A little more than two months ago, Kanye West put fans in a frenzy after tweeting just two words: "June Eighteen," and now, the date is finally here. Yeezy's sixth solo LP hit stores on Tuesday (June 18), but his faithful flock aren't the only ones excited for Yeezus; Kanye's fellow rappers are also pumped.

"It's just dope man, 10 songs, no cover, Yeezus," 2 Chainz exclaimed when MTV News caught up with him backstage at Hot 107.9's Birthday Bash concert in Atlanta.

The simplicity of West's 10-song, no cover disc is actually wrapped around a not-so-simple minimalist musical ideology that he stays true to for the 40-minute ride. Sure he had a little help from pioneering hip-hop producer Rick Rubin, among others, but the progressive nature of the record screams Yeezy. "He got one of the best musical minds, I personally feel, in my generation," Trinidad James told us of how he looks up to West.

Yeezus impressions are felt way beyond its musical structure. Kanye's unorthodox album rollout didn't include a radio plan, a no-no for any hip-hop artist hoping to make a dent in SoundScan. West even declined to release his to television or online, instead he just projected the clip onto blank walls at set times in a number of cities and gathered fans in the street to watch.

It's a risk that not ever rapper can take, and French Montana, for one fully recognizes the creative power that West wields. "For him to drop something the way he did, he's ...

Some people come home to tail-wagging dogs, others — well, maybe just Mac Miller — come home to scantily clad models posing on their staircase. With his new album, Watching Movies With the Sound Off, out Tuesday (June 18), we get further proof of why it's good to be Mac in this special unreleased clip from MTV2's "Mac Miller and the Most Dope Family."

"Don't stop on my account," Mac tells the model as he walks in on a photo shoot in the foyer of his mansion.

When the blond, tattooed model admits she's just "shy," Miller smirks as he maneuvers his way up the stairs around her, paying no mind to the fact that he's interrupting something: "Hey, this is my house!"

Beautiful women in bikinis are a mainstay for a lot of rappers, including Mac. Just take a look at his new video for "Watching Movies," where he's surrounded by girls twerking inches away from his face. But while casually getting some ink, he asks his tattoo artist (whose girlfriend is the shoot's photographer), why he walked in on a chick who was "bent over with her ass cheeks spread on the steps."

"I guess it's a good day at the Mac Miller compound," the tattoo artist replies — to which Miller laughs, "I mean, that's nothing new."

Mac Miller's sophomore album, Watching Movies, hits stores on the same day as two other major hip-hop releases: Kanye West's Yeezus and J. Cole's Born Sinner. When MTV News spoke to Miller on the June 12 episode of "RapFix Live," ...

John Mayer had previously said he was by Taylor Swift's 2010 kiss-off and now, it seems he's looking for a little revenge.

On Tuesday (June 18), Mayer premiered a brand-new single, "Paper Doll," and while it's nowhere as scathing as "Dear John" — i.e. the phrase "dark twisted games" is not used — well, it certainly appears to be a direct response to Swift's song.

"Here's a dress of gold and blue/Sure was fun being good to you," Mayer sings at the beginning of the track, one of several mentions of dresses (remember, of course, that on "Dear John," Swift referred to herself as "the girl in the dress [who] cried all the way home.") Later, there's a lyric that goes "Someone's gonna paint you another sky," which seems like a direct call-back to another "John" line: "You paint me a blue sky and go back and turn it to rain."

And then there's the chorus, where Mayer sings "You're like 22 girls in one/and none of them know what they're running from." It's a bit of a two-pronged attack: Not only did Swift release "22" as a single earlier this year, but on "John," she proclaimed she'd look back on her relationship with Mayer "and regret how I ignored when they said 'Run as fast as you can.' "

Of course, it's not like Mayer named the song "Dear Taylor" or anything like that, but based on lyrical analysis alone, well, it's difficult to think "Paper Doll" is about anyone other than Swift, whom he ...

Even when you finally get up off the Sideline, there's still "hell" to pay. J. Cole gets that agonizing truth off his chest over the course of 16 tracks, and more immediately when he introduces his sophomore album, Born Sinner, by telling listeners, point blank, "It's way darker this time."

The 28-year-old has been on a turbulent journey since he signed his Roc Nation deal in 2009, where at some points he's admitted to "going through depression, trying to make it to happiness." Those moments of pain and triumph — in the industry, in his relationship, against his own demons — weave throughout the deeply personal album in a struggle between sin and redemption, with Cole pleading, "Please give me my soul" on the album's opening track before reconciling, "I was born sinning but I live better than that," on the final song and title track "Born Sinner."

"Villuminati" opens the album on a high note, boosted by soaring strings, as Cole gives love to both Jay-Z and the Notorious B.I.G. on the hook rapping, "Sometimes I brag like Hov," while splicing in a skillfully placed "Juicy" sample that incorporates, "born sinner, the opposite of a winner." He doesn't say it outright until the end of the track but here, at the beginning of his album, Cole takes the chance to reintroduce himself, confident in his successes ("you n----s famous on the Internet, I'm real-life hot") yet acutely aware of where he's yet to go, with one of his most lighthearted and captivating lines, "Beyoncé told me she that she ...

The most important night of "The Voice" season 4 took place last night, and it's anyone's game. The final three competitors — Team Blake's Danielle Bradbery and the Swon Brothers and Team Usher's Michelle Chamuel — gave a final, stellar night of performances for America's votes before the show crowns its new champion.

The high-energy night kicked off "With A Little Help From My Friends." Not literally, but the Beatles song, performed by celebrity coaches Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Usher and Shakira, whose connection was so electric they had the audience rocking out and waving hands.

But the show isn't about the coaches, as witnessed by the tremendous popularity of the season 4 finalists, and with the vote now left in the hands of the viewesr, the coaches merely cheered from the sidelines. The finalists, however, felt the pressure, performing three songs over the course of the night — one solo, one reprisal and one duet with their coach.

The Swon Brothers
Making "Voice" history as the only duo to make it to the finals, the "Oakies" opened the show with not just a new tune but a new look, swapping their casual country garb for a polished look with sleek black suits while tackling the Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why." Coach Shelton praised them for "constantly evolving" and a hard-to-please Levine finally gave in, telling them they did a "great job." Originally the underdogs, the Swons gained serious momentum in the past few weeks, especially after "Danny's Song," a track they chose to reprise ...

Mumford & Sons' Ted Dwane is a little worse for the wear, minus his signature mane of brown hair, but in a picture he uploaded on Monday the band's bassist looks happy to be out of the hospital.

Dwane, who underwent brain surgery last week to remove a blood clot,
 posted a photo on the Mumford site on Monday in which fans can see his shorn head with a wicked scar across the top of his scalp. "Bear with a sore head!" Dwane wrote. "Thanks so much for all the well wishing, it seems to be working! I'm home."

After canceling a couple of Texas shows earlier in the week due to Dwane's surgery, Mumford had to bail on their appearances at last weekend's Bonnaroo
 and Telluride festivals in order to allow the bassist to heal. They were replaced on the 'Roo bill by Jack Johnson, who stepped into their headlining slot.


On Thursday, the group announced that Dwane had been discharged from the hospital and was on the mend. "The surgery went well, and the excellent medical team helping him are very pleased with his progress," they wrote. "He has been nothing short of heroic in how he has handled the whole ordeal, and now it has been medically proved that he does indeed have a brain."

With the cancelation of the two festival shows, as well as another gig at the Cricket Wireless Amphitheater in Bonner Springs, Kansas, the English group has completed it's North American Summer Stampede tour and do not have another ...

J. Cole intentionally pushed up the release date of his sophomore LP Born Sinner to coincide — and boldly compete with — Kanye West's Yeezus, and one day after the album officially hits stores on June 18, the Roc Nation rapper will join us on "RapFix Live."

Cole is doing things his way this time around, and on Wednesday, he'll sit down with host Sway Calloway to explain how this road to release was different from the first time around.

He previewed the anticipated album for fans and media in New York City last week, asking them to plug into a pair of headphones and stream the album, after being unsatisfied with the listening sessions for Cole World: The Sideline Story. So what else is he switching up this time? Tune in at 4 p.m. ET on MTV Jams and MTV.com to find out.

Waka Flocka Flame will also be live in the studio this week to tease and later premiere his brand-new video for , which appears on his DuFlocka Rant: Halftime Show mixtape.

Though his name isn't as familiar as Waka or Cole's just yet, Chance the Rapper will pay what is likely to be the first of many visits to "RapFix Live." The breakout star from Chicago dropped his game-changing Acid Rap mixtape in April, and now's a pretty good time to get acquainted if you haven't already.

Rapper 360 will also make an appearance on the show to close things out with a freestyle. With so much star power, you really can't afford not to tune ...

Is there anyone other than Kanye West capable of making an album like Yeezus?

The answer, of course, is yes (Death Grips come to mind), so perhaps the better question is this: Is there another artist capable of making so many care about an album like Yeezus, an endlessly confrontational, occasionally confounding thing that's full of odes to vices and vitriol but short on actual singles? Simply put: No.

Which is why, in one regard, the best thing about Yeezus may be that it exists in the first place. It is without question the least commercial album released by a major artist in recent memory. From its relentlessly aggressive production — a collection of yowls and yammers backed (and occasionally blown away) by lurching bass, stabbing synthesizers and nightmarish, otherworldly vocal samples — to its stridently defiant lyrics, which tackle everything from corporate racism to cunnilingus (guess which one requires Sweet-n-Sour sauce?) and are delivered in breathless, machine-gun missives. It's a willfully difficult work, from an artist who, by his own admission, is willfully difficult by default. In some ways, it seems like Kanye doesn't really want you to enjoy Yeezus; instead, he's decided to make you feel his pain, see the world through his eyes. Fans (and corporate masters) be damned — this one's for Yeezy.

So appreciate this album for the fact that Kanye made it on his terms. He's certainly earned the right to do so, and though he's always been more artiste than artist — particularly on the masterful My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy — he's never ...