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| What Should 'American Idol' Top Seven Sing For Disco Week? Posted: 20 Apr 2009 03:51 AM PDT 'Idol' expert Jim Cantiello offers his dance-worthy suggestions — including songs from the past decade!
It's Disco Week on "American Idol" (don't even get me started), and the top seven hopefuls have a huge challenge ahead of them: How do they sound contemporary while sticking to a genre that hasn't been popular since the pre-MTV era? Song selection is more important than ever, and with two people going home Wednesday night, thanks to the "judge's save" being used last week on Matt Giraud, the stakes are even higher! Rest easy, Idols. No reason to get those Camile Velasco butterflies. We've got you covered. As long as you skirt the obvious picks and listen to our suggestions, you're in the clear. Adam Lambert Should Sing: We prefer when Adam's wails are reserved for songs with substance. Why not tackle "Band of Gold" — a Motown tune later covered by disco drag star Sylvester — and show "Idol" fans that the song doesn't only belong to season-two divas Frenchie Davis and Kimberley Locke? Allison Iraheta Should Sing: Since Allison and disco go together as well as Kara DioGuardi and numbers, we beg Allison to check out a Kate Bush cover by Italian disco revivalists the Chromatics. "Running Up That Hill" provides a fantastic opportunity for our fave to purr a midtempo burner piano-side and have a big moment. Check out Kiki & Herb's delirious rendition, tone down the hysterics and you'll have a winner. Anoop Desai Should Sing: Anoop needs to find a disco song with a smooth R&B flavor. Earth, Wind & Fire's "Let's Groove" lets the Usher wannabe have fun yet be cool at the same time. Plus, if his less-than-reliable falsetto isn't in tip-top shape, he can let the background singers do the heavy lifting while he riffs on the chorus. Danny Gokey Should Sing: I know I often criticize Danny for referencing his deceased wife, but if he sang Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' "The Love I Lost" (and cherry-picked the second verse, which is more lyrically appropriate for his situation), I wouldn't hold it against him. His voice would suit the song wonderfully. Kris Allen Should Sing: Hell, we hate to sway any contestant away from a song released in this decade, but if "Digital Love" doesn't work out, we think he could turn Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way" into a heartbreaking guitar-based rock song and keep his winning streak alive. Lil Rounds Should Sing: Amii Stewart's "Knock on Wood" is one of the "Idol" Death Songs. Every contestant who has tried it has ended up in the bottom group or eliminated. Sorry, Lil, but we think your time has come and want to ensure our fave Allison gets to the finals. So do us a favor and sing "Knock on Wood." You'll do a great job! Ahem. Matt Giraud Should Sing: Our favorite Matt Giraud performance was back in Motown Week when he rocked the sex-machine swagger during "Sexual Healing." We suspect he could light up Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" by tickling those ivories. At the very least, Kara would feel it. What do you want your favorite contestants to sing? Leave a comment and maybe they'll take your advice! Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions. Related Videos |
| A Decade After The Columbine Massacre, School-Safety Questions Linger Posted: 20 Apr 2009 03:51 AM PDT 'What do we do now?' Columbine survivor Andrew Robinson asks.
Like children who remember where they were when they heard about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986 or the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, for an entire generation, April 20 is synonymous with one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history. It's hard to believe that a decade has gone by since the shocking 1999 killing spree at Columbine High School carried out by two students who murdered 12 peers and a teacher and injured two dozen others before taking their own lives. In the years since, the country has gotten used to the sight of metal detectors at the doors of elementary and high schools, more security guards and cameras and elaborate emergency-response plans aimed at heading off another disaster. Columbine wasn't the first school shooting and, sadly, it wasn't the last, but the spree by troubled teens Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris has since become a shorthand for these types of horrific assaults, spawning a raft of books, a major Hollywood movie (director Gus Van Sant's thinly veiled 2003 fictionalization "Elephant") and a new film by one of the survivors, Andrew Robinson, called "April Showers." Despite the increased efforts, these types of shooting sprees have continued across the country, from schools in Red Lake, Minnesota, to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Virginia Tech University, as well as a number of overseas assaults, leading many educators to fret over how, or if, schools can effectively stop the violence before it takes place. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that in the decade since Columbine, 6,300 police officers have been deployed on campuses across the country to help manage bullying and potentially dangerous situations and that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in order to increase school safety. But now that money is beginning to run out and the federal grants for school security have been cut by a third ($145 million), and the Justice Department has mothballed the police-in-schools program and states are slashing spending once earmarked for security. How bad is it? Even the Colorado district that includes Columbine High has canceled its annual violence-prevention convention. Some schools around the country have enacted a number of policies in an attempt to stave off another Columbine, from teachers assigned to specifically mentor small groups of students in a small Kentucky high school, to after-school and kindness clubs and sponsored pizza and skating parties to reward students for good behavior. Those efforts appear to be paying dividends, but author Dave Cullen — who has just released a book exploring the Columbine massacre in minute detail called "Columbine" — recently offered more suggestions in the Slate.com essay "The Four Most Important Lessons of Columbine." One of the most salient points he makes is that in the years since Columbine, a number of teens have plotted to blow up their high schools with homemade explosives (as Harris and Klebold attempted to), and while some have even gotten to the action stage, not a single one has succeeded. And of the many who've brought automatic weapons and guns to schools, some have indeed killed, but the majority have failed in their attempts. Cullen claims that part of the reason there hasn't been another Columbine is that the police, school administrators, parents and children have learned these four lessons from the assault: 1) There isn't a distinct psychological profile of a school killer, 2) A Secret Service study found that in 80 percent of the 37 school shootings between 1974 and 2000, the shooters had explicitly revealed their intentions to others before the attacks, 3) Students and teachers need to be better prepared in emergency procedures and 4) Instead of setting up a perimeter, police need to advance toward the sound of gunfire and neutralize the shooter. While the Columbine assault played out in real time on TV — with footage of frightened students running screaming from the school, a bleeding boy trying to escape out of a window and heavily armed SWAT officers waiting an agonizing 47 minutes before being given the OK to enter the school — in the years since, fears have arisen about how the nonstop coverage and attention might have served to provide the very thing Klebold and Harris claimed they wanted to achieve: infamy. The pair have been named by other school shooters as inspirations for sprees, including Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho, who left a video diary behind referring to "martyrs like Eric and Dylan." Which is why unlike films such as "Elephant," and 2003's "Zero Day" — which looked at two students planning a rampage — Robinson told the Los Angeles Times that he wanted "April Showers" to take a look at how survivors go forward in the aftermath. "I didn't want to focus on the gunmen or the actual shooting," Robinson said of the film, which follows a handful of survivors in a middle-class suburban neighborhood not unlike Columbine as they deal with post-traumatic stress and the sensationalized media coverage of the event. "What is more important is what do we do now. You know, these neighborhoods get turned upside down. These lives get turned upside down. We kind of almost became strangers in our own land ... the media trucks just sort of descended upon everyone. And the camera lenses became similar to guns in a way — out to get us. It made it hard for some people to get closure." A memorial event is scheduled for Monday (April 20) at the Clement Park Amphitheater in Littleton, Colorado. Around 81 percent of school attackers tell someone of their plans beforehand. If someone mentions or threatens to use violence against you or anyone else, don't be afraid to speak up. You can contact a parent, school administrator or law-enforcement agent for advice, or if you would like to take action anonymously, you can call Speak Up at (866) SPEAK-UP (866-773-2587). Speak Up is a national toll-free hotline for students to report threats of violence at school and feature both English- and Spanish-speaking operators. After talking with you, they can work with your school and local officials to evaluate the situation and act accordingly on the potential threat. Go here for more information on this service. Related Videos |
| Asher Roth Goes Back To College Posted: 20 Apr 2009 04:52 AM PDT The Pennsylvania MC performs at his alma mater, West Chester University, to drum up support for his debut album, Asleep in the Bread Aisle.
It's easy to be the big man on campus after you graduate college and then come back to visit. But Asher Roth took everything in stride when he ventured back to his hometown in Pennsylvania to perform at his alma mater, West Chester University. "It's a little crazy, man. It just goes to show you it's working," the MC said of his recent success. "This music is bringing people together. West Chester, I'm kinda cheating a little bit, because that's home. So it isn't until I walk the streets of British Columbia and people are outside waiting for me. Then, I know, 'OK, this is really working.' "
Roth's reception at various schools has been overwhelming, due to his breakout hit "I Love College," which celebrates co-ed parties and mulling about campus with a frat-boy humor mixed with lyrical wit. The rapper is in the midst of a promotional run for the release of his debut, Asleep in the Bread Aisle, which drops Monday. While he has shows and appearances booked throughout the country, being able to take the stage in front of some familiar faces brought Roth a certain comfort, taking him back to his own college days. "You know that you can just go up there and totally be yourself and the crowd's going to be there with you," he said. "Being here in PA — and this is just another one of those state schools — where we used to just come and hang out and just, on numerous occasions, kind of walk these streets, so then we pull up [now] and it says, 'Asher Roth: sold out.' It's like I'm starting a new life, man." So does that mean that Roth, one of the MCs to Watch in 2009, has changed? "Not at all, man," he replied. "I think that's kind of the cool part about it. I mean, yes, is it kind of turned up a little bit. Is it [me] at volume 10? Absolutely. But at the same time there is also that very simple part of me where I just like to chill out and don't want to talk to anybody — but everybody has that, though. For the most part, though, it's not some extreme — there's no celebrity. It's not like David Bowie, where he goes home and he's whoever and when he's out onstage he's got his David Bowie [showmanship] going on. But with me it's very much Asher Roth — offstage, onstage, on-camera, off-camera." Related Videos Related Artists |
| Is Lil Wayne's Protege Drake The Next Big Thing?: <i>Mixtape Monday</i> Posted: 20 Apr 2009 03:51 AM PDT Plus: Nipsey Hussle has 'high expectations for this industry and this game.'
Artist: Nipsey Hussle Representing: South Central L.A. Mixtape: Bullets Ain't Got No Names: Vol. II 411: Soak up the swagger — Hussle's in the house! Coming into contact with gunplay as a teen, Hussle earned his name by his stringent work ethic as a, er, street pharmacist. One of the homies dubbed him "Nipsey Hussle," a play on the name of the always-rhyming comedian of yesteryear Nipsey Russell. Nip is so young, however, that he'd never seen Russell's breakout role as the Tinman in "The Wiz" (1978). He didn't get the joke, but he liked the name anyway.
For over a year, Nip has been back and forth between Los Angeles and New York, recording his debut LP for Sony Music and Koch, South Central State of Mind. Game and Snoop Dogg are the only guests on the record besides Hussle's crew, the Slauson Boys. During the past several weeks, the lanky MC — who will remind you of Snoop Dogg (some fans thought Nip was Snoop's brother or cousin, but there is no relation) — hasn't been in one spot for long. He was opening for Game's LAX tour. "I tell everybody that was the best sh-- we could've did," Nip said of going out on the road with Hurricane Game. "Just for the fact of getting in front of that many people and Game being an artist from the West Coast with — not necessarily style, but similar content to what I'm doing. When I got out there, they was loving me like they was loving [Game's] sh--. If you a Game fan, you're a fan of West Coast music. You're a fan of L.A. music, L.A. culture, L.A. lifestyle. When I went out onstage, it was preaching to the choir. It was A1. The best experience I could've had." Nip promises a summer release for South Central State of Mind. For almost half a year, though, Nip's mixtape Bullets Ain't Got No Names Vol. II has been tearing up the streets, and true to his name, Hus has been on the grind, getting his tape from L.A. all the way out to NYC. "I got high expectations for this industry and this game," he said. "I want a lot, so I gotta do a lot. I know I gotta feed the radio, do shows, I know I gotta convince people I'm the one. Let them know they can spend their hard-earned money on my product. Times is tough. Some people don't even have enough money to pay their rent or put gas in they [car]. To ask somebody to go out and spend their hard-earned money, you have to damn near give them an offer they can't refuse." Hussle's first offering is his theme song, "Hussle in the House." The record resonates from the swap meet to the hardwood: The San Antonio Spurs practice to the song and come out on the court to the record during home games. "You know, it's a lot of things at once," he said about his rising popularity. "It's confirmation. That's kinda what my goal was, to come in and be recognized and be established by my fans and the peers as the up-and-coming dude. It's kinda strange, too, because I see people's reaction to me change. I walk around my neighborhood, it's a little different now. It's not like I can't walk down the street where I'm a superstar, but people are starting to take notice. I walk in the mall, and little girls are pointing me out and giggling. I'm loving every second of it." Joints To Check For » "Roll the Windows Up." "That's not the official first single, but it's a record we're going with for the mixshow," Nip said. "A lot of DJs was asking for it. So I went ahead and put a third verse on it [so I could release it]. My group the Slauson Boys is on the second verse. We kept feeding them. My third verse on there, basically I'm talking about the element. 'Doing 60 in my city up the one-way/ Where all the young n---as take flight like a runway/ We never run 'way, we come from gunplay/ I see a halo on your head like Beyoncé/ ... Real boss getting money on his off day/ It's obvious I'm everything the song say.' My first verse, I was just clowning about when we was out here flossin', getting that street money." » "Let's Talk Money." "Basically, you wanna talk paper? I'm an artist, I consider myself a lyricist, but at the same time, I like to party and have some fun. That was a record where I was doing the party swag and letting them know I do this too. All my diamonds are real. I was rockin' Rollies before this rap game. I was getting money, Cuban linx when I was a young n---a on the block. Basically, that's what that was about, showing off. Showboating." » "Hussle in the House." "That was my vision of what a new West Coast artist coming from the streets of L.A. would sound [like] and how they would introduce themselves to the world. It's a small introduction to this Nipsey Hussle music. 'Guns, money and bi---es, that's the way we do it.' I try to embody the lifestyle of an L.A. dude in the street on that record. I was inspired by the beat, because Detroit Red killed that record on the production. It was the Kris Kross flip. Obviously, that was an era of my life. I was a young dude coming up. I was wearing my overalls backwards. I was 6 or 7 when that sh-- came out. I really did a show as Kris Kross, me and my brother. Just hearing that flip and how hard that beat was hitting. ... Honestly, when I heard the beat, I had to do it." Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below the Radar » Rick Ross - "Valley of Death" and "Lay Back" The Streets Is Talking: News And Notes From The Underground All the greats — from Biggie, Jay-Z, Nas and Kanye West to Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy — have, at one point or another, made their way through the famed Hot 97 doors to visit Funkmaster Flex and spit live on the air to introduce themselves to the rap community at large. It's a rite of passage that has resulted in some of the most memorable freestyles in hip-hop history, like Big's Diddy-assisted "Unbelievable." Last Thursday, an artist many think is the next in line of great MCs, Aubrey "Drake" Graham, made his debut over the New York airwaves. The "Degrassi" actor-turned-Young Money affiliate kicked it with the radio kingpin, holding court on his career, talking about his latest mixtape So Far Gone, and traveling with Flex to Cam'ron's first Manhattan party in three years. He might not have made history just yet during his brief appearance. But this kid fits in pretty fast. Yet to hear him tell it, the Toronto native thought he'd have a hard time breaking into the game because of his not-too-rapper-like background. He raps, he sings, and his mixtape is a mix of mellow love tunes along with the braggadocious lyrical onslaughts. Now, the 20-something upstart has one of the biggest buzzes going for a new artist since Jeezy first emerged.
"I'm very taken aback by [the reception to So Far Gone], because I used to be so self-conscious about the strikes against me, like coming from Canada, being on a TV show, being super light-skinned," he said, mildly joking. "There's just things where you be like, 'Is this gonna work?' But now it gives me a chance to really accept that I am something different and something new. I see it more as an opportunity to really be, like, 'Well I don't have to be the next 'Ye, I don't have to be the next Wayne, I can just be the first Drake,' and that's something I'm happy about. So Far Gone itself was me really doing something I felt was necessary. I wanted to give fans information about myself before we embark on this journey together, before I make this album, before I give them product that they have to really support, go out and buy. I wanted to gain their loyalty by telling them a little about my life, and I wanted to make sure I did it for free." The mixtape — released in February — took the rapper six months to complete and features collaborations with heavy-hitters like Weezy, Bun B, Trey Songz and Omarion. Drake said he approached the release like an actual album. His recording process is filled with plenty of actual writing. Songs like "Best I Ever Had" are not only favorites for the ladies, but should also be appreciated for Drizzy's attention to detail. "I write in my BlackBerry, and I go online to research things if I need to. I take my time. I'm not really one of those rappers that pride themselves on, 'Oh, I did 50 songs tonight,' " Drake said. "I can do two verses, not finish the song and feel proud." Drake's still riding high from his recent turn on Wayne's I Am Music Tour. But he's gearing up for his first major show in Canada since So Far Gone hit the Web. Next up for Drake is helping Wayne put the final touches on Young Money's group album, and then the rapper — co-managed by Weezy and Kanye's managers — will turn his attention to his yet-untitled solo debut. Acting, however, will still be a bit part of Drake's plans. Maybe this time, though, instead of an after-school-special spin, he'll lean toward comedy fare — Big Willie Style. "My dream is to be in a movie with Will Ferrell or Michael Cera. I'm a big fan of all those dudes," Drake said. "Steve Carell, [movies like] '40-Year-Old Virgin' and 'Knocked Up' and 'Superbad' — I'm a big fan of those movies. I feel like I've had the training, and I'm surrounded by enough funny people that I could probably pull it off. My goal is to get deep into acting. I want to be like this generation's Will Smith, just Canadian and light-skinned. I'm not gonna wear, like, the shiny clothes, and I probably won't take my shirt off either. I wanna be like [that], but not really." Any upstart rappers would be happy to have just Wayne on their side, but it looks like Drake has another hip-hop heavyweight in the mix too: Jay-Z. On Wednesday, Drake posted on his Twitter page "Young Angel and Young Hova." The rapper confirmed that he was collaborating with Jay, on a Just Blaze-produced track, when he talked with Angie Martinez on New York's Hot 97 on Thursday. For other artists featured in Mixtape Monday, check out Mixtape Mondays Headlines. Related Videos |
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