Jay-Z, Kanye, Rihanna to "Run This Town" On "Leno Show" Premiere

Jay Leno has locked up an impressive first musical guest for the September 14th premiere episode of The Jay Leno Show, as Jay-Z, Kanye West and Rihanna will all take the studio stage to perform the newest single of Jigga's The Blueprint 3, "Run This Town." Unless something major happens between now and September 14th, the performance on the Leno Show will also mark Rihanna's first time holding a microphone onstage since her February 8th altercation with Chris Brown.

Leno himself broke the news at the NBC Critics Association panel yesterday when discussing his new show, which jumps from late night to a daily prime-time slot at 10 p.m. "I always come on strong!," Leno told Access Hollywood after revealing the trio of stars would perform on his opening night. When Leno left the airwaves and The Tonight Show in May, James Taylor served as his last musical guest; Pearl Jam performed on the debut episode of The Tonight Show With Conan O'Brien.

(Click here for Jay Leno discussing his new gig with Rolling Stone.)

Jay-Z's "Run This Town" on Leno comes three days after The Blueprint 3 and its instrument-heavy artwork is released on September 11th. The performance will likely be the first time Jigga showcases the song on television — the track made its way onto his All Points West set list — as well as the first time audiences see the triumvirate of Kanye, Rihanna and Jay-Z perform the song together.

As Rock Daily previously reported, The Blueprint 3 will also feature guest spots from Kid Cudi, Drake and MGMT, as well as one track produced by Timbaland.

Related Stories:
• Jay-Z Talks "Blueprint 3" Album Cover: "It's Still About Music"
• Jay-Z Breaks Out Blizzard of Hits, Pays Tribute to Michael Jackson at All Points West
• Rihanna Returns and Kanye West Shines on Jay-Z's "Run This Town"

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Song Stories

“The Pretender”

Foo Fighters | 2007

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."

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