When I read, just now, that Kanye West has got an album coming out in December, I couldn't help but think, "Hold on a sec, isn't Kanye West supposed to be producing the new Jay-Z album that's also supposed to be coming out in December? What the fuck is going on here?"

First of all, you have to wonder how in the world Kanye West is gonna manage to produce not one, but two fairly monumental major label albums (the two biggest artists on the biggest label in hip-hop) before the end of the year, when the guy's been on tour since some time last year, not to mention the fact that he updates his blog more often than those of us who don't have shit else to do?

Even though I think we all know he doesn't really update his blog by himself. A few weeks ago, Sandra Rose called him out on it, and he responded by posting up some pictures of himself updating his blog - similar to how Juelz Santana responded to rumors that he'd been extorted over in England by making a video of himself sitting at a table with a bunch of jewelry on it.

Riiight.

It could be that Ye is planning on giving Jay a buncha garbage from his budget line (the kind of crap he might normally pass off on Consequence or Common), or even just some of the crap he's got lying around that wasn't quite good enough to make it onto his own last couple of albums.

I know, back when he brought Jay-Z out at one of his show's in New York recently, Ye made it a point to note that it used to be his m.o. to keep the very best of his productions for his own album, and the rest of it he'd just give to other artists, but for this Jay-Z he's gonna be producing, he's gonna be bringing his A game.

But then, the next thing you know, they launched into "Jockin' Jay-Z." Which is just gay, and would lead me to believe that he was just saying that because he's nervous of how bad the new Jay-Z is gonna come out. Otherwise, why even bring it up?

Seriously, if I was Jay-Z, I'd think twice about having Kanye West produce the bulk of the Blueprint 3, if not because of "Jockin' Jay-Z" (clearly, there's a lot of things Jay-Z likes that I don't like), then because of the obvious conflict of interest. Namely, how can he trust Kanye West to make his album worth a shit, if he's got his own album this winter to worry about.

And I'd say Jay-Z definitely has the most to lose in this situation. Already, he's probably gonna lose in the sales battle with the new Kanye album, even if it isn't necessarily billed as such. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if it is, knowing the T.I.'s at Universal. You saw what happened when Kanye battled Fiddy, last year. Even if Jay-Z loses, which he will, he'll probably sell more than he would otherwise.

The thing is, if I'm Jay-Z, I'm not even sure if I'd want to put myself in that position. It's bad enough the mail room over at MTV already put Kanye West ahead of him in their list of the hottest MCs in the game. Turning around and losing a sales battle to him couldn't possibly be good for his "brand."

I doubt the T.I.s at Def Jam give a shit though. If I'm not mistaken, Blueprint 3 is the last album he's contractually obligated to release through them. So they could probably care less what happens to his career post this December. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they're having Kanye West also put out his next album this December just to spite him.

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