles International Airport spokesman said police also arrested West’s road manager in the incident on Thursday morning.

Marshall Lowe said that West got into an altercation with a photographer and a camera valued at more than 10,000 dollars (£5,700) was broken.

The incident happened before West and his manager, who was not identified, cleared a security screening at the airport.