As we reported earlier this week, Adam “MCA” Yauch of The Beastie Boys has been diagnosed with cancer [click to read]. As a result of this saddening news, the group had to cancel their upcoming shows. This includes All Points West, a music festival that will be held in Jersey City at the end of July. Now, the festival has someone filling in for The Beastie Boys. The replacement found is Jay-Z, and this event will mark his first American festival appearance, not counting his surprise performance at last year’s Rock the Bells.
Organizers of All Points West have announced that they will make refunds available as a result of the news concerning MCA’s health for July 31. This will be a three day event with Jay-Z, Tool and Coldplay headlining the other two nights. Q-Tip, The Pharcyde, Organized Konfusion, The Knux and The Cool Kids will also be a part of the three day fest to be held from Friday, July 31 to Sunday, August 2.
In somewhat related news, Jay-Z recently spoke on his decision to leave Def Jam in an interview with Billboard [click here].
“I still owed an album to Def Jam, but I wanted to have it back for a number of reasons, the most important being that it wasn’t consistent with the type of business I planned for me or where I was positioning myself. Everything in my life I had taken charge of, but yet I was still an artist signed to a label. It seemed a little archaic in my plans,” he said. “I’ve always prided myself on being a principled person. It was more so the principle than the amount of money. It was about owning my own masters and owning my own companies, but you have to pay for the privilege and that comes at a premium.”
Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 will now be released on September 11, 2009.
