There aren’t too many couples who the First Family of Hip-Hop, Jay-Z and Beyonce, are outshone by when they enter a party. But the First Family of the United States of America is one of them. Jay-Z and Obama’s burgeoning bromance continued at a fundraiser thrown by Z at his 40/40 Club in Manhattan. So much for the separation of Hova and state.

In a sentence that didn’t start with “I’mma let you finish,” Kanye West once called Swizz Beats “the best rap producer of all time.” From one heavyweight producer to another, that alone should be enough to secure Swizz Beatz’ seat in the hip-hop canon. Let’s check out some of his best beats for this edition of the Friday Mixtape.

Here are 31 GIFs of our favourite diva being equal parts fun and fierce. Can you think of a better way to celebrate Beyoncé’s 31st birthday? I mean, we did it for Kanye’s 35th birthday, so it just felt right. Thank you Internet, and happy birthday Bey!

Residents of Cole World were gifted with a special treat from their fearless leader last week, in the form of brand new music. After almost 100 days of Twitter-silence, J. Cole tweeted a link to “The Cure,” hosted on his new blog Dreamvillain, named after his upstart label Dreamville Records.

Thanks to some choice chart-sleuthing by Idolator, we now know that P!nk has more Top 10 singles than both Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. P!nk’s new single “Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” rose a whopping 40 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 in its second week, and is now sitting pretty at #9. Could she be gunning for Carly Rae, who’s sitting comfortably in her throne atop the chart for her sixth consecutive week?

As we edge closer to November, the presidential election campaign is getting heated. Beyoncé is officially throwing her weight behind the Obamas, and she appeared in a recent campaign video reading an open letter she wrote for Michelle in April.

Have you ever wondered what pop stars would look like if they were working class, regular folk like you and me? What if they didn’t have the time or money to hire personal trainers, nutritionists, make-up artists, and stylists? What if Fergie never really hit it big with the Black Eyed Peas, and spent the rest of her life as an aging Vegas cocktail waitress?

Can you handle this? It’s been seven years since Destiny’s Child went on hiatus, spawning three separate solo careers of varying success. Now, it seems, we’ll finally get to hear some new music from the “Independent Women” who ruled the R&B charts in the 90s and 00s.

Jeff Bhasker is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer who works closely with Kanye West, and produces for some of the biggest stars in music. Recently, he’s been attributed with bringing New York City-based band fun. to the next level. On this edition of Friday Mixtape, let’s listen to some of Jeff Bhasker’s finest work.

The BET Awards were this Sunday, and if you’re Canadian, you were probably too preoccupied with fireworks and national pride to take in one of hip-hop and R&B’s biggest award shows. Rather than focus on each and every nugget of interest, we thought we’d bring you a brief recap of five of the most show-stopping-est moments from the broadcast.