MTV News |
- Soulja Boy Tell'em Cooks Up Beats For Kanye West, Rihanna, More
- Chris Brown Was 'Embarrassed' To Be In Public After Rihanna Assault
- Shakira Says It's 'Hard To Explain' <i>She Wolf</i> Lyrics
- Gucci Mane Sentenced To 12 Months In Jail
- Hot Boys Reunion Stalled By Legal Issues, Jail Time
- Travis Barker Promises New Blink-182 Song On His Solo Record
- 'Hills' Star Stephanie Pratt Calls DUI Arrest A 'Blessing'
- Sean Garrett Starts Over As An 'Underdog' For Solo Debut
| Soulja Boy Tell'em Cooks Up Beats For Kanye West, Rihanna, More Posted: 13 Nov 2009 03:50 AM PST 'Me as a producer, I think I've grown tremendously,' he tells Mixtape Daily.
Behind the Beats: Soulja Boy Tell'em Soulja Boy Tell'em has jumped from behind the knobs into the forefront as a performer — he just released three mixtapes on Halloween: Cortez, Paranormal Activity and DatPiff. But don't forget, the young G still knows how to make beats. One of Soulja's biggest fans, Kanye West, recently had the Southern millionaire in the lab working for him. "Me as a producer, I think I've grown tremendously," Soulja told us recently in L.A. "I've been in the studio with Kanye. I did three tracks for him back-to-back."
Soulja says the sessions were give and take. "Me working with him, collaborating different beats," he explained. "Him showing me a lot of stuff I didn't know. Me showing him a lot of stuff he didn't know. He had an ear for my sound. Of course I had an ear for all the stuff he did. Genius! You know what I mean? "The process with Kanye — he'll come in and it depends on what it is," Soulja continued. "If I'm making the beat from scratch, I'll just work. If he's got a sample ... It was three different samples that we was working on. On one of them, he was like, 'I want this to go here, I want you to do this.' I like when an artist pushes me how he was pushing me. He doesn't go easy on me. I make it and be like, 'Here.' Nah, I had to go over it several times. It can be frustrating too. At the same time, sitting there trying to make a beat for the person that's right in front of you, it can be a lot of pressure, but it's all fun. At the end of the day, we're making hit music." Soulja is also cranking out tracks for his next LP, The DeAndre Way. Next Wave of Flav On Jamie Foxx: "I was in the studio with him a couple of days ago working on a new beat for him. All the artists that reached out to me for beats — like Rihanna — my portfolio is only getting longer and longer." On Rihanna: "With this particular project [it was] like, 'Whoa!' because [her rep was] like, 'Yo, I need you to do something for Rihanna's album. You got 11 hours. Go!' It was like, 'What? I'm all out of pocket.' How do you make something that's gonna be a #1 hit so fast? But it's been done before because I made 'Crank That' in 30 minutes." Five-Star Stellar Hits » "Crank That" For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines. |
| Chris Brown Was 'Embarrassed' To Be In Public After Rihanna Assault Posted: 12 Nov 2009 04:54 AM PST 'It's something I have to live with, but it's something that I'm gonna change,' he says on BET's '106 & Park.'
In a sit-down interview before a live audience on BET's "106 & Park," Chris Brown admitted he watched Rihanna's "20/20" interview with Diane Sawyer. "I respect her decisions and whatever she wants to say," he said. "I personally want to keep things private, but at the end of the day, it's her decision." Throughout the sit-down, which was recorded earlier this week and aired Thursday (November 12), Brown continued to apologize for assaulting Rihanna. The singer has revealed more of his emotions in each interview. He first broke his silence with Larry King, then Hot 97's Angie Martinez, and last week with MTV News correspondent Sway during "Chris Brown: The Interview."
During the BET interview, Brown also discussed the isolation he feels in the aftermath of the February incident. "I'm working on it," Brown explained. "I'm really going through it. It's not just the physical labor [aspect of my punishment]; it's the mental labor. It's things that a 19-year-old or a 20-year-old has to deal with. It's not just the room saying, 'We don't like you'; it's the world. It kind of messes with a real person. I'm a real guy. I'm not a mannequin or a robot. I'm a real dude, so that hurts." Brown said being judged by the court of public opinion is the worst of his punishments. When he initially appeared in public following his attack on Rihanna, Brown said he wanted to wear glasses and hide. "I didn't want people to really see me," he said. "I was nervous and embarrassed — just really standoffish." Brown was asked to respond to a comment Rihanna made during her Sawyer interview when the "Umbrella" singer said she wanted her ex-boyfriend to not feel sorry for himself. He admitted his grief but said it's part of his rehabilitation process. "I don't think I would be human if I didn't feel sorry for myself," Brown said. "I do feel like it was a mistake I made, and I'm embarrassed with a mistake I made. It's something I have to live with, but it's something that I'm gonna change." Go here for domestic-violence resources, or check out Think MTV for a video handbook on spotting the warning signs of abuse. Related Videos Related Artists |
| Shakira Says It's 'Hard To Explain' <i>She Wolf</i> Lyrics Posted: 13 Nov 2009 03:50 AM PST 'This album has been written from a very feminine perspective,' singer says.
Shakira wasn't afraid to get a little wacky when it came to the lyrics on She Wolf. But the international songstress admits that kookier lyrics are sometimes born out of necessity in order to make the song work. For instance, on the track "Long Time," when she sings, "I'm so happy I should get sued," she insists that the lyric made sense because of the song's rhyming scheme. "Maybe it rhymed," she told MTV News. "It's hard to explain your own lyrics, you know."
On "Mon Amour," she vows, "Hope the French fleas eat you both alive," but said there's no harm meant in the song. "I was just fantasizing about fleas in France eating them both alive," she simply stated. "This album has been written from a very feminine perspective. I think maybe because I feel more like a woman today ... I guess this album contains a lot of the emotions that a woman experiments when you're in love or out of love — jealousy, fantasies, daydreams," she continued. "I even spoke a little about friends of mine — girlfriends of mine — that I see struggling with their own romantic lives ... how hard it is for girls to find the right guy." The song that covers this topic best is "Men in This Town." In it, Shakira sings about looking all over and still not finding the right guy. However, don't mistake the Matt Damon name-check as a jab. "I know Matt Damon," she said about the lyric, "Matt Damon's not meant for me." "I know him and his wife. It's all good. This is a song and Damon really rhymed with the other word. Matt Damon is actually a terrific dude — I'm saying it in a good way. What I'm actually saying is there aren't many great guys out there and Matt Damon is one of them. I love Matt Damon. He's so great. He's a good sport too." Related Videos |
| Gucci Mane Sentenced To 12 Months In Jail Posted: 12 Nov 2009 01:31 AM PST Rapper is sentenced in Atlanta for parole violation.
Gucci Mane was sentenced to 12 months in jail on Thursday (November 12) for probation violation and taken away in handcuffs, according to his lawyer. Mane pleaded guilty to assault in 2005 for attacking a nightclub promoter, and last September, he was sentenced to a year in jail for failing to fulfill his court-ordered 600 hours of community service in that case. He went to jail and served until March. Upon his release, Gucci went straight to the studio and recorded five songs.
The sentence is a blow to Gucci's career. The ATL rapper has an album coming out — The State vs. Radric Davis — on December 8 and is arguably at the height of his career; in terms of his sentence, he may be out of jail in six months. Gucci has remained one of the hottest MCs in hip-hop solely off his multitude of underground songs released on mixtapes. The records kept him relevant in the clubs and streets and elevated his already blossoming fan-favorite status. "It was a challenge for me," he told MTV News in March about going to jail. "I'm just happy my team kept my music going strong for me. And I'm happy I recorded so many records so people could hear me." This year, Gucci definitely was breaking through from the streets to the mainstream, appearing on tracks for the Black Eyed Peas, Mario, Omarion, Mariah Carey and even a 50 Cent song. Gucci's current single is called "Spotlight" and features Usher. This follows on the heels of "Wasted," featuring Plies. Related Artists |
| Hot Boys Reunion Stalled By Legal Issues, Jail Time Posted: 12 Nov 2009 03:38 AM PST With Turk currently incarcerated and Lil Wayne and B.G. facing prison sentences, the reunion could be on hold for a bit.
If it were just about the music, the long-awaited Hot Boys reunion probably would have already happened. All four members — Lil Wayne, B.G., Juvenile and the currently incarcerated Turk — seem to be onboard. There are even some unreleased Turk vocals in the vaults. However, B.G. said that with him and Lil Wayne having problems with the law, it's unlikely a record will drop anytime soon. "I know I got my own personal dealings to deal with, as far as with the system and things of that nature," said B.G., who was arrested for illegal gun possession recently in Louisiana. Meanwhile, Wayne is expected to be sentenced to a year in prison in a New York court in February.
"I know Wayne's got to face the music with his situation with the system," B.G. added. "But we got time. We got a whole bunch of time to put the album together. We record quick. We already got songs done. But I look at it like, if we record from now until whoever gets sentenced or however it go, we still wouldn't be able to put the album out until [Wayne] comes home. When shorty comes home, I know he'll wanna record a whole 'nother album. So you might have a double Hot Boys CD. You never know. I don't know how it will work out." Aside from legal woes, the Hot Boys project still poses problems on the business end. "It's a paperwork thing," B.G. added. "We gotta get the paperwork straight. A lot of lawyers involved, a lot of managers involved — we gotta make sure everything is everything." Meanwhile, Juvenile is more optimistic. He says he's already received a payment to work on the album. "We been came to an agreement on that," Juve told us recently. "I already got a check on the new Hot Boys album. I'm probably the only one that has gotten paid. It's all a matter of them getting the business straight with B.G. — I think Wayne is already in — and Turk. Matter of fact, Wayne is in. Wayne is the one who wrote me the check." Both B.G. and Juvenile say that they have now reconciled with Cash Money Records Co-CEO Bryan "Birdman" Williams. "We spilled our guts out to each other," Juve said of his talks with Birdman. "We put it out on the table. We let bygones be bygones. Let's put all this aside and get money." Related Videos Related Artists |
| Travis Barker Promises New Blink-182 Song On His Solo Record Posted: 11 Nov 2009 10:48 PM PST Slash, Linkin Park's Chester Bennington also on tap for Barker's LP.
While the status of Blink-182's much-discussed "Up All Night" — the new song they didn't play on their just-wrapped reunion tour — remains unclear, drummer Travis Barker isn't letting that stop him from talking up another new Blink tune, one that will appear on his upcoming solo record.
"There's some stuff on my record that's not going to have a bunch of guitars, that are just straight-up hip hop records. Everything's going be real different. It's going to be really well-rounded," he told MTV News on Wednesday. "We got a new Blink song on there, I think I'm going to do something with Chester Bennington from Linkin Park. Hopefully a guest appearance from Slash, I'm doing his big fundraiser that happens this month. I think there's going to be a collaboration with [Kanye West's touring DJ] A-Track, so it's gonna be really in all directions." Barker didn't have many details about that new Blink tune — mostly because the band hasn't written it yet — but he's clear about one thing: The song most definitely isn't "Up All Night." Blink have other plans for that. "No, 'Up All Night' will have its own home, and it won't be on my record. That will continue to be part of a new Blink record or will be released through Blink182.com or something, it's going to be a surprise," Barker said. "The new song that we record for my record is just going to be something from scratch, and just us doing our thing." The plan, according to Barker, is to have work on his solo record completed in "January or February," and he hopes to support it with a tour. But that's a pretty loose thing. After all, he and his Blink mates are taking it easy these days, recharging from time on the road. "We're kind of taking the rest of the year off, for everyone to finish up other stuff they have going on," Barker said. "We want to re-group next year and start getting together once a week or once every two weeks to start doing the beginning work on our record." Of course, Barker's also been hard at work remixing tracks — he premiered his brand-new version of the Drake/ Eminem/ Kanye West/ Lil Wayne collaboration "Forever" on MTVNews.com on Wednesday. Related Photos Related Artists |
| 'Hills' Star Stephanie Pratt Calls DUI Arrest A 'Blessing' Posted: 12 Nov 2009 12:50 AM PST 'It was a sucky lesson, but it was actually a huge blessing in disguise,' she says.
In October, Stephanie Pratt was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after spending a night on the town celebrating sister-in-law Holly Montag's birthday in Hollywood. Now, nearly a month later, "The Hills" star calls the arrest a "blessing." "It was the worst thing to happen to me and, at the same time, it was the biggest blessing," Pratt told People on Wednesday. "I learned to not fall apart, which is something that I usually do when something goes bad in my life. I learned that it is all about temptation and that I am being tested." Pratt, who has been open about her battles with addiction and bulimia, said that despite messing up, it's also the first time she hasn't stayed on that destructive path. "This is the first time that I haven't screwed up more after a bad thing," Pratt explained. "And I didn't fall apart and say, 'I hate my life, I want to die!' It's the first time in 23 years that I went the other way." In fact, Pratt is hoping to use the incident to get her life back on track. "Two weeks ago, I found a partner for a handbag line that I've dreamed about since the seventh grade," Pratt said. "And I'm closer to my parents, and I've never been happier in my life. I've had problems in my past, but I would just let them turn into snowballs that turned into avalanches. And this is the first time that I've ever done anything different." In an interview with E! News, also on Wednesday, she said she had two glasses of champagne the night that she was pulled over, and she was too embarrassed to call anyone to help her out. "It was dumb and a blessing," she said. "It got my life together. It was a sucky lesson, but it was actually a huge blessing in disguise. I was there for, like, nine hours. I didn't want to tell anyone." To avoid any trouble in the future, Pratt is vowing to stop drinking entirely. "I'm just going to abstain. The past month and a half has been so amazing," she added. "I'm doing the right things." Related Photos |
| Sean Garrett Starts Over As An 'Underdog' For Solo Debut Posted: 12 Nov 2009 12:57 AM PST Songwriter/producer (Beyoncé, Rihanna, Usher) is ready to write some hits for himself.
Sean "The Pen" Garrett has the swagger of a boxer. Fast with a verbal jab, expert at talking an Ali-worthy streak of trash and prone to referring to himself in the third person, the fire-hot producer/songwriter (Beyoncé's "Diva," Fergie's "London Bridge," Usher's "Papers" and Mario's "Break Up") is planning to take some rare "me" time later this year to hunker down on his first solo album. "Sean Garrett as an artist is what fans are missing," he said recently during a break from a workout at an Atlanta gym. "I'm making the kind of records Bell Biv Devoe and Bobby Brown made, songs you love and get excited hearing, with crazy beats and incredibly creative. I'm trying to be a little innovative and make songs girls will love. I'm pulling out all the stops." Soon, he promised, he'll announce his new label deal, and by the end of December, he's penciled in six weeks or so of intense recording time — the first extended studio lockdown in his nearly decade-long career — to begin laying down the tracks for the yet-untitled album he hopes to have out next summer. But, like any savvy boxer, Garrett knows when to pull punches and save some for the ring, so while he won't reveal too much about what guests he might have on the album, he did promise this: "I confirmed today that one of the biggest superstars in the world will be on it." Beyond that, he was not saying much. Garrett released a Japan-only solo disc, Turbo 919, last year, but he said the upcoming album will be his true solo debut after more than half a decade of toiling behind the scenes for everyone from Ashley Tisdale and Amerie to the Pussycat Dolls, Jesse McCartney, Mary J. Blige and Chris Brown. The first single from the album, the recently released Gucci Mane-featuring tune "Up in Your Heart," is a prime example of Garrett's skills: a hypnotic chorus over a sneakily insidious spare beat and a hook that instantly grabs your ears. "If people love [Mario's] 'Break Up,' they're gonna love my album," said the supremely confident hitmaker. "The biggest comparison I can make [as an artist] is to Kanye, because there's so much energy and so much to talk about, and I want to have so much fun on the record. People have tried to keep me in this songwriter/producer box, but I'm so much more of a bigger talent." Working hard to make the album what he called "bulletproof," Garrett said despite his proven track record of hit writing, he feels like an underdog on his solo effort. That's why he's working extra hard to prove himself as he plans to continue his winning streak with a song on the upcoming Rihanna Rated R album, as well as tunes he's writing for Lady Gaga and Britney Spears, another single with Mario, "Stranded," and a new one from Jamie Foxx's upcoming album, "French Kiss." "I have to take the same type of approach I take on the hit records I write: I can't rush it," he said. "I'm a f---ing superstar artist/writer/producer, and I will give my fans what they want and what they're asking me to give them: a phenomenal album. I'm the underdog, man, I can't go wrong. I got nothing to lose. Underdogs can't lose." In the meantime, Garrett promised that he will also continue to be a presence on the radio and on the mixtape front, pointing to his current spot on the Gucci song "In My Business" alongside Drake. Related Artists |
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