Celebrity Mound

Saturday night during All-Star Weekend in LA, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and LeBron James took take over Craft and CAA in Los Angeles, California to co-host the Fifth Annual TWO KINGS Dinner & After Party presented by Bing.

Among the guests at the dinner, which featured a menu by Top Chef Tom Colicchio, were: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the evening’s guest speaker, Beyonce, Leonardo DiCaprio with girlfriend Bar Rafaeli, Ellen Pompeo with husband Chris Ivery, Kanye West, Lyor Cohen with girlfriend designer Tory Burch, Ron Howard and Jerry Bruckheimer. After Ballmer addressed the VIP crowd, Jay-Z and LeBron reflected on their day with the children at the Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club, and announced that next year’s dinner will benefit underprivileged kids to help foster their success.

After dinner, guests migrated over to the CAA building and enjoyed musical sets by DJs D Nice and DJ Mick Boogie. Seen mingling at the after party were: Ciara, Rihanna, David Arquette, Drake, Gayle King, Jamie Foxx, Ryan Philippe, Reggie Bush and Vin Diesel, amongst many others. Just past midnight, Jay-Z and Rihanna celebrated her 23rd birthday with a shot, as the DJ played her hit “What’s My Name,” to which she danced the night away.

Jay-Z and Rihanna toast to her 23rd birthday on Sunday night at the 5th Annual Two Kings Dinner and After-Party, presented by Bing

Jay-Z and LeBron James host the 5th Annual Two Kings Dinner and After-Party, presented by Bing

Ne-Yo and Rihanna attend the 5th Annual Two Kings Dinner and After-Party, presented by Bing

Hosts Jay-Z and LeBron James with Young Jeezy, Kanye West and Ne-Yo at the 5th Annual Two Kings Dinner and After-Party, presented by Bing

Ron Howard and Jerry Bruckheimer pay tribute to Jay-Z with his signature “diamond” hand sign at the 5th Annual Two Kings Dinner and After-Party, presented by Bing

Dwyane Wade, Gabrielle Union, Gayle King, and Drake attend the 5th Annual Two Kings Dinner and After-Party, presented by Bing

Host Jay-Z and Sean “Diddy” Combs at the 5th Annual Two Kings Dinner and After-Party, presented by Bing

Rihanna and John Legend attend the 5th Annual Two Kings Dinner and After-Party, presented by Bing

David Arquette and Jamie Foxx attend the 5th Annual Two Kings Dinner and After-Party, presented by Bing

Photo credit: Johnny Nunez/NUBUZZ PHOTO

Hip-hop magnate and Nets minority owner Jay-Z has said publicly that he’s not going to pressure his friend LeBron James to join his team, but who says he can’t seduce him a little?

On Friday, less than a week before a handful of NBA ball clubs travel to Ohio to woo the soon-to-be free agent into one of their jerseys, King James spent some quality time with Jay-Z in New York, and got a taste of the super-swank life that could be his if he made the Nets his team.

James made a surprise appearance at the 40th birthday party for branding guru Steve Stoute that took place Friday night at a magnificent seventh-floor roof garden at Rockefeller Center. (In addition to being a close friend of Jay-Z’s, Stoute is the founder of Translations, the marketing firm that has put James together with McDonald’s and other deep-pocketed corporate sponsors.)

At the party, LeBron – who’s no stranger to VIP treatment – got the full Jay-Z Family experience: he arrived with the rapper and his wife Beyoncé. Mary J. Blige was also on hand. He ate a meal catered by Chef April Bloomfield and the staff of the Spotted Pig, which counts Jay-Z as an investor. (Dishes included beef and Stilton pie and Arctic char; and at 2 a.m., breakfast with something called “steak and egg biscuits” was served.) And helping the crowd work off all those calories was Beyoncé’s sister Solange Knowles, who played deejay for the evening.

According to another well-placed source, Jay-Z had plans to hang with LeBron on Thursday as well. The source says that Jay-Z had planned to make a midnight appearance with James at the NBA Draft Party that took place Thursday night at his 40/40 Club on W. 25th St. But, after spending the day working on his greatest hits CD, the rapper was “tired and hungry” and left James to his own devices, and the NBA star landed at Avenue with Blige.

Jay-Z’s night out with James won’t sit well with the New York Knicks. Reports say the Knicks scrapped plans to fete James with a pull-out-all-the-stops dinner in the city when they learned that James wouldn’t be wooed in NYC. The NBA star’s manager Maverick Carter announced that ball clubs would have to make the pilgrimage to Ohio to pitch James.

And it looks like Jay-Z has that angle covered as well. On Thursday, July 1, the day that James officially becomes a free agent, the rapper reportedly will travel to Akron, Ohio, with Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, where the Nets are first in line to make an official play for the forward. But with rumors floating that James is taking a good hard look at the Chicago Bulls, let’s hope Jay-Z was putting the full-court press on his friend this past weekend.