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Rapper Jay-Z attended the opening night of the Broadway musical “Fela!” Monday night (Nov 23) at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in New York City. “Fela!” is a broadway show celebrating Fela Kuti’s trend setting musical talent, which was responsible for “Afrobeat” and the roots of “funk.”

Jay-Z stepped up and gave the show some money when they ran into financial trouble at the beginning of their production because he, along with Will Smith (also an investor for the production), believed the broadway musical had an important story that need to be told.

Jigga walked the red carpet for the opening of “Fela!” last night and expressed his enthusiasm for the late Nigerian superstar. “It’s an inspiration, about the power of music. Here’s a guy that’s on the other side of the world who was influenced by James Brown, who takes this thing and makes his own sort of genre of music,” Jay said. “I just think it’s fascinating.”

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R&B singing group Day 26 announced today (Tues Nov 24) that they have left Diddy’s Bad Boy recording label and will remain on the imprint’s former parent label Atlantic Records. Diddy left Atlantic for Interscope back in late in September. And even though the guys of Day 26 are no longer with Bad Boy, group member Willie Taylor tells The BoomBox that there’s no bad blood between them.

“Bad Boy is always our family, but we’re with Atlantic right now.

“We really want to get people focused on the artistry, on the music,” Taylor explained. “I think a lot of people lost it with the entertainment of the show. So now, we really want to show people what we’re all about, that we do our thing whether its on stage, in the studio, writing and producing — we do it all.”

The band plan to hit the studio at the beginning of next year to record album three. “We’re very excited about it. We know exactly what the fans are expecting from us on this third album. We’re going to take the gloves off, really go for it. A lot of people thought Day 26 weren’t going to be here but we’re still standing.”

Earlier this year the group flexed their design muscle releasing a woman’s shoe line called Eight2Six. Their first product the Swaggaa Heel can be purchased online and is available in three different colors. “You can wear them at all times. You never have to take them off,” group member Brian Andrews promised.

Good for them! Being off from under Diddy’s umbrella is going to do wonders for their career…

Following the 2009 American Music Awards Sunday night (Nov 22) in Los Angeles, instead of going straight to the after parties, a few celebrities opted to walk across the street to see what was going on at the Staples Center as the Los Angeles Lakers took on the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Lakers came out on top with a final score of 101 to 85 and folks like Jay-Z, Polow Da Don, Fergie, Alex Rodriguez and more were all there to witness it from their courtside seats. Continue reading for more pics!

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