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HALL OF FAME ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Tha Carter III was named the "#1 most anticipated album of 2007" by XXL, but was changed to a 2008 release date.[3][4] The cover, featuring a baby picture of Lil Wayne, follows designs of album covers done by rappers Nas (Illmatic) and The Notorious B.I.G. (Ready to Die).

Album leak

After most of the album leaked on the Internet in mid-2007, Lil Wayne used the leaked tracks, plus four new songs to make an album titled The Leak.[3] The Leak was to be officially released on December 18, 2007, with the actual album being delayed until June 10, 2008.[5] When questioned about the unplanned leak, Lil Wayne said:

We have to find out exactly what's out there. I'll probably just [collect] all the songs that's floating around and make my own mixtape called "The Leak" since people want the music so bad. To tell you the truth though, there's a song I did with Kanye West out there—of course you want to save that for your album, but the rest of them songs probably wouldn't have made the album. There's a song floating around that says 'produced by Timbaland'; Tim didn't produce that record though.[6]

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HALL OF FAME ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Usher originally hoped to release it in November 2007;[6] it will finally see release on May 27th, 2008.[5] The album's cover shows a license plate 1126, the date of his son's birth.

Songs for the album have been recorded with Jermaine Dupri,[6] Dre & Vidal,[7] and Polow da Don.

In an April appearance on MTV's TRL, Usher stated that Beyoncé and Jay-Z will both appear on his album.[8] Beyonce is featured in the album's second single, "Love in This Club, Part II", while Jay-Z will appear in "Best Thing".

Dupri also talked about the album: "Usher's album is more about teaching men [that] at some point, you gotta grow up. And growing up is respecting a woman and having a woman in your life and taking care of your woman. That's his definition of growing up."[5]

VH1 was given a preview of the album and added summaries of each song to its blog.[9]

Usher performed "Love in This Club" live for the first time in the U.S. at the after-party for the season finale of MTV's "The Hills". He was joined onstage by Young Jeezy.[10]

He also appeared on the season finale of Saturday Night Live on May 17, 2008, performing "This Ain't Sex" and "Love in This Club". Usher performed at Radio 1's Big Weekend at Mote Park in the U.K. on Saturday, May 10.[11] Usher is scheduled to perform on the "BET Awards 2008" in Los Angeles on June 24th.[12]

MuchMusic was given the rights to stream Here I Stand a full week before it hits stores.[13]

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