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Before Natalie Portman Was Pregnant And Engaged, She Was The Star Of Devendra Banhart's 'Carmensita'

Posted 12/28/10 2:30 pm EST by in Music


There was a lot of baby-related news that spread across the Internet yesterday, as not only did the entertainment world celebrate the birth of Alanis Morissette's son but also congratulated Natalie Portman on her pregnancy. The actress is a few months along with her first child with fiancé Benjamin Millepied, who she met while working on "Black Swan" (Millepied choreographed the dances and also played Portman's dance partner).

Ever since the star first established herself as a player with her performance in "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace" (the one bright spot in that film), she has made a habit out of mixing business with pleasure. She dated "Star Wars" co-star Hayden Christensen for a while, and has been romantically linked with Jude Law (with whom she starred in the 2004 film "Closer") and Jake Gyllenhaal (the two worked together on 2009's "Brothers").

But before Millepied, the most notable collaboration to come out of her love life was with ex-boyfriend Devendra Banhart. The freak-folk gypsy dated Portman over several months in 2008, and the pair could often be seen in various spots around Manhattan. The two even got together on screen for Banhart's video for "Carmensita" (from his critically-acclaimed 2007 album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon). In the clip (which you can watch below in all its stoned technicolor glory), Portman dresses up in fully Bollywood regalia and does quite a bit of dancing while Banhart attempts to woo her. It's a pretty trippy video, and another in chain of evidence that cultural historians can use to track Portman's personal life.

What do you think of "Carmensita"? Let us know in the comments!

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Elton John Is The Latest In A Growing Line Of Gay Fathers

Posted 12/28/10 1:10 pm EST by in Music


Alanis Morissette and Natalie Portman weren't the only stars celebrating big baby news over the holiday weekend. Legendary singer and songwriter Elton John also toasted to the birth of a son on Saturday (December 25), as he and husband David Furnish welcomed Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John into the world. The baby was delivered via a surrogate mother and represents the first child for the 63-year-old John. "Zachary is healthy and doing well," the couple announced via a joint statement. "[We are] overwhelmed with happiness and joy at this very special moment."

As the rights of homosexual couples continue to evolve, John and Furnish represent that latest in a string of gay men with children. Earlier this year, Neil Patrick Harris and partner David Burtka celebrated the birth of fraternal twins (Gideon and Harper were born, also via a surrogate mother, on October 12, 2010). Prior to that, Clay Aiken became a father thanks to a surrogate in 2008.

But perhaps the most high-profile gay parent is Ricky Martin, who only recently came out of the closet. When he revealed himself to the world, Martin specifically cited his twin boys Matteo and Valentino when discussing the decision to come out. "Before I decided to become a father, I already accepted who I was," he told Oprah Winfrey on an episode of her show earlier this year. "When I held my children, I said, 'OK, it's time to tell the world.'"

(Click here for a look at more gay fathers, including Elton John, Neil Patrick Harris and Clay Aiken!)

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Ghostface Killah's Apollo Kids: The Reviews Are In!

Posted 12/28/10 12:30 pm EST by in Music


There aren't any major album releases this week (unless you are a gigantic fan of Christian rapper Flame), but there was one key album that hit stores on December 21 that ended up under the radar for a lot of music fans. Even hardcore hip-hop fiends may have missed the fact that Ghostface Killah unleashed his new album Apollo Kids last week, but it's out there waiting to be consumed. And if you slept on it, it's your funeral, as Apollo Kids is one of Ghostface's strongest solo outings and ranks right up with Wu-Massacre and Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Part II as some of the best Wu-Tang solo material in recent memory.

The critics are completely on board with Apollo Kids. The Los Angeles Times published a glowing three-and-a-half star review that highlighted the album's incredible balance between Ghostface's considerable talents and the outside forces that color the songs. "With impeccably selected guest spots (The Game, Joell Ortiz, Busta Rhymes, Black Thought, and his Wu-Tang brethren), the Staten Island stick-up kid hews closely to the bloody-nostril boom-bap the Wu-Tang Clan pioneered a decade ago," wrote critic Jeff Weiss.

The Onion A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin concurred. "Ghostface hasn't sounded this hungry or focused since Fishscale," he wrote. "At its best, Ghostface’s music is about raw, visceral emotion and unfiltered rage; he doesn’t sound truly engaged unless he appears to be on the verge of a stress-fueled heart attack, as he does throughout Apollo Kids ... Ghost never went anywhere, yet Kids feels like a comeback all the same."

There was also high praise coming from Spin. "Ghostface Killah's ninth album consoles his hardcore constituency: Forty-plus minutes of gritty, soul-sampling beats soundtracking bizarro street tales," wrote Brandon Soderberg.

But it was Rolling Stone's Jonah Weiner who hit on the vein that makes Apollo Kids so appealing. "Ghostface Killah is so charismatic, he can brag about being an old coot and make it sound badass. 'New rappers need to skip town/ This is East Coast music, Grandpa Ghost is around!' Ghost, now 40, raps," he wrote. "On track after track, he blows dust off some dirty-soul loop, with boasts as inspired as ever and street-crime storytelling as vivid as ever."

What do you think of Ghostface Killah's new album? Let us know in the comments!

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Justin Bieber Builds Up 'Never Say Never' Anticipation On Twitter With #PurpleGlasses

Posted 12/28/10 11:30 am EST by in Music


Is it possible that Justin Bieber is the greatest pop star of the Twitter era? Nobody else in the game uses the service better, as he deftly combines personal promotion (you always know what product is available if you follow him) with fan interaction (he's constantly re-tweeting followers and giving shout-outs to fans) and his personal obsessions (like Chuck Norris). He's a veritable Twitter ninja, and the proof is in both his sales numbers and his army of followers (he's well over six million at the moment).

His latest Twitter assault is related to his upcoming film "Never Say Never," which will be a behind-the-scenes 3-D extravaganza that helps tell the 16-year-old singer's back story and also follows him as he travels around the world on a sold out tour. You can score your special purple 3-D glasses now (along with a commemorative laminate, wristband and glow stick) via a special VIP preview package, and he has been tracking the spread of said glasses on Twitter.

All this week, Bieber has been re-tweeting followers who have posted photos of themselves wearing the Bieber-specific 3-D glasses, and he has even turned the hash tag "purpleglasses" into a trending topic. Most interesting are the photos that have been sent Bieber's way, many of which are people posing with the glasses and even more of which have a wacky edge to them. One fan put them on her cat, while another layered a whole series of photo effects over a shot of her with them on.

The best photos will end up on the "Never Say Never" preview page as well as on the movie's official Facebok hub. It's just one more example of how Bieber has won over millions not only with his killer songs and adorable good looks but also with a keen eye towards building relationships with the people who buy his albums and come see him in concert.

Have you sent in your #purpleglasses photo yet? Let us know in the comments!

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Deconstructing Ke$ha: Apollonia, Princess Superstar And The Rest Of Her Roots

Posted 12/28/10 10:30 am EST by in Music


Of all the pop stars who broke out in 2010, Ke$ha might be the most complicated. That's something of an ironic statement considering the nature of her music. On the surface, Ke$ha seems to embody an entirely empty pop universe — one that includes all the fashion, make-up, posturing and attitude of modern pop (like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry or Rihanna) without any of the substance secretly lurking underneath. But Ke$ha might secretly be more brilliant (and more talented) than any of her contemporaries, as she seems to have tapped into a particular vein that craves cheap thrills and only worries about the quality of the hooks (and the sparkliness of the glitter).

But Ke$ha didn't come from nowhere. In fact, as multiple people have pointed out, Ke$ha is merely the latest in a very particular series of stars who embody a particular idiom in pop music. She is something of a singularity, but these are her ancestors.

Apollonia 6
Apollonia Kotero is best known for starring as Prince's love interest in the classic rock film "Purple Rain," but she also served as the lead singer for short-lived girl group Apollonia 6. Though Prince had high hopes for the group and even considered giving them "Manic Monday" (which was later turned into a hit by the Bangles), he threw in the towel on the project after their first and only album (a self-titled record released in 1984). They only really had one hit, but the song in question — "Sex Shooter" — is a remarkably great song.

Princess Superstar
After Eminem became a huge star at the turn of the century and proved that a white rapper could become both a critical and commercial success, the quest was on to find a white female rapper to break out huge (in the industry, this mystery performer was referred to in theory as "Feminem"). Princess Superstar was considered one of the possible breakouts, and her combination of low-budget dance music and strangely adroit rapping laid the groundwork for future artists (including Ke$ha).

Khia
Rapper Khia is only notable for one song, but it's a game-changer. Her 2002 single "My Neck, My Back (Lick It)" painted a downright pornographic picture of exactly what it took to please her. Her too-much-information lyrics were paired with a minimalist (but crazy-catchy) beat that turned the filthiest refrain in pop music into a schoolyard nursery rhyme. (Kelis had similar success with "Milkshake," though she did it quite a bit more artfully.)

Peaches
Canada's favorite electroclash nightmare combined her kinky, free-associating lyrics with pounding, repetitive Casio techno, making her the clearest antecedent to the rise of Ke$ha. All Ke$ha had to do was hook up with a killer producer (Dr. Luke) and deliver those hooks with an even more tossed off sense of bravado. But on a long enough timeline, Ke$ha totally would have recorded "F--- the Pain Away."

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Happy Birthday, David Archuleta!

Posted 12/28/10 9:30 am EST by in Music


If you have any celebration left in you after Christmas and Hayley Williams' birthday, you should raise a glass (of sparkling cider, of course) to David Archuleta. The former "American Idol" runner-up turns 20 years old today, and he has no shortage of things to celebrate. Born in Florida but raised in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah (he moved there when he was six years old), Archuleta got interested in singing early on and ended up performing in public for the first time at age 10 (he sang "I Will Always Love You" at a talent competition).

From there, he slowly set about establishing a career for himself, competing on "Star Search" when he was 12 years old. He parlayed those appearances into a handful of other television appearances, but obviously got the biggest boost of his career when he was finally old enough to audition for "American Idol."

Archuleta dazzled the judges during an "Idol" audition in San Diego in 2007 with a rendition of John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change" (the song famously inspired Randy Jackson to join in on backing vocals). He scored a ticket to Hollywood to compete as a semi-finalist on the show's seventh season. That run also featured notable "Idol" contestants like David Cook (who eventually defeated Archuleta on the show's final episode), Carly Smithson (now the lead singer of Evanescence offshoot band We Are the Fallen), Brooke White and Jason Castro. Despite all those heavy hitters, Archuleta managed to wow the judges (and the viewing audience) time and again, and his renditions of John Lennon's "Imagine," Robbie Williams' "Angels" and Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" are the stuff of "Idol" legend.

Since then, Archuleta has dropped three albums (two originals plus a Christmas album). One of his defining moments remains "A Little Too Not Over You," from his self-titled 2008 album.

What would you get David Archuleta for his 20th birthday? Let us know in the comments!

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Big Daddy Kane Ruled 1988: Wake-Up Video

Posted 12/28/10 8:30 am EST by in Wake-Up Video


"You're just a butter knife — I'm a machete!" So rapped Antonio Monterio Hardy (better known in the hip-hop world as Big Daddy Kane) on "Ain't No Half-Steppin'" (a classic tune from his 1988 debut Long Live the Kane). While just about every rapper boasts about his or her abilities on the microphone, Kane was the real deal. His smooth, bombastic style bridged the gap between the old school cats and the next generation of rappers.

If there was one year that saw hip-hop really explode, it was 1988. While rap music had slowly been insinuating its way into the mainstream since the release of Run-D.M.C.'s Raising Hell in 1986, the 12 months that made up '88 saw a handful of rap records perform well commercially but also found many groups reaching their artistic apex. Hip-hop was finally coming into its own, both as a commercially viable brand of music and as a true envelope-pushing art form.

Consider that in 1988, the following albums hit store shelves: Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton, Run-D.M.C.'s Tougher Than Leather, EPMD's Strictly Business, Eric B. & Rakim's Follow the Leader, Boogie Down Productions' By All Means Necessary, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince's He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper, Slick Rick's The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, Ice-T's Power and the Jungle Brothers' Straight Out the Jungle. That's 10 staggeringly great albums, and at least three or four stone cold classics.

One of those classics? Definitely Long Live the Kane. Big Daddy Kane's persona gave birth to the "sensitive hustler" style that guys like Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z spun into platinum success and worldwide recognition (in fact, Jay-Z was a hype man for Kane for a brief period). Aided by the minimalist, head-spinning production of Marley Marl, "Ain't No Half-Steppin'" remains an all-time great track and could totally stand up against anything produced in 2010. There's no real reason to be listening to Big Daddy Kane today versus any other day, but there's also no reason not to.


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Lady Gaga, Eminem, Justin Bieber And 'American Idol' Make Up The MTV News Zeitgeist 2010

Posted 12/27/10 5:30 pm EST by in Music


When MTV News took a look at the stories that made up the bulk of our traffic in 2010, there were a few things that could be expected. Lady Gaga was a natural first place finisher, as the stories about the "Telephone" video, the meat dress, her DADT protest and many others tended to set the Internet on fire. She was followed close behind by "American Idol" (fueled more by judge-related drama than any of the contestants), Justin Bieber (who seemed to constantly be grabbing headlines with singles from My World 2.0 and his gigantic tour) and Eminem (who rode the success of Recovery, "Love the Way You Lie" and the Home and Home shows with Jay-Z).

But who else managed to grab a large helping of MTV News headlines during the last 12 months? Take a look at the interactive map below, which lays out the biggest traffic magnets of the year and gives them an appropriately large circle (so Gaga's is the biggest, with everybody else falling in behind). You'll find the usual suspects, like Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne and Katy Perry, but you'll also come across a number of stories and characters you may have forgotten. For instance, stories surrounding the earthquake in Haiti and the subsequent outpouring of support for the survivors of the disaster (including the release of the new version of "We Are the World") were the ninth-biggest traffic-getters of the year (a testament to the readers' interest in world affairs and their eagerness to find a way to help out people half a world away). There was also a great deal of excitement surrounding John Mayer's inflammatory interview in Playboy (which ended up driving him from Twitter) and the nightly shots fired in the late night war between Conan O'Brien and Jay Leno.

So explore your favorite topics below, and just click on your favorite circles to dive deeper into the MTV News archives for anything you might have missed or want to experience again.


Who do you think will be the top news-magnet in 2011? Let us know in the comments!

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Miley Cyrus Plans To Travel, 'Make People Happy' In 2011: The MTV News Quote Of The Day

Posted 12/27/10 4:30 pm EST by in Music


"I just wanted to tell you guys, 'Have an awesome Christmas and a very happy New Year.' I'm really looking forward to 2011. Got some new ideas. I want to go on some cool trips. I want to travel and I want to make this the year that I go out and do what I'm here to do, and that's help people and make people happy."

-Pop star and actress Miley Cyrus, wishing her fans the best at the holidays and previewing what might be coming up for her in 2011. Cyrus spoke to the world via a video message posted to YouTube on Christmas. In the clip, she sat at a table with little sister Noah while she delivered her Christmas wishes and teased out what was to come in the coming year. "What's up Miley World?" she said. "It's Miley. We're sitting here coloring."

Though she has said that she wanted to put music away for a while to focus on her acting career, Cyrus teased the idea of getting back out on the road once the calendar changes over. "Hopefully I can tour or somehow come see my fans 'cause I would love to see you guys more in 2011," she said. "That would be rad. Just want to tell you guys I love you and hope you all are well and happy and healthy during holidays."

Cyrus has had quite an eventful 2010, which began with a breakout role in the hit film "The Last Song" and continued with the release of her new album Can't Be Tamed, the announcement that her smash television show "Hannah Montana" would be wrapping up, the separation of her parents and the now-infamous video of her taking a bong hit making its way onto the Internet. Even if she doesn't hit the road next year, fans will have plenty of opportunities to catch up with Cyrus, as she drops in for a cameo in Justin Bieber's upcoming movie "Never Say Never" and stars in the comedy "LOL: Laughing Out Loud," which hits theaters in April.

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Ghostface Killah's Apollo Kids Flips The Script On MTV News' #MusicMonday

Posted 12/27/10 3:30 pm EST by in Music


Really, you should be listening to music every day, but thanks to Twitter, Monday has become the best day of the week to discover new songs, show some love to the tune currently dominating your iPod playlist and quietly judge the listening habits of your closest friends. Yes, it's #MusicMonday, one of Twitter's most enduring trending topics. Hence "MTV News' #MusicMonday," a weekly look at the songs we are currently crushing on.

This week, Ghostface Killah takes us forward by taking us back.

Most music critics get together their year-end lists around the first week of December, because by then they've had the opportunity to hear every piece of relevant music released during the calendar year. But there is typically an album or two that manages to slip through the cracks, drop a week or two before Christmas and totally make all the year-end lists somewhat irrelevant. This year, that spoiler role went to Wu-Tang Clan MVP Ghostface Killah, who just released his new album Apollo Kids and, in typical Ghostface fashion, knocked it completely out of the park.

Ghost is the MC that you should be thinking about when you think about Wu-Tang, as he manages to embody just about everything that is great about hip-hop's most notorious collective. He combines all the brutality of the street with the flights of fancy he has seen in too many movies and delivers it in a style that splits the difference between on-the-corner rhyming and the more emotive (and oft-imitated) "crying style." Some of the best Wu-Tang solo albums belong to Ghost, including 1996's Ironman and 2006's Fishscale. Apollo Kids is by far his strongest work since the latter album, doling out bits of razor-tongued genius amidst a tight collection of beats ("Black Tequila" and "Starkology" are especially tight). Ghost always manages to get the most out of his guest stars too, and Apollo Kids is no exception. He manages to harness killer verses from Busta Rhymes ("Superstar"), Joell Ortiz ("Drama") and Jim Jones ("Handcuffin' Them Hoes") without breaking much of a sweat. Considering how sharp he was on Wu-Massacre (his tag-team album with Method Man and Raekwon that dropped earlier this year), it's possible that Ghostface Killah had the best year of any MC on the planet not named Eminem.

Ghost hasn't dropped any videos for Apollo Kids yet (though a clip for "2getha Baby" is in the works), which means that in order to properly celebrate #MusicMonday, we have to look back in the vault. Which is OK, especially considering Ironman's "Daytona 500" is one of the weirdest and most thrilling Wu videos of all time.


What's your #MusicMonday jam? Let us know in the comments!

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