MTV News |
- Justin Bieber Keeping Kids' Choice Awards Performance A Surprise
- T.I. Completes Prison Sentence But Still Has Curfew
- Beyonce Pregnancy <i>Not</i> Confirmed
- Eazy-E 'Paved The Way,' MTV's Sway Calloway Says
- A-Trak On His And Travis Barker's WMC Tribute To DJ AM
- Lil Eazy-E Remembers His Dad, 15 Years Later
- Eazy-E Remembered By The Game, Nipsey Hussle, Scoop DeVille
- Justin Bieber Is A 'Prodigy,' Usher Says
- Eazy-E, N.W.A 'Helped Me Understand I Had A Chance,' Plies Says
| Justin Bieber Keeping Kids' Choice Awards Performance A Surprise Posted: 26 Mar 2010 02:56 AM PDT 'I don't want to tell anyone,' star says of his awards-show song choice.
On Saturday, Justin Bieber will be one of two performers at Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards — along with Rihanna, he will be hitting the stage for the annual awards show. And while he just missed the deadline to be nominated for any prizes, he does know that when he gets up there to sing, his fans will be surprised by what they get. Bieber is keeping any performance details under wraps.
"I do know what I'm performing, but I don't want to tell anyone," he teased. "Were both performing, but not together." Once he finishes his Kids' Choice Awards performance, Bieber is also set to hit another iconic stage when he plays "Saturday Night Live" on April 10, with Tina Fey as host. "I'm really excited. I've watched it all my life," he said. "So it's amazing to be able to perform." And as if that wasn't reason enough to celebrate, just this week he released his sophomore album, My World 2.0. On it, he has a collaboration with Ludacris, "Baby," and Lil Wayne has also said that he wants to work with the teen star. "I would love to work with him in the future, but nothing so far," he said. Does Bieber really have a swagger coach to thank for being accepted by hip-hop's elite? "I mean, I just hang out with whoever. I'm also friends with Selena Gomez. I hang out with everyone," he said, adding any rumors of a swagger coach have been greatly exaggerated. "I mean, it's just a joke. It's just something we made up. ... I don't know; I'm just myself." Are you excited about Justin's performance? Tell us in the comments! And make sure to stick with MTVNews.com on Saturday night for all our Kids' Choice Awards coverage. Related Videos Related Artists | |
| T.I. Completes Prison Sentence But Still Has Curfew Posted: 26 Mar 2010 05:54 AM PDT Rapper will reportedly be placed under 23 days of supervised release.
Clifford "T.I." Harris is officially a free man — mostly. On Friday (March 26), the rapper completed his prison sentence, stemming from a 2007 arrest for attempting to illegally purchase firearms. The MC was given his walking papers by the Georgia courts and his jail term is complete, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records. Originally given 366 days in prison, T.I. was released to a halfway house in December but according to his lawyer Steve Sadow, Tip has been on home incarceration for the past 30 days. Under the terms of his home confinement, Tip had to sleep at his house and be home by 11 p.m., or 1 a.m. if he was working. Sadow told MTV News that Tip now has three years of "supervised release," a.k.a. probation. This includes 23 more days of home incarceration under the aforementioned terms, regular visits with a probation officer and he must have permission to travel. T.I. also must complete approximately 400 more hours of community service. Before his prison stint began, T.I. made an arrangement with prosecutors in which he would complete 1,500 hours of community service, 1,000 of which needed to be completed before he would be formally sentenced. In exchange, he was given the 366-day jail sentence, which allowed him the opportunity for early release. T.I. officially began serving his time in May, meaning he ended up doing 10 months of the year-and-a-day bid. Since being moved to the halfway house in December, T.I. has been recording the follow-up to his 2008 album, Paper Trail, and earlier this month, he released a brand-new single titled "I'm Back." The record is the first release from Tip's forthcoming, still-untitled album, which is scheduled for release on August 24. His film, "Takers," co-starring Idris Elba, Chris Brown and others, is scheduled to come out on August 20. T.I. has also been delving out verses in recent weeks. He jumped on "Guilty" from Usher's new album, Raymond vs. Raymond, and he also appears on a new Jamie Foxx record called "Winner," which features Justin Timberlake (and recently leaked onto the Internet). Do you think T.I. will regain the status he had before his prison sentence? What do you want to see him do next? Sound off below. Related Artists | |
| Beyonce Pregnancy <i>Not</i> Confirmed Posted: 26 Mar 2010 01:29 AM PDT Rep for singer calls reports 'untrue.'
Despite a widely circulated report on the Media Take Out Web site claiming that a "rock solid" source had said Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z are expecting their first child together, a rep for the singer told MTV News on Friday (March 26) that the report is "not true." The famously private singer has spoken about raising a family with Jay in the past. "I hope that those things will just happen naturally," she told Allure magazine in its February issue. She told "Access Hollywood" in 2008, "The kids, I don't know ... in three years, maybe. It's a lot of work." Beyoncé certainly does not appear to be pregnant in Lady Gaga's recent "Telephone" video, which was filmed last month in Los Angeles. Beyoncé and Jay-Z joined Alicia Keys onstage at her concert at Madison Square Garden in New York last week. Beyoncé teamed up with Keys for "Put It in a Love Song," joining her midway through the song and finishing it out with a dance breakdown — it was the first time the two had performed together onstage. A few songs later, Swizz Beatz joined Keys onstage and was soon followed by Jay-Z: Times Square and the New York skyline engulfed the arena as the team broke into "Empire State of Mind." The couple's second wedding anniversary is approaching: They wed in a private ceremony in New York on April 4, 2008, although they declined to discuss it publicly for many weeks. Jay-Z and Beyoncé were named the top-earning couple in entertainment by Forbes at the end of last year, thanks to a combined household income of $122 million between June 2008 and June 2009. Related Artists | |
| Eazy-E 'Paved The Way,' MTV's Sway Calloway Says Posted: 26 Mar 2010 06:00 AM PDT Fifteen years after Eazy's death, MTV correspondent gives us some insight into his friend's genius.
The appearance was rebellious, the music was revolutionary, the history is legendary. Eazy-E changed not just what we say in music and how we listen to it, but also the business of hip-hop. Friday (March 26) is the 15-year anniversary of Eazy-E's death from AIDS complications. Eazy is still loved, and our very own Sway Calloway had the pleasure of calling E a friend. Here, Sway, in his own words, gives us insight into the genius of Eric "Eazy-E" Wright. Independent Thinker
He wasn't necessarily a good rapper, admittedly so. He wasn't a great producer, admittedly so. He was somebody who knew how to market music, and he knew how to build brands. At the time N.W.A came out, the majority of the music biz was being spearheaded from New York. All the platforms — from media to television to radio — you had to break in New York in order to get national recognition. The only thing was, you couldn't really get record deals in New York if you weren't from New York, because you didn't have that New York swagger or New York accent, and the music business was basically being controlled from the East Coast. So Eazy-E created Ruthless Records, and through independent distribution, he was able to build an underground swell for his company and for N.W.A and create his own audience in a way no one had seen. Man, I remember that dude came to Oakland, California, and N.W.A was on this bill at the Oakland Coliseum that had Eric B. & Rakim, it had UTFO, it had Whodini on it and this group N.W.A, and they weren't the opening act. And we didn't understand: "How come they're not the opening act?" They were just coming out at that time, and we found out later that Eazy-E was actually the promoter of that concert. So what he did by promoting that concert, he brought the other groups that already had brand recognition and audiences and he put his group in front of the same audience. They ripped the stage up, so when people walked away, instantly they knew who N.W.A was. He did that up and down the West Coast, and then he went into regions of the country that the West Coast appealed to, that also had disadvantages in terms of excelling in the music business, like the Midwest, Kansas City, the South, Texas. Then you start seeing companies like Rap-a-Lot Records came out, and they had Geto Boys, MC Breed. All these other artists start coming out from different places other than the East Coast. And even in the Southeast, you saw Luke Skywalker Records, started by Uncle Luke with his group 2 Live Crew. A lot of that was made possible because of Eazy-E's influence. He kinda paved the way for independent-minded companies to come out and exist in this music business without having major distribution or major marketing budgets behind them. Since then, that's just been the way of the West Coast. People just came out independent; they didn't think major. Everlasting Influence It was through the streets. And if you could capture the streets, then you already had a built-in fanbase and that word of mouth spread was the best way to actually get exposure. Because he has independent means of getting his music out through one-stop distribution channels and small distributors like California Record Distributors and City Hall Distribution and George Daniel's music room in Chicago, he was able to get into the mom-and-pop stores. He took care of the mom-and-pop stores before he took care of the big retail chains. Because of that, he was instantly in the 'hood. He didn't need the shine. Unfiltered Defiance Some of it they glamorized, but we could all identify with it. There were girls who acted like "Strawberry, Strawberry." There were crack-heads. There were dope dealers. There were people killing folks on a day-to-day basis. You weren't hearing that in music. A combination of all those things is how he was able to sell all those records. It was unheard of. They did timeless things. Classic to me is when, whether it's persona, music or different forms of art, is when you're able to capture something in the moment that hadn't been done. But you do it in a way that transcends geographical boundaries, ethnic boundaries, religious boundaries, and it appeals to everybody across the board. Something in their message still appeals to what we complain about in 2010. How has Eazy-E's music impacted your life? Share your memories in the comments section below. Related Photos Related Artists | |
| A-Trak On His And Travis Barker's WMC Tribute To DJ AM Posted: 26 Mar 2010 04:17 AM PDT 'It was very important for me to have one show where I could do an official dedication' to AM, A-Trak says.
MIAMI — On Thursday night, Travis Barker, A-Trak, Lil Jon, Jazzy Jeff and Steve Aoki were some of the guests on hand to honor the late DJ AM at an unannounced tribute show on Thursday night at Miami's LIV nightclub during the Winter Music Conference. MTV News caught up with A-Trak in the wee hours of Friday morning (March 26), after his set at the Fools Gold party at Grand Central. "At LIV, it was a party for DJ AM — obviously a dedication to him," A-Trak said. "[He was] a dear friend of mine, we miss him a lot. I'm now doing shows with Travis, so it was very important for me, especially knowing how much Travis and AM established a partnership before [AM] passed, to have one show where I could really do an official dedication and a dedicated routine to him — a scratching thing that he particularly liked, and do it in his honor and pass the torch, in a sense."
The lineup of the show — part of the Winter Music Conference — was a tightly guarded secret, though most in attendance suspected that both Barker and Trak, who recently toured as a duo, were part of the bill. And when they hit the stage shortly after midnight, those suspicions were confirmed. Trak announced that he and Barker were performing "in honor of our fallen friend, DJ AM," and the two launched into their set, which saw the DJ cutting up a song that mentioned AM by name while Barker flailed at his kit. Both men were wearing "Rest in Peace AM" T-shirts, and a video screen behind the stage displayed a collage of images of AM (real name: Adam Goldstein), who was found dead in his New York apartment last August, of an accidental drug overdose in September.
Barker and AM famously teamed together for years — they were the house band at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards — survived a fiery South Carolina plane crash in September 2008. Earlier this year, Barker remembered his friend and colleague by getting an "In Memory Of" tattoo on his thigh. Related Videos Related Artists | |
| Lil Eazy-E Remembers His Dad, 15 Years Later Posted: 26 Mar 2010 06:57 AM PDT 'He was a great daddy,' MC says of his rap-pioneer father. 'He had a lot of time for us.'
Lil Eazy-E got up early on Friday morning (March 26). The day started with him comforting his grandmother, and all day, he talked about his namesake, his father his father Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, who died 15 years ago from AIDS complications. Lil Eazy knew Eazy-E just as Dad, but he shared his pops with the world. Eazy was a marketing and record-label genius. He pioneered gangsta rap, and his ear for talent spoke for itself. Besides founding N.W.A and discovering Bone Thugz-n-Harmony, Eazy Sr. put a lot of other viable acts and influenced countless others. "It was big," Lil Eazy said of his dad's influence. "A lot of producers he gave inspiration to. Dr Dre's a big thing. Eminem's a big thing. 50 Cent's a big thing. If you didn't have my father, you wouldn't have none of them. Other rappers, if my father didn't invent Ruthless Records and N.W.A, you wouldn't have that line. Ice Cube, MC Ren, Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre, therefore Death Row. Death Row was started before any breakup was going on. They'll get the truth one day on a nice big screen. He had a lot of artists outside the genre of rap. J.J. Fad, Michel'le, Will.I.Am, he was even working with my father. My father found him. A lot of big things. "His loyal fans give him that credit, but he's the godfather of gangsta rap. One thing he doesn't get a lot is the big respect for hip-hop. Eazy-E is a big, big part of hip-hop." Although Lil Eazy obviously still misses his dad, the anniversary of his death has become easier to cope with over the years. "As I got older, it was more of a celebration," he said about March 26. "I got a lot of strength through support of people. I'm the oldest son, so you gotta be there. Just like this morning, my grandmother had it kinda hard. I don't know if it's because it's 15. Today, I knew she had it hard. I can't let the morning hit me too hard. Usually, every year, I do a little radio tribute, me and Julio G. It gives a little inspiration. The fans give love and support. It lightens me up. But on my personal tip, it's not a good day. It's not." Lil Eazy said he'd love to have a biopic on his dad, as he still rides with many of his pop's CDs in his car. When asked about the fond memories, his smile shone bright. "People don't understand, he was a father," Lil Eazy said. "My grandmother, I was raised by her. Weekends, I got picked up by my father. He picked up all his kids. My father had a lot of kids. Everything was jokes. We'd be over at Grandma's. He took us on Disneyland trips. That's when you realize you're really somebody. All these [other fan] kids? We're supposed to be having time with daddy. All these kids and all these families wanna take pictures. He bought me anything I wanted. He was a great daddy. He had a lot of time for us."
Eazy said it was around 5 or 6 years old that he discovered his pops was unlike other dads. Around 8, he sat down with his dad for the first time and gave an opinion on music. Lil Eazy held back tears when talking about the last memories he has of his dad. "My last one was about when he first went into surgery for leakage in his lungs," Lil Eazy said. "He went to the hospital. We was chillin', talking, not understanding he was sick. He was like how he is every other day, eating a hamburger. You're not supposed to, but you're eating a hamburger. We was chillin' in Cedars Sinai. That was the last fondest, good memory. Then I was called in a couple of days before he passed away, and he couldn't talk. I just walked in, and they let me see him. He couldn't say nothing. I just cried. As a kid, I couldn't understand it, why he couldn't say nothing to me. He's squeezing my hand as I exited from the room." Eazy-E died on March 26, 1995, due to complication from the AIDS virus. Lil Eazy-E said he continues to promote awareness of the disease as well as to help find a cure. How has Eazy-E's music impacted your life? Share your memories in the comments section below. Related Photos Related Artists | |
| Eazy-E Remembered By The Game, Nipsey Hussle, Scoop DeVille Posted: 26 Mar 2010 02:01 AM PDT 'He is the original blueprint for West Coast gangsta rap,' Jay Rock says on the 15th anniversary of Eazy's death.
Friday (March 26) marks the 15th anniversary of Eric "Eazy-E" Wright's death from AIDS complications. The N.W.A founder was a musical pioneer — not just for bringing gangsta rap to the mainstream, but because of how he revolutionized the business side of the game as well. He mastered self-promotion and pushed records independently with little-to-no airplay.
Eazy's legacy speaks for itself, and his impact still resonates. Some of the younger L.A. acts wrote in to MTV News to talk about Eazy's influence. "Eazy-E was the pioneer and ambassador of L.A.'s street culture in hip-hop," Nipsey Hussle said. "He embodied the mind state and attitude of a young man coming of age in urban Los Angeles." "Eazy-E started this gangsta sh--," Jay Rock proclaimed. "He took it to a whole new level. If it wasn't for him, it wouldn't be no Ice Cube, no Snoop, no Game or no Jay Rock. He is the original blueprint for West Coast gangsta rap." The Game's love for Eazy-E is well-documented. The Compton, California, native has a picture of Eazy and N.W.A tattooed on his body. Game's message about Eazy was short and sweet: "Replacing Eazy is Eazy-er said than done." Earlier this week, producer Scoop DeVille sat in an LA studio with his father, Kid Frost, and remembered talking to Eazy. "Eazy would call the house and say, 'Tell your pop Eric called,' " Scoop recalled. Frost signed to Ruthless Records in the mid-1990s, and shortly before Wright died, Kid was supposed to head the newly started Latin division of the label. "I can say that dude had a big heart and love for the whole movement of the West Coast sound of gangsta rap," Frost declared. "He definitely was the godfather of gangsta rap. There's still not a lot of records I hear to this day that can hold water to what he was doing with Dr. Dre, like Straight Outta Compton. I'll always be part of the Ruthless family. I'll always be the first Mexican that got signed to Ruthless Records." "Eazy was a real dude," Scoop added. "He was a businessman and a street dude. He has everyone's respect to this day." How has Eazy-E's music impacted your life? Share your memories in the comments section below. Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists | |
| Justin Bieber Is A 'Prodigy,' Usher Says Posted: 26 Mar 2010 09:01 AM PDT 'His voice was incredible,' says teen star's mentor, recalling why he signed him.
At one time, both Justin Timberlake and Usher wanted to sign YouTube sensation and future superstar Justin Bieber. Bieber claims that Usher initially dismissed him in a quick encounter, but Usher eventually gave the kid's music another listen. He then beat out Timberlake to sign him as his artist, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Usher admits that Bieber has the skills to pay the bills, which is why he wanted him so badly. "You know this guy?" he joked. "Well, one was his voice. I felt like his voice was incredible. I feel he was very charismatic, and that's what it takes to be able to handle what this is. It's the ability to turn it on and understand, but it was a very real ability. It was actually just him." Bieber, who just released his sophomore album, My World 2.0, has very quickly established himself as one of the biggest acts out there, but his mentor says that this is just the beginning. He's got longevity. "If you ever met him, you'd understand exactly what I'm saying," Usher said. "The other side of it is just the fact that I felt like his story is yet to be told. I think we can go get him hit records or we can teach him how to dance or put him in front of some incredible lighting or put him in the right room and allow him to be himself. But also just his musical talent — the fact that he taught himself to play guitar, the fact that he taught himself to play piano to the point where he can write and create his own songs. [I said to him,] 'You're a prodigy.' " Related Videos Related Artists | |
| Eazy-E, N.W.A 'Helped Me Understand I Had A Chance,' Plies Says Posted: 26 Mar 2010 04:14 AM PDT Florida native pays tribute to Eazy on the 15th anniversary of N.W.A founder's death.
Plies has long been called a rebel of the music industry, to the extent that some say he embodies the same radical spirit as the members of N.W.A. On Friday (March 26), the 15th anniversary of the death of N.W.A founder Eric "Eazy-E" Wright, Plies and his brother Big Gates reflected on Eazy's impact.
During a visit to MTV News' offices on Friday, Plies said Eazy and N.W.A's music resonates no matter where you're from. "Being Florida based, where we've resided all our life, I look at Florida as the gutter landmark," Plies said. "I feel that it don't work in Florida if it ain't gutta. To see a West Coast group and West Coast artist being embraced in Florida, and on a national level, for me, it's simple. Coming from the conditions we come from and having anybody represent what you represent and see them win on a national level, it allowed me to understand that I had a chance in music if it was what I chose to do. "I had a chance to accomplish that and do it from a principle-driven way," he continued. "[Gates and I] say that all the time as brothers and as a company, our principles are non-negotiable. It's a lot of things we stand for that the business don't understand right now. We agree that it's more personal in this business than it is business. At the end of the day, you gotta stand for what you're trying to represent and reflect. I feel Eazy-E and N.W.A did a helluva job in doing that. I don't feel like we're carrying the torch, I feel like we're trying to stand behind what we're trying to stand behind. If that's a way we can be come successful in selling records, cool. If it ain't, we can look at each other and know we came into the game with our principles and we're gonna leave the game with our principles." "I was just listening to an Eazy-E record," Gates said with a grin. "They started, really, what we're doing. We looked at them. Even now, we look at them as a influence of what we do. N.W.A speaks for itself. I'm sure you know what it means: N---as With Attitude. You listen to my brother's music, you see what we representing. I just got out of prison. It's kinda simple, what we stand for: That's really what Easy-E brought to the table. He told America, 'I can say what I wanna say. Speak my mind. Freedom of speech. Regardless of how you feel, what you think I should say, what you think I should wear, I'mma do me.' I came from a different struggle versus [people in] corporate America. Eazy spoke for me, so I try to make sure me and my brother speak for the people from where we came from." Check out what the Game and other West Coast rappers had to say about Eazy-E on the 15th anniversary of his death. Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists |
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