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| Kanye West, Young Jeezy And More Go-To Guest Artists Of 2008 (Who Aren't Lil Wayne Or T-Pain) Posted: 31 Dec 2008 05:00 AM PST Ludacris, Ne-Yo and Jay-Z also improved songs with their notable cameos.
We know that Lil Wayne and T-Pain are the top-two guest appearances in the game either way you rank them. In 2008, the two worked with just about everybody, from T.I. to Fall Out Boy. Bankable! Having T-Wayne on your record practically guaranteed you big airplay on at least one radio format. Who else put it down this year? Glad you asked. We ranked our top cameo performers of 2008 not named T-Pain or Weezy. 1. Kanye West Best Cameo: His work on Young Jeezy's "Put On" was amazing. On the song, 'Ye went from talking about the pain of losing his mom to needing at least one of the Simmons sisters to help soothe him. Yet we have to go with his verse on T.I.'s "Swagger Like Us": blissful confidence wrapped around melodic wordplay. As a sidebar, don't sleep on his verses from Jamie Foxx's "Digital Girl." 2. Young Jeezy Best Cameo: Usher's "Love in This Club" was the biggest song he hopped on, giving the Snowman some great crossover, mainstream exposure, but we'll go with Young on Shawty Lo's "Dey Know" remix. You had us at "hello." "I'm in my cool whip, insides Jell-O/ Hop up out that pretty mutha----a, like, 'Helllllll-ohhhh!' " 3. Ludacris Best Cameo: 'Cris rips the meat off the bone every time he sinks his teeth into a record. The beloved blabbermouth has more styles and metaphors than entire rap crews. This is a tough one, considering how much we love his threat to Samuel L. Jackson on T.I.'s "Top of the World." But we'll go with T-Pain's "Chopped N Screwed" — vintage 'Cris lyrics with an animated style. 4. Jay-Z Best Cameo: His name alone on your track makes it an event. His stint on T.I.'s "Swagger Like Us" had us singing, but the bars he just snuck in on DJ Khaled's "Go Hard" remix are so mean. Did you hear the reference to Heath Ledger? And let's not forget his cautionary line about Andy Griffith's alias: "Number-one rule if ya ass get caught/ Don't chatterbox to the Matlock." 5. Fabolous Best Cameo: "Addicted," of course. Fab and Ryan Leslie made a dope tandem on that track and on Slim's "Good Lovin." Let's not forget that Loso also shined on songs that paid homage to his hardcore roots, such as the remixes of Red Cafe's "Paper Touchin" and Maino's "Hi Hater." 6. Rihanna Best Cameo: Uh, this one is as easy. The absolute standout was "Live Your Life," one of T.I.'s biggest records ever. Rih Rih's word to the wise is a mantra to live by: "So keep on gettin' ya paper/ And keep on climbin'/ Look in the mirror/ And keep on shinin'/ Till the game end, till the clock stop/ We gonna post up on the top spot." 7. Ne-Yo Best Cameo: He helps more rappers in a bind than Murray Richman. Just ask the Game ("Camera Phone") and Jadakiss ("By My Side"), who connected with the talented songwriter in 2008 to turn what would have been album cuts into radio-friendly hits. But unequivocally, Ne-Yo's biggest guest turn was on Plies' "Bust It Baby (Pt. 2)." His nimble crooning smoothed out the goon's rough edges and inched Plies closer toward mainstream stardom. 8. Ron Browz Best Cameo: "Eeeeeether boooy" laced Busta Rhymes' "Arab Money" with his Auto-Tune-enhanced vocals and then upped the Vocoder a notch on Jim Jones' "Pop Champagne." He might not be T-Pain yet, but Harlem's newest heatmaker is two-for-two and recently inked a deal with Universal Motown for a solo project. 9. Jim Jones Best Cameo: Jones has a way of making every song he jumps on uniquely his, so when he latched onto Kid Cudi's "Day 'N' Nite," well, the gruff Dipset honcho murdered the Cleveland newcomer on his own ish. Dark, unrelenting and woozy, it's classic Capo. 10. Akon Best Cameo: 'Kon kept his top-40 rep in tune on Kardinal Offishall's "Dangerous," but the Senegalese singer certified his 'hood cred when he belted out the hook on DJ Khaled's posse cut "Out Here Grinding." He balances out a lineup of thugs with his elastic vocals wailing over the Runners' rumbling synths. Watch for the hook on this one. Related Artists |
| Posted: 30 Dec 2008 11:11 PM PST We list our favorite movies, pop stars, horror flicks, albums, underground punk acts and more in the Newsroom.
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| William Balfour Indicted By Grand Jury For Hudson Family Murders Posted: 31 Dec 2008 07:37 AM PST Defense attorney says Jennifer Hudson's estranged brother-in-law has been charged because he 'was the convenient person to go to.'
William Balfour, Jennifer Hudson's estranged brother-in-law, was indicted on three counts of murder on Tuesday, CNN reported. Earlier this month, Balfour was denied bail after being charged with the murders (and one count of home invasion) of the Oscar winner's brother, Jason Hudson; mother, Darnell Donerson; and nephew, Julian King, in October. No new charges were brought up on Tuesday, but a grand jury must indict the defendant before the case can go to trial, a Cook County state's attorney's office spokesperson explained to The Associated Press. Balfour denies the charges and has pleaded not guilty. Defense attorney Joshua Kutnick has argued that there is no forensic evidence to tie him to the crimes. Balfour appeared in court for the indictment, where Kutnick asked that his client be moved to the Cook County jail to facilitate communication between lawyer and defendant, the AP reported. That decision will be made on January 20. "The police believe it is William Balfour, but the problem is what they have done. They find their suspect and build evidence around the suspect. That's not the way it should work. They should gather evidence, and it should lead to a suspect," Kutnick said. "This was the convenient person to go to. It is bolstered by the fact that it took them so long to get him arrested and charged." The prosecution has said that Balfour was jealous that his wife, Julia Hudson, was dating another man and went to the Hudson home on the day of the killings to confront her. His mother, Michele Davis Balfour, has argued that her son was dating three other women at the time, and that jealousy would not have been an issue. Since the tragedy, Jennifer Hudson has kept a low profile. She has been nominated for four Grammy Awards and was reportedly going to head back to work on a music video, but later reportedly scrapped those plans. Related Artists |
| Taylor Swift Makes It Three In A Row Atop <i>Billboard</i> Albums Chart Posted: 31 Dec 2008 09:06 AM PST Kanye West, T.I., Katy Perry and other big names see holiday sales boosts.
Taylor Swift is going to have a pretty excellent New Year's Eve (even though she'll be sharing a stage with ex-boyfriend Joe Jonas). She'll close out 2008 with the #1 album in the country, as her Fearless will top the Billboard albums chart yet again. Fearless sold more than 262,000 copies in the last full retail week of 2008, giving Swift her third-consecutive week at #1 and pushing sales of the album past the 2 million mark in just seven weeks. Following closely at #2 was Beyoncé, whose I Am ... Sasha Fierce sold almost 211,000 copies in its sixth week of release. Britney Spears' Circus falls to #3, with sales of just under 203,000 copies, but the album still managed to break the 1 million mark in its fourth week. Nickelback's Dark Horse sits at #4, with sales of 177,000 copies. Perhaps benefitting from some last-minute holiday shopping, Kanye West's 808s & Heartbreak jumped from #11 to #5, selling more than 165,000 copies. The "Twilight" soundtrack is next at #6, with sales of more than 148,000 copies. Keyshia Cole's Different Me — which bowed at #2 on last week's chart — falls to #7, selling close to 127,000 copies. The 29th volume of the ubiquitous Now That's What I Call Music! collection, Jamie Foxx's Intuition and David Cook's self-titled debut round out the top 10. There were plenty of other big names who posted tremendous leaps in sales, thanks again to those last-minute shoppers. Sales of T.I.'s Paper Trail jumped 43 percent, bringing the album all the way up from #34 to #15. Katy Perry's One of the Boys posted a 41 percent sales boost, rising from #44 to #23. Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III saw a 53 percent jump, moving from #49 to #32. Metallica's Death Magnetic, Ludacris' Theater of the Mind, Coldplay's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends and Ne-Yo's Year of the Gentleman also posted double-digit percentage bumps. And perhaps owing to their placement on several year-end Best-Of lists, albums like MGMT's Oracular Spectacular, TV on the Radio's Dear Science and Fleet Foxes' self-titled disc all saw huge jumps in sales too. (And, by the way, you can still check out our own year end lists: the Mixtape Monday Awards, Bigger Than the Sound's top albums and songs, and the rest of the MTV News staff picks.) Related Artists |
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