Made In America Festival reveals 2013 lineup

Following last year's monster success, Philadelphia's 2013 Made In America Festival has revealed its stunning second-year lineup.

Leading the charge is Beyonce, which seems like less of a big deal when you remember that Jay-Z is curating the whole ordeal. Alongside her will be Lollapalooza headliners Nine Inch Nails and Phoenix, with Deadmau5 as the head electronica act.

The mid and undercard are swelling as well, with Queens of the Stone Age, Kendrick Lamar, Miguel, A$AP Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, Public Enemy, Calvin Harris, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul, Solange Knowles, and still many more.

The lineup was revealed today via Spotify, which has a mixtape that reveals every artist here. Public sale for tickets will begin April 17, and will be held in Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Labor Day weekend.

Monday Bears: Kanye West and Jay-Z at the VMA's

Early into last night's VMA's (the only post this year you'll get from it), Kanye and new dad Jay-Z brought out "Otis" to a massive stage entrance, putting a lot on the performance aspect side of the show to literal shame. Don't worry about anything else that might have happened last night.

Kanye West & Jay-Z - Otis (Live at the VMA's)

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music, JAY Z and Kanye West

Monday Bears: A Small Grammy Reflection

Last night the 52 annual Grammy Awards saw some of the biggest names in the music industry come together to reflect and perform some of the best music of the past year. Beyonce and Taylor Swift were the night's biggest winners, with Ms. Knowles taking home six awards, a record for any female recording artist. Swift, winner of four awards, took the night's highest honor, winning coveted album of the year for her sophomore release Fearless.

It's hard. It's hard being an honest and fair music critic, although I don't have an official title to say so, and take The Grammy Awards with not only a grain of salt, but just a flat out acceptance of it. As far as award shows go (and we're talking serious awards -- no Kid's (z) Choice Awards, or MTV Movie Awards or anything like that), The Grammy's must be so low on the latter of credibility that it's a comparable joke next to the Oscars and Emmy's.

Trent Reznor explained it better last night with more profound clarity:

"The Grammy's = the old guard/old media propping up their puppets trying to convince the outside world (and each other) that they're still relevant."

Much like Rolling Stone, the Grammy's always seem to try to connect with the younger demographic but inevitably falters and hands out their honors to the "old guard." Herbie Hancock winning album of the year in 2008, covering Joni Mitchell's Blue? Allison Krauss and Robert Plant beating out Radiohead for album of year in 2009? Certainly.

It's an unfortunate psycho-analytical response towards giving who what people feel they deserve. More often than not, the awards go towards those whose careers stand taller than others, regardless of whether or not their work that year was superior. And I say that year in italics because the limit of what can actually be nominated is beyond me.

So, congratulations to Swift and Knowles for their achievements, however they come to claim them. 2011 will likely spin the same results we've seen in the past several years (a'hem, decades). Here's to predictability and static constancy.