MTV News |
- Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Bono To Headline MTV's 'Hope For Haiti' Telethon
- Blink-182 To Return With 'Ambitious' New Album In 2010
- Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda: Haiti Benefit Project Happened 'Quickly'
- Styles P, Green Lantern Team Up For 'Groundbreaking' Album
- Barack Obama's First Year: There's Still A Lot Left To Do, Experts Say
- Thom Yorke Brings ???? To Coachella, Rekindles Poorly Punctuated Magic
- 'American Idol' Chicago Auditions Offer Very Few Golden Tickets
- Wyclef Jean Pleads For Help Relocating 2 Million Haitians
- Randy Jackson Says 'Idol Gives Back' May Benefit Haiti
- U2's The Edge Talks Haiti-Benefit Collaboration With Jay-Z
| Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Bono To Headline MTV's 'Hope For Haiti' Telethon Posted: 19 Jan 2010 03:54 AM PST Bruce Springsteen, Coldplay, Alicia Keys and Christina Aguilera will also perform at the show, airing live Friday at 8 p.m. ET.
Justin Timberlake, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Wyclef Jean, Bono, The Edge and Jay-Z will lead the all-star lineup of performers for Friday night's "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief" telethon. More than 100 stars have signed on to help raise funds for the MTV Networks-sponsored show, which will benefit the victims of last week's devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake on the impoverished island.
Several one-of-a-kind collaborations will highlight the event, including a hookup between U2's Bono and The Edge with Jay-Z and Rihanna in London and a jam featuring Kid Rock, Keith Urban and Sheryl Crow in Los Angeles; like all the night's performances, the collabos will be available for download on iTunes for 99 cents the next day. Also appearing in New York with Wyclef and Springsteen will be Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira and Sting, while the Los Angeles show will feature performances from Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Timberlake, Stevie Wonder and Taylor Swift. Jean, a native of Haiti, George Clooney and CNN's Anderson Cooper will appear on the show, which will be broadcast from New York, London, Los Angeles and Haiti and feature more than 100 of the biggest names in film, television and music providing testimonials and answering phones. The two-hour program will air commercial-free across ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, the CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT on Friday at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The special will also air on PBS, TNT, Showtime, Comedy Central, Bravo, E! Entertainment Network, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, Centric, Current TV, Fuse, MLB Network, Epix, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health and Planet Green, as well as Canada's CTV, CBC Television, Global Television and MuchMusic. It will also air internationally on BET International, CNN International, National Geographic and MTV Networks International, available in 640 million homes worldwide. "Hope for Haiti" will be the first U.S.-based telethon airing on MTV in China. Facebook and Twitter are the official social media partners who will help to drive donations and tune-in to the telethon. All donations will directly benefit Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Red Cross, UNICEF and Wyclef's Yele Haiti Foundation. Facebook and MySpace have signed on as official social-media partners to help steer viewers to the telethon and drive donations. Additionally, the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund and United Nations World Food Programme have joined the list of relief organizations that will benefit from the show, with proceeds to be split evenly among each organization's individual Haiti relief funds. "Hope For Haiti Now" will be the most widely distributed telethon in history, internationally and across media platforms, including live streaming globally on sites including YouTube, Hulu, MySpace, Fancast, AOL, MSN.com, Yahoo, Bing.com, BET.com, MTV.com, and Rhapsody and on mobile via Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and FloTV.
On the red carpet at Sunday night's Golden Globe Awards, George Clooney revealed how the global fundraiser came together. "You guys started it," the actor said. "The first call I made was to Judy [McGrath, MTV Networks' chief executive]. She said, 'Yes, everybody will do it, everybody's in' and that they were thinking of doing it too. They got the ball rolling and we got every single network after that. So congratulations to you!" Before the telethon airs, Clooney wanted to remind young people that there are many ways to help the people of Haiti. "I would say, 'Get involved, whatever you do,' " the Oscar-winner said. "This is about compassion. There are times in our lives when people are really without help and in real danger, and this is one of those times. So whatever they can do -- give money to one of the organizations that they like the best." Head here to learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Join George Clooney and Wyclef Jean for MTV's "Hope for Haiti" telethon, airing commercial-free Friday, January 22, at 8 p.m. ET. Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists |
| Blink-182 To Return With 'Ambitious' New Album In 2010 Posted: 20 Jan 2010 03:50 AM PST For Rock Week, we take a look at what we know about Blink's long-awaited LP.
It's been more than six years since Blink-182 released their untitled (or, some say, self-titled) fifth album, which was born from increased tension within the band, carried with it the dreaded "mature" mantle, and eventually led to Mark, Tom and Travis taking an "indefinite hiatus." It was, by all accounts, a pretty difficult time for everyone involved. These days, things are different in the Blink camp. They buried old beefs and reunited onstage at the 2009 Grammy Awards, talked about making a new album, then hit the road on a raucous arena tour. It was very much like old times. The good old times. And with a triumphant 2009 behind them, they roll into 2010 with one roadblock remaining: that aforementioned new album. They didn't play the one new track they'd completed — "Up All Night" — on their reunion tour, and, so far, the only recording plan we've heard of was Travis Barker's promise to include new Blink material on his upcoming solo album. Needless to say, the timetable appears to be slightly sketchy for when we'll actually get to hear any of the new stuff — let alone a new album. But that hasn't stopped fans from speculating that this will finally be the year that we get the follow-up to their 2003 effort. But what will the new Blink sound like? Well, according to the guys themselves, probably not what you're expecting. Just last week, a Los Angeles production company called Handsome Randsome released a teaser trailer for their upcoming "Blinkumentary," which mentioned that Blink were definitely in the studio right now working on the album and quoted guitarist Tom DeLonge as saying, "No one really knows what to expect from the next Blink record, [but] I don't think anyone thinks it's going to be a straightforward rock record. ... [It's] probably the most ambitious songwriting and art that we've ever made." Then there's the new song bassist Mark Hoppus created with Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, for the upcoming "Alice in Wonderland" soundtrack. According to Wentz, the track — called "In Transit" — "sounds nothing like Blink" and was more the end product of a pair of buddies working together for the heck of it. Still, it is new music, and it seems to be in keeping with what DeLonge talked about in the "Blinkumentary" trailer. So maybe the new Blink will be a bit like Angels & Airwaves, mixed with a touch of (+44)? Or maybe it won't at all. And what about that mysterious solo album Hoppus told MTV News about early last year? Who will produce the new album? And will they finish recording it before heading to Europe for a string of shows this summer? There are plenty of questions and very few answers (there's not even a tentative release date scheduled for the album yet, according to Blink's label, Interscope). And, really, at the end of the day, all that matters is that we're actually talking about a new Blink record, right? We've waited a long time for this, and 2010 is already looking better because of it. It's Rock Week at MTV News, and to celebrate, we're taking a look at some of the most-anticipated new albums and bands of 2010. Stay tuned all week for more! Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists |
| Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda: Haiti Benefit Project Happened 'Quickly' Posted: 19 Jan 2010 07:15 AM PST 'It was an idea as of Thursday — and as of right now, we have nine songs up,' he says of Download to Donate for Haiti project.
LOS ANGELES — Barely a week after tragedy hit Haiti in the form of a massive earthquake, Linkin Park have stepped forward to help the country's struggling residents with Download to Donate for Haiti, an ambitious project featuring new music from some of the industry's top musicians. On Tuesday (January 19), we caught up with Mike Shinoda, who is currently working overtime to turn his musical talents into much-needed relief. "Download to Donate has come together very, very quickly," Shinoda explained of the project, featuring brand-new music that can now be downloaded in exchange for a donation to Haiti relief efforts. "It was an idea as of Thursday — and as of right now, we have nine songs up."
Shinoda plans to add more tracks in the upcoming days — each from a major act who donated their track in response to the January 12 earthquake. "We ask that you donate, but you don't have to — if all you can afford is to spread the word, embed the widget, share it on Facebook, Twitter, whatever, then that will be good enough," explained the rapper/songwriter/guitarist for Linkin Park, whose new track "Not Alone" is offered alongside contributions from Peter Gabriel, Alanis Morissette, Dave Matthews Band and more. "We're hoping to raise a lot of money for a lot of people who need it in Haiti. "We had a demo [for 'Not Alone'] — the music was laid out, we had done the song a little while ago ... we just never used it because we never thought it was done," Shinoda remembered of the origins of their track. "[After the tragedy in Haiti], we listened to the demo again, essentially scrapped all the words, rewrote the words ... when you've got that idea and emotional charge in you and you put that in the lyrics, for me it does make better lyrics." Those lyrics include, "I break down/ Fear is sinking in/ The cold comes/ Racing through my skin/ Searching for a way to get to you/ Through the storm you go, giving up your home/ Go, leaving all you've known/ You are not alone." "There's an authenticity and a passion that you can hear in Chester's voice on this track; we literally wrote [the new lyrics] via e-mail, before he had flown out from Arizona to L.A. [to record them]," Shinoda said. Part of the remarkable speed behind their reaction to Haiti, Shinoda added, can be attributed to a philanthropic groundwork the band has had in place for a half-decade. "We started our organization, Music for Relief, back in 2005 after the tsunami in South Asia," he explained. "Music for Relief's goal is to provide relief, funds and awareness in the wake of natural disasters ... this is the first time that the technology has been available to do something like this; just a few years ago, it wouldn't be possible for artists to turn around songs so quickly, in a matter of days." Shinoda hopes fans will keep their ears — and their hearts — open for more, as he plans to upload additional tracks in the days to come. "By the way, I should say that Music for Relief [donates] 100 percent of the funds," he added. "We're just a conduit; everybody's working for free and everybody's working hard." Head here to learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Join George Clooney and Wyclef Jean for MTV's "Hope for Haiti" telethon, airing commercial-free Friday, January 22, at 8 p.m. ET. Related Videos Related Artists |
| Styles P, Green Lantern Team Up For 'Groundbreaking' Album Posted: 20 Jan 2010 03:50 AM PST 'DJ and artist come together and really put out a quality product,' Lantern tells Mixtape Daily.
This Week's Main Pick Street Kings: Styles P and Green Lantern Holding It Down For: NYC Album: The Green Ghost Project Real Spit: Step your bar code up! That's how we moving in 2010 — so says the Evil Genius, DJ Green Lantern. He and Styles P locked in for the new album The Green Ghost Project.
"We never did a whole joint together," Green said about how the project came together. "We was like, 'When we do it, it's gonna be groundbreaking.' Nobody never did nothing like this before. It's groundbreaking. Normally, when people do these types of things, they pair up and do a mixtape. This is more than that. This is a collaboration. It's a mixtape feel, 'cause it's me and him, but it's really got an album feel. I produced half of the joints. Then I put on my executive-producer hat, called up the homies. They came through with some fire joints." Scram Jones, the Alchemist, Buckwild, Statik Selektah, Dame Grease, Vinny Idol and Poobs all added beats. "The result is an album cover, art, packaging, more than anything, bar-coded. Step your bar code up. It's a great look, man. DJ and artist come together and really put out a quality product." "We said we wanted the feel of what they supposed to be doing on mixtapes today with the '90s touch to it," Styles added. " '90s touch means giving a damn about it. [This is] not for the rap fan; [it's] for the hip-hop fan." Joints to Check For » "Invasion." "I had made the beat a year or so back," Green explained. "I had Junior Reid on the joint. I went in the studio with Junior to cut some dub-plate type of things. ... I had an idea of doing a home-invasion type of thing. They at your door type of thing. So I took it to P. He had it, it leaked out, a rough version. We was like, 'Man, we gotta put somebody on that joint. So we called up Jadakiss, put a nice mix to it, put the bridge on it. Crazy." » "Make Millions From Entertainment." "As a spitter, that [song is] saying how I go down in this game and what I'll do to you," Styles said. "And from that, still make money. We been here a minute, me and Green. You can't always hit the grand slam, but I'm gonna be on the block for a long time making money from entertainment. You'll be in, out, a one-hit wonder. You might be a nice two- or four-hit wonder, but when you're here for a minute, you'll make millions from entertainment." » "Born in These Streets" (featuring Tre Williams). "That was a joint I really wanted," Styles said. "Tre Williams was already on the track. Poobs did the beat. It was a perfect fitting." "That's a classic LOX sound," Lantern insisted. "You hear the sound of the beat, it's a classic LOX beat." For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines. Related Videos |
| Barack Obama's First Year: There's Still A Lot Left To Do, Experts Say Posted: 20 Jan 2010 03:50 AM PST A year after Obama swept into office on the promise of change, some experts are still waiting for results.
On this day last year, millions of Americans huddled on a crisp winter day near the steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., to watch Barack Obama's historic inauguration. The nation's first black president encouraged the multitudes to unite in hope against what he called the "gathering clouds and raging storms" of economic despair and war. "We gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord," he said in a speech that summarized the parallel messages of the bitterly contested 2008 election season: hope and change.
With one year in the White House under his belt, we asked experts to grade the president's performance so far. Facing a historic economic meltdown, soaring unemployment, a reinvigorated war in Afghanistan and a bruising battle to pass health care legislation, Obama faced one of the toughest first years in recent presidential history, according to David King, professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. "He was obviously dealt a very difficult hand," said King, who added that it's not clear that Obama played that hand particularly well. "With the economy spiraling, threats overseas getting worse ... it was a very difficult environment to begin an aggressive agenda that included health care reform, environmental cap-and-trade reform and immigration reform. He probably overbid the number of [those items] he could take on." And while Obama tried to achieve a number of his stated goals — including providing health care for 30 million uninsured Americans — King said, in the end, the former Illinois senator achieved much less than his supporters expected him to. "That's not an unexpected outcome," King said. "There's almost nothing surprising about what happened last year except perhaps that the administration continued to try and work in a bipartisan manner up until the end of the summer, when it became clear they would have to pass [health care] legislation within their own party." Though he promised to close the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay and begin the final draw-down of troops from Iraq, Obama has not yet achieved those goals. A number of supporters have grumbled that pledges to create more transparency in government have also not yet come to fruition. One of the most common complaints was about the failure to air the health care negotiations on C-SPAN as promised, a lack of movement on immigration reform, as well as the broken pledge to end the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, barring gays and lesbians from openly serving in the armed forces. According to PolitiFact.com's Obameter, which tracked more than 500 campaign promises made by candidate Obama, so far the president has kept 91 of those promises, compromised on 33, stalled on 87 and broken 14, with the remaining 275 tossed in the "in the works" category. Despite those disappointments, Obama appears poised to pass the first substantive health care legislation in a generation, even if the final bill, should it make it to his desk, will be a lesser version of the universal program the president proposed. King said Obama will likely be credited with economic policy moves that potentially saved the U.S. from a complete economic meltdown: "We don't know what the economic stimulus bill did [yet], and we don't know what would have happened without it, but we do appear to have dodged a bullet on that one." Dr. Chris Arterton, dean of George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management, said one thing he's noticed a year into Obama's administration is that the political intensity is fully on the Republican side, versus last year, when it was on the Democratic side thanks to the enthusiasm of young people supporting a candidate who was an inspiring outsider. "In the policy realm, the past 365 days have served to intensely anger people on the conservative side, who feel he's been conducting a socialist experiment with public policies," Arterton said. "That has energized the [conservative] base and helped recruit money and volunteers." Arterton said Obama's message of change has taken some serious hits, with his poll ratings dropping from 70 percent or more in the early days to less than 50 percent of respondents now saying they think he's doing a good job. "The halo effect of the election has worn off ... [because] he was blown off course by this huge agenda of problems, all of which are interconnected: health care and the economy, foreign-policy questions and the need to spend funds on a two-front war. These are all massive problems, and I can't think of an administration that was confronted by more serious problems since FDR's time." While Obama gave himself a B+ for his first year recently, Arterton said a more accurate grade might be a solid B. "Against the context of the enormity of problems he's faced, he's doing pretty well," he said. "Is it clear the American public is running out of patience? Absolutely." Head to Think.MTV.com to find a community where you, your friends and your favorite celebrities can get informed, get heard and take action on the issues that matter to you most. |
| Thom Yorke Brings ???? To Coachella, Rekindles Poorly Punctuated Magic Posted: 20 Jan 2010 03:50 AM PST Radiohead frontman once again lets grammar fall to the wayside, in Bigger Than the Sound.
Take a look at the lineup for the 2010 Coachella Festival, which was revealed Tuesday to much fanfare and some actual praise from the usually venomous Greek chorus that is the blogosphere. And while that in and of itself is probably worth a column (that or the more lunkheaded "Jay-Z WTF?!" angle), the more pressing issue is one of punctuation. And why Thom Yorke is magical. Check out the official Coachella poster, which is up on the fest's official site and gets all big-like when you click on it. See there on Sunday, where Thom is listed with a bunch of question marks next to his name? That's not a typo, according to the folks who do publicity for the fest. It's specifically how Yorke wanted to be billed — with four question marks following his name. That was not negotiable. Now, apparently, this is how he was also billed when he played a spate of solo shows last year, either because he never got around to deciding on a name for his backing band (which included Flea and producer Nigel Godrich), or because he simply did not want to. According to his publicist, that's also the case with Coachella — Yorke will once again play with a band and, once again, they will not have a name. Or, more specifically, they will be called "????" And this is why Thom Yorke is magical. He has never let something like punctuation stand in his way. Most times, he never even acknowledges its existence, but when he does, it's usually only to wantonly abuse it. There is no AP Stylebook that can hold him. He is the most lethal thing to happen to copy editors since the release of the Breeders' Title TK album. It's almost as if he's saying, "Stodgy commas? Where we're going, we don't need stodgy commas." Ever since I was a kid in a smoke-filled, tapestry-laden college dorm room, I've thrilled to his poorly-punctuated misadventures. He filled the old Radiohead Web site (the creepy white one) with stuff like "not sleeping okay/drinking too much.trapped in hyperspace.?.the girl disappeared, smiling and blowing kisses" and "we go to a restaurant there is meat in the bread there is not enough seats for everyone there is meat in everything jellylikefat pink slices pink/climbing up fire escapes/very poisoned." I had no idea what it all meant back then (and I still don't today), but it seemed pretty deep. Thom was on some next-level stuff back then. He famously cut up all the lyrics to the songs on Kid A, then rearranged them at random, in a nod to Tristan Tzara's Dadaist poetry. He named a song on Amnesiac "Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors," for reasons clear only to him. He gave all the tunes on Hail to the Thief "alternate titles" ("It Girl. Rag Doll.") because he felt like it. There was no rational explanation for any of it but he did it anyway, and I loved it all. I still do today. Because, unlike anything else (except maybe his hair sometimes), these hijinx gave Yorke the air of a very unstable man. I have never met him, and maybe he really is, but in general he seems to be a very nice, if not slightly serious, dude. He has two kids. He is a vegan. He is upset about things like global warming. None of that made him any different than my next-door neighbor (I live in Brooklyn). But when he really got going, alone in some hermetically sealed chamber somewhere, pounding out missives without giving pause to punctuation, he became a mad monk, a jazz musician, a lunatic. And really, we want our rock stars to be unhinged. We want them to be obsessed with all things post-millennial, about the melding of man and machine, and we want them to write accordingly. We want them to fire away without commas, or with 15 exclamation points if the situation demands it. Missives and lyrics should mirror binary code. This is what we pay good money to see. Sadly, in recent years, Yorke has mellowed out some (though no one can explain why In Rainbows has a song called "Faust ARP" on it) and, to be honest, it has made him slightly less interesting to me. He became little more than the frontman of a really good band. Sort of like Craig Finn. But now, thanks to four question marks, I'm interested once again. This is probably pretty shallow (and stupid), but I've never been one to shy away from declaratory statements when Radiohead are involved. The mad man has returned, and this time, he's brought his pals "????" along with him. I have no idea who "????" will actually be (though it would be rad if it were Question Mark & the Mysterians), but I am compelled to find out — even if it means plunking down the $269 (plus service fees) for a three-day Coachella pass. That's the magic of Thom Yorke. He makes the seemingly mundane incredibly interesting. He plays by his own rules. He makes punctuation his bitch. He is insane, and I love him for it. I hope he never changes. I hope he names Radiohead's next album w, only he puts a tilde over it for no particular reason. I hope all the lyrics are just one long run-on sentence, with abrupt periods and em-dashes tossed in by a blindfolded Jonny Greenwood. I hope he has another child and calls him "A.nd/y." All of this is back in play now, all of it is possible, just because one man refused to bend to the rules of punctuation. Crazy Thom is back. The revolution begins again and it does so with four question marks. Why not???? Questions? Concerns? Hit me up at BTTS@MTVStaff.com. Related Photos |
| 'American Idol' Chicago Auditions Offer Very Few Golden Tickets Posted: 19 Jan 2010 06:52 AM PST A familiar face gets a third chance and guest judge Shania Twain compliments one contestant's 'bottom end.'
On Wednesday night (January 19), "American Idol" headed to Chicago, hoping to find talent on par with last week's Atlanta auditions. And while there were some serious pipes on display in Chi-Town, there were also more than a few misfires. And a whole lot of misfits too. Chicago definitely let its freak flag fly, rolling out a series of bow-tie-clad Tom Jones enthusiasts, mealy-mouthed Tiny Tim impersonators, accordion players, angry mothers and one rather buxom "Idol" contestant who showed off a move she (pretty aptly) described as "the boob flex."
All in all, it was an interesting show — only 13 golden tickets were handed out to some 12,000 auditioners — and though guest judge Shania Twain tried to play nice, Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson were more than ready to let it rip. "Do you find that when you sing at home, a lot of animals turn up outside the house?" Simon chuckled to one warbly wannabe, who crashed and burned attempting Maxwell's version of Kate Bush's "This Woman's Worth." "Swear on your mother's life that was not a joke," Cowell hissed after another particularly brutal audition. It wasn't all bad, though. Katelyn Epperly, a 19-year-old from West Des Moines, Iowa, earned high praise (and the show's first golden ticket) with her soulful take on Duffy's "Syrup and Honey." Paige Dechausse — who nearly died after an asthma attack — got through to Hollywood with a smoky cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come." And John Park, a 20-year-old college student, earned raves — and had Twain blushing (she told him "You have a beautiful bottom end") — with a sexualized version of Gary Moore's "I'll Love You More Than You'll Ever Know." Angela Martin, who had made it to Hollywood Week in each of the previous two "Idol" seasons but could never quite make it over the hump (once due to having a warrant out for her arrest) made it back for a third time, wowing the judges with her take on Mary J. Blige's "Just Fine." Other contestants who made it through to Hollywood included big-voiced (and even bigger-haired) Justin Ray; Keith Semple, a Simple Plan lookalike with a raspy voice; and the soulful Marcus Jones. Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions. |
| Wyclef Jean Pleads For Help Relocating 2 Million Haitians Posted: 19 Jan 2010 07:35 AM PST Singer firmly denies using Yele Haiti funds for personal benefit.
Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean held an emotional press conference in New York on Monday afternoon to outline relief plans for his country and to answer criticism of Yele Haiti, the charity foundation he founded that is raising funds for the victims of last week's devastating earthquake on the island. Jean also advocated for the relocation of the nearly 2 million Haitians who have lost their homes in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
"Port-au-Prince is a morgue," said Jean, who has been at the forefront of the call to action for aid to Haiti. He flew down to his native country the day after the massive 7.0 earthquake struck the Caribbean nation on January 12. Through his Twitter account, outreach to other celebrities and entertainers, and pleas for help on news networks around the country, Yele had raised more than $2 million as of Friday. The singer said his priority is to help get supplies to remote areas where security concerns are the greatest. "I'm not the one that was reporting the news," Jean said. "I'm the one that was carrying the dead bodies on the street." Earlier this week, watchdog Web site TheSmokingGun.com posted tax returns for the Yele Haiti foundation, claiming that the charitable organization had personally "enriched" the singer and citing payments for a New York recording studio co-owned by Jean and the former Fugees leader's partnership in a Haitian TV production company. "My dad always told me, if you're a man with a clear conscience, speak with a clear conscience and the world will know," Jean said firmly. "Have we made mistakes? Yes. Did I ever use Yele money for personal benefit? Absolutely not. Yele's books are transparent and open. We have been given a clean bill of health by an external auditor every year since we started. "Now, if you don't mind, my people in Haiti are watching this, so I got to talk to them in their own language," Jean said before pausing as tears streamed from his eyes. He then spoke patois to the people back home and continued to stress the need for aid. "After the camera is off, I still gotta report back for duty. That's just the reality of my life," Jean said. Wyclef Jean will join George Clooney and other celebrities and musicians this Friday for "Hope for Haiti," a telethon sponsored by MTV Networks that will be featured across all major networks. Learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Join George Clooney and Wyclef Jean for MTV's "Hope for Haiti" telethon, airing commercial-free Friday, January 22, at 8 p.m. ET. Related Artists |
| Randy Jackson Says 'Idol Gives Back' May Benefit Haiti Posted: 19 Jan 2010 03:48 AM PST 'I'm sure we will definitely address that,' he says of the charity event's focus on helping the earthquake-ravaged nation.
After taking a year off in the midst of the economic crisis, the "Idol Gives Back" charity event is back on for this year and "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson told MTV News on Tuesday (January 19) that the focus will likely shift to Haiti in light of the devastating earthquake that hit the Caribbean nation last week. "I'm sure we're going to really address that, because it's just a catastrophe," said Jackson, who is excited that the "Idol" fundraiser is coming back. "I can't believe what's going on down there. I love that MTV is joining in doing this telethon. I think it's amazing and I'm trying to lend my support. I've given and everyone I know has given and is trying to help out. I'm sure we will definitely address that."
Jackson said he's also considering doing a benefit to tie into the upcoming season premiere of MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew." "We've been talking about doing something on there, something to donate ... you hate hearing about these things. You have to be proactive and do something about that." In the past, "Gives Back" has focused on children's charities, including Save the Children, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Malaria No More, raising more than $120 million thanks to all-star appeals and performances from the likes of Carrie Underwood, Ben Stiller, Kelly Clarkson, Adam Sandler, Alicia Keys, new "Idol" judge Ellen DeGeneres, Miley Cyrus and Mariah Carey. Though he hasn't been involved in producing a charity single in a long time, Jackson jokingly suggested that he might consider jumping back into that game if he could convince this year's biggest breakout "Idol" star so far, General Larry "Pants on the Ground" Platt, to participate. "Maybe do a 'Pants on the Ground' charity single?" Jackson wondered aloud. "Hey, hey — Larry, call the Dawg. Holla at me. Let's get in the studio. I can get you in the studio with Lil Wayne and we can do a whole thing." A spokesperson for "Idol" could not be reached for comment at press time. Head here to learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Join George Clooney and Wyclef Jean for MTV's "Hope for Haiti" telethon, airing commercial-free Friday, January 22, at 8 p.m. ET. Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions. Related Videos Related Photos |
| U2's The Edge Talks Haiti-Benefit Collaboration With Jay-Z Posted: 19 Jan 2010 05:42 AM PST Supergroup will perform in London during 'Hope for Haiti' telethon, airing Friday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.
A once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between Jay-Z and U2's Bono and The Edge will take place at a London venue during Friday night's "Hope for Haiti" telethon, which airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV and other networks. The supergroup will join a lineup of superstars for the show that includes Justin Timberlake, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, Bruce Springsteen, Wyclef Jean, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Sting, Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Stevie Wonder and Taylor Swift.
More than 100 stars have signed on to help raise funds for the MTV Networks-sponsored show, which will benefit the victims of last Tuesday's devastating 7.0 earthquake on the impoverished island. (Head here to learn more about what you can do to help the people of Haiti.) In addition to appearing together at the event, Bono, the Edge and Jay have teamed up with Swizz Beatz to record an as-yet-untitled song produced by Beatz that will be available on iTunes. "Last night we wrote a song. ... Bono got a call from a producer, Swizz. He and Jay-Z wanted to do something for Haiti," The Edge said on Saturday on "The Dave Fanning Show" on Ireland's 2FM. "So, Bono came up with the phrase on the phone, and last night we were here, we wrote a song — finished, recorded, and sent it back to them. So that might be the next thing you hear from us!" Swizz also weighed in on the all-star tune, writing about it on his Twitter account over the weekend. "Me, Bono, Hova have something to say about Haiti. Stay tuned. I told you I was working on something amazing for Haiti. They need us!" Head here to learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Join George Clooney and Wyclef Jean for MTV's "Hope for Haiti" telethon, airing commercial-free Friday, January 22, at 8 p.m. ET. Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists |
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