Sabtu, 11 April 2009

MTV News

MTV News

Juelz Santana Confirms: No Dip Set Reunion With Cam'ron

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 04:45 AM PDT

'Cam gave y'all the answer. He's the boss,' Santana says.
By Shaheem Reid


Juelz Santana
Photo: MTV News

Earlier this week, Cam'ron was on New York radio station Hot 97 and said that while he still considers Jim Jones and Juelz Santana Diplomats, he will not be recording with them again. The straw that broke the camel's back, according to Cam, is that Jim Jones publicly denied the two of them having a phone conversation in which they began the process of trying to patch things up.

No reunion with Cam seems just fine with Juelz Santana. On the Manhattan set of the Skull Gang video for "I Am the Club," Santana said Cam's revelation was a relief.

"I'm just glad that people get to see the type of person he really is," Juelz said. "Once again, he said a lot of things about Jim — [talking to] him, which I don't really know about. We all had separate relationships at the end of the day. [Cam] has yet to tell people what Juelz did. You dig what I'm saying? Let's be serious. At the end of the day, [Cam] can't look in the mirror when it comes to me. He knows how loyal I was to him," Santana continued. "He knows how much of a brother I was to him."

According to Juelz, Cam's declaration of not wanting to record with him and Jim Jones makes it easier to explain to the fans.

"It kind of makes me feel good, 'cause it lets the people know you don't have to ask me that [reunion] question. He's telling y'all. 'No matter what the fans want, I'm not doing it.' It takes a load off my back. Cam gave y'all the answer. He's the boss. He's always been the boss. I never tried to take that way from him. It is what it is. I'm moving forward. We all got kids. I got family, my peoples got families. We're moving forward."

Just like Cam is focusing on making music on the solo side and with his new crew, the U.N., Juelz wants his own group of artists to blow up. He recently secured an album deal for the Skull Gang, and their self-titled LP is due out May 5.

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Katy Perry Opens Up About Her Friendship With Rihanna

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 09:26 AM PDT

'She's a really cool chick,' Perry says of 'Umbrella' singer.
By James Montgomery, with reporting by Kim Stolz


Katy Perry
Photo: MTV News

Earlier this month, tabloids began reporting that Katy Perry and Rihanna had become "inseparable" following the alleged February 8 altercation between the "Umbrella" singer and her boyfriend, Chris Brown.

According to a "source" quoted by U.K. tabloid The Sun, Perry "was there when Rihanna needed her the most," reaching out to her and taking her out for nights on the town (there were even rumors of a planned Puerto Rican vacation). Until now, Perry had remained silent on those reports, but when MTV News caught up with her on Wednesday, she talked about her relationship with the embattled pop star.

"I don't think I really, like, reached out to her. We're friends and we're both kind of on this crazy rollercoaster, and ... it's nice to have good girlfriends. I pride myself on having cool chicks in my life, and she's a cool chick," Perry said. "We've hung out a couple times. ... Of course I consider her a friend, but it's not like 'I'm there,' making a big deal of it, because I feel weird about that type of stuff. I'm trying to always be there for my friends. She's a really cool chick. I love her style. ... She's one of those unaffected people."

Perry added that — surprise! — tabloid reports had slightly exaggerated the extent of her friendship with Rihanna, saying that while they've hung out, there's no Puerto Rican romp in the works.

"Um, you know, we're just buddies. We've had dinner, and that's about it," she said. "Her personal life has probably already been blown, I don't really have to go into that. I'm sure she probably wants a break."

What Perry wouldn't talk about was Rihanna's current state. After all, she's still got to protect her friend.

"I think she's doing fine. I don't know," Perry said. "You should ask her."

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Eminem To Judge <i>Vibe</i> Magazine Rap Contest

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 01:11 AM PDT

MC will pick final two winners of 'Vibe Verses Presents No. 1 Stan' contest.
By MTV News staff


Eminem
Photo: Stephen Lovekin/ Getty Images

It makes sense that Eminem would hook up with Vibe magazine for a contest in which the winner has to do a live battle rap in order to take the big prize. That's why the Vibe Verses Presents No. 1 Stan competition will feature a group of aspiring MCs hand-picked by none other than Slim Shady fighting it out to see who has the skills to earn the title.

In celebration of the upcoming "Real Rap" issue of the magazine, which hits newsstands on May 19 and Eminem's upcoming Relapse album, (the first video from which, "We Made You," premiered on MTV this week) Vibe is launching a contest in which participants are asked to upload a 60-second video clip of themselves freestyling over the instrumental track from Em's iconic tune "Stan."

"Battling is the way I came up, so it's gonna be interesting to watch a rap battle unfold online," Eminem said in a press release announcing the competition. "Vibe is taking it out of the clubs and street corners and putting it on the Net. MCs better bring it, because I'm watching."

Entries are due by April 21. The magazine will send the top 10 finalists (determined by Vibe.com user votes) another instrumental track to rhyme over for 60 seconds, with the final results passed along to Eminem to judge. Eminem will pick the top two finalists by May 8. Then they will be flown to a special Vibe event where the winner will be determined by an audience vote. The champ will get an engraved microphone dubbing them Eminem's "No. 1 Stan" and they will be featured in the magazine and on Vibe.com.

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Demi Lovato, John Mayer Form A Beautiful Twittermance

Posted: 09 Apr 2009 10:06 PM PDT

'You're going to make lots of records, I can tell,' Mayer tweets to Disney star.
By Jocelyn Vena


Demi Lovato
Photo: Jon Kopaloff/ Getty Images

Demi Lovato and John Mayer are having a Twittermance. Yes, we're coining that term. For the past three weeks, the Disney star and the singer/songwriter have been having public conversations with each other through @messages on Twitter.

Sure, Demi (Twitter.com/ddlovato) talks to BFFs Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus through the site. And Mayer (Twitter.com/johncmayer) tweets with the likes of Pete Wentz and Mark Hoppus, but this new development seems like a match only Twitter could make.

At first, the Twittermance started with Demi just saying "Hi" to Mayer. But it soon progressed to the Grammy winner giving praise and career advice to the 16-year-old.

On Thursday, Mayer tweeted that Demi's song "La La Land" is "sophisticated." "You're going to make lots of records, I can tell," he added. "Write one song at a time, never apologize for any of them, ever. From 'Wonderland' to Trio stuff, they're all my kids."

The 16-year-old seemed very excited by this very public compliment. "Holy crap. Thank you. You're so awesome," she wrote to him. "That is quite possibly the best compliment I've received in this business. ... If that's not inspiration, then I don't know what is! You're incredible."

Back in January, before all these tweets, Demi actually told MTV News that she will be taking a page from the John Mayer playbook for her next album, due out this summer. "It's going to take a different sound, so hopefully it goes over well," she said. "I sing a lot of rock, but this time I want to do more John Mayer-ish type of songs. Hopefully, I can write with people like him. I love their music — it would be amazing."

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Snoop Dogg's Wife, Shante Broadus, Is Not Dead, Manager Confirms

Posted: 09 Apr 2009 10:06 PM PDT

Rapper's manager dismisses online reports as 'ridiculous.'
By Jocelyn Vena


Snoop Dogg with his wife, Shante Broadus
Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images

In the wake of a confusing report on TMZ.com speculating that Snoop Dogg's wife, Shante Broadus, might be dead — which spread rapidly across the Internet on Friday morning (April 10) — the rapper's manager dismissed the report to MTV News as "ridiculous."

TMZ reported that an anonymous tipster called into the California Highway Patrol, which later posted the tip on the CHP Web site, saying that Snoop "has the dead body of his wife in his basement." The incident appeared as a "possible fatality" on the Web site.

The tipster called in at 3:19 p.m. Thursday afternoon to report the "fatality," while Snoop was hosting a show on the Internet. According to TMZ, the Highway Patrol did not forward the report to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department.

Snoop Dogg (real name: Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr.), 37, married Shante Taylor Broadus, in June 1997; the two had been high school sweethearts. Seven years into the marriage, Snoop filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, but the couple reconciled and renewed their wedding vows in January 2008.

"I thought I was the man, and I was willing to give up what I had at home for that," Snoop told The Associated Press in 2007, "until I realized that what I had at home was irreplaceable. So I gave that up to go back home."

The pair have three children together, Corde, Cordell and Cori, all of whom star along with the couple on the reality show, "Father Hood."

"Sometimes you lose focus because this Hollywood entertainment world can throw you off track," he told the AP. "That's why you see me doing things like this television show and my own football league, and the positive things I do, because I'm back aware again."

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Billy Bob Thornton Booed Onstage, Cancels Canada Tour

Posted: 09 Apr 2009 10:25 PM PDT

Attempt to explain bizarre radio interview leads to jeers from audience.
By Eric Ditzian


Billy Bob Thornton
Photo: Andrew H. Walker/ Getty Images

Billy Bob Thornton's trip north of the border took another turn for the worse Thursday night, and then ended abruptly on Friday (April 10).

First he battled with a Canadian radio host who introduced Thornton — much to his dismay — as a movie star while he was promoting his music career. Then, at a concert Thursday night, where Thornton's band the Boxmasters opened for Willie Nelson, he attempted to explain the bizarre interview but ended up fighting with the audience too. The next day, Nelson's official Web site said the Boxmasters had dropped off the tour.

"It seems as if when I say something it's in the news," Thornton told the crowd at Massey Hall, according to the Toronto Star. The audience immediately began booing, to which Thornton replied, "Boo all you want, but I want to say something — we're really happy to be here, but I need to say something. I talked to this a--hole yesterday."

Thornton went on to explain that the radio show's producers had promised not to make any references to his acting career. CBC Radio's Jian Ghomeshi began the interview by introducing Thornton as an "Oscar-winning screenwriter, actor and director." Thornton then became alternately belligerent and nonsensical, drawing comparisons with Joaquin Phoenix's epic unraveling on "Late Show with David Letterman" in February. Over the nearly 15-minute interview, Thornton claimed not to understand the simplest of questions and professed to never having met Willie Nelson.

"I don't really like sensationalism," he told the crowd at Massey Hall. "If you look someone in the eyes and promise them something, and you don't do it, you don't get the interview. That's the way it goes."

Thornton's explanation did not satisfy the audience, and they began jeering, "Here comes the gravy," a reference to Thornton's description of Canadian audiences during the CBC interview as "mashed potatoes with no gravy."

Earlier in the evening, Thornton was asked by a reporter to explain the mashed potatoes comment. "I was talking about the guy who was interviewing me," he said.

Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks Dishes On Her Relationship With Lindsey Buckingam

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 12:32 AM PDT

'Who Lindsey and I are to each other will never change,' Nicks says.
By Kim Stolz


Stevie Nicks
Photo: Fernando Leon/ Getty Images

It's one of rock's most enduring love stories, one that's played out in the media, "Behind the Music" and the imaginations of millions of fans for decades: Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

Nicks and Buckingham first met in high school, when Buckingham was singing at a party and Nicks walked up and joined him.

"We were at some get-together and he was there, sitting, playing his guitar — [the Mamas and the Papas' hit] 'California Dreamin' ' — and I walked up and brazenly burst into harmony with him. It was cool, and I said 'I'm Stevie Nicks' and he said 'I'm Lindsey Buckingham.' I never saw him again for two years, until he was in a band and he remembered that night and he called and asked me to join their band."

That second meeting resulted in the formation of their romantic relationship as well as their musical career. They released an album entitled Buckingham Nicks in 1973 (the cover of which is a photograph of the two of them topless). Two years later, they joined — and revitalized — Fleetwood Mac, which was formed as a blues band by drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie in 1967, but became one of the biggest pop acts of all time after Buckingham and Nicks joined. Their eponymous 1975 album and 1977's Rumours were among the biggest sellers of the era.

Yet with success came discord: Nicks and Buckingham's always-tumultuous romance unraveled in 1976; McVie and keyboardist Christine McVie filed for divorce, and drummer Mick Fleetwood divorced his wife as well. The result of such romantic turmoil was famously reflected in the songs on Rumours.

The group split in the 1980s and, with the exception of their 1993 performance of "Don't Stop" at President Bill Clinton's inaugural ball, did not reunite until 1996 for The Dance. The album includes "Silver Springs," a song that that did not make the final cut of Rumours, much to Nicks' dismay, but it remains a striking representation of the Nicks and Buckingham's relationship ("Time casts a spell on you, but you wont forget me/ I know I could have loved you, but you would not let me").

On Fleetwood Mac's recent tour, which Buckingham has described as "fun" and "drama-free," and Nicks' agreed that the two are in a better spot than in the past.

"I don't feel like screaming at Lindsey right now. ... I'm not in a violent state of mind," Nicks, 60, said. "I want people to leave feeling the emotion of 'Silver Springs,' but without seeing Lindsey and I clawing at each other."

However, she concedes that "fun" might not be the most suitable word for their relationship on or off the stage "When he goes onstage and does his little speech where he says, 'You know, everything is great and we're just all grown up now and we're having fun,' I'm just standing on the other side of the stage and going [rolls her eyes], 'Whatever!' Right now, we're trying to be a little more on the high road, but let us go in and do another album, and bang! Back down to the bad, low road go we."

Still, fans find it hard to let go of the vision of Stevie and Lindsey together. "That electric crazy attraction between Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks never dies, never will die, never will go away," she said. "He's married, he's happy, he has three beautiful children that I love. You know, he's found a good, happy, calm, safe place — but who Lindsey and I are to each other will never change."

Still, she said, "It's over. It doesn't mean the great feeling isn't there, it must mean that ... you know, we're beauty and the beast. It means that the love is always there but we'll never be together, so that's even more romantic."

Asked when she knew the romance was really over, Nicks said, "The day his first child was born. I knew that was it ... that was the definitive thing."

Whether or not that was really it, the romance of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham clearly lives on for fans, and perhaps in their own hearts as well.

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Plastic Surgeon Who Operated On Kanye West's Mother Surrenders Medical License

Posted: 10 Apr 2009 09:07 AM PDT

Dr. Jan Adams operated on Donda West shortly before her death in 2007.
By Eric Ditzian


Donda and Kanye West
Photo: MJ Kim/Getty Images

Dr. Jan Adams, the plastic surgeon who operated on Kanye West's mother shortly before her death, has surrendered his medical license, according to People.com.

In November 2007, Dr. Jan Adams performed several surgeries on Donda West, including liposuction and breast reduction. She died after returning to her Los Angeles home the next day. Adams, a Harvard graduate who appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and once had his own television program, has given up his license to practice medicine in the state of California.

"A series of complaints were filed against Mr. Adams, but he chose to surrender his license instead of contest them," California Medical Board spokeswoman Candis Cohen told the site.

According to People, the cited complaints involve two convictions for driving under the influence and failure to pay child support. Dr. Adams also had at least four malpractice judgments against him between 2001 and 2007.

It was not clear whether any of the complaints were directly related to Ms. West's death.

An autopsy performed on the 58-year-old West concluded that she died of heart failure. The report said that "coronary artery disease and multiple post-operative factors due to or as a consequence of liposuction and mammoplasty" led to her sudden death and that "there was no evidence of surgical or anesthetic misadventure."

Dr. Adams has said that there were no complications during West's surgery. According to the autopsy report, she walked out of the clinic several hours after the procedures with heavy bandages and prescription for the painkiller Vicodin. West returned to her home in Los Angeles, despite advice that she should continue to receive post-operative care. The next morning, she began to feel more pain and had difficulty breathing. However, she "was left unattended and found unresponsive on the bed," according to the report. Friends called 911 and West was rushed to Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead on November 10, 2007.

"As far as I'm concerned ... at least the autopsy report suggests nothing went on during surgery, nothing went on during recovery," Dr. Adams told CNN's Larry King in January 2008. Several months earlier, the plastic surgeon had walked off the set during King's live broadcast, saying, "I'm going to apologize to you because I think I'm taking up your airtime, but I will not be on the show and I will not discuss any of that. I'm going to honor their wishes."

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