Photo: Allan/WireImage

Earlier this week, Rolling Stone received a press release about a new Jay-Z song called “Crispy Benjamins,” featuring a sample of Regina Spektor’s “Chemo Limo.” The announcement seemed official, yet somewhat dubious: The song was to be released in “late 2009,” but this announcement came less than three weeks after The Blueprint 3 dropped, and the three months left in 2009 seemed too soon for a BP3 reissue. According to MTV, however, “Crispy Benjamins” may be destined for an upcoming Jigga greatest hits collection that might be released on November 24th.

However, Jay-Z’s old label Def Jam is supposedly releasing the greatest hits collection, the third in the rapper’s career, but “Crispy Benjamins” was recorded for Atlantic’s BP3, so it remains unclear if Def Jam would even have access to the track, which falls under Jay’s RocNation umbrella. The plot thickens.

The track was produced by Mirk of the New Familiar Music Group, whose members attended the SUNY Purchase Music Conservatory along with Spektor. According to the press release, which neither Jay-Z reps or Mirk claim they’re responsible for sending, Jay-Z officially purchased the Spektor sample on September 17th.

In other Jay-Z news, the rapper and Alicia Keys were spotted filming their video for BP3’s “Empire State of Mind” around Tribeca and Ground Zero in New York City yesterday, MTV reports. Music video director extraordinaire Hype Williams will helm the clip. The pair previously performed the track at the MTV Video Music Awards, where they got an unexpected assist from Lil’ Mama.

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