MTV News |
| Paul Wall Looks Ahead After Travis Barker/ DJ AM Crash, Hurricane Ike Posted: 25 Sep 2008 05:00 AM PDT Houston MC describes the track Barker produced for his upcoming album, The Fast Life.
Paul Wall has had little reason to show off his famously iced-out grills in the last two weeks. He hasn't been smiling much. First, on September 13, Hurricane Ike tore through Houston, Wall's hometown. Then his three good friends Travis Barker, DJ AM and "Lil" Chris Baker were in a plane crash on Friday night. Baker and three others were killed, while Barker and AM remain hospitalized in a Georgia burn center. And back in July, he told SOHH.com that his good friend Emanuel Hobbs was killed in a shootout in Houston. "Just sitting at home has been depressing," Wall said, adding that he has spent the past few days "thinking about my friends going through the plane crash, thinking about not having any power [in the city], sulking in my misery." Wall tried to fly to his friends' side upon hearing of the crash Saturday morning, but he couldn't get a flight out of Houston. The airports are still backed up after the hurricane. So after performing at the New Mexico Takeover concert on Sunday, Wall said he would travel to Los Angeles to meet with his friends' families, then visit AM and Barker in Georgia. Luckily, Houston is getting back on its feet, and Wall said he feels comfortable leaving his wife and two kids at home. "Everybody is just trying to get back to normal," he said. "Most of the businesses and stuff lost power, and their windows broke. They had trouble with their roofs. It's just taking a minute for people to get back to normal. Day by day, more people are getting power." Before the fury of Hurricane Ike, Wall had been touring with AM and Barker. "Travis and AM do these shows," Paul explained. "They do, like, an hour-and-a-half set. They remix songs live. All the hottest music from today, the hottest music from the past we grew up listening too. AM will blend different vocals and beats. Travis will just do different drum patterns. It was so off the hook. You've never seen nothing like it ever, till you've seen one of their shows. I do a lot of special appearances where I come out and do a couple of songs for a minute. It's a whole lot of fun." Barker produced several tracks for Wall's next LP, The Fast Life, which is slated to come out around the end of this year or the beginning of next year. Wall said three or four of those should make the cut. "Travis Barker is a fool on the drums, but he got a lot of tricks up his sleeve with the hip-hop scene, on the hip-hop production side," Wall told MTV News at the VMAs. "He produced a few songs on my last album and a few on my upcoming one too. One of them is called 'I've Got to Get Mo'; that one's the best. Another one is called 'Ride It to the End.' Another one is called 'Pop One of These.' We have a lot of fun in the studio every time we get together. 'I've Got to Get Mo' is with an artist named Koby singing the chorus on there. Travis did the production, and he kind of came to me with the idea for the song: 'We got to get it, we got to get out there and hustle, and get our grind on.' That's what the song is about, because work-related wise, you just put in your hours, and you reap the benefits." Chamillionaire, Keak Da Sneak and Lil' Keke also appear on the project. Akon sings on the first single, "Girl Is on Fire." "You know how Akon is. When he gets on there, and he just shut it off, he turned everything upside down," the People's Champ said. "Just like he did on every other song, he produced it as well. We swap out here and there." If you'd like more information on the memorial funds set up to benefit the families of plane-crash victims Chris Baker and Charles Still, visit the Famous Stars and Straps Web site. | |
| Tokio Hotel Worry Their English Isn't 'Cool' But Plan To Translate Next LP Anyway Posted: 25 Sep 2008 05:03 AM PDT Fresh from their VMA win, the boys headed back to Germany to work on Scream follow-up.
Tokio Hotel just won the Best New Artist VMA on the strength of their first English-language album, Scream, and their popularity in the U.S. continues to grow. But though they've been touring in the States and making plenty of public appearances in English all year, the four young Germans say the language barrier is still quite a challenge for them — one they plan to tackle again as they work on their next LP.
"You know it was really hard to do a set, or even to do interviews in English, because in Europe, we always had a translator with us," 19-year-old lead singer Bill Kaulitz said. "I think it's really hard for me ... to sing in English, because it's not my mother tongue. I really wanted it to sound natural [on the album], so it took some time in the studio, and we always wanted to do it this way: first in German, then translate everything into English. The English record is a part of us, and we really wanted to go ahead with that." Bill explained the difficulties of properly translating German slang. "We translate, or we want to, everything," Kaulitz said. "Of course, our German phrases like, 'big cinema,' it's 'grosses Kino' in German. This red carpet is grosses Kino. It's like, 'beautiful,' 'awesome.' " But TH are determined to keep on honing their linguistic skills for their follow-up LP. "First, we write German songs, and we translate some to English," guitarist Tom Kaulitz said. "We have always German records and English records. I think that's the best way." Tom said he worries that because their grasp on the language is so unfamiliar, they come off sounding uncool, or "too grown-up." "Our vocabulary is just school English, so we have no slang, no cool words," he lamented. The guys aren't going to let the language barrier get them down as they head back to the studio. "After America, we directly go back to the studio in Germany, and we are still in the creative process of our next record," Bill said. "So we're writing songs, and we'll be recording some stuff. So we have a lot of work, and then we do the new record, yeah. No, we have no ideas [what we might call the album]." "But it will be a great name and an amazing album," Tom added confidently. Related Videos | |
| Kanye West Moves Up Release Date Of <i>808s And Heartbreak</i> To 'November Something' Posted: 24 Sep 2008 12:17 AM PDT 'I want y'all to hear it as soon as possible,' he writes, avoiding a potential chart rematch with 50 Cent.
The artist behind "Love Lockdown" is about to show the world what he's been doing during his recent musical lockdown. Kanye West says his 808s and Heartbreak album is done, and he's not going to wait until right before Christmas to release it, as was originally planned. He announced Wednesday (September 24), via his KanyeUniverseCity.com blog, that his fourth LP is coming out a lot sooner. "I changed my album to November something, 'cause I finished the album and I felt like it," he posted under a picture of him and Young Jeezy in the studio. "I want y'all to hear it as soon as possible." Kanye's label, Roc-A-Fella/ Def Jam, has not yet released a statement on the date change. In fact, the label never released a statement on the original date, which was December 16. Fans and the media alike were alerted to West's original plans by checking some of their favorite retail Web sites, such as Amazon.com and Target.com, which advertised the late-December release date. West's date change theoretically quashes another SoundScan showdown between him and 50 Cent. 50 had been playfully mocking Kanye and "Love Lockdown" during his shows. The G-Unit's commander in chief has his album, Before I Self Destruct, slated for December 9 — a week before 808s and Heartbreak's original release. Besides imploring fans to download "Love Lockdown" and trumpeting that it's already sold more than 200,000 on iTunes (the track is the #1 song on Apple's music-download site, as of press time), Kanye promised that 50 will love his opus. "I just woke up from a quick studio nap," the Louis Vuitton Don wrote last week. "I've been workin' on 808s and Heartbreak about 16 hours a day, and Superman passed out for a little bit. ... I'm in Hawaii but I'm still on NY time, so I wake up mad early, do some business, blog, jog for an hour, play ball, eat and then hit the stu by noon. While approving the final cut for the 'Love Lockdown' vid, I marvel at the fact that it was written less than three weeks ago. I'm very excited about everything. ... I guarantee this will be 50's favorite album of mine. This will be gangster's album of the year." In between working on his own album, Kanye has been producing Jay-Z's The Blueprint 3 and working on other projects for artists such as T.I. Related Artists | |
| Travis Barker And DJ AM At The VMAs: Watch The Full House-Band Performances Posted: 24 Sep 2008 06:07 AM PDT Check out the duo's collaborations with Katy Perry, LL Cool J and many more in the Newsroom blog.
Related Artists | |
| Simon Cowell, 'Claymates' React To Clay Aiken's Coming Out Posted: 24 Sep 2008 01:21 AM PDT 'I don't think anyone cares,' 'American Idol' judge says, while fans respond with support, disappointment.
Just a day after People magazine unveiled its cover story about Clay Aiken coming out of the closet, Simon Cowell responded to the news in his usual sarcastic fashion. "Wow. That's a shock. It's like being told Santa Claus isn't real," he told "Extra." "Unbelievable." But he did offer some words of support for the singer: "Good for him. If he said it, it's the right thing for him. Good for him." Cowell added that he didn't think the singer's fans should be shocked by the revelation, saying, "I don't think anyone cares. Let's face it: It's 2008. You know. Who cares?" In the years after the singer competed on "American Idol" in 2003, he would neither confirm nor deny his sexuality, despite wild speculation that he was gay. The MTV community has responded mostly with support for Aiken. "Clay ... Aiken ... is ... gay? This is news how? I'm glad he finally came out, though. Good for him! I just don't understand how this is worthy of a magazine cover or any headline," Tess wrote. Mspirate924 said, "So what if he's gay? He came out, and that's his own personal business." Outside of the MTV message boards, it seemed that while many Aiken fans — also known as Claymates — were shocked by the announcement, they wanted to support the "Idol" runner-up. Yenn on the official "American Idol" message board said, "It really makes no difference whether Clay is gay or not. And it's good to see so many people feel the same way." Stilldannysfan echoed the sentiment, congratulating Clay for not only opening up about his sexuality, but also for starting a family. "I am so happy for Clay, both for becoming a proud papa and for finally being honest and open. I am sure the relief he is going to feel at not having to dodge the question over and over is going to be amazing," the commenter said. "Now he can devote all of his energy to raising his son and singing his songs without having to worry about 'everyone finding out.' Oh, and doesn't he look so completely happy holding his son?" Other fans seemed to be in denial about Aiken's decision to come out. VoteForTheWorst.com compiled quotes from a number of fan sites, including one that said, "I think many will realize tomorrow that he is saying he is Happy = Gay. Happy about his new son, Parker. Not that he likes men." Still, others turned their backs on the singer. Another commenter quoted on VoteForTheWorst said, "I was still hoping — wanting to be blind. Now my stomach just feels revolted. It was fun for 5 years. Now for me ... it's over. Wishing Clay all the best." A fan on the Clayboard wrote, "I just wish he would have kept quiet about it instead of blabbing in a major publication. Now I have to endure the humiliation of being proven to be incredibly STUPID! I have donated all my Clay Aiken tee shirts, CDs, etc. to charity and some of the stuff ended up in the landfill, which is a good place for it." Meanwhile, there will always be a commenter or two willing to joke about the whole thing. "In other news, Jon Stewart is Jewish, and Kanye West is a crybaby," a reader going by the handle Leon Doyle Is GOD wrote on MTV.com. Aiken took to his Web site to thank supporters for sticking by his side, according to People.com. "We'll 'talk' more later," Aiken wrote. "But, suffice it to say, for the first time in recent memory, I am speechless. I'm so proud to know and love all of you. "My family is so much larger than Parker, Jaymes, mom, Brett, etc. It extends to each of you," he added. "And I couldn't be more blessed." Related Artists | |
| Barack Obama, John McCain Release Joint Statement On Economic Crisis Posted: 24 Sep 2008 06:41 AM PDT But Obama declines to follow McCain's lead in suspending presidential campaign, postponing debate.
Despite their back-and-forth Wednesday (September 24) about suspending campaigns and potentially postponing their first debate, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama came through with a promised joint statement urging Democrats and Republicans to work together on an economic-bailout package. "The American people are facing a moment of economic crisis," the statement reads. "No matter how this began, we all have a responsibility to work through it and restore confidence in our economy. The jobs, savings, and prosperity of the American people are at stake. Now is a time to come together — Democrats and Republicans — in a spirit of cooperation for the sake of the American people. The plan that has been submitted to Congress by the Bush administration is flawed, but the effort to protect the American economy must not fail. "This is a time to rise above politics for the good of the country," the statement continues. "We cannot risk an economic catastrophe. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country." President Bush addressed the country on Wednesday night to lay out his plan for the economy. In the speech, Bush said he invited Obama and McCain, as well as other key congressional leaders, to a White House meeting to hammer out a massive financial-rescue plan. Both senators have agreed to the meeting. Just hours before the joint statement was released, Obama announced that he would not be following McCain's lead in suspending his presidential campaign and asking for a delay of Friday's debate. "This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess," Obama said. "It will be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once. I think there's no reason why we can't be constructive in helping to solve this problem and also tell the American people what we believe and where we stand and where we want to take the country. In my mind, actually, it's more important than ever that we present ourselves to the American people and try to describe where we want to take the country and where we want to take the economy." Calling it a moment of "great uncertainty in America," Obama warned that if Congress doesn't act soon, "People's jobs, people's savings, the economic security of millions of Americans will be put at risk." Like McCain, Obama called on Democrats and Republicans, and the White House and Congress, to come together to figure out a solution to the worst economic crisis to face the country since the Great Depression. It was in that bipartisan spirit, Obama said, that he reached out to McCain on Wednesday morning after determining that "many of the principles that I had set forth were ones that Senator McCain had adopted as well, in terms of how this financial proposal should be structured." Obama credited Republican Senator Tom Coburn with suggesting that the presidential rivals issue a joint statement about the financial crisis to show their unity on the issue. Obama verified that McCain called him back at 2:30 p.m. and that he urged McCain to join in issuing the statement "to let this Congress and this administration know where we stand and what we expect from this proposal." Among the four principles Obama has suggested to guide the bailout are: a bipartisan accountability board to monitor where the money goes, treating the American public like investors, and giving "every penny" back once the economy recovers, helping homeowners struggling to stay in their homes and making sure Wall Street executives don't profit from the crisis. Saying he's been in constant contact with the leadership in Congress, Obama added that he's also been in daily contact with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, but that these difficult days are proof that "there are times for politics, and there are times to rise above politics and do what's right for the country." The brief address was followed by a question-and-answer session, a pointed attempt by Obama, it seemed, to further distance himself from McCain, who has drawn fire lately for his lack of availability — as well as the virtual media blackout on his vice-presidential running mate Sarah Palin — and his infrequent Q&A's with the press, with whom the Arizona senator had long had a cordial relationship. After Obama reached out to McCain, he said the Republican agreed to the joint statement and added that the two should have a meeting in Washington with congressional leaders and perhaps President Bush. Stressing that the statement should come out first to show their bipartisan spirit, Obama said he found out that McCain had announced the suspension of his campaign shortly after their 2:30 phone call. Obama said he would not be following McCain's lead and suspending his campaign or pulling his ads from the air because of his feeling that it's important that the American people see the men who could potentially be dealing with this issue over the next couple of months. "We need to be focused on solving the problem, as I have been over the last several days," he said. "But I think it is also important that we communicate to the American people where we need to go in getting out of this situation." Obama pledged to make himself available to be "anywhere, anytime" to help with the bailout negotiations but said it might not be helpful to "suddenly infuse" the process with potentially distracting presidential politics during the delicate negotiations. [This story was originally published at 6:13 p.m. ET on 9.24.2008]
Get informed! Head to Choose or Lose for nonstop coverage of the 2008 presidential election, including everything from the latest news on the candidates to on-the-ground multimedia reports from our 51 citizen journalists, MTV and MySpace's Presidential Dialogues, and much more. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from MTV News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
Inbox too full?  Subscribe to the feed version of MTV News in a feed reader. | |
| If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: MTV News, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar