MTV News |
- Chris Brown Gets Back To The Music With Powerhouse Performance
- Busta Rhymes Working With Lil Wayne Producers On New LP
- Lauren Conrad Wants To Be A 'Pretty Clown' For Halloween
- A Halloween Playlist: The Scariest Albums Of All Time
- Jay-Z, Alicia Keys' World Series Performance Moved To Thursday
- Eminem Cypher, Gucci Mane Performances Ignite BET Hip-Hop Awards
- Rihanna Gets Serious On <i>Rated R</i> Album Cover
- Chris Brown's 'I Can Transform Ya' Video: Fans Weigh In
| Chris Brown Gets Back To The Music With Powerhouse Performance Posted: 27 Oct 2009 11:01 PM PDT 'Despite my past and stuff like that, I appreciate all of y'all,' Brown tells fans at the New Jersey concert, which also featured Fabolous and The-Dream.
EAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey — Chris Brown is getting back to the music. After making headlines this year for his February assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna, Brown made serious movement in his musical comeback on Tuesday (October 27) with the premiere of his "I Can Transform Ya" video and a headlining performance at Power 105.1's Powerhouse '09 concert. Incidentally, the New York radio station hosted a comeback show for R. Kelly when he was facing legal woes back in 2003. Much like Kelly six years ago, the Powerhouse fans embraced Brown with cheers and singing of their own.
After openers The-Dream, Fabolous, Day26, Trey Songz, Keri Hilson and Mario, Brown had his spotlight. Most of the opening acts were eager to see Chris get back to where he belongs: entertaining. Instead of taking off after their performances, you could see Hilson, Songz and Day26 by the side of the stage waiting to see what Brown would do. "Chris is a performer. In spite of all that's been going on in his personal life, he's gonna get out there and perform," Songz said before Brown hit the stage. "I'm confident in that. As a friend, as a brother, I wanna see him go out there and shut it down. I believe everybody deserves a second chance. In God's eyes, none of us are perfect, and he forgives us every day. He deserves a second chance, and I commend Power 105 for giving it to him." There was an immediate roar in the crowd as Brown came out in a black-and-red jacket that looked like a futuristic version of what Michael Jackson wore in the "Thriller" video. Brown wasted no time in getting to his new material, starting with "I Can Transform Ya." Chris began at the back of the stage with his dancers, who were all dressed in black up to their face-covering motorcycle helmets. Brown started singing and walking to the front of the stage, where Swizz Beatz also emerged to rap the song's hook. "Wall to Wall" followed, with more high-powered dancing. In the middle of the record, Brown's DJ played Jay-Z's "On to the Next" during a choreographed breakdown. Leg kicks, krumping, slides — Brown's arsenal seems to have expanded. "Gimme That" was next, and Brown reminded the crowd that he's getting older on the opening lyric: "The young boy now is 20." Shortly after, Brown's DJ asked him how he felt. The singer let the music speak for him as the Clipse's "I'm Good" came on. Brown and two backup dancers walked from the back to the front of the stage with a bop and arms folded. They leaned to the left on the song's chorus, leaned to the right, then they all dropped down low. "Yo" came next, followed by "Take You Down." The latter was Brown in full heartthrob mode. Brown didn't last the entire record without ripping off of his black tank top. The ladies voiced their approval with screams. Juelz Santana came out as special guest to debut his new single with Brown, "Back to the Crib." Next, Brown slowed the tempo and had thousands of backup singers in the crowd on his hit "With You." "Are y'all glad Chris is back doing shows?" Brown's DJ asked the audience. The fans screamed with praise. Brown finally spent some time speaking to the audience after they sang Jordin Sparks' parts on "No Air." "Despite my past and stuff like that, I appreciate all of y'all," he said. His words were barely audible because of the cheering. The singer also promised to be a better man. "How long we gonna do this for? We gonna do this forever!" he also promised. Of course, "Forever" closed the show. "It was dope. I loved it," Omarion said after the show. "It's amazing to be able to come out and support my peers. Chris came and did his thing, all the time. Yeah, CB, he's ready. He's right and he's ready. It's time." "Excuse my French, but that mutha----in' boy killed that sh--!" Polow Da Don exclaimed after watching Brown. "The energy was crazy. You could tell that's something that's missing in the game. He's the absolute truth. He's the future." Earlier in the night, Mario paraded out a host of surprises during his short set. Maino came out for "All the Above," then Red Cafe joined the party with "Hottest in the Hood." Jim Jones later came out for "We Fly High." Jones was joined by DJ Webstar for "Dancin' on Me." Finally, Sean Garrett came out for the smash "Break Up." Keri Hilson, the lone female on the bill, lit up the mic with "Turnin' Me On," "Knock You Down" and Timbaland's "The Way I Are." Trey Songz was combustible with his hits "Successful" and "I Invented Sex." Related Photos Related Artists |
| Busta Rhymes Working With Lil Wayne Producers On New LP Posted: 28 Oct 2009 03:52 AM PDT Busta shouts-out Mistah F.A.B. and Tha Bizness, in Mixtape Daily.
Celebrity Favorites "I personally wanna big-up my homie Fab and my homie Mr. Dow Jones," Bus said.
"One of the craziest things — he ain't new, first of all," Bus added, talking about Fab and then pointing to Dow. "He ain't new either, but the world ain't familiar with the grind and the bid they put in prior to the success. I been watching [F.A.B.] bust his a-- for at least 10 years now. It ain't no mystery why they starting to pop off the way they supposed to. They done put their boot-camp training in the way they supposed to — now they're ready to bust their arsenal off in the battlefield. Now they're hitting their targets. Tha Bizness, you can't stop hearing the spins — 20,000 spins per song!" Tha Bizness, who have recently produced records like Young Jeezy's "President" and Young Money's "Every Girl," have been in the lab with Busta working on his new LP. "We came together with several things. I'm rocking with them on their album," Rhymes affirmed. "Congratulations to my man Mistah F.A.B. — now he's really starting to feel what that disrespectful tax bracket is feeling like. Everything is looking like we gonna roll the dice in a very successful way at the gambling table." Mistah F.A.B. has a new mixtape about to hit and an album due at the top of 2010. "The album be out in February. I got the Gangsta Grillz I just finished up with [DJ Drama]," F.A.B. added. "It's called Reality Rap. It's my grown-up side, me showing my ability to be diverse and cover more topics than I may be known for. I wanna show the rest of the world that I'm really worthy of the accolades I've been attaining and I plan to gain. I'm really worth those things. Who better to co-sign you than DJ Drama?" Tha Bizness are currently working on Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV. For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines. Related Videos |
| Lauren Conrad Wants To Be A 'Pretty Clown' For Halloween Posted: 28 Oct 2009 03:52 AM PDT Former 'Hills' star plans to wear 'a tutu and bright tights and suspenders.'
Lauren Conrad certainly has the skills to make herself one killer Halloween costume. The fashion designer, however, won't be going as anything intentionally scary for the holiday this year. Well, actually, her idea just might frighten people with a fear of clowns. "We were just talking about this today; we were talking about Halloween costumes," she told MTV News. "And I decided that I want to be a clown this year. Like, a pretty clown with a tutu and bright tights and suspenders. A girl clown."
She seemed slightly more optimistic about this year's costume choice than ones she's made in the past. For instance, if you ever thought it was easy being one of those white-sheet ghosts, LC wants to set you straight. "I always leave it to the last minute. I remember one year, it was Halloween, and I didn't have a costume," she recalled. "I took a sheet, like TV shows [and] cut the holes [to] be a ghost. It was the worst costume ever." It's Halloween Week, the spookiest time of the year and also the most fun. So as the leaves fall and it gets a bit colder, we here at MTV News decided to pay homage to the holiday by rounding up some of your favorite celebrities' Halloween memories and costume ideas — some even offer advice on how to dress up like them this year. So brace yourselves: You're in for one horrifying week! |
| A Halloween Playlist: The Scariest Albums Of All Time Posted: 28 Oct 2009 03:52 AM PDT Let the Cure, Korn and Nine Inch Nails give you nightmares this holiday, in Bigger Than the Sound.
If you're like me, you'll probably be spending Halloween hiding in your closet from pagans (seriously, have you ever seen the Nic Cage version of "The Wicker Man"?!?) and the day after Halloween cleaning up the eggs those pagans decided to throw at your house. Even without the egg-tossing polytheists, Halloween is totally terrifying. The apples stuffed with razorblades, the candy corn, the sexy Ghostbusters — it's like every childhood trauma rolled into one miserable, macabre holiday. And while, in previous years, I'd spend the night quaking in my Snuggie, this Halloween is gonna be different. Rather than hide from my fears, I've decided to embrace them (my mom says it's OK). So to thoroughly up the spooky, I've created a list of the scariest albums ever made. It wasn't easy (seriously, I could've included every black-metal album ever made or Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing), but rather than focus on visceral screams, I went for ephemeral chills. These are psychological thrillers — dense, raw, positively horrifying albums, guaranteed to turn your Halloween into a total fright-fest. Oh, and I've discovered that these albums also go nicely with the inevitable November 1 egg-scraping too. Anyway, enough talk: Let the nightmare begin (cue thunderclap, Vincent Price cackle and ominous rolling fog).
The Cure, Pornography (1982) Geto Boys, We Can't Be Stopped (1991) Korn, Korn (1994) Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral (1994) Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000) And one extra-spooky bonus album: Beyoncé, I Am ... Sasha Fierce (2008) Questions? Concerns? Hit me up at BTTS@MTVStaff.com. Related Videos |
| Jay-Z, Alicia Keys' World Series Performance Moved To Thursday Posted: 27 Oct 2009 07:25 AM PDT Duo's performance of 'Empire State of Mind' is rescheduled due to weather forecast.
Fans will have to wait an extra day to catch Jay-Z and Alicia Keys teaming up for a performance of their Big Apple anthem, "Empire State of Mind," at the World Series. It was announced on Tuesday (October 27) that the duo will now be performing their ode to NYC before the game's first pitch on Thursday instead of Wednesday, as originally planned, when the Yankees play the Phillies in the Series. "The performance was changed due to the forecast for inclement weather for Wednesday, October 28," a joint statement from Jay-Z and Major League Baseball reads. "Staging for the performance could adversely impact the field if it is wet, creating damaged and unsafe playing conditions. While there was no comment from Jay in the statement, we expect he'll be just as pumped to perform on Thursday. "First of all, the new [Yankee] Stadium — it's the Yankees and it's game one of the World Series," Jay, an avid Yankee fan, told MTV News on Monday. "I'm beyond excited about it, and on top of that, it's a New York record. It's a record that pays homage to New York [and which was also performed at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards]. The timing of that couldn't be better." Jay had expected to perform at the World Series for some time, he just had to be sure that his hometown team was definitely going to the Series. "The whole time we knew we had the performance," Jay joked. "We knew we had the performance last week. I think it was 3-1 [in favor of the Yankees] at the time. [The Yankees] lost that game to make it 3-2. I was like, 'Man!' I had to come in [the stadium] with the stage and all that. I was like, 'Man, these guys gotta come on.' It was almost selfish." Related Videos Related Artists |
| Eminem Cypher, Gucci Mane Performances Ignite BET Hip-Hop Awards Posted: 27 Oct 2009 07:22 AM PDT Jay-Z and Ice Cube win big, but the performers steal the show.
As big as it gets: Jay-Z won the BET Hip-Hop Awards' MVP of the Year trophy, beating Lil Wayne, Drake, T.I. and Kanye West. Hov also opened the show with a performance of "As Real as It Gets" with Young Jeezy. Taped earlier this month in Atlanta and aired Tuesday night (October 27), the ceremony showcased the hip-hop nation, from the New Boyz to OGs like Jigga. "Opened up the BET Awards, me and Jay-Z," Jeezy told Mixtape Daily of his performance the day after the show taped. "Shouts out to the homie, man, he stopped through. He was on his way to another show. But that's what we do. Real ones do real things. I just wanted to do something big for the city. Since the song is on both of our albums, we gonna shoot the video. It's gonna be crazy. We said, 'Let's go ahead and break it in at the BET Awards.' "
And while Jay faced stiff competition, Ice Cube didn't have to go up against anybody to win. He was honored with the prestigious lifetime-achievement "I Am Hip-Hop" award. "Ice Cube, I think, is everybody's OG at this point in the game," Bun B said on the show's red carpet. "One thing Ice Cube brought to the game I don't think they give him credit for is sincerity, being real about what you say and really mean it. When Cube told the 'hood to stand up, he really meant that. He wasn't just throwing words and ideas around. When he said to check yourself, he meant it. The ups and downs we've had in the community, Ice Cube was always there to be honest and sincere with his words, his songs and his actions." Jeezy co-presented the award alongside Ice Cube's favorite rapper.
"Without Chuck D, we'd be on a real bad collision course," Cube proclaimed during his acceptance speech. Other performers on the show included the Goodie Mob, Snoop Dogg and Gucci Mane, who got a chance to perform all his big hits of the last few months, including "Break Up" and "Wasted." Even the legendary Kid 'N Play snuck in a dance step. Some of the most talked-about performances of the night were the ones that didn't happen in-house. Several rap cyphers were taped, resulting in standout verses from KRS-One, Eminem, Nicki Minaj and Joe Budden. Em's verse was a fence-clearing homerun as he brought his distinctive cadence and semi-automatic handgun flow. "Wow! I need to hear the unedited version!" DJ Drama, who DJed the awards show, said of Em's bars. "The crowd in the house went crazy! They were so excited to even see Eminem in a cypher. He's one of the greatest spitters of all time." Mike Epps got a chance to do a little bit of stand-up during the show. He used the opportunity to rib some of the famous audience members, like Snoop. But you knew that was going to happen. "Hey, man, I'm cracking everybody," Epps forecasted on the red carpet with a grin. "I gotta keep it secret [who I'm going to target]. ... It's gonna be family fun. Everybody knows the inside jokes of everybody around here. It's gonna be fun, though." Rick Ross said he and his group, the Triple C's, were just taking in the night and enjoying the unity. "Every time this rolls around, I just reflect on the beginning of my career," Ross said on the red carpet. "When I was a fan at home looking at all the legends, eating a bowl of Cap'n Crunch, just dreaming. For me to be here, for my team to be here, and be happy to see other artists, none of that artist animosity. So if you're at home and waiting for your day to get here, I relate to you, because I was you." BET head honcho Stephen Hill said it took a unified front to make the show happen. "It takes pretty much everybody in the company with some type of dedicated effort to put a show on like this," Hill said. The co-president of programming for the channel also said that the person he looked forward to seeing the most was Snoop Dogg. "Most people would shy and deflect that question," Hill said. "I've had a 17-year thing with Snoop Dogg. I love to see Snoop Dogg attack the stage. He has that same hunger in 2009 as he did in 1992." Some other winners announced during the show were Drake for Rookie of the Year and DJ AM for DJ of the Year. Related Photos Related Artists |
| Rihanna Gets Serious On <i>Rated R</i> Album Cover Posted: 26 Oct 2009 11:31 PM PDT Black-and-white image features pensive close-up of singer's face
After the deadly-game song title, razor's-edge logo and barbed-wire wrap she wore on the cover of her "Russian Roulette" single, it wasn't unreasonable to expect that Rihanna's upcoming Rated R album would feature a similarly dangerous image.
But the grainy black-and-white cover shot that leaked Tuesday (October 27) finds the singer in a moody, contemplative pose reminiscent of outrageous 1980s avant-garde singer Grace Jones. Wearing what looks like a leather top, Rihanna is depicted with her hand covering her right eye, with each finger wrapped in an intricate set of rings that hug two knuckles. The image for the album, due November 23, was shot by fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth, who said Rihanna is "so beautiful, sweet and tough at the same time — and a pleasure to shoot," according to PopEater.com. Von Unwerth went on to say that Rihanna is "fantastic to work with — very giving, very creative, very involved in every aspect of the shoot and ready to push the boundaries." The photographer is known for her iconic album covers, including Britney Spears' Blackout, Christina Aguilera's Back to Basics and Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope. The picture, in which Rihanna wears thick, dark lipstick and dramatic eye makeup that gives her a feline look, is just the latest tidbit of information to leak out about the album, her first since 2007's Good Girl Gone Bad. The reveal of the cover also continues what promises to be a see-saw publicity battle between the singer and her ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown, who both have albums coming out in the fourth quarter. Both singers are releasing their first efforts since Brown pleaded guilty in June to a felony-assault count stemming from a violent clash in February. And while Brown is barred from being within 100 yards of Rihanna for the next five years, the proximity of their album release dates (his disc, Graffiti, comes out December 15) has led to almost daily attention grabs by both sides for headlines over the past few weeks. On the same day the Rated R cover emerged, Brown dropped the video for his song "I Can Transform Ya" and was gearing up for his first major live performance since the assault, a headlining spot at Power 105.1's Powerhouse concert in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Tuesday night. Just one week ago, Rihanna dropped the "Roulette" single on the same day Brown announced the dates for his "Fan Appreciation" tour, followed by the debut of Brown's second single, "Crawl." Related Photos Related Artists |
| Chris Brown's 'I Can Transform Ya' Video: Fans Weigh In Posted: 27 Oct 2009 04:00 AM PDT 'It's a good video to come back with,' one of our Times Square respondents says.
NEW YORK — After several months of relative quiet following his February assault of then-girlfriend Rihanna, Chris Brown has re-emerged with a slick new video for his single "I Can Transform Ya," featuring Lil Wayne and Swizz Beatz. We headed to Times Square to ask fans: Is the video enough to spark a full-fledged comeback?
What was clear from talking to our mostly European respondents is that no one has forgotten what Brown is coming back from, but they were willing to set the controversy aside and review the clip. "I thought Chris Brown's video was pretty good," Anna said. "Quite good dancing in it — a bit dull, though, a bit black, could have had a bit more color in it." Marijke wasn't really impressed with the video either, calling it "a little bit common, not very special." After a short pause, though, she admitted, "But I liked it." Though the video might reside in safe territory for hip-hop and R&B, Vicky was impressed by the style: "I think it's a good image for him, quite fresh and chic, despite what happened previously." A new video seems like a good way to recover from a tarnished image; even better, getting Lil Wayne and Swizz Beatz onboard. "It's a good video to come back with," Ashley said, "especially because it's got Lil Wayne in it, and Lil Wayne is kind of hot right now." With all the careers Weezy has helped launch — including red-hot newcomer Drake — his presence in the clip certainly can't hurt Brown's rebuilding process. What did you think of Brown's video? Sound off below! Related Videos Related Artists |
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