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| T.I.'s <i>Paper Trail</i> Push: Big Shows + Bigger Sales = His Biggest Album Yet? Posted: 14 Oct 2008 05:00 AM PDT 'To come out with an album and the shows we've been doing, it's powerful,' DJ Drama tells MTV News.
It almost feels like you have to have an official "T.I. Watch." Every show this guy has done since Paper Trail dropped has been an event. He's brought out Jay-Z, Lupe Fiasco, Rihanna and Kanye West, and last night, a very pregnant M.I.A. helped him tear down Brooklyn on "Swagger Like Us."
"Man, I don't really know how to explain it," said DJ Drama, Tip's resident turntablist. "Blessings are coming — rightfully so. Even [Sunday] night, Tip said to me, 'If M.I.A. doesn't do the song tonight, we can't do that song. The song is too big. It's an event.' To have that song on your roster, to come out with an album and the shows we've been doing, it's powerful. It's a lot of statements. It shows where he is in his career." Just like he was last year, and the year before that and the year before that, Tip is at the pinnacle. The King of the South seems to reach new professional milestones each year. There are great debates going on across the country about whether Paper Trail is his best album yet. Artistically, it's certainly up there with his most classic material, and last week, the album posted his biggest first-week sales ever. DJ Drama says Paper Trail is to T.I. what The Blueprint was to Jay-Z. "Clearly, I think it's good management, and everybody is playing their part for Tip to be able to work on a movie ['Bone Deep'], put the album out and do these shows and still finish up his other obligations," Dram said. "On the other aspect, on the off day we had in New York, he spent it with his kids, taking them to the movies and to the pier. We also been doing '[The] Tyra Banks [Show]' and 'The View.' He's steady showing his place. Showing the hats he wears. If he's tired, I can't tell. But he's still a pretty young guy. He can handle it. It'll be fine." As far as pulling off these big-name guest appearances, the M.I.A. collaboration was an 11th-hour decision. Other onstage love fests, like Kanye West's and Rihanna's surprise appearances a couple of weeks ago in L.A., are planned out a day or two in advance. Kanye didn't confirm until about an hour and half before the show, because he was working on 808s and Heartbreak and flying in from Hawaii. The New York show on September 30 — the day Paper Trail was released — with Jay-Z, Swizz Beatz and Lupe Fiasco was plotted more in advance. It's NYC — you know you have to be big regardless. Jigga did throw a little audible in the mix, switching up the order on "Swagger Like Us." "I didn't have the instrumental to 'Swagger,' " Drama said. "I got the instrumental from Green Lantern the day of the show. It was so good that I got it, because I went up to Jay to go talk to him about coming out. He was like, 'Let Tip go first, and I'll go second.' So really, Tip rocked on where Kanye's part was. Then Jay came out. Me having the instrumental enabled me to set up for that. With Kanye, I was in the dressing room when they said, 'We need "Love Lockdown." ' [Kanye's camp members] Plain Pat and Don C came and gave me the new song 'Heartless.' Just little things, doing that. It's fun for me being back in this position with a new album, because you got a lot of new songs to perform and putting them in the right place and fitting them in [the show]." Related Videos Related Artists | |
| Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel Speak At Barack Obama Rally In Las Vegas Posted: 13 Oct 2008 05:16 AM PDT 'We've never been so inspired by one person,' Timberlake tells fellow Obama supporters.
Justin Timberlake and girlfriend Jessica Biel made an appearance at a Barack Obama rally in Las Vegas on Saturday, with JT telling attendees, "We've never publicly endorsed before, but we've never been so inspired by one person," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. "I'm not here as some dude who writes goofy songs," Timberlake told the crowd from the stage of the Clark County Government Center amphitheater. "Me and Jess, we're here as Americans. We're here as humans, because this is something we had to do." According to Us Weekly, Timberlake performed a new version of his popular "Saturday Night Live" song "Di-- in a Box," renaming it "Vote in a Box." Speaking for about a half-hour, the duo urged fans to vote for the Democratic presidential nominee. Timberlake spoke using a printed-out list of talking points. Biel spoke out about women's rights, saying, "Nobody should be able to say what you can do with your body." But it wasn't all serious. He and Biel also joked with the crowd, with Justin telling everyone, "I give Jess the right to choose where we go to eat all the time. The funny thing is, what the woman chooses is usually right." "Brownie points for you," Biel responded. "I know where my bread is buttered," Timberlake joked. University of Nevada student Felice Garcia spoke to the Review-Journal after the rally, saying how great it was that Timberlake and Biel made the effort to attend. "I really respect him for that," Garcia said. "He obviously cares about this."
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. Related Artists | |
| David Banner Hones His Producing Skills With Lil Wayne, Chris Brown, T.I. Posted: 14 Oct 2008 05:00 AM PDT Rapper brought the studio with him on Hip-Hop Live! Tour, which he's co-headlining with Talib Kweli.
While David Banner the rapper is going out on tour with Talib Kweli, David Banner the producer recently submitted new tracks to Lil Wayne and T.I. and is especially pleased with a song he made with "Get Like Me" co-star Chris Brown. "With Chris Brown, we worked on a song called 'Save Me,' " Banner recently said in L.A. "It's wonderful. He was actually influenced by what happened during the hurricanes. It's really a gospel song, to be honest with you. And for me to be able to influence Chris in that way, for him to want to take his career to a whole 'nother level and really gamble in that direction, I was really, really impressed." Banner, who also has a lucrative side gig as an actor, says his records are very much in demand as an MC and as a track master. Who is he to fight the momentum? "I'm producing two songs on Lil Wayne's album," Banner said. "I really can't get into that. ... Everyone's asking for a beat, so you got to get it while it's hot. Right now, you name it, I'm working with them. You know, just working on everybody we can get close to. I can tell you the thing I'm most excited about: I just finished working with Quincy Jones. We redid [George Benson's] 'Give Me the Night' with Jamie Foxx. We produced it, me and Warren Campbell. You check that out, it's going to be wonderful also." Banner and Kweli are currently co-headlining the Sony-sponsored Hip-Hop Live! Tour. B.O.B. and Little Brother will open during various stops. The outing started earlier this month and runs through October 25 at New York's Nokia Theatre Times Square. "We're coming to a city close to you," DB promised. "Inside the tour bus, we have studios. We're going all over America, a lot of places where rap concerts don't stop. And what's going to be amazing about this tour is that we're getting out there touching people, getting out there being with the fans. You have to be in front of everything going on, so we record [while on tour]." The remaining Hip-Hop Live! Tour dates, according to the promoters: » 10/16 - Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution | |
| M.I.A. Confirms Pregnancy: 'I'm Creating A Baby' Posted: 12 Oct 2008 10:24 PM PDT Child will be first for artist and her fiance, Ben Brewer.
M.I.A. stirred up quite a commotion Saturday night when she performed at the Diesel xXx Rock + Roll Circus in Brooklyn. Dressed in very tight spandex, she was displaying a reasonably large baby bump. And if the belly wasn't confirmation enough, she confirmed the news to Pitchfork Media earlier in the evening. "I'm creating a baby," she told the Web site. Over the summer, it was rumored that she had canceled her summer tour plans because she was with child. "When I found out I was pregnant and 'Paper Planes' was in the iTunes top 10," the singer said, "it seemed like the whole world was reshuffled in one week, and all my plans went out the window. And that's the lesson ... you can't make plans, and you can't say sh--." She is expecting the baby with her fiancé, the Exit lead singer Ben Brewer, who also happens to be the son of Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. She didn't reveal any details about the gender or how far along she is, but she did have this very important message for her young fans: "I got engaged first, then I got pregnant, kids." Although the singer says she's hard at work on the follow-up to Kala, she says that she has other things she has to do first. "I have to do the rounds — go see my family and show them the belly," she said. This is the first child for the couple. Related Photos Related Artists | |
| Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz Explains Why <i>Folie A Deux</i> Is Now Coming Out December 16 Posted: 13 Oct 2008 03:46 AM PDT Delay may not be election-related after all.
These days, albums are delayed for all sorts of reasons, but Fall Out Boy's Folie à Deux could be the first in history to get bumped for patriotic purposes. In a statement posted Monday (October 13) on FriendsOrEnemies.com, FOB announced that Folie, which was originally — and very pointedly — scheduled to hit stores November 4, is being delayed because the band felt that the upcoming presidential election is too important to be mocked. Seriously. "Six months ago, we thought it would be a fun idea to release our album on Election Day, but this is not the election to be cute. This is the most important election of our time and, as much as the record is a social commentary and the term 'folie à deux' is relevant to the candidates, we felt as though rather than making a commentary, we were only riding the wave of the election. This seemed less and less like what we intended to do and more of a gimmick," their statement read in part. "While we have all individually expressed our positions on the candidates that we support, we feel that many of the interviews and press for the record have skewed us into a partisan band. We never intended to be the band that shoved our ideas down people's throats. We only hope people look at the bigger picture and investigate the issues further on their own." So, just when will Folie see the light of day? Why, that's a very good question — which is why we e-mailed FOB's Pete Wentz to find the answer. And after a day spent searching for a reliable Internet connection in Europe (where Fall Out are on tour), he finally got back to us. "Folie à Deux will be released on December 16. While that late in the year may be a surprise to some, we felt that it was important to get our record out this year for our fans," he wrote. "Though this is not the date we had originally planned, nor the optimal date according to some demographic marketing analysis, we put our eight feet down [and] told our label it must come out this year. We're already bummed enough that Chinese Democracy is gonna beat us to release." So there you have it. No reason was given for the delay, and while the whole "this is the most important election of our time" thing does seem rather, well, honorable, it might not be entirely valid. For months, there have been whispers that FOB might be at odds with their label, Island Def Jam, over the handling of the album. Just a few weeks back, Pete Wentz publically fumed about a product-placement-heavy version of their "I Don't Care" video that debuted on iTunes without the band's permission — and Monday's statement doesn't exactly shy away from placing the onus squarely on the label. It also probably didn't help matters that the label already has a rather stacked November release schedule, with both the Killers' Day and Age and Kanye West's 808s and Heartbreaks due later in the month. (MTV News' calls to Island Def Jam for comment on the situation had not been returned at press time). In the meantime, Fall Out Boy promised fans that they would make up for the Folie delay by adding "a surprise or two to the record," including a "golden ticket" campaign and a new preorder scheme "that will take into account the current state of our economy." They also wrote that they would honor all existing preorders for the album and announced plans for a special fans-only small-club tour, to kick off when Folie was supposed to hit stores. "We are extremely sorry, but we feel that we are doing this for reasons that suit our ideals and are unselfish," they wrote. "We are now playing a select series of extremely small-club shows in the States in November. This will not be a tour and will not be in areas we have played in a while. These shows will take place in extremely small clubs that we played in prior to Take This to Your Grave. Tickets will be very affordable and only available on day of." [This story was originally published at 1:59 pm E.T. on 10.13.08.] Related Videos Related Artists | |
| The Virgins Thought Their Music Would Be In 'Gilmore Girls,' Not 'Gossip Girl'! Posted: 13 Oct 2008 12:57 AM PDT 'I was like, 'I don't know if that sounds right!' ' singer Donald Cumming says.
Gossip Girls Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen enjoy the finer things in life. Shopping? Bergdorf. Dancing? Socialista. Music? The Virgins. Who? The New York rockers found themselves thrust into the mainstream last year when the producers of "Gossip Girl" used their EP as the soundtrack for an episode of the show.
"I think it made a big difference for people knowing about us," lead singer Donald Cumming told MTV News, with some understatement. "[When the producers approached us,] I kept thinking 'Gilmore Girls' ... and I was like, 'I don't know if that sounds right!' " Cumming was relieved, however, when he learned the band's music would actually appear in "Gossip Girl," which is a much better fit. "I was like, 'Oh, perfect, good.' And then we watched it and it was excellent — those girls are very, very entertaining!" The feeling is mutual. "They have a great sound," Jessica Szohr, who plays Vanessa on the show, gushed at a recent Virgins gig. "They're such great guys." (Head over to the Newsroom blog for John Norris' report on his interview with the Virgins.) But despite the approval from the younger members of the cast, this probably isn't a band that Blair or Serena's mom would approve of. (In fact, who is the queen bee of "Gossip Girl"? Tell us your opinion!) Cumming met future bandmate Wade Oates at a nude photo shoot in Mexico that was organized by friend and famed photographer Ryan McGinley. "We got there and they were like, 'Everybody strip! You're going to be naked for 10 days!' Cumming recalled. "[One day] soldiers pulled up to the beaches with M16's, and we're all completely naked, just eating fish. We were like, 'Hi guys!' But they were sweet and liked that the girls were naked, so they hung out for the rest of the day." When they weren't "working," Cumming and Oates passed the time by playing acoustic guitars and talking about music. "That trip hit a reset button," Cumming recalled. "Like, even the songs I've always loved, there was something really exciting about hearing them again. We just knew we wanted to play music together." When the two returned to New York a friend of Cumming's introduced him to bassist Nick Zarin-Ackerman, a more experienced musician. "I know how to jam in a room of stoned people, but I don't know how to arrange instruments for a live show," Cumming said. "When we played with Nick I was like, 'Maybe there is [our] chance — I just have to make sure this guy is in it.' " The three wrote and recorded for a year before adding drummer Erik Ratensperger to the lineup. The band spread the word by handing out their demo to local DJs. "We used to make the songs in my room and take them straight to a party and be like, 'Hey! Play this!' " Cumming said. "The goal was to make music that we could listen to that night." Their third gig — opening for Patti Smith and Sonic Youth at Paris fashion week — didn't hurt either: The band was invited by friend/designer Agnes B. "We said yes because we're all pretty stupid," Cumming joked. Evidently not: Before long, the band was selling out local shows and had caught the ears of "Gossip Girl" producers. But despite being signed to a major (Cumming said he used his impressive connections to "weasel" his way into a deal with Atlantic in 2006, before the band was even really a band), the guys don't seem too worried about album sales. Cumming claimed he doesn't even know what SoundScan is. "We don't stress how seriously we're taken," he said. "We wanted to build it more naturally and be more successful because of the number of fans we have," Zarin-Ackerman added. "We don't want to be some candy bar the record company throws at your head. Let's try to make this thing live on the shoulders of people who actually like the music." Related Videos Related Artists |
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