Jay-Z Includes Empire of the Sun's Luke Steele in His 'Blueprint'

Posted on Sep 4th 2009 1:30PM by Benjy Eisen
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When drawing up the blueprints for his new album, 'The Blueprint 3,' Jay-Z included all the conspirators you'd expect: Kanye West, Rihanna, Pharrell, Alicia Keys and so on. But leading the pack on track number one, 'What We Talkin' About,' is Emperor Luke Steele of the electronic duo Empire of the Sun. Steele has had a meteoric rise to fame but the Jay-Z collaboration is sure to skyrocket him even further when the album drops Sept. 11.

"It happened kind of rapidly," Steele tells Spinner. "Kanye West had heard Empire a few weeks before and Jay-Z heard Empire on 'Entourage.' I was going to fly to New York but I couldn't get a plane there on time, so I tracked it at home and sent it back." (Yes, despite the name, the Emperor doesn't have his own air force yet.)

Jay-Z didn't seem to mind the e-commuting. "The main man, the Elvis of hip-hop, Jay-Z called," says Steele. "He loved what I'd done, and that was that, pretty much."

Empire of the Sun are currently at home in Perth, Australia preparing for their first ever live performances later this month and working on their empire-building. So far, they're off to a pretty good start.