Backstage Pass

LL Cool J headlines the Strong Island-heavy “Kings of the Mic” tour, with Public Enemy and De La Soul, at Roseland Ballroom Thursday.

Intro brings you the week’s hottest videos and shows every Monday. To catch up on all the Intros and watch classic Long Island music scene videos, check out Newsday Music’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/newsdaymusic.

THE LIST

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Surprise! Jay-Z has a new album, “Magna Carta Holy Grail,” ready to roll out on July 4, though you’re going to need a Samsung Galaxy phone to get it that day. It will be on sale around the world on July 7.

Jay made the announcement through a three-minute Samsung commercial during Sunday’s NBA Finals game, where he talked about how “the Internet is like the Wild West.” “We need to write the...

Kanye West has always been a tightly wound bundle of contradictions.

He has long dismissed the importance of awards shows and then complained that he deserves more awards. He has fiercely defended his privacy and then forged a relationship with Kim Kardashian, perhaps the least private person in the world. They announced their baby’s gender — it’s a girl! — on Kardashian’s reality show.

However,...

Even The Postal Service’s Ben Gibbard knows how unlikely his band’s current success is.

“Let this be a lesson to all you musicians out there,” the singer/guitarist said, joking with the crowd Friday night, the first of two sold-out shows at the Barclays Center. “You make a record. You don’t do anything for 10 years. You end up playing at Barclays. It’s really simple.”

The craziest part...

Fans of Laura Mvula will be singing to the moon soon — the U.K. soul sensation will make a return trip to New York for two September shows. Mvula — whose fine debut album “Sing to the Moon” came out last month — is scheduled to play the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sept. 4 (tickets here beginning noon Friday) and Le Poisson Rouge on Sept. 5 (tickets here). “Sing to the Moon” is so good, it made...

Fans of “The Voice” got to hear Michelle Chamuel’s version of Zedd’s hit “Clarity” during last night’s semifinals, so it seemed only right for Seaford’s Matthew Koma, who co-wrote the song with Zedd, Skylar Grey and Porter Robinson, to release his own take on the song.

Koma posted his acoustic version of the song, currently a Top 3 dance hit for Zedd and singer Foxes, this morning. His collaborations...

For years, the buzz in the music industry – and pretty much every other consumer-driven industry – was about “leaning forward,” as customers took control of their listening experiences and picked exactly what they wanted to hear when they exactly wanted to hear it. People wanted customization, the prognosticators said, they wanted millions of choices and the chance to personalize everything.

That...

“The Voice” semifinals was filled with surprises, though most of them didn’t turn out too well.

Maybe it was Usher’s odd performance of “Twisted” that started things off on the wrong foot. It’s only natural that he releases that song as a single now, considering that it is set to become the summer of Pharrell, who already has hit collaborations with Daft Punk and Robin Thicke.

However,...

Kanye West's set on Sunday, the last night of Governors Ball, began with black-and-white video footage of three lunging, feral dogs, obscured almost entirely by shadow. That turned out to be a good indication of what was to follow: a performance that was all snarl and sinew, ruthlessly lean, defiantly abrasive and relentlessly dark. West's performance came just nine days before the release of his...

The Postal Service shows what a difference a decade can make, celebrating the growth of their album “Give Up” with sold-out shows at Barclays Center Friday and Saturday.

Intro brings you the week’s hottest videos and shows every Monday. To catch up on all the Intros and watch classic Long Island music scene videos, check out Newsday Music’s YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/newsdaymusic.

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